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BAFTA giving gaming credibility

By Mike Marquiss

I found myself looking at the BAFTA video games nominations list this week with a great big smile on my face and I can’t think of a better way to highlight the change in perceptions that gaming has achieved over the last two years than with these awards.

A truly star-studded line-up of voice and acting talent is now being deployed at all levels within gaming and is no longer something to be scoffed about (I know some of you must have when you saw that there was a BAFTAs for video games). The performer category this year will see Mark Hamill (The Joker, Batman), Stephen Fry (LittleBigPlanet 2) and Stephen Merchant (Portal 2) all compete for the honour, and that’s without even a mention of LA Noir, a game featuring what seems like half of TV’s Mad Men’s acting cast.  

It finally looks as though gaming has come out of TV and Film’s shadow, and with the recent trailers for the next GTA, I for one am convinced it can stay there.

Let Mike know who you think should win this year @mikemarquiss.

 

New limits for mobile broadband

by Mike King

Last week, T-Mobile launched a fixed monthly ‘all you can eat’ tariff and now, for £41 per month, users can have unlimited calls, texts and internet access.  Well almost.  International calls and MMS picture messages are not included in the package but it is still a big step forward for an industry that has consistently struggled with how it charges for mobile data services. 

It’s about time mobile operators got their act together and sorted out expensive and complicated tariffs and this move could well be the start of fundamental shift in the industry.  Let’s hope so.  The likelihood is the rest of the pack will follow T-Mobile’s lead and these types of deals will become commonplace.  No more data limits, complicated tariffs or unexpectedly large bills. 

Although mobile internet access has grown significantly in percentage terms, the reality is that it still represents a pretty small part of internet usage and for very good reasons. 

It has always amused me how much effort operators have put into promoting mobile broadband without addressing the fundamental consumer concerns of cost and performance.  As a Blackberry user, for example, access to the internet can only be described as crap – slow, limited access because many websites are ‘too large’ to download and, of course, high data charges. 

Even with the costs of mobile broadband coming down, the performance issues remain.  3G services were originally launched in the UK in 2004 and, eight years later, they still haven’t lived up to the early hype where they were touted as a potential future replacement for fixed broadband connections.  Last year, for example, Ofcom found that the average mobile broadband speed in the UK is less than a quarter of the average fixed broadband speed. 

MWC is just around the corner and attention is firmly on the next big move to 4G.  Forgive me for not getting too excited just yet.

Are you free?

By Valérie Sontot

In France, January saw the suspense finally end around the launch of Free Mobile, the new and fourth national phone operator – with the spotlight firmly fixed on Super Xavier Niel, our very own Steve Jobs.

The conference began at 8:30am at the company headquarters, with the star of the show fashionably late.  Like Superman, Super X. positioned himself directly as our saviour, rising against the other three operators and criticising their monopoly and pricing structures.  The 40 minute speech on a big stage was taken in by media both fascinated and… less fascinated.  Finally, Super X. announced an unlimited mobile offering for just €19.99 a month!

The media attention around the event was huge, with columns across magazines, newspapers and online filled with coverage.  In fact, it had so much interest that as PR people we may as well have had a day off!

Although the launch was popular, people have struggled with a bug-ridden website to subscribe to Free’s well-publicised offer.  With this in mind, it’ll be interesting to see how the future pans out for Super X., Free and its hungry competitors.  

Head in the clouds

By Hannah Townsend

Last week I had my first Cloud Expo Europe experience, and I have to say I was relatively impressed.  I’ve been to a number of trade shows, but not one that I would say was as consistently busy as this one.  

Both days the stands were lively and theatres were, on the most part, full to capacity as IT professionals, technology leaders and journalists strived to learn more about how to deliver an effective cloud strategy.

Johnson King was out in force at the show, and in the run up to the event, my aim was to secure as many meetings with journalists and analysts as I could in the hope of gaining some decent coverage.  With interest high and meetings aplenty, the show ended up being a fantastic introduction for all clients concerned!

The only downside I’d have to say would be the lack of heating (not a good day to forget my cardy), obscenely expensive sandwiches and a lack of seating – cue sitting on the cold floor to enjoy my unremarkable sandwich.  

