Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Hello – I’m really pleased to be a contributor for the H+KStrategies UK London Blog. My name is Andrew, and I have recently started at H+K on the graduate scheme. I will write a couple of blog entries about the graduate scheme – students and those starting a career who want the best start to the PR + Communications industry watch this space!

The majority of my posts however will be on behavioural economics. Behavioural economics is delivering very interesting insights and is something I find exciting and topical. As means of an introduction, behavioural economics is somewhat an umbrella term for a range of approaches that seeks to understand and explain the effects social, cognitive and emotional factors have in influencing the choices and (economic) decisions of individuals and institutions.

Behavioural Economics - an umbrella term

Why I find behavioural economics so interesting, and why it is so popular across the advertising, marketing and PR service industry, is that it provides the framework and insights to better understand people and the way people behave. Therefore behavioural economics can be an incredibly useful tool because it can assist in better understanding the ‘public’ and provide the structure in which to devise the most effective strategies to shape and influence conversations.

There are various ways in which social, cognitive and emotional factors influence choices and decisions – such as loss aversion, framing, status quo bias or simply not putting in the mental effort to make the right decision!  Check back here for my blogs, which are going to give a range of examples to show how these different factors and behaviours influence choices and (economic) decisions.

Follow @AndrewPCBarratt

Pharma and healthcare has an image problem. Or at least, it has sometimes had a problem conveying itself in a compelling way through visual media. It’s curious then, that a number of prominent pharma companies in the US have set up corporate accounts on Pinterest, the latest much-hyped plaything of the social media world. Bayer US, Boehringer Ingelheim, Menarini Spain, GE and Novo Nordisk have all begun populating their boards with healthy-looking people and clinical researchers on a site more often associated with pictures of wedding dresses and cakes.

Let’s take a step back and explain Pinterest for those who may not yet have come across the site. Pinterest allows you to ‘organize and share things you love’ so your collection of paperclip sculptures can be ranked according to the number of prizes they have won and your photo albums of Iggy the pet stick insect can be shared with all of your friends. The medium is incessantly visual, as posts consist almost solely of either images or video, which can then be shared (‘repinned’), liked or commented upon by other users. While the site has grown at an exponential rate in the US, it remains to be seen whether it will have the same impact among the same groups of people in the UK and elsewhere when the site spends some of its recently-raised funds for international expansion. What does seem clear is that the site is growing fast and companies have begun to take note.

Now, back to that image problem. It may be exciting for pharma companies to have accounts across all the latest social media platforms, but it is important for companies to ask whether this will provide tangible benefits from a strategic communications perspective. Between them, Bayer, Boehringer, and Novo have a total of 355 followers. Meanwhile, the accounts don’t seem to have elicited much in the way ‘interaction’ or ‘engagement’ with these followers. 

 On the other hand, GE Healthcare has managed to capitalise on both the clout of its parent group and the innovative work done in other areas of the business to transform apparently visually unappealing engineering and energy operations into captivating images and video. By posting via the General Electric umbrella account, the healthcare arm already has an audience of over 9,562 followers, and the specialist healthcare Pinboards are original and well-populated. More importantly, they are also well planned with a clear remit and strategy.

 Of particular note are the Cancer Pintherapy and Pinspire boards, which manage to be both warm and engaging. The Pintherapy board features a collection of pictures alongside famous motivational quotes and experiences of ordinary people affected by cancer and particulalry breast cancer. Pinspire asks users to submit their own inspiring content on the subject of cancer experiences, one of which is then chosen to be featured each week. Just as with the GE Healthymagination Facebook page, the account is particularly good at interacting with users promptly and with a personal touch.

It remains to be seen whether pharma and healthcare companies can make Pinterest into a truly effective communication tool, or, for that matter, whether Pinterest itself will survive in an often faddy social media environment.

Launching the world’s first snore absorption room; creating the world’s biggest shave; reinterpreting art with technology; revealing the best place in the UK to bring up a family… As 2011 draws to a close, we take a look back month by month at some H+K Strategies campaigns and work throughout the year.

