Spinning the Web

Whilst it’s good to get your head down, trawl through the emails, tidy the desk and make sure everything’s in order… making the odd trip out on behalf of the client is crucial… so the Manifest Comms girls decided to do just that yesterday.

Not believing in doing things in half measures, and in need of something a little bit, erm… unique, we took with us our trusted friend, Babs (while the London PR gals took the Southern counterpart, Daisy for a trip on the tube…)

As well as attracting some slightly inappropriate comments from the odd (male) passer by, Babs was there to serve a purpose for a consumer-facing client who specialises in natural healthy and beauty treatments.

The aim of the day was to ask women which areas they struggled to tone up and would like to see a little bit firmer. Now, we could have just done a traditional survey online or through social media platforms but then we’d be missing out on the old fashioned face-to-face interaction and wouldn’t have had the opportunity for the media-friendly PR shot.

As well as giving us a great story and reams of statistics, we got the chance to speak to the consumer about their body hang ups, introduce the brand (and its flagship product) personally and hopefully start a relationship with some potential new customers. The goody bags filled with facemasks and bath salts (not to mention a brochure – the ultimate must-have marketing accessory) went down a treat and people were relieved when they realised we weren’t trying to sell to them but were merely interested in their opinions.

Obviously there were some passers by who didn’t want to speak to us and some who just wanted to know what we were giving away (classy, ladies) but the handful of people we had good in-depth conversations with, who wanted to know what we were actually doing and why, made the day 100% worthwhile and a brilliant success.

This is why, at Manifest HQ, we like to tell our clients that PR isn’t ‘press relations’ but ‘public relations’ – it’s about living the brand, interacting and finding ways to communicate with the media AND your client’s customers/target market… with a little bit of creativity and a lot of enthusiasm.