Now who said PR was glamorous?!

How do you think Cloud Expo Europe measured up in the trade show stakes?  Let Hannah know on Twitter at: @HanT86 

Moving on up

By Flora Haslam

I’ve just moved house and will try my hardest not to turn this into a rant about estate agents – for every journalist that’s had a bad experience with a PR, I’m sure I could find a dozen people who were frustrated by unresponsive agents.

Agents aside, I was surprised how much things have changed since I last went through the process a few years ago.  It’s clear from the investment in televisions ads that online is king when looking for property – the ease of search and convenience of seeing properties from multiple agents via one of the many portals now available is irresistible.

But I was pleasantly surprised to discover that solicitors have finally embraced the benefits of online communication and acknowledged that letters and faxes are just too cumbersome for today’s home movers.  The ability to upload rather than post documents was a breath of fresh air this time round.  Updates by SMS, while managing and tracking the conveyancing process online, was a significant improvement.

With the cost of moving house rising so dramatically, consumers will inevitably demand that the process is made easier.  There’s an app for everything else, so it was no surprise to see the launch of the first Facebook property app this month and it surely can’t be long before technologies like QR codes and augmented reality become commonplace as the business of buying and selling property evolves.

Found any bricks and mortar via the new Property Place Facebook app yet?  Let Flora know your take on Twitter: @FloraHaslam.  

 

Skegness: What's in a name?

By Claire Ayles

The English seaside town Skegness has today been advised it should change its name, which one expert says has become synonymous with ‘slot machines and caravans’ (which he obviously thinks is a bad thing – others may hold a different opinion).

Perhaps he got his inspiration from the tech industry’s very own the data centre sector which seems intent on convincing us that every facility based in the South East of England is in fact in London, even when a quick glance at Google Maps clearly shows otherwise.

So what’s so bad about calling Skegness ‘Skegness’ or, indeed, Slough ‘Slough’?

The problem of course is not the name, but what the name is associated with.  And the danger of changing a place’s name is that it can make these brand connotations even more negative, creating the impression that the place is so ashamed of its heritage it has to pretend it’s something it’s not – the  geographical equivalent of Hyacinth Bucket.  (Who, let’s not forget, was a complete and utter laughing stock). 

And shame isn’t, let’s face it, the greatest brand value to promote. 

Football club leads the way in Twitter morality shocker

by Mike King

It is not often that a football club can be held up as an example of morality or as a positive example of how to deal with inappropriate behaviour, but Oxford City’s decision to sack footballer Lee Steele for writing a homophobic Tweet about Celebrity Big Brother contestant Gareth Thomas sends a out a strong message that bigotry is not acceptable.

This certainly contrasts with the treatment MP Diane Abbott received from her employer when she wrote not one, but two, racist Tweets last week.

What amazed me about the whole Abbott affair was that the media outcry was predominantly for her to apologise, not to be sacked, for her racist comments.  This missed the point entirely.  The issue isn’t simply that she wrote inappropriate messages on her Twitter feed, it’s that she is a racist.  Her (reluctant) apology for any offense caused after the first Tweet hardly changes the fact that she, as a prominent politician in the Labour party, has shown herself to hold racist views.  I’d suggest Ed Miliband could do a lot worse than nip back to Oxford for some tips.

Surviving on Wikipedia

by Oliver Fischer

‘We need to ramp up our social media activities!’ – This is a sentence you hear quite a lot as a PR professional nowadays.  

I had just started as an intern in the PR department of a German IT company when my boss at the time (he was quite an old-school kind of guy) burst into the office, waved a print-out of a website in front of my face and said something like: ‘Hey there, young fellow! You are young, so you must know of this whole new media stuff.  So tell me why some complete stranger has the right to write about our company on a website called 'Wikipedia'?  They didn't even use our wording or our boilerplate! I already tried to upload our recent press release but somebody deleted it again and called it 'PR bullsh*t' – so now you are going to fix this!’

