Bite

As my first month as Bite’s Consumer Team graduate account exec comes to a close I am finally able to take a step back and embrace the fact that there hasn’t been a dull moment. 

I first came to Bite back in February, when I completed a six week internship as part of my university degree course in Communications (with Public Relations).  As my placement with Bite came to an end, and I was dealing with the disappointment of leaving, I was lucky enough to be offered a full time position on the graduate programme once I’d graduated.   So back to Aberdeen I went, eagerly awaiting my move to London.

Communications is all about being able to do many things at once, while still having fun, according to Bite UK's new starter Jon Milne

Sure enough, two days after graduation I was en route to the Big Smoke where I would finally be able to join the team and start the work I had only dreamt of just a few weeks before.  As I returned to the office it felt like I had never left.  Except this time the pressure was on.   I couldn’t wait to become involved with all of the different projects, but I didn’t realise I would become attached to so many clients within four weeks.  Within the first 24 hours I had met our 4Music client, a few days later a trip to the local watering hole during a work night out introduced me to our WhipCar associates, and now I find myself working on six accounts (4Music, Whipcar, Getty Images, Palm, Harman and Virgin Digital Help.)

The assignments and responsibilities have varied in the past month, allowing me to really learn the ins and outs of the Consumer Team.  One day you might find me selling in press releases to trades, consumer technology or woman’s lifestyle media, or securing hosted journalists for a consumer technology briefing with Harman. There have also been some social events that I‘ve been able to work on too, such as the 4Music birthday party, The Album Chart Show (where I was lucky enough to see N.E.R.D perform), a private viewing at the Getty Images Gallery and this weekend I will be attending the SW4 festival in London. These social events have been a great way to network with key journalists to develop my media relations skills. It’s a tough job……. but somebody’s gotta do it.

Aside from my Consumer Team duties, I have joined the Culture Team at Bite UK where I helped to organise the FY11 kick-off summer party.  This has been an excellent way to meet other colleagues that I would not necessarily work with on a daily basis.  What makes me love becoming a full time employee at Bite is that what once were personal interests are now crucial to my career. By setting personal aims, objectives and deadlines to achieve, I turn my passion into skills.

These past 30 days have been nothing but a whirlwind.  If my co workers weren’t so open and supportive I probably would have been completely lost, but I can honestly say I feel right at home. My anticipation for the future only makes me look forward to sinking my teeth further into the PR industry and the Bite family.

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A view from one month in…..

Katie Hallen — When news broke Sidney Harman reportedly agreed to purchase Newsweek for $1.00 from The Washington Post Company in exchange for assuming its debts, it gave me pause – what else can you purchase for a buck these days?

If you missed this story ‘Woman filmed dumping cat in wheelie bin in Coventry’ this week (which would have been near on impossible, because it was covered just about everywhere), let me enlighten you.

Lola, a four-year-old tabby cat, went missing in Coventry at the weekend. She was discovered 15 hours later by her owner, Darryl Mann, after he heard her cries from a dustbin. He then checked his security cameras and saw footage of a middle aged woman first stroking Lola and then grabbing her by the neck and throwing her in the bin.

How could she? Cat lovers in Britain were in uproar after a woman put a cat in a bin!

West Midlands Police said they received a call on Sunday evening reporting what had happened. They said the actions caught on CCTV could constitute an animal cruelty offence because of the likely suffering caused to the cat. The police said they were supporting the RSPCA investigation and urged the public to leave the matter to the authorities. From the CCTV footage the woman was identified and a large crowd has now gathered outside the woman’s home and police community support officers have been there to monitor the situation.

Having listened to commuters, colleagues and flatmates discuss this story and how awful it was, it got me thinking. We read awful stories in the news everyday so what was it about this article that really struck a chord with UK readers?

Firstly, we are a nation of pet lovers, so we instantly feel drawn to the story. It is unlikely that it would have received as much hype in other countries where they are not so pet crazy. Animal extremists in the UK are even sending the woman death threats and she is currently under police protection – that’s how much we love our pets!

Secondly the story evoked different emotions in us. Some male friends of mine thought it was hilarious, whereas most of the girls I spoke with thought it was a case of severe animal cruelty and looked really saddened by the incident.   The story is bizarre too; it’s normal for a person to be attracted to a cute cat – you don’t expect them to turn around and throw it in a bin! A moment of madness on her part – I guess we will never know, but however you look at it, it made us all sit up and take notice.

