Blog

In a comment piece on The Drum earlier this week, Gerard F. Corbett, chair of the Public Relations Society of America, calls for the industry to unite and banish "a preconceived notion of what PR professionals do" in the eyes of the public. Stating that: "In essence, we in PR admittedly have a PR challenge.” As someone who has studied...

The world’s biggest restaurant chain McDonald’s has been on the news agenda this week. Unfortunately for McDonald’s this wasn’t focussed on the fact that it’s creating 2,500 new jobs in the UK, but overshadowed by a social media disaster. No wonder they say bad news makes good news. By using the paid-for hashtag ‘McDStories’...

Social media offers the opportunity to research potential new business, keep up to date with the latest industry news, and find out exactly what that journalist has been up to whilst they blissfully ignore your phone calls. As any Twitter user will understand, you often find yourself following individual users that tweet on behalf of a company,...

OK, hands up if your belt’s feeling a little tight after the Christmas and New Year excesses…. It’s obviously a topic that is top of the media’s concerns if the requests we’re seeing are anything to go by.  There’s been a flurry of journalist enquiries for dieting case studies, plastic surgery stories and more. It’s the usual...

A journalist chum was moaning away the other day – bemoaning the fact that every other press release popping into his inbox is about yet another award winner. So what! I beg to differ, but quickly have to declare an interest as Context Public Relations crowed like a proud parent when client www.easyfundraising.org.uk recently won Computer...

It was giggles galore in our office the other week as we listened to a rather stressed yet well-spoken man repeatedly shouting: “Fenton… oh Jesus Christ!” If this doesn’t ring any bells for you, you are seriously missing out. The amateur recording of deers grazing in Richmond Park is interrupted by the man’s shouting, followed by...

Jeremy Clarkson is not shy about sharing an opinion or two, and his recent characteristic outburst has landed him in hot water yet again. Since his appearance on The One Show, the BBC has received over 5,000 complaints and the public trade union, Unison, is demanding his unceremonious sacking.   Although Clarkson has become a public figure...

I came across the following whilst browsing LinkedIn. It’s an infographic entitled LinkedIn Boot Camp, which provides some really useful advice on how to whip your personal profile into shape. It is essentially a basic how-to guide, but there are some really helpful tips that I felt were worth sharing. The author states that LinkedIn is the...

In the age of social media and quick access to the Internet, information leaks are becoming more and more common. In the last couple of days alone there have been two leaks – one reported leak from a City employee relating to Amazon’s smartphone debut with the launch a Kindle phone and another from Everton Football Club, who have...

  Getting to know your acronyms is like joining an exclusive club – you haven’t a clue what other people are talking about – but you feel obliged to join in. In PR (that’s public relations, rather than proportional representation or pilau rice) we embrace the use of acronyms. But maybe we should take a step back and consider...

Earlier in the week I blogged on the topic of influencers – or brand advocates – and how to identify them. In this particular post I wanted to take a step back, and look at the overall process of how you physically go about developing an influencer strategy, as identification is only a small part of the jigsaw. When engaging with brand...

Friday’s outpouring by PR agency Sorted PR – who gave a small minority of mummy bloggers a gentle poke - fuelled a healthy discussion about the merits of how to effectively interact with bloggers, and the role that we as PR professionals play in identifying those potential campaign influencers. Putting aside the fact that this was a funny...

This week is National Adoption Week – something you may have heard about following today’s announcement of David Cameron’s plans to reform the adoption process.  At Context, we’ve been actively speaking to the media about this annual event for several weeks, on behalf of our client the charity After Adoption, but what benefits can these...

Exhibiting at a trade show or exhibition is a great opportunity to meet the press, and an ideal focus for a solution launch, isn’t it?  It certainly can be, but it’s important that you approach it in the right way.  Let’s have a brief look at an exhibition from the journalist’s perspective. A typical trade show may have 50, 100 or...

The football world is up in arms about the apparent dispute between Manchester City and its troubled talisman Carlos Tevez. Whatever the rights and wrongs there is obviously a communication issue at stake here. It’s never helpful to have a public spat between manager and player, so what would I do if I were Man City’s manager? First there...

Just read an excellent set of guidelines from Econsultancy which sums up something that has been troubling me for a while now. Social media looks like a low-cost option for marketing but you really need to dedicate resource to it if it’s to make any impact on your business. We come across many companies who have had a stab at social media...

I was in a meeting with a client yesterday and they asked me how to get more mind share in the national press. The answer: “Be available. Stay informed.” Sounds simple but so many CEOs are happy to talk to the press when they have a major announcement to make but don’t want to spend time returning the favour by helping the media out with...

Half the reason stock markets are in turmoil at the moment is fear of the unknown. Michael White in today’s Guardian hits the right note, quoting Roosevelt’s famous line: “There is nothing to fear but fear itself”. If we can all get through the banking crisis of 2008 then perhaps we should wait a little before throwing in the...

Lucy Kellaway’s article in the weekend FT coins the term Worliday (work+holiday) . You go on holiday but you still pick up and deal with emails, make a few calls in the morning and head off to the beach for the afternoon. You’re on holiday but not totally off duty. For many self employed people this is nothing new but it seems to be catching...

You have to admire Wolves manager Mick McCarthy for trying to fight back the tide of social media in a King Canute style. On the face of it this seems a hopeless task but, as he points out in this Guardian article, he's not banning Twitter just letting the players know the consequences of careless tweets. A good example is that it would be...

Journalists are responsible for reporting the news; it’s what they’re trained to do. So is it really fair to prevent them from doing their job, because some high-profile celebrity doesn’t want the world (and their wife) to discover their dark secret? Even the Prime Minister feels ‘uneasy’ about the increase in strict gagging orders,...

There was a very helpful piece of advice issued by Mike Johansson recently, posted on the website Social Media Today, called ‘Why are you on Twitter?’ The article should be a wake up call to anyone who thinks social media is a one-way bet for businesses, or individuals, looking to promote their cause. It’s not just about avoiding a...

Creativity – the magic spark that only a few of us possess. A highly sought after trait, and probably the second most appreciated gene known to man (after the attractive gene of course). So why are so many reluctant to be creative? Creativity is particularly useful in certain occupations. It proved handy for Michelangelo and the Sistine...