In recent weeks and months I have been exploring storytelling theory and how communications professionals can use it in a more methodical way to identify stories from within their organisations.
I have been on an interesting journey dipping into topics such as the history and philosophy of storytelling, principles of screen writing, ideas on classical story telling techniques and up-to-the minute thinking on topics such as non-linear storytelling.
Often the problem in PR story mining is that stories collected by talking to the CEO or Sales Director or Head of R & D are not stories in the true sense of the word. They may have aspects of interest or surprise but they are not real stories in terms of structure and appeal.
The end result of my research is that we, at Eloqui, have now developed a series of creative techniques which use established storytelling formats and theories to help mine stories. We have also developed a half day creative workshop to help organisations find stories and content from within.
You may not think that your organisation has much in common with Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Homer’s Odyssey, or Beowulf and Jaws (much the same story, just thousands of years apart), or modern day tale such as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. However understanding how and why these enduring stories are so compelling to audiences can help to inspire and unlock stories from any source.
Read my full article on this topic at
http://eloquipr.co.uk/upload/Storytellinginadigitalage.pdf
For further information about our workshops contact me at jmilroy@eloquipr.co.uk
Joanne Milroy
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Monday, 20 July 2009
It's the early bird...
“The Guardian’s daily ‘agenda’ setting meeting now takes place at 9am”, declared The Guardian’s head of business Dan Roberts at an event Eloqui attended last week. “In the past for papers that moment was at 5pm, and until six months ago it was at lunchtime”, he continued, also saying that company communications strategy on big days was not always reflecting this change. There is no doubt there has been a relentless march backwards of news deadlines. The big stories of the day, and many of the smaller ones, are now all usually established by 9am in the morning, latest. Roberts says one problem with this condensed timetable is that journalists have less time to form a considered opinion on complex stories. Here at Eloqui we think another increasing issue for media will be achieving constant and meaningful refreshment of that news agenda throughout the day. (Roberts also highlighted this conundrum.)Media outlets are busy proclaiming how they are providing more news over more channels, when very often it feels like constantly repeating news, even if delivered earlier in the day.
Joanne Milroy
Joanne Milroy
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
The Eloqui team was with Bashy, London’s grime and hip hop artist and Dan Davies, the UK 110m Hurdles Junior Champion, yesterday to launch the start of registration for this year’s Summer Uni London. Eloqui client Summer Uni London is an annual programme of 40,000 free course places for young people across Greater London, running over the summer. The courses cover over 1,000 subjects, including music, business and media studies, scuba diving, Manga art culture, Rocket Ball, Football, Belly Dancing, Japanese and rowing. There are extra places available this year for young people with special needs as well as male and female only courses. The courses range from one hour to six weeks and are being held in all 32 London boroughs. They are available for young people between the ages of 8 and 25.
"Our research shows that over 70 per cent of young people worry about feeling bored and having nothing to do over the summer holidays, so our free courses are a great way to meet new friends, learn new skills and have fun,” said Summer Uni Executive Director, Sarah Davies. To enrol for free Summer Uni courses, young people and parents should visit the website: http://www.summerunilondon.org/. or contact their local London Borough.
"Our research shows that over 70 per cent of young people worry about feeling bored and having nothing to do over the summer holidays, so our free courses are a great way to meet new friends, learn new skills and have fun,” said Summer Uni Executive Director, Sarah Davies. To enrol for free Summer Uni courses, young people and parents should visit the website: http://www.summerunilondon.org/. or contact their local London Borough.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
The tender trap
When healthcare firm Benenden recently invited over 20 agencies to pitch for its business, it attracted much criticism within the PR profession for holding a beauty parade with so many contestants. With agencies being given just 15 minutes to present, it must have been a bewildering experience for the client, and a questionable use of time for the consultancies, apart, of course, from the winning firm.
Whether Benenden got the best agency for the job from this process is difficult to ascertain, as the company used a public tender approach to put together its, very long, shortlist. An obvious flaw with a tender is that you can only hire an agency if it applies. The consultancy with the best experience and people for your needs may not see your tender advertisement, or may choose not to go in for a competition where so many agencies are competing and the odds of winning are low. Another downside is that clients have to read so many submissions, consuming considerable management time.
An alternative to the public tender is to research the consultancy market – look for the agencies behind campaigns you admire, or those winning awards and doing the type of work that you feel your organisation needs. Rather than rely totally on past experience – as is the tender way – it can be smart to set prospective consultancies a short creative challenge to see how they think and approach a brief. This way you are not reliant on past experience alone. After all, the team you are meeting may not be the ones responsible for the great work on the website.
Eloqui award nomination
Eloqui has been nominated for a European Sabre Award for its work to promote Visa’s sponsorship of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Eloqui was appointed after research undertaken by Visa indicated that the British public was not aware of Visa’s association with the Olympics and the Paralympics, London 2012, or the fact that it is a key contributor to BOA and BPA. To address this, Eloqui focused on two principal initiatives to place the media spotlight on Visa’s Olympic commitment: Team Visa, a mentoring scheme that supports young British Olympic athletes, and Visa’s headline sponsorship of the UK School Games.
