Author: Rob Brown

SXSW and the Video Myths

Mentioning that I go to SXSW usually generates one of two responses. The first is a desire to go and the second is “what for?”. On my first visit, five years ago, I thought I would discover the ‘next big thing’. Last year, for example, Meerkat launched. I imagined bringing the news to a wide-eyed audience back in Blighty, but given the nature of communications everyone was aware at the same time I was (who knew social media was instant and global?). Not only that, but the launch of Periscope shortly afterwards eclipsed Meerkat’s moment in  the Texas sun.

So why do I go? Well it’s fun, interesting and sunny in March. There’s free food and drink to be had and great live music. What’s not to like?

The real value though is in the depth of insight. You can go from panel session to keynote speech on to a meetup and learn little, but then a nugget will emerge from a session that you went to just to bridge a gap in the day. So what did I take away from SXSW 2016? The current gold rush in communications and technology this year is largely around video and like many hype cycles there is a lot of bluff and bluster. Here are a few myths that were busted for me in Austin.

#Myth 1 – It’s about the view count

OK, the view count matters but we need to be careful about what that means.  Views are not the same for different platforms. View counts on YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat are all calculated differently. No-one knows for sure, but YouTube counts a view after about video for 30 seconds. and Facebook after just three seconds. In three seconds you could see several videos on Snapchat. So when a major annual UK tennis event says it had more than 600 million video views on Snapchat that could equal to 55,000 views for a full three hour match on another platform.

#Myth 2 – It’s all about 360 VR 

With the consumer roll out of 360 VR headsets this year there’s a lot invested in telling us that it’s the next big thing. That might be right but for now there’s very little compelling content and a small amount of very boring content.  A far more immersive experience was available in an 8K 3D cinema with 22.2 surround sound from Japanese broadcaster NHK.  Not a headset in sight.

#Myth 3 – It’s all about Snapchat

The user stats are incredible, the video view are mind boggling (if you ignore Myth 1) and big media brands are piling in.  Snapchat is huge but it’s not the future for brands or broadcasters. People make their own content and then share it with their own audience. That’s the point. It’s also for a young demographic, people in the main grow out of wearing virtual bunny ears.

We all want to know what the next big thing is, but a step towards that goal is discovering what’s not.

Agency Makes Three Staff Appointments

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The agency has invested in its team with three new hires following a series of new business wins and a restructure of accounts. Colette Burroughs-Rose joins as senior account manager and Lucy Hilton and Emily Sutton as account executives.

Prior to joining Rule 5, Burroughs-Rose worked with Glenda Jackson MP for 15 years and brings to the agency extensive experience in stakeholder relations and enviable relationships in the City and at Westminster.

Hilton, a former journalist with Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror plc, further underpins the agency’s media credentials, with Sutton, an experienced PR and social media executive who has worked with Selfridges, Zara, Krispy Kreme, and Boost Juice Bars, proving an invaluable addition to the consumer team.

Speaking on the signings, Rule 5 Founding Director, Julie Wilson, said: “We have firmly bolstered our team.  All three bring a range of valuable and proven skills to the agency, strengthening our offer in business-to-consumer and business-to-business communications.  We’re delighted to have Colette, Lucy and Emily on board.”

Rule 5 Wins PRMoment’s Best Use of Video

PRMoment Rule 5

The agency won Best Use of Video for its work on the UCI Track Cycling World Cup at the PRmoment Awards at the Hilton in Manchester last night (11th March 2015). The awards recognise outstanding campaigns and exceptional talent and this year attracted over 650 entries.

The agency working with British Cycling delivered an astonishing 137 million impacts on Twitter for the UCI Track Cycling World Cup London at the Lee Valley VeloPark in the velodrome that was used at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The social media campaign incorporated video content, edited and shared in near real-time ahead of TV highlights. The campaign also used interviews with fashion guru and cycling fan Sir Paul Smith and fellow knight and six times Olympic track cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy.

“We were working hand in hand with British Cycling’s team to ensure that if you were following the event on your phone, laptop, tablet or PC you got a real sense of the excitement” said Rule 5’s Rob Brown.

The awards picture above is courtesy of the government’s Executive Director of Communications Alex Aiken who was at the event in Manchester and tweeted:

Great to see @robbrown & @5Rule5 winning at #prmomentawards for best use of video pic.twitter.com/yhitCg7AMj— Alex Stuart Aiken (@AlexanderAiken) March 11, 2015

PR Tech Guide #3 – Dropbox Pro

What is Dropbox Pro?Dropbox reflect

Dropbox Pro is a cloud based file sharing and storage system and it’s fair to say that it transformed our business when we signed up at the start of 2014. You can sync files and folders across all of your devices. The starter level for storage is 5TB so easily enough for most small ro medium-sized businesses. All your data is transferred securely using SSL and stored using 256-bit encryption.

What we use it for

We use it as our agency file server and store all of our files and data on it.  We have a legacy file server in the office but it just contains files and data from pre-2014.

5 great things about…Dropbox.

1. Access and collaboration – When we opened an office in London we needed to be able to access our server from both locations. The firewall in our office meant that we could allow remote access to the office based server. Dropbox feels exactly like a local based server when we use it via the Windows File Explorer, Office or any other programmes.

2. Access from home and on the move – The point about Dropbox Pro is that once you have set up a PC, laptop or phone with you secure account it’s just like being in the office wherever you are.

3. Security – One of the concerns about the cloud is that it isn’t secure.  The opposite is true. Our old server has a back up disk but when one disk fails you have a real risk whilst you replace it. You then need to wipe the old disk. Neither is necessary with cloud based storage.

4. Best bit – There isn’t just one.  There’s a nice feature where you get a pop up every time someone saves a file so you can see what colleagues have saved but in reality it’s probably the seamless way it integrates across platforms and locations. 

5. Recommendation? It’s not the cheapest of applications in our PR stack but we would recommend it without hesitation.

Track World Cup Social Impacts Top 130m

Track Cycling World Cup

The agency working with British Cycling delivered an astonishing 137 million impacts on Twitter last weekend for the UCI Track Cycling World Cup, a key contest in the run up to Rio 2016. Teams from 39 nations were at the Lee Valley VeloPark in the velodrome that was used at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The social media campaign incorporated video content, edited and shared in near real-time ahead of TV highlights which will be shown on BBC 1 next Saturday. Gold Medal wins from the men’s and women’s team pursuit teams plus Laura Trott in the omnium, Owain Doull and Mark Christian for Great Britain in the madison provided some of the electrifying content.  The social campaign also used interviews with fashion guru and cycling fan Sir Paul Smith and fellow knight and six times Olympic track cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy.

“We had a team of five working shifts throughout the weekend posting content on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, as well as a live blog from 7am through to midnight”, said Rule 5’s Rob Brown. “We were working hand in hand with British Cycling’s team to ensure that if you were following the event on your phone, laptop, tablet or PC you got a real sense of the excitement.”

Social coverage was monitored using Facebook Insights, YouTube Analytics and TweetBinder, which allowed the Twitter statistics to be tracked in real time. Over thirteen thousand tweets used the hashtag #TWC or #TrackWorldCup or the phrase ‘Track World Cup’, reaching 24.4 million people at an average of 5.5 times across the weekend and generating 137m impacts.