Overview
This week Old Spice stole all the headlines for their wonderful use of social media to engage and send tailored content to fans. This short burst of awareness raising activity has worked wonders for generating WOM around the brand, whilst they have won plaudits for the quick turnaround time in producing amusing video content. I have also included two stories about Domino’s Pizza and Ben & Jerry’s which really make the business case for social media and online engagement. In addition, Foursqare has redesigned it’s venue pages which will have implications for those in the industry, whilst Sunderland University student, Stephen Johnson wrote a great article in Behind the Spin magazine making the case for social media to be taught in higher education.

Old Spice: The Archetype of a Successful Social Media Campaign
Although Wieden + Kennedy had a very different aim than the homicidal “John Doe” character from David Fincher’s thriller Seven, this is probably what the advertising agency behind Old Spice’s latest marketing campaign must be thinking right now.

Domino’s UK Social Media Initiatives Help Increase Profits by 29%
According to Domino’s UK financial earnings report, the company has increased its pre-tax profit by nearly 29%, which equates to roughly $26 million. The UK pizza retailer attributes social media initiatives and its Foursquare promotion for the gains.

Ben & Jerry’s: A Bold and Digital Reality
It’s not every day that a client asks you to create something that is meaningful, innovative, creative and fun. Okay, with Ben & Jerry’s, it’s every other day. In keeping with Jerry Greenfield’s motto “If it’s not fun, then why do it” they have really outdone themselves this time.

Foursquare Tidies Up Venue Pages To Emphasize Tips
Foursquare, freshly flush with cash, is in the process of altering its service. They realize that the check-in model can only go so far, and they have to build utility on top of it. Part of that is changing the game aspect. Another part is the user-generated “Tips.” Today, those have been made a clear area of emphasis on Foursquare’s website.

Why learn social media at University?
The creation of Web 2.0 has changed the way people view and receive content online. It has given all internet users the power to self-create content which other users can view and contribute to.

Disclosure: Ben & Jerry’s and Domino’s Pizza are both Edelman clients.

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Whilst, I admit that I’m slightly biased, I think it would be a tremendous opportunity to experience the ‘other side’ of PR, namely the research, data crunching and analysis that helps inform strategy. It’s a vital part of what Edelman do and would be a welcome addition to any CV. In short, if you want to broaden your horizons and expand your CV – drop our HR team a line.

The deadline for applicants is 26 June 2010.

For more information on the role check out the Edelman website. There is also a range of other vacancies available at Edelman.

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I was fortunate enough to attend the Edelman Social Entertainment breakfast last week where the findings of Edelman’s fourth annual Trust in the Entertainment Industry survey were presented. Gail Becker, President of the firms Western region, announced the results before Labour MP, Tom Watson, Acting Head of Crossplatform at Channel 4, Matt Locke and Online Community Product Manager at BSkyB, Maz Nadjm gave their views on the issues raised.

• It is the ability to access content across devices, not cost, that is of significance to consumers.
• Spending on entertainment continues to stay strong.
• Those that state that they trust entertainment companies are also more willing to pay for content.

• 73% of 18-24 year olds in the US and 61% in the UK see social networks as a form of entertainment.
• 89% of those in the UK say they would not be willing to give up personal information to access free entertainment.
• 32% of UK consumers and 28% of US consumers trust entertainment companies.

Edelman is looking for Senior Account Executives right up to Account Directors and everything in between, including some techie and admin roles. These positions are across a range of teams and you can find out more by clicking here.

Do get in contact if you have any questions and i’ll try and point you in the right direction.

There is a range of vacancies, however there are some really interesting roles available, particularly within the digital team (I would say that. Disclaimer: that’s my department!).

The digital team are looking for a:
Senior Web Developer , Content Manager, Project Manager, Account Manager and Account Director.

In addition, Edelman is also looking for a range of people to work across the various teams including:
Account Executive, Senior Account Executive, Media Analyst, Medical Writer, Client Relationship Manager, Global Account Strategist, Research Director and Account Director. Healthcare is recruiting across all levels too.

Do let me know if you’ll be applying for any of the roles and i’ll do my best to answer any questions or point you in the right direction.

To read a full list of the vacancies please click here.

The catalyst for the debate once again seems to be PR Week and it continues to be a good forum for industry colleagues to have their say. Stuart Bruce of Wolfstar has also penned a blog with a poll and the consensus, thankfully seems to be that it is wrong to behave unethically on behalf of a client.

It is important to make a clear distinction, namely the difference between unethical behaviours (astroturfing, lack of disclosure, lieing etc) and moral decisions, for instance working on accounts that people may find morally questionable, such as tobacco.

