Just 20 places left at our international social media seminar

Come and receive best practice hints and tips from Facebook’s agency in Italy, social media insights in Eastern Europe from a leading Czech agency and the strategic choices faced by international brands by the UK’s leading social engagement consultant.

In just one hour the seminar will:

• highlight the strategic choices faced by international
  organisations when developing a global/international social media strategy
• provide special insight about what works in Central and Southern Europe
• provide useful hints and tips on best practices.

Delivered by Diego Biasi, Italy’s foremost authority on social media and adviser to Facebook, Patrik Schober, the CEO of the leading social PR agency in the Czech republic and, Crispin Manners, the creator of breakthrough social engagment techniques for Unilever, Wall Street institute and CA Technologies.

The presentations will draw on client case studies as well as give clear guidance on the key steps to take to develop a productive social media programme. Special insight will be provided about what works in Central and Eastern Europe and Southern Europe, as well as key tips for a global strategy.

The seminar will take place on Tuesday, 29^th May 2012 at the Institute of Physics in Central London.

There are just 20 spaces left at this free seminar – so register today to secure your place by replying to katie.henry@kaizo.co.uk

Agenda

8.00 am Registration and continental breakfast

8.30 am Social media in Central and Eastern Europe – Patrik Schober, CEO PRAM Consulting, Prague

8.50 am Social media in Southern Europe – Diego Biasi, CEO, Business Press, Milan

9.10 am The strategic choices for global social media programmes – Crispin Manners, Director, Kaizo, London

9.30 am Questions and close.

Venue address:

PPMG, Kaizo and PhE have been engaged to develop and execute three distinct in-market regional and national PR and marketing campaigns designed to increase the reach of Crucial.com among mainstream consumer computer users. Activity will drive awareness of, and traffic to, the e-commerce site, and demonstrate the unique benefits of a computer memory upgrade from Crucial.com in the context of computer performance.

”We are enthusiastic about our new PR partners. The combined team has impressive institutional knowledge, extensive existing relationships with consumer media and a proven track record in working with consumer electronic brands and e-tailers. We look forward to leveraging their expertise as we continue to grow,” said Crucial.com Marketing Director, Roddy McLean.

“We can all relate to the frustration that results from working on a slow and unresponsive computer, and many believe that the only solution is to purchase a new system,” said Noemi Pollack, founder and CEO of The Pollack PR Marketing Group. “This is an exciting opportunity to engage with an international audience of consumers while building awareness of Crucial.com and the online tools, customer support and expertise aimed at helping consumers extend the life of their computers with a do-it-yourself memory upgrade.”

ABOUT CRUCIAL.COM
Crucial.com is a leading online retailer specializing in computer memory (DRAM) upgrades and solid-state drives (SSD). Headquartered in Boise, Idaho and backed by Micron Technology, Inc., one of the world’s leading manufacturers of computer memory products, Crucial.com offers more than 250,000 upgrades for nearly every system: home and business, old and new, PC and Mac computers. Utilizing a suite of easy-to-use, free online tools, including the Crucial System Scanner and the Crucial Memory Advisor™, consumers are able to quickly assess, select, and purchase compatible memory upgrades to restore computer performance, improve system reliability and increase productivity. For more information, visit www.crucial.com.

ABOUT MICRON
Micron Technology, Inc. is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. Through its worldwide operations, Micron manufactures and markets a full range of DRAM, NAND and NOR flash memory, as well as other innovative memory technologies, packaging solutions and semiconductor systems for use in leading-edge computing, consumer, networking, embedded and mobile products. Micron’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ under the MU symbol. To learn more about Micron Technology, Inc., visit www.micron.com.

ABOUT THE POLLACK PR MARKETING GROUP
The Pollack PR Marketing Group (PPMG) headquartered in Los Angeles with offices New York, is a 26-year old mid-sized, multi-specialty agency that develops communication platforms and programs, manages corporate reputations, launches new products and services and promotes brand engagement for clients ranging from innovative start-ups, to Fortune 500 companies, with a focus on consumer products and services, technologies and professional services. PPMG is a partner in The WORLDCOM Public Relations Group, a consortium of over 100 partners with offices around the world. For more information, visit http://www.ppmgcorp.com, or http://www.pollackblog.com, or follow us on Twitter @PollackPRMktg.

ABOUT KAIZO LTD
Kaizo is an award winning independent UK PR and digital consultancy, serving clients that include; Cisco, Fitbit, Gemalto, Unilever, and Johnson and Johnson.

ABOUT PhE COMMUNICATION
PhE Communication, created in 2007, is a communications consultancy that provides advice and assistance to businesses through customized communications and public affairs strategies in order to generate quick and tangible results. PhE, acting as an “Engineer in Philosophy” for its clients, developed its activity mainly for technology companies, international corporations or start-ups. For more information, visit http://pheblog.blogspot.com/ or follow us on Twitter @PhECom.

The book combines the collective savvy of leading PR agencies in business-to-business, consumer, crisis management, health care, public affairs and travel tourism. A foreword from well-known social media strategist, speaker and author, Jay Baer, captures the essence of the evolution of the ever-changing world of PR.

Click here to access the book.

Established in 1988, Worldcom Public Relations Group is the world’s leading partnership of independently owned public relations counseling firms, with 107 partner agencies worldwide, in 91 markets, across six continents.

‘The Truvia® Voyage of Discovery – Turning over a sweet new leaf in the UK’ which saw the roof of Selfridges turned into a boating lake for press and public to launch Truvia® calorie-free sweetener has two nominations. These are for Best Event and for Best Consumer Relations – a category that Kaizo also won last year with its work for Flip Video.

