Blog

By Gary S

The Digital Economy Bill will go before the House of Lords for a final vote in the next couple of days. The Bill endeavours to create a statutory framework to implement initiatives from the UK Government’s Digital Britain Report, which was released by Lord Carter in June 2009. The Bill was initiated in the House of Lords and introduced into that chamber on 19 November 2009.

Major provisions of the Bill include: changes to the role of Ofcom, copyright infringement reduction, domain name registration intervention, introduces licensing flexibility for Channels 3 & 5, facilitates switchover to digital radio, changes video game classification.

Big areas of contention are the introduction of a 50p levy on all UK landline phone accounts to fund the roll-out of super fast broadband (100mbps) across the UK and how the Government will deliver a Universal Service Commitment of 2mbps to every household by 2012. The Bill was roundly criticised by the cross party House of Commons Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) Committee in a report on broadband published on 23 February. The Committee is concerned that the levy will target many account holders who will never benefit from high speed broadband and suggested that an alternative funding scheme needed to be considered. It further stated that although it supported the concept of a Universal Service Commitment, the scheme lacked definition regarding what this means in practice.

On 8 March the Bill went to the Report Stage of the parliamentary process and will go to the final 3rd Reading stage shortly. There are currently some 67 amendments to the Bill before the House for consideration. It should also be noted that the House of Lords, unlike the House of Commons, can also make further amendments at the 3rd Reading stage and prior to a final vote being cast on the Bill.

With a large number of Labour members, both in the Lords and the Commons, very concerned about the introduction of the new levy, the strident criticism by the BIS Committee, and given the large number of proposed amendments, it will be very interesting to see if this Bill survives passage through to the House of Commons and into law.

By Mike P

This morning Hotwire and CPR, its sister public affairs firm, launched their latest white paper at a breakfast seminar attended by over 50 clients and friends. The subject of the white paper, Digital Britain, smart technology, stifled access, is one of the hottest topics in the IT world at the moment. The paper took as its starting point some research commissioned by the two agencies which looked at the perceptions of the business world towards the Digital Britain agenda. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the research showed that only 6 per cent of IT and business leaders are extremely confident that politicians can deliver on the Digital Britain Bill.

The future prospects for Britain’s broadband infrastructure don’t seem good, according to the research. The majority of respondents did not feel that any of the main political parties have what it takes to deliver a world leading technology strategy. The consensus, it seems, is that the political approach to the UK’s IT strategy is ‘confused’, ‘uninspired’ and ‘uncertain’.

It’s a sad state of affairs, and one I would have to agree with. The plans outlined by the Digital Britain Bill are timid and confused. The proposed panacea of 2meg access for all falls far short of the broadband aspirations of comparable first world countries and will merely allow us to tread water rather than gain any sort of national competitive advantage.

It is advantageous to compare the efforts of the UK’s politicians to those of Australia. The Government there has just pledged to provide 100meg broadband for 90 per cent of its population by 2017 – the new network, moreover, will be entirely funded by the state. This is a bold strategy that will make Australia one of the leading broadband nations in the world, and they are bound to benefit hugely as a result. The UK needs to aim much higher than it is doing at present and look to publically fund this vital resource. Taking a lesson or two out of the Australians’ book would be a most wise decision at this juncture.

By Morgan E

The vast majority of people may associate the month of February with Valentine’s Day and Shrove Tuesday – but for anybody who’s anybody in the mobile industry, February is all about three little words: Mobile World Congress. Held annually in Barcelona, MWC (as it is more commonly referred to) gathers together the great and the good of the industry, creating a forum for debate, discussion and analysis of the current state of the mobile market and the key trends affecting it.

The global financial crisis had a significant impact on last year’s show. The uncertainty of the recession was the prevailing theme, with the industry considering how to drive revenue streams from existing products and services while curtailing new investments. Fast forward twelve months and while the recession is by no means a distant a memory, MWC 2010 was brimming with confidence, optimism and innovation.

