We’ve recently had a great time running the pre-show PR and press office functions for two top-notch trade shows at London’s Excel. We found some fantastic stories, had some great journalist briefings and cooked up social media traction through the speaker programmes.

But it could all have been so much better. Why? Because extracting information from exhibitors is almost as hard as looking for unicorns under a full moon.

Engaging with the show’s PR function would seem like a no-brainer but so many exhibitors ignore the opportunities – maybe once they’ve signed up they think that’s the box ticked.

Most of these opportunities are free, require little time to fulfil and will really help to drive traffic to your stand/booth at the show. If you’ve paid for the space, come up with a great stand design and take sales people off the road for a few days. Here are Leapfrog’s tips for making the most of your trade show PR.

1. Make sure the right contact is on the booking form under marketing and PR, often it’s not the same person that booked the stand.

2. Plan your PR strategies in the run up to the show and you’ll be in pole position for preview coverage and briefings. If you are launching a new product, publishing a report, have a celeb/VIP on the stand or have a show-specific special offer or promotion, make sure your digital comms are aligned with the show PR strategy that is driving visitors to see you.

3.Pick up on the opportunities offered by the show– can you offer a speaker? Take part in a debate? Offer your stand as a stop on a curated tour?  Make sure you also take up all opportunities in the Show Guide and online profiles.

4.What networking can you take part in at the show? Most shows offer hosted breakfasts for exhibitors – business can often be done amongst exhibitors as well as with visitors.

5.Make sure you have a specific PR plan for the show– identify which journalists you want to talk to and book one to one briefings with them well in advance as they will be very busy.

6.Track trade media previews for the show and make sure you get your news in in good time to secure a spot – these can appear a couple of months before the show, so  with 6-8 week deadlines ahead of that you need to be ready with the information 16 weeks ahead!

7.Respond to shout-outs from the show for copy and stories – they will be working hard to place material in the run up to the show and you will maximise your presence by supporting these activities.

8.Have a press pack to hand at the show – on a stick – so if a journalist comes by you can readily let them have the information they need. No need for physical packs and no, a brochure is not a press pack!

9.Get social– engage with the show’s own social feeds and they will respond – amplifying your reach. Follow all the relevant journals and journalists too as they will be making live feeds from the show. On the day, target visitors with relevant tweets using specific keywords and hashtags.

10.Think about live streaming– if you are having demos on your stand these can be great feeds, interview your CEO on stand, interview key customers and your own experts.  But if you do live feed, make sure you promote your activity first, before and during the show – or you will be streaming to nothing!

We are looking for a friendly, ambitious and outgoing person who is passionate about PR (both traditional and social), can juggle lots of balls in unflappable manner, deliver great results for clients, and has the drive and commitment to grow with us.

You’ll need to be self-motivated and ready to turn your hand to anything in a small team.

You’ll be able to offer:

• Education to degree level in a relevant discipline
• At least 4 years demonstrable PR experience, in B2B and B2C – wow us with your cuttings book and contacts!
• Excellent writing skills, from press releases to features, consumer copy to social feeds
• Strong media relations skills and contacts – you’ll know how journalists tick
• Excellent understanding and experience of social media platforms and how they can be used in integrated PR campaigns, including evidence of campaign implemented, results and evaluation
• Demonstrable skills on digital platforms such as Mail Chimp
• The ability to handle a number of client accounts and work quickly to meet client and journalist deadlines
• Examples of creative thinking and ideas to secure coverage
• Examples of PR campaigns you’ve planned, delivered and evaluated
• The ability to manage junior members of staff such as interns and account executives
• Experience in the food industry would be great

You’ll also be a self-starter, able to work independently and take the lead, plus you’ll be happy to pitch in and work as part of the team

Start: mid-June/ASAP

The Rewards

Salary: v competitive + benefits

Business park location, free parking, shops and lunch close by

Located between Cheltenham and Gloucester, two minutes from Junction 11 of the M5

