Posted to Chinese social media site Weibo in mid-August, the photos quickly sparked conspiracy theories, ranging from UFOs to secret military operations. The original posting of the photos has now been forwarded over 46,500 times.

• Three days later, the formations had already been picked up on by international UFO groups, one of which posted this video:

• By the 22nd of August China’s official news agency, Xinhua, published an article about the “abnormal desert rings,” going so far as to mention aliens.

• By the 26th of August however BMW had come clean through China’s massive news website sina.BMW explained the crop circle viral by saying it aimed to highlight the “UN1QUE” characteristics of both the BMW 1 series model and its prospective driver. Also, UFO is short for “UN1QUE For One.” Hmm…wonder if it makes more sense in China?

Have a look at the advert in full and see what you think:

While the stunt itself was a clear success, it begs the question: was it successful as a brand-building act? The viral created a lot of web buzz, but a great deal of that was from UFO-watchers and conspiracy theorists; is that BMW’s target demographic? And if so, is mocking them the best approach?

BMW is however having a successful year in China, with sales up from 2010. As the nation’s car market contracts, BMW is repositioning to appeal to a different consumer group. The BMW 1 Series is a Chinese made offering: less luxury, more middle class, targeting the sporty, urban, youthful Chinese consumer.

What do you think? Is it clever advertising or are they alienating (sorry) Chinese customers?

Have a great weekend folks!

The application takes a light hearted approach to the serious subject by allowing users to pick the body they would like to ‘work on’ (titter titter) from a gallery of torso’s.
You are then walked through the two steps of Hands-Only CPR: calling 9-1-1 and pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest until professional help arrives.

New York ad agency Gotham created the application for the American Heart Association and Ad Council.
“We took a novel approach with the execution to increase the likelihood of viewer engagement and pass on — with the intention to help save lives,”
said Peter McGuinness, chairman and CEO of Gotham.

Nearly 300,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually in America – 80 percent at home, according to the American Heart Association. A recent survey revealed that 70 percent of Americans feel ‘helpless to act during a cardiac emergency’ because they don’t know how to correctly administer CPR. Performing Hands-OnlyTM CPR on adults who suddenly collapse can more than double their chances of survival.

The campaign is accompanied by a television advert featuring Comedian and actor Ken Jeong (of Hangover fame) who holds a medical degree from the Universities of North Carolina (now there’s a Friday fact for you).

A fantastic digital campaign that engages viewers and can in just a few minutes teach them a lifesaving skill.”
To learn more about Hands-Only CPR and to have a go yourself, visit the Hands Only website.

Have a great weekend folks!

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French Connection are a step ahead of other retailers with their digital approach to e-commerce, social media and building relationships with their customers online. Gone are the days of the FCUK branding and a more sophisticated campaign created in early 2010 is reaching consumers via traditional media as well as Facebook, Twitter and now Youtube.

French Connection launched their new channel “Youtique” on Youtube last month with a personal stylist guiding the shopper through the latest collection, advising on outfits and accessories for different occasions. The beauty of French Connections Youtique is in it’s simplicity, each video lasting only 60 seconds, and leading the consumer straight to the products. Youtique aims to offer a safer option for shopping online. For those who want to look good but are missing the fashion gene, or hate shopping, it’s a digital equivalent of buying what’s on the mannequin.

This  innovative approach to social networking is refreshing and an excellent way to raise brand awareness and promote new products and services. It will be interesting to see the effect on sales this new channel brings.

One thing is certain, when it comes to social media marketing and online pr, French Connection do it in style.

In real life we all appreciate an introduction and are a bit disgruntled when people interrupt or just barge in. Common courtesy should be extended into our social networking lives yet frequently this is overlooked. LinkedIn is a fantastic tool for sharing connections and building your network but it’s important to remember there is an etiquette which should be respected.

I’ve compiled five main points which will hopefully be of use to those who want to find out more but can’t bear to watch the “How to” explanation videos with the dodgy accents.

1) Complete your profile by adding a photograph, website and blog
Your LinkedIn profile is a way to promote your business and yourself. Add a photo, people are better at remembering faces than names. A complete profile is a commitment to the network, why should people share information with you if you can’t be bothered to share in return?

2) Invite / accept people that are genuine contacts
The value of LinkedIn is in the fact that people know each other, have worked together, done business together and most importantly are comfortable to recommend and be connected to each other.  Don’t allow the value of your network to be diminished by accepting people you don’t know – if they turn out to be disreputable this reflects on you.

3) Don’t cold call – ask to be introduced
Use the “Get introduced through a connection” option and explain the reason why you wish to be connected. This option is huge hint that it’s not cool to cold call.