It comes down to rights and responsibilities: I believe we all have the right to opt out of an account for moral reasons, but we also have a responsibility to ourselves, our employer, clients and the PR industry to behave ethically.

Fortunately, all good agencies allow staff to opt out of accounts on moral grounds and I feel empowered that my employer’s position is clear as Robert Phillips stated ‘at Edelman, everyone has the right not to work on a piece of business if they find it ethically or morally challenging.’

I think the sensible approach seems to be that, yes – we should all work in an ethical manner, but from a moral standpoint it is less clear cut what industries are the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ones to work with. The issues are often far more complex than to simply be branded ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

Everyone has a different set of values and the question is: where do you draw the line? Is there a line? Arms, gambling, alcohol, pornography, fast food? Sweatshops, carbon footprints, industrial relations? In fact, under the surface I imagine someone, somewhere has a moral objection to every corporation. However, I firmly believe it is possible for organisations to behave in an ethical and responsible way, whilst carrying out work that some may find morally objectionable.

Indeed, it is these more challenging industries that provide us, as practitioners with the greatest opportunity to demonstrate how PR can be used for social good. We live in a stakeholder society and PR agencies can work in partnership with organisations to devise strategies that engage with these communities and create understanding.

Our end goals are trust and credibility and the most effective way to achieve these aims is through openness, honesty and transparency. Behaving unethically is short-sighted and ultimately, self-defeating. Whilst, I’m loath to make judgments on morality, it is not difficult to make ethical ones. Ethics has to be the cornerstone of the PR industry.

I’d be interested to hear what industries (rather than companies) you would find it hard to work with on ethical or moral ground.

Back to the self-indulgence…as some of you may know, I’ve recently accepted a job at Edelman working for their UK Digital team, Spook Media. I am delighted and really looking forward to beginning this new chapter in not only my career, but my life too. Despite only meeting my new colleagues just the once, I know a bit about them – having read their blogs, tweets and exchanged emails. I can’t wait to get cracking.

Although, I’m truly excited to start work – the last couple of days have been a bit strange for me, as I’ve left Leeds, my home for the past 5 ½ years. I’ve not only left behind a city, but a group of friends who have become something of an adopted, northern family.

Whilst, there is an element of sadness, there is certainly no regret and I’m looking forward to the challenges of my new role, learning from some great people and the opportunities this may bring.

Today is my first day at Edelman. Wish me luck.

Whilst the article contained some interesting snippets of information, it left me with more questions than answers, namely:

1. Who should be teaching digital skills?
2. What digital skills do employers want?
3. How can people demonstrate digital skills?

I enlisted the help of industry colleagues Marshall Manson, Director of Digital Strategy at Edelman and Stephen Waddington, Managing Director at Speed Communications to share their thoughts on these questions.

Marshall said:
“1. In my experience, academics are good at teaching principles and lousy at teaching practicalities. So most of the training is going to have to be done by employers in a professional setting. Mostly though, PRs need to take the time to build experience. That’s what I’m always looking for nowadays.

2. Experience. Real depth. Understanding of how the platforms really work. And increasingly (especially at senior levels), real insight into how to build strategies and work with the platforms to undertake successful campaigns built on conversation. Also critical: Ability to listen to the conversation and discern insights.

3.Talk the talk. And back it with real examples.”

Stephen said:
1. The digital PR industry is too immature for formal teaching courses to have been developed. The rules have yet to be written. But there are plenty of good books and lots of materials online. And the tools are free are readily available for anyone to experiment.

2. If you’re new to PR you need to build your own social networks on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. And you need to develop content on a blog platform, Flickr and YouTube. Likewise if you’re in PR and want to stay in PR you equally need to learn how to use digital techniques to create and seed content.

3. It’s the old adage. Show me what you’ve done don’t tell me what you could do. Build out your own social networks and use a blog platform, Flickr or YouTube. I am constantly astonished at the number of PR and journalism students that aren’t sufficiently motivated to experiment with these new forms of media. I would always choose someone that had made the effort versus someone that had not.”

I’d like to put on record my thanks to both Marshall and Stephen for sparing the time to give their views on this issue. I’m sure any graduate looking to break into the PR industry in 2010 will find this a valuable post. On a personal note: I look forward to exploring this topic more closely in an article for Behind the Spin magazine.

It follows on from the 2010 PR Grad Schemes and Q&A with high-flying SAE posts which have proved immensely popular and I hope useful. I thought it would be worthwhile to get some pearls of wisdom from somebody working within the HR team at one of the world’s biggest PR firms.

