Not the usual beast!

Bupa, the leading international health care company, has appointed Brando to deliver a consumer PR programme for its UK health business. Brando was awarded the account after a competitive pitch and will be developing a strong brand personality for Bupa that celebrates its wellness and healthcare credentials. Sue Moore, marketing and customer development director, Bupa UK membership, said: "We are delighted to welcome Brando on board. We were impressed with their strategic approach and knew straight away that their creative campaign was right for us." The Bupa account will be headed up by Brando Managing Director, Mandy Sharp. Brando will look to implement a mix of media relations, digital and social media activity over the next six months. Brando’s Mandy Sharp said: "This is a great win for the agency and a fantastic way to start the year. We’re looking forward to delivering a campaign with a strong digital element alongside creative news generation and social media. It’s great to be able to use Brando’s unique combination of skills and experience to bring such an established and respected brand to life."

    Advertising is looking distinctly prehistoric as we near the end of the first decade of 21 century. It came from an era when the advertiser controlled the medium and when one way was the way. Fast forward to the events in Tehran and China and we see the State desperately trying to recapture the power of monologue by removing the ability to talk back. By closing down the internet and mobile phone networks, the State aims to deprive protestors of the ability to communicate.   But is too late- for tyrannical regimes – and for advertising. We have tasted the nectar of dialogue and we’re lovin’ it.   Three major factors are at work, rewriting the rules of communication.   Karl Marx assigned power to those who owned the means of production. Today it’s safe to say that power is in the hands of those who own the means of communication- and that means the billions of people who have benefited from the meteoric rise in cheap communication. We have all become Starbucks broadcasters with the ability to reach millions over a cappuccino.       Secondly – and they are connected – there is a growing intolerance and mistrust of the old authorities of the state, the church and big business. We simply don’t take their word for it anymore.   The third agent of change is the proliferation of media. We no longer have three TV channels, we have thousands. There are 63 million Facebook users, 50 million blogs and around 2 billion mobile phone accounts. Put simply, shot gun targeting no longer works as consumers run for cover in their own specialist, hand build networks. They are dancing to their own iTune now.   So what does this all mean for PR?  The answer is an awful lot. We started by talking about monologue and one way communication. Well, the next word is not, surprisingly, dialogue. It’s polylogue.   Everywhere, everyone is talking to everybody, about everything. In these complex networks, news travels fast, but not in a linear way. We all saw how Twitter broke the news of the Hudson River plane crash and how it has been keeping the world up to date on events in Iran. But it is not the speed of word of mouth that really defines its role in communication. It’s its authenticity. We tend to believe what our friends tell us more than what the media tells us. You only have to look at the impact sites like TripAdvisor have on reputation to see that personal recommendation is now the most powerful influencer in deciding where to stay. The iPhone largely owes its success to word of mouth marketing, partly stimulated by the company withholding information to encourage rumour and partly because it’s such a great product people want to talk about it.   For PR people to embrace word of mouth, we don’t have to tear up the Rule Book. We have been lighting fires of intrigue for decades. But we must be aware of the new clauses in that Rule Book.     ·        Create content people want to share. No one passes on a bad joke. And if you can embellish the joke, put your stamp on it, so much the better.  ·        Reign in the spin. Allow the consumer to discover the wonders of your product rather than telling them. Let them create the buzz for you. ·        Trust. Let go of your precious messaging strategies. They will be diluted, corrupted and sometime lost. ·        Influencers. Like deliberately spreading a rumour, tell the person with the most friends ·        It’s not just about social media. Hands on experience and live encounters leads to powerful advocacy  

London Gatwick Airport, the UK’s second biggest airport has appointed Brando to run a four month PR and experiential campaign over the summer.   Part of a major marketing campaign to increase retail spend at the airport during the peak summer months, Brando will be running an intensive media relations and event-led programme to remind holiday-makers about the great shopping and money savings available at the airport.   The account will be headed up by Brando’s Managing Director, Mandy Sharp, and one of the first jobs will be organising an exciting ‘Gatwick Fashion Week’ at the North Terminal with TV fashion presenter, Gok Wan confirmed as celebrity host for one of the days.     The experiential event will show-case retailers’ products through a series of glamorous fashion shows and holiday makers will be treated to hair, make-up and fashion makeovers from top stylist Kirsty Drury who has worked with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Rachel Stevens and Claudia Schiffer.   Brando joins forces with other top agencies including advertisers Naked, media planners MindShare and BTL agency DNX as part of the external marketing team for this project.   Mike Luddy, London Gatwick Airport Commercial Director, said: “We’re really looking forward to working with Brando over the next few months. Brando responded to the brief with creative, yet strategically sound and deliverable ideas.”   The activity will be supported with an extensive social media programme, run by David Cushman from Brando Social. 

Sony Ericsson wanted a long-term partner to reach out to Britain's urban youth. Since 2005, Brando has strategically taken them from support act to lead sponsor of the UK B-Boy World Championships.  Media partnerships, merchandise, careful branding and social media has made Sony Ericsson an accepted part of the B-Boy community. For the last two years, Channel 4 has travelled the globe as the B-Boys battle their way to the World Finals stage in London's Brixton Academy.  The results played out over a six part TV series on C4 entitled the Sony Ericsson World Series.  Fans could watch any missed episodes again and view other exclusive downloadable B-Boy content from our dedicated website... www.b-boychampionships.com/tv

The Cossette-owned Band & Brown Group has launched a full service social media agency with support from some of the biggest names in the business.   Brando Social is led by ex-JWT digital specialist Jamie Burke and has a roster of non-executive consultants including Euan Sample, former BBC Director of Knowledge Management and Dr Chris Thorpe, technology advisor to MySpace and The Guardian.   Burke has appointed leading social media strategist and top blogger David Cushman to run the consulting business.   Cushman said: Our people are global authorities - published authors, world-class speakers, deeply ingrained and experienced in social media .We advise organisations on how to adapt to the rapidly changing media landscape and flourish in a networked world”   Burke added: “Social media is now the largest of all media, accounting for 50% of all time spent by consumers. Brands and organisations can no longer ignore that or expect that social media can be something they consider fringe or experimental activity – it should be core to what they do.”   In addition to consultancy, Brando Social will offer a full range of social media services from monitoring and outreach through to widget and application build.   Through a network on international alliances, the firm is able to offer a truly global service.   The new agency will be part of Cossette’s UK network which includes, MCBD, Dare, Elvis, Spike, Identica, Band & Brown and Brando.     WWW.BRANDO-SOCIAL.COM