PR & SOCIAL MEDIA IN 2012:

1. More than words – multimedia social networks/apps are the ones to watch

The big shift in content creation/demand will be the rise of multimedia focused social networks and apps such as Instagram and Path: these will see the biggest growth spurts in 2012, helping people to share their images in a simpler and more ‘realtime’ way than Facebook. There hasn’t been a huge uptake of Instagram and the likes by brands (with some notable exceptions) but as they gain a bigger audience we’ll see that shift and photo updates will become a standard component of social media campaigns. It’ll be much easier for agencies and brand teams to manage when Instagram pulls its finger out and supports multiple accounts from the app, though.

2. Brand transparency = brand currency

Being open, honest and transparent doesn’t come naturally to some organisations – but if you are engaging on social media platforms it’s essential. Whereas 2011 was the year many brands dipped their toe in the water of transparency, 2012 will be the year that they understand the benefits of it. Domino’s, for instance, took a big, cleansing leap into world of transparency, not only allowing a public (virtually) unfiltered comment and review stream from customers, but mounting it in Times Square. Based on 6872 reviews posted, they gained a four-star rating (out of five), which when done in such an open manner, is not only impressive, but potentially more compelling than 10 five-star ratings in a non-social environment.

3. Welcome to the smart wallet

In terms of device-driven changes to trends and opportunities, the arrival of NFC (Near field communication) in mainstream handsets will see a number of opportunities open up across the communications spectrum. It’s not new technology, but it hasn’t yet been available in enough mainstream handsets for organisations to see a big enough user base to invest in applications – until 2012 that is. The iPhone 5, whether you’re an Apple fan or not, will most likely herald the arrival of mainstream NFC (not the Nokia or Blackberry devices that have sparked little or no development of mass market applications) and by 2014, 1 in 5 smartphone handsets should be NFC enabled. This could see you using your mobile handset to pay for goods instantly by tapping a sensor at the till (or on your computer when shopping online), unlock your office door with a quick wave, check in at a hotel without queueing, log in to your computer without hitting a single key, whizz through the turnstiles at the tube station without your oyster card leaving your wallett, pay for a cab without any cash or cards, add someone to your address book by tapping their business card or book a concert ticket just by touching the poster. Just imagine the implications for marketing. A cool infographic on NFC applications can be found here.

iTV

Amidst rumours of an Apple iTV product (not the Apple TV product that already exists of course), smart TVs will also help to catalyse the social media revolution, integrating social features into programming to evolve the current trend of double-screening into something inherently part of enjoying television. One interesting element of social media’s impact on broadcasting is the renewed focus on watching a programme when it airs in order to enjoy the online banter as it happens (and not have twists and turns in narratives spoiled by other fans in your timeline/news stream).

Ones to watch

A couple of social networks to watch out for: Path is the first network I know that limits the number of friends to 50 – ensuring you only share the most personal and compelling content with the closest of your contacts. This could spark a trend for smaller, simpler networks focused around your close circle of friends and family rather than a huge online network of acquaintances. Pinterest (mentioned above) is growing amazingly, and offers a place for brands to organise and share specific ideas and images. Location based social services will grow in popularity but reduce in number as Facebook and Foursquare wrap up the UK market. Tumblr is nothing new – but through various updates and notable profiles it’s growing again at a rapid rate (900% growth in profiles in the last 12 months!). It might seem like interest is dwindling in Google+ since its launch, but growth is impressive across the world and in November it launched brand pages – it’ll be interesting to see if it can become a solid part of the social media spectrum in 2012. I certainly don’t think it’ll go the way of Google Wave.

Conversation optimisation

Search engines have been played by the SEO industry for decades now, but the onset of the social generation has changed the game significantly. In 2012, we’ll see the influence of social media mentions on search results increase further – especially as Google looks to increase the significance of Google+ further. SEO will have to evolve beyond link building to influencing social mentions – something PR agencies are much more adept at. The key for SEO-savvy PR campaigns then, will be to optimise conversations: how can a campaign not only inspire mentions, but mentions that include the right links from the most influential people alongside the right keywords? It’ll be interesting to see…

The beginning of the end for dedicated social media agencies

I’ve mentioned here before that although many social media agencies do fantastic work, integrated agencies with a grasp of traditional media tactics as well as social media nous will always provide better value for brands and 2012 will see the rising number of social media agencies plateau, ready for a big drop off. Dedicated social media agencies exist in a sub-industry that was desperately needed when PR and advertising agencies were slow to react to the changing media landscape, but in reality it’s a category that has no future. We’ll see more big ideas that stretch across the entire media spectrum, conceived and managed by one integrated agency alongside brand teams in 2012 and fewer campaigns coordinated purely through social media or with a separate agency designated purely to online management. It’s a controversial viewpoint I know, but in my opinion dedicated social media agencies focused on creating and managing online-only campaigns shouldn’t exist.

