e-book: what are the priorities of uk comms people?

April 5, 2014 Darren Caveney

What are the priorities for UK communicators? The good people at GovDelivery have looked and the results are in.

As many of us are seeing, a public organisation’s ability to effectively engage with citizens and then motivate them to take action is playing an increasingly important role in achieving overall mission results.

Whether an organisation’s goal is to increase participation at community events, decrease the number of calls about bin pick-ups, or drive the public to use digital services, communication and citizen engagement is critical to achieving that goal.

when brainstorming* goes bad...

March 24, 2014 Darren Caveney

We've all been there. The awkward moment when you're in a room full of strangers trying to think of new names for a pen as an icebreaker. But it needn't be like this. In fact, call them what you like creative brainstorming sessions can spark brilliant ideas. Here's how...

by GUEST EDITOR Alan Oram

As a creative ideas agency, we’re on a mission to bust some creativity myths – we also happen to be big fans of the good old-fashioned brainstorming session, which remains a highly effective weapon in the internal communicator’s toolkit – approached in the right way, of course.

want to communicate? then market your message

March 18, 2014 Darren Caveney

You have a message to deliver but sometimes you need a good copywriter to cut through the noise and help you deliver it. This is why.

By Simon Carroll

The main obstacles that face anyone trying to communicate with lots of people boil down to a single uncomfortable truth:

Just because what you have to say is important doesn’t mean people will listen.

People are busy, easily distracted and lazy.

gamification - the next level for comms?

March 15, 2014 Darren Caveney

Communications – it’s a funny old game. Although many of us may have been playing for some time, the game itself has certainly changed. As technology continues to race ahead it seems making sure you level-up your comms is the key to staying ahead - but is gamification the path of the future, or just the latest passing fad?

by Adam Raistrick

Gamification – defined as introducing game-like elements into typically non-gaming tasks – is a rapidly growing trend, appearing in many facets of technology and media.

It has already been used as a tool for internal communications by Samsung, Deloitte and even the Department for Work and Pensions. The idea is that the more fun you make something, the more likely people are to be engaged by it.

love tv, love live, love tech

March 13, 2014 Darren Caveney

We know that our online consumption has changed through our use of mobile and tablets. But what effect has this had on our TV watching habits? A new report by TV Licensing lets us in on the latest intel.

by Sam Waterton

Last week, we launched TeleScope 2014, an annual TV industry report from TV Licensing providing an insightful glimpse of nation’s changing TV viewing habits.

It finds that the living room remains, even with the rise of mobile devices, our favourite place to watch ‘must see’ programmes — naturally enough in the company of our friends and family. Not only that, despite access to a range of catch up services like, iPlayer and 4oD, the UK still loves live TV.

So, what does this mean for PR and communications?

family fortunes and staff engagement

March 6, 2014 Darren Caveney

Employee engagement is a strand of internal comms. Here's an inspiring story of how a housing provider engaged with more than 200 staff in difficult times.

by Caroline King

What happens when you mix Play Your Cards Right, Blind Date, Family Fortunes and an old school headmaster?

Well at Helena Partnerships you have the recipe for a very lively (and noisy) staff event, complete with yellow brick road.

three things that make me cross

March 5, 2014 Darren Caveney

There really are some things that unite every comms person. In this post the chair of LGComms vents some spleen and raises a few things that will make more than a few nod in recognition.

by Cormac Smith

I love my work in local government. Both in my day job as a senior communications advisor and in my national role of chairman of LGcommunications I get to work with some fantastic people doing work that I hope makes a real difference.

digital engagement stars as socitm's better connected published

March 3, 2014 Darren Caveney

Socitm Insight’s annual snapshot of the state of development of 432 UK local council websites, Better connected 2014, is published today.

by John Fox

This year’s report includes analysis of a special survey that examined digital engagement.

Engagement is vital to help promoting channel shift, but also for securing citizen focus and encouraging citizen feedback into services. Promoting online services is just as critical as providing online services that work and are easy to use. In fact, marketing is a key component in achieving cost-saving channel shift and ensuring the success of ‘digital by default’ strategies.

winston churchill and the art of knowing when to powerpoint

March 2, 2014 Darren Caveney

Never. In the field of human conflict. Has powerpoint. Badly deployed. Caused so much damage. Of course, Winston Churchill was a good leader. But he was never hindered by pie charts and bullet points on powerpoint. In this post look at where you need to tailor the approach.

by GUEST EDITOR Chris Bolton

Excellent News! Through extensive research* I’ve located a picture of Winston Churchill from June 1940, practicing his Powerpoint presentation of the ‘fight them on the beaches’ speech.

If you squint carefully (its an old picture) you can just make out the Pie Chart percentages of where the fighting will take place: Beaches 45%, Landing Grounds 20%, Fields 10% etc. Apparently Churchill was ready to deliver the carefully crafted presentation when, during a bombing raid the House of Commons projector bulb was shattered by some stray shrapnel. The result was the impromptu, unsupported speech to Parliament, and the rest is history.

wikipedia - open knowledge for all

February 24, 2014 Darren Caveney

If you spend any time at all online and want to know something in a hurry, where do you go? The chances are that you'll log on to Wikipedia, even if you get there via Google, but how much do you know about this vast knowledge base?

by GUEST EDITOR Stevie Benton

Founded in 2001, Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Its mission? To share the sum total of all human knowledge with everyone on the planet, for free. That's a lofty ambition and one that can never be fulfilled. But that isn't stopping Wikipedia contributors – Wikipedians – from having a real go at making it happen.

how two film fans used Twitter to crowdsource a crowd

February 18, 2014 Darren Caveney

Two blokes had an idea in a pub. 'Wouldn't it be great,' one said, 'if we could watch 'Withnail & I' in the cinema with some mates.' They nodded. They posted the idea to Twitter. The idea grew. It spread. Now, it's a fully blown weekend of cultural activity. All organised through social media.

by Matt Bowsher and Hugh Evans

I think of my smartphone as a giant digital octopus. It can take the most random of thoughts and reach a virtual tentacle out to connect with someone similarly afflicted.

All soc med (but for me Twitter in particular) provides immediacy; the sense of the now. The connections that we make create a sense of the active stakeholder as opposed to the passive consumer. Going to a cinema to watch a film is an act of passive consumerism. Creating the demand to tell the cinema what to screen isn't.

from cock-up to case study: a cautionary tale of when twitter goes bad

February 11, 2014 Darren Caveney

Sometimes with social media things go a bit wrong. Something happens that is unplanned and leaves you with egg on your face. So, you're in a hole. How do you get yourself out of it? Honesty and humour, it seems.