This general feeling that the industry has effectively ridden out the worst of the recession was only slightly reflected in the attendance figures, however (up marginally from 47,000 last year to 49,000 this year). While these numbers are certainly encouraging from the point of view of the GSMA, the time may perhaps have come to stop measuring the success of an event by footfall alone. One client remarked to me that a benefit of companies cutting the number of employees attending the show was that there had been a significant increase in the quality of attendees – those that were there genuinely needed to be there. Furthermore, those who did attend were there to do business, rather than merely collecting brochures and business cards destined for the bin. This too was backed up by another client stating that they had conducted a record number of customer meetings (200 in total) – this truly is an excellent example of the importance of quality over quantity.

Attendance aside, the following topics dominated this year’s show:

• Applications: the apps market is booming and every player in the ecosystem wants a piece of the action. The announcement of the Wholesale Applications Community, a collaborative initiative between leading operators including AT&T and Verizon Wireless to build an open source platform accessible to all mobile phone users, promises much. That said, scepticism of how effectively it will deliver on its potential was almost as loud as the buzz surrounding the announcement itself

• Network congestion: the rise of smartphones and the explosion of mobile broadband continues to test the limits of operators’ infrastructure – given the impact which mobile data overload poses to the end-user experience, this is surely one issue which must be resolved sooner rather than later if mobile technologies are to continue to evolve

• Emerging markets: for the vast majority of countries in this bracket, the mobile platform remains the primary access technology to the internet. As mobile device penetration reaches saturation point in developed markets, delivering a high-quality mobile internet experience to users in the emerging markets will be essential

Can’t wait until next year.

By Morgan E

Kevin Braddock’s now infamous blog posting which ‘named and shamed’ PR staffers allegedly guilty of spamming his mailbox with irrelevant press releases sent the Twittersphere into a tailspin last month. The most interesting aspect of his posting was not the content itself but rather the speed with which the news gathered pace. The incident is an excellent example of a trend highlighted in 33 Digital’s recent whitepaper: social media tools such as Twitter have completely erased the slender time lag between a potential issue developing into a full-blown crisis. Braddock removed the post within two hours – but it wasn’t quick enough to prevent his name making it into The Times for all the wrong reasons.

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Sachsgate sparked national outrage and led to the respective suspension and departure of two of the BBC’s most high-profile stars. The speed of the broadcaster’s response was deemed quite slow, with action only taken following a period of intense media coverage and criticism of its apparent decision to stand by the pair. Fast forward to Ross’ resignation and again the PR machine seemed to go slightly awry. The broadcaster’s response was only to mention what a ‘difficult year’ it had been for the presenter, perhaps missing a great opportunity to finally rise above the Sachsgate scandal. Meanwhile, Ross’ delivery of the news outside his home, where he doled out cups of tea to the waiting press pack showed a more sensitive understanding of the right approaches to PR.

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Ricky Gervais’ assault on the US market has been running quite smoothly, with a string of successful TV and movie appearances under his belt. Presenting the Golden Globe awards, second only to the Oscars in terms of glamour and prestige, should have been the platform to cement his reputation as the UK’s leading comedy export. However, Gervais’ decision to use it as a platform to insult the great and good of Tinseltown left Hollywood stony faced and the chance of a recall slim. America and Britain’s respective senses of humour are marked by their contrast. While we found the ceremony side-splittingly funny, Gervais may wish he had judged his audience differently.

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The devastation of the Haiti earthquake has shocked the world. In the midst of the coverage of the tragedy, the efforts of a seven year old boy from Fulham caught the attention of the media. Charlie Simpson’s 7 mile bike ride which has to date raised more than £200,000 is both a demonstration of the power of social media and a testament to the great work many people and organisations have done in addressing this crisis.

By Alex M

For two years now, Hotwire has supported a primary school in a remote part of India, The Hannah Memorial Academy (www.hannahmemorialacademy.org ). The school was set up as a charity to offer a crucial lifeline for the families of local tea plantation workers, by offering children an education and the opportunity to help their community rise out of poverty as a result.