Thirdly, and most importantly, especially in our role as PR professionals, the incident was filmed. We saw exactly what happened. Do you really think this story would have received the same media exposure without the surveillance video? I know I clicked on the video before I’d even got a quarter of the way through the article. I wanted to see this crazy woman.

Video and visual content needs to be a part of everything we do. As more and more video content hits the web and media outlets, it is becoming the norm, and needs to be considered for every campaign, every launch and every release.

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Cat-astrophe caught on camera

Bottled Up: Schweppes is exploding. Literally. The seltzer brand transformed a geyser into an installation in the shape of their bottle, which will stay that way for the next year.

Beat It: NYT put out an article yesterday about the trials and tribulations one must overcome to be a Foursquare mayor – and mentioned new site – When Will I Be Mayor? To beat out @sirronnyc as mayor of M Booth – you would need over 36 check-ins (that’s all you’ve got, Richardson?). My own personal goal is to beat out that lousy Nick G. as mayor of the Bellmore Train Station – 27 check-ins to go! Check out Guest of a Guest’s list for hot NYC mayorships, too!

Lounging for Lunch: We spend a majority of our day feverishly typing and staring at our computer screen – and when lunch comes, we pretty much do the same. Going out to restaurants often takes up too much time and finding a place to sit for a quick bite often proves challenging. Designer Alexandra Pulver seeks a fix for this with her Pop-Up Lunch initiative. She created a lunch bag that doubles as a portable seat.

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Lauren M.

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word. daily. (august 20, 2010)

[Kirkpatrick talks about the concept of Techonomy. Disclosure: HP is a Bite client]

Last week I attended Techonomy, a meeting of some of the greatest minds in academia and technology in the serene mountain setting that is Lake Tahoe. The conference was a three day affair and the first of its kind, a venture created and led by ex. Fortune media masterminds David Kirkpatrick, Peter Petre and Brent Schlender.

The ‘Techonomists’ (people who are using technology to solve the world’s most important economic issues and drive change) came together from all walks of life but were led by Silicon Valley’s finest. The heavy hitters included Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, Kevin Kelly, John Doerr, Bill Joy, Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff and Armory Lovins. The list goes on here.

Overall, it was an inspiring thought provoking buzz of ideas, hope and big thinking. The kind of stuff that brings together best of breed ideas, creates promising relationships and (for me personally) reminds me why I do technology and not another form of PR.

Having never attended Fortune Brainstorm TECH, AIF or DAVOS, I was reliant on other people’s opinion as to how the set up compared.  Some called it ‘super TED with a technology focus’ others thought it was in altogether another league.  Highlights included the interactive first dinner led by Kirkpatrick and Doerr, during which Eric Schmidt, Jeff Bezos and Chris Hughes were put on the spot to answer white-boarded audience-generated questions relating to energy, healthcare and education. Others liked the interactive participation, where questions were sourced and read in real time on stage via iPad. Unusually good timekeeping meant there was also ample time for networking and ad hoc meetings inside the walls of the grandiose Ritz Carlton.

A philosophy for progress but how is progress defined? Let’s take education as an example…

According to Gates, online and computer aided learning will be the way of the future. While educational institutions will remain important, (particularly for children who should be spending 80% of their time in schools) they won’t be essential to getting a good education. Building on the one laptop per child concept, we’ll see that it’s the developing world that will be what guarantees the shift to e-books, not the discussions and hype in the US. This notion was supported in the flesh by Kaplan University who organized filmed Techonmist tutorials featuring case studies and advice from the conference’s best.

You can’t argue the wealth of change makers under one roof, but to make real change the next step has got to be international – Asia, Europe and beyond. More summits, different regions or perhaps even people bought together using the power of technology.  Also, for me, famous tech-heads are personally more of a draw than celebrity Hollywood-heads, but IT-savvy minds only take us so far – hopefully the right government and policy figureheads will help bridge the gap between what Techonomists have started and the policies that really do enable change.

The three musketeers have plans for a Techonomy publication (a long form journalism style pub is expected in the fall). With such mass brain powered support, it’s really only a matter of time before these new concepts and definitions officially enter our tech lexicon. In the meantime, the biggest takeaway of them all comes in the form of one simple lingering question… How will you help change the world today?

