Chris Pharo Included In 2019's PRWeek Power Book
72Point is delighted to announce that our Managing Director Chris Pharo is featured PRWeek UK Power Book 2019, a list of the most influential and respected comms professionals in the UK today.
The inclusion marks the rapid growth that has taken place at our agency across the last year, with news generation stepping out of the shadows as a valued PR discipline, serving both clients and the media.
The revolution will continue in 2019, stay tuned.
Breakfast News: How Media Consumption Has Become Routine
Most mornings I’ve looked at my phone before I’ve even had a chance to open both eyes.
Swiping off my alarm, I’ll immediately raise the handset above my hideously scrunched face and, with one gunky eye half-open, allow the glare to bring me round to full consciousness.
First, I’ll deal with push notifications. Not thirty seconds awake and I’ve been pushed by my own technology. My bastard phone has the audacity to wake me up and then it bosses me around.
That’s how it is now, to get read, heard, noticed it takes a good old-fashioned holler in your face. Not a nice ‘here we are, how about a little read of this, in your own time of course’ but a loud, playground-style shove.
Following the alerts, usually BBC or Sky news updates, I’ll deal with emails. A scan of the work inbox is followed by the familiar barrage of living social deals, Metro’s news stories of the day, the Buzzfeed newsletter and, would you know it, Amazon have more stuff for me - I love stuff! Also Zizzi are still cooking food, Spotify have music and ASOS have a clothes sale.
Next, the mandatory Facebook check. First, it tells me I have memories (Facebook tells me what to remember now). Then I’ll browse the timeline because I may have missed a vital update in someone’s life in the seven hours since I last checked.
It’s only at this point that I’ll get out of bed and address the basic issues of hygiene (shower), nudity (clothes) and sustenance (cereal). But while shovelling heaps of Coco Pops (When ‘grown up’ cereals turn the milk chocolatey I’ll consider switching) I’ll be reading BuzzFeed. I’ll jump onto Vice and then back to Facebook probably ending up lost in an article a mate’s liked, posted or commented on.
The commute sees more consuming:
Road crossing. Red man. Loads of time, I’ll just look at my phone a bit quick.
Train platform - sure as hell won’t be making eye contact with anyone, phone out.
Carriage – I’ll grab a hard copy of the Metro- cover-to-cover scan.
Even when finally at the desk, I’ll still do a whistle-stop tour of the basic sites, a few news aggregators, a few football sites, another look at Facebook because I may have missed a vital update in someone’s life in the 46 minutes since I last checked.
Then I’ll try and do the work I’m paid to do in between my non-stop news consumption. But, as we all know, when we’re sat with access to the big everything machine that is the internet at our fingertips, we’re never far from a quick scan of a few sites, a sneaky minimized window behind the work, a few more push notifications from our attention-seeking smart-arsed phones.
The way we take in stories is changing and, as research shows, we read more, we read mobile and we’re pickier because of the volume available. Whether it’s at the desk, on the commute or in the toilet even, we’re editing our own constant stream of news and consuming in spaces we didn’t before. We’re watching more videos and curating our own news from what friends are posting, liking, moaning about.
As ever though, story is king and no matter how much something is pushed to a publication or an audience, knowing your content will set tongues wagging or have the strength to cut through the noise remains more crucial than ever.
Now, a quick look at Facebook, because I may have missed a vital update in someone’s life in the 22 minutes since I last checked.
Brand new website launch
January 22 2018
2017/18 was a turning point for 72Point, and this was reflected in the launch of our brand-new website. We achieved a record breaking year in 2017 by going back to basics. We have expanded into areas such as social media while solidifying our national media base with our basic principle that good stories perform well on any platform. And the proof is in the pudding. We let the numbers do the talking in our 2017 round-up
Bitz and Bob - Outstanding Social Results!
Our social project for new Cbeebies programme Bitz and Bob has achieved 488,000 views and 115,000 comments, likes and shares, tackling gender stereotypes in such a fun and creative way.
For a full breakdown of the project click here.
Been there…done that…bear the scars
By Chris White-Smith
Personal record - Played 3 – Won 1, Lost 2
So mid-table mediocrity in the league of successful funding. On what basis, therefore, my right to posit about the tactics for success? Simple - Failure.
