For successful international PR campaigns, it is very important to have PR professionals who understand the local market, know the local media, live the local culture and speak the local language. But this does not have to mean you have to have a retained PR firm in each country.  Much of the management can be handled at a regional level,  for instance campaign coordination, creating regional content and measurement of success.  So  in-country teams focus on personal media outreach and monitoring.

There are also benefits for certain campaigns that may only need to reach an English speaking audience such as in South East Asia,  Middle East or Southern Africa where there are number of regional media in English or in Latin America where Spanish and Portuguese dominate.

Now that we are working in 50 countries and with Regus in 30, it was time to move forward with our plan to establish 10 regional hubs that can cover the whole world. These regional hubs will be

1. London: Western Europe
2. Paris: Southern Europe
3. Munich: DACH region
4. Prague: Central & Eastern Europe
5. Dubai: Middle East
6. Johannesburg: Africa
7. Singapore: Asia
8. Sydney: Australasia
9. Buenos Aires: Latin America
10. San Francisco: North America

Apart from London and Paris, which are owned offices, BondPR regional hubs will be joint ventures with independent local PR firms or experienced professionals who are already working with us. Where possible we will concentrate resources and activity at the regional hub level and bring in any of our established team of local delivery partners in over 80 countries as required.

The aim is to offer one point of contact for the world or the region, so reducing the hassle of coordinating multiple agencies or managing separate campaigns at a country level. This means clients retain control centrally or regionally, ensuring consistent messages, topical content and cost effective use of budget.

So if you want to talk to the world, talk to us, global campaigns just got easier…….. more info

As Regus grew to operate in over 75 countries, so too did the number of PR agencies and it became a  management nightmare. Regus still maintain agencies in 10 key markets  such as UK, USA, France…., but for 30 countries where there were 20 agencies, there is now one. Regus wanted the best support in local markets but through a single point of contact, they selected BondPR, as we offer “a unified cost-effective and results orientated approach, as well as good chemistry and significant global reach.”

The campaign is being built around Regus’s key messages which are particularly relevant at this time of globalisation, cost review and changing work patterns.  Regus  already generates a significant amount of content in the form of news, articles, briefing papers, surveys and research reports. BondPR is tailoring, localising and translating this content to meet the needs of key business and management media around the world.

So being in PR we wrote a news release about this.

We  were already a customer of Regus and look forward to making a significant impact on their further success.

I can’t tell you how many countries they are running campaigns in but I do know BondPR International though not yet in the Top 20 list is currently running campaigns in 50 countries through its own offices, regional hubs and established delivery partners, working for companies like Autodesk and Regus. Reach out…. we are there.

Now running campaigns in over 50 countries for 40 clients

Just started a campaign for the leader in serviced and virtual offices across 30 countries

In process of rolling out our plan to establish 10 regional hubs across the world to give full global coordination

Merging a PR firm with our UK operation

That’s all for now……

Actually we have been handling international PR campaigns for PR firms in the UK, USA and Germany for a while but now want to extend our partnerships and also offer white label service if required.

BondPR only has direct employees in three countries but has put in place delivery partners in a further 77 countries and is currently active in 30. We add value by making multi-county campaigns simple. We manage the international team and take care of consistency and quality of service, offering one point of contact. However if a PR firm wants just one country we may put them in direct contract with our local office.

As more clients look to manage international campaigns centrally partially due to budget constraints, then this option makes sense, they have their main PR firm whether it is in USA, UK  or wherever and they can use BondPRNet to deliver the campaign and the message as if it was their own team. Yes, it makes multi-country campaigns simple.

Pope

Living in Rome as I do, one becomes used to reading about the latest Pope Watch News: from condom usage in Africa to global interfaith dialogue, to his favorite flavor of gelato (Pope John Paul II was apparently a fan of marron glace - the verdict is still out for the current Pope Benedict).

I loved the recent announcement that His Eminence was starting a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, providing content for iPhones, and joining the wacky world of Twitter.  What a hipster, that Popester.  Who knew?

It’s all part of the celebration to mark the World Social Communication Day (May 24), founded by the second Vatican Council following a decree on the media of Social communications back in the 60’s.  The church uses “Social Communications” to refer to the mass media in general – so not necessarily referring to the “social networking” phenomenon that are embodied by Twitter, Facebook, etc.  This Vatican decree overturned a previous Church position that was critical of the liberty of the press, and the day has been used to give an annual update to the followers of the Catholic Church and to foster communication amongst the faithful.

PR, of course, is all about communication, and the exploding social media phenomenon insists that this now be two-way communication with our stakeholders and our community influencers in order to survive.

The Vatican has clearly recognized that it needs to keep on top of its PR game as much as any multi-national corporation in order to maintain visibility and credibility in the global marketplace.  To survive in the competitive area – jockeying for position amongst innumerable faiths and, every more increasingly, the growing tide of “non-faiths” (agnostics and atheists) – the Catholic church must maintain this critical two-way dialogue in a meaningful way with its “customers”.  They must strive to ensure that they don’t migrate to the “competition”,  and try to attract new customers interested in buying its celestial “product”.

How successful will the Holy See be in his endeavor ( www.pope2you.net )?  Will the young, and the not-so-young, flock to the papal Facebook page or track Benedict’s Twitter updates or stay tuned to the Vatican YouTube channel  (http://www.youtube.com/vatican?gl=IT&hl=en-GB )?  Will the content be engaging, uplifting, valuable, provocative, inspiring?  Will the church be able to utilize this medium as an effective crisis control tool?  Will the Pope follow in Ashton Kutcher’s footsteps and surpass a million followers?

God only knows.

So we thought we would help here, to get you started Bond-i has set up its new Bondcast service, driven by our very own Neville Hobson, who has got to be one of the most experienced podcasters on the planet, having presented a show called “For Immediate Release” for four years and also co-written the definitive book on Podcasting. Corporate podcasting should be an integral part of any organization’s PR mix, it’s a valuable medium for communicating your message to a targeted audience - whether that’s customers, prospective staff, media or other key influencers. So listen up, podcast your message……now, you may be heard and eventually seen by the people you want to influence.

So just take the “news” release for what it is, a release of news to everyone. Craft it carefully so your key words and phrases are included and get it out online. so when a real journalist or blogger is researching your field, they find you by hitting on the content you created. And don’t just do one release a month, write more short pieces, even very week, just updates on your company, comments on the market, agenda setting thoughts on your sector. Also make sure your international offices get them too so that it gives ideas they can adapt and amplify locally. But don’t send them unsolicited to journalists, just the online news sites, journalists deserve the personal approach. So create the buzz, then you may get the bang.

So it was interesting to note that BondPR is currently handling campaigns for tech companies in 30 countries through its team of offices and established delivery partners. So does that make us Number One for global reach!