Twitter and Telstra don’t mix 1 October 2008
Posted by Catriona Pollard in Articles.Tags: Telstra, twitter
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It appears that Telstra has faced a backlash with their Twitter service. They were using Twitter to monitor Twitter feeds for customer issues and then proactively offer support.
Other companies have successfully built customer relations such as Comcast using Twitter, but it seems that Telstra has used it to offer little more than botnet-generated responses directing users to fill out a standard customer service form.
ITnews has reported that a BigPond support staffer, identified as Steven Neville, apologised to the community.
“Upon hearing that we had finally started using Twitter I checked it out and went for an immediate face slap,” Neville wrote.
“Instead of actively engaging customers in a true, helpful dialogue we’ve gone for the ‘Legal’s said this is ok’ bot responses. I can go on, but my disappointment has already been covered by others above.
“I can only hope that we quickly get away from the strict, ’spun by PR / approved by Legals’ approach and truly embrace social media,” he said.
Getting the best parking spot 29 September 2008
Posted by Catriona Pollard in Articles.Tags: hybrid parking
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Last week I went to a conference at Sydney Convention Centre and when I walking back to my car I noticed these two car parks. They were right next to the lift – so were great parking spots.
In doing some research it seems that councils and businesses around Australia have taken the frustration out of finding a park for hybrid owners. In the US some shopping centres, and public buildings have introduced this – as well as a hybrid only traffic lane.
Good for the environment, and not bad PR for the hybrid car manufacturers.
Have a drunken photo on your Facebook page? 17 September 2008
Posted by Catriona Pollard in Articles, Uncategorized.2 comments
I was speaking to a friend the other day and she mentioned that she is going to start looking for a new job. Sending off a CV and giving a few reference contacts isn’t all that happens now. Recruiters are starting to look online for character references. I know she has heaps of photos on her Facebook page that she would not like a prospective employer to see.
Sites such as MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn provide transparent character references for candidates. Many prospective employees aren’t aware that their profiles will be checked prior to the interview.
Candidates with social networking profiles tend to be transparent about their lifestyle and general character, offering a public insight into their private lives, and an indication of their true character.
A survey by CareerBuilder.com indicated that 26 per cent of US hiring managers use social networking sites to perform background checks on job candidates. A further 12 per cent of those surveyed said that they used social networking sites as a screening tool.
LinkedIn tends to be more about professional achievements, but I would suggest you ensure your MySpace and Facebook are private pages or only have photos that you want the world to see.
Nestle moves to social media 8 September 2008
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An interesting article in The Australian regarding Nestle latest advertising campaign, they are only using social media. No traditional media will be used in the campaign.
This is a really interesting move by Nestle, who are specifically targeting teenage boys. The campaign includes a multi-player online game, online videos and mockumentaries (mock documentaries), interactive banner ads, a website and a mobile component.
As reported in The Australian:
“John Broome, Nestle’s confectionery head of marketing, said that five years ago the money would have gone to television, radio and outdoor, but the internet and social media were now better for generating word-of-mouth among teens.”
“We know that teenage boys are spending on average 13 hours a week online playing games, so designing a new game for them really gets into their world,” Mr Broome said.
“What we are looking for is to see how much we can get out of our (online) media without necessarily having to pay for it all.”
Sony Vaio and the carry case saga 4 September 2008
Posted by Catriona Pollard in Articles.Tags: Sony Vaio
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Anyone following me on twitter for a while will know I was very excited about getting a new laptop. I ended up buying a Sony Vaio on advice from my IT guy.
The Sony Vaio comes in a number of colours, and frankly I was more excited about the colours than the capabilities of the computer. (I think I have mentioned before that marketing works well on me!). I picked the pretty red one because it matches my logo. And how nice of Sony! There was a bonus carry case worth $85 included. Very good marketing by Sony.
So I bought my Sony Vaio mid June. Today’s date is 4 September. Do you think I have my carry case? Arh NO.
My IT guy initially called about it after a week or so of waiting and they said it will be posted to me in a week. That was in June.
I then received a letter in the post about a month ago that said we need the barcode from the box the laptop came in before we give you the carry case. I thought how odd that they need the barcode. Shouldn’t they have the barcode? It came from them. Luckily I still had the box. Dutifully I cut out the barcode and posted it to them.
Then I got my carry case. Arh NO. I never heard from them.
I phone Sony on Monday and was told that they can’t send me the carry pouch because they don’t have proof of purchase. Um….
“So I bought it from you, you have proof of delivery, you have the original barcode from the box, but you don’t have proof of purchase. Don’t you have a computer to look this up on?” (Was getting a bit cranky now)
“No we are only contracted by Sony”,
“OK that is your problem not mine, can I just get my carry bag”,
“No you need to fax us your receipt”,
“So was I never going to get the carry case because you can’t get the receipt from the people who contract you”
“No it is your problem. You need to fax us the receipt”.
Dutifully I fax them the receipt that came with the laptop – that I am guessing was produced on their own systems.
Then I got my carry case. Arh NO. Then I got a letter.
“To get your bonus carry case you must post us your receipt. Hurry. You must get it to us by 31 October to be eligible”
Ignoring the fact that I now need to photocopy the receipt that they gave me – from their own systems. I am looking at the date…31 October.
So I have to wait 4 ½ months to get a bonus carry case that was promised the week I bought it.
