This is one of my major 2012 goals. 

I’ll get back into the swing of blog things soon.  I have several post ideas I think you’ll enjoy.

Craig Maddison and Katie Nicolle from Darlington Weddings with Sharon Hutchinson and Jamie Wintrell from Splash Print Management

Two local companies have teamed up to fly the flag for Darlington’s growing Wedding industry by printing a new glossy magazine aimed at brides-to-be in our area.

Darlington Weddings and Splash Print Management are working together on the project to ensure brides get the information they want about the suppliers they need to bring their special day together. It features and promotes all manner of wedding service providers from bespoke cake designers to chair cover suppliers and unique ways to entertain guests.

Now in its second issue, the magazine has more than doubled in size due to an increased demand for advertising space, allowing Darlington Weddings to expand into wedding fayres. The team hosted its second event earlier this month at Redworth Hall Hotel and it was a fantastic success!

Craig Maddison, owner of Darlington Weddings, said: “Weddings are a growing industry in our region and we aim to promote that so it continues to grow. The magazine was a logical step from the listings website because we already had links with so many local wedding service providers and we like to work with local companies and stay true to our name.”

“Our first issue was a success but we wanted to go bigger and become a ‘glossy’ magazine. Splash has worked with us to make sure we get a magazine which looks the part.”

Sharon Hutchinson (Splash) and Katie Nicolle (Darlington Weddings)

After a successful first year in business and a client list of national companies with a regional base, Splash Print Management, headed by Sharon Hutchinson, is working with a number of Darlington companies to promote business growth in the town.

Sharon Hutchinson, director of Splash Print Management, said: “We are delighted to be working with a local company to fly the flag for Darlington. When Craig first approached us it was a one-off job and now it’s flourished into a long term relationship between our businesses.”

Splash Print Management has brought together a team of people that are experienced in customer service and print. The company is transparent about outsourcing the production of print, enabling them to concentrate on adding value through their advice, customer service and getting the right supplier for each job.

Sharon added: “We identified a gap in the market to make a print management service more accessible. The big PLCs (Public Limited Companies) all use print management companies as they understand the benefit of having experts buy and manage on their behalf, but there was no one offering a scaled-down service for smaller organisations.”

You can find more print management news, special offers and advice on the Splash PM blog!

For more information about wedding service providers in the Darlington area, follow Darlington Weddings on Twitter!

Homer defends his honour from an aggressive sexual advance from the Cerne Abass Chalk Giant

Public Relations and Marketing are much maligned businesses – Practitioners probably rank, at least from a public perception, alongside estate agents or politicians as people you could not entrust with such a delicate bauble as the truth. The term ‘spin’ is almost definitely the next word your average Joe or Jo would contemptuously spit out in a game of word association in which the previous word or phrase was PR!

A good friend of mine, the editor of a major woman’s glossy who shall remain nameless for fear of reprisal, says the modern PR is intellectually limited, celebrity obsessed and shallow. Wow! That is pretty damning!

Yet there are many examples of PR work in which the quality of thinking and execution have been elevated into an art like form. A form that could be called P-Art. Okay, as a piece of terminology it’s perhaps a title clumsy, you can see where I have gaffer taped over the join, but this is my blog!

YOUR NAME UP IN LIGHTS! SEND ME YOUR WORK
I want you to help me identify other examples of this fledgling genre, and send me your own examples, or examples of people you work with, and your thoughts on them. Why? Because I am compiling a book which will be published at the back end of this year: The book will be one of those nice coffee tables type tomes you see in creative agency receptions… but it will also be educational therefore I am looking for historical as well as current work. There will be an accompanying exhibition too. Hopefully the work that is featured will be feted and revered by all. We may even begin to reverse the opinions of my PR baiting editor friend, and move PR and Marketing people up a couple of notches North of estate agents and politicians! Let’s see. At the very least, I think our sector needs a little adulation from outside of the industry. Please help!

To qualify a work as P-Art, I have concocted a couple of rules:
Rule 1: The imagery and content created around the campaign are visually compelling but the subject matter also contains a kind of narrative arc. It has meaning beyond being a compelling visual – somebody has thought about it.

