What can VR do for PR? Ten things you need to know

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During a Gorkana webinar yesterday, Matt Glass, co-founder of Cultural Reality Co., and Dynamo’s head of VR, Nick Morey, offered up their top tips for what impact VR could have on the PR industry.

Virtual Reality 4

 

Virtual Reality is set to be one of the big technology trends in 2016, with the BBC declaring it to be the year that “VR goes from virtual to reality”.

Two agencies, Dynamo PR and newly-founded Cultural Reality Co., have responded to the opportunity in a total VR market which could be worth up to $5.1 billion by the end of the year.

In January, Dynamo launched a dedicated VR division, led by Nick Morey. Visual computing company NVIDIA came in as the division’s founding client briefing the agency to promote its VR graphics, which led to the team taking journalists into “the world’s most realistic simulation” in below zero temperatures to show off Everest in VR.

Matt Glass and Charli Morgan, The Cult PR founders have gone a step further and, in February, launched a separate VR company, Cultural Reality Co., in anticipation of the launch of Facebook-backed VR headset Oculus Rift. CRC offers to help journalists, as well as PR and marketing firms, use VR in their jobs.

In an exclusive webinar briefing with Gorkana, Morey and Glass offered their top tips on what VR could offer for PRs:

It’s not a fad

There has been initial resistance to the idea of VR, according to Glass. “Big players have a lot of money resting on this. Samsung, Facebook, Nokia, Google, Apple (maybe) want this to succeed. It’s an industry that’s here to stay,” he said.

VR is new so be realistic

There are limitations. Brands might think they can drop their target customer into an all singing and dancing scenario, having them “back flip off a helicopter”, but the technology is not quite there yet. Be realistic.

Experience is everything 

You can watch videos, listen to podcasts or play games, but you can only ever “experience” VR. The only way a brand will know whether VR will work for it is if it’s tried, tried and tried again, Morey and Glass insisted.

Look to the games industry

Go to games events. You’ll get a much better insight into the development process, Morey suggested, and you’ll witness some “breathtaking” creativity. This will help you shape ideas and build a VR campaign that is both realistic and fits with your brand objectives.

The ‘isolation’ of VR is a golden opportunity for brands

An advert on the TV or in a magazine can be skipped or ignored. When someone is looking at your virtual reality video, they are only looking at whatever it is you’re putting in front of them. You decide what they experience.

Take the PR stunt to another level

Consumers can experience a stunt, not just watch it. But, unlike physical events, you also don’t have to worry about the health and safety implications of a flashmob, or whether people will turn up, or if you’re allowed to film in a certain location.

There needs to be an emphasis on quality over quantity

What medium do you actually need? Would a 2D video or experiential activity suffice? If you want to create an experience that is currently unachievable (has the building you’re promoting been built yet?), VR has something to offer.

VR is expensive

In effect VR can be a website, an e-commerce store, an app and an experience all in one go. But there are matching production costs.

VR can’t be an afterthought in a campaign

A good quality two to three minute VR video will cost around £30,000, Glass suggested, and VR content can take a relatively long time to create.

Are you PR-ing your brand or are you PR-ing VR?

Finally, is it a fun experience? There’s no need to show off too much. “It’s like having too many special effects in a movie,” Glass added. “After a while it can get boring”.

 

 

Here’s what some of you had to say during the webinar:

You can find about more about our Gorkana webinars here.

How Twitter’s ‘live’ offering will provide value for PR

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Twitter reported its financial results for the quarter ending on March 31 this week, highlighting its ‘live’ strategy for 2016, which will focus on creating more premium content, particularly in the sports sector. Gorkana speaks to sports agencies M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment and Calacus to find out what this means for PR.

Twitter has some way to go to catch up with peers such as Facebook when it comes to making profits and the size of its user base. Part of its strategy for growth involves delivering more premium live content, particularly video, for users to engage with. To put this in context, here are the areas Twitter is focusing on, in particular, as explained by key executives in its earnings statement for Q1 2016.

  • Twitter’s focus on live content

Although Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey has noted it has had a focus on live content ‘for over 10 years’, the platform hopes to present more live opportunities by covering large-scale events in sports, politics and entertainment and opening up more video streaming opportunities.

During the platform’s earnings’ call, Dorsey addressed his plans on live content saying: “We believe we have a leadership position in it, but it’s not just about a live event, it’s also about hosting a conversation around a live event. Twitter has always been the best place to bring people around a particular shared experience.”

  • Twitter’s focus on video

The social platform primarily hopes to lead these ‘live’ conversations through the use of video with Twitter-owned products such as Vine and Periscope and also via auto-play ads on Amplify, its ad network.

