Category: Uncategorized

Sugar we’re goin’ down (week 2)

Post author By NB Team
Post date 13 July 2015

Today marks the start of the second week of Marc, Laura and Sohaib’s no sugar experiment.

The first week was certainly a challenge. There were several birthdays in the office, which took colossal willpower to sing for without then indulging in cake as a reward.

The trio can regularly be seen in the afternoon tucking into healthy snacks – today the treats included carrot sticks, bread sticks, 100% natural peanut butter, NAKD bars and more.

They very strongly urge you to lower your ambition if you’re thinking of doing the same, and not starting with 100% chocolate. If you do have it, nibble.

This week sees more deliciousness cut out, with honey and condiments falling by the wayside.

So how does the Sugarhill Gang feel? Well, not much different yet. All of them are a lot more conscious of what they’re eating and that can only be a good thing. Impressively, their resolve is unbroken despite extreme provocation (Fi baked and brought in a Mississippi Mud Pie today) and they’re still trying to see how far into the eight-week course they can manage.

Tags NoSugar

News Uncategorized

The party’s in the (Ideas) Kitchen

Post author By NB Team
Post date 16 July 2015

How can PR support lead generation? That was the thorny issue up for debate at PRMoment’s first ever Ideas Kitchen event, which we were excited to host at our Soho offices last night.

In a relaxed and informal setting, the Ideas Kitchen brings together a small group of senior communications professionals to discuss challenges facing the PR profession today. Talks from Joe Hanley, VP Communications & Brand Experience at IBM and our very own MD Nick Clark, helped spark lively debate around the role PR plays in the sales cycle.

Comms heads from brands including Capgemini, Santander, InterLaw and Tata Consultancy Services chatted about issues including ownership of conversations with consumers and B2B buyers, ‘content shock’ and the role of PR in content marketing, along with the complexity of evaluation in a complicated stakeholder landscape.

Ultimately, everyone agreed that while PR’s role can vary massively depending on factors as diverse as a company’s specific route to market, its target audience and internal reporting pressures, PR professionals provide essential guidance on all stakeholder conversations directly linked to sales.

A huge thank you to PRMoment for hosting the discussion, and to everyone who came along to share their views – here’s to the next one!

Tags IdeasKitchen, PRMoment

News Uncategorized

Don’t make me think

Post author By NB Team
Post date 24 July 2015

Today we have a guest post from Rachael, one of our amazing design team.

As a designer who thrives on website design, I stumbled across (on the internet, obviously) a book called: ‘Don’t make me think.’ Ironically enough, it got me thinking…

We are more partial to a slightly longer ‘look’ at our phones or tablets than some of us like to admit. The constant scrolling on Facebook (other social media platforms are available) that keeps us guessing as to where, and what, our ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ are up too. The wonderful, vibrant lives we all seem to lead, through Instagram, with various filters over what was probably a bland image.

I am aware I am starting to sound pessimistic (I’m not; I love Instagram!) However, I have engaged in several conversations, with numerous people of various ages, about how addictive these platforms become; the time spent whilst zombie-fied staring at a small screen. It has become a way of life; downtime whilst sitting on a train, or a method of procrastination.

Personally, I found myself with these exact thoughts, and the feeling of irritation once I had wasted an hour when I had other things I needed to do, or could have done. Although, is that what we need? With busy lives, and limited time, downtime and relaxation are pretty vital. We need to not think. To switch off (by switching on).

The curiosity of how others lead their lives is a constant pulling factor of most users. However, is it because it is made so easy we find ourselves using it as a time-filler whenever we want/need one…

Undeniably, the design of these platforms contributes to the phenomenon they have become. Through the interest of content, many of us, even designers, do not recognise the brilliance of the design. Is it designed to make us think, or make us do? Granted, we spend a lot of time on these platforms, and could probably use them in our sleep, but fundamentally the usability is simple.

Think back 15 years… computers and the web were surfacing and parents would say “I don’t know how to use that thing.” Which, they didn’t. But now, the usability-evolution has seen Grannies Facetiming and Mums checking where and what their teenagers are up too (providing their friend request was confirmed.)