The big idea is back

The social web is already where we find most of our news – Facebook is only rivalled by Google as the biggest traffic source for news sites. As such, visibility online is more likely to come from big ideas reaching big audiences, rather than relying so much on search terms and the study of search algorithms. 2012 will be the year of the big idea, as creativity is the only tool to give news an inherent ’shareability’ (that’s a horrible word, sorry!) online. Hopefully it’s the first year in a creativity revolution that will see brands becoming braver and more innovative in order to raise their profile amongst social media audiences.

In June 2010 the iPhone 4 was released, a fresh and different device from the technology BFG. At Regent Street alone we had queues outside the store for days and the daily takings were unbelievable. Personally, I tried to be blasé and said that I didn’t want one. I was locked into a contract and when it was up four months later, I decided that it would be foolish to sign another contract when the iPhone 5 could be announced shortly. So I waited. And I waited some more. A full year went past and nothing had been mentioned. Now, a full 12 months since I decided to wait, the announcement came and so did the groans from the public.

The first thing to note is that the 4S is not an unusual move from Apple. Yes it’s delayed by a few months – for good reasons; Steve Jobs unfortunate resignation for one – but it does follow the pattern Apple has set with their small devices.

After the announcement of the iPhone 3G in June 2008, the iPhone 3GS was its successor in June 2009. The 3GS boasted faster speeds, a higher resolution camera with video capability and voice control. Though not ground breaking, it was received well with all 3G owners coveting this slightly advanced piece of kit. So what makes the 4S so disappointing?

The iPhone 4S has some major upgrades that are being overlooked due to the expectations of a complete overhaul:

- A5 processor (same as iPad2) and an improved graphics card.
- Two antennas – fixing the antenna issues which, in my experience as a technician, was overhyped.
- 30% sharper camera capable of HD 1080p video.
- Siri voice control – I’m sure we’ve all heard the jokes.

In black and white, it’s quite an impressive upgrade. It’s akin to the improvements we often see in the Macs and just because we don’t see a visual representation of change doesn’t mean you won’t notice the difference.

However, I will openly admit I am still a little disappointed and this is mainly due to the media. The speculation of a thinner, curvier, faster iPhone 5 made me feel like my time spent yearning and paying through the nose for a contract I can’t justify seem worthwhile. These reports also conjure up a sense of fear that after purchasing an iPhone 4S, my superior technology victory will be snatched away from me when Apple announces the iPhone 5 in less than a year (as we saw with the iPad 2). It is naive to think that Apple haven’t been working on the iPhone 5 since the launch of the iPhone 4, if not before, but with this tardy launch and accessories production seemingly in full swing, is my feeling of apprehension really unjust or am I becoming spoiled?

Either way, I am in no doubt that come Friday 14th October, Apple stores around the world will have hundreds of people queuing outside to get their hands on a new, but not so original, iPhone 4S… and I’ll more than likely be along side them.

Naked geeks

We ended 2009 and ushered in 2010 with the launch of the #LDNnudetech calendar of nude geeks from London’s tech scene. Working with the amazing charity Take Heart India and organiser Milo Yiannopoulos, we created the design and layout for a calendar that took the world by storm – making headlines all over the media and as far afield as the USA. This was a the first of a number of pro bono projects we completed in 2010 for great causes.

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WISE words

Okay, so it was the end of 2009, but it’s not quite the end of 2010, so it’s officially within a year. Manifest provided digital outreach support in Doha, Qatar for the inaugural World Innovation Summit for Education. With speakers as renowned as Gerhard Schroeder and Biz Stone (the co-founder of Twitter, pictured above before his plenary session) and a glittering guest-list that ranged from Qatari royalty to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, it was an amazing event to be connected to. Our digital newsroom platform was used to issue news to press and blogger contacts across the globe. We’ve been working with them throughout 2010 in the build up to WISE 2010, which happens next week!

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The Xacti Factor

Following a pitch process before Christmas, Manifest was appointed the UK PR agency for SANYO Xacti digital imaging products in January this year. We kicked things off with the launch of the world’s smallest 1080i HD Dual Camera, the Xacti VPC-CS1. Since then, we’ve gone from strength to strength and as well as providing PR services for Xacti cameras we’ve completed creative design briefs and even worked on PR projects for SANYO’s amazing solar products.

