latest news from the orchard

May 8, 2012

Election candidates have worn their heart on a new media sleeve

Pinterest. You’ve heard of it by now, it’s the social network that helps you compile pin boards of your favourite images from anywhere on the web whilst retaining links back to the origin sites. Other users can follow you or your boards and ‘repin’ your pinned images. So far, so simple.

In America the site has become a sensation with the crafting community who use it to collect together DIY tutorials and picture inspirations. Great, but what if you’re not crafty? What if you the sporty type or you’re a business? Fear not, there are many more uses for Pinterest than looking at cakes (though admittedly, this is how I spend most of my time!)

The great thing about Pinterest is that you can use it to gather together information that you want to share and use the images to engage likeminded pinners. If you need any more convincing check out President Obama’s boards: where else can you find information about private sector job stats next to a picture of Obama’s face on a cake? Genius.

Of course, there have been some teething issues as with any new technology. The biggest problem has been for people who earn a living through people looking at their images, like bloggers and photographers. Whilst Pinterest retains a link to the original site these are not always followed and if the image was originally found whilst browsing on Tumblr, for example, the original link is lost. This has led to bloggers like Liberty London Girl protecting themselves by watermarking pictures on their sites.

So it’s not perfect but it has the potential to be a really useful network for businesses and individuals alike. Local hair salon (and Orchard client) The White Room uses it to share hair styling tutorials as well as inspiration, product advice and make-up tips. Crafty blogger Martine a.k.a iMake uses it to showcase her handmade items and lead pinners to the tutorials on the iMake website.

My boards? Well, they’re mostly pictures of cake, but I haven’t heard any complaints from team Orchard about this rather delicious source of inspiration!

Posted by Chloe.

Do you trust me? Interesting question…

Aladdin asked Jasmine before she got on his magic carpet and Jack asked Rose in Titanic…before it sank.  It’s a weird concept;  hard to gain and easy to lose – what makes you trust someone over someone else?

What about trust in businesses, media, politicians?

Edelman publishes an annual Trust Barometer which measures trust in governments, companies and the media across 25 countries. This year its findings were interesting but not that surprising considering the recent economic issues and the Leveson inquiry into press standards.

As revealed by PRWeek, the barometer showed an increase in disillusionment with both businesses and the Government in the UK. Trust in governments fell to 43% globally making government officials the least credible spokespeople in the report.  Trust in business also fell with only 30% of UK respondents finding CEOs to be believable spokespeople for their organisation.

This presents PR people with a challenge; finding credible spokespeople stakeholders can warm to and trust is a key part of many communications strategies.

What the research did reveal is that members of the public are increasingly looking to ‘people like themselves’ for credible information. This doesn’t just mean friends and family as with the increase in use of social media, not surprisingly, trust in online peers is at a record high.

This shift in credibility away from government and business towards media and in particularly social media has been described by Edelman as a “dispersion of authority” and represents a major shift in how organisations are having to manage their public relations.

It is now more important than ever to seek third party endorsements and support, and to create ambassadors for your brand that live both inside and outside your organisation. Satisfied customers and happy clients recounting positive experiences, or employees telling their peers about the great things they do every day – these are the things that make a difference to public perceptions in a world influenced by social media.

Posted by Harriet.

Orchard has been taking part in the IoD Management Shadowing Scheme (sponsored by KPMG) and for a few days this week we have had Laura Butler in the office with us. Laura is really keen to get into PR and plans to study it at degree level after she finishes studying at The Grammar School next year – so she seemed like the ideal candidate to come along to Orchard and see what a manager does here. She will write a report and give a presentation on her experience later in the year, but for a sneak preview – we asked what she thought of her short time here…

The end is nigh for my time at Orchard PR and I can safely say I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and learnt a great deal about the industry I hope to become part of one day.

My few days here have really surprised me as this is certainly not your average 9-5 desk job. It was good to see early on that PR would not just be about being in an office when straight away, before I’d even had the chance to take my jacket off, I was off to the Guernsey Press to get a real understanding of how working with the media and PR go hand in hand and are key in this industry.

During the time I’ve spent here I’ve witnessed client meetings, brainstorming and seen how you need to have one eye on the media at all times. I’ve learnt that timing is everything in PR – it’s not all about being punctual but having an understanding of how the media and the clients’ days pan out.

I have enjoyed my week at Orchard and have learned a great deal from Brooke and the team. I have seen the process of how the local paper is made and even helped give out Easter goodies to the rest of the media around the island. Doing my management shadowing at Orchard has certainly shown me that in PR no two work days are the same and this is why I’m glad I chose to do the scheme and will hopefully (fingers crossed) work in the industry in the future.

Posted by Brooke.

2012 is election year in Guernsey and at our election themed quiz we though it very appropriate to have the brilliant minds [sic] of the local media solve all our problems by drawing up their own manifestos for the island.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. All school children will be transported to and from school in armoured land rovers (but only if they live more than a mile away…)
2. Following the success of the runway refurbishment the harbour should be moved 120 metres to the west and have improved safety areas at each end.
3. All Billet D’Etats are to be written using 140 characters or less.
4. Launch a Mulkerrin style review of Guernsey’s media to investigate sub-standard reading ages.
5. Tony Vance for Chief Minister.
6. A ‘blanket’ ban on fog in the island.
7. Introduce a vocational qualification so that La Mare de Carteret pupils can build their own school.
8. Solve the road traffic strategy by forcing islanders to drive in reverse and only turn left allowing the buses to run on the tears of frustrated islanders instead of money from taxpayers.

And probably the least controversial from our friends at Island FM – compulsory Naked Fridays for all islanders!

Posted by Chris.

The heady scent of competition was in the air last night as the cream of Guernsey’s media brains gathered at the Last Post to do battle in the Orchard Media Quiz 2012. Last year’s champions Channel TV faced challengers from BBC Guernsey, Island FM and GBG Magazine as well as the Guernsey Press, habitual winners of this grand competition until Channel got their hands on the trophy for the first time last year.

Alas, all their efforts were to no avail as in the first round the Channel TV team romped away with an early lead they were to hold on to for the whole night, fending off a BBC Guernsey team who challenged strongly until the free bar got the better of them, and latterly the Guernsey Press news editors, who mounted a late run up the leaderboard thanks to a boost from their bonus round manifesto pledges (more on those later).

Congratulations to the CTV team – Rob Moore, Andy Richards, Gary Burgess, Gillian Mabbet, Melita Schiemann and Miles Plumley, they’ve taken the Orchard Trophy back to the studio where it will take pride of place, at least for the next year…

As ever, we’ve got photos of the event in our gallery: