HMV

HMV recently hit disaster declaring administration, following this there has been much speculation as to how they reached this point. The most common being that this 92 year old organisation got comfortable and stuck in their ways!

They didn’t transform in a market that was seeing drastic innovation due to the development of digital media, including online music downloads and streaming.

 

If HMV had launched online music services or ‘iTunes-like’ programs in time would they have seen the same fate?

WHEN IS CHLOROFORM EVER A GOOD IDEA?

Christmas is a time of joy and- let’s be honest here- a lot of stress, but we all try to focus on the happy and fun part right? Well apparently Virgin doesn’t.

[Image from Google]

The not-so-jolly US online advertisement from Virgin Mobile hit the headlines and triggered outrage on twitter with the ad being described as ‘disgusting’ and ‘totally unacceptable’. It’s at times like these when organisations wish twitter was no longer! Social media is a great communications tool for positive coverage, endorsement, raising brand awareness and dealing with individual customer complaints (hopefully reducing the risk of their complaint going viral) etc., but what does one do when everybody online is talking about it?! A little scary right?

Even though the ad gained coverage for all the wrong reasons it still got extensive coverage and most likely a lot more than it may have without the scandal. So crisis is bad for any organisation and their reputation but any press is good press...?

I mean come on…since when is chloroform a good mention?

Bad move.

THE DECADE OF 'SELFIES'

[SCREEN GRAB OF WEBSITE]

“Today I’m Wearing” is the latest contribution to the fashion sharing world which has completely innovated the way fashion trends are communicated and bought. Over the years fashion blogging has developed to be a widespread influential tool. Blogs have become an invaluable tool for organisations, across all sectors, to promote their brands in a more credible and reliable way. Now “Today I’m Wearing” has created even further opportunities for organisations to increase brand awareness.

The website and recently launched app allows members to post photos of their outfit for the day and then have this outfit rated and commented on by other users. When I first visited the site I found it extremely refreshing to see real people in real clothes and not retouched models! It’s also great to see how people are working the latest trends and be given the opportunity to ask questions about where they buy their clothes etc. I mean only last week I was wandering about in London and  saw a complete stranger with a to-die-for coat on and all I wanted to do was know where I could get one! Now if only I’d seen this on “Today I’m Wearing” then I could ask without being given a funny look and my dream would be fulfilled!

However, this app might be great for us mere shopping addicts but what about for fashion bloggers…? Will it slowly overpopulate the fashion blog world? Can anyone gain fashion credentials at “Today I’m Wearing”?

For better or worse, you tell me…

THE MERITS (OR OTHERWISE) OF BLOGGING AS A COMMUNICATION TOOL IN PR…

One aspect of public relations is to tell an organisation’s story to its publics, as well as maintain reputation and get their messages out there to their stakeholders, amongst many other processes. The word blog is a contraction of the term ‘web log’ which, over time, has been replaced with blog.

Blog has been defined as a website which individuals, groups or organisations record opinions, information etc. on a regular basis. Blogs usually include images, videos and links to other websites to keep them interesting and as interactive possible. In short a blog is a way of telling people what you think; one might argue it’s a form of storytelling. In PR we aim to influence opinion and behaviour via different methods of storytelling, therefore surely a blog is the perfect communication tool for PRs?

 

I found this saved on my laptop and unfortunately have no idea where I saved it from to give credit! But whoever did this image, it's amazing and I would very much like to credit you for it!