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Celebrating Britain’s tossers

SANYO got a swift introduction to the Manifest way of doing things when in February we launched ‘Britain’s Biggest Tosser’ – an online video competition to celebrate Pancake Day. We wanted to demonstrate that online video is all about fun – and Britain’s tossers duly supplied the goods. We had over 14k vote for their favourite video on the site during the week long competition, and the video views via YouTube went into the millions. All this, without 1 penny spent on advertising – just PR and social media outreach. Because we’re an integrated agency, SANYO paid nothing above their standard PR retainer for the site – but online mentions skyrocketed.

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Brewing up a storm

In June, Manifest beat off stiff competition from 25 other agencies to become the UK PR agency for BrewDog – the amazing craft brewery based in Fraserburgh, Scotland. Having immediately cut our teeth with large-scale coverage of their business success story in The Telegraph and The Sunday Times, the campaign stepped up a gear with the launch of The End of History. Not only was this beer the most alcoholic beer in the world (55% ABV) and the most expensive (£700 per bottle), it was also the most controversial – with the 12 special edition bottles constructed by a taxidermist from squirrels, stoats and a hare. With careful planning backing up and incredible story, The End of History blitzed the media, with coverage in every major national newspaper, broadcast television and radio and thousands of mentions online. It was the most shared story on the BBC News homepage for an entire weekend, and the story made it as far as the Himalayan Times (via La Monde and The New York Post). Never has so much fun been had pitching a story. For more info on the rationale and activity check out our portfolio piece on it.

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People power

Manifest is growing fast and this year we had no fewer than five new permanent team members join the fray. Camilla Brown is our fashionista foodie in residence, Amy Gregory is the Yorkshire PR powerhouse, Rachel Faulkner is the super-organised deadline defeater, our Crown Prince of Code is Stefan Kosmirak and the Mac Magician James Greenway completes our set of newbies. We’ve also had some fantastic young interns help us out throughout the year – and we’re always on the lookout for fresh talent so if you like the cut of our jib, get in touch.

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A work of Arkº

Arkº stands for acts of random kindness, and they are bringing kindness back into fashion – literally. This amazing social enterprise was looking to launch in the UK and we were happy to help them out – getting to work on media lists and plans for The Great Arkº Underwear run. “What’s that?” You ask? It was a mass donation of ‘the clothes off our backs’ from Arkº fans in London, where they first donated their clothes (except for their Arkº underwear) to Oxfam, then ran through the streets of London performing acts of random kindness. Probably the most fun we’ve had all year, and if you’re looking for a great Christmas present that gives a little bit extra, you could do a lot worse than buying an Arkº tee.

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Camels in Denial

One of the most exciting creative projects of the year was our water efficiency campaign for Severn Trent Water. We took a ‘yes is more’ approach and tried to educate and inform audiences about the ways they can save money with a positive and entertaining campaign that could spread across every media channel. The result? The Camels. We created a family of camels (who conserve water – get it?) who were very much in tune with saving water, energy and money. Easily my favourite ads of the year – and the social media outreach was loads of fun too.

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Get your ‘Vague Sense of Unease’ here

In case you haven’t heard, the world’s only monster supplies emporium, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies, opened its doors this November, courtesy of Manifest client The Ministry of Stories. Founded by Lucy Macnab, Ben Payne and world-renowned author Nick Hornby, The Ministry of Stories is a pioneering children’s writing centre hidden behind the facade of Hoxton Street Monster supplies. Inspired by Dave Eggers’ 826 projects, the aim of the Ministry (MoS) is to give children one-to-one time with writers and inspire a generation of storytellers. We liked the idea so much that we designed and built the website for the MoS and also helped out with copy and other bits and bats. The website went live on the same day that Lucy, Nick et al were all over the media – from the FT to Newsround. Check it out… and if you like what you see, get volunteering!

Coming from a digital background, I had a lot to learn, so being thrust into the deep end with no arm bands, lilos or other floating paraphernalia, I had to step up. In the past, I have been used to characterless training sessions, which resembled David Brent’s embarrassing attempts to ‘get a laugh’. Shudder. So when my first day consisted of a comprehensive tasting session with the Maverick of Beers – BrewDog, I knew I was in for a treat. A very informative treat, obviously.

The hoppy delights we got to sample included – Trashy Blonde, a palatable pale ale with fruity and flowery after tastes – Tokyo, a delicious, chocolaty stout which left me confused (girls aren’t supposed to like stout?!) – and the mischievous Sink the Bismark, a knock-your-socks-off IPA which boasts a whopping 41% alcohol content (drink safely, kids). Since then, you haven’t been able to shut me up about the wonderous BrewDog. My friends think I’ve ‘changed’ (It’s rosé or the highway), my Mother thinks I am being tainted by them Londoners and my boyfriend is worried he might need to man up a little thanks to his ale-glugging girl.