Rule 2: The campaign around it has demonstrated depth of story to provide multiple news angles thereby increasing the chances of media coverage. You should be able to see that the practitioner has taken a layered approach to provide rationale and indeed symbolism in much the same way as a painter might approach a picture: The result being that you can look at the work as PR, but you could also view it as something approaching an art form – even without squinting your eyes up to look at it!

I am going to illustrate exactly what I mean with an example of work that I persuaded 20th Century Fox to commission in 2007 to launch The Simpsons Movie. Now I am not claiming myself as some sort of PR Picasso, this work may not even make it into the book ( and we could take a poll on that), but we need to get the ball rolling somewhere. So…

Homer takes the high ground in The Telegraph.

BUILD AN ARC!
Referring you to the pictured chalk giant publicity stunt. This definitely follows the above rules:

There is a definite and deliberate narrative arc in the visual. Firstly the image depicts Homer practically naked cowering from a sexually aggressive advance by the chalk giant. The fact that the giant sports an erection and is brandishing a giant club above his head as the set up to a joke. The punch-line is that Homer defends himself in the only way he knows how: By protecting himself, and his honour with his own giant donut. The resulting imagery is funny; therefore irresistible to picture editors, and caption writers alike: The narrative arc was not lost on for instance, The Sun, who ran with the story under the caption Homer Sexual – a very blunt joke but entirely in keeping with brand Simpsons.

CULTURAL VANDALISM!
However, to land such a work as this at media as more than just a picture with associated caption comment, or in fact to land any coverage at all, the practitioner has to ensure depth of story to provide compelling reasons for editors to run with it – which is where the art of PR comes in: Homer is a classic American pop culture icon, the chalk giant is a classic world heritage icon: The juxtaposition of one against the other in this way could be seen as an act of cultural vandalism. The argument was made that it may well be vandalism, BUT… if you left Homer on there for a 1000 years then he too would become a heritage icon as potent as the chalk giant. This is hard to argue against. Particularly when you consider that the origins of the giant are actually lost to history, and there is a significant school of thought that the giant was actually an early form of graffiti – a crude caricature of Oliver Cromwell in fact! Again an act of vandalism becoming a heritage icon with the passage of time. All these angles were used in the intense debate that built up online to provide depth and a solid rationale to the work. It didn’t stop there…

Never offend a Pagan.

IF SOMEONE OFFENDS YOU, DO A RAIN DANCE!
The giant is also interpreted as a fertility symbol by Pagan groups. Some tongue in cheek controversy was courted with these special interest groups; the Dorset Pagans, whose home turf included the land the giant is carved upon were most offended and denounced the work to all media as an affront to the ancient fertility symbol. They held a rain dance in an attempt to wash Homer away from the sacred site. This was capitalised on at media and rolled out as part of the development of the story – it is the sort of thing you could actually imagine happening in an episode of The Simpsons – life imitating art. The media lapped it up. £18 million of coverage in the UK alone. Every tabloid, every broadsheet and every terrestrial broadcast news show featured the work. P-art!

Phew! I hope you see what I mean now. Please send me your own examples and let’s get this book off the ground.

Keiran Bayley, owner of Addo Printing with his new ‘toy’ the Heidleberg SM74 5 colour

See their article in Print Week here.

Also, see their article in Print Monthly here!

Coming up: Prism Planning in The Evening Gazette.

Never has there been a fiercer time than now!

Contrary to historical belief, according to a recent article published on icould.com “… latest research suggests that the number of women working in the games industry has increased to 15% worldwide and even higher in some UK studios.”  As an example, they extend to the EA team behind the The Sims 3 game which they claim had more female than male developers, “so the tide is changing and there has never been a better time for women to break into the industry.” Oct, 2011.

Furthermore, as a positive career choice for women, icould.com state that “women who do work in the games industry are often more successful than their male colleagues.”  With figures taken from a recent survey by MCV, icould.com revealed that the average salary for women working in the games industry is “…higher than an average male salary working in the same industry.”

“I needed the experience to understand the world better. Although I love Poland, I don’t believe that the entire world can exist only in my own country. However, I have come back to Poland because I feel that this is where I belong and this is where I want to develop my career. I also love the way my country is changing and what it has become.” Beata Dudzic on working in Poland.