At the time, those conversations were quite common in many German companies – and hordes of young interns started to handle the social media activities of firms of all sizes (sometimes with hilarious effects). One of the duties they had to fulfil was taking care of the company's Wikipedia entry – which didn't always exist in the first place.  Some of them succeeded, some got virtually punched in the face by the German-speaking Wikipedia community.

You have to know at least two basic rules about the German Wikipedia.  First: the normal language in the German community is sometimes still quite blunt – especially on the site for deletion requests.  Just a link to this page can send shivers up the spines of some CEOs and marketing managers.  Secondly: Wikipedia is not a phone book or product index and the Wikipedia community gave itself a set of criteria to prove what is relevant and what is, well, ‘irrelevant crap’.

If you are sure that your company, product or idea matches those criteria, you are absolutely right to ask a professional for help with the article.  But here’s some advice if you are planning to get things kicking in the German branch of the world's biggest online encyclopaedia: just because Microsoft, Dell and IBM have an entry, it doesn't mean you can get one.  As I said, there are some criteria you have to match first. Otherwise you risk getting your article deleted again just some days (or hours) later with reasons like ‘irrelevant’, ‘Marketing blabla’ or ‘come back when you grew up, kiddo’.  Also, when your article doesn't get deleted, you don't own it. It's a wiki; everybody can edit it – even your competitors.  And, last but not least, never forget that Wikipedia wants to be a neutral encyclopaedia – they want to show facts, whether you like them or not.  There has always been a select few who’ve tried to lighten up articles using Greenwashing, spin tactics or legal threats, but most of the time, this didn't end well.  However, if you are still willing to try tactics, I have one final piece of advice, perhaps you should read this article first: Streisand effect.

Goodbye 2011

By Flora Haslam

As we head towards Christmas, this will be our last post for 2011.  So it seems rude not to jump on the bandwagon and look back at the last 12 months...

For me – and in no particular order – these are the top five stories that stick in my mind:

1. Tablets.  I’m starting to think I’m the only person without an iPad – too late to add to my Christmas list? 

2. Anonymous and LulzSec – I’m sure there were a couple of months earlier in the year when they were in the headlines practically every day.  

3. The power of social media in action – from Egypt to the London riots. 

4. Can tech turn the economic tide?  Zynga, Groupon and LinkedIn all made public entrances in an otherwise shocking economic climate.  

5. Steve Jobs' untimely death in October – the biggest tech story of 2011, as covered by Bex at the time. 

And finally, I’ll have to give a little mention to RIM – after a week in October travelling with no working BlackBerry, this has to be the company that has least impressed me in 2011 – I suspect they’ll be glad when this year is over. 

So what have I missed?  Let me know if the Autonomy sale, launch of Google +, News International hacking or something else would have made your top five.

Is gaming your dirty little secret?

By Ben Roberts

The gaming industry has traditionally been considered as fairly niche, but with the last five years or so seeing the introduction of the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, advanced smartphones and tablets, the industry has been transformed.  This stunning new technology, coupled with so-called casual games like Just Dance or Angry Birds and social games such as Farmville and Mafia Wars, has opened the market to a host of new audiences.  Indeed, the value of the market these days is huge – in July Gartner predicted that in Britain we’d spend £3.6bn on games this year.  That’s about the same as the music industry, if you’re wondering.

What’s odd, however, is that the image of the gamer hasn’t changed.  As someone who <3 computer games I find this pretty sad (not because I’m sad).  Gamers have long-been considered socially awkward geeks with not a lot else going on in their life, and many people remain shy about sharing the fact that they enjoy playing computer games, fearful of the assumptions that would be made about them. 

For example, when my colleague, @JacsBooker, recently levelled up and got an iPad – soon getting hooked on Flight Control and playing it on a daily basis during her commute – she flat out denied the fact that she’s a gamer.  She actually puts this down to the fact that she doesn’t play a ‘proper game’ like Call of Duty – but, personally, I don’t believe there’s a difference in playing one type of game or another; if you play games, you play games.

In order for the modern reluctant gamer to accept the truth, I believe that the image of the gamer needs some PR love.  We need to help people recognise that computer games are nothing to be ashamed of.  Whether it be shooting virtual people with virtual bullets, or shooting virtual pigs with virtual birds, gaming should not be your dirty little secret.