The most successful entrepreneurs fail brilliantly. Perceived wisdom suggests that if you’re not failing, you’re too cautious and caution is the first turn off for investors. On that basis, I’m in….
One chance with a potential investor, probably one minute, 5 at the most, so you’d better be prepared – prepare to blow’em away, and prepare for plenty of no’s, not because your idea isn’t great, more the ratio of opportunity to investment most make. I put your chances on average at best 1:100, so don’t fear failure. Its nothing personal.
Channel that fear to adrenalin and passion. But watch out for dilusion, a fast track to fanciful planning. Fact - Investors won’t believe your plan, however ‘genuinely realistic’ you believe. They’ll slash it, and give it the once over. If it passes first muster, they’ll halve it again. If it passes again, you’re chances just increased by a smidge.
All adds up to a massive adrenalin rush. So if you ain’t got that hit, you shouldn’t be in the room.
9 out of 10 start ups don’t make it, for a million different reasons - Investors know that too. The passion for success must be shared, so invest in your investor for value-add beyond cash - its a rollercoaster ride, and you’ve got to feel them feel it.
So my top 10 tips for maximizing your chances: (by-passing the ‘Have a great idea’ bit):
1. Prepare for no’s
2. Invest in your investor
3. Be tight with your equity
4. Borrow small. Crowdfund as last resort
5. Blow away pitch – 5 mins max to hook them
6. Prove the market in the gap – No blag…they’ll find it
7. Believe at every stage
8. Be confident and passionate, not arrogant
9. Be clear on the exit
10. Be Lucky
I was lucky once. I’ll take that…
Good Luck!
Banksy blunder - The benefit of hindsight
It’s not quite as bad as being the man who failed to sign the Beatles but sometimes, as I crawl to work through Bristol traffic on a dismal Monday morning, it feels that way.
In the late 90s, I began to notice funny and subversive graffiti emerging around the city. A rat here, a clown there, a thought-provoking stencilled slogan amid a scrabble of tags.
One particularly striking image appeared overnight on the side of a pub next to our old office on Hotwells Road opposite the SS Great Britain. It was of a screaming clown with Kiss-style eye make-up, toting two pistols. For some unaccountable reason it cheered me up every time I saw it.
While talking one day with a pal who owned a skateboard store off Park Street, I learned that the artist responsible was known as Banksy. I filed the information away and continued to enjoy his work as it cropped up throughout Bristol, experiencing a kind of old school ‘I Spy’ thrill every time I found one.
Fast forward to 2000, and the announcement that Banksy was making the move towards the more traditional medium of canvas, and marking this with an exhibition at the Severnshed restaurant. I went along. Although many of the paintings bore red ‘sold’ stickers (prices were in the high hundreds, rather than today’s astronomical figures) the event itself, it seemed to me, was sparsely attended.
I met and chatted with Banksy’s then manager Robert Birse, in the course of which I was invited to visit the man’s studio, which I jumped at.
If memory serves, the near-derelict space was tucked away in Bedminster. I’d persuaded my news editor that there was something very interesting going on here, although the Banksy phenomenon was still a long way off.
During the course of the visit, I enthused as was shown various canvasses, including one particularly strong image – an elephant with a missile strapped to its back, against a vivid pink background.
“The frame on that one is slightly off,” said Robert. “If you hold it up you’ll see it’s a bit skew-iff.”
It was. It meant it wouldn’t hang completely flat. “Still amazing though,” I replied.
Robert thought for a moment and then said: “Well, you could have that one for a reduced rate, if you like.”
“So … how much?”
“Say £300?”
Now, at the time I was a pretty hard-up reporter with three children to support and another on the way. Three hundred quid bought a lot of nappies and Wet Wipes. But still …
“Yes,” I said. “But is it OK if I give you a cheque for £100 now and pay the rest over the next couple of months?”
He agreed, and I loaded the piece into the back of my battered Peugeot 205.
Back at the office, I phoned my wife and – having spent the journey back planning the best way of pitching the purchase (investment/it’s beautiful/it’ll cover that dodgy bit of plastering in the front room) – recounted the tale.
