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Winning Minds for Good: Why it’s time we start talking about mental health

19.04.17

Opening up in an interview with The Telegraph this week, Prince Harry became the latest public figure to speak out about their mental health experiences. After the loss of his mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales, in 1997, Prince Harry admits to “shutting down all of his emotions”.

Prince Harry’s recent appearance on Bryony Gordon’s Mad World podcast has thrust mental health back into the media spotlight. According to recent studies, mental health issues affect a large proportion of the nation. In fact, a new report from the Office of National Statistics states that up to a quarter of young women in the UK have suffered from anxiety and depression. Moreover, when it comes to talking about the issue, figures from YouGov confirm that men are less likely to discuss mental health. This is in spite of the majority (83%) finding talking about the topic helpful.

We think the Royals are doing a great job in joining the mental health conversation (Prince William has even enlisted the help of Lady Gaga via FaceTime – pretty cool). Here at NB we’ve also been thinking about how we can give back to the community. Also, more importantly, how we can use our Winning Minds for good.

To help promote the importance of positive mental health and wellbeing, we’ve created our Winning Minds for Good program. Under this initiative, we have partnered with leading mental health charity, Mind. Mind supports thousands experiencing mental health problems. It also campaigns to improve services, raise awareness and encourage social interaction around wellbeing. With its ultimate ambition being “support and respect for everyone”, Mind really values people. Therefore, it’s the perfect fit for us.

We have a wide range of initiatives lined up. This includes fundraising with our recent Grand National sweepstake. But also a hotly-anticipated Bubbles and Bingo night. We’re using our award-winning culture to raise money the fun way. We are creating a calendar of events for the year and giving all the proceeds straight back to Mind.

Keep an eye on our blog for the inside track on what we’ve got coming up!

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Life as a junior at NBU

04.05.17, by Robbie Collins

I started at Nelson Bostock about seven months ago, but want to share some thoughts for anyone who is starting out. Joining a new company is a bit of everything. It’s exciting, scary, exhilarating, fun and more. As well as learning about your new role and clients, you’ll also have to remember a seemingly endless number of names and faces. There are around 30 of us in NB. Then another 25 in Fever. But then we have a Design team, Finance and HR. It feels like a lot, but you get to know people really quickly.

What’s more, it turns out PR never rests. It’s constantly moving and doesn’t stop to let a junior PR jump on-board at a convenient juncture. Instead, you’re thrust onto a series of accounts, deep into projects, pitches and ventures that can be both exciting and demanding. Tech PR also has the added benefit of being inherently intricate and is ever-changing.

So, it’s not easy. But, no one said it would be. Here are a few specific tips from my experience of starting out as a junior in PR:

  • Say yes to stuff. What kind of stuff? A vast range, including tech innovation events, product launches, media drinks, PR networking events and more. The list goes on and on. Saying yes to these things will serve you well in three aspects 1. You’ll attend interesting events (such as awards ceremonies and tech showcase events) 2. Help and support your team 3. Develop your own profile and learn invaluable networking and time-management skills. All these things are a crucial part of PR and will help you to learn, grow and progress.
  • Use your voice. I do. Sometimes I make comments that go down really well, and other times not so well. Don’t dwell on the times it doesn’t go well – no-one is expecting lightning bolt insights which stop everyone in their tracks or strategy recommendations. And you learn by doing – if you don’t have an opinion, you’ll find it harder to learn. PR is largely about ideas and you’ll probably find a lot of yours are actually not that bad, maybe even great. Even from the smallest idea, you’ll find that you’ve helped to shape campaigns and generated a lot of buzz by being vocal and proactive. Of course, realise that there is a time and a place to use your voice but, within our office, in particular, there is a ‘winning minds’ culture which pushes us to explore ideas, experiment, and use our voices to help deliver better work.
  • Enjoy yourself. Culture is a big thing. For me, NBU is a great place with a unique culture. Relax (but also work hard) and enjoy yourself. People are a massive part of PR so be sure to get to know your new colleagues, join the football or netball team, go to brainstorms when it’s not your client involved, and enjoy the food shared around by staff returning from holiday or the local market. The company’s founders, Martin Bostock and Roger Nelson built the company around the idea that you can do your work and also enjoy it. Today this very much rings true!
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Winning minds win big

08.05.17

When La La Land took home seven six Oscars earlier this year, it was impressive, to say the least. Just being nominated for such a substantial number of Oscars is a reflection of the overall quality of the film. However, it’s also an appreciation of the diverse range of components which make up the movie. From the actors and writers to the choreographers and musicians. Being in the running for such a wide range of awards is something to celebrate. Therefore, it’s fitting to reflect on a very successful few weeks at Nelson Bostock Unlimited.