Apart from my newfound alcoholism, it has also got me excited for things to come at Manifest. To me, the worst thing in PR is not knowing your brand, trying to pitch something you know nothing about is like trying to find the toilet in the dark – it won’t end well.  So having that initial training, taking the time to really enlighten your employees on the brand and client will work wonders for their confidence, the company and, if were being honest, your wage packet.

So that’s it from me, I’m going back to work hard with the Manifest Comms team Oop Narth.  Stay classy.

It’s quite refreshing to see, but when you break it down it’s not that controversial and wouldn’t be out of place on Tarrant on TV. More videos here & here.

Wenlock & Mandeville

It’s probably taken most of us a couple of years to get used to the London 2012 Olympic logo, which was kind of the point, i guess. Yesterday, on the BBC’s godawful The One Show, we were introduced to not one, but two Olympic mascots Wenlock & Mandeville.

Look at them, all shiny and new. THAT, is the future.

Or, as one person as already put it over on the Creative Review blog;

Hmm… two slick, glossy, near-identical characters claiming to represent the nation… one blue, one yellow…. swear it reminds me of something…

...and in Union Jack mode.

Personally, I think they look better draped in the Union Jack but ultimately i’m not sure if I like them or not. They’re kinda cute. Kinda. And i’m sure there have been worse mascots too. But not this one. If you say that one, you’re out of the designer’s club…

The great British election is a funny beast. Set in it’s battleship-grey suit and mismatched tie, it plods onwards with a familiar gait – boring everyone into submission through dire party election broadcasts utterly devoid of creativity (and usually, policy).

2010, however, was going to be different. 2010, it was said by many, ‘will be the first social media election’. ‘We’ll do an Obama’ was the battle-cry of the pallid campaign men.

The thing is – it’s not really been the social media election everyone thought. Parties have not succeeded in engaging thousands of suporters to use their own social networks to promote policies, prompt voting registration and drive positive word-of-mouth about the figurehead of their campaign. The dream was to mirror Obama, but unfortunately the reality was a little too British. Yes, we had iPhone applications, Facebook pages, Twitter streams and even Foursquare updates (a highlight for me was when Vince Cable was declared mayor of 11 Downing Street). But weren’t they dull? As Obama empowered those previously disengaged from politics and forgotten about in traditional electioneering, British politicians chose instead to take the same old and tired formulas online. ‘We have a manifesto. But don’t think we’re not social-whatsitsname savvy – you can read it on your iPhone too. There’s even a video!’

Campaign managers – here’s a quick FYI – helping your supporters to donate their status to your campaign, to organise real-world rallies and to tap into previously unreachable audiences is the big potential of political social media strategy – not changing the slogans on the Conservative posters to make David Cameron look stupid. God knows he needs no help doing that. What we have seen from official channels has, at best, caused a chuckle or raised an eyebrow, at worst it has been embarrassing. As we all looked across the pond glassy-eyed at the social media expertise of Obama’s campaigners in the US elections, they must look back at us with pity. The suits, it seems, just don’t get it.

As such, what I had planned to be a summary of the various parties’ social media policies, will instead focus on what I believe has changed since the last election thanks to social media. Despite official party lines failing to engage the public effectively online, that doesn’t mean social media has failed. Social media has, in fact, allowed the public to become more engaged than ever in an event of national importance. We’ve just had to do it ourselves, that’s all.

It was the traditional media that managed for the first time to secure a leaders’ debate – but anyone who only watched it on TV missed the real indication of how much things have changed. According to @Tweetminster the final TV debate sparked 154,342 tweets (that’s 26.77 tweets per second) – and reading those tweets brought the real-life debate to life. From humorous attacks to level-headed conversation, the ‘Twittersphere’ was alive, for the first time in Britain, with healthy political debate. See some of it here. Whether you were watching the debate or not, if you were on Twitter you were part of a conversation about the future of your country. That was pretty refreshing. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Twitter made politics cool – but it has injected a new lease of life into a dejected electorate. For some reason, when you see so many people engaged in the same conversations as you, impassioned about the changes they want to see, it does make you feel like real change is possible. Obama may have sparked it in the US elections, but evidence from this side of the Atlantic suggests that social media has the capacity to do this on its own – just by providing a platform for easy, immediate interaction. Equally positive was the overall sentiment of tweets. I can only speak for my own network, but discussion over campaign hotspots such as #bigotgate on Twitter, Facebook and blogs was wholly more level-headed and sensible than the ridiculous blockbuster-news approach of the broadcast media.

