Hill+Knowlton Strategies

So we near the end of the first month of 2012 – WELL DONE US. Except that Italian captain. And Tom Watson’s intern. And all those naive enough to believe that the SOPA/PIPA thing has gone away (if those words mean nothing to you then read this). And Snickers. And unwitting singers at American churches. And the Russian police. And Bayern Munich. And Uzbekistan. Everyone else, though, pat yourselves on the back – especially me, who found my very own doppelganger last week! We survived the most depressing day of the year, and from hereon in everything will be just peachy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, H+K Strategies held its first D2 event of the year which was also our first sector-specific D2 for the healthcare sector.  Demystifying digital in the healthcare sector provided a wealth of interesting and insightful tips for healthcare communicators to use in the future.

H+K was joined by Kantar Health, Orital Consultancy, H+K Denmark, Kai Gait (former digital commerce marketing manager, GSK)and Google+ each of whom gave presentations highlighting the key challenges, developments and tips for healthcare PRs looking to extend their communications strategy into the digital sphere.

Kantar Health informed our attendees key stats about healthcare consumers. 47% of people write comments about brands, mainly to share or offer advice. Further to this, 70% of people surveyed said they are influenced by ‘social comments’, mainly from other users rather than from the brand. This insight reiterates the importance of social media and the challenges that brands must to respond to, listen to and engage with.

Arve Overland from H+K Denmark talked about Mobile Health. Digital’s move to mobile apps is an area in which the healthcare industry needs to assess whether the platform is right for them. Healthcare app devices generated $718m in 2011, although this figure is impressive, how can PR’s ensure they are creating a good mobile app in a cluttered environment.

1. Does it solve a problem – is there a need?
2. Does it extend product offering onto phone?
3. Does it provide information, reference or education?
4. Does it increase productivity?

Read the rest of this entry »

Tomorrow,  H+K Healthcare takes centre stage in Soho Square, with H+K Strategies‘ first-ever sector-specific Demystifying Digital (#HKD2).  With a formidable list of participants and speakers from major platforms as well as industry leaders from the public and private sector, the event is poised to make a real difference to our understanding of what’s possible and where we should be heading with healthcare digital communications this year. Kantar Health and Orital will talk about how patients and physicians really use the internet, Google will help us understand how we can make the most of Google+ and key note speaker, Kai Gait, Former Digital Commerce Marketing Manager, GSK will share specific examples of how to add value to our work with healthcare communities through digital initiatives. If you’re not able to come along tomorrow, don’t forget to follow #HKD2 on Twitter or check out the blog for a post-event summary.

We’ll be back on the blog after the event to let you know how it all went!

New Year, everyone (I feel that it’s inappropriate to bother with the ‘happy’ charade after nearly two weeks of workaday tedium). Well, it’s been a while. HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED! A new era has been ushered in, where a man’s political fate can rest on a small-if-perplexingly-executed typographical error, and where said typographical error causes the entire country (or at least the white-collar, desk-bound, twitter-using part of it) to down tools and descend into some horrendous infinitely recursive spiral of non-humour; in which a new way of drinking whisky is almost certainly the first harbinger of the forthcoming Mayan apocalypse;  in which a bunch of apparently sentient adults chose, of their own volition, to spend a night in a furniture warehouse; and, hopefully, in which this particular Italian politician will never again be allowed to make videos.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been enjoying the entertaining farewells to 2011. Videos, memes, and pretty much anything digital. But I think the more important part of any happy new year reflection is gazing forward at 2012. I won’t detail my theory on the future of agencies in general, or give advice like this. Instead, my crystal ball shows very clearly the immediate future of my own agency. Because — as with any business based on talent — our fate is clearly written in our open job opportunities.

