Ogilvy’s chefs went into canape-making overdrive last Tuesday when Ogilvy PR hosted PRMoment’s Social Media Beyond Borders conference for London’s PR and marketing folk, chaired by James Russell, Public Relations Director for Experian.
The hum of conversation from Ogilvy’s in house bar next door was a fitting background as the speakers discussed what gets people talking online today. The theme running the presentations was how local differences can affect how we work with global media platforms.
Our very own Michael Darragh, Head of 360° Digital Influence, used his globetrotting career from Australia to London via China and Barcelona to give us a potted evolution of digital media worldwide. He reminded us not to forget about the humble online forum – still the social web’s most popular platform – and gave us a birds-eye view of the social media scene in China.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are off-limits, but that doesn’t stop China’s exuberant, irreverent young internet users from regularly making national heroes out of completely ordinary people – such as the chubby-faced schoolboy (“Little Fatty”) whose bemused photo at a school event was shared by millions and helped him become an internet entrepreneur in his own right.
Working with local heroes and international obsessions were key to the success of Sony’s Twilight Football campaign, which Nick Sharples, Director of Corporate Comms for Sony Europe presented. The campaign launched a new camera – specially created for low light – with a unique event that saw seven football matches played around the world at twilight over 24 hours. To take part, men in different markets were asked to combine their twin loves of gadgetry and footy by uploading video entries, and then drumming up support for their entries, with local print and online media getting behind the cause.
Philip Young, Senior Lecturer in PR and Media Ethics at the University of Sunderland talked about the nature of friendship and how new technology has enabled us to make friends and form communities with people who really share our interests, and how the deeper these interests are, the closer the community will be. (A seemingly simple point, but one that might pass the eager marketing manager by). But while our interests can cross borders, our languages travel less well – Philip gave the example of a Swedish friend who caused mayhem by suggesting “juggling ideas” to a group of Danes, for whom the word means something very different. Perhaps at the next event we’ll find out what…
To watch highlights of the event, please watch our video:
