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Youth Unemployment At Record Levels – I Can See Why

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Hints and tips | Industry News | Jobs - (0 Comments)

By Jim Hawker, co-founder.

Every day I am reading articles about the record numbers of youth unemployment and how graduates are being forced to stack shelves rather than go into their professional career of choice.

Yet, here I am running a growing and award winning consumer PR agency and cannot find any decent graduates to take on. I don’t want to sound like every other generation that came before us – but the next generation seem to be missing the get up and go to make things happen for themselves.

This week I took part in a PRCA panel in front of 160 graduates eager to know how to break into PR. PR degrees are flourishing and more students than ever before are choosing PR as a career option, yet while the graduate pool may be increasing, the talent pool doesn’t seem to be.

In just over eight years of running Threepipe, I can remember two unsolicited emails from graduates that really impressed me. Both those people went on to gain work experience and to be offered permanent jobs. Every week I receive emails from graduates looking for jobs which contain spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and often no written email – just a CV attached!

Even when some manage to get in front of us for an interview, they have done very little preparation in terms of research about the agency or about the clients. When I asked a candidate recently as to whether they had any questions, their first question was about the number of holiday days that we offer.

To get any job, people need to stand out. Standing out from the dross that we see on a weekly basis is not difficult. A modicum of effort would pull you head and shoulders above other candidates.

I worked in New York for a period of time and rather than go through recruitment consultants, I put my CV together and spent a week walking around Manhattan, hand delivering my application to fifty PR agencies. It worked and I got interviews and some valuable work experience which landed me a permanent job out there.

Last week our door buzzer rang and it was a recent graduate who was desperate to work in sports PR. He was doing exactly the same thing. I chased him down the street and interviewed him that afternoon. With effort comes reward.

Drive and motivation seem to be lacking when we need it most. The agency model is changing rapidly and we need ‘Bright Young Things’ that have the energy and intelligence to help drive the industry forward. Universities need to better prepare their students for the realities of the commercial world and the pressures that come with that.

I have recently started lecturing at Universities and try to provide as much anecdotal experience as possible rather than the theory of PR. Many of the students are surprised at the stories that I tell! The more Universities that can arrange industry placements as part of degrees, the better. This would go some way in preparing them better for interviews and help to alleviate those record numbers of unemployment we keep reading about.

This article was originally featured on Branding Magazine.

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What Makes Us Smile Here At Threepipe?

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Agency News | Jobs - (0 Comments)

By Jim Hawker, co-founder.

We have created a short film about ‘what makes us smile’ here at Threepipe. All our guys have contributed images and some video so you can get more of a feel for what we are about. It’s a little cheesy in places and there are lots of kids, burgers and eighties pop groups that feature but we can’t help who we are! Well done to Simon for pulling this all together! Enjoy!

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Facebook rolls out brand page timelines

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Social Media - (0 Comments)

By Simon Mould, Social Media Executive.

Today, Facebook has begun the long awaited roll out of its timeline style pages for brands. All brands will have to adopt the new style pages by 30th March.

As a result of the new format, brands will now be able to give themselves an even more impactful identity on Facebook with the introduction of the cover photo image, among other new features. This appears at the top of the new brand pages in the same way as you will have seen on your new personal timeline.

Facebook has stressed the importance of using a unique image that represents your page. This might be a photo of a popular menu item, album artwork or a picture of people using your product. Be creative and experiment with images your audience responds well to.

Cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide and may not contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Profile images will also need to be tweaked – choose an image that’s square and at least 180 pixels wide.

All existing content you have created for your page, including applications, photos, videos and events are still featured prominently on your page but have moved to be featured under the cover photo. Photos show in the first spot, but you can change the order of everything else so people see what matters most. You can show a maximum number of 12 apps, so make sure to put your most important ones first.

Like count and the talking about this figure now appear directly under the name of your page, albeit not as easy to see at first glance as it was before.

A benefit (particularly for us as page admins) is that the most recent posts by your fans now appear in a self-updating panel on the right hand side of the timeline, allowing us to access them easily without having to trawl back through potentially days of content.