Twitter offered more balanced debate than other media around 'Bigotgate'

The UK’s number one social network has been pivotal in engaging the general public as well. Facebook’s Democracy UK page has 166,012 members which has led to 14,000 voter registration forms being downloaded directly from Facebook.

The Straight Choice project is providing a visualisation of party collateral that allows users to check for local issues and contradictions. An interactive map mashup allows people to search their location and others for material relevant to them. Why didn’t a campaign manager think of this? It’s pretty simple but would at least give voters access to their local party information at the click of a mouse.

In summary – this has turned from being a blogpost on the social media policy of the political parties in the UK to more of a celebration of the capacity of social networks to drive accessible, sensible (okay, sometimes not so sensible, but always entertaining) and equal debate of what is important. So often we have seen social media and its users belittled as the sharers of rude YouTube clips, providing incessant updates about what they ate for breakfast. This clearly isn’t so – in fact, social networks provide a natural habitat for the important debate to rise to the top and become even more exciting. A world before Twitter would not have seen such intense scrutiny of the Iran elections. It wouldn’t have broken the news about the Hudson River Plane crash so quickly. It would not have had Vince Cable as mayor of 11 Downing Street. That is why they have carved such a critical position at the heart of our society in the time since our last election. And given it’s speed of progress, who knows how the next election will play out online? I for one can’t wait.

The new look Creative Review (yoinked from CR's post - get their side of the story there...)

Last month, every designers favourite magazine and monthly news source, Creative Review celebrated its 30th year in print. To celebrate this milestone, the CR team decided to give the whole magazine a refresh. The new creative review is smaller in size, thicker in stock and for the first time in a long time, chock full of articles that aren’t just a summation of the past month’s blog posts.

Over the last 6-12 months, i’ve personally (and it’s been pretty much the same feeling for everyone in the Manifest studio) thought that each month’s Creative Reviews have been disappointing. Nothing we can’t and haven’t seen on Aisle One, It’s Nice That and FormFiftyFive. The new CR changes that and with the better, smaller format (to paraphrase CR Editor Patrick Burgoyne) gives a sense of permanence and provides what print alone can do. Seriously, you need to pick one up to truly appreciate it.

My one gripe is the logo. Is it a bit too zeitgeist? A bit too cool and now? Or is that the point? It’s certainly not what they were aiming before with Franklin (although at the time, everyone was using geometrics & gothic fonts). It seems a bit… last minute.

Get the full low down on the redesign here and then get yourself subscribed.

Will your website work on the new Apple tablet?

So, it’s just one week before we finally get to see the Apple iTablet/iBook/iPad/iPallette/iSlate/iDontcarewhatitscalled (probably) at their event on the 27th. Exciting stuff. But unless I’m missing something then there has been surprisingly little mentioned about how the rise of tablet computing (it isn’t just Apple developing a tablet computer) might affect the way we build web resources.

For instance, the iPhone doesn’t work with Flash and according to most people in the know about these things, nor will the tablet. Why? Primarily because it dissolves battery at an alarming rate (as highlighted to me by the Guardian’s tech editor Charles Arthur on Twitter today). It’s also quite buggy. I should say now that I’m not actually the Manifest London web nerd guru – that title goes to Mike Francis, but for me it seems the rise of tablet computing (and indeed the mobile internet) could therefore have a big impact for a lot of content-heavy websites.

We noted in our 2010 predictions that Javascript frameworks such as jQuery and Mootools will increasingly rival Flash (and software in general) in terms of creating dynamic page content – but as more and more people access the web via smartphones or tablets, surely we will also become less motivated to use Flash? How much of your website content uses Flash? Have you considered what your site looks like on an iPhone, or how it will look using a tablet computer? I don’t think Flash will disappear anytime soon, but there will certainly be an impact for sites that rely too heavily on Flash content.

Other growing considerations will include content dimensions – the iPhone has very specific dimensions (which will likely be shared by the forthcoming tablet) which could cause a headache for those using other proportions. Apple’s proprietary software will all use iFrame for video rendering and content that doesn’t use this will have compatibility issues (however slight). As an aside, very few video cameras render video in iFrame, meaning quick editing on iPhoto is more difficult and precious battery will be used converting the files in the editing process.

Anyway – all of this is pie-in-the-sky until the 27th so we’ll just have to sit tight and wait and see. But if what I think is true, then we’ll see a rush from brands to create websites that perform to their optimum on a tablet. For those that don’t have the budget to create a dedicated app or an alternate mobile site, it could prove a headache.