PLEASE PASS THE LINKS BELOW ON TO SUPER SMART, NICELY AMBITIOUS FRIENDS. While the specifics are all about H+K Strategies 2012, I truly think you’ll find this list serves as an accurate prediction of the marketing and communication industry as a whole. Happy New Year.
Stay with me after the jump, or go straight to the job specs:

• Head of Digital Studio
• Senior Digital Strategist, Consumer Packaged Goods
• Director, Change + Internal Communications
• Director, Issues + Crisis
• Intern, Food & Drink

Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Trying to prep my bit for the WPP Stream London IWE event in our bar tomorrow, I got totally side tracked. Google launched brand Pages on Google+. Hurrah.

Have been waiting and watching for this since forever. Well, since G+ itself launched. There are many feature-led business reasons I think this is so important for brands. But, in my gut, I really really want all the people working on the brands we represent to feel the rush. To beat their competitors off the starting blocks. To be an early adopter brand.

Those are my emotional reasons. The top practical ones include:

• Hangouts
  • The much touted live video tool you can use for everything from a user focus group to a press briefing (video)
• Ripples
  • A lovely visualization of how a post is shared (video). Clearly, identifying top contributors and influencers is key for our clients and Google knows how to provide tools to help. And it’s free.
• Direct Connect
  • This is huge. Users can type +BrandName in Google Search and get a direct link to that Brand’s Google+ Page. It’s not just great for users, it is a reminder of the real power of Google overall.

There is nothing better than to learn by doing. And early adopters learn more, faster. Facebook is almost eight years old; Twitter launched in 2006. Neither was built for brands and, to be honest, many brands are still not sure what to do there. That’s ok. Have a play with Google+ and it just may help your company get serious with an overall social strategy. It’s not a zero sum game and I think the future is a multi-platform place.

We have been doing Workshops on Google+ (and other things) so ping us if you want to know more. And please do circle me.

Phew. Three weeks since I last did one of these, and my word has there been a lot going on. Bankers have shut down a church (well, you know, indirectly)! The Sun gave us possibly the most tasteless frontpage in years! One of the most appalling hatecrimes of the (admittedly newish) decade was committed to little or no mainstream media fanfare! France and Germany mocked Italy’s sexually incontinent Premier! The filthy rich just keep on getting richer! And loads more besides, much of it even more dispiriting than those few links I’ve just shared.

Ignoring the fact that world is going to hell in the proverbial handcart, though, I’ve actually had rather a lot of fun (because that is obviously the MOST IMPORTANT THING). I’ve seen comedy; I’ve been to an awesome gig;I’ve been to the theatre and seen probably the most harrowing play I’ve ever seen, ever (actually, make that the second-most harrowing - this was probably worse); I’ve eaten some truly tremendous food; and I got to see a truly tremendous rapper live in a tiny venue. So, you know, I’m alright. Are you alright? I’m starting to worry.

Anyway, enough of this. Make yourself a cup of tea, settle down in a suitably confortable chair, and imagine my soothing, dulcet tones reading this out to you (and, if you like, imagine my malcoordinated body acting out every single video too. You pervert). You may want to get some biscuits too; this could take a while.

Image courtesy of Neutron, LLC

Read the rest of this entry »

The pretence that this blog is a weekly thing really has to stop. One month since the last one, fact fans. I’ve had THINGS TO DO. Not least going to Brussels and Croatia, where I went on holiday and did NOTHING other than read and swim and be horizontal. It was awesome, and as a result I now look less like this and more like this. No really, I do.

BUT that was then and this is now; I have returned to a world in which the internet spends all its time railing against the evil of corporations and then…er…goes incontinent with grief over the passing of the head of one of the world’s largest corporations; in which Silvio manages to somehow become even more ridiculous and offensive;  and a world in which somehow one of the members of 1980s pop combo Hue & Cry has become a consultant on games, play and ludic theory. We live in interesting times. Here are some totally insignificant bits of online ephemera to help distract you from what appears to be the total meltdown of civilisation which is going on all around us. Christ, I sound like an old man.

Socially responsible graffiti on a Croatian beach hut

Read the rest of this entry »