You can also prioritise the posts you want your community to see. Hover over a story and click on the star to make it wider, or on the pencil to pin it to the top of your Page, hide or delete it entirely.

To make your own content stand out on the new page format, rich content such as images and videos will become even more important to create cut through for your campaigns within the cluttered Facebook environment.

The new admin panel makes it easier to keep track of your activity on your page – this allows you to respond when people write on your page timeline, view your latest insights and visit your activity log to review all your posts and activity.

Customer service challenges have also been simplified with the introduction of private messaging from brand to fan – notifications about new messages will appear right in your admin panel.

Although there’s always a bit of negative backlash to any changes Facebook implements, we see timelines as a real opportunity to give emphasis to seasonal promotions and campaigns by rebranding accordingly. We’d love to see Facebook implement hyperlinks within cover photos, which we believe is one of the critical missing links between Facebook becoming the first consumer touch points for brands.

Why not Like our page and explore the new page timelines for yourself?

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Sizzling Sun on Sunday Special

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Media - (0 Comments)

By Sophie Coughlan.

Amid rumours that The Sun on Sunday was brought forward to distract from further Leveson inquiry allegations, the hotly-anticipated paper launched yesterday following a wave of commercials peppering numerous Saturday night ad breaks.

Fierce price competition and front page wars predictably ensued amongst the fellow Sunday tabloids with The Sunday Mirror, the Daily Star Sunday and The People also offering their paper for only 50p. Whilst the Sun on Sunday offered an Amanda Holden front page exclusive regarding health complications during her daughter’s birth, other papers tried to up their front page game with varied success. The Daily Star Sunday, which won the majority of the NOTW readers following its closure last year, scored highly with its speculation of royal marriage problems, whilst the Sunday Mirror’s offering was slightly off-key with a Kerry Katona ‘revelation’ that she has, once again, decided that another wedding might be a good idea. It’s not.

The Sun on Sunday content was a little tame and flat in what can be assumed as its first bid to “abide by the values of decency.” The publication played it safe (perhaps too safe), filling its pages with real life stories, celebrity columns and softer news stories. Positioning itself as more women-friendly, The Sun on Sunday offered a more reserved and less graphic page 3, as well as columns from the hopefully ironic ‘fashion guru’ Nancy Dell’Olio and ex-glamour model Katie Price, whose first attempt at a newspaper column comes across as a little self-congratulating and unintentionally offensive to full-time working parents.

This aside, The Sun on Sunday is sure to be a commercially successful publication following an estimated 3 million sales and an impressive amount of advertising pages bought by big spenders such as British Gas and Morrisons. Whilst the publication was less of a meaty, Sunday paper and more of a daily, hopefully over time Murdoch will realise that even if its journalists can’t hack voicemails*, the publication can still hack the Sunday paper market with more hard-nosed news.

(*although innocent until proven guilty, of course).

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Bjorn Borg says ‘JA!’ to Turning the Lights Off: London Fashion Week Party

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Client News | Events | Sport - (0 Comments)

By Jack McCombe, Account Executive.

Sometimes working in PR has its perks and, on Thursday 16th February, a group of the team at Threepipe certainly experienced one of them!

Working with the colourful Swedish underwear brand Bjӧrn Borg, we are responsible for serving athletes with product in order to increase awareness. It was because of this we were fortunate enough to attend their ‘Lights Off’ London Fashion Week party, inviting a number of high profile athletes from across a range of sporting disciplines.

Held within the cavernous Battersea Power Station, the event brought together members of the fashion, media and celebrity world in order to showcase the exciting ‘Light’s Off’ A/W 2012 range of product.

The evening was a celebration of everything Bjӧrn Borg stood for and included some typically Scandinavian additions to the incredible setting. From hot tubs in a forest of snow covered pine trees, sauna area and a performance from Swedish pop icon Robyn to classic Swedish meat balls being on the menu – the evening was drenched in a Swedish aura.

After a few drinks, and once the bulging queue of eager attendees had died down, the lights were dimmed and the fashion show began. Embodying the brand’s image as fun, sexy & colourful it didn’t disappoint. The models, styling dyed eyebrows to match the colour of the product they wore, displayed a range of men’s and women’s styles from the Autumn/Winter collection of Bjӧrn Borg underwear.

Keen to deviate from what has become the norm at London Fashion Week catwalk shows (sultry, stern faced models) Bjӧrn Borg made sure theirs was different with each model encouraged to display their own personality. A cheeky wink here, a cocky crotch thrust there, the models appeared to actually enjoy the show and exhibit exactly what the brand stood for; fun!

Following on from that would be difficult.

That being said, Bjӧrn Borg managed to one up themselves by putting on one of the most incredible projections displays I have ever seen! Fusing fashion and technology, award winning creative visual artist Paris Kain put on a multi sensory experience outside the iconic London location. Through the use of a spray screen (best described as a constant cloud of sprayed water similar to steam) 3D images were projected onto the cloud, showing images of models wearing the new range and even the Northern Lights, much to everyone’s amazement!

After all that excitement, it was time to party….. and boy do Bjӧrn Borg know how to do that.

With performances from the critically acclaimed artist Robyn, Coco Sumner and DJ Jodie Harsh, Bjӧrn Borg showed they can throw a party as well as they make underwear!

It is fair enough to say that Battersea Power Station was rocking until the small hours of Friday morning!

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London Social Media Week 2012 – Like Minds Debate

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Events | Social Media - (0 Comments)

By Simon Mould, social media executive.

My third and final post on social media week 2012 follows a visit to Like Minds Club for Future of Social Media Debate.

What is happening to society, media and tools?

Here are some of the key opinions from the night:

Alan Moore, founder of SMLXL and author of ‘No Straight Lines – Making sense of our non-linear world.’

Alan thinks that we’re not in a technological revolution. He believes that social media has just exploited our fundamental need for human connection and that the sooner brands realise this, the sooner they will see a real return from the platforms they use.

Matt Morrison, Social Strategist, Starcom MediaVest

If there is a social media revolution happening, it’s a good thing. Everything has changed so rapidly that the metrics with which we used to measure success are now meaningless. Matt took the controversial stance that there is no meaningful way to measure engagement on social media.

Toby Moores, CEO Sleepydog

The future is going to be social and about conversation. We’ve always done it, all the way back to tribal times. Business will also shift towards conversational engagement rather than emails.
Most importantly, we have become the people formerly known as the audience, the media can now hear what we say and really need to take notice. Conversation really does get things done.

Leo Ryan, Group Head of Social, Ogilvy 360

If new platforms can find a way to tap into fundamental human emotions and behaviour they will work without question. We need to take the ‘media’ out of ‘social media’ – media encourages ROI, figures etc. We should focus more on the ‘social’ to be successful.

Benjamin Ellis, Social Optic

The marriage between social media and brands is like waking up from ‘a bad nightmare’ where you spend your entire life listening to someone who never listens back.
He believes the biggest cultural shift driven by social media is that barriers are now being erased. Your work and home life are now pretty much one – as soon as you have connected with co-workers or your boss that’s it! Above all else social media has erased the distance in relationships.

My key takeaways

People socialise with people like themselves. Even though social media has (in theory) opened up a world of new connections to us, we still spend most of our time online talking to people we already know.

We walk around ‘bleeding data’ and companies love it! We don’t realise it but every time we use an app on our phone, swipe a loyalty card or update an element of our social profiles, companies are able to use the data to target you more successfully than ever before. Facebook is able to update the ads on the right hand side of your profile as soon as you update your status. Even by opting out you have given something away about the type of person you are.

Change is happening too fast for us to keep up. You only need to look at Google+ and the ‘slow’ adoption of the social network – people do not want to start again.

As this rapid change takes place, the demands of both clients and audiences change with it – so for comms professionals, it has never been more important to keep on top of social advances.

I’d like to extend a huge thanks to the Social Media Week organisers and everyone who took part. What are your social predictions for the next year?

To find out more about Social Media Week, visit the website.

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London Social Media Week 2012 – Combatting Fatigue

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Events | Social Media - (0 Comments)

By Simon Mould, social media executive.

After attending ‘Google at Social Media Week’ last week, I went along to the APCO offices on Long Acre to a seminar on combatting social media fatigue by their head of digital, Rasika Krishna.

