Another week, another post.
Its now the end of week 3, (Actually its the start of week four, I have become somewhat slack in getting these posts out in any form of timely fashion- but in my defense I have had a lot to think about.) of my stay here in Reykjavik- I can´t believe how quickly it is passing, two more weeks and I will be home, and back to normality- something I am not looking forward to!
This week has been very mixed, the weather has been awful! There has been rain, hail, sleet, ice, snow and more rain; so in terms of seeing the sights, I am afraid I have spent most evenings at home watching DVDs. Although on reflection I did sample the most amazing chicken noodle soup I have ever tasted from Noodle Station in Reykjavik 101- definitely somewhere I will be returning to and a recommendation for anyone who is planning to visit the city.
Its now the end of week 3, (Actually its the start of week four, I have become somewhat slack in getting these posts out in any form of timely fashion- but in my defense I have had a lot to think about.) of my stay here in Reykjavik- I can´t believe how quickly it is passing, two more weeks and I will be home, and back to normality- something I am not looking forward to!
This week has been very mixed, the weather has been awful! There has been rain, hail, sleet, ice, snow and more rain; so in terms of seeing the sights, I am afraid I have spent most evenings at home watching DVDs. Although on reflection I did sample the most amazing chicken noodle soup I have ever tasted from Noodle Station in Reykjavik 101- definitely somewhere I will be returning to and a recommendation for anyone who is planning to visit the city.
Yet in terms of my placement- it has definitely been the most exciting, and it is with one particular encounter in mind I shall focus my blog.
On Monday I had a meeting with an advertising agency, Islenska; which roughly translates as Icelandic Advertising Agency-´ not the most creative of names, but don´t let that fool you! Here I met with Kristjan, an Account Planner. My knowledge of advertising is fairly limited, but on looks alone the agency seamlessly fell in with all my assumptions of what it would be, minimalist in appearance, yet effortlessly stylish. I hate to judge a book by it´s cover but like I said, my knowledge of this industry is fairly sparse and heavily influenced by media representations- which didn´t seem to be too far from the mark- the staff were young, creative and right on trend.
The culture in Iceland with regards to public relations, varies from that in the UK. The industry is still in its infancy, KOM, where I am undertaking my placement celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, and is regarded as one of Iceland's oldest PR consultancies. Publics and practitioners here seem to agree that many companies are still clouded in their visions as to what PR can actually achieve for them, and while this is slowly changing, still a lot of companies perceive public relations to simply be a matter of advertising.
It was refreshing to hear though, in fact it was one of the first things Kristjan stated about Islenska was that it actively distanced itself from PR. The agency recognised the relationship PR and advertising shared, yet when it came to clients who were seeking PR the agency openly stated this was an arm it could not provide- and pointed them in the right direction.
I discovered that Islenska was the advertising agency behind the 2010 campaign Inspired by Iceland. An advertising campaign which launched in late spring 2010, to challenge the media mis-represntation that Iceland had been essentially closed off by the eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull.
It was refreshing to hear though, in fact it was one of the first things Kristjan stated about Islenska was that it actively distanced itself from PR. The agency recognised the relationship PR and advertising shared, yet when it came to clients who were seeking PR the agency openly stated this was an arm it could not provide- and pointed them in the right direction.
I discovered that Islenska was the advertising agency behind the 2010 campaign Inspired by Iceland. An advertising campaign which launched in late spring 2010, to challenge the media mis-represntation that Iceland had been essentially closed off by the eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull.
Pitched and live within 4 weeks- I was astounded at how incredibly fast this was, a factor something I had not afforded much consideration to previously; this alone was a fascinating area of ´real-life´ practice for me.
Contrary to my other meetings with various pr practitioners this campaign encompassed a range of social media platforms in order to ensure their message reached their intended audiences. This involved
• A Facebook page- I´ve come to accept as much as I personally don´t ´like´using these pages they are undeniably incredibly popular over here in Iceland.
• A Twitter Page- That was regularly updated
• A campaign specific website www.inspiredbyiceland.com
• Use of a YouTube channel- which featured a number of celebrity testimonies regarding Iceland
• Creation of a user blog station- visitors to Iceland were invited to share their experiences with fellow travellers- which aided the word of mouth factor and undoubtedly added authority to the campaign message.
• Iceland hour invited people of Iceland to send E-cards, created by Inspired by Iceland the event was held on 3 June 2010 and attracted over 100,000 website visits and over 32000 people participated in the event.
• The campaign also saw the use of live videos from around Iceland which formed banners on a number of site, users were also able to tune into these channels 24hours a day.
• A Facebook page- I´ve come to accept as much as I personally don´t ´like´using these pages they are undeniably incredibly popular over here in Iceland.
• A Twitter Page- That was regularly updated
• A campaign specific website www.inspiredbyiceland.com
• Use of a YouTube channel- which featured a number of celebrity testimonies regarding Iceland
• Creation of a user blog station- visitors to Iceland were invited to share their experiences with fellow travellers- which aided the word of mouth factor and undoubtedly added authority to the campaign message.
• Iceland hour invited people of Iceland to send E-cards, created by Inspired by Iceland the event was held on 3 June 2010 and attracted over 100,000 website visits and over 32000 people participated in the event.
• The campaign also saw the use of live videos from around Iceland which formed banners on a number of site, users were also able to tune into these channels 24hours a day.
The campaign was a huge success generating serious media attention internationally, in fact i was informed that one tweet by Stephen Fry actually generated 1.5 million website hits.
It was refreshing to see so many aspects combine and integrate to form the final piece, and the campaign evaluation -itself conducted by a PR agency showed a decline of just 2% in travel sales for the period of summer 2010.
As I mentioned it is quite rare to seen so many social media platforms being utilised in Iceland though I was told that this was more to do with the nature of the campaign- it was international, and providing a broad range of social media channels ensured that a greater number of publics were reached. Though I hope it also represents a sign of change that will take place with regards to the use of social media, and its potential capabilities here in Iceland.
Iceland is literally bursting with more energy than ever before. That’s why now isn’t a time to stay away, this is a time to get closer. Tell your story on www.InspiredByIceland.is.
No comments:
Post a Comment