I came across this great website the other week (created by 10 Yetis’ Rich Leigh), and I am now an author, picking out and searching for great and wonderful PR campaigns which we can all admire and learn from! If only this website has been around when I was at University, there were so many times I could have done with a portal of recent PR stunts and campaigns. So I see this website been a great success.

The website is http://prexamples.com/

Follow them at @PRExamples

Although the charity has received backlash for the amount of money spent on the video, the video has seen Twitter takeover and one of the fastest ever YouTube take-offs ever known.

The video has certainly gone viral, and has caught the attention of the world! With the hope of lobbying and pushing the arrest of Kony, Hollywood celebs such as Angelina Jolie have shown their support for the campaign. And according to a recent report on the Guardian website, “The group raised $5m (£3.2m) in just 48 hours after uploading the film, which makes an explicit call for contributions. What will happen to those funds is unclear: financial statements for Invisible Children show that only 32% of the $8.6m it raised last year went to services in northern Uganda.”

The campaign certainly shows the power of social media in creating attention, drawing people in, shouting out… but we shall see what power social media has in creating change and actions. The world is a changed place, so the question we are all asking is, can a viral video stop a killer?!

I’m sure you will have already seen the video, but if not then watch it here:

*Image from Google Images

Thinking about it, I am not too sure where to start…I think it would only be right to start with Keith Chegwin. Yes, you did read this right…

One of our clients, PCHPrizes.co.uk, who are a very well known prize giving company in the US have launched their UK version, and we were there to help the launch and their first prize give-away of £100,000!!! I started Hatch at the right time to become involved in this process, and after a magnificent launch party in London, I then jetted (well drove) to Reading (well Newbury) to become a part of the ‘Prize Patrol team’ and surprised our first winner with £100,000 cheque with Keith Cheggers.

Firstly, we had to research her on the internet and find out where the lucky prize winner worked, so we could go in undercover and surprise her at her desk! It was a mission, but a really funny morning. Watch the video here www.pchprizes.co.uk/winners and make sure you enter the next free prize draw!I have also recently spent the day with Keith doing a Radio Day in London, which allowed us to get our campaign messages out to a range of national and regional radio stations.

Together with all that excitement we have been busy working with Thomas Cook Sport promoting their match breaks packages and running competitions with national media and online alongside helping out with their social media development and reporting.

With the Olympics now only a few months away, we have been busy working with Thomas Cook London 2012 who are the Official Short Breaks Provider for the Games. I have been busy profiling the MD through securing interviews with national magazines and papers, preparing speaking opportunities, alongside hitting the phones speaking to journalists about our clients plans and involvement with the Games.

During January we also turned our attention to flying furry pets, as we headed up the UK’s only Rabbit Grand National! After jetting a team of Swedish Rabbit Jumping specialists over, we arranged a weekend showcase which saw the crowds flock to the little Yorkshire town of Harrogate. There is never a dull moment!

I shouldn’t really mention our Hatch night out in this post, but otherwise it wouldn’t be a Hatch blog post… as Hatch know how to party and have fun after all the hard work is done. After my first few weeks we planned a night out to welcome Charlie and myself to the team. It was a very warm welcome indeed, lots of singing (screeching on my part) in the Karaoke booth in Arc, many Jagers, then drinks and dancing down Call Lane into the early hours. For our Christmas party, we stayed the night in Edinburgh and went out for a cocktail master-class and an evening meal.

Hatch have recently won three new CIPR Awards which were awarded at the Yorkshire & Lincs CIPR Awards in Leeds back in November – another good evening. It doesn’t stop there, as Hatch are now up for more awards at FRESH later this year. You know when you have joined a good team!

There is so much more to mention about, but I must keep this short and sweet until my next post.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,200 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Pitching will get stronger

At Hatch (my work), we are constantly reviewing how we speak to journalists about our client’s stories, we must keep things new, fresh, news worthy and relevant to the current market. This is becoming more important than ever, as main stream media has seen many cuts to their publications from staffing to distribution, as exemplified by the Liverpool Post changing from a daily to a weekly publication. It’s very important for PR’s to keep up to date with all the changes in the media world.