Not another social network…

• There are over 205 social media platforms out there (excluding dating sites) – how do you know where do you place your brand?
• For the top 15 social networks alone (including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) there are 1.4 billion active logins
• The general consensus of the room was that people are suffering serious social media fatigue, especially after the launch of Google+

What does this lead to?

As more brands turn to social media without fully understanding it, they end up diving in headfirst, without first identifying their strategy or key objectives. As a result, the number of accounts is increasing but the level of usage continues to fall. Brands are in serious danger of a ‘something is better than nothing’ mentality.

So how do we combat this fatigue?

We need to take a more organic approach. Many brands are happy to just post… and post… and post again. Instead of talking at our communities we should talk with them. People want to hear from an authoritative voice. So much so that they genuinely believe that if they are posting on the Virgin Facebook page, they are receiving a reply from Richard Branson himself!

It’s also important to engage effectively. Instead of thinking with the resolution in mind, have the person there instead. For instance, if you receive a complaint on Facebook or Twitter, it’s easy to just post a link or a number to somewhere or someone that can solve the problem. If we know the answers, why do we not give them there and then? It’s only then that you’ll drive true engagement.

You have to know what’s big and where.

It’s so easy to rush to Facebook and Twitter when putting together a social media strategy. It always pays to know social media in other cultures – LinkedIn is huge in the Middle East and blogs are the main platform in Asia. Would a Facebook or Twitter campaign work there?

Take the time to step back and learn from your activity.

Social media can be (and probably is) the world’s biggest pool of information. Many of us produce report after report but do we sit back and learn from them? We need to look at who our fans really are and who their friends are. Facebook’s ‘Friends of Fans’ is almost there with this but only provides the numbers and not enough detail.

If you’re feeling burnt out by social media, it’s time to think a bit more about the platforms you are currently using before thinking about adding another to your strategy. It could be that your existing platforms are not producing the results you had hoped for. If this is the case, don’t be afraid to shut it down and take the time to find out where your community really is.

To find out more about Social Media Week, visit the website.

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London Social Media Week 2012 – Google on Social

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Events | Social Media - (0 Comments)

By Simon Mould, social media executive.

Social Media Week brings together a series of interconnected activities, seminars and conversations around the world on emerging trends and hot topics in social and mobile media across all major industries.

Despite having a typically busy week, I did manage to get myself along to three events and they really were worth the running between venues.

The first event I attended was ‘Google at Social Media Week’. Since the event was hosted by Google, you’d expect quite a show and they didn’t disappoint, cramming no less than seven speakers into two and a half hours. These were staff from Google, Cadbury’s and professors from Oxford and Bristol universities.

Why the internet will not get you anymore friends.

The event kicked off with Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, who believes the internet was established on the promise of improving your social life. However the predicted the average group size (that we can keep up with) for friends on Facebook is 150 (otherwise known as Dunbar’s number).

Each of us has an inner circle of about five close friends (people we will talk to all the time and spend more time interacting with), which then grows to 15 when including family. When I think about it, I really do only have about 15 friends on Facebook that I can keep up with consistently – any more than that and I’m struggling to catch up.

Dunbar also pointed out that as humans we spend 20% of our day being social and chances are this time will be with people you value highly.

Making the web a more sociable place for us all

Ian Carrington, Mobile and Social Director for Google EMEA and Beth Foster for the Google+ team were next to the stage to talk about how Google is trying to make the web a far more sociable place for us. Starting with their changes to search, by having people in your circles pop up under results if they have looked at a page and even tailoring results to you based on the information in your G+ profile. They are aiming to roll this out across all their products. From this came some interesting stats:

• One in five minutes spent on digital is social – Not surprising when you consider the dominance and volume of users on Facebook alone.
• 79% of males and 84% of females are on social media – This brings me to something Robin Dunbar said, male to male relationships benefit more from actually doing things and spending time together. Female to female relationships benefit more from social networking.
• 45% of social usage is done via mobile – When you think about the numbers of us on social media and who own a smartphone (or even just one with internet) you would expect this to be about the amount (and growing).
• 64% use mobile at work to access social – Most likely because their employer has blocked social networks in a bid to increase productivity.
• 57% of people talk more to their friends online than in person – Not such a surprise to those of us in marketing, PR or advertising.

