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Under Strict Embargo has a new home over at  http://understrictembargo.com/ so please update your RSS feeds. If you have been kind enough to include me in your blogrolls it would be great if you could update your links to the site.

So, are great PR people born or are they made? At Diffusion we think it’s definitely a bit of both. The PR industry is home to a diverse mix of personalities rather than an overriding stereotype and as an agency we don’t believe in creating a team of clones who all dress, talk and think the same. The ability to apply multiple skill sets, view points and intellectual approaches to solving our client’s communication challenges, is just one of the things which sets us apart. That said, there are critical traits which we believe all great PR people possess and which you will need to demonstrate to gain a place on our diffusionGRADS programme. More...

Best wishes for a very happy holiday and an amazing 2009! Big thanks to everyone for reading and contributing to my blog this year. Click below to see the Diffusion PR Christmas card :-)

With a new year ahead of you it’s perfectly natural to be contemplating whether you are in the right job.  Are you working for clients you love in a culture that is constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries of PR? Is your career where you want to it to be and can you see a clear path to promotion ahead of you? Is your employer investing in you to make sure you have the digital communication skills which are essential for effective PR today?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, perhaps now’s the time to see what fresh opportunities are out there for you? Here at Diffusion, we are looking for another Senior Campaign Executive to join our seven-strong team in early 2009.  After 18-months in PR, you will have a Blackberry bursting with media contacts across the digital media, marketing, technology and national press. More...

Being both a politics and digital PR junkie I’ve been rather spoiled and completely fascinated by the US Presidential elections. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to record a video podcast for PR Week on both my favourite topics last week, which you can watch here. I think it’s fair to say that we are witnessing the first Social Media Election, where online platforms have become more than just channels for raising money but central to campaign strategy for both the McCain and Obama camps.

While the US elections have no doubt showcased the scale of what the web can achieve, there is still so much more that could be done in terms of sophistication. More...

“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself” were the reassuring words of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 as the US faced the realities of the Great Depression. This week our own political leaders have been trying their best to reassure the financial markets and assuage the fears of ordinary voters worried about their jobs, homes, savings and pensions.

To help get his message across Gordon Brown on Thursday launched the first in a new series of podcasts on the economic crisis - the first discussing the government’s rescue of the British banking sector.  Hosted on the new Number 10 website and on iTunes, the podcasts are part of a concerted strategy to communicate government policy directly to voters, bypassing what remains a largely hostile media. More...

I was asked to contribute to a fascinating article in the National Journal, a leading US political magazine, on Friday in response to the initially surprising news that John McCain is actually outspending Barack Obama on Google. Figures released by Nielsen Online show that McCain’s campaign purchased just over 7 million impressions via Google AdWords in June, compared to just over 1 million for Obama.

However, the really interesting stats are for spend on traditional banner advertising, where Obama is trouncing McCain. Obama invested in over 80 million impressions compared to just 16 million for McCain. More...

At Diffusion we naturally believe that Public Relations offers one of the most stimulating, rewarding and intellectually challenging career choices for graduates.  We’ll be opening applications for our 2009 Graduate Programme in December, but due to impressive client growth we have an opportunity for two exceptional graduates to join the Diffusion team this September.

So what are we looking for? Well we’re not ashamed to say our standards are very high - you will need a First or 2:1 degree from a leading University. What’s more important than what you studied is a genuine interest in communication. More...

 

 

 

It’s good to see that the Twitter effect is not stifling the supply of new PR blogs, with my old boss Brendon Craigie embracing this Social Media malarkey with the Weekly World View.

I have to say that I agree with Brendon’s view of the currently non-existent tech PR recession. As he points out the Social Media bubble has proven to be anything but and nimble, hungry and experienced agencies in this space are certainly in a position to make the most of it.

It would of course be naive to assume that there will not be an eventual PR recession. Friends working in IT sales are reporting both small investments as well as £multi-million infrastructure projects being mothballed by clients, especially those in the financial services sector. More...

So I was asked by PR Week on Monday for my views on Gordon Brown’s Ask the PM initiative on YouTube. This was the latest foray into the online world by Downing Street, following its recent embrace of Twitter. My assessment that Ask the PM “smacks of gimmickry and desperation” led the article and there was a clear consensus from other industry commentators, that this project was a typical case of ‘too little, too late’.

I had a couple of interesting conversations on Friday in response to the piece. These boiled down to the argument that as a Social Media evangelist I should have welcomed the initiative, however imperfect, as a step in the right direction. More...