Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Speak Estonian... or pictogram?

by Sean

Just back from a two week holiday and already it’s almost a distant memory. I do have loads of photos to remind me of where I went and what I did (though a good picture editor would discard the majority) and of course there are the memories. Thankfully, the weather in the Baltic was fantastic and that memory will certainly stay.

As someone interested in good communications and the use of language, I always find it a challenge visiting countries where I can’t speak the language. I always hate having to revert to English (or occasionally German) but visiting six countries does make it unlikely that you can master every language necessary!

For those of you who haven’t visited Tallinn in Estonia, can I wholly recommend you put it high on your list of places to visit?  If you have the time, try and learn some of the language first (OK, that might be too difficult for most of us – though I remember sadam is Estonian for port).

Walking through the old town area of Tallinn I happened across this car safety poster recommending the use of seatbelts. Although pretty graphic, it struck me as a great piece of communication. The message is clear, understandable to all and completely to the point.

If you are on holiday soon, have a great time. And remember clunk, click, every trip!

Posted at 11:09am on 19^th August 2010

Social media - make sure it is worth it!

by Debbie

A recent survey says that PR agencies should not believe the hype surrounding social media, considering less than half the population uses them. Well said!

We must of course recognise social media as an important part of the communication mix but PR practioners should not get caught up in the social media hype – and we should persuade clients who have been caught up in it to regularly review what is working and what isn’t.

For example, many businesses are keen to have a Facebook page, however, Facebook may be totally irrelevant and while it can be a great business tool – it is not for ALL businesses. Unless you can really populate a Facebook page with users/friends and interesting articles your organisation will look rather sad.

I always point clients to really successful Facebook business pages and tell them if they can’t do it like that – don’t do it at all.

However, some social media applications are universal. A web site is a must for any business regardless of size or sector and the website should include some basics like a blog or twitter.

At the moment only one third of the population uses social media - your customer base could be in the two thirds that doesn’t. As with any element of the marketing mix – the golden rule is use the best medium for your customer base and don’t be carried away by hype.

Posted at 1:56pm on 2^nd August 2010

Looking after the pennies...

by Sean

Many people in the marketing and PR world are waiting, almost with baited breath, to find out what the Government’s spending plans will mean for them.

Recent reports that up to 1.3 million people might lose their jobs don’t seem to sit well with Chancellor Osborne’s Budget speech which talked about people coming off benefit and taking up jobs.

I’m not the only one to ask where these new jobs are coming from. Stopping a few skilled (non-EU) migrants won’t do it, that’s for sure.

Just like environmental scientists talk about the nitrogen or carbon cycles, maybe we need to consider the 'money cycle', with an emphasis on manufacturing.

Much as PR and marketing are essential – well we would say that – we can only promote goods and services that someone else has created. In this industry, our jobs depend on others producing something we can sell. We then need people to buy those goods and the more those products are conceived and ‘made’ in the UK, the more money will be retained in the economy creating and sustaining jobs - only then can more people move from benefits to a properly paid job.

This virtuous cycle is certainly more environmentally friendly than sending container loads of goods across the oceans and it shouldn’t been seen as some form of a ‘Little Britain’ mentality.  Indeed, I’d say if we need more workers from outside the EU to make these products or to deliver the services, that’s fine by me.

There needs to be a fundamental shift in thinking amongst consumers, away from cheap goods, often from the Far East to products made at home.  Now surely that’s a message for all marketeers. Call it enlightened self-interest.

Posted at 9:47am on 1^st July 2010

Football crazy, football mad

by Rob

I doubt it has escaped your attention that the football World Cup is taking place over the next four weeks – and I for one am extremely excited about it (much to a certain director's annoyance).

The anticipation, the hope and the belief that comes round every four years for the World Cup is something that is great to be part of - especially for a Northern Irishman who has little chance of seeing his country taking part in the World Cup!

One thing that I find interesting is how suddenly so many shops, companies, pubs, etc are feeling patriotic and decking out their premises in the St George’s flag in the run up to the tournament. It is also funny to see how brands create adverts, posters, etc which try and link their brands with the World Cup in the most tenuous way. No wonder non-football fans suffer from football fatigue!

But I, for one, am loving all the adverts and it makes me even more excited for the next four weeks. I will enjoy watching New Zealand v Slovakia with a football decorated beer can in my hand. I will enjoy watching Nigeria v South Korea with a pizza that I have ripped out of football themed packaging. And I will enjoy watching Ghana v Australia eating some crisps and chocolate bars that come in football decorated wrappers.

Here is to the next month of football, football, football!

