Max Tatton Blog

PR coverage- a new perspective

Max Tatton-Brown — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 07:53:57 +0000

As you may have heard, last week my agency Wildfire PR released some social media research which saw some pretty excellent pickup all over the place. As PRs, we’re all pretty used to the value of good coverage- traditionally, it’s one of the great magical currencies of what we do and a satisfying achievement. But it’s easy to start seeing it in pragmatic terms as a commodity listed in Excel, meeting targets and making clients happy. It’s easy to lose sight of what coverage may mean to clients, not just in the marketing department but for everyone from the founders downwards. Judging coverage by its… cover Which is why the experience of picking up coverage for this report has been something of a refreshing splash in the face. After hitting the phones and speaking to many of our well-known contacts, and some new faces, hopes were high but there was a natural niggling doubt in our minds. We had confidence in the campaign but there’s coverage and then there’s coverage. So there was a real rush of excitement the next day when stories started to emerge everywhere from TechCrunch through to familiar faces like Econsultancy, Computer Weekly and PR Week. We [...]

Playing Games in Business

Max Tatton-Brown — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:30:26 +0000

Modern Warfare 2, probably the most successful game of all time, sold 7 million copies during its first day on sale. That’s 7 million men, women and childr– Ah… excuse me, as I was saying, 7 million men and children out there who are logging hours on the thing as we speak. But it’s not the only game raking in such numbers with the likes of World of Warcraft and Team Fortress 2 similarly training players in the satisfying swing of character growth and rewards. Alongside this, casual gaming has taken off like never before. At the frontier, we have the posse of eager iPhone gamers but many more are signed up to Facebook apps like Farmville or flash games for their regular fix. I think all these games share something in common; they provide bursts of manageable tasks with accompanying shrinkwrapped satisfaction upon completion. This microcosmic mimicry of the trials and tribulations of everyday life draws people in. The gloss may position them as a warring orc or undercover supersoldier but really, the underlying dynamic is commonly compulsive. The workplace is different On the flipside, not everyone out there can be workplace champions like you or me and replicate their [...]

Sustainable Social Media: A Manifesto

Max Tatton-Brown — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:00:00 +0000

<< Crossposted from my post on the official Wildfire PR blog. Because I like it. >> If one thing has become clear in the last few weeks, it’s that everyone loves the Old Spice guy. He sprung out of nowhere, posted some clever YouTube videos and we all had a good time. But social media was supposed to be about more than this. It was supposed to make companies more transparent and usher in a new age of true public relations – it was supposed to save the world! “I’m on a horse” Instead, the old approach of pushing a brand into consumers’ faces, however entertaining, seems to prevail. Examples like the Old Spice man are typical ‘flash in the pan’ campaigns, disposable advertising that builds as much of a relationship with most viewers as ads ever have. Once it has run its course, P&G will be back to the drawing board for another idea. This marketing will always have its place, it’s part of the mix and when done well, indispensable. But it’s a prime example of social channels being used the old fashioned way. Most importantly, it’s the advertising agency speaking to the viewer, not the business itself. [...]

Stop asking what social media is for

Max Tatton-Brown — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:36:29 +0000

Recent releases of online tools have been plagued by the question: What’s it for? In the case of Buzz, it was criticised for trying to be Twitter. Considering the big question from Twitter luddites is “what’s it for?”, it’s a surprise this paradox didn’t cause a flux in the space time continuum and end life as we know it. So why exactly is it that so many people can see the value they get from Twitter and the confusion of outsiders but then can’t relate that memory back to the position they occupy when a new service arrives? Faux-miliarity Similarly, those who think they get it say “it’s just Facebook status updates.” They’re trying to explain it in terms of familiar values rather than observing more carefully how it’s really used in the field. In reality though, Twitter is such a success precisely because there is no simple answer to what its for. Originally designed as a way to text many people in one go, that purpose has long disappeared into the countless protocols and agendas that have evolved. Retweet defeat The trick is finding the “Goldilocks” balance where you support the ways in which people are using the service [...]

Knowledge and Power

Max Tatton-Brown — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:12:33 +0000

This is as close to a ‘reblog’ as I’m likely to get- advice from a chap called Daniel Ellsberg to a young Henry Kissinger upon him receiving his first top secret clearances. I think it’s one of the most important things you could ever remember when scrutinising the behaviours of Government and other large organisations. Often if there’s a situation that you can’t make sense of or there appears to be a simple and satisfying explanation, the truth is much more complicated. From Ellsberg’s book Secrets and found on the brilliant Kottke blog. “Henry, there’s something I would like to tell you, for what it’s worth, something I wish I had been told years ago. You’ve been a consultant for a long time, and you’ve dealt a great deal with top secret information. But you’re about to receive a whole slew of special clearances, maybe fifteen or twenty of them, that are higher than top secret. “I’ve had a number of these myself, and I’ve known other people who have just acquired them, and I have a pretty good sense of what the effects of receiving these clearances are on a person who didn’t previously know they even existed. And the [...]

