Trying to convince new or existing clients about the power of social media is always a struggle. Sat in meetings, I’ve become used to the blank looks and scratching of heads as I start talking, in simple terms, about Twitter and Facebook, the importance of engaging with online audiences and business benefits of implementing a social media strategy.

Thank god then for Tippex and whoever the genius agency was who thought up their YouTube ‘tippexexperience’ Channel viral ad campaign.

The video, entitled ‘A hunter shoots a bear’ is posted on what looks like Youtube’s site and shows a hunter just about to shoot a grizzly bear (or rather a man dressed in a bear costume). But as he’s about to pull the trigger the hunter reaches out of the screen, picks up some Tippex and uses it to cover up the word ’shoots’ in the title of the video. As the viewer, you are then asked to fill in the blank space with another word, sit back and watch as the bear and hunter play out the scenario of whatever word has been entered. For example, if you write ‘dance’ they dance together; write ‘fight’ and they have an onscreen punch up, and so on and so forth. The message is that you’re able to re-write the story, just as Tippex allows you to re-write something if you make a mistake.

It’s a clever idea, which not only strengthens their brand message but does it in a fun, interactive way. Not only that but no sooner had the link to the video been posted on Twitter was it doing the rounds amongst the Twitterati and quickly became a trending topic on the site.

It’s the perfect example of a well executed viral campaign and demonstrates the power of social media. Next time I get quizzical looks and scratching heads I’m going to use this as an example. If nothing else it will get a few laughs.

Take a look for yourself  http://www.youtube.com/user/tippexperience

At the time you thought nothing of it but the next time you’re in Waterstone’s (other good book stores are available) the name of the book suddenly pops back into your head. The next thing you know you are stood at the till with a copy of it in your hand. Congratulations, you’ve just succumbed to the marketer’s latest trick up their sleeve – subterfuge marketing.

That innocent conversation you witnessed on the train wasn’t as innocent as you first thought. It was for your benefit and was played out by two actors paid by a marketing agency to sit on the train and discuss the book at length for other passengers to overhear.

It’s a sneaky tactic, but one that more and more canny marketing companies are using to promote their clients’ products, be it books, clothing, music or the latest coffee brand to hit the high street.

Sony Ericsson, for example, notoriously used subterfuge marketing to launch a new camera phone by hiring teams of actors pretending to be tourists who wanted to have their photo taken.

Gone then are the days when we were told, “don’t believe everything you read”. Now it appears that we can’t believe everything we read, see and hear.

So why are brands using subterfuge marketing to sell to us? Basically, it’s because we don’t trust or like advertising anymore. According to research, the average Briton is bombarded by 3,000 marketing messages a day and fewer than 15 per cent of British adults trust adverts. As a result, brands and their agencies have had to employ new tactics to reach their target audiences.    

Today it’s all about targeting, infiltrating and influencing conversations, whether it’s on the train, via email or using one of the many social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo etc. Rather than shouting at consumers, it’s about engaging with them.

Employing actors to pose as real consumers may be the new thing but marketers having been using stealth and subversive marketing tactics for years. Take for example viral emails, product placement and celebrity endorsements. All are designed to lull the consumer into a false sense of reality.

And now, with the advent of social media, that reality has become even more blurry.

Twitter is a good example. Does John Smith really love Starbucks’ tall, extra shot, whipped cream, skinny, vanilla, soya latte that much, or is he being paid to say he does? Does Jim456 really think his new Nike trainers are like “walking on air”? Maybe, but I guess we’ll never really know.

What we do know is that consumers are becoming increasingly attuned to and sceptical of marketing messages. The challenge for brands and marketing agencies is coming up with new ways of influencing their audiences. For consumers, it’s deciding who to trust and who to believe.

So the next time you buy a book, think back to the last time you were on the train. Your decision may have been influenced by a couple of actors. 

ENDS

CBRE’s Ashley Hancox emerged from a ten hour “power nap” especially – he went to his hotel on Wednesday night for 40 winks and failed to wake up until Thursday morning. Must be the Lee Evans-look-alike’s new job, as regional head of offices, taking its toll.

Tom Bloxham of Urban Splash turned up for pre-dinner drinks, but either didn’t like the seafood on offer or had a more pressing engagement, as he didn’t stay for lunch. Still, his suit left a lasting impression. One wag quipped it was from Stevie Wonder’s new clothing range.