The great news is that our support has already made an incredible difference to the school. Not only do the 120 pupils now have the essential school books they need, their teachers are being paid a living wage, the classrooms have proper roofs and essential facilities such as toilets have been vastly improved. The big aim for this year is to build an additional classroom on top of the original building, which will be large enough to double as a school hall – essential for holding school assemblies in the rainy season!

Of course Hotwire is not the first company to reinvest some of the fruits of its success into charitable efforts – and within the tech industry in particular there are some notable efforts from some big brands, for instance the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which donated more than $3bn in 2009. We don’t claim to have that kind of cash going spare(!), but whatever industry you’re in, and no matter what the financial climate, it’s important to remember that a little support can go a very long way. At times it can be hard to see beyond the next media briefing or client meeting – but there’s a big wide world outside the agency walls, and if we’re fortunate enough to be able to help, we should do it gladly.

By Mike P

This morning Hotwire and our sister agency 33 Digital hosted a breakfast seminar on the driving forces that will shape digital marketing in 2010. Joined by clients and friends bridging a variety of sectors, my colleague Drew Benvie presented with Richard Baker their paper “Driving Forces of Digital Marketing in 2010”. The debate was both stimulating and surprising. The topics under discussion ranged from the rise of ‘Social TV’ and ‘social spam’ through to how to effectively measure social media PR, but one point in particular struck a chord with me.

The discussion centred on the potential pitfalls new social media communications channels can present businesses if not handled correctly. While social media platforms provide excellent channels for companies to communicate with their audiences, they can also cause headaches for businesses when minor issues escalate into large-scale crises overnight.

For media-savvy businesses that have embraced social media channels from day one, this is less of an issue. While this is a new media environment, the same truths still hold: once a crisis is spotted, there needs to be a coordinated and precise response in order to stop it escalating. The only difference lies in the tactical delivery of these messages.

The problem lies with those companies who do not fully understand social media and have shied away from using it. There could be a major crisis of confidence erupting on Twitter or Facebook, but unless the company is monitoring these sites they will be completely unaware of it until it hits the traditional print media.

Crises therefore, now have the potential to be far more damaging than ever before and businesses must proactively engage with social media channels to monitor and react in real-time. It will be interesting to see which brands manage to do this effectively in the coming months.

By Emma H

Another January, another set of resolutions we won’t keep, gym membership we’ll stop using come March, detoxes we’ll abandon almost as soon as we’ve started and yes, another CES.

Except this year the mood in sunny Vegas (sorry everyone in the UK complaining about the snow!) is not worried or tentative but full of optimism. I’d even go so far as to say it’s brimming with excitement! And what is there to be excited about? Well, quite a lot actually. You’ve got the big boys announcing some real leaps forward: LG announcing 3D TV, Skype TV and even broadband-bundled TV, Nintendo telling us the next DS will have a motion sensor like its Wii brother/sister (pick your gender, mine is a girl) and Samsung launching ebook readers which let you write all over them. And let’s not forget about Google’s new baby, the Nexus One. The phone will be available in the UK through Vodafone but interestingly enough you’ll actually be able to buy it through the Google website itself. For Google this is huge – they have never gone straight to the consumer before and some would say it’s a really risky move. Only time will tell what the sales experience will be like. Could we be seeing a series of #Googlefail on Twitter later on this year?
Then there’s the up-and-coming brands like Parrot really blowing people away with its AR Drone – an iPhone controlled flying machine that hovers at head height and lets you play augmented reality games.

As a big fan of Slingbox myself (anything that lets me catch up on Gossip Girl and my other half on MOTD while we’re abroad gets my eternal loyalty), I was always likely to navigate towards them at the show. Having had a quiet year in 2009 they’ve just launched their Sling Touch Control 100 with a 4 inch screen that will speak to any SlingEnabled device and DVRs over WiFi and older set top boxes via infra red. Yep am all over that. I suppose the cynic would question if we really need any of these new innovations. But the gadget geek in me will always say a resounding yes – innovation is alive and well at CES and it’s great to be here watching it all unfold.