In the case of Team Visa we developed a high profile launch event at Lord’s Cricket Grounds involving all 18 young athletes and their mentors: Sir Steve Redgrave and Dame Tanni Grey Thompson. Endorsement was sought from Olympics Minister Richard Caborn and Seb Coe and Eloqui brokered an exclusive deal with Getty Images for pictures of athletes and mentors, which were used with the media as well as in Visa’s advertising.
For the UK School Games we commissioned a piece of research among children aged 9-15 to understand attitudes to sport and the extent to which young people enjoy sport at school. Findings were released to the media to coincide with the UK School Games to ensure Visa received public recognition for its involvement.
Both events together achieved coverage worth in excess of £1,200,000 (AVE) for an investment of just £46,000 - an outstanding return on investment.
When healthcare firm Benenden recently invited over 20 agencies to pitch for its business, it attracted much criticism within the PR profession for holding a beauty parade with so many contestants. With agencies being given just 15 minutes to present, it must have been a bewildering experience for the client, and a questionable use of time for the consultancies, apart, of course, from the winning firm.
Whether Benenden got the best agency for the job from this process is difficult to ascertain, as the company used a public tender approach to put together its, very long, shortlist. An obvious flaw with a tender is that you can only hire an agency if it applies. The consultancy with the best experience and people for your needs may not see your tender advertisement, or may choose not to go in for a competition where so many agencies are competing and the odds of winning are low. Another downside is that clients have to read so many submissions, consuming considerable management time.
An alternative to the public tender is to research the consultancy market – look for the agencies behind campaigns you admire, or those winning awards and doing the type of work that you feel your organisation needs. Rather than rely totally on past experience – as is the tender way – it can be smart to set prospective consultancies a short creative challenge to see how they think and approach a brief. This way you are not reliant on past experience alone. After all, the team you are meeting may not be the ones responsible for the great work on the website.
Eloqui award nomination
Eloqui has been nominated for a European Sabre Award for its work to promote Visa’s sponsorship of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Eloqui was appointed after research undertaken by Visa indicated that the British public was not aware of Visa’s association with the Olympics and the Paralympics, London 2012, or the fact that it is a key contributor to BOA and BPA. To address this, Eloqui focused on two principal initiatives to place the media spotlight on Visa’s Olympic commitment: Team Visa, a mentoring scheme that supports young British Olympic athletes, and Visa’s headline sponsorship of the UK School Games.
In the case of Team Visa we developed a high profile launch event at Lord’s Cricket Grounds involving all 18 young athletes and their mentors: Sir Steve Redgrave and Dame Tanni Grey Thompson. Endorsement was sought from Olympics Minister Richard Caborn and Seb Coe and Eloqui brokered an exclusive deal with Getty Images for pictures of athletes and mentors, which were used with the media as well as in Visa’s advertising.
For the UK School Games we commissioned a piece of research among children aged 9-15 to understand attitudes to sport and the extent to which young people enjoy sport at school. Findings were released to the media to coincide with the UK School Games to ensure Visa received public recognition for its involvement.
Both events together achieved coverage worth in excess of £1,200,000 (AVE) for an investment of just £46,000 - an outstanding return on investment.
Monday, 30 March 2009
The Power of PR
Eloqui CEO Chris Genasi has been included for the third year running in PR Week’s Power Book for 2009.
The Power Book is a directory of 500 of the UK’s most influential people in PR, as selected by PR Week and a panel of senior journalists and commentators.
Entrants in Power Book are asked a series of questions ranging from their most admired politician to the PR campaigns they wished they had thought of.
Barack Obama dominates the most admired politician, best PR campaign and “brand to watch” categories, as chosen by those in the PR Week Power Book.
A new entry for this year is self appointed “Minister for the Recession” Vince Cable, who is the third most frequently cited politician that PR people admire, showing once again that Vince Cable is probably the only person in Britain who has done well from the economic downturn.
The corporate PR person held in most esteem by those at the top of the PR profession is Lucy Neville-Rolfe of Tesco and in the world of politics, the most admired PR operator is Andy Coulson, Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. As in previous years, Max Clifford continues to be everyone’s favourite and most admired celebrity PR practitioner.
As well Barack Obama’s election campaign, other PR campaigns most often cited as ones respondents wished they had thought of were Dove’s “Campaign for real beauty” and McDonald’s “Mcjobs campaign”
The PR Week Power Book certainly portrays a picture of the diverse and well respected profession that PR has become over the last decade. For those interested in the PR landscape, it provides an insight into those individuals who are managing reputations at the highest levels in politics, business, brands, charities and sport.
The Power Book is a directory of 500 of the UK’s most influential people in PR, as selected by PR Week and a panel of senior journalists and commentators.