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Techonomy: A new philosophy of progress

You may have never heard of an “unboxing video” but its a cultural phenomenon where consumers (usually of the tech geek variety) take videos of themselves unpacking new (mostly electronic) products for all the world to see. Most of these videos are pretty standard, however, some people have taken them to the next level as exhibited by the video above.

-Maria

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You may have never heard of an “unboxing video” but…

Paris: city of light. Home to gastronomic cuisine, luxury brands, beautiful architecture, 3 million Parisians… And now Bite Communications!  

Yes, we’re officially opening an office in central Paris, extending the footprint to this key European market, and adding to the ten existing offices around the world.

So why Paris? Well for many of our clients, France consistently ranks as one of the most important markets in Europe; with one of the largest populations on the continent, and among the highest mobile and broadband penetration rates, it makes sense to incorporate France into many multi-national PR strategies. And what better way to do it than with a team on the ground taking a hands-on approach to business, backed up by really strong group-wide support.

Which is why I’m really excited about leading the Bite team in the country that has been my adoptive home for ten years now. A self-professed Francophile – described by many as “the ‘Frenchest’ English girl I know” (!) – I’ve loved working with home grown clients like France Telecom, just as I have international tech companies keen to resonate with a French audience. Like many Brits over here, I’m passionate about both cultures and really looking forward to creating great campaigns in a country that is evolving in so many exciting ways. 

The key to getting it right here is to understand, and celebrate, France’s uniqueness. This market sets itself apart from the UK and many others in Europe with its own, very specific culture, and in turn its approach to business and PR. It’s essential to have an intrinsic understanding of these aspects to be successful in France as part of an overall European strategy. And we’re confident we have the right formula in a team with one foot either side of the Channel!

So when is this all going to happen? Soundbite Communications, the name we’ll be trading under in France, will officially open its doors on 1 September, on the very chic Boulevard Haussman (no. 21). We’ll start by supporting existing Bite clients HP and Parallels, as well as doing project work for global clients looking for local support. Read the PR Week coverage from Monday 2 August.

We’d be happy to tell you more about this exciting new step, so feel free to contact me or Kath Pooley, Managing Director, EMEA. And look out for the launch party invitation!

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Vive la différence!

To most people, the end of July is a time of the year when the only thing on their minds is what they’re doing for their summer holidays.  While that subject is very much in the minds of many of the senior management team at Bite, we have also been focused on completing our latest financial year and then subsequently planning for the start of our new one.  Needless to say, given the (slowly) improving global economy we’re feeling much more positive about prospects for growth in the next 12 months than perhaps we were last year! 

While it's impossible to see into the future, could this year bring a new dawn for our industry?

As I look forward, I think there are four key challenges that Bite (and in truth, the whole communications industry) faces during the next 12 months and our success will clearly be dependent on our ability to meet these challenges; 

• Talent will become scarce again and will head towards those organisations which provide the right mix of culture, challenge and reward.  We’ve started seeing it already, but as the economy picks up, the scramble for talent will only become more ferocious.  Over the past few years in-house departments have been seen as safe havens by many communicators and it’s likely that agency side will start to look more attractive again as agencies get back into growth mode.  One upshot of this could be that more budgets will also go external as companies struggle to staff programmes internally
• Silos within marketing departments will continue to erode.  I had dinner recently with the CMO of a large B2B software company and he admitted that he only saw marketing challenges (mostly web based) in ‘general’ terms.  What he meant by this was that he identified specific marketing tasks that he needed help with and then was not bothered which kind of agency answered that challenge for him; all he cared about was who understood the challenge the best and had the strongest response to meet it.  Obviously this is both an opportunity and a threat for us
• Budgets will improve, but they’ll be harder to find.  Following on from the last point, as silos break down, traditional budget structures will also change.  It’ll be down to us to go and find the right budget holders and to then sell in the right services
• Other agency disciplines will get ever more aggressive in de-positioning communications agencies.  Yes, I know I’m biased but I truly think we’re on the edge of a golden age for communications; as content becomes ever more important, we’re best placed to help clients create compelling content which will engage and influence their key target audiences.  The Ad guys in particular have had it their own way for too long.  I think they know they’ve got a real fight on their hands and I don’t expect them to go down meekly…

Based on the four challenges above (and the myriad others that will crop up during the next 12 months), our next financial year is certainly going to be an interesting one.  What’s obvious is that change will be the only constant.  But through change comes opportunity.  And it’s this that makes the future look so exciting.