Going back to the end of March, the team began its hot-streak of nominations with the announcement that we’d made B2B marketing’s shortlist of the top three UK B2B PR agencies. That same week, we attended the PRmoment awards. Following our nomination in the Best B2B Campaign of the Year category for our ‘A Portrait of Performance’ campaign with Criteo. The campaign revealed some interesting mobile shopping insights. However, it also positioned Criteo as a champion of consumer shopping insight and resulted in some fantastic national coverage.

Shortly afterwards we were nominated at the CIPR Excellence Awards for our work with Canon on its ‘Wider Image campaign.’ The campaign sought to capture the perfect shot which would not only inspire but would also showcase the amazing technology inside Canon’s EOS 5D Mark IV. The campaign helped to highlight thought-provoking photography from seven key markets across Europe and proved a great success for Canon.

This hasn’t been the only nomination for the campaign, with the SABRE Awards also shortlisting it for Best Pan-European Programme, and Criteo’s ‘A Portrait of Performance’ is also on the illustrious shortlist.

We closed the month with a much-welcomed nomination for Best Use of Photography at the Online Media Awards. This followed some more excellent work with Canon. This time as a part of its “In Pursuit of the Shot” campaign. Reuters photojournalists, equipped with Canon’s EOS 5D Mark IV, set out to capture a truly inspirational and engaging shot.

Now, all we need to do is receive an award nomination for our blog…

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The Citymapper Smartbus

10.05.17, by Ben Cullen

How to get to and from work is a constant topic of conversation in the office. It is a tedious grind for some of us, with crowded transport and delays. Things might not yet be Southern Rail bad everywhere, but without investment and innovation, our current structure will break. Being squeezed under a stranger’s armpit on the hotter-than-hades Central Line is a shared experience most of us could do without. We could walk or cycle, but however good our intentions, we still want the quickest route possible (and that’s definitely not by walking!).

As a tech agency, we love seeing technological solutions to problems, so we’re pretty interested in Citymapper’s newly announced Smartbus. The underground network has seen plenty of investment and innovation and can expect to see more with the arrival of Crossrail, yet the humble bus has remained relatively unchanged.

The initial plan is for a green ‘smart bus’ to drive a simple circular route around Blackfriars. It might not sound very impressive but the key to this experiment is data. The bus will integrate with the Citymapper app routing and the city’s data. Eventually, this access to data means bus routes will be able to continually evolve to meet the needs of commuters while adjusting to the ebbs and flows of a modern city. Current travel apps tell commuters how best to use transportation. However, in the future, we hope that transportation will adjust to serve us in the right way.

Efforts to improve how we move around our cities can only be a good thing. A green bus driving around Blackfriars could be the first step to smarter connected cities. Cities which have transport links that can react and better serve citizens. We’re certainly excited to see how this develops, and (fingers crossed) for much simpler commutes in the future!

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Speaking Your Mind

12.05.17, By Peter Carson

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week 2017. A national campaign aimed at removing the stigma around mental health issues and encouraging people to talk about the topic. Whether it’s their own experience or to gain more understanding.

The theme of this year’s campaign, delivered by the Mental Health Foundation, is “surviving or thriving”. The campaign is designed not only to address the often unseen afflictions brought about by mental health conditions but also what it means to have good mental health. According to a recent report released by the Mental Health Foundation, only 13% of people surveyed consider themselves to be “thriving”, and a huge two-thirds of people say that they have experienced a mental health problem.

So how can things change?

Our affiliate charity, Mind, has decided to take to social media to tackle the taboo of discussing mental health issues. Sites like Facebook and Twitter serve as an unlikely setting for these conversations, given social media is often credited as having a negative impact on mental health.

In fact, the Office for National Statistics recently found that children who spend three or more hours per school day on social media sites are more than twice as likely to suffer from poor mental health. By taking the conversation online, Mind hopes to connect both sufferers and those who have overcome mental health issues in an effort to shine a light on these hidden illnesses.

Whether online or offline, the message remains the same. It’s only when we to talk about these things that we can begin to shine a light on mental health. We need to remember to follow awareness with action.

If you or someone you know could benefit from speaking to someone, here are the contact details for Mind:

Mind
15-19 Broadway, Stratford, London E15 4BQ
T: 020 8519 2122, F: 020 8522 1725
e: supporterservices@mind.org.uk

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Reporting on WannaCry

18.05.17, by Sohaib Ahmed

Reporting on cybersecurity issues is difficult. It’s technical, it’s fast-moving, there’s very little verified information, and there are hundreds of opinions all offering the same angle.

So I have some sympathy with the mainstream press when a big issue hits, like WannaCry.

Having worked with security clients for several years, we’re used to the industry, people and processes involved. But it’s fair to say that the mainstream press is not.

One of the most alarming angles from WannaCry is the doxxing of the security researcher who found a way to stop it.

