Atomic PR Blog

Our shortlisted European SABRE Award campaigns

2012-05-14T14:20:25Z

We've just been shortlisted for two European SABRE Awards. We thought we'd share a little more information on the campaigns we've been shortlisted for here.

ArcSight - Cyber isn't just a crime, it's a war

In any given market there are always brands looking to break out, to challenge the status quo and the market leaders. A lot of these brands have equally good stories to tell and their products are sometimes superior. Enter the frame ArcSight, a Californian IT security software firm. ArcSight is a company with great products but its voice was not being heard. It appointed us to do one thing and to do it well - give the company a voice and help it to get the right people to listen.

Key analytics-fuelled insight
An analysis of the security sector demonstrated a shift in the nature of cybercrime. It was evolving from a crime against individuals and businesses into a credible threat to national security. However, media coverage of the industry remained the domain of specialist IT publications and technology correspondents. The opportunity to differentiate ArcSight and elevate its influencer conversations was clear.

The creative strategy: Cyber isn't just a crime; it's the potential to be a war. Move the debate from the realm of technology writers firmly into the domain of the national defence correspondents.

The campaign: Atomic developed and implemented a highly proactive and provocative media relations campaign focused on positioning ArcSight as the thought leader on the realities and risks cybercrime presents to national security and defence. The campaign was supported with strong blog content, infographics, third party research, media roundtables and news hijacking.

Results
Over the 18 month programme Atomic and ArcSight held briefings with every major UK defence correspondent from Anton La Guardia (then defence correspondent) at The Economist, to William McLean at Reuters and Gordon Correra at The BBC.
• 20 briefings with defence correspondents, 70 media briefings in total
• Doubled share of voice
• 164% coverage increase
• Tripled number of ArcSight quotes in press
• Broadened reach and increased quality of coverage

SilverRail - Trainspotter Wanted

Could a company prove that booking a train journey anywhere in the world, to go anywhere in the world, could be as simple as booking flights? Travel tech start-up SilverRail Technologies had exactly that thought. To test that it is possible, it decided to create a new service website, Quno.com, and launch it in one of the most complex rail network markets in the world, the UK.

Key analytics-fuelled insight
An analysis of competitor profiles in the UK rail retail space (online and offline), highlighted extremely low-levels of social and digital engagement or brand personality demonstrated through any channel bar advertising. For businesses competing entirely online there was a clear opportunity to quickly differentiate Quno, build brand awareness and engagement, significantly help SEO and support the broader business goals of driving traffic and sales through a content rich campaign strategy.

The creative: Trainspotter Wanted - the digital search for a social media brand champion for Quno.com.

The campaign: Atomic delivered a fully integrated, engaging, multimedia campaign which included educational, informative and entertaining content, streamed against the role of each channel in the marketing funnel (from initial search, to consideration to purchase). Without any other form of marketing support, we showcased the appetite for simpler online rail booking and helped SilverRail prove that booking trains can be as simple as booking flights.

Results:
We've put together this short video to highlight our online and offline campaign to date.

Quno - "Case Study" from Atomic PR on Vimeo.

If you don't have the time to watch the video, here's a snapshot of the results:
SEO + Social + Video + Influencer outreach + traditional PR skills = share of voice equal to Quno.com's two highest-profile competitors from a standing start.

Clips: 100+
Interviews: 22 (in 3 months)
Site traffic: 15,000+ visits within four weeks;
50,000+ visits within 3 months
Pre-Atomic S.O.V: Quno: 0%, Rail Europe: 75%, The Trainline: 25%
Post-Atomic S.O.V: Quno: 28%, RailEurope: 37%, The Trainline: 35%

What Can London Learn From Silicon Valley?

2012-03-20T13:03:37Z

That was one of the discussion points at the inaugural Digital London conference last week. In his keynote, Tom Loosemore of Government Digital Service boldly asserted that San Francisco is afraid of London in the digital stakes. For sure, San Francisco's Clipper is a long way behind the Oyster card, but the general consensus seems to be that, while burgeoning, London's startup community could still learn a few tricks from Silicon Valley.