20 days holiday initially rising to up to 25 days, your birthday off

Contact

Felicity@Leapfrogpr.com

Lord Deben pointed out that the foodservice packaging industry needs to focus not necessarily on the real priorities as defined by the industry, but on what is perceived to matter in terms of public opinion – governments react to public opinion and are looking for easy wins in a time of austerity.  With that in mind, business needs to spot the things it can win and not go after those it can’t.  He also emphasised the importance of gaining stakeholder support for your programme, setting achievable targets and reporting back on them regularly to illustrate how far you have travelled in any given time frame.  Gaining trust from your stakeholders, getting them to believe you and recognise that you keep your promises are fundamental elements for success.  This illustrates how strong communication is absolutely fundamental to business success

Lord Deben also gave some sound advice for those needing to gain the ear of government – which can be inclined to confuse popular opinion with the views of the popular press.   He made one point which struck home and is often ignored by some areas of PR – make use of your MP.  In fact make use of all MP’s – in a membership organisation members will operate in many constituencies – so use your members to brief MP’s so that when the issue comes up in the House you have a body of MP’s who are informed and are able to make the right decision.  Simple but very effective.

What will be today, will not be the case tomorrow and it’s important for PR’s and marketeers who use social as a fundamental part of client strategies to keep themselves well educated and ahead of the game.

Account Executive Rebecca Morris of Leapfrog PR attended the CIPR Social Media ‘Content that Converts’ seminar at Hotel Du Vin on Thursday 18 November, and was enlightened by social media guru Jonathan Pollinger and creative lead of Rubber Republic, Tiffany Maddox in the ways of creating impactful content.

Here are some of the top line points she picked up from the seminar, looking at the kind of social content that gets results:

The three most important things to remember for social media are – AUDIENCE, LOCATION & TIMING

Audience

Establish who your ideal customer/demographic is by considering your FB insights & twitter analytics regularly. Analysing this data will allow you to find your audience’s favoured content type, e.g. video, images.

FB is brilliant as it lets you hyper target – you can get down to specifics as exact as region, place of work and even relationship status.

Location – both geographical and social location (platform)

Now, everyone is on FB – there are 1.78bn global users and 37m businesses view FB on average 14 times a day. This shift in FB to B2B and the fact that ads are really effective because they are so targeted, means that FB should be the first point of call for clients.

Social media platform ranking

1. FB
2. Instagram
3. LinkedIn
4. Snapchat
5. Twitter (Twitter is falling, the analytics are good but it’s generally failing!)

Advice was to Rule out Google + completely!

Timing

Research shows that content MUST be optimised and suitable for mobile – short posts with little text and an image works well – including an image is always an ABSOLUTE MUST.

Newsjacking –  the process of leveraging trending news to elevate your brand’s message is a great idea. Look at trending world news and hash tags, thinking of something your business can relate to. If done well, it can go viral – if done badly it can ruin your company reputation.

Good examples –

Celebrates a positive occasion – the same sex marriage bill being passed

Bad examples –

Tasteless, irrelevant, terribly insensitive – damaging to Urban Outfitter’s reputation.

Build content calendars – however long your retainer is – 6 months, 1 year – build content plans!

Look for seasonal content, shows, national/international/global days – any big company/industry occasions – ensure you have it in the calendar so you can appropriately engage and plan content around this.

Posts that work well promoting your company – Sometimes you don’t even need text – a good image/gif can convey more than text and often speaks for itself and if you are going to include text – short, impactful statements are often the best for catching attention.

