B2B and B2C, a social media world apart

By Steve Downes, MD, Juice Digital


I’ve been practising social media marketing for clients for over four years now in both the B2C and B2B sectors. Apart from a few sectors (the subject of a future blog!) I am convinced that the strategic use of social media can be very effective for almost every product and service and most target audiences in both the B2C and B2B worlds – but the approaches to both need to be very different. For me, from a B2B perspective, the core differences are:

1. The role of the company website

In B2B social media the company website is crucial. The messaging in B2B campaigns is more complex and the information required before a purchasing decision is made is usually much deeper. That information is likely to be hosted on the company website. Of course blogs are useful, but it is highly unlikely any final decision will be taken without time spent on the company website. Therefore a key focus of the social media strategy is to get the audience, eventually, to spend time on the website.

In B2C social media, although the brand website can be used in the strategy it may also be completely irrelevant. Think of all the brands you purchase or recommend on a daily basis. How many of their websites have you ever visited? What role did their website play in your purchasing decision?

2. Building the community

Put simply, the key in B2B is quality not quantity. There is a healthy debate in B2C social media on the value of huge social networks and how to leverage them. In my opinion, in B2B there is no debate, the quality of the community is crucially important, the size is very much secondary. The key difference is the complexity of the target audience.

I appreciate that socio-demographic targeting to consumers is complex itself, but in the B2B world this needs to done with pinpoint accuracy. As an example, take a look at this audience and messaging model put together by our sister company Tangerine PR’s head of B2B, Sam Gregory:

POST-GRAD EDUCATION – IS IT WORTH IT?

by Sophie Downend, Senior Account Manager, B2B


A new study from our client Wickland Westcott has revealed that if you want to become a corporate high flyer like Richard Branson or Stelios Haji-Ioannou then you should forget about doing an MBA, PhD or any other form of post graduate qualification. The study is great news for me as I finished my education at degree level – I got itchy feet and wanted to get out there and put my new found knowledge into practice!

The news comes at a time when the media is flooded with stories about higher education, university fees etc - this week’s main news is that plans to impose penalties on students in England who pay off university loans early, are likely to been abandoned - hurrah, there is good news on the horizon!
Wickland Westcott’s assessment of 2000 managers showed that further education helps career progression – only two per cent of people educated to A-level go on to be corporate ‘stars’, whereas seven per cent of graduates do so. However, education only contributes up to a certain point – those people assessed with post-graduate qualifications were no more likely to be business leaders than those educated to degree level.

What are your thoughts on these findings? Do you think post-grad education has added value to your career? Each to their own I say!

…although having said that, on a quick poll of the team here at Tangerine Towers, I found the proof’s in the pudding – my ‘highly scientific’ study revealed that only four of us have post graduate qualifications, yet in my opinion, we’re all stars #cheeseball #toomuch?

MediaCity – Welcome to the Midlands!

By Gary Quinn, Head of Media, Tangerine PR, Manchester


So we are now in the third month of full time broadcasting operations from MediaCity, with the BBC’s Five Live, sports programmes and children’s TV all beaming their way into our homes from sunny Salford.

That’s right, the big move has happened, been and gone, and the sky hasn’t fallen in. And yet still some small sections of the national media have a go, still they snipe at the audacity of the BBC to relocate out of London. The damned cheek!

Not of course that some even know exactly where the beeb has relocated 14 departments to. Only this week the Daily Telegraph ran a piece saying the BBC’s redundancy pay-outs had been criticised as staff get their old jobs back. The second paragraph of which had this little beauty in it… The money was paid to around 70 workers as compensation when the corporation revealed plans to relocate their posts north to Salford in the Midlands.

That’s right, according to the Daily Telegraph Salford is in the Midlands. So not only do parts of the national media not like the move, they don’t even know where the move is to, but they still don’t like it.

Perhaps, just perhaps, there is a deep seated fear within some national newsrooms. As circulations and advertising rates continue to suffer, newspaper owners are always looking at ways to cut costs. My theory is that if the BBC move is a success – and I don’t doubt that it will be – who is to say that a national newspaper could not follow suit and relocate t’up North?

Don’t dismiss it out of hand, of course the politics team would remain in London but why does a national newspaper need to be in London? The Daily Mirror already outsources most of its subbing to the Press Association in sleepy Howden, East Yorkshire, so why not the whole cat and caboodle?

Richard Desmond loves a good bargain; could we see the Daily Express back in Manchester in years to come? Don’t rule it out.

But for now however we shall have to content ourselves with leading BBC departments on our doorstep. And we can feel very content indeed because, I believe, the knock-on effect of MediaCity will be massive, not just for the creative sector in the North West but the regional economy as a whole.

However, more importantly, it will change peoples’ (yes, mostly people in positions of power in London) perceptions of what the North West can offer. And this can only lead to more high profile events and relocations to the region.

And it is already happening; only this week it was announced that Liverpool is to host the world’s largest international television showcase, as BBC Worldwide comes to town.

Reports claim the red carpet event will attract celebrities including Michael Palin, Ruth Jones and Sir Tom Stoppard and delegates from across the world and 2,800 hours of shows on display.

This is the type of event befitting of the North West and of Liverpool and signals, in some small part, where we are going as a region.

So just to reiterate that’s the North West, not the Midlands, in case anybody from the Telegraph happens to be reading…

When is a stunt not a stunt? I’m finding it hard to tell the difference these days.

 By Nigel Hughes, Creative Director, Tangerine PR, Manchester


One of the effects of working in PR for nearly 20 years is that you find it hard to take anything in the news at face value.

When Sainsbury’s changed the name of tiger bread to giraffe bread on the apparent recommendation of a three-year-old girl, my Facebook timeline went berserk with folk tripping over themselves to coo and aaah at the cutest story of 2012 so far.

Me? To my shame I smelled a stunt. Why did the mother write in? Were they really young Lily’s words in the letter? How much do Sainsbury’s customer managers get paid for handling these big issues?

And what on earth were Sainsbury’s doing giving the girl a THREE POUND voucher? Three pounds??? Is that it? Times are hard at the moment, but….

I know what you’re thinking. Why can’t I just accept that Sainsbury’s had done something nice and that the company’s PR team didn’t have a hand in it at all? Why do I have to act like I’ve got a heart of stone? Why can’t I just be a bit less cynical?

Well, I’ll give you another example. Apparently, Waterstone’s is no longer called Waterstone’s. It’s now called Waterstones. The Waterstone’s apostrophe is no more.

You will probably know this already. In fact I almost guarantee it, given that if you type Waterstones apostrophe into Google, you get over two million results. This grammatical slur caught the imagination of the punctuation police and the story popped up everywhere.

The company was roundly ridiculed and there were very few positive media responses to this controversial rebranding.

So not much of a PR stunt then? More of a PR gaff, you might suggest.

Well, maybe. Although a closer look at the story does reveal a little more about the motives behind the rebrand.

“Waterstones without an apostrophe is, in a digital world of URLs and email addresses, a more versatile and practical spelling,” said MD James Gaunt.

Clearly nonsense of course. McDonald’s and Sainsbury’s seem to managing OK in the digital world and have kept their apostrophes intact.

But wait a minute. Under intense pressure from Amazon and other online retailers, Waterstones is mainly known as a high street retailer. It’s not immediately thought of as a place to buy books online.

So, how about if this whole apostrophe thing was just a ruse to drive interest in http://www.waterstones.com/? How about if a quick look at Alexa showed that in the days immediately after the story broke, the Waterstones website received as many hits as it did in the pre-Christmas rush?