Peter Crowther, of Bruntwood, was a popular attendee, as he has a war chest for acquiring office space in Birmingham. He said he loved coming to the city as it is “always sunny”.  Peter hails from Manchester, where, as we know, it’s always raining. Perhaps this is the elusive new marketing campaign Birmingham has been looking for. I can see it on a banner draping provocatively from the AWM apartment next year, right opposite the Manchester balcony: “Birmingham: it’s always sunny. Ha, ha”.

Mike Whitby’s speech was, as usual, passionate and upbeat. Though there was some concerns over the number of city transport projects in the pipeline. Apparently, on the Birmingham stand in the exhibition hall this morning he announced there were nine. By lunch this had reduced to eight. Let’s hope the New Street revamp is still on track.

Word has reached me of Birmingham’s Alternative MIPIM event, held yesterday at Anderson’s Bar and Grill. More than 100 attendees by all accounts, including Dom Stokes and Jon Andrews from Stoford, who flew back specially from MIPIM to do the double. And why not? Because as we all know, while it’s 19 Degrees in Cannes, it’s always sunny in Brum.

The very polished Nick Axford, head of the firm’s EMEA research team, said there is cause for optimism, as the investment market is picking up.

Apparently, retail property is being highly sought after across Europe, with shopping centres topping the list. Girls, just imagine hubby coming home and saying: “Darling, I’ve bought you a shopping centre”. Sigh.

Nick also said that sentiment at MIPIM this year had improved. Of course, that is anecdotal, rather than based on the in depth analysis and professional insight of CBRE’s research team, but it is a view I’ve found echoed elsewhere.

On the Malcolm Hollis yacht this evening, the building consultancy’s chairman John Woodman said much the same, as did their guests from Wardell Armstrong.

Things must be good in Nottingham too, judging by the size of their yacht in the next mooring.

Birmingham has come in for a lot of stick in the past for its MIPIM expenditure. Although admittedly I’ve not been in the bunker and seen our city’s stand at first hand, I have to say our presence seems low key in comparison to others.

While Manchester – with their brazen banner and balcony cafe overlooking the entrance to the exhibition – and Nottingham have gone for the “my marketing budget’s considerably bigger than yours” approach, others, like Coventry, have adopted guerrilla tactics, with posters outside their apartment and the Carlton hotel.

It’s hard to judge which strategy is best – and anyway, they say half of any marketing spend is wasted, you just don’t know which half.  Next year, maybe Birmingham should stop beating itself up, ditch that Quaker mentality and hire a yacht. Let’s get some of that swagger that Professor Parkinson said we lacked.

Ran into Gary Taylor of Argent (running late for the Leader’s dinner!) and Nick Payne of Masshouse fame on the Croisette. Before you get excited and smell a JV in the offing, they weren’t together.

Also caught a glimpse of Clive Dutton, still looking dapper.

Thursday’s big event, at least for the Brum contingent, is lunch on the beach. Apparently they’ve ditched the baltis this year. Read all about it tomorrow.

Mike Loftus, of Locate in Birmingham, has emailed me to say he has lost his pants. He means ‘pants’ in the European – rather than the American – sense, which is serious, because it means he could be going commando for the week.

It seems Mike, with just 40 minutes to spare between landing at Brussels and his transfer to Cannes this morning, made the connecting flight, but his luggage didn’t.

To make matters worse, he’s in a ‘low budget’ hotel (ratepayers of Birmingham will be pleased to hear this) with no manned reception. The chances of his suitcase finding him are therefore slim.

Snapper Tony Flanagan also sent me a text to say the weather was hot (hurrah!) and helpfully advised me to bring some Factor 30 and a bikini. This was swiftly followed by a text from his cohort Andy Skinner, informing me that “the look this year is skimpy”.

I therefore asked Skinner if he had taken his thong along. He responded in the positive, but regrettably Flan had borrowed it and headed for the beach.

So here’s the outlook for Cannes: Flan, Skinner and Loftus rotating a Peter Stringfellow-style leopard print thong for the week.

It’s not too late for me. Anyone want to buy my ticket?

I don’t know whether it still is, but when I left university in 2001 public relations was one of the most popular career choices for eager graduates keen to make their mark – and their millions – in PR. This meant that competition for places was fierce, and none more so than in the Midlands.

So with a degree under my belt and a spring of optimism in my step I set out on my search for my first job. Unfortunately, little did I know that without any relevant experience, despite being fresh out of university, I stood little chance of getting a toe, let alone a foot, through the door.

