Author: Rob Brown

British Cycling Picks Rule 5 for BMX World Cup

Rule 5 picked for BMX World Cup in Manchester

The agency has been selected by British Cycling to handle PR and social media on for the UCI BMX SuperCross world championships, which will take place at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester in April.

The agency, which launched in November, also handled the social media campaign for the Track Cycling World Cup at the new Velodrome in Glasgow during its first month of operation. “We looked around for agencies with the right combination of location, cycling and social media expertise and we ended up with a very short list” said British Cycling Cyclesport and Membership Director Jonny Clay. “We were also really impressed with the programme and the results that Rule 5 delivered on our behalf in Glasgow.”

The new win follows the appointment of two new staff; Senior Account Manager Carolanne Bamford in January and Trainee Account Executive Kirsty Usher earlier this month.

Google Glass Rule 5

Google Recruits First Users for Project Glass

Google Glass image

Google has today announced that it is looking for ‘Explorers’ to test the first versions of the futuristic Glass product.  Founder Sergey Brin was spotted testing the product on a New York subway in January.

  “We’re looking for bold, creative individuals who want to join us and be a part of shaping the future of Glass.” They are inviting hopefuls to use Google+ or Twitter to say what they would do if they were given the chance to be one of the first users of Glass using the hashtag #ifihadglass.

 Applicants need to be at least 18 years old and live in the U.S.  The deadline for applications is February 27th and ‘Explorers’ will need to shell out $1500 plus tax for the ground-breaking eye-wear.

Along with the announcement Google has released a video that gives a good idea of the Glass experience and how integrated it will be with other Google products including search, Google Hangouts and no doubt Google+.    You will be able to call up flight information whilst at the airport take pictures and video of what you see just using voice commands and make video calls all from the headset.

Rule 5 Welcomes Kirsty Usher

Kirsty Rule 5

Kirsty Usher has joined the agency as a Trainee Account Executive.  A graduate from the University of Leeds and former John Lewis intern,  Kirsty started at the media city based agency at the beginning of February.  Speaking on her appointment, Rule 5 Director, Julie Wilson, said: “It’s important that we build the right team and Kirsty’s ambitious personality and confident manner were exactly what we were looking for and we’re delighted to welcome her on board.”

The agency received over 50 applications for the post.  “For a  new role in a start-up agency we received significant interest” Julie added.  “Kirsty was chosen from a really strong field of candidates.”

Track Cycling World Cup – The Audience Online

British Cycling Rule 5

When we were asked by British Cycling to deliver a social media campaign for the Track Cycling World Cup they wanted us to ensure that fans could get a look at the action – whether or not they had tickets – for the sell-out weekend at the new Glasgow Velodrome.  We had just three months in which to do it.

We took full advantage of the post Olympic excitement and interest in cycling to quickly build a following and used tickets, rider profiles and exclusive photography of the new Velodrome to drive interest on Twitter.  The agency also implemented its own process for identifying similar or interested accounts and encouraged them to follow.   A dedicated Facebook page was also created and used to share behind the scenes images and information.  In the immediate run up to event we posted team selections news, insights about the venues and promoted broader media coverage; linking to articles in the press.

Rule 5During the World Cup itself a combined British Cycling and Rule 5 Team were stationed in the press stand and reported the event live alongside the world’s media giving the audience instant online news and images.  Pictures of Sir Chris Hoy’s appearance were delivered online live, whilst he was still speaking to the crowd.

  • We gained over 5000 twitter followers in three months (1,500 over target) and the Facebook weekly reach peaked at over half a million – five times the target figure.
  • Over 4000 people engaged with comments, likes and @posts on the Twitter and Facebook pages over three days of the World Cup itself.
  • The social media platforms also operated as a vital customer service tool – reducing calls and assisting with enquiries from fans.

Not only were we able to deliver an enormous reach over a short period but we showed how social media can work alongside conventional media at a major world sporting event.

Jaspan Unveils Prolific North

Launching by stealth is obviously all the rage with Bowie last week and prolific entrepreneur and journalist Nick Jaspan today.

Nick and his team have unveiled Prolific North  a new destination for news, opinion, features and gossip about the comings and goings of creative and media companies in the North.

The trained observers amongst us will spot a similarity with ‘How-Do’, Jaspan’s last major publishing venture.  This is a better product.  It covers a wider geographical area,  it’s a better design and a much better name.   When How Do first launched I didn’t get the idea of a web based publication with a limited and defined geographical reach.  I do now.  How-Do left a void.  The north of England and particularly Manchester is a powerful source of creative, digital and media expertise and it needs a regional voice.  The emergence of MediaCityUK, with the BBC, dock10 studios and ITV set to arrive in March elevates the status of Manchester to that of a global media player.  There’s a great deal to talk about.

I had just a little forewarning of the launch as I was honoured to be asked to write Prolific North’s first opinion piece, but there was little or no pre-publicity.   The reaction to the launch of the title today has been vocal and overwhelmingly positive.   At Rule 5 we’re delighted that Prolific North has arrived.