Author: Becky Green (was McMichael)

knickers to that

Posted on by Becky Green (was McMichael)

Last week saw M&S issue a profit warning, much to the surprise of the city, so apparently, people make do with shabby old grey pants and buy their parmesan in Aldi in a recession downturn therefore, Britain’s favourite department store gets hit squarely in the wallet.

Seems like their ads have also been scaled down a peg or two with the throaty “this is no ordinary…..” being replaced with a far more economically sound “this is a meal for two for a tenner” style…I guess they know their customers pretty well though – interesting to see what the next quarter holds and whether their change in message and voice impacts the bottom line.

the next big thing

Posted on by Becky Green (was McMichael)

Many people spent the afternoon sobbing into their o2 contracts today as the iPhone pre-order system in the UK melted down.

As so often happens these days, a well-timed post on Twitter between Simon Bisson and Jon Silk then got me wondering why some people just HAVE to have the newest shiniest gadget as early as possible (if not before) and just cannot seem to wait.

According to the latest research from The Wellcome Trust, it isn’t just impatience or an obsession with big boys/girls toys it is in the genetic make-up of some of us and caused by the same chemicals that make us seek out other types of buzz….adrenaline sports, drink, drugs, gambling, you name it.

Does it explain why you can no longer move in our little cottage for camera bits, lenses, routers, flatscreen monitors/TVs and computers since my husband stopped going out boozing as much and gave up snowboard seasons?

Take heart though because the next time your partner goes mental at another sparkly delivery arriving on the doormat you can legitimately blame it your hugely enlarged ventral striatum!

chill with the still

Posted on by Becky Green (was McMichael)

You know sometimes when you feel the power of an ad/viral/wom campaign and just cannot help be pulled into finding more about it? Well the latest one to do that to me is the Oasis ad seen here on youtube and talked about on my Twitterfeed by Tom Nixon.

I just spent 30 minutes trying to work out where the music is from (finally settled on True Romance/Badlands – hat tip my husband for the latter) and numerous Google searches revealed people are already discussing it. Added on 2 July it only has about 2000 hits so far so I’ll enjoy watching to see if this one becomes a win.

carry on campervanning

Posted on by Becky Green (was McMichael)

…well we finally did it. After living in Cornwall for 5 years, having campervan-envy at every festival we’ve ever been to and almost getting divorced every time we’ve had to erect a tent, we have only gone and bought ourselves a shiny new (to us) van!

The beast of choice is a 2001 Mazda Bongo and we collect it in a couple of weeks. My dearest husband is already looking at ways to pimp it so I’ll be closely monitoring any large packages being delivered from this point forwards!

Best of all, I kept my Grandad’s “anything off for cash?” spirit alive by getting 10% off the price and a load of extras lobbed in for nowt. Now we just need a sunny weekend and we’re off on the open road. Watch this space for road trip piccies.

all doom and gloom on the pink pages

Posted on by Becky Green (was McMichael)

For some clients, achieving coverage in the FT is still the most constant request and a crucial measure of success for a lot of corporate campaigns.

Looking at today’s paper though makes you wonder why though.

The main paper doesn’t have a single positive story until page 14 with the exception of a pr survey on page 3 that prob cost a fair amount in research fees and achieved a small column of about 25O words.

With headlines in the main paper dominated by words a such as danger, fraud, bribe, trouble and crisis (and companies and markets is no better) it left me feeling relieved that none of my clients are featured.

Whilst the ft reaches a crucial audience for many organisations, the job for PRs of getting positive news covered by relevant and respected outlets is getting increasingly tougher.

The basics don’t cut it now, one story does not fit all and knowing your media (online, offline, telly, blogs or whatever) is more important than ever before. With this much access to journalists’ likes and dislikes, lazily targeted or mismatched PR pitches are totally inexcusable. All it takes is a decent amount of groundwork and a bit of thought.

As a client selecting an agency in today’s climate, I would be demanding a senior but switched on team; really creative and intelligent ideas; a willingness to try new stuff and an outstanding contact book. It is a competitive market and those that try harder, go the extra mile and deliver over and above what is expected for both media and clients will be the ones who end up winning.