Additionally ‘Gemalto Mobile NFC Hits the Streets’ a campaign which used parkour free runners to illustrate Near Field Communications possibilities for the IT security specialist is shortlisted in the Best Corporate and Business Communications category.

The awards will be announced in London on 28 May 2012.

For brief details for both campaigns please visit www.kaizo.co.uk/experience

Kaizo supported the campaign in the United Kingdom with two events which were themed ARIGATO, the Japanese word for thank you.

As part of the Mayor of London’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations on Sunday 18 March Japanese performers including Maiko, Geisha and Japanese traditional instrument performers, as well as Japanese nationals living in the UK from Wakayanagi school of Japanese dancing dressed in traditional Kimonos took part in the parade through central London and festival in Trafalgar Square.  “Tasting JAPAN WEEK” meanwhile offered a Japanese experience at Westfield Stratford City with Japanese food and Japanese alcohol on offer.

Food manufacturers print health and nutrition information on pack in good faith - to help consumers make informed choices about the food they buy; to comply with labelling regulations; and of course to make their product stand-out from the competition.

But have they ever considered that these health claims and nutritional breakdowns might actually turn consumers off? According to a new study published online in the journal Food Quality and Preference, consumers find excessive information on health claims on food packaging off-putting and it has a negative influence on their perception of the sensory characteristics of the products. In other words, if the product seems 'worthy', then it is unlikely to deliver on taste.

The research team, from the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology in Spain, specifically investigated consumers' perceptions of the food packaging of both enriched and reduced calorie biscuits. They were particularly interested in the expectations raised by nutritional and health claims and the nutrition panel, and their influence on the sensory perception of the biscuits.

They found that consumers were particularly influenced by the nutrition claims highlighted - colour and size - front of pack. Too much information was perceived negatively and with distrust. Interestingly, reduced sugar biscuits were expected to score lower on taste and were seen as a specialist product i.e. for people with sugar metabolism problems, rather than a healthier option.

So what's the take-out for food manufacturers? Since the first contact between consumers and your product is likely to be the packaging and its labelling, be aware of the potential impact of the words on pack. While working within regulatory constraints, it's key to strike a careful balance between full disclosure of the potential health benefits of your products versus appealing to your consumers' taste buds. After all, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

With customers supposedly being placed at the heart of brands more and more, surprisingly nearly 40 per cent of people say brands don’t involve customers enough in product development and over 40 per cent believe brands don’t involve customers enough in creating marketing campaigns.

Reasons why people join a brand page or community on Facebook are typically related to strong category or brand interest, although incentives clearly play a part as well.

• 44% like and interact with a brand page on Facebook because they love the brand or buy the products already
• 27% join because they have the opportunity to win something
• And only 12% because of funny or compelling content

But the level of engagement once liked is critical. Frequency and type of brand posts can be a fine balance with three quarters of people say they turn off because of the number and type of posts whilst nearly four in 10 turn off because there are too many promotional posts. Only 13 per cent leave because there is no chance to win anything once liked.

Rhodri Harries, managing director at Kaizo, said:

“Brand communities are successful when they are authentic and inspire innovation rather than irritate. Successful community management involves building the right level of trust and online rapport first. So ask questions, don’t preach, provide relevant content not streams of consciousness, and know what the brand’s objectives for the community are.

Involving the community in your brand development and of course, importantly, reporting back about what you are doing every step of the way will spread word of mouth as well as stimulate sales. The benefits are clear to see.”

The research reveals nearly 40 per cent of Facebook users post about brands every month, one in five post about brands every week and over a third say they are more likely to share positive news.

Wall Street Institute(WSI) – one of the world’s premier English language schools – has hired Kaizo to drive student and employee advocacy in Thailand. The programmes are designed to build loyalty levels, generate revenue through recommendation and also co-create content. This will draw on Kaizo’s award-winning consumer engagement skills and follow a similar approach on  Facebook to the one it developed for Unilever VIP.

Kaizo will work with WSI to develop creative ways to involve students, alumni and employees in developing and deploying innovative new services and marketing programmes.  The programme will help WSI to extend the reach of the learning experience to the social web and to build a vibrant community of Facebook that includes WSI alumni.

Michel Le Quellec, CEO of WSI in Thailand, said: “I am a passionate believer in direct engagement with our customers and employees to build loyalty. Kaizo does this in a format that is proven to deliver increased advocacy and new revenue at less cost than traditional marketing techniques.”

Crispin Manners, director at Kaizo, said: “WSI Thailand will be one of the first companies in the world to run simultaneous programmes of this type for both customers and employees. This will have a significant impact on loyalty and growth as advocate employees create advocate customers.”

Winning organizations will be selected from the following six distinct categories: events with budgets of less than $100K; events with budgets of more than $100K; programs of less than $200K; programs of more than $200K; crisis management; and originality in public relations. Those that wish to vie for an award, can submit their entries on the Destination Awards website, where they will be voted upon by the larger community.  Community members will have the opportunity to vote anonymously for finalists of their choice, within each category.  Judges from the Worldcom Travel and Tourism Practice Group, as well as selected professionals from the international travel and tourism industry, will choose the winners of the Destination Awards from the list of finalists, as determined by the community’s votes.

“Worldcom’s Destination Awards will put a spotlight on great international marketing and PR programs within this industry,” said Norman Stowe of the Pace Group, Vancouver, Canada and Chairperson of Worldcom’s Travel and Tourism Practice Group. “As leaders in the field of public relations, Worldcom is witness to remarkable programs all over the globe and we feel compelled to give innovative and creative organizations the accolades they deserve,” adds Stowe.

The Destination Awards will accept entries today and voting can begin anytime thereafter. The deadline for submissions will be on April 30, 2012.  Following the judging process, The Worldcom Travel and Tourism Practice Group will announce the six category prizewinners on May 15, 2012.