And then of course there are the parties…

By Chloe W

‘Tweets’. ‘Hashtags’. ‘Mentions’. Just a year ago these words carried little meaning for anyone outside of the world of technology PR and journalism. 12 months on, and due to the enormous success of Twitter, such phrases have become commonplace and the microblogging site has evolved into a key social and business networking tool. The site has fundamentally altered the way people across the globe now search, discover and digest the news. From Michael Jackson’s dramatic passing, to the Hudson plane disaster back in January, Twitter has been there first, breaking and often making the headlines.

Seeing as it’s Christmas, however, I’m not about to dive in with a Robert Scoble sized analysis of social media anatomy and physiology. Instead, I thought it would be far more fun to put finger to keyboard and look back at some of the greatest and most memorable events to have taken Twitter by storm in 2009:

• Michael Jackson’s death: Twitter almost had a cardiac arrest itself as it struggled to cope with the surge in traffic as reports of the moonwalking one’s death surfaced. For less than an hour after the story broke on American gossip site TMZ was Twitter and its trending topics palpating with speculation surrounding the circumstances of the superstar’s untimely and apparently suspicious departure
• The Iran Election: Back in July, Twitter’s top 10 ten trending topics were for days overtaken with users commenting on the protests which rocked Iran following its contentious elections. Minute by minute reports were coming in from protesters on the ground in Tehran, journalists covering the news in Iran, and thousands of watchers across the globe. People used to tune in to TV to find out what was happening in the world, yet Twitterers were keeping up to date by linking to photos and live videos as the events unfolded
• Habitatgate: Piggybacking on the dramatic activities in Iran taught one opportunistic Habitat intern a lesson or two social about networking etiquette. The work experience employee used hashtags containing words such as ‘Iran’ in its messages so people searching for the subject during the country’s election unrest would see the firm’s adverts. Unsurprisingly the world’s Twitterati was incandescent with rage and Habitat was left trying to paper over the cracks of a corporate comms catastrophe
• The Hudson Plane Disaster: It took just minutes for news to spread of a plane crashing into the Hudson River in New York last January to reach Twitter. Pictures and and videos linked from the disaster were splashed all over the microblogging site with reporters making news stories directly from live reports from witnesses near the scene
• XFactor (and not just because it’s my favourite programme): Some people thought the Show’s controversial new format was its biggest story this year. And those that did were wrong. In fact, it was actually the way the talent (ahem) contest came to life online as people shared, predicted and debated everything from contestant’s song choices to Jedward mania and Cheryl and Danni’s choice of dress. Meanwhile the millions following the show simultaneously on TV and Twitter were able to both enhance and share their viewing experience

Some others worth checking out include: Euro star chaos, Twitter celebrity trends, Worst celeb tweets of 09 and Twitter gets hacked.

There are undoubtedly so many more amazing moments worthy of a mention and as a huge Twitter fan I could find enough to fill several blog posts. To avoid that happening, however, I’ll stop there and leave it to you to muse over any I have overlooked.

By Andy W

I was quoted this week in PR Week postulating on the importance and usage of online social media monitoring off the back of a report that said 46% of respondents do not use reputation or any form of social media monitoring. And having reviewed three such systems very recently, I have to say I am not surprised.

While there is no doubting the importance of monitoring online reputation, the experience of reviewing left me wondering how ‘market-ready’ the technology for measuring the ‘buzz’ really is. It’s true to say that all of the various methods, algorithms, charting and analysis approaches failed to meet expectations. As might be expected, there were high points and low points in each firm’s offer but overall, the reviewing panel was left confused at best and disillusioned at worst. We were left wanting more. So were we being too idealistic or is the discipline of buzz monitoring not yet up to scratch?

