Drew B's take on tech PR

A marriage between the BBC and the Guardian?

My thanks go to Dennis Howlett, who posted some opinions today that I wanted to republish. Dennis states his case on the BBC.co.uk relaunch debate:

Murdoch empire on BBC - it's completely outrageous

Murdoch group attacks the BBC web relaunch in tomorrow's Financial Times, which looks like it's going to be printing this story - the MySpace people are attacking the BBC people over its planned social web overhaul of bbc.co.uk:

James MacManus, an executive director of Murdoch’s News International, accused the BBC of “blatantly commercial ambitions” and of seeking “to create a digital empire. Our view is that can only damage the development of commercial digital media. This is being done with public money. It really is outrageous," he said.

What do all the other Web 2.0 players think? Step forward! (and thanks to RC, who's chipped in already :-)

The homeless blog

"A homeless woman in London has been living in a car since last summer. But by writing a blog she has put herself in touch with an international audience," says BBC Online.

A blog called Wandering Scribe has just caught my attention. BBC Online continues:

"Having already lost her job and with money problems, she was struggling to pay the rent. But this is the information age. Even though she doesn't speak to anyone, she can go into a library where she can access the internet and write an online journal - a homelessness blog - which she uses to describe all her unspoken experiences and feelings."

We'll continue seeing examples of citizen journalism coming from unimaginable tangents such as this in the future, and expecially with the BBC's new website encouraging participation from its readers.

A brighter BBC 2.0

Having seen some of the reports today on the new look (yet to be launched) BBC Online, I'm totally taken aback... I just can't believe that the BBC, the institution that it is, will be going all Web 2.0 on us, quoting MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, Technorati and Wikipedia as examples of the way it's going. How cool will this be!

Here's what Reuters is reporting:

Initiatives include a plan to let radio listeners create their own customised stations, and the creation of a teen-focused brand that will span TV, radio and broadband.

And this is from The Guardian:

BBC director of new media and technology Ashley Highfield's presentation, Beyond Broadcast, outlined a three-pronged approach to refocus all future BBC digital output and services around three concepts - "share", "find" and "play". He said the philosophy of "share" would be at the heart of what he dubbed bbc.co.uk 2.0.

The truth and the politics of spin

Tomorrow night Liam Fox MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, is speaking at a CIPR event  called 'the politics of spin'. I wonder how Mr Fox's views will differ to those in John Lloyd's hugely entertaining Finanical Times article titled 'the truth about spin'?

Extensive discussions have taken place over the weekend on the blogs of Neville Hobson (28 comments and counting!), David Tebbutt, Philip Young, Antony Mayfield and others about this FT article. The most entertaining portion of the article is below. You've gotta love that attitude. 

There is a phrase attributed to, among others, Harold Evans when he was editor of The Sunday Times, which was advice given to his reporters: “Always ask yourself, when interviewing a politician, why is this bastard lying to me?” It’s been denounced as cynical, but it’s from a more innocent age. It was self-servingly innocent to assume that “lying” is a one-sided phenomenon. Today, advice by any government communications adviser to ministers, MPs, civil servants and political aides would be a variation on the Evans advice: “Always ask yourself, when being interviewed by a journalist, how will this bastard distort what I’m saying?”

[disclaimer - Liam Fox MP is speaking at the LEWIS Media Centre]

Perplex City, one of the most powerful guerrilla marketing mechanisms ever invented

Heard of Perplex City yet? The ARG (Alternate Reality Game) mixes puzzles with staged websites, fake newspaper ads and cryptic phone messages to give some kind of new user experience, the kind of practice which is being used more and more in cutting edge marketing and PR programmes. If the way Perplex City works sounds mental - check out how it was launched to the media.

"The first anyone knew about Perplex City was when cryptic  adverts were placed in newspapers around the world (including the  Times and the Guardian) asking for help in finding a mysterious  missing object known as "the Cube". No contact information was given  - just a link to a site called perplexcity.com. Meanwhile around the  world, hundreds of postcards simultaneously appeared in clubs, bars,  shops and other public places, all containing subtle clues that led  to the same website." The Guardian

And take a look at the feedback:

"One of the most powerful guerrilla marketing mechanisms ever invented" CNET

"The interactive phenomenon of the year" The Guardian

"The pioneer of a lucrative new marketing channel" Financial Times

"Audiences are already starting to demand more "ARGish" elements in their mainstream entertainment -- "Lost" has been a great example of this. Audiences today grow more invested in their entertainment than in years past. For many viewers, it's not enough to just passively watch a TV show, anymore; now you talk about it in an online forum, you listen to the director's podcast, you visit websites for corporations that exist only in the show. Everything ties in together and makes the whole experience far more entertaining and engaging. Several major entertainment companies, from the Video Game sector to Hollywood, are looking very closely at Alternate Reality Games. As an industry we've barely scratched the surface of what can be achieved using this incredibly exciting new form of storytelling and gameplay. The future for ARGs looks very bright indeed." BusineessWeek

Such amazing press endorsement could arguably only be generated by the kind of cutting edge PR and marketing techniques deployed by the company behind Perplex City - Mind Candy. We may be starting to see the end of successful PR programmes that rely solely on traditional tactics and techniques.

Perplex City Podcast | Forums | News RSS Feed | Top 50 RSS Feed

Second Life gets the BusinessWeek cover story treatment

Second Life gets the cover story treatment in BusinessWeek. For those of you that haven't been following the buzz about Second Life - it's a mix between a chat room, a MMORPG (massive multiplayer opnline roleplaying game), MySpace, blogs, everything.

"Participants launch Second Life's software on their personal computers, log in, and then use their mice and keyboards to roam endless landscapes and cityscapes, chat with friends, create virtual homes on plots of imaginary land, and conduct real business."

Related post: Could Second Life be the next MySpace

tip Steve Rubel

Business blogging gains ground in Eastern Europe

The Prague Post has an article on business blogging that's well researched and a good read for firms looking into it from a basic level:

Corporate blogging — interactive online communication between businesses, their partners and customers that gives companies two-way communication with the public — is catching on here. Companies such as Seznam, software developer AllPeers and online marketing firm Advertures all have blogs, and more are expected.

There's also some do's and don'ts that are basic ("discuss issues of general interest related to your business") but good.

Long running tech PR blog fades away

One of the first UK tech PR blogs has hung up its hyperlinks and bid farewell to its readers. Goodbye to The World of High Tech PR. Why not subscribe to its feed in case it comes back from the dead.

PR Week editor starts blogging

The editor of PR Week.com US has started blogging at Ubiquitous Marketing. 

hat tip Stephen Davies, in passing conversation in the office.