An ominous silence. A reaaaalllllllly long, ominous silence. Then: “You know we can’t afford it, so I don’t even know why you’d consider this. It’ll have to go back. And you need to get the bloke to tear up the cheque before he banks it.”
The channel for negotiation had clanged shut. I muttered something about a loan, or perhaps borrowing some money from a parent or a mate, but we were already overdrawn to the hilt, and this was met with a dangerous snort.
So back it went.
I’ve tried to “take a positive” from this over the years, but I can’t. I experience a pang – actually it’s more of a stab – every time I read about a Banksy selling at auction, or something like the wonderful Dismaland opening its rusty doors to the public.
If there’s anything I learned from my own very personal Banksygate it’s this. If you love a piece of art for what you believe it to be – something you love – then buy it, if you reasonably can. Absurd as it sounds now, I genuinely didn’t have the spending power at the time, but I guess I could have rustled up the cash somehow.
The other thing I take comfort and joy from is that I can still see and enjoy Banksys every day, in the streets here in Bristol. He even painted a commemorative flower over the trigger-happy clown on Hotwells Road, which always raises a smile. I see them every day, and they’re free.
Average Domain Authority On Coverage Secured For Clients Is On the Up!
By Head of SEO, Marten Lazarus
We are proud to announce that 72Point's average domain authority - for the coverage output we achieve - continues to rise. Throughout April we hit a new high of an average of 67 across our coverage tally.
Adding to our average tally of 46 articles secured per campaign, that DA average is up 15% this year alone.
This is an important metric that points to a commitment to securing quality coverage, that helps move the dial on our client's objectives. In recent years, we have put a considerable amount of focus on taking the quality of our coverage to the next level, so we are delighted with this marked improvement.
Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search engine result pages (SERPs). Domain Authority scores range from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to greater likelihood of ranking.
Domain Authority is based on data from Moz's Link Explorer web index and uses dozens of factors in its calculations. The actual Domain Authority calculation itself uses a machine learning model to predictively find a "best fit" algorithm that most closely correlates link data with rankings across thousands of actual search results that they use as standards to scale against.
#ASKANAPPRENTICE
Former Marketing Apprentice - now full-time employee - Geo Craig writes on his experience of being an apprentice at 72Point:
If you had asked me what my feelings were at the start of my apprenticeship I would have responded with three simple words; fear of jargon. When starting out as an apprentice on the marketing team of a Top 20 consumer PR agency you find yourself asking everyday “what does this all mean?” and “how many times can I get away with asking someone to repeat something before I seem crazy?” It’s safe to say that after coming from a career as an academy footballer at a professional team I would have to suffer being the village idiot for a while. But sometimes being fresh on the scene can be your biggest strength.
After taking the necessary time to settle in and get to know my colleagues I started to find that people were surprised by my fresh outlook on the PR and marketing industry. I found I was able to bring a new element of creativity and even spontaneity to the table, rather than reverting to type and doing things that I believe to be true because someone taught me so. When you have a fresh pair of eyes you’re able to attack a variety of challenges in an infinite amount of ways and you just throw out all kinds of ideas ranging from bonkers to brilliant.
Using an analogy that makes sense to me, I liken it to how modern football managers are increasingly selecting young players so that they can tactically mould them into the role they need them to carry out, rather than picking seasoned professionals who have experience but may be set in their ways.
Of course it helps to have mentors around you. I believe that a young professional is only as good as the experienced individuals who they can constantly learn from and who support them. At 72Point, there’s been no shortage of mentors. At times, being a fly on the wall and observing the day-to-day operations of various people in various teams (design, creative/idea generation, social media, account managers, video etc.) has been the most effective form of professional development. It’s been a rare opportunity to get to grips with so many different areas of an industry and the possibilities are truly vast for an individual who grabs opportunities with both hands.
I’ve now been at 72Point for a year and a half, and every now and then I have to take a step back and acknowledge just how much I’ve learnt in such a short space of time. Managing and coordinating events, handling our social media accounts, maintaining our website and the day-to-day uploading of content to it are just some of the many responsibilities I’ve been able to get to grips with and now at the age of 20 I find myself in a full-time role, having been offered the job by 72Point at the end of my apprenticeship with a year’s professional experience under my belt. Also, the networking opportunities have been incredible. Being able to attend events and meet marketing professionals, make friends and set up knowledge sharing sessions has been invaluable and possibly the best part of my apprenticeship.