Nevertheless, PhotoGiarffe Live Arts wanted to find out how the Gaming industry weathers for real women – first hand – who are currently in it, in our present age.  So we sent our New Media correspondence, Najma Hush to speak to the marketing and PR representative, Beata Dudzic from Nintendo, Poland.   After having spent seven years living and studying in the multicultural, cosmopolitan city of London, Beata Dudzic, went back to live in Warsaw, Poland and pursued her presently flourishing career as a women in ‘Video Games’.

Read on to find out more, about exactly what young women should expect from the gaming industry, tips on how to break into a similar career successfully, and possible pitfalls to watch out for along the way.  Also read more to see how much further hot news and inside gossip PhotoGiraffe Live Arts was able to squeeze from the PR and Marketing woman, Beata Dudzic, at Nintendo, Poland.

So Beata, what do you do exactly?

“After working in the arts and further studying arts management, I have become the marketing and PR representative in the video games industry. The industry I work for is very identifiable, as I work for Nintendo. Fans of the brand take it very seriously and emotionally. Imagine as if I was working for your favourite band…This means that I am very often dealing with the emotions of young people, whilst at the same time, still trying to balance these sensitive issues with very specific company politics.”

And how do you think you are benefiting others by what you are doing?

“Making kids smile, because the whole gaming industry is so young and funky! And, particularly as a woman, I am playing an important part in an industry that is ordinarily a man’s world.  Also Nintendo has not been present in Poland for such a long time until now and I am part of building something new and fun. Of course it makes it easier that the brand is huge and well known.  My favourite part of the job is interacting with the fans. They all know me by my name and thanks to Facebook and Twitter I can be connected to them every day.”

So then when did Nintendo first get to Poland? 

“Nintendo is still not officially present in Poland. I represent their interests through the distributor. Beginning with my employment, Nintendo started investing money in marketing in Poland.”

Watch Beata Dudzic at Polygamia.pl (October, 2010)

Oh, I see!  So why do you think it’s taken Nintendo so long to reach out to that part of Europe?

“It’s hard to say really, but maybe by being very successful in America and Western Europe it was easier not to notice a big growing market like Poland but then again neither has it been needed until now.”

Does your job allow you to travel and work outside of Poland much?
“Well yes, there is a fair amount of travel involved.  Nintendo of Europe is based in Frankfurt. Stadlbaue.  My direct employer and the distributor for Nintendo are based in Salzburg, Austria. That’s where I mostly travel to; usually for just a few meetings in a year. Apart from that, Expos in Koln, L.A, or for special conferences on the latest products in Europe; I was sent to Amsterdam last time (for example).”

What are you usually expected to do when you’re off location and on-site abroad?
“Oh you know, the usual; meetings, meetings and meetings…dinners, dinners…and dinners!”

Okay, so you said that the gaming industry is dominated by men, have you ever experienced any positive or negative discrimination because of your gender?

“Both!  It probably depends on the country, but I find it both rewarding and burdensome. As a woman I am constantly put in doubt about my competence and knowledge. At the same time as a woman I can lend myself in for more. But what generally matters at Nintendo is, my personality and communication skills – not my sex.”

But you are a very attractive woman; do you think that this has been to your advantage in becoming the public face of Nintendo Poland?

“Well, thank you! Yes, I think it has, but it wasn’t the main advantage I hope.”

What advice would you give young women who want to get a career in the gaming industry?
“Really go for it! Perhaps start with playing some games first because they are really cool, but first you have to discover what is appropriate for you. There are many types of games to choose from, so look for out what is most interesting for you. Target your favourite gaming company, do all your research, share your knowledge and most importantly have passion.”

What’s your favourite Nintendo game?

“Super Mario Galaxy II. I haven’t been playing it for a while as I’m
busy playing Zelda Skyward Sword at the moment, which is also amazing!!”

Can you tell us any gossip about the next hottest thing coming out from Nintendo?
“The new console is coming out in 2012, but this is not really gossip but only
official information as the rest is top secret and you will have to keep glued to our official worldwide Nintendo website for the hottest news.  Sorry!”