Coincidence? Maybe I’m just thinking too hard.

Is this beginning of the end of Twitter?

By: Gary Quinn, Head of Media, Tangerine PR, Manchester

There has been much hoo-ha on Twitter – and elsewhere – this week following the news that Sky and BBC have issued new social media guidelines for their staff.

Another day, another Twitter hoo-ha. I reckon that should be its new name – hoo-ha me has a certain ring to it don’t you think?

First Sky told its journalists not to repost information from any Twitter users who are not an employee of the broadcaster and it warned staff to “stick to your own beat” and not to tweet about non-work subjects from their professional accounts.

And the following day the BBC issued new guidelines telling its reporters not to break news stories on Twitter before informing their newsdesk and newsroom colleagues.

To me the guidelines seem to make perfect sense however many have accused Sky in particular of missing the point of social media.

But I would say that view misses the point of broadcasting. Of course social media is important and for me Twitter has totally changed the way I now get my news. However it sits under the umbrella of broadcasting and what is interesting, for me, about these new rules are that they highlight just how new and untested this whole social media malarkey is.

And that is exciting.

Broadcasters have quite rightly come to the conclusion that there needs to be greater thought put into how their staff use social media, and more specifically Twitter.

I guess the biggest surprise really is why it has taken them this long to come up with these guidelines.

The BBC’s technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones said the BBC had been “very nervous” about Twitter to begin with but had come to the conclusion that social networks can be “brilliant tools for broadcasters as long as they remember that the same rules apply as in any other form of broadcasting”.

But he also acknowledged that the BBC is “feeling our way forward through the fog of this new media landscape”. And he offered an interesting insight into how some within the media view social by adding: “Some would like to turn the clock back to a simpler time, when all power resided in the newsdesk…and sharing information with outsiders before the presses rolled or the bulletin began was a sacking offence.”

But it is – as he concedes – much too late for that. The genie is out of the bottle, there is no going back. And I believe our media landscape is all the richer because of it.

However what broadcasters are, quite rightly, trying to do is reign Twitter in so that it runs by the same rules as all other elements of the business.

And who can blame them? Yes Twitter has enriched the media landscape but it can’t run independently; an integrated approach is, well, integrated.

So I guess this is the first real attempt by the BBC and Sky to fully integrate Twitter into their day-to-day operations. This in itself proves just how serious they are taking it; a year ago such policy announcements were unimaginable.

However, some might ask, is this the beginning of the end of Twitter? Try to control it and you will kill it. And while I agree that Sky’s new guidelines seem a little OTT it is merely an exercise in a business trying to streamline its different strands. The fact that is the BBC and Sky News makes it news.

So no need for all the hoo-ha at all, getting uptight about these moves just makes you look like a twit.

The beginning of the end for Facebook?

By Steve Downes, MD, Juice Digital
I am a huge fan of Facebook. I’m not, personally a heavy user of it, I prefer Twitter and LinkedIn, but am very involved with it professionally.

I have enormous admiration and gratitude for it. Without it, social networking would be nowhere near where it is today and that’s brought great benefit to the world in my opinion. It has also been the stimulus behind the commercial exploitation of social networks – an industry that puts the food on my table.

I also thought it was bullet-proof. Its future was guaranteed. Yes it would reach its inevitable plateau, but that would be a plateau at the summit of the social networking mountain. I’ve dismissed the doom-merchants predicting Google’s Search plus Your World as a game-changer that would lead to Facebook’s decline.

But now I’m not so sure. Not so sure at all.

What concerns me is its upcoming IPO. What’s to worry about a $5bn cash injection to further develop an already extremely successful business? Perception and brand image that’s what.

Social network users are an extremely touchy bunch. Even relatively simple changes like imposing the new Facebook Timeline cause a huge furore and backlash.

They’re also, on the whole, an idealistic lot. Democracy, Transparency, Openness and the like are non-negotiable principles on which Social networks were founded and that’s what their members bought into.

Research has also shown that, again on average, their political leanings are slightly left of centre and somewhat anti-establishment.

So how is all that going to square with what might be perceived as a takeover by Wall Street? Yes, $5bn might only get you a 5% stake initially but it is, or will certainly be seen as, the thin end of the wedge.

Let’s look at some extreme examples, possibly silly, but imagine how millions of Facebook members might react if the shares were bought by a huge tobacco or weapons firm, or the Chinese Government’s investment arm? Or the US Government is seen to have, in some way, a financial interest? Or the Scientologists?

Imagine the uproar. I would predict a mass ‘click-out’ and the likes of Google+ would have a field day.

And what about the pressures for more commercialisation and profit? Because that’s exactly what a $5bn investor will demand. The investor will already have paid the full price (or maybe over-paid) for Facebook’s current size, member-base, turnover and profit. So only improvements in that will be acceptable. And big improvements at that.

I doubt if Facebook could ever renege on its “Facebook is free and always will be” pledge, so that can only come in a number of ways; more advertising, more paid for ‘added value’ services and – the real jewel in the financial crown – ‘monetisation’ of the vast amount of personal data it holds. How will Facebook’s community react to that?

Google and Facebook’s other ‘competitors’ are going to exploit these issues to the full.

Deciding which social media channel to use is not entirely rationale. It’s a very personal thing and with decisions of that sort perceptions, grievances and emotions play a great part.

I fear for Facebook, I really do.

It isn’t just about the price…

guest blog by Allie Johns, MD of That Is 


… neither is it just about what you see on screen or in print. It’s about the way people feel about your brand and importantly what they’re saying to others about it.

Too many companies consider this wishy-washy and intangible and in doing so neglect to think hard about what their brand stands for and whether it truly connects and encourages interaction with the audiences it’s trying to reach. Opting instead for a price driven strategy – aka ‘price slashing’ which in the short term may bring in the bucks but in the medium to long term isn’t going to be sustainable.

Restaurant chains are the perfect example. It’s a ‘pizza and pasta price war’ out there and as a result us consumers are unsure who’s doing what, when and how good they might be. ‘How good’ being the two operative words here, since in all of this melee to get bums on seats, the forgotten elements here are ‘how does it taste?’, ‘were they friendly?’, ‘did they accommodate the kids?’, ‘was it warm, cosy & inviting’ and of course, ‘would you go again?’

Consider too that consumers are offer fatigued. They’re getting that many ’2 for 1′ offers in their inbox or on their wallpost that they can’t be bothered with any of them. Might even be they’re sceptical too – the Groupon fiasco hasn’t helped. When was the last time you received an email you felt was helpful, informative, reassuring even?

So unless your brand is founded on cheap and cheerful which of course isn’t wrong if that’s the space you want to occupy, the simple advice is to not set out your stall that way. New company or existing, it’s worth taking time out to have a good hard look at your brand identity – no, not the logo – the entire look and feel – what you say, how you say it, the images you use, the channels you’re using to communicate it, how your staff feel about it, what you customers feel about it. Think of your of your brand as a way of life, rather than a means to an end.

Take heart that there’s plenty of general research and evidence out there to suggest that what customers want is good, ol’ fashioned service. They want answers to their questions and issues efficiently and in a language they can understand. They appreciate the personal touch, they are impressed by knowledge on a subject, empathy for their requirement, insight and intuition in responding to their request or issue.