January: City & Guilds Million Extra

You're hired: Karren Brady+ City & Guilds' Chris Jones

To start the new year, preparations to launch City & Guilds first ever Apprenticeship Summit went underway early on. The aim of the campaign was to help ensure one million Apprenticeship starts by summer 2013.

In January, we commissioned a report to identify the barriers employers face in hiring apprentices with the findings discussed by key political and business leaders at the Summit, hosted by Apprentice star Karren Brady.

Nearly 100 pieces of coverage resulted from this campaign as well as a request from Professor Alison Wolf to receive a copy of the full report after seeing the articles to include in her Government review of 14-19 education.

February: Intel Remastered

Shortlisted for various industry awards, our Technology team created an exciting art campaign- Intel Remastered to showcase the creative application of Intel technology. The project saw 13 modern artists reinterpret iconic masterpieces using digital technology and techniques.

Pushing the boundaries of art and creating one of the most talked about art events on the year, the stories and inspiration behind classics such as Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ and Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ were retold and presented to a digital-savvy audience.

Read the rest of this entry »

I believe it was contemporary urban philosopher Ferris Bueller who once said ‘Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it’ (NB – on reflection, I don’t know why I wrote that; I hate people who ascribe deep significance to the throwaway utterances of fictional characters. IT WAS WRITTEN BY A SCREENWRITER, YOU CHUMP). This edition of Web Curios is brought to you by the whooosh-ing sound that time makes as it flies past your ears; it seems like only yesterday that I was writing the last one of these, talking about holidays and the end of summer and stuff. All of a sudden it’s December, I’ve not written a Curios for a month (not that any of you CARE, you unappreciative whelps), and you can’t turn on the television without a famous trying to sell you stinkwater. On an unrelated note, I am yet to eat a mince pie in 2011. If anyone would like to courier some over to H&K towers, I will be very grateful and possibly do a small happy dance in gratitude; thanks (in the unlikely event that HRH Prince Charles is reading this, I am a massive fan of Duchy Originals).

Read the rest of this entry »

Why me...one of the questions you'll be asked

If you’ve been thinking about applying to Hill & Knowlton’s graduate scheme but not sure where to start or what we’re looking for, here are some top tips from our current crop of H&K grads, Chris, Daisy and Becca on what makes a successful grad applicant:

1. Read widely and understand your industry

PR is a broad discipline and spans many sectors, including consumer packaged goods, technology, healthcare, retail & leisure, financial & professional services just to name a few. It’s important like any other job to familiarise yourself with the industry and the sectors involved. A good starting point is to pick up with a copy of PR Week and read about the latest news and campaigns and increase your media consumption to see how brands and companies are being talked about in the press.

2. Digital ‘do’

There’s no denying that digital is important these days. Most campaigns have some form of digital element involved so it’s important to have an understanding of how Facebook, Twitter and blogger campaigns work. Research around successful digital campaigns and come armed with examples of digital work you’ve seen and liked. Even better, try and think about why they’ve worked (or haven’t) and what you would do to differently.

Also, if you’re not on Twitter already, it’s always worth opening an account and try to understand how it works.

3. Be prepared

Take a look at H&K’s website to see our recent campaigns, the brands we look after and community manage to familiarise yourself with the work we do. You can also find us on Twitter, HANK and vimeo to give you a better idea of what it’s like working at H&K towers.

4. Be a team player

We work in a collaborative environment, be it cross-sector or across different markets. If you do get invited to the assessment day, remember to pace yourself, listen to others contributions and don’t try and dominate with your own. It is difficult to ignore the fact that you are essentially competing against all other people on the day, but those who take that attitude into the team task are doomed to failure. Be prepared to work together to shine as a team.

Remember no idea is a bad idea during a brainstorm. Look to build upon or take inspiration from other ideas rather than dismissing them, and make sure all feedback is constructive rather than critical.

5. And finally…

Don’t be afraid to eat as many sandwiches as you want at lunch on the day of the assessment. Your lack of fear in taking the last egg and cress could give you a competitive edge due to increased energy levels in the second half of the day.

Good luck!