Never mind, you cant say we didn’t try.  Although she is a tough cookie to crack, PhotoGiraffe Live Art would like to send a big warm thanks to Beata Dudzic for taking the time out to give us this exclusive  interview, as a Women in the Gaming Industry and we would also like to thank Nintendo, Poland  for lending her to us.

And so, if you are stuck on ideas  for Christmas presents, maybe Beata’s suggestions on her favourite games  could help you spread the Christmas cheer.  Check the following  link to the cheapest deal on a Nintendo 3DS that PhotoGiraffe Live Art found online or you could watch the lovely Beata in action at the PR launch of Nintendo 3DS in Poland, depending on how good your Polish is.

For further information about career opportunities for women in the Video Games industry check out:

http://icould.com/article/career-opportunities-for-women-in-the-video-gaming-industry/

https://www.facebook.com/icouldstories

We also recommend,

www.womeningames.com .

and

Lana Del Rey – Video Games

by Roger Pynn

This cute Forbes contribution by Peter Himler looking at “today’s headlines through the prism of PR/media/marketing” stops short of looking at our profession through the lens of purpose.

Himler writes of a test he began giving back in the pre-Internet days to prospective public relations hires … a test based on their knowledge of the news media they would ostensibly deal with if hired.  Then he tries to update it for a world that operates at a dizzying pace in which everyone seems convinced that success will be measured by clicks.

If getting to PR’s pearly gates was based only on media successes I’d start handing out Himler’s test tomorrow.  However, what clients really want from us is far more than Klout scores in the stratosphere or a seat on the “Today” show couch with Matt Lauer (although that could well be a home run).

They want brand definition and recognition … and reputation management … and corporate social responsibility programs … and candid internal communications … and many other things that aren’t dependent upon media habits.  Certainly, the shifting sands of technology-enabled communications are important to what we do … but public relations people will be far more valuable to employers and clients if they focus on what really keeps the boss awake at night.

Overall, our project has had a positive effect on every one of these publics. It has helped to foster a sense of community and a relationship of understanding between WVU, Morgantown residents, and local businesses, which is the primary aim of the ITGA. In addition, this is project has also helped WVU grow as an institution of learning and helped the Pearly Issac Reed School of Journalism enrich its students with real-world public relations experiences. This project also demonstrated to the university’s networking capability and the power of that network to bring many different types of people together to achieve a common purpose.

The SCVNGR service-learning project has helped our clients in many aspects as well. Local businesses have become educated about new marketing techniques and technological advancements in advertising. This project offers them an easy, low-cost opportunity to diversify their marketing plan, and has given them free access to SCVNGR promotions that are usually reserved for large corporations and conglomerates.

“We were college students once,” said Art, owner of McClafferty’s Irish Pub. “We aim to cater to the college student demographic, and we hope to better understand how to target them using SCVNGR and mobile gaming technology,” Art said.

This project helped me to see how crucial communications, both written and interpersonal, are in a public relations career, or any career for that matter. I learned how talk to clients and to get involved and active in a public relations project. In addition, this SCVNGR project has helped me to better understand clients and how to meet their needs. This project also helped my technical writing skills which will be an asset to my future PR career. I learned how to write sales letter, media kits and many different types of news releases. I think this project was very helpful for me to learn how elements of a public relations campaign are created and implemented. This project has made me feel more prepared for my capstone class in the spring.

Shea Anderson, a Morgantown resident and a recent graduate from the Marshall University W. Page Pitt School of Journalism wishes that should could have participated in project like this one in her public relations studies at Marshall.

“I’ve already played SCVNGR at BW3′s and it is a blast. It provides me with something fun to do while I’m waiting for my food,” she said. “This is such a neat project. It is great that your class is gaining these experiences before you graduate without going through an internship program,” Anderson said.

Don’t forget to follow SCVNGR on Twitter and check “like” SCVNGR  on Facebook!

The service-learning project has also touched the community and provided our class insight on what service-learning can really mean. One of my classmates, Evan Bonnesetter, explains how he came to understand the importance of our project and the impact of wide-scale community service:

“Before this class and project with SCVNGR and ITGA, I thought that serving the community meant strictly volunteering at the local soup kitchen or donating to a holiday food drive. Now, I think about service on a larger scale that benefits more people and communities as a whole,” Bonnesetter said. “As PR professionals, it’s our job to serve the community through outreach on a larger scale.”