Still think this isn’t you? Still feel this is too hard, too expensive, too wishy-washy? Well if we may be so bold…

‘Too hard’ isn’t in our vocabulary. We believe every brand no matter what the size or sector should (and can) stand out and deliver. It’s a matter of digging deep and finding your point of differentiation. There will be one.

‘Too expensive’ it needn’t be. This isn’t necessarily about designing a new logo but maybe about enhancing and boosting what you’re already doing. Understanding the lower cost communication channels that are out there to exploit to your advantage, planning and setting a course for using those channels on a regular and integrated basis and committing to a straightforward brand communications process that’s going to work hard for you, especially where resource and budget is limited. There are still too many brands out there with websites that aren’t socially integrated or smartphone friendly for example – neither of which need to be bank-breaking to implement.

‘Wishy-washy’ it won’t be. Remember, the investment you make in building and enhancing your brand is measurable and can be evaluated. It’s about understanding and exploiting the tools of the trade that are available to you. It’s also about understanding how the investment you make will have a positive impact on your business. That’s possible too. We’re keen on helping our clients create a ‘brand dashboard’ that’s right for them.

In fact, we strive to ensure all our branding and brand communications projects live up to and deliver on these four key elements:-
Practical > providing a consistent, relevant and confident platform across all communications channels.

Commercial > improve and maximise engagement at every touch point, to ensure positive customer experience & interaction & to generate quality leads.

Emotional > ensuring staff, stakeholders and customers engage and feel positive about the brand and importantly tell others about it!

Evolutionary > designed and communicated with the ‘now & next’ firmly front of mind, keeping an eye on the competition, trends, listening and learning.
And that we’d say is… branding as a way of life, as opposed to a means to an end.

LIONS AND TIGERS AND CARS, OH MY!

By Becky Roberts, junior account manager at Tangerine PR, Manchester

Last week I had the privilege of attending the launch of the Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 – the world’s first diesel electric hybrid.

The event started at the Malmaison in Birmingham where a room full of journalists received a briefing on Peugeot and the plans for the next six months, as well as an informative overview of the spec of the new 3008 Hybrid4.

We were then directed to a car and sent on a mystery tour to the West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley. The route as planned by the Peugeot team, allowed the drivers to utilise all of the modes within the car including: auto, sport, 4x4 and ZEV (Zero Emissions Vehicle aka electric).

When we arrived at the park, we were directed onto an off road trail which allowed us to really test out the car’s 4x4 capabilities. We then had an amazing opportunity to drive the car through the animal enclosures where we came face to face with rhinos, tigers and most notably a Hybrid White Lion!

I was travelling with Tangerine PR group managing director Sandy Lindsay and consumer team account director Jo Dudley – two major petrol heads. As an automatic car driver virgin I decided to step aside and let them share the driving (I decided it probably wasn’t the best setting in the world for my automatic debut!).

With plenty of space in the back and comfy leather interior it was the perfect setting for me to sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery. The rear windows were tinted but also had the advantage of a retractable guard which is a great added extra. The panoramic roof also added to my ‘back-seat experience’, providing spectacular views which were particularly invaluable when visiting the safari park.

When looking in the front of the vehicle my eyes widened due to the gadget packed front console. The car contains all of the features you would expect from a technologically advanced model, Bluetooth and a sat nav system as well as a floating speedometer directly within the driver’s eye line. The most innovative aspect of the dashboard is the information screen which allows the driver to see at any one time, which mode is being utilised, the charge being delivered to the battery and the points at which the electric engine kicks in to ensure the car is driving in its most fuel efficient mode.

As mentioned earlier, I didn’t actually drive the car as part of the launch, so throughout the event I watched Sandy and Jo drive and I reviewed the car to see how it would fit my individual driving needs.

As a mum I need a family car that can fit a pram, child seat and everything else my almost two year old could possibly need at any given time. However, I have to admit I do like to put my foot down and have a good run out in the car every so often (obviously when my son isn’t with me). When I purchased my last car, I was particularly impressed with the impact of the eco benefits ie the reduced car tax and fuel efficiency so the eco aspect of the Hybrid4 is a great attraction. The four wheel drive offers a fun aspect, which will be perfect for the more adventurous family activities like camping/hiking which will require us driving out into some off-road territory. So putting all this together I think the 3008 Hybrid4 would be a great car for me. All I have to do now is actually drive an automatic and then I can give the Hybrid4 an official driving review.

Miliband in Manchester

By: Gary Quinn, Head of Media, Tangerine PR, Manchester

I met the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom the other night. Of course I’m no Mystic Meg but I feel pretty confident that Mr Miliband will one day take up residence in number 10 Downing Street.

That of course is David Miliband I am referring to and not his younger brother Ed, who is currently struggling in his role as leader of the Opposition. Personally I can’t see Miliband the junior leading Labour anywhere, never mind back into power.

So it was with interest I sat down at The Mechanics Institute to hear what the former Foreign Secretary, and failed Labour leadership contender, had to say for himself in front of a large gathering of (mainly) local Labour party brothers and sisters.

Miliband was interviewed by local DJ-ing legend Dave Haslam, which I thought was an interesting choice of inquisitor. As it turned out Haslam, with his laid back yet informed style, set the tone for the evening rather well.

He’s no Jeremy Paxman, and I’m sure neither would he want to be, but he did put it up to Miliband regarding the lack of an alternative economic strategy forthcoming from Labour. And it was actually refreshing to see a politician interviewed without it turning into an ego battle between two men trying to get one over on the other.

Instead this was a considered interview, with some excellent insight from Miliband who said Labour’s gravest mistake was that they mistook good times for a good system.

He regrets the fact that while they were in power they were unable to insulate against a severe economic downturn such as we are currently experiencing. However, he was quick to point out that the recession started in Wall Street not Downing Street.

There was also an interesting exchange when Miliband accused Haslam of using Daily Mail language in relation to tax credits. I don’t know Dave personally but he strikes me as somebody who couldn’t be less Daily Mail-like, but the comment added a little frisson to the air and was good value.

Miliband, as one would expect, is an accomplished speaker and he seems to have accepted his position with good grace. He has used the time since the leadership defeat to his younger brother to reflect and re-energise and he clearly is a man with a lot more to give.

In the Q&A session that followed he refused to rule out running for the party leadership in the future by answering that he just did not know at this stage. He could have lied and said such thoughts never entered his head as he concentrated on his grassroots campaign to make the Labour party more open, Movement for Change. But he didn’t.

He knew the time was right to stand down from the Shadow Cabinet to avoid the soap opera that surely would have followed and I believe he will also know when the time is right to put himself forward for the leadership election once again.

And from there I believe he can take Labour back to power. Just remember, you read it here first…

A Little Bit of Good News Goes a Long Way...

By Claire Gamble, junior account manager, Tangerine PR

What a year it’s been already! The UK Government’s debt has risen to a record £1 trillion; gyms are ripping off poor families, some film that doesn’t even have any speaking in it has been nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards (AND it’s not even in colour, what do they think it is – the olden days??); Katy Perry has stopped following Russell Brand on Twitter and to top it all off, 2012 is going to be the end of the world. Happy bloomin’ new year.

Pah – well, I think you’re all humbugs.

Yes, it’s January and we’re all still getting over the merriment and expense of Christmas (it could be worse, at least you’re not in £1 trillion of debt...), yes it’s a bit rainy and miserable out there (in Manchester, at least), and yes there is the worst economic crisis EVER going on (well, we could all do with saving a bit of dosh anyway), but stop right there – it’s not all bad news y’know, and at Tangerine PR we’re trying hard to share some of the good.