Tiffany Maddox, Rubber republic shares her views on the 7 deadly sins of social media, specifically looking at how to best engage with a client and use video content:

Pride

• Be aware of the brand’s perception
• Don’t be afraid to confront the elephant in the room if you feel a plan isn’t a good way to go
• If the carpets don’t match the drapes it doesn’t matter

Envy

• Don’t try to replicate what’s been done before
• Stay authentic to your brand

Gluttony

• Video content doesn’t have to do everything, you have 5 seconds to get the audience’s attention so make it worth it
• More than one message can be confusing and make it too busy
• Don’t spend loads of money on platforms that aren’t effective

Greed

• Invest in good creative content
• It’s always quality over quantity
• Big numbers aren’t everything
• It’s more important to have shares and lots of interaction, having lots of views isn’t as important, as views represent ego-driven interaction – not quality interaction

Sloth

• Be responsive
• Trust your gut
• Slowing the process leads to complications

Lust

• Be provocative
• Ask a question
• Don’t be clickbait
• Deliver promises

Wrath

• Have a strategy in place for backlash
• Good intentions can be displaced
• Have the goods to back up your claims

By Stephanie Whitmore

The start of the countdown to Christmas has now begun along with the turning on of Christmas lights in towns across the UK this weekend, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and the sparkly front covers of the December issues of magazines adorn shelves.

Today, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a TV advertisement – with the big retail players (John Lewis, M&S, Waitrose, Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury’s) unveiling their offerings for Christmas 2016 in the last week.

In a year of unsettling political events, all the advertisements deliver comfort in ladlefuls and have a real ‘aah’ factor. But is this creativity for creativity’s sake? In my view no, and the creative teams working on each ad will have been working for many months on a piece that communicates the brand values and messages of their retail client. So, which ones have hit the mark this year?

People complain that some of the ads don’t show any product, but this is very much to do with brand heritage and positioning. Waitrose’s ad features a robin travelling on a long journey (a metaphor for the long journeys and sacrifices we all make to be with loved ones as Christmas). At the end of the commercial there is one product shot of two birds pecking at a Waitrose mince pie. This ad shows a retailer that’s comfortable in its own identity – we all know that Waitrose sells food and that the brand stands for quality, so the advert is more about communicating the retailer’s core brand values, rather than focussing on product.

In contrast, Aldi is still establishing itself as a retailer of quality food. The tongue in cheek advertisement featuring Kevin the Carrot and a voice over poem from Jim Broadbent focuses on the destination of the carrot as fuel for Rudolph to take him on his journey delivering presents. In contrast to Waitrose, Aldi’s advertisement shows a Christmas table bursting with gorgeous food, enticing the consumer to think ‘now I didn’t know Aldi did that’ and driving consumer trial. This is exactly where Aldi wants to be, as it solidifies itself as a brand to be reckoned with.

The type of consumer that each of the advertisements is attempting to target is interesting too. John Lewis – champion of Christmas advertising in my opinion – has chosen a middle class black family, suburban home and advertises ‘Gifts that Everyone Will Love’, positioning itself as a retailer with wide appeal. This is very much in tune with John Lewis’ ambitious store expansion programme and ‘never knowingly undersold’ promise. Rather than being an elite store for white middle class women, as possibly John Lewis has been in the past, it’s a store pitched very firmly at today’s aspirational middle classes.

While I’m not so keen on the foxes and badgers bouncing on the trampoline (who would let their kids on it afterwards – have you ever smelt fox poo?), the ad is bang on target for where John Lewis is today and gives a nod to its future growth.

Which brings me on to the M&S Christmas 2016 offering. In a week when the retailer has announced that it will be closing a number of stores, the first thing that sprang to mind with its James Bond theming and locations, is how much did it cost to make?!

While I love this advertisement for its visual beauty and storyline about Mrs Claus being the modern day Father Christmas, I was confused about M&S’ positioning. Is Mrs Claus representative of the Mrs M&S, the new Chief Executive Steve Rowe recently talked about “Mrs M&S is the average shopper in Marks and Spencer – obviously, she’s female, just over 50. She’s a working mum, maybe a grandmother, maybe just about to retire. She has a passion for great quality and great product, and she understands value – she’s very value savvy.” Our Mrs Claus seemed far more sophisticated than that and far sexier too (note the book ‘Fifty Shades of Red’ she is reading in the final shot). Is this the woman M&S wants to target – if so they need to get their in-store offering sorted.