Undeterred, I decided to do work experience with a few local agencies in order to get that all-important experience that employers were looking for. The exercise was invaluable.

Despite having had no real exposure to the world of PR, other than what I had gained from the six weeks of work experience, doors began to open. In the competitive PR job market it turned out to be the edge I needed over my competition. 

So if you’re a budding Max Clifford or Matthew Freud, take my advice and get out there. Afterall, I’m proof that there really is no substitute for experience.

The DOs and DON’Ts

If you are looking for work experience in PR, here are my five dos and don’ts:

1.     DON’T get your mom/dad to ring on your behalf to enquire about a possible placement, as we recently experienced. Communication is a pretty key element in PR, so if you can’t string a sentence together on the phone, give up now.

2.     DO be prepared. Research the companies you want to work for and find out as much as you can about them. Be clear on what you’re looking for, why you want to do it and what you hope to get out of the experience.

3.     DON’T expect an easy ride. You’re there to work and contribute to the business. Remember who’s doing whom a favour. You’re there to benefit from the experience so make the most of it.

4.     DO be enthusiastic. If you finish your work and have nothing to do don’t just sit there twiddling your thumbs, texting your friends or looking at Facebook. Ask for more work.

5.     DON’T waste our time. PR agencies get constant calls from people looking for work experience. Do it because you want to, not because you feel you have to.

But in fact the BBC has been rather slow off the mark and most broadcasters and traditional press have already appointed designated social media boffins.

Sky News established a post for a Twitter correspondent last spring and ITV appointed a social media and online engagement manager in March.

For some time there has been excitement among both the PR and press communities about the evolution of social media and the possibilities it brings but many businesses have been hesitant to dip their toe in the digital waters.

This seems to be largely due to a feeling that an online presence isn’t as good as being on telly or seeing your name in print.

Will the BBC’s jump onto the bandwagon finally convince the dinosaurs out there that Twitter’s not just tittle tattle and Facebook isn’t just a fad and they really ought to StumbleUpon LinkedIn some time?

Perhaps. Social media certainly isn’t going away although it’s rapid growth does make it difficult to keep up with – just as you get to grips with one platform it goes and changes, wanes in popularity and/or is replaced by the next big social media thing.

So it’s easy to see why some are adopting a cautious approach and why others are making no approach at all.

But as social media continues to develop, a knowledge of what has gone before, what worked, what was lacking and how the latest network has improved on its predecessor will be invaluable.

Sitting back to see what happens may seem like the most prudent thing to do but it could make catching up with pack much harder in the long run.

ENDS 

The trendy furniture chain has been using online search words (known as hashtags) linked to the protests in Iran to lure large numbers of people into its Twitter feed.Habitat used misleading hashtags to promote its spring collection, which meant that people who wanted to find out about the violent mass protests in Tehran were presented with posts about discount sofas and the Habitat gift card.

 Other inappropriate hashtags the company used included ‘iPhone’ and ‘Apple’.

Along with the protest in Iran, these have been some of the most widely discussed topics on Twitter and it looks as if Habitat had hoped to piggyback on the strength of interest in these subjects.

After all, it’s unlikely that anybody is going to search or hashtag ‘Habitatspringcollection’ on Twitter but even so, this misguided use of social media is unhelpful at best and dangerous at worst, particularly as the site has become an essential communications tool for the Iranian opposition movement.

Whatever happened to marketers targeting their audience? Surely it would have been far better for Habitat to hashtag phrases like ‘newhome’ ‘movinghouse’ and ‘interiordesign’.

Sending out tweets about furniture to people embroiled in a passionate political debate seems as absurd as sending a press release about the launch of a new alcopop to the editors of Horse and Hound, and frankly is no better than the thousands of Viagra emails we’re all spammed with on a daily basis.

Many companies, even those with in house or agency PR and marketing experts on hand, seem to be so desperate to exploit social media that they haven’t bothered to work out the best ways to use it, or to consider the preferences, or etiquette if you like, of existing users.

No self-respecting PR would expect a journalist to open his emails if he continually bombarded him with stories that weren’t relevant to the publication, and yet in the Twittersphere, they seem to think that persistent blanket messaging is the way to go.   

Yes, there is the potential to reach huge global audiences but exercising a little caution and restraint will ultimately help get your message further than mindless spamming.

Protesters turn their attention to other matters thanks to Habitat's Twitter campaign