The biggest testament to the start my year as an apprentice has given me is that I’ve gained an appetite for new challenges and new responsibility. I’ve discovered a confidence in myself and the ability of young people to allow themselves to be molded, and quickly immerse themselves into anything. Two years ago I was playing against some of the top U18 footballing outfits up and down the country and couldn’t tell you the first thing about a marketing strategy, now I find myself with a significant amount of marketing experience and on a pathway to more knowledge.
72Point's social channels will be taken over tomorrow by two of our apprentices,, use #AskAnApprentice to get your questions across and get insight into a working day here at 72Point!
For more info on our career opportunities, visit: https://www.72point.com/careers/
Are Consumers Overwhelmed By Black Friday?
By guest contributor Sasha Gill
For years, the phenomenon of Black Friday has swept the nation’s advertising billboards, televisions and pop ups. The best day of the year to get a deal on the jeans or the laptop you’ve been wanting for ages, or to save much needed money on purchases for the upcoming Christmas holidays. However, with Black Friday being the busiest day of the year for shopping, can the number of deals and offers overwhelm consumers and leave them feeling lost?
We conducted some research into Black Friday to see if Brits had become desensitised to the shopping holiday.
When is Black Friday?
Our insights revealed that 85.2% of Brits are familiar with what Black Friday is, however, most people who have heard of it don’t know when it falls. In such an expensive climate, you would think that saving on Christmas presents would be high-up on consumer’s priority list.
Despite many not knowing the exact date of Black Friday, those who were planning on buying Christmas presents on November 29th expected to buy around 38% of their gifts on that day. In terms of the type of items people are on the look-out for, 46% of respondents said they are looking for tech items such as smartphones and TVs and around 33% are looking to buy clothing and accessories.
With competitive deals driving Christmas advertising, it’s safe to say that British consumers will be looking to spend a considerable amount on the day if they find an item they deem valuable. It’s no wonder that 66% of those who are planning to shop on Black Friday are already saving up for the day giving companies an obvious leverage in terms of sales, and showcasing how shoppers should have a pretty sizeable budget to scour the market with.
Are Consumers Satisfied With Black Friday?
When speaking to those who have participated in Black Friday shopping in the past, many agree that there was a lot of hype, but the deals and offers fell flat and didn’t quite meet their demands. With so much competition going on between brands, getting the attention of potential customers is an on-going battle. Marketers who seek alternative communications can gain an upper hand and cut-through the noise with a clever integrated campaign that reaches their target audience and notifies them of an opportunity.
With 82% of those who are participating in Black Friday this 2019 planning on buying their Christmas gifts, the opportunity to reach those consumers is still vast. 33% of previous participants shopped across both online and in-store, so the potential for a multi-platform campaign is there. Clever content that provides valuable information to an audience is the way to stand out from the crowd.
72Point specialises in multi-channel, integrated PR campaigns that engage your target audience with creative comms spanning national/regional media, social, broadcast and video. Our denim report campaign for Lyst saw us create an impressive integrated campaign which involved multiple elements including a national news story looking into the fashion trend and an online platform. It was a proven hit with the media, earning exposure in 125 pieces of coverage, 16 SEO links and 5.43 million coverage views, successfully promoting the platform.
For more information on how 72Point can assist with your Black Friday campaigns, contact the team here: hello@72point.com
0207 138 3041
"April Fools!": The Best of April Fools 2015
Some days throughout the year pass us by under a commercialistic, ‘you must buy this crappy card that you don’t want’ sick making cloud. Even some days that we enjoy, such as Christmas and Easter have become so much about the products and the gifts that they are beginning to fade in to insignificance.
April Fools Day is, on the other hand, one day that everyone can enjoy. It’s a chance for everyone to bring out their inner child and be as silly as you possibly can with the security of the “April Fool!” get out of jail free card.
Whether it’s cling film on the toilet seat, salt in the sugar or simply pretending you haven’t done something you were supposed to do, April Fools day pranks never disappoint.Unless, of course, you haven’t actually done that thing that you were supposed to do, in which case you’re probably due a smacked wrist.