In the B2B team, we started working with Stockport-based building and maintenance company, FT Finley, in September 2011 and the account has been quickly going from strength to strength. It can sometimes take a couple of months to get the ball rolling with new clients as you start introducing them to the media – however, local newspapers, regional business titles and national trade publications have been immediately receptive to FT Finley and the news that we have been generating for them. From new appointments to contract wins, from company profiles to employee interviews, the press can’t get enough of FT Finley.

So what is the appeal of this Stockport-based company? Well, in my opinion it’s because the company is brimming with good news. The construction industry has been one of the worst affected by the economic crash and just this week there were reports that 10,000 construction jobs in the North West could be at risk over the next 12 months.

The media and public are crying out for some good news! And the, er, good news is.... that there is good news out there! FT Finley’s new appointments and contract wins are not only fantastic news for the region, but for the UK construction industry as a whole. These stories tell us that it’s not all doom and gloom – there are companies doing well, there are jobs to be had and there are businesses investing in the local economy. And by counting up all of the pieces of coverage we’ve achieved over the last few months – it just goes to show how a bit of good news goes a long way indeed.

The good, the bad, and the ugly – the modern approach to customer service

by Jo Hart, B2B Senior Account Manager at Tangerine PR.


If there’s one thing that really gets my goat, it’s bad customer service. In a time when a large number of consumer-facing businesses are struggling, you’d think that creating positive, loyal advocates would be top of a company’s priority list, but as recent events on Twitter this week have shown, it’s not always the case.

LA Fitness is one such organisation that’s had a hard time on the microblogging site this week and while I won’t go into my view on how they responded to a customer issue, its case shows how when not handled in the right way, one complaint can go a long way.

On Tuesday evening, the story was trending across Twitter worldwide, and after a tirade of comments and negativity from incensed tweeters, the company was forced to reverse its original decision.

This week however, social media has also played host to another example of customer service in action, with the story of Lily and the Tiger Bread. Undoubtedly most of you have already seen the story across Twitter and Facebook, but for those of you that haven’t, Lily’s letter and Sainsbury’s response is here and below:

While the letter has been doing the rounds for a while, this week saw it explode across social media, with the piece getting almost 145,000 likes on Facebook at last count. And while there’s some criticism that Chris’ response was a little contrived, responding in this way has undoubtedly been a PR coup for the supermarket.


The difference between Sainsbury’s and LA Fitness’ reaction to customer enquiries largely boils down to adopting a personal approach, and taking the time to make an individual response to each complaint or request for information. In fact, in many of the instances when I’ve experienced bad customer service, the root of the problem has largely been the company’s stock, and often stubborn response, and that’s what really gets me annoyed.

BEWARE: TECHNOLOGY CAN CAUSE PREMATURE AGEING

By Nikki Girvan
Junior Account Manager,Tangerine PR

Working at Tangerine PR especially alongside our social media team, Juice Digital technology is a part of my everyday life. There is no escaping it, but I have a concern – I reckon technology is ageing me prematurely, and I’m not talking about electromagnetic waves from my mobile phone here.


Let me explain.

Last week, while talking to a younger relative, I happened to mention that, as a teenager, if I wanted to watch a particular TV programme I would have to be at home, on a set day, at a set time - all of which was dictated by that the channel the show was on.

She wasn’t just surprised, she was AGHAST.

Young’un: “So you would have to be there, then, or you’d miss it? What about Sky Plus or watch again?”

Me: “It didn’t exist… you could record it on VHS, but Dad was usually videoing something…”

Young’un “What’s VHS?”

Cue me, at just a few months shy of the big 3-0, feeling ANCIENT.

This wasn’t my first experience of technologically-induced premature aging. Over Christmas, while speaking to a friend’s younger cousin, I regaled a story about when, as a rookie journalist and relatively new driver, I was told to take myself to Birmingham to cover a breaking news story.

I dutifully jumped in my car and got myself on the M6, driving for over an hour before I realised I was heading in the wrong direction, towards Blackpool.

Young’un (jaw gaping): “Was your sat nav broken?”

No, it wasn’t – I didn’t have one. At that time, sav nav was a relatively new and super expensive luxury. The most sophisticated navigation system I had at my disposal at the time was a tattered road map of the UK.

I know I can’t be the only one feeling this – I reckon that anyone born B.M.I, (Before Mainstream Internet - circa 1995) – those of us who are digital immigrants, not natives, will have had similar moments talking to younger cousins, siblings or even colleagues!

The funny thing is, though, that technology also has a way of reviving things. As social media exploded and online TV appeared, the prediction was that broadcast audiences would rapidly move away from their televisions and choose to consume broadcast media via their iPads and laptops, and TV as ‘oldies’ like me remember, would fade away and die.

But the rise of social media and the phenomenon of the ‘second screen’ (watching television while also commenting on/watching responses to shows on a smartphone or laptop, simultaneously) has breathed new life into broadcast media.

To cite Mashable  CEO, Pete Cashmore, it has brought about the dawn of ‘must-Tweet TV’ – TV that gets the masses online tweeting, sharing and blogging, creating an almighty buzz and lifting ratings. No longer bound by the constraints of TV scheduling, where the programmes broadcast at peak times to a captive audience (teatimes, Saturday evenings) were the ones that won the ratings race, ‘must-tweet TV’ gives the underdogs a chance too.

As well as the obvious ‘must tweet’ programmes – the X Factor, TOWIE and of course Question Time – more niche and offbeat shows are also reaping the benefits, such as quirky comedy Him & Her, Golden Globe winner, Luther, and Masterchef.

So although I’m not best pleased with this technology-induced ageing process, the speed of change does have its benefits and, when it comes to TV, it proves that there’s life in the old girl yet.

Let’s hope the same can be said about me!

SOPA, PIPA and the Internet Blackout

By Anna Wilson, Digital Strategist at Juice Digital

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) are hot on the news agenda at the moment after a global strike took place.

The big sites in the digital/tech world went ‘dark’ for 24 hours to protest the so called ‘Internet Blacklist bill’…Google even blacked out its logo!

Why? It’s because Senator Ron Wyden plans to take these acts to Congress where they will vote on internet censorship on 25th Jan.

Since the mid-90s, the internet has had a huge effect on the world, opening up new channels for commerce, facilitating communication and leading to the birth of the world’s first (and only) truly free press!

If passed, this new bill will:

• Give the Attorney General of the US to take action against foreign sites infringing on copyright

• If the AG chooses to take action, then:

o Internet service providers will be required to block access to the site

o Search engines (eg Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) will be forced to remove all references to the offending sites

o Ad providers (eg Google AdSense) will be required to stop providing ad service to the site

o Payment providers (eg PayPal, Visa, etc) will be required to terminate service to the site

Basically, this will give the Attorney General the power to censor sites that the US government does not have jurisdiction to take down directly. (Cough WiliLeaks!)

The real juicy stuff (pardon the pun) though is this:

“An ‘Internet site is dedicated to theft of U.S. property’ if [a portion of the site is US-directed] and is used by users within the United States and is primarily designed or operated for the purpose of offering services in a manner that enables or facilitates [copyright violation or circumvention of copyright protection measures]. “

Basically, this means that any site that allows users to post content is infringing copyright law– uh oh!

Sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, Gmail and millions of others would be technically in breach of copyright and subject to censorship by the US.

What’s more, the US sets a precedent for internet law around the globe which means that this could become the new GLOBAL standard.