Posted at 12:17pm on 10^th June 2010

Doing our bit for a "big society"

by Shaun

In this new era of political consensus, co-operation and talk of a big society, I’d certainly like to see the coalition Government put ethics and concern for the community at the heart of its policies. As a co-operative business, Ethos public relations recognises the importance of supporting the communities we live and work in, and all of us should be doing our bit.

Every year Ethos public relations gives at least one per cent of its pre tax profits to charity. In 2009-10, we donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Haiti Earthquake Appeal, Parkinson’s UK, Orchid – Fighting Male Cancer and the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

Our charities are generally chosen on the basis of an annual staff ballot and those employees whose names are drawn decide which charities they would like Ethos public relations to donate to. However, this year there was also an immediate consensus amongst our team that we should donate to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal, which we did within a couple of days of the earthquake striking.

As well as annual donations, we do a range of other things for charity and the community.

On a day-to-day basis, we do things like collecting stamps for charity, recycling our ink cartridges and buying charitable Christmas cards. We also try to use our American Express “RED” card for business purchases as the “RED” scheme supports children and young people with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

As part of our commitment to national children’s charity Action For Kids, we provide them with one day’s PR per month free of charge.

We contribute to the community in a number of ways and our staff undertake some activities during the working day in support of a range of local community and charitable causes.

We have a policy of buying fairly traded products and we proactively aim to avoid purchasing products from oppressive regimes, preferring to buy products made in Britain, Europe and the Commonwealth whenever possible.

Finally, we believe we should make our voice heard on certain important issues – for example, on our website there are links to campaigns that we promote and support such as Amnesty International, Make Trade Fair and the Free Burma Campaign.

For Government I think a "big society" should include implementing ethical procurement policies such as local sourcing, giving more charities and community businesses the chance to tender for Government contracts, and not buying from oppressive regimes. For the rest of us it should mean making informed choices to help create a better society for all.

Image: healingdream / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Posted at 2:54pm on 18^th May 2010

What does the election result mean for us?

by Debbie

David Cameron and Nick Clegg shook hands on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street today before getting down to the business of running the country in a historic Tory/Lib Dem coalition government.

Regardless of how you voted, a key question will be - what will this mean for me? Personally, I am still not sure how this will impact upon important things like my mortgage repayments, education for my children or even whether reducing public spending will mean the hard work of community caretakers in my beautiful local park will mean they do less hours or even nothing at all.

Ethos public relations’ clients have also been following the ups and downs of the week’s events very closely. Many of our co-operative clients will be interested to see if the pre-election multi-party rhetoric around co-operation actually comes to fruition – though one could argue a coalition government is co-operation of sorts.

Our social housing clients have, to date, been distinctly unimpressed with the fact that social housing has not really featured high on the agenda and, at the time of writing, we still don’t know who the new Housing Minister will be. Housing issues on the Conservative and Lib/Deb Manifesto’s did not seem to have much in common and so it will be interesting to see how that pans out.

Of course, if the coalition is not workable in practice we could find ourselves back at the ballot box in a few months anyway!  Beam me up Scotty.

Image: vegadsl / freedigitalphotos.net

Posted at 3:23pm on 12^th May 2010

Post election blues?

by Shaun

As I write this, we're still in a strange political limbo, waiting for our politicians to work out an agreement to govern the country. No doubt a deal is imminent, but it will be fascinating to see how things pan out in the coming weeks and months, as avowed political enemies are transformed overnight into political bedfellows (...or not!).

Like many others, I watched the election night coverage and stayed up until 6am waiting to find out who won - and we're still waiting...! Although it took me about two days to recover from my all night session, at least my involvement in the election was then over, unlike the politicians wrangling to do the post election deal - they've probably forgotten what a good night's sleep is!

In what was initially billed as the first internet election, but turned out to be the UK's first proper TV election (only about 50 years late!), from a PR point of view I was surprised how little impact all the media coverage had in the end. From Cleggmania to bigot-gate it ultimately seemed to have little impact on the result. "Great entertainment but meaningless" might sum it up - a cross between the X Factor and Coronation Street. This is a shame, as I still think a lot of people feel disenfranchised from politics and much more needs to be done to restore trust in and respect for our elected representatives.

This is the first general election I can remember where none of the main parties really got the result they wanted - the Conservatives failed to secure their majority, the Lib Dem surge didn't materialise and Labour lost its mandate to govern. But then, in some ways, perhaps this is the best result all round. Maybe confrontation will finally give way to consensus and our politicians can come up with the best policies in the interest of the whole country - not just their supporters.

During the campaign, Ethos public relations invited the local candidates of the three main political parties to contribute a guest blog to our website, outlining their policies that would affect small businesses and the creative industries in the North West. Sadly, none of them took us up on the offer. I'm sure they were much too busy, but you'd have thought they might have wanted to promote their policies. Maybe if we were located in a marginal constituency, things would have been different?