The power of Google+ hit home for me during the demonstration of hangouts, like this one with the Black Eyed Peas. H&M recently held a hangout with David Beckham from Google London shortly after the launch of his new H&M underwear range. It was nothing more than a Q&A session on a grand scale but perhaps not coincidently, H&M is now the biggest brand on Google+, occupying 535,199 circles.

We can be influenced by people we don’t know

Alex Bentley of Bristol University believes the internet and social media has completely changed the way we interact and decide. People are rarely aware of the global impact of what they are posting to be able to contribute. Once you have posted something, it’s out there (no matter how hard you try to delete it) – that’s a lot of power potentially riding on one post.

21st century people are becoming more and more influenced by people they don’t know. Think about this. How many times have you seen a comment on a Facebook page for a brand on a post and liked it? Even though it’s from someone you don’t know and will probably never meet. You are then instantly agreeing with the views of this person. Social influence does not need to be local.

Just one social media interaction can now make someone famous or destroy a brand’s entire reputation. You only have to look at the current crisis happening at Tesco at the moment to get an understanding of this.

What Google+ can do

Then came the man we had all been waiting for (for chocolaty reasons), Jerry Daykin, community manager for Cadbury and Kraft.

He talked us through how Cadbury has achieved such great social success on Google+:

• Take on the new social platform and explore before you do anything
• Search around for anything relating to your brand
• Cadbury learnt from the campaign set up to bring back Wispa
• Google+ is a wonderfully visual platform, so tailor your content accordingly
• Make sure your fans want to share your content – make it unique
• Find out what you can do – Cadbury launched a product on Google+ which was shared 550 times
• Take the chance to engage – brands (more than ever) need to reach influencers
• Use circles to give specific target markets what they want – tailor your content for different areas of your audience, after all not everyone will want to see everything you do
• Give hangouts ago to share content instead of a wall post
• Always keep an eye out for new features and give them ago

Give your brand another voice

Chris Taylor of Oxfam explained that Google+ can be a place to give your brand another tone of voice. Oxfam wanted Google+ to be more about the content than the marketing of the brand. Where the brand really used Facebook and Twitter for pushing out marketing messages, Google+ is all about the quality of content and engagement.

The results were pretty impressive – Oxfam has gained 30,000 fans in in just three weeks without mentioning the word ‘donate’ once.

What’s next?

Google announced its upcoming addition to Google+ – Ripples – its version of Facebook Insights. We will soon have some way of monitoring and reporting the success of this new platform!

I was also able to attend other events throughout the week. Take a look at my Key Takeaways from:
Combatting Social Media Fatigue by APCO’s Rasika Krishna.
The Future of Social Media – a debate by the Like Minds Club.

To find out more about Social Media Week, visit the website.

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Threepipe heads to Toy Fair 2012

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Client News | Events - (0 Comments)

By Dalany Watkins, Junior Account Exec.

Each year in January, toy brands from across the UK all gather at Kensington Olympia for the BTHA’s Toy Fair and with two toy teams attending, it certainly is a busy time for us Threepipers!

Despite the build-up to the event requiring a lot of hard work and planning with goody bags to be filled, plenty of copy to be drafted and factsheets coming out of my ears, I love event day when we get to see all our hard work pay off. I find it can be so easy to get stuck in a bubble where you focus so much on your accounts that you almost don’t have time to wonder what innovative new products are in the pipeline, but turning up at Toy Fair on Tuesday morning…it seems the Toy industry certainly hasn’t slowed down!

Olympia is a huge venue and there wasn’t an inch of space that wasn’t filled with amazing toys ranging from mouldable, un-meltable chocolate to fake swimming goldfish and cars that can race on water. Floor to ceiling was rammed with banners, posters and flying obstacles and with over 200 exhibitors – there was plenty to see.

This year, both Hornby and LeapFrog had some great products launching at the show but with so many ‘cool’ products around, there was a lot of work to be done to make sure we created as much buzz for our clients as possible.