Toni is involved with graduate recruitment at Edelman, so the answers really are from someone who knows their stuff. You can find out more about Toni from her Tweets and Linked In profile

1.    What key things do you look for on a CV?
In the current climate recruiters receive such huge amounts of applications for entry level roles that they can be very picky about what they’re looking for. Therefore, if a brief has been posted, make sure every point in the job brief is matched in your CV.

Also, it may seem rather basic, but it’s amazing the amount of CVs that come through with spelling mistakes, grammar and formatting issues. Always get a friend to look through your CV to spot anything like this, you can stare at the same CV for hours and not realise you’ve spelt the company name wrong – it does happen!

2.    What are your top 3 tips to prepare for an interview?
(I) Ask before the interview who you will be meeting, make sure to do your research on these people and how they fit into the company.

(II) Do as much investigations as you can into a company, not just looking at their website but also reading any publications they may have published, e.g. Edelman’s Public Engagement essays . Find out who their clients are and what issues they face.

(III) Know you CV inside out and your dates of employment. Make sure that they all tally up and any gaps in employment or study are explained.

3.    Should graduates bring their portfolio to an interview?
Sure, why not. Anything that helps sell yourself.

4.    What are graduates expected to do at an Edelman interview?
At our graduate assessment days we ask candidates to do a number of tasks; the first stage is an application form including a 250 word writing test, the second round is a telephone interview and the third round is coming in for an assessment day with about 10 other graduates. At the assessment day you will be required to complete a variety of tests, present on a topic of your choice and hold your own in an interview.

5. How much do you really value a PR degree and is it likely to be overlooked in favour of an Oxbridge graduate?
Absolutely not. Whilst academic results are important, work experience, personality and skills are far more weighted in my opinion. However, after reading Jacqueline Cooper’s recent blog and the comment listed beneath, this is a subject that has a lot of conflicting opinions.

6.    Students are constantly being told that if they are not active on all platforms of social media the PR world is going to leave them behind. Are social media skills a must have for today’s PR graduates?
It certainly helps, I won’t lie. Graduates need to be visible as a ‘brand’ just as much as anyone else. Showing you understand the principles of social media in your own life means that you will be able to do the same for our clients.

7.    Is a degree or career in journalism a good stepping stone for a move into PR?
It can be, however we have people with previous experience in all walks of life that helps their PR career, so it’s not the only route into PR.

8.    Some graduates produce e-portfolios – are they a good idea and do they get taken into consideration?
They can be very useful to bring along to interview, but remember that when applying for a job the HR contact will have a lot of different candidates speculatively applying and therefore will be looking at the basics first.

9.    How can graduates stand out from the crowd?
Firstly, use of social media to build networks and engage in conversation with contacts within the PR industry. By showing that they are switched on and enthusiastic and by getting some work experience on their CV, even if it is pro bono work, it all helps.

10.    What type of skills and experience do graduates need for PR?
Motivation, enthusiasm, passion and organisation.

I would like to thank Toni for taking part in this Q&A. It’s tough out there at the moment for graduates and any advice; especially from someone working in the industry is valuable. I’d also like to thank the students from all over the UK who sent me the questions.

For some more background you can read two good posts on this topic by Laurence Borel who spoke out after being offered £70 in exchange for some kind words in her blog, whilst Matt Churchill offers some in-depth analysis on the ethical and sustainability issues surrounding this practice.

Whilst, I too  had a recent approach from a SEO agency that put its motivation more crudely, a lot more crudely, it read ‘the reason that these blog postings are valuable is that, when they are linked to websites, those websites will achieve higher rankings in the search engines. Then those websites will sell more of their service or product. Those websites are willing to pay for your assistance’.

To me this is a black hat, underhand tactic if ever I saw one. Not only is it unethical, but could damage the trust, openness, the raison d’etre of blogging. I can see no difference between this practice and the infamous Edelman/Wal-mart fake blog. Whilst ‘paid for bloggers’  may involve ‘real’ people, I’m under no illusion that this tactic is just as bad as the Edelman/Wal-mart blog fiasco. In both instances there is no disclosure, audiences are being lied to and the blogger is guided on what to say – it is classic astroturfing.

Blogs are SEO friendly so it is not surprising that unscrupulous agencies are trying this tactic. However, I cannot help but feel that companies would be better off either investing in a product or service that people really want to blog about or carrying out some in depth analysis to target bloggers who would be genuinely interested.

This practice has made me question my own motivation to blog…I write SWT as I like to state my views and hopefully stimulate conversation. When someone offers me a story, I think about it, evaluate if it is relevant to the blog and if I can get any mileage out of it. I don’t do it for financial gain.

Whilst, I don’t mind people suggesting a topic, being paid to do so would call my impartiality into question.