Dorsey said: “Periscope is a great example of this, where we think we do have a significant leadership position in live streaming video and we want to make sure that is the best, not only for broadcasters, but for their fans and the fan base that watch those Periscopes.”

  • Twitter and sports partnerships

The company holds up its recent partnership with the NFL as an example of how it hopes to deliver its live strategy. As NFL’s streaming partner, Twitter will deliver live and premium content for logged in, logged out and syndicated users, during Thursday night American football games.

These are the types of partnerships Twitter hopes to promote to ensure more engagement. “As soon as we announced that deal, almost every league in the world contacted us, because they want to provide an even better experience for their fans,” Dorsey added.

Haran Ramachandran, head of digital at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, said there is PR value to be found with Twitter’s ‘live’ focus: “The PR opp for brands comes through partnering with them on facilitating these events. Twitter experimented with this sort of thing in 2012 – it created a product called Hashtag Pages which were designed to house all conversation around a given event. It was trialled with Nascar but never took off.

“A brand might be able to create something similar around an NFL broadcast on Twitter – owning a particular area like nomination of MVP or providing live reaction from a former player on Persicope. This sort of thing generates coverage as it’s a new form of engagement.”

David Alexander, Calacus’ managing director said these new developments don’t change the fundamentals of successful PR using Twitter. He added: “From a PR perspective, the rules remain the same, whatever the channel – the content has to be relevant, genuine and engaging without being a hard sell.”

Threepipe hires Tracey Carey as MD

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PR and digital marketing agency Threepipe has named FleishmanHillard Fishburn’s former board director, Tracey Carey, as its first MD.

With responsibility for business development, Carey will head up a 60-stong and report to co-founders and joint CEOs Jim Hawker and Farhad Koodoruth.

She has more than 20 years’ experience and spent six years at FleishmanHillard (now FleishmanHillard Fishburn) as board director and head of consumer. She left the agency in 2012, and spent time as a senior consultant for agencies including salt and Ogilvy, as well as direct clients in health, beauty, and food and drink. She also took on a senior consultant role at Threepipe last year.

Carey said: “Jim and Farhad have built a highly successful business delivering bold and innovative work for a fantastic client portfolio. I’m excited about working with them and the hugely talented team to drive and oversee the next phase of Threepipe’s growth.”

Hawker said: “This is a strategically important hire for Threepipe. We are at a key stage in our development and the combination of Tracey’s deep-rooted communications experience and business leadership will be invaluable as we continue to evolve the offering.”

LDR CREATIVE wins global brief for Puro Group

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LDR CREATIVE has been appointed as the lead global agency for beach club and hotel brand Puro Group after handling its UK PR for the past three years.

LDR Creative

The agency, which won the global account following a competitive pitch, has been briefed to handle the group’s PR in 13 key markets, as well as manage internal engagement and key stakeholder activity.

LDR CREATIVE aims to enhance visibility of Puro Group’s lifestyle brands, Puro Hotel and Purobeach, increase footfall across its sites worldwide and attract potential new franchisees.

The agency will also engage five local agencies to support implementation of the global strategy.

Beltran Alvarez de Estrada, CEO of Puro Group, said: “I am thrilled LDR CREATIVE will be leading our global communications to streamline our messaging. LDR has shown great passion for our brand and they know what it takes to get the best results and meet our objectives.”

Edwina Eddleston, director at LDR CREATIVE, added: “The Puro Group offers a truly unique proposition and we’re excited to support its global growth ambitions via intelligent communications to position the brand as the world’s leading beach club.”

M&C Saatchi S&E launches Sport-Lifestyle division

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M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment has launched a new Sport-Lifestyle division and promoted business director Laura Coller to lead the new offer as head of lifestyle.

mandcsaatchi

 

The new division comes as part of the agency’s plan to ‘create impact through the things people love’, with client campaign activity running across PR, digital, ATL, social and experiential, underpinned by creative story-building.

Coller, who joined M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment in 2007, will lead the eight-strong division and is currently recruiting to expand the team.

Coller said: “We have been at the forefront of the women’s fitness phenomenon for the past few years, steering the conversation for major global brands and developing it from a vertical interest into a broader lifestyle proposition.

“This evolution is representative of how brand comms needs to progress in order to reflect the increasingly varied passions of consumers and the ever-changing media landscape. Diversifying our offering gives us the opportunity to connect our brands to more consumers, more often and in more powerful ways.”

Steve Martin, CEO at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, said: “Today’s announcement marks an exciting new chapter for the agency as we extend our services and continue to evolve. The offering presents a unique proposition, bringing the M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment mentality of big, non-traditional thinking to the sport-lifestyle arena.”