Some of the best April Fools pranks, though, are done by the geniuses in the Marketing + PR departments of major brands and companies. This year we the general public have been treated to a veritable Smörgåsbord of pranks, including such treats as Clear Marmite, a self-tanning digital shower and even the birth of a unicorn in Florida.
Having researched this year’s pranks in detail in order to write this utterly entertaining piece of literature, I have decided that there are three main types of April Fools Stunts.
The first type are the pranks that are so ridiculous they couldn’t have been anything other than pranks. For example the RNIB (that’s the Royal National Institute for the Blind, if you didn’t know) announced the launch of #CATNAV. If you haven’t guessed where this is leading, no pun intended, I’ll tell you. #CATNAV is the proposed use of Cats trained to guide the blind or partially sited. My favourite thing about this stunt was the images of cats on leads.
Similarly the Clarkson Caravan from Freedom to Go was unconvincing, despite admittedly being quite funny. The caravan offers such features as pre-programmed Sat Navs directing Jezza to the nearest Job Centre and an abacus for counting to ten in times of rage. Actually in hindsight that second feature might not be a bad idea.
Other obvious, yet hilarious examples include the launch of the Ginster’s TOWIE pasty- chicken and chardonnay in a pastry case with edible jazzles; Homebase’s Rainbow Paint; Hunter’s Dog Boots and Hailo’s ‘piggyback’ feature, which yes, does involve people getting piggybacks instead of cabs.
The second type of stunts are those that are clearly fake but actually may have the basis of a good idea, or at very least make people think for a second.
My favourite example of a stunt which fits this category is the bouncy isles in Tesco. Being vertically challenged, the placement of items on shelves higher than the jolly green giant is utterly irritating. Obviously trampolines in the floor of Isle 12 has its safety issues but the idea isn’t without promise.
Then there’s the introduction of selfie spots for footballers during goal celebrations. Again, not without promise. I’m sure many of them would quite like a selfie. Remember the Steven Gerrard camera kiss celebration? I’m sure he would have loved to have captured that moment in the ultimate celebration selfie.
There’s also Hiive’s effort. Being an (not-so-secret) fan of 90’s/00’s boybands Hiive’s stunt made me giggle. The social networking site announced the creation of sister site 5iive, a professional network for former members of the boyband 5ive. Obviously silly as there are only 5 of them, well now 4, but maybe it’s an idea they could roll out to the Sugarbabes. That idea’s got legs.
I have decided that there are three main types of April Fools Stunts.
The third category of April Fools Stunts are the ones that you actually can’t determine to be pranks. For example, this morning I read an article in the independent that stated that Jeremy Clarkson was to become Cameron’s chief advisor for Transport. I admit that it may seem an obvious jest but I wouldn’t put it past them. They live in the same village. They both hate the Green Party. Plus the Independent wouldn’t lie to me, would they?! My suspicious were raised, however, when reading the caption for the image which stated that ‘The Top Gear presenter will have ‘all the steak he can eat’ at Westminster’. To be fair he probably would but that’s not a genuine caption.
Amazon also cashed in on the tomfoolery with the launch of their new feature ‘Amazon Dash’. This is a little button that you press when you are running low on something, such as washing powder or shampoo, and then sends an reminder to your phone to remind you to order it. The interesting thing about this prank was that, apparently, it wasn’t a prank. That’s right it was so believable that it was true. The PR World were left debating whether the timing of this announcement, in line with April Fools was a touch of genius or simply fool hardy. Personally I think it’s a stroke of genius. People would look at something, wish it was true then find it out it was and do a little squeal.
What all three types of stunt have in common is the demonstration of how creative marketers and Comms Teams are. Also how embracing your inner child and simply looking at things in a silly, light hearted way can actually help creativity. I guess the moral of this story is don’t over think stuff. Some of your best creativity comes when you simply have a laugh.
To paraphrase Doc Brown in Back to the Future, if only we could somehow harness that creativity and churn out such innovations for real on a daily basis. If nothing else it would make Dragon’s Den more amusing and, more generally, the world would be such a happier place. No pressure Marketing. No Pressure.
To see more examples of this year’s hilarious April Fools tom foolery visit our Pinterest board https://uk.pinterest.com/72Point/april-fools-2015/ .