Goodbye free-press and hello propaganda!

Usain Bolt in Virgin territory

By: Gary Quinn, Head of Media, Tangerine PR, Manchester

Have you seen the new Virgin Media ad? Yes the one where Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt dons a blonde goatee beard and pretends to be Richard Branson?

I only ask because it really tickled me and I thought it worth doing a quick (no pun intended) little blog about.

Bolt, the world’s fastest man, was snapped-up by Branson to front a multi-million pound campaign to promote Virgin Media’s new superfast broadband service. The company is investing £110m to double the broadband speed for its 4.1m internet customers over the next 18 months (of which I am one!).

The TV ad, to be supported by ads in other media including national press and billboards, shows Bolt in a tongue-in-cheek attempt to impersonate Branson by taking over his office and donning his trademark blonde goatee.

The ad campaign, which has been created by agency DDB London, introduces the strapline "Keep Up" that Virgin Media will use in future marketing activity.

And I have to say it really hit the mark on a number of fronts. First off the team has very simply and effectively got across the speed message by using the fastest man in the world to front the campaign.

Of course this sounds obvious now but in an initial brainstorm to discuss how to promote doubling the speed of customers broadband would you have thought of Usain Bolt? Would you, really?

But by taking a step back from the product and looking at the bigger picture of what it is all about I imagine the whole campaign came down to one word – speed. It’s all about speed. And who better to personify speed than the fastest man in the world – especially in the year of the London Olympics.

However this is only half the tale; what happened next is even better. The creative team avoided all the obvious sportsman endorsement clichés and injected humour into the campaign that helped set it apart.

Of course a big cheque from Richard Branson will, no doubt, have helped persuade Bolt to don the hideous goatee beard and “pretend” to be the Virgin boss.

But let’s not forget, ideas are free and these ideas are brilliant.

Plus credit must go to the boss man himself, who is as always unafraid to send himself up. Humour – done well – is a great way to make your campaign really stand out.

I just wish that more firms would realise this and see that taking your brand and yourself seriously all the time isn’t necessarily the right way forward; taking risks and being different can work too.

Branson didn’t make a fortune by staying safe, nor by doing things by the book. And Usain Bolt has always been his own man. Together they make great bedfellows and a truly inspired marketing campaign.

MUHAMMAD ALI: BOXER, LEGEND… AND INCREDIBLE PR?

By Nikki Girvan, Junior Account Manager at Tangerine PR


This morning, while listening to a news report about Muhammad Ali reaching his 70th birthday on my way to work at Tangerine PR, I realised that, for someone who isn’t into boxing, I know a heck of a lot about him - but nothing at all about his sporting career.


Convert to Islam, conscientious objector, social activist and an excellent wordsmith – everything I know about Ali has little to do with his success as a professional boxer, and everything to do with his incredible skill as a self-publicist.

From the outset, Ali seemed to know exactly what to say to excite, engage and at times anger the media – ensuring column inches every step of the way. From his first interview with his local paper, the Louisville Courier, at the age of 12, where he made a cocky pre-fight prediction: “This guy is done. I’ll stop him in one” to his immortal pre-fight rally that he would “Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” – he knew the value of a well-crafted sound bite.

As his fame grew , so too did his media ambitions, dreaming up elaborate PR stunts, such as the iconic photos taken of him shadow-boxing at the bottom of a swimming pool, which he used to support the proclamation: “Do you know why I’m the fastest heavyweight in the world? I’m the only heavyweight that trains under water.”

He didn’t, of course, but the public and the media alike ate the story right up – just as he had planned.

The beauty of Ali’s PR skills lay in the fact, at that time, it just wasn’t the business it is now. Of course there were publicists and press releases, but not companies like Tangerine PR and our peers, where teams of professionals work hard to create stunts and campaigns for our clients.

He was just one man, set on the goal of being “The Greatest” and knowing exactly how to achieve that, both in and out of ring.

Happy Birthday Mohammad Ali – from a PR professional to a great PR – I salute you!

Journalism: The case for the defence…

By: Gary Quinn, Head of Media, Tangerine PR, Manchester

The editors of the Sun, Express, Telegraph, Financial Times and Star all went on trial last week – or at least that’s how it felt.

The Leveson inquiry, as I have said rather vocally before, is trial of journalism as opposed to trial by journalism. And this week saw some of its biggest hitters hauled before the redoubtable Robert Jay QC, the lead counsel for the inquiry.

I have been dipping in and out of the live stream since the hearing began last month, and even managed to catch my old boss, Chris Johnson of Mercury Press, as the warm-up act for Piers Morgan.

For a media geek and former newspaper man like myself of course it is interesting to see so many leading industry figures speak about modern day newspapers, and what it is that makes them tick as editors or as section heads.

But I couldn’t help but wonder if the whole Leveson Inquiry isn’t simply a very public act of self-flagellation foisted upon the media by the vengeful political class in response to the MPs expenses debacle.

What member of the public, with absolutely no connection to the media, cares how the Sun’s Bizarre Editor, Gordon Smart, runs his department or wrestles with issues of privacy on a day-to-day basis? Never mind what a dinosaur like Kelvin MacKenzie has to say about ethics and the press – lest we forget it is twenty years since he last edited a national newspaper.

So why was he there? What can somebody like MacKenzie really add to an inquiry about modern media ethics and practices? Naff all, that’s what. But he always provides good copy and he’ll play to the gallery, just like that other over-sized five-year-old Jeremy Clarkson. Two men cut from the same emotionally stunted cloth.

So Leveson called MacKenzie just to add a splash of colour to proceedings, and he duly obliged, boasting about how he never thought about ethics and simply “lobbed” stories into the paper if they “sounded right”.

Utter tosh from a bygone era. And that’s where he belongs.

My point is that I don’t see how much Leveson is really going to learn about modern day journalism via this sterile inquiry set-up, far better if he and his team were to spend six months embedded in the newsrooms of the nationals.

That way they would learn everything they would need to know about how modern day newspapers are run. His team would see the reality of life at the coal face of British journalism, how stories are written, pages designed and editions put to bed.

Of course I know nobody in the industry would like to be watched in this manner but increased regulation of the media is set to be the ultimate outcome of this inquiry, so isn’t it best that they get it right, rather than some dodgy updated version dreamt up in the sterile environment of the inquiry room.

Leveson and his team are clearly able people but I believe you cannot possible legislate for an industry without getting under its skin. And forcing a succession of editors into the witness box will certainly never achieve this.

Seeing them in action, however, will give you an entirely different perspective. The perspective that doesn’t involve phone hacking or blagging or any of the other “dark arts” we now hear so much about.

Let’s take just a few of the biggest stories to be published when I worked at the Daily Mirror and examine how they came to light. The first was the exposure of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott as an adulterer who had an affair with his secretary.

Did the Mirror hack his phone or perhaps his email? Nope.

And just for the record, I never came across either practice in my four years there on the features desk. But back to Prescott and his secretary. Did the story come from a leak deep inside Downing Street that wanted to discredit the Deputy PM? Not that either.

Instead the source was a lorry driver lover who simply rang up to say he had evidence that his girlfriend was having an affair with John Prescott. The call was taken by a graduate trainee who had enough journalistic nous to keep the guy talking and quickly build up and rapport.

It turns out he’d called the Sun beforehand but they’d put the phone down thinking he was a bit of a nutter, spouting nonsense about John Prescott.