As a designer, I am biased, yes. I have become more increasingly aware of good and bad websites, and what problem-solving-design could be done to make the usability, interaction and architecture desirable. This is what makes a good web space. Steve Kruger, the author of ‘Don’t make me think,’ refers to website design to a game of golf; “a handful of ways to get the ball in the hole, a million ways not to.”

I am excited about what the web and design has to offer for the future. As a designer who’s part of NBGU, we are all working on contributing and shaping desirable web presence. I hope (designer or not) that this post has made you think about what represents good usability design, with an insight into the thought behind what eventually needs to be simple.

Tags Design

News no-image Uncategorized

AI and weapons

Post author By NB Team
Post date 28 July 2015

This week some of the brightest minds of our time, including Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, signed a letter stating their opposition to the use of Artificial Intelligence based weapons.

It’s next to impossible to argue that computers haven’t improved our lives. Robotic surgeons could help to save millions more lives, for example, and it’s difficult to argue that the Internet is a bad thing, surely?

But, where do we draw the line?

It comes down to a question of ethics, and that’s not just for weapons, but for every single industry. Even something as supposedly innocent as search engine results could be misused. Weapons are a much more obvious point of controversy because of the potential impact.

The point of a weapon is, at best, to do damage. There’s no positive outcome for the person it’s being used against. That’s why each and every use should have a conscience behind it. A computer program, no matter how complex, is simply working through a series of commands at lightning speed. There is no thought, no instinct, no emotion.

Arguably, there are already AI assisted weapons out there and this is simply a natural extension. A current example is drones. For reconnaissance, some are fully automated, flying set patterns to take photos. For combat however, there is a ‘pilot’ sitting at a computer screen, taking a decision about when to fire. Even this is controversial enough as it creates a sense of disconnection from reality – the setup is alarmingly like a videogame, almost like Ender’s Game, where it’s possible to remove oneself from the impact of your decision.

The danger is that we would take crucial decision making out of our own hands. We would become desensitised, and come to think of life-ending choices as trivial – simply switch off the screen and it no longer exists. It’s not your decision, and therefore not your responsibility. And that’s not even entering the difficulty of coding – how can you create a completely foolproof set of code that encapsulates the complexity of this kind of decision making?

We’ll undoubtedly continue to see incredible advances in technology over the coming years. In a decade we’ll look back and wonder how society managed with such rudimentary technology. But we can only hope we’ll never see a day when there are computers making military-related life and death decisions.

3 laws safe!

News Uncategorized

What’s in a name?

Post author By NB Team
Post date 17 August 2015

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) isn’t exactly a sexy brand name which grabs your attention, so it has to get creative to secure coverage. That’s why we’re big fans of its work today – an ingenious use of data to create a clever campaign from something as simple as baby names.

The ONS released a report today on the most popular baby names of 2014 and while these lists usually secure coverage in the nationals and parenting blogs, the ONS tapped into wider pop culture to great effect.

Instead of the standard names list, the ONS focused on big TV shows and looked at how they’ve influenced people, with names from Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey and even Frozen popping up. This was complemented by some well-designed graphics, which were widely shared with the key stats.

In 2014, 244 girls were named Arya, and the X-Men effect continued as 2,813 boys were named Logan – after Wolverine himself.

The ONS report was not only covered in the nationals, but is also doing the rounds on entertainment titles, as well as featuring on WIRED and Mashable, and being shared across Twitter and Facebook.

It’s a fun twist on a standard story and the ONS has been able to generate fantastic coverage from something as simple as a name.

Tags PR, ThingsWeLike

News Uncategorized

ASA rules on working with vloggers

Post author By NB Team
Post date 19 August 2015

Today we’ve got a guest post from Lucy, senior account director with our brilliant digital team, Things Unlimited, about the new rules for working with vloggers.

I like to set my alarm to wake me up to Radio 4’s Today programme. Most days I don’t really take in the morning’s news but I feel like it does me good to be absorbing news while I come to life. Today, I came to much quicker than usual when I realised that John Humphries was talking about the UK Advertising Watchdog guidelines for Vloggers, a ruling which has been a long time coming and will hugely affect the way social agencies, PR agencies, marketing and advertising agencies all over the UK will work with influencers. The ruling states that any content which has been paid for must be clearly signposted as such.