For more on the topic, check out the video of our conversation with Digital London maestro Adam Malik below. And while you're at it, take a look at some of the other great conversations that took place at the event.

See You At Digital London

2012-03-07T10:26:27Z

There a re a lot of things that make Silicon Valley a great place to start a business. A plethora of venture capitalists and angel investors is definitely one. Plus an eternally optimistic outlook, combined with acceptance - nay, embrace - of failure. And a very established community of like-minded people. This is something that many feel is lacking in the UK. In the FT this week, David Begg, chief executive of Mindshapes, complained of the 'lack of entrepreneurial community in London.'

Digital London, a summit connecting digital innovation, technology and creativity, aims to do something about that. It's happening next week (March 13-14) and Atomic will be there. Our CEO Andy Getsey will be discussing how brands can use digital and social communication to build their businesses, and will give practical examples of companies getting it right. He's on at 3.20pm on Tuesday 13^th.

We're looking forward to a great event and to meeting the people who are shaping London's digital future. Tweet us @AtomicPRUK if you're going too.

Social Media Week London: That Was The Week That Was

2012-02-29T16:35:48Z

It's been a week since the heady excitement of Social Media Week London and we've had chance to cogitate on what we heard. As a team, we attended multiple events a day, ranging from Social Business in Action to Build Communities not Campaigns. Here's a smattering of some of the interesting thoughts and snippets we learned:

Communities and campaigns are not necessarily mutually exclusive. In fact, communities are often born from campaigns (and vice versa). But building a real engaged community is a marathon rather than a sprint. It's common sense but oft forgotten: vital to sustaining a community are listening and treating participants with respect. Together with some (appropriate) incentives.

The technology is already here - it's about giving people the courage to use it. This was a point made by social media consultant Euan Semple at the Social Business in Action event, who claimed that social tools have become over-engineered as companies look for the platform that will help their people embrace social media. Instead, he tells companies to focus on the people first and to make sure they have free rein to use social tools with confidence. This view was backed by Edelman Digital's David Armano, who outlined a flow chart for building a social business starting with people, then moving on to processes. Only then do you worry about the platform.

There's no right way to optimise your presence globally. Sorry. At Optimising Your Global Social Media Strategy for 2012, the panel discussed whether brands should have multiple country pages on Facebook, a global page or some combination of the two - and concluded that...it depends. For some brands, separating pages by product makes sense - the guy who buys the sports car doesn't want to hang out with the minivan owner. For others, localising one global page is the way to go, so that fans in Germany, for example, only see German content and promotions.

Never suggest that brands should be banned from social media. This was the subject of a debate at the end of the week and Carlos Menezes of Quirk took on the unenviable task of arguing for the motion, against his colleague Sally Lane, in a room full of people who advise brands on using social media for a living. Dear reader, you won't be surprised to learn that the audience passionately defended the rights of brands to use social media. Regardless, Carlos made some very interesting points on the pitfalls for brands, not least making sure that they avoid becoming "digital waste" - brands that cheapen the social media experience, communicating inefficiently and receiving a tiny response rate.

Atomic's Munich office is hiring!

2011-12-15T15:47:39Z

Would you describe yourself as an open-minded PR professional with a can-do attitude and strong written and communication skills in both German and English? Do you happen to have 1-2 years of experience in technology PR and are looking for a new job in Munich? You might find it right here:

For its growing Munich office, Atomic PR is looking to hire an

Account Executive / Junior-PR-Berater/in

As an Account Executive you can expect to perform activities such as media and analyst relations, social media outreach, writing, research, tracking and reporting and client service for a broad range of innovative and dynamic technology and web brands. Atomic PR is part of an international network, so you will have the opportunity to work with colleagues in our international offices on a daily basis.

Atomic PR, founded in 1999, is committed to re-engineering a more effective approach to public relations and communications that is in tune with the realities of the digital communications era. The agency has high-profile experience in technology and consumer markets, far reaching public relations media and influencer relationships, and strong expertise in new media. To this, we add a bit of creativity and science -- the experimental mindset, strategic orientation and sophisticated analytics more often found at ad agencies. Atomic PR has offices in Munich, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York and is in the process of opening offices across Europe.

