Sir Mervyn King, the outgoing governor of the Bank of England, has a seriously optimistic perspective for Greater Manchester’s economy in the forthcoming years due to its vibrant creative industries.

The economist visited The Point at Lancashire County Cricket Club this week, and commended the region for consistently adapting to the changes in the business environment, referring in particular, to how the city has taken advantage of the opportunities offered by media and professional industries.

Speaking exclusively to the Manchester Evening News, Sir Mervyn gave special praise to the universities in the North West he described as “outstanding” and crucial for the future of the economy.  The innovation-prone mentality and the excellent facilities were two of the other ingredients he said that made the former Bank of England governor believe in Manchester’s prosperous future.

Sir Mervyn said to the MEN: “My visit to Manchester, with its growing services sector, has provided a striking demonstration of how its economy has adapted and diversified since I first joined the Bank of England over 20 years ago.

“The MediaCityUK campus is just one example of the innovation that can be found in the region.”

At the end of the visit, Sir Mervyn stopped over at one of the poles of innovation in the region, MediaCityUK, where he met with representatives of the University of Salford.

The post Manchester’s economy has bright future ahead, says Sir Mervyn King appeared first on Admiral PR and Marketing.

The Guardian has teamed-up with Apadmi, a Manchester-based mobile software developer to make a significant step forward in changing the way we think about journalism.

Collaborating closely with the newspaper, Apadmi launched the app Guardian Witness as a platform to allow anyone to submit their own journalistic content using nothing but a smartphone to access and share written and visual media about critical events in the UK and around the world.

Apadmi CEO, Garry Paddington, remarks how “the fact the global news cycle is now based on immediacy and interactivity means it fits perfectly with mobile and smartphone technology.” Therefore, in real-time has become the new way to provide news and in a world where weekly and daily deadlines are anachronistic these will soon be replaced by an as-soon-as-possible approach to news gathering.

The app was released free of charge and is currently available on Android and iOS. It supports social integration with Twitter and Facebook so the user can browse open media and also read other contributors’ works and draw from it for their own inspiration.

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In Saudi Arabia earlier this year, authorities removed three men from the Jenadrivah Heritage and Culture Festival in Riyadh because they were ‘too handsome’ and likely to provoke lustful thoughts among the women who caught sight of them. The men were deported, thus saving the authorities from having to deal with amorous glances distracting the female population from the spirit of the festival.

Far be it for me to understand the suffering endured by the exceptionally attractive, but I do see that it is important for everyone to understand their individual weaknesses. My personal favourite is a young girl I knew in London who was asked at a job interview what her greatest failing was and, instead of rolling out the usual spin about being far too conscientious or hard-working, she replied that her problem was that she was ‘really really lazy.’ Not surprisingly, her response was not met with enthusiasm.

In some circumstances our weaknesses are less immediately obvious or detrimental, but nonetheless worth confronting. For example, if a company is aware that social media is a useful way to communicate with customers but does not know how to set about engaging, metaphorically dipping a toe in the water is a good start, but, without data analysis and a well-considered strategy, it is more likely their efforts will make them blend into the crowd like the thousands of men at the Saudi festival who were deemed unattractive enough not to distract the female sex.

To stand out from the crowd, research and expertise are required. There are a number of analytic tools available which can identify the demographic of the people visiting a website, what the optimum time is for them to visit and what type of posts elicit the greatest number of responses or which key words attract the greatest number of searches. All this is valuable data but it is specific to one business. What many companies want to know is what other companies are doing and how far they have gone to embrace the new technology. After all, Laura Fernee only thinks she is too beautiful because she is able to compare herself with other women.

To meet this demand, Admiral has produced its own analytic tool, SociaLIGHT, which identifies the strengths and weaknesses of companies in a way that they can easily compare their social media success with others in their sector and region. Similarly, having insight into where and how a good social media strategy is effective for someone else, provides important information upon which to base future plans.

Click on the link to get your company’s SociaLIGHT score.

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As the campaigning continues, we caught up with election candidate and Admiral’s chairman, Stephen Waddington, to find out why he is standing for president and his promises to the profession.

Fit for the future

I am standing for President of the CIPR because I believe the public relations profession stands at a moment in time.

1. We have a real opportunity to assert our value as a management discipline that enables organisations to engage in a two-way conversation, and ultimately a relationship, with its audiences.

2. We also have the opportunity to improve the reputation of our industry via professional development.

I’m standing on a commitment to 10 words and 10 pledges for a future-looking Institute committed to professional development.

Media fragmentation

This election has become polarised between change brought on by media fragmentation and the traditional roots of public relations practice.

