Social Lovin For Valentines Day

There have been a lot of fun social media campaigns recently that tied in with valentines day including:

• asos' most-loved campaign where consumers could win their most loved asos item every hour on valentines day
• Anchor's 'every flirt deserves a squirt' campaign - a Facebook game in which fans are challenged to lick cream off a model of their choice in return for vouchers

I however particularly Loved this - a digital/social media campaign to reunite one of American’s most famous couples — Barbie and Ken.

Since their controversial split on Valentine’s Day seven years ago, the two plastic celebs led separate, but successful, doll lives.

The campaign, which marked Ken’s 50th anniversary came just in time for the release of 'Sweet Talkin’ Ken' which is described as the ultimate boyfriend because he says whatever you want him to say!

Like the campaign's solid engagement strategy which centred around barbieandken.com where users voted on whether Barbie should “take Ken back” or not and was seeded through Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and YouTube to get the message out.

Is there such a thing as PR anymore dahlink?

So much more than PR
Times they are a changing… if you asked me a few years ago what I did for a living. I would have said I’m in PR. Ask me today and you’ll get a different answer.

So what do I do today? I work in communications.

It’s not just the old PR vs. marketing debate but with online/digital having entered the arena I believe that for quite some time now there is a bigger, better industry that has been bubbling away, growing and refining itself. Yes – communications. Forgive me if I am stating the obvious but have talked about this at length with colleagues and other industry professionals and I don’t know that everyone can see it as clearly as maybe I do. I suppose it’s a bit like the EU debate. Some want to be part of it (and are), some will not and still see themselves as individual member states and others will be in it to make the most of the benefits.

Integration and understanding are key
Ultimately for me communications is about understanding and engaging with people in the most appropriate way and thus finding the right solution for the client. Many people are still trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and it’s not just wrong in an ethical sense but it’s a big waste of time for everyone involved. People who do this are just setting themselves up for a big #FAIL.

Don’t get me wrong, I think there will always be a need for expertise in different areas of the traditional marketing mix, however I think that the future holds integration and collaboration for PRs and marketers, a place where people allow themselves to see the bigger picture, doing away with tunnel vision and having the courage to admit that there is not always one solution.

So do you see yourself as a member state or will you embrace integration?