And what about the family? The scenes were gorgeous and Christmassy but how many average M&S shopping families live in what looked to be a £5million house in Chiswick? All a bit detached from reality, but still it is Christmas. This advertisement out of them all, is the one which is creativity for creativity’s sake, but funnily enough it is the one I like the most – warming, Christmassy and escapist with some clever touches. After all that’s what Christmas is all about isn’t it?

It’s been a good week to consider fundamental issues that should preoccupy PR practitioners such as the fine line between truth, lies, PR and propaganda. Despite the shock US election result, I doubt that too many of us spend much time thinking about these things.   But we should.  Mary Beard put it very well in her blog in the TLS on 9 November (http://www.the-tls.co.uk/blogs/), when she said that at least the Greeks and Romans understood the difference between truth and lies – and that we in the 21^st century seem to have lost that instinct.

Donald Trump repeatedly told supporters that he would build a wall on the US/Mexican border, that he would abolish Obamacare and that he would lock Hilary Clinton up. But now he is President Elect, he seems to be backtracking on many of these key policies.  So, was he lying?  Was he persuading?  Was he indulging in propaganda?

As PR practitioners, we need to understand the difference between PR, persuasion and propaganda and the ethical code of conduct that binds us all in term of best practice. Is ethical persuasion possible?  What is the difference between persuasion and propaganda?   Edward Bernays, often called the Father of PR, titled his second book ‘Propaganda’ (1928), but now propaganda is regarded as low down the ethical tree in PR terms with negative overtones. It is one-way communication and Grunig and Hunt* located propaganda as the lowest form of communication in the press agency category.  If we look more closely at this, propaganda is described as using persuasion to manipulate an audience to behave in a way you want them to. So, on that basis Donald Trump can on the face of it, be labelled with peddling propaganda.

Propaganda works because it is accepted without challenge – as Trump supporters seem to have done.  The ability to detect and decode propaganda is as fundamental to a democratic society as is a free press.   So how does PR differ?  Best practice PR is two-way asymmetrical communication, where persuasion forms an integral part of the process but it’s not the process itself.   The TARES test (Baker & Martinson 2002) is the tool by which PR practitioners should identify ethical practice – is it Trustworthy, Authentic, Respectful, Equitable and Socially Responsible?

I think PR practitioners will argue for decades why and how Donald Trump won and the role of communication in that process. But what’s clear to me is that what Donald had above all else, and Hilary didn’t, was Roger Ailes ‘magic bullet’  – the ability to get the audience to like you.  A certain demographic: disenfranchised, white, male, 45+ liked his message a lot.  So, despite the potential lies and propaganda, he is going to the White House. Only time will tell what Trump reality is and if his words were empty and his promises lacking truth.

If it wasn’t so dangerous, this would be a great lesson in giving an audience what they want and talking to them in the way they want to hear.

*for a great discussion of the relevance of Grunig & Hunt to contemporary PR read Stephen Waddington’s critical review http://wadds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/chartered-practitioner-paper-FINAL.pdf

We have been working extensively with clients Dawn Foods and New York Bakery Co, monitoring the changing sector of breakfast, and have found it to have changed dramatically in recent years.

What is breakfast? It means different things to different people and at different times of the week.

Working people’s weekday breakfast is no longer a bowl of cereal with milk at home before leaving to catch the train. Instead it’s a coffee to go and a ‘breakfast item’ (anything from porridge to bagels to muffins or even the humble bacon sarnie) that can be consumed on the go or at the desk. Real food on the move.

At weekends breakfast is the fastest growing segment on the away from home menu – with people opting for a bigger brunch style meal, downsizing on lunch and eating again later in the day.

Breakfast at home is out of favour, breakfast ‘out’ is increasingly a regular treat and an emerging social slot – cheaper than lunch or dinner. Spending on breakfast is up 31% compared with eight years ago (NPD). So how has this transition come about?Marketing has been quietly transforming breakfast for brands and independents alike in recent years and on two levels.