My view is that public relations has never had such a compelling opportunity to assert its value. We are helping organisations engage with internal and external publics in two-way dialogue.

We work in an editorial environment, listening and creating a narrative to enable organisations to engage with their publics.

Increasingly thanks to developments in measurement and evaluation we can put a number on the value that we deliver to an organisation, making public relations more compelling than ever.

Professional development

Many of you as members will never see the CIPR’s London-base. The CIPR’s strength lies in its members in the nations and regions.

I’m a member of the North East group. I live in Northumberland and work in London and across Europe. I’m proud to have been nominated by members from around the country.

I know personally that my skills, strengthened through professional development at the CIPR – in my case Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Chartered accreditation – have a direct impact on my income and my career success.

That’s a story that we need to tell to both practitioners and employers. As President, I will make sure every member, no matter where they are, gets the value from membership of the CIPR.

Member engagement

Throughout this election, I have been staggered by the engagement with both members and non-members. I have been listening carefully and engaging directly. It is a very clear example of how our profession is changing.

What is clear is that addressing how the CIPR continues using social media, will drive member engagement locally, regionally and internationally.

As President I will engage directly with members and industry colleagues through monthly discussions. I’ve proposed Twitter but will use whatever media the majority of members prefer.

I will continue to engage with the profession through writing, speaking and blogging.

Please join with a growing number of members who want to see us embrace change, deliver for members and be the go to organisation for professional communicators.

Stephen is ready to fulfil his promises.  If you’re a member of the CIPR and can vote, please do. Don’t forget, #vote4wadds. 

The post Fit for the future: Stephen Waddington is standing for CIPR President appeared first on Admiral PR and Marketing.

‘I think it shows shocking ignorance about the courage and heroism involved in rescuing the islands from an illegal invasion,’ said veteran Simon Weston, ‘John Lewis ought to hang its head in shame at this appalling insult.’

A Falkland Island’s Government spokesman was also quoted, expressing his disappointment at the insensitive inaccuracy and the Daily Mail describes the ‘fury over ‘Malvinas’ globes on sale’. Yet with little more than a cursory examination, it appears that the error was found only on a particular batch of globes which differed from the sample that had been approved for production. As soon as the error was spotted, a new stock of globes was ordered. It is unfortunate for John Lewis that these islands in the South Atlantic marked the thirtieth anniversary of their liberation from occupation last summer, that inhabitants voted to stay British in a referendum in March and that the death of Margaret Thatcher renewed interest in the conflict. The topic was therefore deemed newsworthy by the news editors; a quick and easy decision for them but one that may have a long lasting effect on the John Lewis brand.

For a national institution like this, being called ‘unpatriotic’ is damaging and will have kick-started a crisis communications strategy set up specifically to minimise the impact. They only have to think back to Gerald Ratner’s use of the word ‘crap’ about his own products, Tesco’s casual interpretation of the term ‘beefburger’ or the effect of Starbucks’ tax evasion exploits. All had an effect on the companies involved but the crisis communication tactics were as different as the results: Ratner could not argue with what he had said and lost everything while Tesco published full page apologies in all national newspapers and Starbucks remained resolutely silent. Only time will tell what the long term implications will be for them.

Meanwhile, at John Lewis HQ no one could be expected to have anticipated this exact scenario but it is certain that a plan is in place for an unspecified eventuality that affects the reputation of the business. So far, a modest explanation of the error has been put forward, but, depending on the extent of the damage, it will be interesting to see what steps are taken next. If the reputational ripples spread no further, it would, however, be foolish to imagine that there has not been a huge amount of frantic activity behind the scenes. Sometimes the best result for a crisis communications consultant is that no news is good news.

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Some of the most common questions we’re asked by organisations relate to social media. Have you ever asked yourself which social media channels you should be using? How can you measure the effectiveness of social media on your business? What’s the best way to manage your social media profiles? If you have, you’re not alone . . .

With 800 million users on Facebook and 200 million on Twitter it is not surprising that businesses are increasingly interested in embracing social media as a business tool. We have certainly noticed a significant increase in our own clients’ willingness and desire to implement a strategy to make the most of the opportunities the twenty-first century phenomenon provides.

SociaLIGHT as a piece of research provides a benchmark against which all future development can be measured and gives executives the opportunity to measure their progress within their sectors and against their competitors.

We would like the launch of SociaLIGHT to go even further than this, however. We would like it to open up the debate; to encourage businesses to look at their own social media efforts in a critical light and encourage them to question whether they are missing out, whether they are doing enough and whether they are concentrating their efforts on the right platforms.