Follow the grads on:

@chrissssmith

@daisysheps

@juange18

@liyywln

Oh dear, I fear I may be committing to a long, ongoing series here. But as a well-known webmong always tells me, it’s good to blog on an issue and keep going at it. That’s why, after July’s top tips for Powerpoint, this week we bring you our top tips on how best to engage with bloggers.

Blogs and bloggers are a key channel. Some are extremely well read, some of them reach exactly the audience that you want/need. Most of them however are not professional, and many may not have encountered us PRs before. With this in mind, here are our tips – with thanks to Candace, Daisy, Becca, Matt and Joey.

Blogs and Bloggers are a great channel for reaching your audience - but only if you approach a blogger campaign in the right way

1. Most bloggers aren’t professionals – yes, some are dedicated, paid-up writers, and many more monetise their sites. The fact is though, the vast majority blog out of love for their subject. Many are unlikely to have been, or want to be, pestered by PR people incessantly pushing a product or service. Assaulting their senses with marketing-speak is therefore likely to lead to an instant bash of the big read ‘D’ button. Establish a dialogue, explain and justify why you’re writing to them (without the marketing-speak) and don’t push them for an instant decision.

Read the rest of this entry »

I had an opening riff all worked out for this week, webmongs, but that was before I saw this amazing news story. Poor the confused,  sweaty-palmed masturbators! That aside, though, it’s been a relatively uneventful 4-day week, apart from the British press redeeming itself slightly for Gareth Barry John Terry Ryan Giggs-gate by actually doing some proper investigative journalism – which, inevitably, led to literally nothing changing whatsoever in the no-way-at-all-corrupt HQ of world football; and perhaps from the best story likely to appear in print anywhere in the world in 2011. Oh, and if you were traumatised by goats as a child (and let’s be honest, which of us hasn’t been) then THIS IS YOUR MONTH.

The rest of you, though, for whom it is NOT your month, will simply have to content yourselves with the following collection of webthings. Apart from The Man – for it is always his month.

Alice Was A Lot Less Innocent Than Is Often Presumed

Read the rest of this entry »

I really shouldn’t be writing this, you know. I should, instead, be continuing to whore my brain out for The Man – but instead I defy him in order to…er…waste a couple of hours knocking this rubbish out JUST FOR YOU! I expect you all to contribute to the ‘feed and clothe Matt’ fund once the near-inevitable P45 finds its way to my desk.

Perhaps, though, The Man is still basking in the warm, fuzzy, near-post-coital aftermath of THAT WEDDING (or maybe he’s still cleaning up, or possibly reflecting on the appropriateness or otherwise of letting the peons daub a car with their messages of support to the happy couple), or perhaps he’s still singing along triumphantly with most of America (but not, it must be noted, all of America). Perhaps he’s wracked with uncertainty as to the outcome of the AV vote (he’s not. Noone is. Not even this poor git). Maybe he’s at home, polishing his small pewter figurine of John Paul II. MAYBE I WILL GET AWAY WITH IT! Webmongs, I am infused with the slightly shaky feeling that you get after a sudden rush of adrenaline or a couple of grammes of plantfood (speaking of which, this is my favourite response to this week’s BIG NEWS STORY- who says drugs are bad for you?); as a result, this week’s Web Curios will most likely have the slightly sketchy, pasty feel of an NA meeting (but without the relentless, self-absorbed confessionals). I hope you enjoy it as much as I don’t enjoy the inevitable, grinding, post-Curios comedown.

Batman had met his match

Read the rest of this entry »

This post is courtesy of Ryan Levitt ( digital consultant in our retail & food & drink teams) – a weekly recap of the ‘look at this fab digital thing’ emails that we receive at H&K – in one helpful list.  (edited / adapted by me)

LINK #1:Social Media has little impact on online retail purchases

This first link states that social media has little direct relation to purchases in the retail space? So why should people create social media sites for retail brands then? Well, it’s a must for brand awareness, and to highlight activity around key dates and sale periods. It’s also a great platform to generate email addresses for a database – which IS the leading method to generate sales.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello All! Welcome to another edition of the Financial and Professional Services team’s Friday Fiver. Big thanks this week to Linzi Goldthorpe, Karen Butcher, Chris Pratt and Jonathan Henderson.