To say that the guidelines on how to work with vloggers and influencers has been a grey area for some time would be to understate it. The golden rule of social marketing has always been to be as transparent and clear as possible, and this ruling will be a relief to marketers and vloggers alike. The Guardian coverage of the news states that the ‘ASA is keen to clarify the rules as the market takes off’; for those of us working in this space, to state that the market is just taking off seems a bit awry but the fact that this is now national news demonstrates the importance of this transparency being introduced both for consumers and marketers alike.

The guidelines come off the back of the ASA’s ruling against Mondelez in November banning the Oreo content created by Dan and Phil which caused confusion as, in spite of the ‘thanks to Oreo’ messages in the content, the commercial intent was not “made clear before the viewers engaged with the content”; and in response to feedback from vloggers as to the lack of clarity in commercial relationships with brands.

Put simply, the rules state that ads must be obviously identifiable as such. The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) have now outlined clear guidance for vloggers (and brands!) which define eight different scenarios and how vloggers should deal with them – this outlines everything from free items (the backbone of PR ‘gifting’) to product placement and online marketing (both for vloggers’ and brand owned channels). Most interestingly, now vloggers will have to stipulate where their own content promotes their own merchandise or product.

The ASA intends to distribute the new guidelines with advertising trade bodies including the IPA, IAB and ISBA; in addition to this, the ASA will also reach out to PR trade bodies, a sector with which it has not previously worked very closely, and which demonstrates the absolute clarity of this ruling. (Read: any agencies/brands getting this wrong will be breaking the rules, and potentially the law too).

For vloggers, the clarity which now exists should enable them to re-establish their authenticity which is crucial to their success; and for brands, there is now the clearest of lines in the sand which should mark the end of shonky product placement and weird, unannounced brand partnerships. Vloggers and bloggers are still publishers and a decision to enter a commercial relationship with a brand is an independent decision made by that blogger: the ASA guidelines do not regulate editorial opinion so the need for authentic and credible partnerships will be greater than ever.

Tags PR, social, vloggers, YouTube

News Uncategorized

Privacy and tech

Post author By NB Team
Post date 21 August 2015

This week has been action packed with privacy-related stories, there’s a summary below. It’s a bit of a funny one for us as we’ve been aware of Internet-related privacy issues for a long time now, banging the drum for at least three years across various accounts. Anecdotally, we can tell you how some people simply didn’t care to hear about it all that time ago. Now it’s firmly in the mainstream, every day there’s another data leak or vulnerability discovered. Our recommendation? Use encrypted services, and don’t use the same email address or password for everything.

Here’s what happened this week:

The biggest story of the week has been the Ashley Madison data dump. The infamous website was hacked and select data has been published in the public domain, prompting press to sift through it at a rapid rate. But here’s the big question about the data dump – just because we have access to it, should we go through it? Not many stopped to ask that question, breathlessly writing about how the .gov.uk domain was used by some people signing up to the website.

Which led to a second problem, Ashley Madison didn’t verify email addresses, so it’s actually possible to use a throwaway or even the email address of someone you don’t like. SNP MP Michelle Thomson was forced to issue a denial and former PM, Tony Blair even featured. Underlining the problem though, was the fact Blair’s email address was for a Labour party domain that doesn’t exist.

The more serious side was a Reddit post, claiming to be from a gay man living in a Middle East country which outlaws homosexuality. The very real danger being that if identified, he could be subject to “stoning, beheading, or (most likely) flogging and imprisonment.”

The ever considered security expert Brian Krebs urged caution in reporting, and Tom Fox-Brewster revisited comments made by maverick security innovator John McAfee.

Spotify updated its Terms and Conditions to access more personal data from users. The reaction from press has been pretty negative so far. Some of the changes were fairly innocuous and in-line with other apps, but at the same time it’s fair to ask why a music app needs access to your photos (it’s actually for avatars, but the wording makes it sound much worse). Not-so-recent, but also worth noting how the authorities are adapting to the plethora of personal data captured by apps – Spotify was used to help track down a fugitive in July, who had been on the run for seven months. A search warrant was used to secure data from technology companies, and that in turn helped to discover the location of the IP address being used.

Elsewhere, Buzzfeed landed itself in hot water by publishing a piece on “hot teachers” (the only time you’ll ever click on a link for those words and it’ll be SFW) using creepshots – photos taken without the subject’s permission. These creepshots are all in the classroom as well, making it even more contentious. The comments on the article itself are polarised, with people divided between saying it’s gender equality and others citing privacy issues. The New Statesman managed to secure comment from one of the teachers involved.