I can understand it from the media’s point of view – an anonymous security researcher discovers a way to render a multinational ransomware campaign harmless. Naturally, you’d want to know who they are. But it’s not that simple.

Some security researchers have to be careful with how much information they put out. They are at the front line of stopping scams, some of which can be incredibly lucrative for the fraudsters running them. WannaCry raised around £30k in bitcoin from people paying the ransom. If you stopped someone from being able to earn that amount of money, you can imagine they’d be unhappy. Though it is worth noting that WannaCry didn’t generate as much revenue as you’d expect a scam of this size too.

Now factor in that these fraudsters don’t care about the law or harming/intimidating people and you can see why security researchers need to take precautions.

There was no way to identify the researcher from their blog, from Twitter, from the information on the web – this is a person who wants their privacy. Which is why it’s disappointing to see the extremes to which the press went to find out the researcher’s identity. This included doorstepping friends and neighbours, people who even feature in the same photo as the researcher.

And this is especially galling when you see the resulting articles. The Next Web makes several good points about the coverage – belittling the researcher’s setup and very profession. Needless details were provided. Such as the researcher’s age, photos of them with their friends and their location.

I’m left with the feeling that it’s irresponsible journalism, with nothing more in mind than a desperate race for clicks. There was no need to reveal that information about the researcher, and certainly not in that way.

And irony abounds. One of the journalists who wrote a piece unmasking the researcher has now locked their Twitter account.

Security issues will continue to be big news – that’s the reality of the world we live in today. So the media needs to learn how to cover these stories properly, or else alienate the security industry it relies upon to inform stories.

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Love letter to San Francisco

24.05.17, by Lucie Bickerdike

Earlier this month a colleague and I were lucky enough to visit San Francisco. We enjoyed a series of meetings with members of the city’s tech and PR communities.

Much has been written about Silicon Valley as a global hub for technological innovation. More tech giants than it’s possible to count have been born there; Facebook, Google, Uber, AirBnB, Snapchat… and the list goes on.

As a London-based agency specialising in helping fast-growing tech companies to build their profile in the UK and Europe, at NBU we know that the Bay Area is its own special ecosystem. It’s crucial for us to stay fully up-to-date with what’s happening in the west coast’s tech market.

We learned that while San Francisco’s 2017 investment community is excited about AI, health tech and the infrastructure behind the Internet of Things, the bubble may have burst for consumer apps. They’re asking: “Do we really need another social network or food delivery app?” As new apps continue to launch every day, it’s an interesting question to consider.

“It’s an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco.” – Oscar Wilde

Having visited San Francisco twice before I already knew it was a special place, but this time my schedule was a little more varied, so I got to see more of it. Creative thinking seems to ooze out of every building, with innovation and fresh ideas prized above all else. San Franciscans are constantly thinking, “How can we do this better?”

Arguably, the value of the UK’s Silicon Roundabout lies in the London tech community’s ability to recreate an environment that fosters that “we can do anything” mindset, coupled with a traditionally artistic locale. It’s no coincidence that the areas traditionally inhabited by artists in the likes of San Francisco, London and Berlin have become hotbeds of technological creativity (sadly, the resulting gentrification often pricing said artists out of their homes… but that’s another story).

Visiting the birthplace of so many amazing inventions reminded me exactly why I love working in tech PR, and what makes the industry so special. Thanks, San Francisco.

Love,

Lucie xx

“I never dreamed I’d like any city as well as London. San Francisco is exciting, moody, exhilarating. I even love the muted fogs.” – Julie Christie

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48 hours at Cannes Lions

Sinead O’Connor, 29.06.17 

Last week, I headed to the French Riviera for the Cannes Lions 2017. Except for ending up at Gutter Bar (if you know, you know) until 3 am with some of the industry’s finest, I got a lot out of just 48 hours at the world’s biggest and best festival of creativity.

Here’s a couple of takeaways.

PR is finally being represented

On Monday, PR Week published a piece entitled ‘This is the time for PR to shine’. This article noted that this year changes had been made to the Cannes Lions awards process. A revised definition of PR meant that our ‘corner of the industry’ has been better represented. ‘Fearless Girl’ is a prime example of this. Winning the Grand Prix award, the in-house PR team at State Street was congratulated for the comms strategy around the Wall Street-defying artwork on International Women’s Day.

However, according to PR Week, just seven of the 100 Lions awards had a PR agency listed as the entrant/credited with “idea creation”. Ad agencies are still dominating.

So what can we do about this? As an industry, we need to continue to challenge clients to drive creativity. We must ensure PR is at the forefront of integrated campaigns.

Last year we worked with Reuters on a campaign for Canon. The Commercial Director there speaks of a change in the way that briefs are coming over to them. He was open that he’d made an assumption in the early days of us working together. He thought I was calling from an ad agency as, typically, campaigns of this nature would not have come via PR. Reuters says that piece of work was the most successful campaign they ran last year. This proves that there is a place for PR at the table.