There seemed to be a lack of consistency in definition for example. One of the firms (who shall remain nameless) contradicted itself when it came to defining the difference between a blog and an online media site. A certain advanced analytical service also failed to convince when its algorithm for ranking influence and popularity was challenged. And while accepting that sentiment measurement will always be less than accurate due to the inability of machines to understand irony, the results, when examined closely, seemed inconsistent.

So is the science of buzz monitoring realistic or should we as PR practitioners reset our hopes and expectations? Without doubt, elements of each service we saw yesterday had merit. The workflow functionality that allows customer complaints on social media sites to be routed to appropriate people for action was compelling. This is an accepted approach practised by many large and enlightened companies today. It was also interesting to see what sites and individuals ranked as influential, even if the underlying methodology caused some consternation and debate among the panel.

There can be no doubting the importance of monitoring what’s being said about a brand online. There have been too many examples, all well documented, of customer or brand crisis starting from the humble beginnings of a disgruntled individual. But as one member of the panel observed, is the integrity of the data that is produced by these systems robust enough to base critical decisions on? Many brands today do just that. But what of the more cautious brands out there? Can they / should they trust the data? Is it a case of information overload given the huge volume of chatter out there in the online world?

I think as with all these things that the data is only as good as the eventual human interaction in terms of the final interpretation. And as with all research, the end result can always be manipulated to say what the user wants it to. So I went away from the sessions with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Excitement at the potential to monitor, harness and possibly leverage the chatter for the benefit of my client’s reputation but trepidation at the risk of misinterpretation, inaccuracies and dare I say it, inexperience that could lead to wrong decisions being made.

So the research quoted in PR Week for once is probably accurate. I can well understand the reluctance of clients to spend on this area given it is an inexact science. But equally I can see, as Will McInness asserts, that through 2010, the importance of monitoring will grow so let’s measure adoption in a year’s time to see if the technology is ready.

To read Andy’s personal blog please click here

By Brendon C

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of catching up with PR industry friends across the US, taking in trips to New York, Boston and the Bay Area.

One of the themes that came up time and again in our conversations was social media and the increasing emphasis being put on this channel by clients and PR agencies alike. The other major theme was, conversely, the corresponding decline of quality general interest and business publications.
Across such publications, highly respected journalists are losing their jobs and the quality of journalism is being called into question: one contact told us how a national paper delegated an interview with a former Secretary of State to an intern due to lack of staff! Amid this, some of the most respected titles are going out of business or closing key bureaus. So far in the US this year layoff and/or bureau closure announcements have been made by Business Week, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, LA Times, and many more. In Europe, we have seen the same if not worse.

There is no doubting that social media should be embraced. I love how innovators are exploiting Web 2.0 to provide users with quality content tailored to their own interests. As well as providing a better service to their readers it helps them align advertising more easily. Today there are a plethora of special interest sites catering for nearly every subject area you can imagine, providing a depth of information that general interest and business media cannot rival. These sites then skim off advertising revenues aimed at these niche communities of readers. There is no doubt this is what consumers want most of the time and I am no different in appreciating the instant gratification you can get from highly tailored content. But I also believe there is a place in our lives for general interest and business media that can enlighten, surprise, and take us out of our comfort zones.

Reading specialist, tailored media is like an evening with friends – familiar, often great fun but comfortable. Reading the general interest and business media can be like an evening out meeting new people – challenging, refreshing, sometimes irrelevant but mostly pretty stimulating. Ultimately at the very highest level democracy and modern society depends on the free flow of information and ideas. In the past information and free thought were restricted by force of law, today, we seem to be moving towards a form of self censorship where we only read information of direct interest to us, at the cost of the bigger picture.

These are interesting times, and while there are undoubtedly cyclical reasons for the implosion of general interest and business media, there are clearly some fundamental changes in the way content is being consumed and will be in the future. My only hope is that in the process of moving towards a new media landscape we do not lose the best parts of the old one.