The first has been to open up operators to the opportunities offered by breakfast service through research from the likes of Allegra and Horizons who have highlighted consumer demand. Why not exploit a new segments if you have kit and premises available standing empty? Opening early – as early as 6am – places demands on staff but with demonstrable profits becomes a key income stream.

The second level has been driven by the retail brands communicating that they are open for breakfast – both in and on the go.

Some brands have been quick on the breakfast uptake and eager to compete with high street coffee retailers, with Weatherspoon’s driving the effort to make this segment its own. Going to the pub for breakfast was unheard of a few years ago but now is a key profit driver – central London Wetherspoons pubs report a steady increase in breakfast trade. Brands have upped their game and broadened their menu and the timing of their breakfast service from early in the morning until almost lunchtime.

It’s independents though which are driving menu innovation and making breakfast/brunch a real social occasion, an affordable indulgence. The US and Australia do brunch well and the trend is catching on here – plates of avocado on toast, eggs benedict, pancakes and savoury or sweet combinations and a host of new choices to tickle the taste buds.

Brands like Bills and Boston Tea Party have been key to growing the brunch segment as they have rolled out their brand to the regions and given the consumers increased opportunity to have brunch out.

But despite our new taste for breakfast out and the choice we are offered, there is one thing that strong marketing communications doesn’t seem to have changed. The good old British public stands firms on one thing – the nation’s favourite breakfast remains, according to NPD, full English with bacon, eggs beans and toast. Cest la vie.

Following a recent visit to Canada’s west coast, MD Felicity ponders the street food movement in Vancouver

One thing Wills and Kate won’t have had the chance to do this week in Canada is taste the delights of the exploding street food movement!

Vancouver really is at the vanguard of this phenomena, with the newly renovated Robson Square hosting a feast of food trucks and many operators offering food truck tours of the city.

These trucks offer a veritable cornucopia of tastes and styles from almost every corner of the world – Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Malay and Chinese and many trucks fusing Pacific west coast gems with dumplings, dipping pots and noodles.  You could stay in Vancouver for a week, eat like a king and never step inside a restaurant.

One of the most popular trucks on Robson Square as testified by the constant long line, represents a further development in the street food movement with the ‘roll out’ of the Tacofino brand.  Yes, roll out.  The original orange Tacofino truck resides in the back of a car park in the village of Tofino, the surfing paradise on the north west coast of Vancouver Island – a two-hour ferry ride and three-hour drive from Van city.

Tacofino must be one of the original street food operators and is an institution amongst locals, tourists and surfers – who drip across the road after a tough morning in the waves, queue for up to an hour, slake their hunger and thirst and retreat back to the waves.  Why is this unassuming truck a true taste of foodie heaven?

It boils down to two things – wonderful, Baja inspired, fresh food and exquisite flavours and superb customer service – no wonder they are expanding to Vancouver, Victoria and beyond.

The menu is simple, concentrating on tacos, burritos and gringas, alongside a refreshing choice of slushy type drinks.  The tacos burst with freshness – lightly battered fresh fish bites, with fresh tomato salsa style sauce and salad leaves served in lightly floured soft tacos.  Every mouthful is just sublime.  The burritos are huge, designed to satisfy the surfer dude appetite and defeat ordinary mortals, packed with tasty fresh ingredients.

Most punters would balk at standing in line for an hour, first to make an order and then to wait for their order to be cooked (spare a though for the hero crew in the tiny truck kitchen), but it’s all part of the authentic Tacofino experience.  A whacky head pops out of the driver’s window to take your order, effortlessly chatting to every customer, seeming to revel in every order.  Taking cards helps on the practical side – lunch for five is great value but still eats cash.  Upselling slips in but is done in such a way that it just seems like friendly advice – feeling hungry? Then you might like two tacos, isn’t it hot today have you tried our refreshing coolers? (the Lime and Mint was divine).