Requirements

1 - 2 years of public relations experience preferably with technology brands (completed traineeship, B2B and/or B2C)
Confident in media relations
Proficient in the use of a variety of PR tools
Active social media user and proficient in the use of Web 2.0 tools
Fluent English
Educated to degree level

At Atomic, we not only enjoy working in a fast-moving international environment, but are also social media savvy, love gadgets, have a passion for analytics, are strong planners, great writers, well organized - and fun and easy to work with.

If this description fits you and you would like to join an exciting international PR operation, send your application to

Atomic PR
Annette Wiedemann
info-de@atomicpr.com
Landwehrstraße 61
80336 München

Silicon Valley tells London: Be original and open your kimono

2011-11-25T14:16:23Z

Investors and entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley met with more than 300 tech company CEOs at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication in London last Saturday. Organised by LinkedIn's co-founder Reid Hoffman and investor Sherry Coutu, the 'Silicon Valley Comes to the UK' conference was the perfect end to a series of tech and entrepreneurship focused events happening over the past two weeks, which also included the European tech awards The Europas and the Prime Minister's visit to Tech City. Hoffman opened the conference with these words: "Entrepreneurship is throwing yourself off a cliff and assembling a plane on the way down." By the response, many of the attendees were already in a free fall.

At the North Greenwich arts college, Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs agreed on two main recommendations for European start-ups. The speakers repeatedly urged European start-up founders to be original instead of emulating the US and take advantage of some of the areas where Silicon Valley can't compete: music, culture, financial services and fashion. Already we are seeing these areas explored by several successful European start-ups and there is so much more potential, advised several of the speakers.

300 Tech CEOs come to an arts college to meet with the Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs

The second main message of the tech filled day was well articulated by Hans-Peter Brøndmo, director of social experience group at Nokia: "Open your kimono," he urged. His suggestion, shared by many others, was that European start-ups need to be less protective of their ideas and start talking more, sharing ideas, collaborating and helping each other. It's one of the things that has made Silicon Valley such a great ecosystem. In Europe, attendees agreed, most people don't want to share what they are working on, they're worried that someone will steal their idea. One of the panellists, DJ Patil from Graylock, would like to see more interaction and asked the Tech City to consider organising more hackathons. To hammer the point home VCs and angel investors added: "We are not in the business of stealing ideas."

Hans-Peter Brøndmo, director of social experience group at Nokia tells Olivia Solon from Wired UK that entrepreneurs need to 'open their kimono'

From engineering to design

Silicon Valley comes to the UK was hosted at an arts college for a reason. Many of the most successful companies of today are design companies with excellent engineering, a major change over the past few years. Previously, as Matthew Hawn of Last.fm pointed out, tech companies were first about engineering and the design was something added at the end to make 'things look good'. Nowadays, design is absolutely essential and excellent engineering is expected. "We started as an engineering company and became design led," Hawn cited his own firm as an example.

DNA of an entrepreneur: have you lost it?

Angel investor Ali Partovi (on the far right) tells the tech editor Ben Rooney from the Wall Street Journal Europe that everyone is born an entrepreneur, but some people lose the required curiosity, appetite for risk, ignorance and drive as they get older and 'wiser'

Tech editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe Ben Rooney led a discussion on the DNA of an entrepreneur. What stuck with me was a view expressed by angel investor Ali Partovi who claimed that everyone is born an entrepreneur. In his view some of us lose the entrepreneurial drive when we are growing up. We stop being curious, wanting to take risk and as another panellist Raj Kapoor noted we are no longer ignorant (or less so). Ignorance is an important trait of an entrepreneur, Kapoor said. You do things that other tried and failed, but oftentimes you succeed. If you knew someone else already failed, you might have never tried. Keeping some traits from childhood might not be a bad thing after all. So, keep jumping off the cliff.

In conversation with Silicon Valley from NESTA UK on Vimeo.

