Whatever...

Broadband gold rush must be managed

By Natalie Shamshoum

Last week BSkyB became the latest entrant into the broadband price war, by launching its free high speed internet service.  This is undoubtedly a very daring endeavour.  Firstly, BSkyB has no telecoms heritage. Secondly, this service is widely predicted to incur several years of losses before becoming profitable. 

BSkyB isn’t the only firm prepared to risk short-term loss for long-term profitability.  Over recent months, free broadband services have become a necessity as service providers scrap to gain full control of the digital home.  We’re also seeing cable, satellite and telecoms providers rolling out new services left, right and centre.  Many are pairing up or even buying each other to make sure they can offer the 4-play bundle.  So, while broadcaster BSkyB is set to offer cheaper calls through a new VoIP service, BT is about to launch its IPTV offering and NTL has snapped up Virgin Mobile so it can add mobile to its mix. It seems everyone wants a piece of the broadband pie.

As providers rush to roll out new services to this quickly saturating market, there is a concern that they haven't fully considered how the technology will stand up in the consumer environment.  While free broadband and phone calls are certainly a massive draw - as is cheaper and more flexible TV - set-up and configuration of these services is tricky.  I for one would be completely turned off by technical problems.  If these turned out to be ongoing, I wouldn't think twice about quitting the entire bundle.

The multi-vendor technologies and nebulous infrastructure involved in such roll outs spell complexity - something we don't want in our homes.  In their haste to launch new services and lure new customers, I suspect many of these providers have overlooked the management of this technology. 

This broadband gold rush certainly makes for interesting times, but with providers already struggling to get basic customer support right, if left unmanaged, 4-play could drain support resources and erode providers' bottom lines, while leaving consumers frustrated and dissatisfied.  Providers must think about how the technology can be managed from the outset, if they are to be successful in the digital home.

Mama Mia - Is there PR life after birth?

By Claire Ayles

Working for an agency which is always on the lookout for the best talent, it's depressing to see that Graduate Prospects, 'the UK's official graduate careers website', describes PR as a career not suited to women returning to work after maternity leave.  As a new mother still working in PR, I also find this a bit perplexing.

Graduate Prospects reaches this conclusion because PRs are required to work 'long, unsociable hours'.  This may or may not be true (for instance, at JK we focus on working hard rather than long, although extra hours are sometimes inevitable), but even when it is the case, why should this necessarily preclude mothers from working in the industry?  It's not like lawyers, doctors, retailers - or indeed most other people - have it any easier.

PR isn't operating in the dark ages; it is possible to work part-time, either from home or via job sharing.  Of course, having kids does change things.  Childcare providers are expensive and tend to stick to rigid hours, which means working parents can't stay in the office 24/7 (not that they should have to anyway).  But don't mobile phones and the internet allow us to work flexibly, from anywhere at anytime?  It's not exactly rocket science these days. 

With the PR industry predominantly staffed by women, it is in agencies' best interests to offer a career path to those returning to work, otherwise the talent they've worked so hard to train will be needlessly lost.  Indeed, my experience (which I share with other mothers I know working in the industry) is one of agencies understanding and accommodating the needs of working parents.

Many graduates looking to get on the PR career ladder may not be considering starting a family anytime soon - but when we're interviewing, we'd expect the more savvy and committed (ie. sought after) candidates to ask us about their long-term career prospects.  In an interview situation, we can explain that PR isn't just for the young, free and single, it can be a job for life - but unfortunately, this does little to reverse the decisions of all those top quality graduates who have already (wrongly) dismissed PR in favour of more 'family friendly' careers.

Terminator 4: Rise Of The PR Machines

By Tom Kirkham

According to BT 'futurologist' Ian Pearson, machine intelligence is going to make most traditionally male jobs redundant within the next twenty years.  However, women - and their 'softer', emotional skills - will still be in demand apparently, and so jobs such as PR, marketing and HR are unlikely to be taken over by robots.  As a male in the PR industry, this puts me in an interesting position - am I in fact a robot in disguise, desperately masking a flat Austrian accent while trying to remember what that article in Marie Claire said about emotional intelligence...?  I was going to ask our own futurologist, but unfortunately Johnson King doesn't have one.

I'm not going to be lured into a debate about men versus women in PR, through fear of being poked with sticks by our predominantly female workforce.  No - what interested me most about Pearson's predictions is that he assumes PR will resist the rise of the machines.  But what makes him so sure?  I think there's a lot of companies out there that would prefer machines as PRs...

It's common to come across senior marketing types that believe PR should be about sending out press releases indiscriminately and then calling up every journalist in the country to see if they received it.  The only thing these people need is a computer with some sort of basic voice function - then it'll be goodbye emotional skills, hello ruthless automation.

Of course, this won't work with the majority of journalists today - but who knows what the future will bring?  There are a growing number of news portals that simply reprint press releases verbatim, plus increased requests for 'potted comment' via email, all of which makes the job of the PR computer even easier.  Our industry relies upon having an intelligent media to interact with - but if the standard of journalism falls, it becomes harder for PRs to justify their role.  And while it may be flattering to see your prose used word-for-word, it does make you wonder whether journalists should be fearing the takeover of machine intelligence too.