But the Mirror trainee wasn’t letting it go and within hours he was sitting in the caller’s front room with all the evidence needed – including some very memorable images - to extract a full and frank confession from the Deputy PM.

Then there was the startling ‘Cocaine Kate’ story that exposed model Kate Moss as a cocaine user alongside her then partner, singer Peter Doherty. Again this had nothing to do with phone hacking or blagging but came about because of concerns within her inner circle about the direction her life was taking.

The contact formed an excellent relationship with the Mirror reporter and over time agreed to help facilitate the exposure that they believed would help Moss curtail the lifestyle they feared could lead to her demise as one of the world’s top models.

The resulting story caused ripples around the world, and remains an iconic Mirror front page.

Both world exclusives shared one thing in common, namely that they were possible mostly thanks to good old fashioned and dogged nurturing of contacts by journalists. In the case of John Prescott the trainee bonded with the spurned lover over their support for Man Utd, while the Moss exposé was cultivated over many months.

But of course the general public have no access to this type of information and my point is that they won’t discover it during the Leveson Inquiry. And neither, of course, will Lord Leveson.

Putting journalism on trial is not the answer, understanding how it practices and the challenges it faces, is far more likely to lead to legislation or regulation that will enhance, rather than hinder, our press.

And this is why I believe embedding Lord Leveson and his team in newsrooms is the answer; only within those hollowed places can they ever truly understand newspapers and accurately make recommendations for their future.

And if we must have a public inquiry why not haul the bloody bankers who took us to the edge of financial ruin into the witness box? Isn’t it time they faced the public – who bailed them out – to answer questions about their actions that have had such catastrophic affects?

Self-flagellating bankers? Now who could resist that…?

Google+ and the objectivity of search

For a while I've been wondering how Google would keep from allowing their personal interest in entering the social networking arena from affecting their objectivity in the business of "Search". Well, the results are in! Coincidentally just a day after speaking about just this subject with my colleague Steve Downes (@stevejuice), Mashable published this story about the search results and rankings of Twitter pages vs. Google+ when conducting a Google search ( http://mashable.com/2012/01/12/google-twitter-social-search-at-symbol/).

The findings are not shocking, and yet still, I find myself quite annoyed. The article points out the fact that Google has not, in the 8+ years of Twitter, decided to index the "@" symbol for its search algorithm. As covered in the article, this means that searching for a brand or person's Twitter page there is no search priority for the results of "@mktgba" or "mktgba". What this means is that a brand's Twitter page will show up in order of relevance at the same position regardless of adding the @ symbol to your search query. However, Google has indexed its own "+" sign; thus prioritising its Google+ page results to the top in any search including this symbol.

As an additional benefit to Google+ users, Google search crawlers will pull content from Google+ pages, while not pulling from brands Facebook or Twitter pages (admittedly because they are "private") thus meaning that Google+ pages will have a larger effect on SEO.

What does all this mean? It means that Google is clearly allowing its interest in succeeding in the social networking arena to effect its objectivity in search. While social networking has had a huge boom over the past 3 years, search (as an industry) is still widely considered the most important facet of a business's online priorities. By controlling the world's most dominant search engine, Google is able to greatly affect the positive value of having a Google+ page. However, is this really fair? And even if Twitter or Facebook get an injunction against such self-serving practices will it be too late? Will Google+ be able to utilise this competitive advantage for long enough to reach a critical mass? Google+ is growing at an extraordinary rate at the moment and while usage (once a member) still remains low, it could be a threat in the near future.

I don't believe that Google+ will challenge Facebook or Twitter, anytime soon, for consumer engagement (consumers already have invested too much time and data in those two sites) however the precedent of bias algorithms for search is a serious issue. What obligation does Google have to ignore competitive pressures and just provide the BEST results? Don't they owe us a certain level of trust and impartiality?

Manchester calling to the faraway towns

 By Steve Downes, managing director, Juice Digital

“Manchester is the place where people do things. There, you don’t talk about what you are going to do, you do it.' That is the Manchester habit. And in the past through the manifestation of this quality the word Manchester became a synonym for energy and freedom and the right to do and to think without shackles."
One of the Oasis boys maybe? Ian Brown? Bit older maybe? What about Anthony Burgess?

Nope. It’s a hundred-year old quote from a book published in 1912 called “What the Judge Saw: Being Twenty-Five Years in Manchester by One Who Has Done It” by a chap called Edward Abbott Parry.

The place has kicked on a bit since then – it’s got better and better. But it’s stayed true to that attitude. Here’s a thing. Walk through cities like New York, London, Barcelona etc and who is wearing all the I    NY T-shirts? Tourists. Walk around Manchester and you’ll see them being worn by thousands of Mancs who are simply in love with their own city. Now I’m not even pretending to be un-biased, but for me it’s the greatest city on earth to work, live and simply fall in love with life.

Let’s just leave Manchester there for a moment and talk about some work stuff.

You chose a career in PR or Social Media. Why? Think back.

Was it to work on some of the biggest brands going? Was it to work in teams that come up with brilliant ideas that capture national headlines? Or did you always fancy picking up bucketfuls of awards at those glamorous award ceremonies?

Are you getting all those things?

Or maybe you’re one of those people who simply expect the best. “I’m going to work at the best PR agency in the UK: Full Stop”

You’re going to have to be in London to do that, right? Wrong. Guess where?

OK, now here comes the call to action. If you’re somebody who wants all those things and downright deserves them – we want you. We need quality people in all areas. Consumer and B2B. PR and Social media. And at all levels, from Director to account executive.

So you need to do a bit of research. First of all check out these websites: http://www.tangerinepr.com/; http://www.juicedigital.co.uk/
You might want to read what the CIPR judges said when they named us Outstanding PR Consultancy of the Year 2011:

“Tangerine does everything well! It is clearly an inspiring consultancy – for client and employees alike – with strong values and a consistent record of success, based on clever ideas, hard work and – in the judges' view – an exceptionally sincere relationship with its clients. The judges felt that Tangerine represented an outstanding showcase for UK PR at its very best!”
Finally. What’s with the beach?

Well, some time ago a certain Ian Brown of the Stone Roses said “Manchester has everything, except a beach”. It has now Ian. That’s Castlefield beach. It arrives every summer. And see that building behind on the left? That’s us!

Where else would you want to be?

Now the easy part. Want to chat? We make a good brew in Manchester too! Send your CV to: sue.pyatt@tangerinepr.com and we’ll do the rest!

TIRELESS CAMPAIGN FOR A MURDERED SON – THE STEPHEN LAWRENCE STORY

By Kate Greville, senior account manager, Tangerine PR agency, Manchester

I’ve been following the Stephen Lawrence case for a while now, so on Tuesday I sat transfixed to BBC News, waiting to hear a verdict that had taken 18 years to come, and when the ‘guilty’ ruling came, a huge sense of relief come over me. “At last”, I thought.


The case is a fascinating one; one which will go down in history, with Stephen’s legacy never to be forgotten.

Personally I won’t forget it for many reasons…for the numerous investigation blunders, for the fact that it forced a change in the Double Jeopardy Law, for the arrogant contempt of the suspects and the barefaced racism. However, for me, the single most striking part was the tireless justice and PR campaign that Stephen’s parents, Doreen and Neville Lawrence, undertook.

If it weren’t for them, this case would probably have closed years ago, forgotten and hidden in the inside pages of the national newspapers, because on the surface, this murder didn’t appear remarkable and the victim wasn’t white, blonde or female.