Diversity remains a big talking point

Cannes 2016 was all about diversity in the workplace. It explored how we can ensure a better representation of women and ethnic groups in our industry. This year, unsurprisingly it’s still a key trend. We were never going to solve the problem in a year after all. However, it’s good to see a shift in the way that brands talk about diversity. Global organisations are making open, public commitments to solving the problem, backed by tangible results.

I went to a great panel session, hosted by Teads, on the topic.

One of the panellists was Matt Derella from Twitter. He said the company won’t allow any of its employees to sit on a panel if all the other panellists are men. Jacki Kelly, the COO at Bloomberg Media spoke about the launch of the Gender Equality Index and the ‘Walk the Talk’  CEO interviews. These interviews discuss what business leaders are doing to solve the gender pay gap.

At the session, She Runs It presented some research in partnership with LinkedIn and EY. It found that a slim number of senior women in the industry make it to the C-Suite. I was saddened by this, but not surprised. Like many, my initial reaction to conversations around women not being on boards was to blame focusing on family over career. However, the research proved me – and many others – wrong. The biggest reason women don’t make it to the C-Suite is endorsements. Men more aggressively network and are better at recommending each other. At the same time, women are less likely to promote themselves and, importantly, each other in the workplace. Of course, you have to take it with a pinch of salt, given LinkedIn was the proxy for the research. But you can’t argue with the numbers.

“A woman asking another woman for help is the same as a man asking for directions”, said one panellist.

I like to think that I already work in an environment where women champion each other. But it’s given me food for thought about what else we can be doing. Particularly to support the more junior women in the team.

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The Art of Screen Printing

It’s been gorgeous weather lately, which gives everyone even more reason to be out and about. In June, our Studio team has been busy as ever, not just enjoying the sun with the rest of us, but exploring creative workshops and discovering new exhibitions to go to.

Here’s what Michèle has been doing…

I’ll be honest, screen printing isn’t something I have been able to do in my time as a designer! So when I heard about a screen printing workshop in Dalston, I was excited. Before attending we had some homework – I had to choose an illustration or image to screen print. It might sound easy, but it’s not. I had little screen printing knowledge but wanted to choose the right image for the print to ensure the highest quality result. At the workshop, I was able to choose a suitable final image from my pre-selection of what felt like thousands. The image was turned black and white and burned onto a screen for printing. 

Then we were taught about the history of screen printing, how it works, the different screens and methods of printing on different materials. We also saw some examples of good and bad examples of screen prints. A number of young people were working on professional screen print projects during our workshop. It was fascinating to see. It’s not often you get to see professionals working on live projects as you sit there learning!

After running through the process and seeing it in action, we got our own screens ready. We went into a dark room lit with a red bulb to add emulsion to our screens. This what your artwork gets burned into once the emulsion dries. We set up the screens on tables, kept in place with clamps, to push the paint through onto the paper. We used the same screen over and over again until the project was done.

It was a great day in a fun environment, and I was able to take six prints home as a memento of the day – have a look at my screen print on our Studio Instagram page @our_studiogram. By doing the workshop I can now go on to become a member of Print Club London, and I have another tool in the box when it comes to design ideas now – I’m looking forward to speaking to clients about how screen printing can be used in their design work!

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Canon does grime – a look at our Wider Image campaign

This week we unveiled Canon’s exciting new urban art exhibition at London’s Pop Brixton. This was part of a Europe-wide initiative that highlights the importance of photojournalism in storytelling.

The exhibition, part of our Wider Image campaign, champions photojournalists who play a vital role in our society. Subsequently, it featured images from award-winning photojournalist Paul Hackett, best known for capturing some of the UK’s most important breaking stories. Paul’s latest images capture the trials and tribulations of Grime artists. A genre that has been experiencing a massive break out period following Skepta’s Mercury Prize win last year. He worked with up-and-coming Grime artists from across East London, telling their individual, and sometimes unexpected, stories.

The final show in a series from seven award-winning European Reuters photojournalists, Paul’s powerful imagery was juxtaposed with Pop Brixton’s unique architecture. From its shipping containers to concrete arches and staircases. Some of the artists featured in Paul’s images were in attendance. The Collective and Slew Dem Crew came in full force. They were ready to spit bars and show the show’s attendees what Grime is all about. The crowd didn’t look like one for a Grime gig. However, they were hugely impressed.

The event earned coverage from photography, listings, regional and national outlets. It also generated broadcast coverage on London Live. On a personal note, this has been my first campaign with NB and I couldn’t have asked for a better project or team to work with. It was a fantastic learning experience. It gave me media, event and networking practice and helped me overcome my phobia of phone calls. Two days of pitching the media on the phone was the perfect therapy! After the excitement of this campaign, I can’t wait to get started on the next.