Is there a PR career sweet spot?

Max Tatton-Brown — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:31:23 +0000

A PR career is a funny thing. The account exec role births you into a chaotic world of frenzied media relations and client report deadlines. But no sooner do you get a grip on these fundamentals than the skillset gives way bit by bit to a dynamic of planning, strategy and deeper client management. In my experience, both requirements are deeply satisfying but in enormously different ways. What I’m wondering is if there’s a sweetspot somewhere along the career ladder where you get the best of both worlds. After all, there are only traditionally so many positions available- AE, AM, AD/ AssD, MD. Careering towards destiny? Perhaps it comes at different points for everyone. Perhaps it depends to some extent on your agency and what strengths your team requires from you. Perhaps the ‘Senior’ roles (SAE/ SAM) bring a not insignificant granularity too. After all, you’re still doing the same job but for more money and with the excitement of learning the next level’s skills. Sitting as I do near the middle of this chain, I suppose I can’t comment on the big picture but I do know that things get more and more interesting as I move up the [...]

Dell’s Streaky Tablet Strategy

Max Tatton-Brown — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:00:36 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, Dell don’t exactly *need* a tablet PC right now. For a start, they don’t have the OS for it and in reality, the iPad is also too pricey for the mainstream Dell audience to shell out. They aren’t going to buy it instead of a laptop, for example. However, if Dell let Apple get a year’s head start without anything competitive to show in the area, they wouldn’t end up competing with just the iPad but the iPad 2, some kind of Google machine and likely something from the likes of HTC, HP and co. too. With this in mind, they had to do something and quick. Android was really all they had to play with so I can only assume they chucked it onto a few form factors before collapsing in tears at the horrors of Android 1.6 vs the slick and clearly tablet-ready iOS. Desperate Times In such a situation, where you know you’ve got to get something out, it must have almost seemed a relief when someone suggested keeping the phone hardware in as a differentiator. The rescue became a strategy of apples and pears rather than apples and strangely proportioned smaller and [...]

Old Spice: Swan Dive or Cannonball?

Max Tatton-Brown — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:47:59 +0000

By now, you’ll have seen the excellent recent Old Spice ads as well as the ingenious @oldspice followup campaign. But the thing is, as good as they are, its not going to make me buy old spice. And I don’t think I’m the only one. They’re amusing precisely because they take the piss out of the OTT manliness traditionally associated with the brand. At them not with them Well done to Procter & Gamble for embracing a great idea and letting W&K do a good job of it. The brand has certainly received more exposure than it’s seen for a long time. But in terms of building a relationship, I feel a bit like it’s us and W&K sitting together and laughing at a brand that we both know we’d never buy even if it came with free SWAN DIVEs (which, technically, it does.) There’s a good chance some may be more inclined to make the switch and without a doubt its an achievement that this marketing prompted such decisions. But social media campaigns alone can’t fix the problems with the Old Spice product, namely the smell. Style over Substance I have to put this one down as a success [...]

iPad Thoughts- 1 month later (ish.)

Max Tatton-Brown — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:43:20 +0000

A few more observations now that I’ve been using it a while. Naturally if you aren’t interested in iPads then you might want to give this one a miss… Many people express frustration that there’s no apostrophe on the main keyboard. However, a wise few are aware of a trick to summon it- press the exclamation mark/ comma key then drag up; the apostrophe key will appear as if by magic. More of this please Apple (but at least tell your users about it next time…) Tucking a piece of paper into the top of the official case while folded over is the perfect way to write up notes on the train (or anywhere else for that matter.) Please observe the diagram above for evidence. Because of Instapaper, I don’t regret getting the WiFi version rather than the 3G. Loading up articles with the bookmarklet during my work day to read on the train home is a pleasure- if you aren’t aware of it then check it out. The battery life is still brilliant, I do end up charging it every few days but it’s almost an afterthought. Connecting a bluetooth keyboard essentially turns the iPad itself into a little [...]

IPad Thoughts – 4 days in

Max Tatton-Brown — Sun, 30 May 2010 08:18:59 +0000

Time for a few early iPad thoughts (it arrived on Thursday, ahead of schedule!) Will try not to be too gushing and also to avoid topics I've seen discussed most frequently elsewhere. In no particular order: Its not a big iPod Touch- the relationship is the other way round. That device acts as a satellite to this one, a little outpost for the concept and technology. At times it almost feels like a little cute imitation, a knitted memento of its bigger brother. A pleasant unanticipated benefit has been that my iPhone battery lasts way longer. The time I used to spend fiddling with apps on the train has been displaced by eBooks and Wired magazine, leaving more juice in the most vital organ. Having picked up a case today, it makes a big difference to the usability- especially if you get one which can tilt the screen at an angle (as per the official Apple offering.) Uploading documents to iWork.com from the 'MS Office' style apps seems a handy inclusion as anyone with mobile web access can bring up the site without having to open a laptop etc. The Wired app is nice but somehow less satisfying than its [...]