Archive

Year: 2016

  • Attracting millennials demands innovation in the communications workplace

    October 25, 2016

    Misconceptions surrounding the millennial generation prove that this young, vibrant and thoughtful group of people, continue to challenge today’s thinking in the workplace. Organisations are being challenged to adopt new ways of working in order to accommodate and attract this complex group. Born and bred in the digital revolution, these digital natives can bring significant value to the workplace. Employers are encouraged to dig deeper to find out what drives the millennials and what environment...

  • What is the point of PR?

    September 27, 2016

    Over the years, the definition of PR has been debated and re-written, and PR practitioners have been subjected to a number of stereotypes. Whereas in reality, PR is a lot more than what people think. Cue annoying “oh like Olivia Pope?” questions. In my opinion, we’re the “Authors of Credibility” for our clients and their brands. The point of PR is to drive the reputation capital of an organisation- which is now as important as...

  • The elevator pitch is not working, use the conversation stairs

    September 22, 2016

    In the digital era, technology has caused the power pendulum to swing in favour of the consumer. Previously, sales pitches were done in the form of a quick elevator pitch, at a conference for instance: This is where I am from and here is what we do - hopefully something resonates with you and you call us back later. Communication to prospective consumers were done over mass channels such as TV and newspapers and customers...

  • Go for gold: Tap into the social media conversation

    September 20, 2016

    Over the past decade, social media has exploded onto the scene and has been growing exponentially. The number of available platforms increase every month and the combined amount of users is sitting in the billions. Social media plays an integral role in how we receive, engage and ultimately create information. Just take Twitter for example. I delved deeper into the recent Rio Olympics, and the hashtag #Rio2016 alone generated over 27 million posts with a total 100...

  • Igniting innovation in PR

    September 13, 2016

    We have all heard that in order to stand out, we need to innovate and challenge established practices. But in a competitive PR landscape, how do we as consultants achieve this? It is no longer good enough to just create brilliant ideas for clients, we need to extend beyond traditional promotional tactics by moving away from what’s normal, comfortable and easy. Don’t talk product, talk impact Standing out from the crowd goes beyond talking about...

  • Branded podcasts: Listen to your audience

    September 8, 2016

    The earliest form of storytelling is oral and had its heyday when it took to the airwaves in the commercial radio era. It is still one of the most powerful ways to communicate in the modern age, even as visual stimuli are everywhere you turn. I’m talking about the rise of the podcast. Sure, podcasts have been a thing for a while now, but they have been niche –digital radio for tech nerds. They have...

  • Facebook at Work – future or failure?

    August 31, 2016

    Social media driven employee advocacy is not new. It makes sense, it’s necessary and effective. A company’s biggest advocates sit within the organisation, tools like Sociabble and Everyone Social provide an effective service where company sanctioned content is curated and presented to employees to consume and share – tools of this nature fulfil in part an internal communications role with the added benefit of external advocacy. It is hardly a surprise that the likes of...

  • It’s Women’s Month – PR it, please!

    August 30, 2016

    “It’s Women’s Month and we’ll be giving branded journals to all the ladies in our office, we need to make a big hype about them, please PR it.” We’ve all been at the giving or receiving end of this brief or some variation of it. Now in principle, there is nothing wrong with celebrating the moments that make us proud, get our hearts racing and break the 9 – 5 mould. But a PR campaign...

  • Stories: still the same thing

    August 15, 2016

    The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, the first person to ever say that, was a French critic, journalist and novelist – a professional storyteller. So much about the way we tell stories has changed. Fancy, new technology means our stories have to be Omni channel, multi-platform, snackable and sharable. Insights driven storytelling, thanks to social listening and online behaviourial analytics, has also meant that our stories are now being...

  • FleishmanHillard’s Sharon Piehl Named to 2016 Loeries Live Events and PR Awards Jury

    August 15, 2016

    Sharon Piehl, managing director of FleishmanHillard’s South African office, has been selected to be part of the live events and PR jury at this year's Loeries Creative Week Durban.  After spending four years as the lead of FleishmanHillard’s Brand Marketing portfolio, Piehl was appointed as Managing Director of FleishmanHillard Johannesburg in May 2016, and now oversees an award-winning team of over 70 communications specialists. Piehl, along with 12 other brand communications specialists in the Live Events and PR Categories...

OLDER