AtomicPR and Grayling amongst PR Week and Reputation Online's top tech/ digital agencies

2011-07-11T14:33:21Z

In June, PR Week and Reputation Online announced their UK agency rankings for tech and digital PR for 2010 and we are very excited to have secured listings in both tables after a strong first 18 months of operation in the UK market.

The ranking for both lists was determined on fee earnings for 2010; based on this criterion, Atomic PR was listed 30th in PR Week's list of top tech agencies, while Grayling's tech practice listed 27th. In the Reputation Online rankings of top digital agency's AtomicPR placed 40th in the league tables with Grayling ranking 15th out of the hundred agencies listed.

Since the acquisition of AtomicPR by Huntsworth PLC earlier this year, AtomicPR and the Grayling tech practices have merged to form Grayling Atomic in Europe, with our US offices continuing to operate under the Atomic brand name.

The Grayling Atomic, combined offering mixes classical PR and media relations with social media, video and search engine optimization, enhanced with the sophisticated use of ComContext communications analytics platform and processes for strategy building, creative planning and detailed program measurement.

Grayling Atomic has plans to expand further through Europe and Asia in the near future.

Carolyn Watt joins Atomic as the Managing Director Europe, co-Director, Global Digital

2011-04-11T08:44:01Z

Carolyn Watt, a marketer with 10+ years' experience in strategic and tactical marketing, PR and digital communications, has joined Atomic PR as the Managing Director, Europe Co-Director, Global Digital. Carolyn was previously Founder and Managing Director of Yabber, Profero's social marketing division and the former Head of SEO, Digital PR and Social Marketing at WPP's Mindshare where she set up the SEO and earned media division incorporating online brand positioning, SMO (social media optimisation), analytics and tracking technologies as well as the design and creation of content. Previous clients include LG, Volvo, HSBC, 3, Talk Talk, Unilever, Nestle, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, COI, Department of Health and Diageo.

Carolyn was also the Client Services Director at Netrank Ltd both pre and post Netrank's January 2008 acquisition by LBi and the Strategic Marketing Manager for Intel's first foray into services. This combines with five years' experience as a print, digital and broadcast journalist writing, editing and presenting news and features for a range of TV, radio and print media including the Guardian, The Sunday Times, Voice of America, GMTV, BBC, CNN, Sky and Channel 4.

Carolyn has a BA Hons in Politics, NCTJ accredited (National Council for the Training of Journalists) and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

UK's media focus on 'cloud' catches second wind

2011-03-28T13:18:43Z

Cloud computing has been on the radar of the UK media for some time, but in general, adoption of cloud technologies seems to have been slower to gain acceptance in the UK and Europe than in the US and this has been reflected by the media. But now it looks like we may be reaching a tipping point. Analyst firms put the size of the market for cloud computing in the $100s billions, with Gartner predicting that by 2012, 20 percent of companies will not actually own any IT assets, the tech behemoth HP is getting behind cloud, and in the UK, we have the launch of a publication dedicated to Cloud Computing, Cloud Pro.

Part of the Dennis Publishing family, the launch of Cloud Pro highlights not only the increased media interest in this area, but also signals the fact that this technology is gaining traction. Cloud Pro will be focusing its coverage of the topic not on technology driven stories, but on business strategy as companies begin to realise the impact the technology could have on their bottom line. The publisher and editor of Cloud Pro felt that UK tech titles were still very focused on the technology and they plan to cover 'cloud' from a stronger business perspective. The publication will target C-level executives and technology department managers explaining cloud without being too technical and using cloud jargon. Cloud Pro also aims to highlight real world experiences from the various professions impacted by cloud from lawyers, accountants to CIOs.

Dennis Publishing already publishes other tech titles including IT Pro, Channel Pro and PC Pro and they all write about the cloud. "They do cover cloud but it's part of a range of technologies that these publications cover," Max Cooter told us in an email. "Cloud Pro will have a different brief: it will be aimed at C level executives, as well as techies, as these will be the people who make many of the financial decisions. Not only will Cloud Pro be covering the business decisions but we will also go into more depth on some of the analysis."