4) It’s not a mailing list
Be selective in the information you email to your network. Your contacts are not a mailing list, they agreed to connect with you but didn’t sign up to be bombarded with endless invitations to events or emails about promotions. That’s spam and it goes down like a lead balloon.

5) Group discussions
Stick to the topic. If someone starts a discussion asking for advice about marketing a small business then all responses should be based on that. It’s frustrating when people go off topic, especially when they lead the discussion round to promote themselves.

LinkedIn etiquette to a certain extent is a personal thing. Everyone has different views and experiences however I think the best way to network online is to imagine the conversation face to face. What do you do when you meet someone? How do you introduce them to your colleagues / friends/ associates? How do you connect with them after that initial meeting? If you use that scenario online and stick to the 5 points above then hopefully no-one will tell you to mind your p’s and q’s.

*image courtesy of pdi

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Some of the world’s biggest game publishers and developers swooped in looking for talent – of which there was a fair amount – holding mass interviews and open afternoons to cherrypick the people they wanted. However, that’s a lot of talent leaving the country.  Talent that could perhaps be persuaded to stay and even start the next generation of games studios…

Starting a company is a daunting process so Revolver PR decided to host a workshop to support and offer practical advice to the games community. The event was held yesterday at the Scottish Enterprise office in Dundee, the workshop covered a huge range of topics, from how to start a limited company, through to digitally distributing your game  to creating and implementing a PR campaign off and on-line.

Speakers from across the UK  including Revolver ‘s own Iain S Bruce,  Business Gateway, Interactive Scotland, Games Consultancy, Ludometrics,   Abertay University, Game Ops, Blitz Game Studios (who kindly drove all the way up from Leamington Spa to participate), MBA Law and Dundee College.

The structure was ‘informal’, with a quick 10 minute introduction from everyone – questions from the audience and then breakout groups, so people could ask questions and focus in more detail about the topics they were interested in.

The feedback so far has been very positive. The speakers were great.  The audience was engaged.  We had space for 50 people, but in the end 60 showed up.  Elspeth Badger and the team at GMTV Scotland showed up to feature the workshop and Revolver filmed the event which will be available to view shortly.

Only time will tell if it leads to a whole new generation of smaller, more agile developers, who understand digital pr, digital distribution, IP protection,outsourcing and the value of a well ironed tie.

Thank you to all of the speakers, participants, attendees and Interactive Tayside.  Apparently the sandwiches were lovely…

If you’d like to find out more or would like to take part in any of our future events please send your details to:

wanted@revolver-pr.co.uk or contact me directly at brian@revolver-pr.co.uk

As a digitally-enabled public relations consultancy we have found that with the YouTube generation likely to be put off by videos they perceive to be too corporate or slickly produced, promotional films backed by big budgets do not not necessarily perform well online. The team as a whole, who produce filmed collateral for a number of our Digital PR clients, believe that online video is at its most effective when produced in quantity and at a low cost.

Responding to recent calls from industry figures for the range of qualifications available to both aspiring and current public relations practitioners to be more digitally orientated, Scotland’s leading Digital PR agency has challenged communications firms to invest more heavily in training staff on the job. The company, with offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, believes that organisations must be prepared to put time and resources into providing staff with the support required to get to grips with the digital media.

“While there is a need for existing PR qualifications to encompass digital issues in order to meet the growing demand from agencies for digital PR practitioners, there is a limit to what you can expect such course to achieve. The digital media moves at the speed of light and is in a constant cycle of evolution and change, meaning that formal course materials are at risk of falling out of date before they’ve even been written,” said Revolver PR Managing Director Iain Bruce.

“In our experience new staff benefit far more from on-the-job Digital PR training than they do by following a course-based syllabus. While this requires more time and resources to be focused upon each individual, it’s a process that ultimately produces far greater returns.”

A number of industry commentators have recently stated their belief that young people need to be more digitally oriented in their qualifications in order to meet agencies growing demand for trained digital PR individuals. They suggest that recruitment consultants are now struggling to find suitable candidates and have call for potentials employees to be formally taught the foundations of digital knowledge.

Revolver PR, conversely, calls for employers to invest in youth through a process of in-house digital PR training, whereby employees are given instruction on the job as opposed to studying through external educational institutions.

“There is far too great a number of wasteful media courses out there that do not prepare young people for the future as it is” says Bruce. “On-the-job training is much more beneficial when considering that public relations companies require young individuals who pay attention, are keen to learn and who take direction without hesitance.”

Whilst the benefits of this are disputed somewhat within the industry, Revolver is of the opinion that internal training in digitally enabled public relations consultancy and social media usage benefits the company just as much as the individual.