Tacofino represents all that is best about the street food movement – but can its essence truly be replicated?  I hope so – roll on and roll out Tacofino.

www.tacofino.com/trucks-home

Perhaps one of the most remarkable revelations of the Rio Olympics was the fact that the humble McDonald’s chicken nugget is one of Usain Bolt’s guilty pleasures.  He was snapped tucking into a snack box immediately after claiming his ninth Olympic gold medal – his ‘triple triple’ – and has previously declared a fondness for KFC hot wings, Pringles crisps and a pint of Guinness.

On the face of it, this spectacular Olympian can indulge in the calories without them appearing round his waistline, and he will no doubt go on to inspire children around the world to run for Gold for years to come.

The UK though is currently facing quite a different race and it’s one that we need to win, as recent statistics claim that one in four children is now officially obese. The Government’s action plan is a two-pronged attack: in order to see a significant reduction in childhood obesity over the next 10 years, it is asking industry to cut the amount of sugar in food and drink and encouraging primary school children to eat more healthily and stay active.

‘Asking’? ‘Encouraging’?  Isn’t that all a bit wishy washy?  While the sugar tax is likely to stay, there’s also a hint that Brexit could trigger changes to labelling schemes – including perhaps Jamie Oliver’s ‘teaspoons of sugar’ idea. However, it doesn’t look as if there will be any bans on junk food promotions in supermarkets or restaurants, nor any further restrictions on advertising. Foodservice, retail and manufacturing firms will be ‘challenged’ to reduce sugar content by 20% by 2020, yet the Food and Drink Federation claims that the focus on a single ingredient is flawed and ‘unlikely to be technically practical’. School food authorities will be encouraged to adhere to new buying standards while schools themselves will be rated on their contribution to preventing obesity.

And what of the ‘staying active’ part of the plan? While we’re still basking in the reflected glory of our fantastic, inspirational and yes, healthy, Olympic athletes, wouldn’t this be the perfect time to elevate sport on the school curriculum and increase the amount of time spent simply being active?  A pipe dream perhaps, but after all, maybe wasn’t that what all our great athletes started out with?

Although Snapchat has been around for a while (it launched in 2011) there is no question that it’s quickly becoming the most popular social network, and where consumers go, businesses no doubt follow.

At the moment Snapchat advertising is almost exclusively available to multimillion dollar, multinational corporations, but rumour has it prices are being slashed and as soon as advertising becomes accessible to the average Joe Business, Snapchat for Business will really take off. At the moment, for most businesses the prospect of putting large amounts of budget behind Snapchat campaign would still be a pretty daunting venture.

An alternative option is to get involved with Snapchat’s Geofilters. Easy to do, Snapchat will hold your hand through the entire process. Essentially you need to create a web-optimised transparent .PNG file, 1080 pixels wide x 1920 pixels high and be less than 300KB. You then set the area and time frame that you want your Geofilter to be available, hand over your card details (at the time of writing prices are pretty reasonable) and hey pronto you’ve created a Geofilter!

And if you’re in any doubt over the power of Snapchat you just have to look at the attempts of other social networks to become more like it. By now you’ll have probably heard about Instagram’s version of Snapchat Stories, originally named Instagram Stories. It’s where users are encouraged to ‘share the moments in-between’ their usual, carefully curated Instagram posts, in a fun and spontaneous ‘Snapchatty’ way.

Facebook (Instagram’s parent company) is also getting in on the action as they test a camera that automatically opens atop your timeline to make it easier to post personal and original photos and videos to the network. With it being widely reported that original sharing on Facebook is declining, the hope is that making the camera function easier to access (like it is on Snapchat) will reverse this trend. It’s the same reason why Facebook have been fiddling with their timeline algorithm to prioritise posts from family and friends over publishers and business pages.

At the moment, Snapchat is King of the social media castle, so if you don’t already know how it works, there’s no better time to familiarise yourself with it!