Joanna gears up again…Monday saw the Bar Council and Law Society launch their campaign against government cuts to legal aid. The lobbyist group Sound off for Justice, which is championed by actress and rights activist Joanna Lumley, aims to put pressure on the government to reconsider the cuts which were unveiled in November of last year.

Guess who's back for round two?

Currently the UK provides free legal advice for those people fighting civil cases that don’t have sufficient funds to cover legal costs. The Ministry of Justice plans to cut the £2.1bn legal aid bill by £350m within four years, reducing the number of people of people able to seek help by up to 500,000.

So far the propositions have been dubbed ‘brutal’ and ‘devasting’ by the legal community who are calling for the plans to be scrapped. Enter Joanna to weave her magic again…

Bribery is still bribery…Some of us attended the British American Business’s Law Forum UK Bribery Act event this week. Given the new date for the guidelines on the Act are yet to be confirmed the seminar focussed on what businesses need to  be thinking about before implementation comes into force.

The focus was very much on laying minds at rest following the confusion around the Act’s implementation. Two messages were clearly played out through the seminar:

1. Facilitation payments always have and always will be a crime. The Bribery Act isn’t changing that.

Care is still needed when choosing a hotel for business guests

2. The reaction to the Act’s hospitality element has been blown well out of proportion. Sensible and proportionate expenditure remains lawful but flying a potential new business partner halfway around the world with their family and putting them in a deluxe hotel is not.

Confusion remains on events such as the Olympics though – the clock is ticking on this one, so watch this space.

Confused about petrol…This week we received an email from price comparison site confused.com about their partnership with The Sun for their new ‘Do Your Duty’ campaign. It seems to have won a lot of support from readers of the paper and has been well shared on Confused.com’s website. This week’s inflation figures can only have heightened support for it as well.

The campaign looks like a no-brainer for Confused.com then doesn’t it? We do wonder though if it doesn’t look somewhat self-serving for organisations if they choose an issue that isn’t well-aligned with their business. We’ve been running a successful campaign for Hymans Robertson on pension reform recently. But then being pension consultants they can lead that debate and offer well-respected opinions – the risk of falling short in the credibility stakes is low.

Well done to confused.com for showing the nerve to embrace an issue though. Not all organisations are willing to do so, but we hope they build on this position and develop their credentials as an organisation that represents consumers interests in keeping prices low, including insurance prices.

Goodbye Western investment returns…Barely a day goes past without reports of the fundamental shift in global wealth and productivity from the developed to the developing world.

This week the London Business School weighed in. Their new report indicated that the equity risk premium (the additional return generated by investing rather than taking a risk-free option such as cash) is set to fall in developed markets. They believe that investors can expect a future return of around 3 to 3.5% from equities in the developed world, the lowest rate in 110 years, down on the historic average of 4.5%.

The report comes as Barclays Capital predicted foreign investors can however expect annual returns of 10.5% from developing economies. The findings are likely to have significant repercussions for where western pension funds invest their money as younger generations search for returns further afield than the western blue chips that have traditionally been a staple of pension portfolios.

Money Saving ‘Expert’…Martin Lewis and his website have been a big success in recent years, by offering a new approach to personal finance. Lewis has binned the jargon and offers simple rules of thumb on saving and investing. Now however, there are questions being asked about his credentials following a slip-up on ITV’s Daybreak show this week.

An expert yes, but a qualified one?

The whole issue of financial advice is under the spotlight at the moment thanks to something called the ‘Retail Distribution Review’. This proposes to change the way financial advisers earn their keep – from taking commission on selling products, to billing clients (people like us) for their time. As the ever excellent Anthony Hilton pointed out recently though, this could put advisers out of the financial reach of most people.

That means the majority will have to turn to Mr Lewis and others like him for their money advice. The first test on the horizon in this brave new world? Explaining to 7m workers why their pay checks are suddenly 4% lighter following the start of auto-enrolment in 2012. Good luck guys…