My guess is that, for the time being, PRs are probably safe, because enough of the public still value the insight provided by good journalists over mindless regurgitation of press releases.  That is of course until someone invents a Sirius Cybernetics Corporation-esque public relations robot with Genuine People Personality... hang on a sec, what was I saying about being a robot in disguise...?

Online self-service - a cautionary tale by Outraged of London Bridge

By Kathryn O'Donoghue

The DVLA's recent Orwell-esque advertising campaign - 'You can't escape the computer' - certainly served its purpose of reminding me that my car tax was due. However, after the hassle of traipsing down to the Post Office - making sure to remember and dig out all the relevant documentation - and queuing for hours just to get a slip of paper, I almost wish it hadn't.

And while the DVLA purports to have made it possible to avoid the lengthy queues and renew your tax online, in reality, this is as good as impossible. To do so, you need a new style MOT - that the majority of garages do not provide - and what's more, every time I tried to go to the relevant website, it was undergoing essential maintenance. Maybe it had had an argument with the 'computer'.

I am outraged by the cheek of the DVLA, which is essentially trying to intimidate and scare drivers in these adverts. To boast about how great its online systems are when it comes to issuing fines - but to fail to provide an efficient means of paying online - just makes you think that, rather than providing a better service, the majority of its efforts have been concentrated on ripping off innocent drivers who can't get to the Post Office outside of work hours.

Talking about being purely driven by money, the DVLA has also been selling drivers' addresses for £2.50 each, and by flogging 2.5 million of them between April 2005 and March 2006, has made a tidy profit of £6.5 million. While many people are uncomfortable with their personal data being sold to legitimate companies, the fact that some of these addresses were sold to convicted criminals gives even more cause for concern.

Ultimately, the DVLA should stop wasting money on expensive advertising and start making their online systems more reliable and customer friendly. While these measures are clearly designed to remove reckless drivers from the roads, which is of course a good thing, their methods have to be called into question. But, in an organisation where over 100 employees have recently been cautioned, and 14 dismissed, for distributing pornographic material over corporate email, what more can we expect?

Of bunnies and hacks

By Claire Gibson

There’s been much discussion regarding some recent postings on UK journo blog Getting Ink, which wonders whether or not it’s ok to refer to PRs as ‘bunnies’.  It's a bit of a potential minefield/rabbit trap even trying to address this question, but here goes... 

The term ‘bunnies’ is pretty loaded when you think about it - from fluffy woodland animals to Playboy. On the one hand, it's easy to describe as a harmless, even affectionate term ie. if you take offence at it then you’re obviously a stuffy, boring stick-in-the-mud who can’t take a joke once in a while. 

I personally think that most people - even PRs! - don't mind a bit of ribbing... but when it becomes the ‘default mindset’ for journalists, it starts to become just a little bit offensive.  Not to mention hypocritical - journalists can sometimes be just as fluffy-headed themselves.

For example, I recently pitched two customer stories to separate journalists working at two very high profile publications.  My emails were very clearly marked in the subject line as ‘possible case studies’, and didn't look remotely like press releases in tone, format or length.  However, BOTH journalists interpreted these emails as press releases, and one even submitted it as a news item in that week’s issue.  Now, this is fine by me - if you want to run old news, then please, be my guest. But who's being the 'bunny' here?

Of course, in all this pot-kettle-black business, there is a basic paradox - that while it’s fine for us PRs to slag each other off now and again, and perhaps even use the ‘bunny’ term of abuse, it’s not always welcome from a hack. I’m sure it works the same way in the journalistic fraternity too - but of course, that kind of secret isn't likely to fall into our furry little hands now, is it…?

PC TV or easy TV?

By Flora Haslam

As Channel 4 becomes the first major UK TV channel to be simulcast on the internet, it seems the face of TV is changing.  Viewers will now be able to watch their favourite programmes (the home-grown ones at least) on the family PC or even at the work desk. 

Of course, the BBC has recently been showing World Cup football games on the internet, and ITV has already announced it will show programmes on broadband up to 30 days after first transmission.  So, Channel 4 has done well to position itself as a pioneer of internet TV - but the question remains: do people actually want this?  Presumably broadcasters wouldn't be going down this route without first having assessed demand, but I can't help but think that this is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse - yet another technology innovation in search of a market.

While some employers may already be throwing their hands up in the air, convinced that productivity is about to be halved as their entire workforce tunes into Deal or No Deal, I just can't envisage a time at home when I'd rather boot up the PC than sit on the sofa and switch on the telly to watch Channel 4.  And despite my normally speedy broadband connection, I'd be concerned that network resources would not be able to cope with demand if the service proved popular.

Channel 4's move should prove to be an interesting experiment to gauge the level of interest in broadcasting over the internet.  Technology advances are certain to change the way we view television in the future, and the convenience of video on demand looks set to be a big hit. But for now, the thought of watching a small selection of television programmes on a PC doesn't really appeal - I'm just not ready to leave the comfort of my sofa yet!