The final countdown

Halima at thupr: music

Post by Waves PR intern,  music blogger Halima Amina

Friday was the last meet up for THUPR, but it was indeed indexical of the whole THUPR vibe and journey. From big meet ups and company involvement, to small scale conversations. It’s with great sadness but with a brilliant ending that we say goodbye to THUPR.

The final meet up was under the theme of music, with contribution from Steve Lawson, Emily Breder, Claire Thompson herself and all attendees. THUPR has always been about bringing the conversations that count-and that’s exactly what we did.

Ideas bought up included the idea of branding. Is branding now merely a crass tool used to stamp something on the head and sell it on? Perhaps branding doesn’t cater for the multi faceted and terrifyingly impersonal nature of modern media, but the question then is-what’s the quick, strong alternative?

One cannot speak about music at a PR event without piracy taking a stake in the air time. Steve, as an independent musician himself, explained the concept of “gratitude” being the highest currency available online. Making his work available for free download, he welcomes (and receives) optional payment should the listener have enjoyed it.  So the power goes right back to the consumer.  A risky tactic maybe, but it is clear a radical change of the digital music market is needed.

I raised the point, from a consumer point of view, audiences are much less likely to feel the obligation and need to pay for an album when little or no engagement with audiences is being made; bragging about money in every song will probably not strike a chord with students the next time they’re in HMV.  It stands to reason then that this concept goes right back to branding-an impersonal brand is less likely to earn money than an approachable personality.

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Claire on BBC Radio Berkshire

Debbie McGee as seen on the BBC

Today Waves PR and I were on BBC Radio Berkshire, being interviewed by the lovely Debbie McGee.

You can hear the interview here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00htgth.

(From 2:27, or at 2:35 if you want to miss the weather!)

I wanted to do the interview for several reasons – firstly it’s never bad publicity, and although I was told not to put the company name in, I work mostly as me (no bad thing) so I’m findable if anyone’s interested.

Secondly, there’s no such thing as a bad contact, and when the right time comes, I now know and like Debbie, and would be happy to pass her a feelgood story any day of the week!

And yes, I was hugely worried – I think they call it ‘eating your own dogfood!’!

Social Media Monitoring

Murray Newlands is very connected. And also understands hat makes people tick. Which makes him both likeable and engaging.

He has created a Social Media Monitoring download which doesn’t pretend to be the oracle of all social media monitoring tools or’ ultimate guide to…’

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Communications and the Election: Talk Issues

Claire Thompson, freelance PR Consultant, Waves PR

A few days ago, I posted an article about my frustration at the negative election communications, each politician trying to score points and discredit the others. I’m far from alone in feeling that what’s being communicated is a turn off, and I’ve been fortunate to engage with Kevin Anderson, who rather than just rail against it has been part of a group that set up TalkIssues:

What inspired TalkIssues and who’s behind it?

Suw, my wife, and I often talk about how frustrated we were with political coverage. Underlying much of it is an assumption that the average person isn’t interested in politics. To get them interested, the press believes they need to focus on the soap opera of personalities in politics rather than the issues that affect people’s lives such as education, the economy, the debt or immigration. This isn’t new. However, this is an important election and too often we felt that we were watching life imitate Dr Who, the Christmas episode when David Tennant brings down a prime minister by saying ‘She looks a little tired.’

Kevin Anderson: "If there's one thing that I'd urge people to do is that if they are angry or feeling alienated from politics, there is a solution: get involved."

So many people we spoke to felt alienated from democracy: shut out by a media that infantilised their audience, and treated by political parties as little more than consumers to be marketed to. It’s government by brand managers. Is this what British democracy had come to on the eve of one of the most important elections in recent history?

How can we get back to talking about the issues? Instead of letting the media and the parties get caught up in some soap opera subplot, why not use social media to push back and get them to talk about the issues? In addition to that, we want to bring together smart bloggers and policy people to talk about the issues, not only those that will affect the election but also those would live beyond the six weeks. It’s not about party politics but giving people a space to talk about the topics that are important to them and feel some ownership of their democracy.

I sent out emails to Dominic Campbell with FutureGov, and Mick Fealty of the excellent political blog, Slugger O’Toole. Dominic brought in Anthony Zacharzewski of Democratic Society, and it has just grown from there.

Why should anyone care about TalkIssues?

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