Author: Rob Brown

PR Tech Guide #2 – Expensify

What is Expensify?

In the words of the company, it makes expense reports that don’t suck. Expensify is simply the best and easiest application for creating and submitting expenses. This is a piece of tech that’s not by any means limited to PR, anyone could use it. It auto converts from different currencies and you can even use it to request to have your expenses paid in Bitcoins.

What we use it for
To report, claim, approve and pay staff expenses. It scans and reads receipts and it can be fully integrated with many leading accounting software packages.

Five great things about…Expensify.

1. SmartScanning. SmartScan inputs the receipt information, then matches the receipt to the expense, eliminating the need to do manual entries. It’s a huge timesaver.

2. Mobile. It has fully functioning mobile versions. You can photograph receipts on the go, and create and submit expense reports from your phone (Apple, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows).

3. Approvals – You can confirm submission, approve and pay from within the app and generate automatic emails as you do. It’s equally good for staff, managers and the finance team.

4. Best bit? Time saved…you don’t have to key in as much with Expensify. You can input bank and credit card data as well as smartscanning. It really is an expense app for the 21st century.

5. Recommendation? Absolutely, we recommend using the platform whether you work in PR or not.

MediaCityUK Video with Instagram’s Hyperlapse

Two days ago Instagram launched a new app for iPhone called Hyperlapse. It’s a free application that opens up new frontiers in creating professional standard video content with just a phone.

With the huge growth in content marketing and an exploding demand for short engaging videos, apps like this will play a vital role. The app instantly topped the download charts and with good reason.

Hyperlapse is a video format similar to time-lapse photography but the position of the camera moves. In the past it has mainly been achieved with painstaking use of still images. It’s a very time consuming process requiring expensive equipment – 10 seconds of film requiring 300 separate precisely planned camera positions. The alternative would be to use a Steadicam or a £10,000 tracking rig.

Hyperlapse from Instagram lets you shoot in real time and uses stabilization technology to process the images into a professional looking timelapse video. Yesterday we road tested the app around MediaCityUK. The clips took about 40 minutes to shoot (that was mainly walking time). They were edited together on the phone in about 10 minutes using the Splice app (£2.49). We topped and tailed the video and added some music using Windows Live Movie Maker (free).

Rule 5 Wins Best Social at Big Chip

Rule 5 scooped the coveted award for Best Use of Social at the Big Chip Awards in Manchester last night (3 July 2014). The winning campaign was the communications programme that Rule 5 delivered for the BMX Supercross World Cup. It’s the first time the category has had a winner since 2012. Last year the judges decided that none of the entries were of a high enough standard to win a Big Chip.

The Big Chip Awards are by far the biggest digital awards outside London. In their 16th year, they are also the longest running digital communications awards in the UK. They are run by Manchester Digitalworking with Digital Union in the North East, Creative Sheffield, and user groups and networks in Leeds and Liverpool.

The Big Chip Awards are for all things digital – from mobile apps to social media, animation to websites and digital brand to cloud software. Judges include BBC journalist Bill Thompson, Daniel Nye Griffiths, who writes for Wired UK and Paul Fabretti of Telefonica.

“Whilst we’ve been at a few PR awards this is the first time we’ve been at an event run by and for the digital communications industry” said Rule 5 founding Director Julie Wilson. “When we arrived it felt like we were gatecrashing someone’s party so we were both stunned and thrilled to have our work recognised by the leading light of the digital world.”

#SocialMedia WhatsTrending at the BBC

One of the many advantages of being in MediaCityUK is our proximity to the media and anchor tenant the BBC. This happy juxtaposition occasionally throws up a real gem of an opportunity and #SocialMediaWhatsTrending was one such, in the form of a one day conference.

It brought together a series of panels and speeches that only a broadcaster of the BBC’s weight and stature could manage. It was also the first time I’ve seen Google Glass in the flesh on the face of New York based Vice Journalist Tim Pool (should that be in the ‘glass and metal’?). There were about 500 people in attendance – perhaps a quarter were BBC employees, most others by invitation. The wealth of expertise gathered on stage was truly extraordinary; BBC Radio 1 Controller Ben Cooper, Matt Cooke from Google+, Newsnight Editor Ian Katz, Football Focus presenter Dan Walker, Anna Dobbs Channel 4 Head of Online, Tim Gatt of ITV News, Luke Lewis BuzzFeed UK Editor, James Everton of Hits Radio, Alex Miller and Tim Pool of Vice. This feels like quite a list but I’ve missed out most of the talent. The full programme is here.

The day opened a window onto the ways in which many media channels and programmes are continuing to evolve in a dramatic fashion through the use of social tools and channels. This was insight from the coal face and the pace and diversity of change is extraordinary. This wasn’t just a catalogue of social strategies from programme makers, the sessions also tackled difficult questions such as the line between content and marketing. The decline in radio listening for example is widely being tackled by radio stations producing video content. So is this still radio? It was fascinating also to hear Philippa Law of The Guardian explaining how the news organisation uses the social network accounts of content suppliers to test the veracity of their stories, photography is also reverse searched to ensure it hasn’t just been grabbed from the net.

The day straddled, music, sport, hard news and more. If anything the event had more content than can be consumed in a day and there were two streams running throughout. Happily the sessions will all be shared online. Check the BBC Academy College of Journalism website, the should be uploaded next week.

Miranda Wade Joins Rule 5

Rule 5 has appointed Miranda Wade as Account Executive. Prior to joining the MediaCityUK agency, Wade worked at Manchester agency PR Agency One, and before that worked as part of the Cornerhouse festival marketing and communications team.

Speaking on her appointment, Rule 5 Director, Julie Wilson, said: “We have found a great hire. Miranda’s experience in the arts, travel and leisure, and B2B sectors combined with her strong knowledge of social media and search engine optimisation, presents a perfect fit with the team and further bolsters the Rule 5 offer. We’re delighted to have her on board.”

Wade will report into Account Director, Carolanne Bamford, and work on the agency’s Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, British Cycling and Renshaw accounts.

RULE 5