I can already see that this project is starting to bring the Morgantown community closer to West Virginia University students. So far, The Pink Umbrella Co. has signed up The Back Door, Big Times and Morgantown Brewing Company for SCVNGR promotions. Many of the business owners I’ve spoken with have expressed their concern about how to market their business to college students. The owners of these three businesses went to college in a different generation, and they are lost on how to relate to and reach today’s young adults. Our partnership with SCVNGR and the International Town and Gown Association (ITGA) has enabled us to meet one-on-one with these individuals and provide them with a means to connect to their target customers through mobile gaming and social media promotions. It feels good to help others, especially members of your local community.

Doctoral student and instructor in women’s studies, Meliessa Chesanko knows the importance of service-learning in higher education. She is not only an educator but also the president of the WVU Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FEMLA).

“The SCVNGR project sounds like something that could be an excellent tool in teaching, while also serving the community,” Chesanko said.

Chesanko also spoke of the similarities between the projects that her organization undertakes and our SCVNGR project.

“FEMLA provides services to women in the Morgantown community beyond just reaching college students. We are also aiming to foster a connection between WVU students and Morgantown residents,” she said.

So what are you waiting for? Stop reading my blog and go out and do something for your community. You never know how many lives you could touch, and you just might learn something along the way.

Thinking about the demographics of Morgantown allows one to determine who, how much and how many could be affected by our service-learning project with SCVNGR. According to data obtained from City-Data.com, there are slightly more males than females in Morgantown (51.1% vs. 48.9%),  the median resident age is 23.1 years compared to 38.9 years for the entire state, the  median household income is $22,32, and the city of Morgantown is 86.8% white.

Morgantown has remained relatively economically stable, even as the rest of the country has been in economic turmoil. The population of Morgantown has steadily increased 13.1% since 2000. Morgantown is a relatively educated city. 89.2% of the population has at least a high school degree and 47.8% have  a bachelor’s degreee or high. Forbes also puts Morgantown at number 3 in its ranking of best places for small businesses and careers due to the city’s high rate of job growth and income growth.

Here are some other Morgantown rankings from City-Data.com that are relevant to our project:

• #82 on the list of “Top 100 cities with highest percentage of college students.”
• #84 (26505) on the list of “Top 101 zip codes with the most alcohol drinking places in 2005.”
• #87 on the list of “Top 101 counties with the highest percentage of residents relocating from foreign countries between 2005 and 2006.”

The International Town and Gown Association (ITGA) has been hard at work in other college communities across the country to improve relations between universities and the cities in which they reside. We can learn from past IGTA projects and improve upon our own. According to a recent article, Brown University, located in Providence, R.I., has become increasingly involved in the development of the city’s economy. The university has remained committed to its local investments over the past 10 years, enabling further development in the state. In addition, the university’s progress in the fields of biotechnology, engineering and medicine has paved the way for further expansion of these disciplines in downtown Providence. This is similar to our project with ITGA because we are also working to improve the local and regional economy.

In addition, ITGA has  partnered with other schools and initiated projects in their cities to revitalize local neighborhoods. The University of Buffalo, the University of Maryland and the University of Pennsylvania also underwent neighborhood development projects that were similar the SunnysideUp project in Morgantown and West Virginia University.

The possible ramifications of SCVNGR and ITGA in Morgantown are far-reaching and could affect the local economy beyond our initial expectations. Small business owners are already weighing in on what they think the effects of this project will be on the Morgantown community. John Gentile, owner of The Back Door, a pub in downtown Morgantown, took over the business 20 years ago. The competition for local businesses has been steadily increasing.

“When I started this business there were 7 bars in Morgantown, now there are 35,” Gentile said. He goes on to describe how this project will help him target college students, an audience that has been more difficult for him to reach.

“I took over The Back Door when I was 24 and now I’m 44. I need to learn how to stay relevant in this market.”

For the latest information and updates about SCVNGR, follow SCVNGR on Twitter and download the SCVNGR application from Facebook.