That is really crap marketing Sony. What ever goodwill was created by offering the bonus carry case has been completely lost.
We are looking for a great PR account manager 17 July 2008
Posted by Catriona Pollard in Articles.Tags: PR position vacant, PR role
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Looking to expand your horizons? Want the opportunity to shine? Want to be mentored to achieve brilliance? This a great opportunity to do some really interesting work within a small team so you can take on new challenges and grow your PR experience.
We are looking for a talented PR Consultant to work full time in our dynamic boutique agency based in North Sydney. You will never get bored working on a range of interesting clients mostly in the IT and business-to-business sectors.
You will manage all aspects of client accounts. You have great writing and verbal skills, be highly motivated and organised, the ability to juggle multiple tasks, to take initiative and meet strict deadlines.
This position suits PR Consultant with 2+ years experience preferably with PR agency experience. The salary will be dependent on skill and experience.
Please send your resume with a covering application letter. Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.
Information on CP Communications at www.cpcommunications.com.au
Position description at http://tinyurl.com/CPC4550
Marketing gone mad? 12 June 2008
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I read in the Sydney Morning Herald that live goldfish are being sold as keyrings in China.
The goldfish are trapped inside a sealed plastic bag attached to a keyring. They are being sold to the public in the Chinese city where Olympic sailing events will take place later this year.
The report said “Without access to oxygen and food, the fish cannot live for much longer than a few hours. Aimed at children, the keyring – which sports an image of Huanhuan, a young boy who is one of five mascots for the Games – is said to be selling fast in markets.”
Is this marketing gone mad, or just people trying to make a buck at the expense of the living creature? Either way I am outraged.
Love technology, just don’t want to be a geek 14 May 2008
Posted by Catriona Pollard in Articles.Tags: girls in IT, technology, working in technology
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We know how empowering technology is in our everyday lives as well as our small businesses – and it seems that girls do as well, but they just don’t want a career in it. I think this is astounding – and sad really.
According to a recent survey of 1,000 UK adolescents, thirty-eight per cent of young girls surveyed use the latest technologies, including social networking applications, online games and mobile downloads, on a daily basis. 90 per cent of girls between the ages of 11 and 16 think computers and cutting edge gadgets are cool, but only 28 per cent of those girls are considering careers in the technology industry.
Just under a third (30 per cent) of those surveyed said a career in technology is “too geeky”.
The number of boys in that age range who say they’ve thought about pursuing technology careers is 53 per cent, according to the research, which was conducted by youth communications group Dubit Ltd.
Seventy-three per cent of young girls say there’s a big difference between using technology in their personal lives and wanting to pursue careers in technology because of the relative few “smart female role models.”
More than half the girls also think there should be fewer celebrity role models like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, and more inspirational business role models.
I think it is amazing that girls (and boys) are using this technology everyday, and it is a key part of their communication and creativity, yet can’t see that they can impact on technolgy by working in the field.
Is free good? 1 May 2008
Posted by Catriona Pollard in Articles.Tags: open source software
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With open source starting software becoming an everyday item – and one that we readily embrace – is it becoming disruptive for business? An article from Computerworld by Larry Borsato (The Industry Standard) discusses this interesting question.
The other day the Encyclopedia Britannica announced that it would now be free for Web publishers — bloggers, webmasters, or writers. You could pay US$1400 for the 32-volume printed set of books, or you could pay for the online service, but the fact is that competition is pretty stiff when you can get much of the same information for free from Wikipedia.
“Free” is disruptive. It can create value. User generated content, in the form of videos provided for free by users to YouTube, created a valuation of $1.65 billion when they were purchased by Google. Or it can destroy value. The easy availability of free music, though not always legal, has decimated the music business.
We have become a knowledge-based society. The flow of information — the bits as opposed to the atoms — is virtually frictionless. It costs money to copy a CD, but the digital information can be replicated infinitely at no cost other than bandwidth. That economy has led to the creation of many types of free services.
There are tiered service models, also referred to as “freemium” services. Yahoo! offers Mail for free, or Mail Plus with additional features and capacity for $19.99 per year.
Trial services, such as Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 provide a time-limited free trial, after which you must purchase the software to continue using it. This works well because Adobe provides a very specialized and unique set of tools; it might not work as well for more generic software.
Ad supported services, such as The Industry Standard that you are currently reading, rely on advertising to pay the bills. This is the business model that Google uses as well.
Open source software depends on the contribution and altruism of the software development community to create and enhance software so that it can be provided for free.
And there are also products that are free, and in search of a business model. Products such as Twitter fall into this category; they are essentially “because we can” products.
Many companies find that though the give away the software, they are able to generate revenue by selling service and support. This is because while many companies like the concept of free software, they still need to be able to call someone for support.
As the internet has grown we’ve become accustomed to an increasing number of free services, and free ways of getting information. This has made it difficult to convince users to pay for services, unless they provide a clear value proposition such as Adobe’s products. But even then, Adobe has achieved that dominance by providing tools such as Acrobat and Flash Player for free. By getting people hooked on the viewers, they created a market for the tools. Microsoft has been able to do this with Office as well, though there are excellent services such as Google Apps available now at no charge. Most web-based services have been forced to rely on the ad-supported model, unable to differentiate themselves enough to convince users to pay.
So if the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica is forced to give their information away, what does that say for the future of the typical software company, especially when their competitors are giving the software away as well?