However, a mother’s and father’s incredible love and desperation to find justice for their hard-working, bright and ambitious son, who dreamed of becoming an architect, could not be underestimated.



Power of the press

Doreen and Neville were very conscious of the power of the press and key influencers it seems…

Following Stephen’s murder, photographs and interviews appeared with Doreen and Neville in the national news, then the Daily Express ran an ‘in-depth’ article on racism in London. A few days later and quite remarkably, Nelson Mandela was pictured meeting Doreen and Neville – a meeting that was (naturally) widely credited with having given extra impetus to the police investigation.

Then in 1997 there was a significant turning point, the Daily Mail published the headline "Murderers: The Mail accuses these men of killing" – after four years, the Lawrences finally had the full backing of the media. Years of courageous headlines and relentless campaigning followed and on 3rd January 2012, two of the five suspects were brought to justice. A momentous day, which will be remembered forever.


How PR played its part?

In the two decades after Stephen's murder, public relations turned a personal tragedy into a cause celebre, it also played a massive part in the way the public perceived the case and how its participants were, and are to this day, perceived. Working in the PR industry at an agency that covers consumer, trade and charity PR, as well as social media, I know how powerful PR is. Clever and proactive PR and campaigning, like that used in the Stephen Lawrence case, can make brands/individuals/causes famous, affect the bottom line and change reputations, perceptions and opinions.



So as I end this blog, the case continues, I know that whatever happens in the future, no one can deny the power of a parent’s love, or the media for that matter…

Walkers and Stella Cidre are top launches in 2011

By Rachael Ireland, senior account executive, Tangerine PR, Manchester

In today’s highly competitive marketplace, there are many new products that hit the shelves that go unnoticed. A few however stand out and each year, market research company Nielsen compiles a list of the year’s most memorable new product launches.

According to Nielsen’s Top Products Survey 2011, which is published in The Grocer magazine, Walkers Crinkles, Stella Cidre and Innocent Fruit Juice Cartons were the most successful launches of 2011. As a serial crisp lover, I was delighted when Walkers’ introduced Crinkles to its range and with a campaign that included 18 weeks of TV support, radio and social media activity, it comes as no surprise that it was voted the top product launch of 2011.

Just six months after launching, consumers ate close to £30m worth of Walkers’ Crinkles and with staying in the new going out, much of these sales can be attributed to sharing a bag while watching Strictly or X-Factor on a Saturday night. Cider also flourished in 2011: our sweet toothed nation glugged its way through £27.6m of Stella Cidre while sales of lager and ale fell, due to the hike in VAT. Once considered a luxury, Innocent Drinks has put smoothies and juices back on the map, selling £22m to those ever-increasing health conscious consumers.

Earlier this year, Tangerine PR’s client Gratterpalm, the North’s leading advertising agency, designed a campaign for the launch of Asda’s in store ‘Student Shop,’ a premium seasonal in-store space dedicated to students. This year’s survey shows that this market is spending more money than ever before in supermarkets. Sales of Pot Noodles are up 21 per cent to £93.5m, while energy drinks, another fastest growing category in 2011, leapt 12.6 per cent (as a former university student I speak from experience that energy drinks really do aid the revision process).

More and more Brits are baking their own cakes, inspired by TV shows such as BBC Two’s The Great British Bake Off, which could have something to do with the fact that the volume of cake sales is down by 4.1 per cent. Despite this, another of Tangerine PR’s clients Soreen, the UK’s favourite malt loaf, still enjoyed sales of £12.5m, ranking them fifth out of the top 20 ranked cakes eaten in the UK this year.

On the other end of the scale, I was surprised to learn that milk price wars have cost brands a drop in sales of 5.7 per cent and consumers are buying fewer baked beans (I couldn’t believe it either) because of a price inflation caused by the hike in raw materials, which has affected the canned foods market.

Nielsen also ranked the best TV ads of the year using a simple checklist: do viewers remember an ad? Do they know which brand it was for and understand its message? Do they like the ad and are they likely to purchase a product as a result of seeing it?

I have to admit that I hadn’t seen or heard of the number one Aunt Bessie’s Frozen Potato advert, which features pensioners Margaret and Mabel spying on a family eating dinner. After watching the 30-second advert, it was easy to see why it had been voted into the number one spot.

Being a bit of a consumer geek I’m always eager to find out how products fared in the survey and it’s good to see that those brands which are making a difference in the world of retail are recognised. I wonder who the movers and shakers of 2012 will be?

Manchester's Creative Magnetism

by Nahuel Berger-North, junior account executive at Tangerine PR

I love Manchester. I really do. In such a bustling, dynamic and friendly city there's so much to absorb, to enjoy and to experience. I love the sense of presence and personality. From the characteristic railway lines that cut through the city centre, to the red brick buildings of Manchester's industrial past, it’s a city that has made its stamp on the world.

My lovely colleagues at Tangerine often ask: “Why did you decide to leave Edinburgh and come to Manchester?” True, Edinburgh’s a beautiful city and one of the most spectacular in the world. But, after living in and around the Scottish capital for most of my life I was eager to try somewhere new - somewhere lively with a real creative buzz.

Manchester was my first port of call. And my reasons? Well, Manchester is arguably the fastest growing creative city in the country, which is why people like me are flocking here. What's more, the drive to develop and cultivate young talent in the city’s creative sectors is inspiring.

Take the Manchester Masters programme, which was originally conceived by our very own Sandy Lindsay, MD of Tangerine PR. The year-long programme offers graduates the chance to experience four marketing-based placements in agencies and businesses in Manchester. The various Manchester based work placements help graduates from around the country sample life in the city’s creative sector for a year, encouraging talent to stay in the city. The scheme provides valuable experience and a helping hand on the career ladder.

For me, joining the team at Tangerine PR and moving to Manchester is proving to be a perfect platform to kickstart my career in the creative sector. After just three months, I've already learned so much and have been busy writing press releases, case studies and features, selling-in stories, brainstorming ideas for clients, and discovering trending developments in the media. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! No day is ever the same and that’s really refreshing. To work in the fast-paced and energetic creative sector in an age where information travels at electric speed is truly exciting. And it's great to be part of such a bright, talented and award-winning team too.  So don't stand on the sidelines. Come and join the Manchester creative revolution. Over to you!

B2C is now C2C

By Steve Downes, Managing Director, Juice Digital

It seems forever we have been categorising consumer marketing as B2C, or business to consumer. But is that now the appropriate description?

The power of consumer advocacy, whether that’s word of mouth, social media sharing, peer to peer recommendation or customer reviews etc is now universally acknowledged.

Marketing through, not to consumers is now the most effective way of building or maintaining brand awareness and positive sentiment towards it.

So are you doing everything you should to encourage Consumer to Consumer (C2C) marketing?

Can you give positive answers to these questions?

• Why should my customers recommend us to their friends?

• Am I providing them with ‘content’ to share?

• Have I provided a place for my advocates to connect and share?

• Have I provided a place for people to review my brand?

• Do I ‘reward’ my advocates for positive recommendation?

• Do I regularly respond to comments – positive and negative – about my brand?

These are just the starting points for C2C marketing. If you want to succeed you don’t just need to do all these things, you need to do them better than your competitors.

Context is king: Jeremy Clarkson backs strikers!

By: Gary Quinn, Head of Media, Tangerine PR, Manchester

So the Jeremy Clarkson saga rumbles on and complaints against the motormouth with the maturity levels of a gnat have reached over 30,000 following comments he made on The One Show last week.