There are a few UK titles that write about cloud topics including BusinessCloud9, which the Cloud Pro publishing director Jon Westnedge described as the closest to Cloud Pro in focus, but the number of UK cloud publications and blogs is still quite small when compared to the US. That is beginning to change. As Silicon.com wrote at the end of last year in a Cloud Computing special report, the "hype is becoming a reality".

PR 2.0 in Germany: How the Social Web is changing roles and rules

2011-02-25T10:00:00Z

We Germans are different - we take our time to make up our mind about new things. Although the Social Web is as a hot topic in Germany, as it is just about everywhere, Germans are hesitant. Twitter for example is currently used by less than 1% of German internet users compared to 8% in the US. Some recently published statistics are promising though: The number of internet users aged 10 years and above has increased slightly to 3 in 4 Germans in 2010, the number of people using Facebook has skyrocketed in 2010 to 43% of internet users making it the No. 1 social network in Germany, and the number of Twitter accounts has more than doubled in the last 12 months.

Even sceptics can't deny: the Social Web is here to stay. Some 120 German PR and marketing pros - social media newbies as well as veterans - gathered in Munich at the PR 2.0 Forum earlier this month to discuss Public Relations in these fast changing times when the Social Web is challenging corporate PR practitioners as well as agency consultants. Here are some of my takeaways from a full day of presentations and discussions.

Old issues - new job description

In-house PR managers such as Torsten Julich from BMW - who presented insights into how social media changes PR and Marketing Communications in a large corporation - still battle with the lack of understanding for social web mechanisms. They need to

Convince senior management
Change traditional communication structures
Identify new measurement tools

PR agencies on the other hand face a re-definition of their role. A panel discussion with PR specialists and one of Germany's A-Bloggers came to the conclusion that in the future we need to be able to take on the role of a

Mediator
Coach
Networker
Campaign manager
Monitoring service provider
... and all the other ones that are still emerging

Whether we are working in-house for a company or agency-side, it is about expanding our traditional job description and reaching out beyond traditional audiences to all participants in the Social Web, for truly "public" relations. As one of the panelists put it, PR professionals have to become "Chief Listening Officers", with their ears to the ground and eyes wide open. During the discussion, the general consensus was that whilst engaging with social media may not be a "must" (yet), monitoring it is mandatory; and I strongly agree. How can you ignore one highly popular, highly sharable form of communication in favour of another? Only when you have a real-time, 360 degree view of what's going on in online as well as offline communication channels can you develop and implement a communication strategy that is meaningful and creates the maximum impact. Agencies have to be on top of it all - and by now there is no excuse not to know your way around the social web, especially when many clients are looking for expert support.

The route to PR 2.0

So how do you move to PR 2.0? The case studies presented and some of the workshops all came to the conclusion: know your audiences, listen to their communication channels, be authentic and creative when engaging with the communities through their preferred channels - and be prepared to enter a continuous dialogue. PR 2.0 is not a one-way street.

And what fun it can be! You get to be creative and implement your ideas, and you can quickly gage the results, too - especially if the campaign is good, that is. The most popular and tweeted-about case study during the conference was the "Street View Cake". A PR scoop by a small town in the Alps that ultimately got them a prime position when Google Street View went live in Germany - with national media attention.

Take a look at the photo case study

View more presentations from Benjamin Buhl.

Changing rules in the social web

Opening channels of direct dialogue with your audience does not only change the roles of agencies. It also significantly impacts the way PR is organized within an enterprise. As Thorsten Julich suggested, marketing, which is responsible for brand and product communication at BMW, and PR, tending corporate topics, trends, CSR, etc., cannot be separated as clearly anymore. The social web calls for frequent and immediate interaction from spokespeople in different functions - forget long coordination and approval processes! If the conference visitors didn't know it before it quickly became apparent in the discussions: PR 2.0 is also about taking on more responsibility. Especially as the Web spreads opinions (good or bad) at the speed of light and can boost or damage a brand in no time.

Social media strategy, PR strategy, marketing strategy - these are outdated terms. Now it's all about a communication strategy and a communications team!

More observations from the PR 2.0 Forum (in German) on the organiser's blog.