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A Happy New (Financial) Year

Earlier today, Sheraton officially launched a new online experience, “Sheraton Guest Portal powered by Bing” which intends to “help guests seamlessly navigate their stay,” via a number of tools that will help to tailor a guest’s stay to the specific location of the Sheraton hotel.

According to the press release:

The new portal was specially designed to provide guests with an intuitive, tailored on-line experience specific to their destination – like having a personal concierge in the palm of your hand. As part of the new online experience, guests will find constantly updated relevant content, specific to each Sheraton location, such as local maps and the top search results for area restaurants, attractions, special events and services. With this pertinent information right at their fingertips, guests are able to make smarter, faster decisions on the road whether they’re looking for a local favorite to grab a bite in Boston or the top shopping tour in Milan. 

It will be interesting to see the response to this new feature from Sheraton on their social media sharing and feedback plaftorm, “Sheraton Shared Moments,” which allowers hotel guests to share their hotel stay and travel experience via various social media channels including Twitter and Facebook.

Will these changes help Sheraton’s satisfaction score go up? Should they be focusing more on face to face interaction and responding to review sites, rather than turning their concierge service over to technology? What do you think?

For more information on Microsoft’s involvement in the project, check out the Windows Team Blog.

- Rob

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Experience is Key for Hotel Guests

A close friend of mine passed away unexpectedly about two weeks ago.  I realize that everyone deals with such losses in different ways, but I was amazed at how one brand kept horning its way into every one of my conversations with his friends and family in the wake of his passing: Facebook. 

Facebook recently announced its 500 millionth member.  It’s everywhere.  Even my mom, who is THE biggest technophobe out there, has given in to peer and familial pressure to join Facebook.  She had been complaining that I never would send her pictures of my life in NYC, and I reminded her that I post all of my pictures to my Facebook profile where she can easily find them.  Through multiple in-person demonstrations, I’ve finally taught her how user-friendly Facebook can be and the marvelous capabilities it offers to stay abreast of what is happening in every relative’s and friend’s life.

After my mom became better acquainted with Facebook, she loved calling attention to how many Facebook ‘friends’ I maintained.  “Do you really have over 1,000 friends? Can you really keep track of everyone? Are you spending so much time on Facebook that you are losing close relationships?”  Her point is well made.  How can I regularly maintain contact with that many people?  Some friends of mine have even more Facebook friends than I have, although Facebook caps users out at 5,000 friends. 

‘Dunbar’s number’ suggests that there is a theoretical cognitive limit on the number of relationships humans can maintain, indicating that humans can form a maximum of about 150 relationships.  Facebook is providing a technological crutch to humans that enables us to push the limits of ‘Dunbar’s number.” This has its benefits, but what are the negative social implications?

With my friend’s passing, I realized that during every conversation throughout the past two weeks, Facebook keeps getting referenced as THE way to get in contact with large amounts of people at once.  We can issue Facebook status updates on his profile page to reach over 1,000 people.  Unfortunately, this was how some people even initially learned of his passing.  Are we such an impersonal society now that we can broadcast the death of a loved one on a public site? 

Other social technologies are promoting milestones regarding how they’ve tethered humans together through technology.  Twitter just announced its 20 billionth Tweet.   Tumblr just announced 6.6 million users, laying the foundation for the next major challenger to Facebook and Twitter.  Even surveys are pointing to the growth of the socialization-via-technology crutch, finding that consumers spend about a quarter of their internet time on social networks.  I personally speak much less on the phone than I did 10 years ago, as social networking enables me to stay more closely updated with a vast array of friends and family.  It’s so easy to stay in touch with someone that I practically have to TRY to lose contact with someone now. 

The vast opportunities offered by social networking are increasing by the minute as more users are picked up by each technology.  Imagine the power of one brand with one billion users!  Unfortunately, our ancestors may be rolling over in their graves as we devise ways to maintain larger networks of friends at the peril of ethical communication habits.

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To All of my 1,000 Friends…