The News Hub to allow PRs to publish content directly

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Online content platform The News Hub is to allow brands to publish “unedited” articles alongside editorial stories, in a service which it claims will “bypass the complicated relationship between PR and journalists”.

The News Hub

 

The News Hub, which launched 18 months ago, is an “impartial” online content platform with contributors around the world, which aims to “make independent, inquisitive, publicly-minded journalism sustainable”.

Its sponsored content business service, a new business model for the organisation, will allow brands to directly publish content alongside editorial posts.

On its site, featured topics range from politics, business, environment and tech to celebrities, lifestyle, arts and culture and music. As part of its aim to make digital journalism sustainable, each month the top 10% most read contributors receive a fee from The News Hub for their writing.

The News Hub said the new model would offer PRs total control because it was not a publisher. It claims to be an “impartial platform” which provides a space for journalists and bloggers to publish news and opinion that is now extending its offer to brands and PRs. All paid-for content will be labelled as “sponsored”.

William Stolerman, founder of The News Hub, said: “With The News Hub, PRs no longer need to fight for journalists’ attention, which takes up valuable time that could be much better spent creating great content for their clients.

“Currently, brands can choose between putting budget behind expensive sponsored content campaigns, or risky PR investments. We combine the best of both models: de-risking PR through controlled coverage which is offered at a much more affordable entry point than typical sponsored content models.”

Earlier this month, free business newspaper City A.M. announced that it was planning to allow companies to publish their own content on its website in return for a monthly fee.

Maitland handles comms on £18m Brighton Pier deal

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Maitland has managed financial PR for the £18m acquisition of Brighton Pier which has just been completed by a company led by entrepreneur Luke Johnson.

Eclectic Bar Group plc, which acquired the pier, has changed its name to Brighton Pier Group plc after completing the deal and it has raised approximately £8.5m in new AIM-listed shares.

When Eclectic originally revealed the deal on April 8, it said the pier would be a “transformational acquisition” that would diversify its existing portfolio of premium bars.

Maitland’s team consisted of associate partner James Devas and consultant Robbie Hynes.

Devas said: “Brighton Pier is one of the most iconic and instantly recognisable attractions in the UK and it occupies a special place as a landmark at the heart of Brighton. Maitland was very pleased to work with Luke Johnson and his team on this acquisition. The process was expertly managed by the joint brokers Panmure Gordon and Arden Partners plc.”

MHP takes on Local Pensions Partnership brief

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Local Pensions Partnership has appointed MHP Communications as its comms adviser as the partnership formally moves towards a new “pooled” structure.

LPP is an asset and liability management collaboration between the Lancashire County Pension Fund and the London Pensions Fund Authority.

MHP will provide a comprehensive media and public relations strategy, as well as regulatory and political insight and strategic support, at a time when the sector goes through major reform.

Joshua Peck (pictured), MD of corporate affairs at MHP, said: “Both LPFA and LCPF have excellent reputations as leading local government pensions providers and we are very much looking forward to the opportunity of building on these strong foundations with our best-in-sector media and political expertise as the partnership extends its public affairs work.”

Bart Nash, head of communications and public affairs at Local Pensions Partnership, said: “As we moved forward in creating the new LGPS asset and liability management partnership, we recognised the support a full service communications partner could provide. MHP not only meets those requirements but brings a team approach that we felt reflected our partnership model.”

Andrew Fleming, director of financial services at MHP, added: “As the first pension schemes to create an ALM partnership which includes an FCA authorised operator for the pooling and management of assets, LPP is going through an exciting time of evolution, changing the shape of the UK pensions market. As the leading adviser to Defined Benefit pension schemes in the UK, MHP has advised many of the country’s largest schemes and we are relishing the opportunity to work with LPP at the forefront of innovation in the market.”

Case Study: Victoria Pendleton Switching Saddles

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When Betfair looked to beat its competitors last year, Pitch came up with a year-long campaign which challenged Olympic cyclist champion Victoria Pendleton to abandon the bike and sit in the horse saddle. The results? A 49% increase in Betfair customers as the campaign reached its peak.

Pitch Bet Fair

 

Campaign: Victoria Pendleton Switching Saddles
Client: Betfair
PR Team: Pitch
Timing: March 2015 – March 2016
Budget:  £400,000

Overview

‘Switching Saddles’ is a unique campaign centred on Betfair’s challenge to Olympian Victoria Pendleton to switch sports and go from cyclist to jockey, and ride a racehorse in a competitive race at the Cheltenham Festival.

While other betting brands were ‘hijacking’ and ‘disrupting’ the news agenda, we created our own, captured the imagination of the UK public and delivered a 49% increase in Betfair customers at the peak of the campaign.