Whether business leaders like it or not, there is no escaping the reach of social media in the modern business world. A haphazard Facebook page and the occasional tweet is a good start but it falls woefully short of what the best practitioners are doing. For the few that are making good progress along the road to full integration, the whole corporate culture has demonstrably taken social media to its heart. For the rest, a change in mind set is necessary to progress to the next stage.

At Admiral we believe that no public relations campaign can ignore social media. As far as we are concerned, SociaLIGHT is just the beginning!

The post SociaLIGHT: An organisation’s journey through social media appeared first on Admiral PR and Marketing.

May 8 2013: Admiral PR today launches its first ‘SociaLIGHT Index’ which ranks the top 200* companies in the North East and North West of England according to their use of social media.

Giant sports firm Adidas tops the SociaLIGHT Top 200, closely followed by Newcastle United Football Club, Sage UK, Sunderland Football Club and Barbour. Unlike many of the companies analysed, Adidas performs particularly well on Google+, a relatively new social media network and also scores highly for how well it engages with people via its own website and Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The companies in the Index are scored by Admiral’s sophisticated measurement tool, SociaLIGHT, which examines over fifteen different social media and online ‘markers’ and ultimately awards companies a score out of 100 to indicate their success.

All the key social media channels are included such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn. Factors including the quality and quantity of content and user engagement are assessed together with the number and quality of backlinks to a brand’s website, plus the levels of its social media influence.

Georgie Cameron, founder and MD of Admiral PR said: “Businesses are increasingly understanding that social media has an important role in their sales and communications strategies, but many are not sure how best to use these channels and how to track their progress effectively. That is why we have developed SociaLIGHT.”

Nine firms out of the top 10 are selling their products and services to consumers, illustrating that consumer-focused companies are more advanced in their social media prowess than their counterparts.

Cameron continued: “On the whole, B2C companies have gone further with the adoption of platforms such as Google+ and YouTube in addition to Twitter and Facebook. “

An Adidas spokesperson commented: “It’s great news to top an index of this kind - focused entirely on how well we’ve utilised social media to communicate with our UK customer base. Although we could never have expected this a decade ago, the explosion of social media called for a change in strategy and has fundamentally transformed the way we do business.”

Cameron added: “The impact that social media can have is very often underestimated by a lot of organisations but things are beginning to change. SociaLIGHT gives companies an opportunity to see how they compare with their competitors and where progress can be made.”

Companies wishing to know more about SociaLIGHT should click here  where they can also request their score.

The post Admiral PR Launches SociaLIGHT appeared first on Admiral PR and Marketing.

Alternatively, for a fee, to find out how you or your competitors perform in the social media space or what the opportunities are for social media to help you to improve your customer service, online reputation or sales pipeline, choose from either a Silver, Gold or Platinum package.

To get started, simply complete the form on our website or call us on 0191 222 0722. Either way, we will do the hard work for you.

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A picture speaks a thousand words…or so they say. And while there is no denying the truth of that statement, we at Admiral PR would like to add a proviso: the right picture speaks a thousand words; the wrong picture says something else entirely and none of it complimentary.

When the news of Margaret Thatcher’s death broke on Taiwanese television, the picture shown was of American actress Meryl Streep dressed in her role as the first female British Prime Minister. However many millions of images of the grocer’s daughter from Grantham might have been available on the web, they managed to choose the wrong one.

An American online publication shows us the perils of Google Image search when left in the wrong hands. The summary of the plot of Charles Dickens’ classic of English literature David Copperfield is accompanied by a photograph of the modern-day showman magician of the same name. Apart from the obvious amusement factor, the key point here is that it makes the writers look plain stupid.

A vicar once told me that he regarded it as his duty to point out potential problems with the names at children’s christenings. Sometimes, he said, couples did not realise that they had given their babies initials that would later embarrass them. Well, a good PR professional is in the same position. It is his or her job to look at everything with a forensic attention to detail, utilising their knowledge of all press sectors, to ensure that their client never says or does something that they might later come to regret. To this end, they sometimes have to impart difficult truths and clients need to be able to have enough trust in them to listen.

I suspect there are few brave enough to have a candid word with Kumbuka, but with his good looks and natural flair for PR that probably will not be necessary.

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We’re looking to recruit an experienced Account Manager to join the team at our head office in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Candidates should have at least three years’ agency experience covering B2B PR including professional and financial services.

If you’re looking for an exciting career and want to join a hardworking, dynamic team, we’d like to hear from you.

To find out more, please email your CV and covering letter to andrea.dixon@admiralpr.com

The post We’re hiring! appeared first on Admiral PR and Marketing.