Loosely related, how ridiculously bad are the stock images for “encryption” or “privacy”?!

Tags PR, Privacy

News Uncategorized

Summer reads

Post author By NB Team
Post date 25 August 2015

We’ve had some fantastic Summer reads and thought it only fair that we share our suggestions and reviews in time for World Literacy Day. There’s drama, history, literary greats and even some questionable sleuthing.

Read on for our addictive page turners – as well as the books we’ll be donating to the local charity shop.

Fiona A: I really enjoyed A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. It’s a ‘companion’ novel to Life After Life, rather than a sequel, and it covers the story of the whole life of a guy called Teddy – his childhood, his experiences as a fighter pilot in WW2 and his slightly dysfunctional family life thereafter. It’s really gripping and is a good mix of focusing on action and an interesting study of family relationships.

Laura W-O: The Martian was good, as was Ready Player One. The Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker. Overlooking a few (many) flaws in the plot, story-telling and themes of the book, it’s a good page-turner with a fair attempt at humour amidst the cartoonish characters. The book is entertaining and colourful yet somewhat shallow, it fails to really grip the imagination as you’d like with a murder-mystery but nevertheless, for a cheap whodunit, it’s not all that bad.

Alice: I’m currently reading The Children’s Book by A.S Byatt, it’s very long and literary but I love the lyrical language.

Sohaib: The Elon Musk book is essential reading for anyone who likes tech – it’s fascinating to see how he built his companies, and continues to drive innovation. I also read the Harry Quebert Affair, having been recommended it by Laura. I finished it part-way through a long flight, and spent the next six hours seething. At first I thought it was an enjoyable page-turner, but I couldn’t get past the sheer lack of depth and the reveals which came absolutely out of no-where. I don’t care if this is a spoiler – the entire crime could have been solved early on but for an arbitrary decision to not do some very basic research. If you like mystery/thrillers, read something else like I Am Pilgrim.

Lana: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Ker tells the true story of a Jewish family’s flight from Germany during the rise of Nazism in the early 1930s. Told through the eyes of 9 year old Anna, we learn what it was like for a young refugee at that time, and, what you would expect to be a woeful tale is surprisingly full of love, hope and positivity.

Harriet: I recently read, and loved, I Am Pilgrim – I’d even go as far as saying it was one of the most enjoyable spy thrillers I’ve read. Based on Pilgrim’s quest to stop Saracen’s catastrophic plan to destroy the world, the story is full of plot strands and twists as you travel everywhere from the White House to Turkey to Syria. Let’s just say that when it was over I had a Pilgrim shaped hole to fill.

Melissa: I loved Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time which explored the themes of elephant behaviour and human loss, intertwined through a gripping crime story. It was one of the only books I read this summer with an ending I really didn’t see coming.

Dave: While in South America I read:

– 100 years of solitude by Gabriel García Márquez so that I was reading something Colombian in Colombia

– Alan Partridge’s autobiography – I, Partridge

– And War and Peace – I looked really weird reading War and Peace on a beach I can assure you – it also took up a lot of space in my bag….

Will: I haven’t read it yet but looks like a must read: http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21660502-grand-and-lumbering-novel-twitter-generation-searching-and-slouching?frsc=dg%7Cc

Tags Books, Culture

News Uncategorized

Just you and 999,999,999 others – Facebook hits one billion

Post author By NB Team
Post date 28 August 2015

The lovely Scarlett, here on work experience, has written a guest post for us about Facebook’s latest landmark…

This week, Facebook announced that a whopping 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook in just one day. To save you from the maths, that means a colossal one billion people went on Facebook on Monday 24^th August 2015.

Although this massive figure may come to quite a shock for some people, Facebook itself wasn’t surprised at all. Facebook has been growing steadily, adding a host of new services, and in the second quarter of 2015, it averaged 968 million daily active users. There are 844 million daily active mobile users -not to be sneezed at! – so if you know anyone who still thinks mobile isn’t the future, you have some more hard facts to prove them wrong.

The question is, what were the other 6 people doing? Physically tagging people? Actually poking people? Well, we hope not, but you get the picture.

Tags Facebook