Objectives

The annual Cheltenham Festival is the biggest four days in horse racing’s year, with more bets placed on the four days of racing than any other period in the calendar.

Historically, PR stunts have dominated Cheltenham, driving coverage for bookmakers in a way that fails to offer them a positive voice or point of difference.

Betfair wanted a positive PR campaign that would generate a clear point of difference from our competitors and deliver clear business impact during the most lucrative sporting event of the year.

The objectives for the campaign were:

  • Increase Betfair brand awareness in the UK in the lead-up to and during the 2015 and 2016 Cheltenham Festivals.
  • Generate a positive association between Betfair and horse racing among the core betting, and recreational betting, audiences.
  • Drive new customers to the Betfair App and website during the Cheltenham Festival

Strategy and Implementation

The audience was ‘core’ bettors (males 24-60), and ‘recreational’ bettors (both male and female and who bet on the ‘big occasion’).

With the UK sports agenda dominated by football, we needed a campaign that had the breadth to shine alongside the latest Premier League news, and feature outside of the sports pages.

Victoria Pendleton’s celebrity gave us this opportunity and, by championing a female in a male dominated sport, our campaign and her challenge had appeal beyond the core bettor audience.

‘Switching Saddles’ was strategically planned, with campaign milestones designed to coincide with major Betfair moments, including the Grand National, FA Cup Final, the start of the football season and the Betfair initiative, National Jockey Day.

We approached the campaign like a race. Start with a bang, maintain pace through the middle, then come home with a big finish, taking the UK on a year-long journey following Victoria’s transformation, culminating in the Foxhunter’s Chase at the Cheltenham Festival 2016.

The campaign was built on content, with video, photography and interview assets used to drive coverage. Over the course of the year we released ten videos, four photo essays, held eight media days and issued more than 20 press releases, all of which featured extensively in the UK media.

Switching Saddles ran for 12 months:

  • March 2015: Cheltenham Festival launch
  • April 2015: Grand National training update
  • July 2015: First public race
  • August 2015: Amateur licence exam
  • Sept 2015: First amateur flat race
  • November 2015: First Point to Point race
  • February 2015: First National Hunt race
  • March 2016: Cheltenham 2016 announcement
  • March 2016: Cheltenham 2016 Foxhunters Chase

Switching Saddles was a yearlong national campaign covered by every UK media outlet, from the north of Scotland to the south of Cornwall, making Betfair the most talked about betting brand at two consecutive Cheltenham Festivals.

Results

Betfair’s reputation in the horse racing industry received a positive shift, with sentiment for the campaign among horse racing media registering 82% positive.

“If there is a version of the Oscars for PR stunts, Switching Saddles by Victoria Pendleton – in association with Betfair – deserves to sweep the board”, Greg Wood, The Guardian

  • The campaign delivered 830 items of Betfair branded coverage in the space of a year.
  • Just under half (49.3%) of the 830 items of coverage were in national media.
  • The campaign helped Betfair to secure a spontaneous brand awareness increase of 2%.
  • On the back of the campaign launch (March 2015) Betfair achieved its best Cheltenham to date with £160 million bet on the festival – a 4% increase in the volume of bets placed compared to the previous year (2014).
  • Between February and March 2016, awareness amongst customers increased from 17% to 45% (or by 28%) and by 14% to 26% for non-customers.
  • 35% of those that were aware of the association remembered it was about Horse Racing.
  • The campaign trended five times in the UK.
  • The volume of bets on the Betfair Sportsbook for Victoria Pendleton’s race, the 2016 Foxhunter’s Chase, increased by 49% YOY making it one of the top ten UK races of the year.
  • The Betfair Exchange saw £5.1 million matched on the 2016 Foxhunter’s Chase, up 35% YOY.

 

Milestone appoints Walbrook for financial PR

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Milestone Group, the company behind youth employment venture The Passion Project, has appointed Walbrook PR to handle its financial communications and investor relations.

Milestone, which is led by chief executive Deborah White (pictured), is listed on AIM. It reported revenues of £318,035 in the 12 months to 30 September 2015. Last month, it raised £549,500 in new equity.

Its flagship product is The Passion Project, which provides personal and professional development services to young people by bringing together employers, commercial enterprises and charitable organisations within a social exchange and marketplace.

Last year, Milestone formed a joint venture with digital technology company Black Cactus, called Nexstar.

Gary Middleton, consultant at Walbrook PR, said: “With our considerable experience in advising technology focussed and digital media companies, we are delighted to be advising Milestone on its financial media and investor relations programme.

“Post the restructuring of the balance sheet completed earlier this month, Milestone is now well placed to enter a period of significant growth as the intrinsic value of the Passion Project and the Nexstar JV deliver significant shareholder value.”