The Hornby stand was jam-packed with new products and the press couldn’t simply wonder past after catching site of the brand new Star Wars Death Star attack Scalextric. Similarly, at the LeapFrog stand LeapPad continued to turn heads, as did the new 2012 toy ranges.


The BBC were particularly interested in Hornby products and we secured a great interview showing off the ranges. We’ve also worked hard to generate exposure for the range on technology sites recently and secured a great piece on Pocket-Lint.com with some cool pictures showing off the Star Wars set (shame the stand didn’t have a dark room to show off the glow in the dark features!).


I definitely think we maximised the opportunities at Toy Fair this year and am secretly hoping that next year I get to dress up to represent our clients…maybe a frog…or Chewbacca!

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Beyond 2012, time to focus on Brazil

Posted by Beth_Carroll in Events | Sport - (0 Comments)

By Pieter Graham, senior account manager

The London 2012 Olympics, heard of it? Chances are that even if you lived in a mud hut in the Pennines you might have a slight idea about the events set to grip the UK this summer. Believe it or not sponsors have too, Lloyds TSB were first all the way back in 2007, with other notable international companies joining them in signing up to support the signature event. What’s more it doesn’t stop there, plenty of brands without the ‘Official’ tag will be looking to capitalise on the hype and crowds the Olympics will draw.

Are We Being Short Sighted?

Let’s not play it down, the London 2012 Olympics will be a once of a lifetime experience for the UK and a once in a lifetime branding opportunity in one of the most open, advanced marketing economies in the world. But are we being short sighted? Sure London 2012 is a huge opportunity, however there is the small matter of a FIFA 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics being hosted for the first time by one country this decade, a country that just happens to be the fifth largest nation in the world, Brazil.

Is Brazil Ready?

Brazil represents unknown territory for lots of brands but with one of the quickest developing economies in the world it will not be that way for much longer. Recent reports in UK press have indicated that there are concerns regarding whether Brazil will be ready to host a World Cup as soon as 2014. Visiting the country in late 2010 I was amazed to see the Maracana stadium, a Mecca of Brazilian football, sitting unused whilst intensive repairs were carried out. Still out of action a year and a half later, there are genuine fears that infrastructure is not on course, but in lack of development lies opportunity.

There is no doubt that the need for infrastructure and experience leaves the door wide open to multi-national companies to step in to provide support whilst extending their sphere of influence. Brazil represents a unique prospect, it has shrugged off the effects of global recession, is expanding rapidly and its industries are progressing steadily. The major events of the next four years will help elevate this further with a massive expansion in media awareness and marketing.

The messaging around Rio 2016 does in fact seem very familiar, with promises of a sustainable games with a lasting legacy. Interest in Brazil for these reasons and more is extremely high when considering London 2012, something that can only benefit British companies learning from the 2012 process. Added to this Brazil has been pushing the construction industry to the limit, airports, roads, housing etc has sprung up across the country as Brazil readies itself due to the Government’s Accelerated Growth Plan. This plan will only increase with 2014 and 2016 on the horizon, creating lots of exciting opportunities for international companies to lend their own expertise.

What Opportunities are on Offer?

In terms of negating access to these opportunities many British companies might choose to pair with Brazilian counterparts to help share common knowledge and receive advice on entering the market. This approach will help negotiate through Brazilian bureaucracy, understand specific business practice and give further access to the sometimes complex Brazilian national and state networks.

So what of the media opportunities? Brazil has a highly advanced media network with social media especially being hugely important and more common across the country than in some European countries. Brazilians are among the world’s top users of blogs as well, with internet access not being restricted in any way. Key social media sites include Google’s Orkut and Facebook, with key news sites including G1 and UOL. Domestic conglomerates dominate the media market, with Globo, Brazil’s most successful broadcaster sitting on top. Globo’s network stretches far with TV, radio, newspapers and news sites all run through the same operator.

With all of the above in mind the emerging economic giant needs more than a little consideration before being broached. But for those who do and are successful, the opportunities are endless, and a caipirinha on Copacabana beach isn’t half bad either.

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