The result of the election opens the door for co-operation and collaboration amongst the parties, and as a co-operative organisation ourselves, we certainly recognise the benefits of working together. We hope the politicians can put aside their differences and work with each other to establish an effective, stable government at this important time, in the interests of everyone in the UK.

Image: Adam Hickmott / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Posted at 2:31pm on 10^th May 2010

Oh to be in England…and Wales!

by Debbie

Many environmentalists have said that having almost a week of no flying has been a good thing – not least because it has provided an opportunity for us to explore our own lovely country.

The past week, the sun has been shining and there is no doubt that people have been a lot brighter and happier. Ethos public relations' clients are scattered across the country and often I spend more time out of the office than in it - visiting clients, attending meetings, doing site visits, etc.

A couple of days ago I was with Frith Rugs which has its head office in North Wales.

As I tootled down the M56, the radio was blasting, the sun roof was open and the roads were clear. Coming back I decided to take the scenic route passing through glorious, lush green countryside and even stopping for lunch by a deserted beach. On days like this – you can’t beat the open road and enjoying our beautiful land.

So if you are a business located near the coast or in the heart of the countryside and you are looking for PR – give Ethos public realtions a call and we promise to visit you every week – we’ll even bring our own packed lunch and a flask of tea (offer ends October!)

Posted at 11:13am on 27^th April 2010

Volcanic ash should encourage us to Go!

by Rob

The volcanic ash, which grounded hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers, has knocked politics off the front pages for the last few days.

The ash has also started a debate over whether we really need so many flights. This debate is argued quite well in this BBC Magazine story. It points out that: “at the moment air travel is virtually all by engines powered by kerosene. One day kerosene - like every other fossil fuel - will run out” and poses the question “Could we live without flights?”

I am sure football teams like Liverpool and Fulham would argue that we do need flights as they face trips of 1,200 miles and 600 miles respectively over land to compete in their European games this week. Musicians will also agree as a few have missed foreign gigs due to the now lifted flight ban.

Many people who live near airports were happy with the ban and Visit Britain have said that they ”hope that people would take the opportunity to visit the whole of Britain in a way they wouldn't consider doing normally”.

One way that this could happen soon is with the help of Go! Co-operative. As I write this they are having a series of public events to discuss with people the in and outs of their proposal for co-operative trains.

They want to run services to places that have been neglected by current train services. Initially they want to run services that will see Oxford and Banbury linked with Swindon, Chippenham, Westbury and Yeovil, with some trains running to Birmingham and Weymouth.

The UK has for too long been neglected as a holiday resort for its inhabitants. What better way to see the beautiful scenery it has to offer than to take a trip on transport that is run by a co-operative with a great business model.

Posted at 9:20am on 21^st April 2010

Making a difference and really helping to raise the profile of co-operatives

by Christina

We have had a very exciting start to 2010 here at Ethos public relations, as we continue to raise the profile of one of our clients, Co-operatives UK – the national trade body that campaigns for co-operation – and highlight the importance of co-operatives to our economy across both national media and within government.

It has been a busy time, but we are reaping the benefits for our client, as not only are we raising the profile of co-operatives with media coverage across the board including most recently the BBC, The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian with stories about co-operative pubs and football club ownership, but our work is also being recognised at the highest levels within government.

The recent announcement of a £4m government package to help save rural pubs from closure has been music to our ears and just this week, the news that football fans could get the opportunity to buy their clubs under radical Labour plans is fantastic and something we have been campaigning for on behalf of Co-operatives UK.

We have got much more to do throughout the year as well, as momentum is really building for the first-ever Co-operatives Fortnight (19 June to 3 July 2010) – themed - There is an Alternative.

The Fortnight, is a major campaign to spread the message about the co-operative alternative, with a dedicated website – www.thereisanalternative.coop

By joining in and doing something during Co-operatives Fortnight, co-operatives will not only be able to promote co-operation as a better alternative, but will also be able to raise the profile of their own organisation.

People can go to the website, share ideas, follow Co-operatives Fortnight on Twitter, download resources and tell the team what they will be doing!

In addition, excitement is also building for the co operative event of the year - Co-operatives 2010 - the UK's biggest and most influential gathering of co operatives which, this year will be in Plymouth (25 and 27 June 2010) and not only will it celebrate the 150th anniversary of co-operation in the city but it will be the flagship event of the first-ever Co-operatives Fortnight!

It is fantastic to be part of such important developments and to see that the time really has come for co-operatives and a new agenda of co-operation! We are helping to make a difference, and it’s brilliant!

Posted at 5:52pm on 30^th March 2010