Well, first off nobody can complain unless they’ve seen the comments in context. I know, I know, the old “I was quoted out of context” argument drives me mad too. But in some cases it is justified, simply because it gives you not just an idea of what was said in full but under what situation, be that duress or humour, or anything in between. I was ‘Mr Outraged’ before I actually saw the footage and then instantly changed my mind.

And secondly, let’s get one thing straight before I go any further, I am no fan of Clarkson but neither am I his biggest detractor. Simply because I know he makes a very lucrative living from having opinions.

And anybody who makes a living in this way is always in danger of straying into caricature territory. I fear dear old Jeremy has been stuck smack bang in the middle of that particular area for some time now.

I’ve worked closely with some of the country’s leading columnists and opinion formers in the past and in fact one of them was Clarkson’s sidekick Richard Hammond.

The Hamster was handed a column in the Daily Mirror while I was on the features desk, his star was rising and he was seen as the perfect mix of family man and bloke to appeal to readers in their Saturday paper.

But the problem was – and I’m sure Richard won’t mind me saying this – he simply did not have enough strong opinions to maintain a weekly national newspaper column. He struggled because he wanted to really believe in what he was writing. He couldn’t rant for the sake of it or feign interest in something that he wasn’t.

But his mate Clarkson is literally the opposite – give him a topic and he’ll have an instant opinion on it, based on his world view, whether he fully believes it or not. It’s all just one big game to him and he loves it.

And this brings us back to our question of context. On the day in question (Clarksongate, Strikergate or One Showgate anybody?) the guilty party was asked for his opinion on various topics, including the strikes of that very day.

The BBC press office was very quick to pounce on the context element and hastily sent out a full transcript of the section of the interview that discussed strikers.

And in fact at one stage Clarkson actually said this about the strikes: “I think they have been fantastic. Absolutely…It’s like being back in the 70s. It makes me feel at home somehow.”

He then proceeded to say: “But we have to balance this though, because this is the BBC. Frankly I’d have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families.”

So there you have it, Clarkson gave TWO views on the strikes, one tongue-in-cheek positive and one offensively negative. But the most important aspect of what he said was HOW he said it. There was literally a smirk on his face and it was clearly meant as a joke.

An ill-timed, crass, offensive joke - but a joke nonetheless. He wasn’t being serious, he was merely playing to the camera, like the big kid that he is.

Clarkson simply can’t help himself and when he is being egged on by the BBC he is going to put his foot in it, that’s his thing.

I don’t believe it was a calculated outburst in order to boost sales of his new DVD, as some have suggested. It was merely a stupid joke that was taken out of context and blown out of proportion.

And the result has not only been a boost in sales of his DVD but also, more significantly for Clarkson, it has moved the media story surrounding him on. By this I mean that for the last few months he has been engulfed in a series of stories surrounding the state of his marriage, following newspaper allegations of a sting of affairs, most notably with his ex-wife.

However this latest episode has moved on his personal story to the extent that reporters are now writing about his comments rather than his alleged indiscretions. If he was smart enough I would say this was the motivation behind his One Show remarks, but I fear that is giving the presenter and columnist too much credit.

But feel free to disagree it is, after all, only my opinion…

It’s the economy, stupid!

By Steve Downes, MD, Juice Digital

A few weeks ago I wrote this blog about the state of our economy and the damaging legacy we are leaving for the next generations.

Even in that short time things have got worse and it’s quite obvious from the Chancellor’s Autumn update that what we’re doing at the moment simply isn’t working. The opposition parties seem to have lots to say about what the government is doing wrong, but nothing very credible about what they would do instead. No change there then.

But even more worrying is the beginnings of class divisions among the general public. Yesterday’s public sector strike caused deep divisions. Private v Public sector, Working Classes v The Bosses, etc.

The reality is we’re all in the mire. Frankly I don’t care who got us here. I don’t care if it was the government, bankers, global forces, switch in the balance of power or whatever. All that counts is sorting it out before our kids have to pay for our inactivity.

I also don’t give a fig where David Cameron went to school, whether Nick Clegg is posh or if Ed Milliband has any charisma. I think both George Osbourne and Ed Balls are probably decent blokes who would really like to solve this problem.

Although my own career has been firmly in the private sector, many of my friends and family work in the public sector and are all decent, hard-working people who have as much right to their public pensions as I have to my personal one. They’re both under threat and almost certain to decrease in value.

I’m from a traditional, northern, working class family. We have all voted Labour for ever. Of course we have, our parents and grandparents did. Tories are the well-off aren’t they? Labour’s for the workers, right?

Well I strongly suggest we need to put all our prejudices aside – Left or Right, Private or Public sectors. It’s not a bloody football match.

The dangers facing us are as economically dangerous as the Great Wars were. What did we do then? We united to protect our loved ones and future generations. That’s what we need now. I’m calling for a Government of National Unity with a pre-determined life-span and agenda. We need to put politics and prejudices aside until we’re out of the woods.

I’m waiting for my HMG e-petition to be approved and I’ll be asking you all to sign it when it is.

Love to hear your views.

Tangerine: All the juicy bits

By Richard Roper, Manchester Masters Student, Tangerine PR.


I spent the last few weeks of university wandering around in a state of oblivious bliss. Should it have been a red flag that the rest of the students on campus were huddled wrecks, whispering in hushed, terrified, tones about “our future”? Absolutely. Should it not have been a worry that graduation was steadily approaching and I still didn’t have the faintest idea of what came next? Of course. But I still remained blithely unconcerned about my future career.

Eventually, the inevitable realisation that there was nothing coming in September sunk in. After spending yet another day of browsing recruitment websites, I saw an advertisement for the “Manchester Masters” programme. For those of you who don’t know, the programme is a fantastic opportunity for recent graduates living in the UK, giving them the chance to work across a variety of marketing and advertising related firms and companies while completing a fee-free Masters from Manchester Metropolitan University. It seemed like the perfect fit for me, giving me the chance to gain work experience in such creative industries, while continuing my further education.

After submitting my application in the form of a YouTube video (and the subsequent humiliation as my friends eventually discovered it online), I was invited to attend a rigorous assessment centre. The day was tough, but thankfully my hard work paid off and I was told my first placement would be at Tangerine.

I didn’t really know what to expect from working in a PR firm. My only experience of the world of PR came from friends working in the profession who would ironically say: “I know; I’ve sold my soul.” At first the office environment was daunting as Tangerine manages the Manchester Masters programme, so I was feeling a lot of pressure to do well, and make a good impression.

In my second week I was sat down by Sandy Lindsay, MD of Tangerine, so she could properly introduce me to her company. One of the things Sandy reiterated was that Tangerine was built on the twin pillars of decency and honesty. She explained how despite dedicating extreme time and energy to making Tangerine a success, it should never compromise personal and professional morals. You can see this reflected in the people that work here. Every single one of them is tirelessly dedicated to their jobs because they genuinely care about the high standards of work they produce.

Soon I found myself drafting press releases, case studies, features, and helping to research and come up with ideas for potential new clients. I even found myself corresponding with celebrities to ask them to write an introduction for a client’s cookery calendar. I realised that PR isn’t about manipulating people or the truth. Effective PR is about translating complex concepts into a transparent message, about helping people and companies express themselves as clearly as possible.

At the beginning, eleven weeks of full time work seemed a long time, so it’s almost with begrudging reluctance that I have to agree with all those people who told me ‘it’ll fly by!’ It genuinely has.