Social media will increase in strength

It is already apparent how social media has changed the role of ‘influencers’, and how consumers now practice on a new platform to air their views, concerns and delights. This medium is fantastic for PR’s to utilise in their work for brands, however it is also a concern in terms of crisis management – as bad news travels even faster, therefore enhancing the need for brands to have PR support!

Who owns social media?

The debate surrounding who social media belongs to will continue to shine. It is predicted by the Hatchlings that social media and the world of online communications will become so vast that only professional communicators will know how to manage, intervene and create online communication. Technological skills are being picked up quickly by communication professionals, meaning specialist digital agencies may be left behind.

The role and understanding of PR will grow

The increasing understanding of the importance of online communications and the impact of vastly spreading messages will mean there will be a greater need for Public Relations professionals. We will bring our views on the changing media world, reputation management, crisis communication, internal communication, and community relations.

New news mediums and apps will grow

We can already see how news mediums are having to adapt their online viewing, how they interact with their readers and how they are used by their audiences. We have seen how the Guardian is working with Facebook to allow readers to view what other people are reading and share their stories, and the BBC has adapted their website for mobile/tablet viewing, and over in the States, the Washington Post is adapting the way it is viewed and shared. This is only the start. More and more news publications will need to be advancing and moving into more social ways of spreading their news and we believe 2012 will be the year for this.

How will we purchase in 2012?

It has already been tried and tested to buy things using your mobile phone, and websites can now hold your details, making purchasing easier.  2011 saw a dramatic increase in online shopping, as more savvy online shoppers are already using mobile coupons which are delivered directly to mobile phones, and group buying techniques are on the rise, for example, successful discount website, Groupon. Companies such as Innocent Smoothies have being testing the water by using Twitter as a way of offering group discounts depending on how many people click on a certain link – the more people that do, the more discount they offer. We can certainly say that 2012 will see a dramatic increase in social buying and online shopping – it will be exciting to see what new developments are occurring, and if Facebook develops more into this.

Overview

These are only a few pointers about how the role of communications and the day-to-day role of PR will be affected in 2012. This may sound daunting to some, but as long as you as agencies and PR professionals keep up-to-date with how the world is changing, they can advise their clients correctly. It will be interesting to see how 2012 will change the world we work in today.

Check out my company website Hatch: here

So we could see as much as ‘real’ India as possible, alongside having some chill out time in Goa we packed as much into our two week adventure as we could. Flying straight into Delhi we drove straight to Agra to visit to Taj Mahal, then visited Ranthambore National Park for a safari, and on our third day we traveled to the Holy village of Pushka for a three day stay. After our blessing in the Holy Lake and a vast amount of purchasing of elephant themed presents we took a taxi up to Jaipur to stay with our friend who owns a hotel in the city. He become our guide for our three day stay and took us around all the top sites and underground clubs. Jaipur flew by and our next destination was back up to Delhi on an India train (we had to choose 1st class!), to prepare for our flight down to South India’s hot spot – Goa. It was defiantly a well needed destination after all the action in North India – so chilling by the beach, pool and exploring the bays on our £1.50 per day scooter was a bliss.

Any who is interested in going to India – I would recommend it, but you need to be prepared for what awaits you before you go. If you are after an eye-opening adventure and a chance to increase your understanding of different cultures, places and people then this will be for you. One thing you notice immediately is the vast range between the very rich and the very poor. Their laid back culture means that somethings can’t always go to plan, so the best advice I can give is to chill out and think ‘TII – This is India’ and expect no more. It’s certainly a different experience to a normal holiday but one which I am glad to have added to my list of places I have visited.  Here are a few photos from our trip - TII – This is India!!

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

If I were to go travelling I would love to be able to create something like this!

Absolutely amazing!

“3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage… all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ….into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films…..

= a trip of a lifetime.”

(commissioned by STA Travel Australia)

It certainly is inspiring, and also makes me want to try out my creative skills when I head to India in October! We shall see…

A slightly worrying video made apparently by Microsoft to highlight how Google are invading people’s Gmail accounts and pulling out key words in order to target adverts on your web browser.

As the throng of cyclists pushed through the third stage, TV cameras revealed an incredible animated stunt by local farmers, reading: “the farmers of the 44th (regions are, according to the Frenchies in the office, recognised by numbers as well as names) are proud to feed you”. Take a look at the video below which better demonstrates just how impressive the effort was. (Courtesy of PR Moment)