Entrants in Power Book are asked a series of questions ranging from their most admired politician to the PR campaigns they wished they had thought of.
Barack Obama dominates the most admired politician, best PR campaign and “brand to watch” categories, as chosen by those in the PR Week Power Book.
A new entry for this year is self appointed “Minister for the Recession” Vince Cable, who is the third most frequently cited politician that PR people admire, showing once again that Vince Cable is probably the only person in Britain who has done well from the economic downturn.
The corporate PR person held in most esteem by those at the top of the PR profession is Lucy Neville-Rolfe of Tesco and in the world of politics, the most admired PR operator is Andy Coulson, Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. As in previous years, Max Clifford continues to be everyone’s favourite and most admired celebrity PR practitioner.
As well Barack Obama’s election campaign, other PR campaigns most often cited as ones respondents wished they had thought of were Dove’s “Campaign for real beauty” and McDonald’s “Mcjobs campaign”
The PR Week Power Book certainly portrays a picture of the diverse and well respected profession that PR has become over the last decade. For those interested in the PR landscape, it provides an insight into those individuals who are managing reputations at the highest levels in politics, business, brands, charities and sport.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Eloqui spring newsletter
GREEN SHOOTS - it may be too early to ‘call’ the green shoots of recovery but ‘green’ continues to be a strong theme for Eloqui campaigns in 2009. As well as our ‘Big Light’ schools project, we are working with the Open University’s Sustainable Design course on a competition to get students to develop new designs for recycling systems.
TWITTERING BIRDS - or do they tweet? The jury is still out on Twitter – is it the next big thing or a passing fad? But the appetite for interesting digital campaigns continues to grow. Recent digital projects for Eloqui have included developing an online communications strategy for the electrical waste compliance scheme, Recolight.
SPRING SHOPPING - Eloqui provided PR support to ESOMAR, the world research organisation for its ‘Retail and Shopper 2009’ market research conference held in London earlier this month.
LIGHTER NIGHTS - mean valuable extra training time for the Eloqui ‘victims’ signed up for the Samworth Brothers Charity Challenge this June. Samworth Brothers – a long standing Eloqui client – is one of Britain’s largest food manufacturers. The challenge involves trekking 14km up a 1,000 metre mountain, plus 41km of canoeing and cycling. We need a team name – there is a delicious Samworth Brothers pork pie for the best (printable) suggestion.
GREEN SHOOTS - it may be too early to ‘call’ the green shoots of recovery but ‘green’ continues to be a strong theme for Eloqui campaigns in 2009. As well as our ‘Big Light’ schools project, we are working with the Open University’s Sustainable Design course on a competition to get students to develop new designs for recycling systems.
TWITTERING BIRDS - or do they tweet? The jury is still out on Twitter – is it the next big thing or a passing fad? But the appetite for interesting digital campaigns continues to grow. Recent digital projects for Eloqui have included developing an online communications strategy for the electrical waste compliance scheme, Recolight.
SPRING SHOPPING - Eloqui provided PR support to ESOMAR, the world research organisation for its ‘Retail and Shopper 2009’ market research conference held in London earlier this month.
LIGHTER NIGHTS - mean valuable extra training time for the Eloqui ‘victims’ signed up for the Samworth Brothers Charity Challenge this June. Samworth Brothers – a long standing Eloqui client – is one of Britain’s largest food manufacturers. The challenge involves trekking 14km up a 1,000 metre mountain, plus 41km of canoeing and cycling. We need a team name – there is a delicious Samworth Brothers pork pie for the best (printable) suggestion.
Monday, 9 March 2009
That Shopping Feeling
60% of shoppers leave Lidl feeling positive – confident, eager or happy whereas only 20% leave Somerfield feeling positive while 60% leave feeling ripped off, bored or tired, according to new research presented at world research organisation ESOMAR’s Retail and Shopper conference earlier this month.
Conducted by Ipsos MORI, the research revealed the different emotions people feel after leaving different shops, and explored what lessons retailers can learn.
The research showed that 30% of shoppers leave Waitrose feeling special; a further 20% are inspired or curious. 30% of Boots shoppers leave feeling proud and 10% are amazed. However 20% leave the Co-Op feeling disappointed and another 22% feel ripped off or bored.
ESOMAR appointed Eloqui to raise awareness of ‘Retail and Shopper’ to the marketing and research community through the digital and print marketing and retail trade press.
Conducted by Ipsos MORI, the research revealed the different emotions people feel after leaving different shops, and explored what lessons retailers can learn.
The research showed that 30% of shoppers leave Waitrose feeling special; a further 20% are inspired or curious. 30% of Boots shoppers leave feeling proud and 10% are amazed. However 20% leave the Co-Op feeling disappointed and another 22% feel ripped off or bored.
ESOMAR appointed Eloqui to raise awareness of ‘Retail and Shopper’ to the marketing and research community through the digital and print marketing and retail trade press.
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