Welcome to the Escape Blog

On Tuesday, Claire and I went on a Wildfire field trip. With the wide-eyed wonder of the little PRs that we are, we spent the morning exploring the halls of a national newspaper. We took in the sites and sounds of the busy newsroom, and, overwhelmed with curiosity, we bombarded our journalist host with all the questions we had always wanted to ask about the inside workings of a national paper.

We talked about the best way to secure coverage in the national papers, ways PR can make it easier for journalists and the process an article goes through between the editor and journalist. One of the biggest reoccurring themes we discussed was the changes and effects the internet has had and will have on newspapers, specifically paid content.

In a recent blog, Danny wrote about the Harris Interactive survey for Paid:Content UK that found that “if their favourite news site begins charging for access to content, three quarters of people would simply switch to an alternative free news source”. And a new survey from Lightspeed Research and The Global Web Index found similar results, that nine in 10 UK consumers would never pay for news stories online, regardless of how cheap it was.

So, things are not looking good for the online newspaper sites that are considering charging for content. But what about the Sunday paper’s content?

Our journalist host’s opinion was that news is broken in the dailies and this is the type of news people could find free elsewhere online, from sites like the BBC, if a newspaper website started charging. But the Sundays offer something beyond just news, they have news analysis, opinion articles, in-depth reviews, thorough travel stories and the longer investigative articles. This is the type of content that people could not find anywhere else and if any content has a chance as pay-per-view online, it would be the Sundays.

What do you think? Would you pay online to view the unique content that the Sunday papers offer or is even that not enough to get you to open your wallet?
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In the age of digital media, when brand reputations are made and broken so fast, it is always great to see that some brands truly do care and still try to reach out to their customers. Case in point: Overstock.com, an online retailer of brand-name merchandise, recently launched in the UK.

Not too long ago, a Guardian tech journalist has used Twitter to ask for recommendations on the best websites selling luxury goods. Using the same micro-blogging website, I replied to her that Overstock.com was one of my favourite websites for shopping.

A few days later, I receive the following message from the company:

overstockdotcom @GabiWarren Thanks for recommending us! We really appreciate it.

Very simple and not incredibly time consuming. However, such a message is incredibly powerful. So powerful that I felt compelled to blog about it.

This occurrence has a lesson within it, which is: It is becoming very easy for brands to find out exactly who their customers are, and what they are up to, and better yet to communicate directly with them. Brands that choose to ignore social media do so at their own peril, as people are increasingly looking for this direct, easy and informal communication from brands. They want to feel special, and know that they are valued as a customer.

A new Ofcom report reveals that the UK is leading the way in the take-up of digital services including broadband, digital TV and mobile.

The UK now has the highest rate of online ad spend (19%) and is the third ranking country for broadband connections (26%) behind the Netherlands and Sweden.

Writing for the Guardian, Charles Arthur argues that despite this rosy picture, our future will be less positive unless we find a way to quickly upgrade our ailing telephone system, bringing speeds of nearly 100Mb/s. Speeds that would radically change the way we work and play:

It means that you wouldn’t have to travel so much. And in a world – which is coming, never doubt it – where oil costs $300 per barrel, not travelling will seem like a good idea. It will mean that anything that doesn’t require actual atoms to be moved around will become possible.

But as Charles says, who is going to pay for this?

I’ve said before that as a country, we are in danger of lagging behind. At a time when economic considerations might make thoughts about upgrading internet connections seem slightly irrelevant, we would do well to consider how even better and faster broadband connections could really change the way the country operates and communciates, building a stronger economy and global position.

This blog has been living for two months and there has yet to be a ‘top xx’ list! Well, that will be remedied today with our look at the top online locations to follow the US election.

This follows an earlier post looking at how technological developments have influenced the election so far (and it is also a nice, fun inclusion for our October email newsletter, which you can subscribe to by emailing us!).

So here goes, in reverse order:

5) Traditional media (online) – It is no surprise that media outlets around the globe are rushing to provide 24-hour online coverage of the US election.  State-side, USA Today – America’s most widely read paper, has a great interactive map for those that want to check where exactly Idaho is, and Murdoch’s New York Post gives a slightly different perspective! Back at home, the Guardian leads the way with a detailed microsite covering everything from news and video to weather reports and a poll tracker. As ever, the BBC does a solid job of giving you everything you could possibly need.

4) New media – There is developing a new brand of online professional journalism that falls someway between the old media organisations, aiming to stamp their mark on the web, and the ‘amateur-blogger’ types. These so-called ‘professional blog networks’ are appearing all over the place. The best known (especially in the US) is the Huffington Post (which incidentally alone ranks above 11 US newspaper websites), where you can find tonnes of comment and commentary on what is going on. Another one to check out is Politico, which has really taken off through the duration of this election campaign.

3) YouTube – The popular video site remains the place to go for all your election video needs. McCain and Obama obviously have their own channels, but you can also pick up a selection of media outlets and their offerings not to mention the array of viral videos that the candidates would rather you didn’t see!

2) Bloggers – Understandably the blogosphere is all-over the election. Blogs range from journalists following the candidates and their every move, to supporters on both sides aiming to tell the world their latest thoughts and comments. And of course the candidates themselves: Obama and McCain. Potentially the most interesting blog out there, is John McCain’s own daughter, Meghan, and her blog: McCain Blogette!

and the winner is…

1) Twitter – of course! The election looks as though it will be the event that starts to bring Twitter to the masses in the US (we are still a bit further behind over here). Twitter has launched a great election microsite where you can see up-to-date ‘tweets’ on the election in real-time. Expect this to be buzzing as the results roll in. It’s worth following during the debates too! Of course the candidates (@McCain/@Obama) have their own feeds and so does the media (@GuardianUS08, @ElectionExpress and @Reuters_Trail08).

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As we slowly/finally build up to a climax in the US presidential elections, it’s really interesting to look at a number of new online developments that are changing the way the two candidates and the media communicate, inform and persuade voters.

Barack Obama, for example, has today launched an application for the iPhone that allows you to “tap your iPhone’s existing address book in order to prioritize your contacts ‘by key battleground states’, presumably so that you’ll call them up to persuade them to vote Obama.”

This innovative (if slightly scary) development follows what has already been a political and ideological war fought as much online as it has been offline.

In addition to the iPhone app, we have already seen campaign microsites (Obama/McCain), Twitter feeds (McCain/Obama), YouTube channels (Obama/McCain), Facebook groups (Obama) and the list goes on.

Of course there is a downside (for the candidates) to all this online democratisation as well, with every single gaff being taken up even more quickly in a splurge of viral activity.

The media and the ’social’ media has been quick to jump on the bandwagon. CNN in the US for example is now advertising its own reporters’ Twitter feeds on TV to encourage online dialogue. Twitter itself has created an election site, where you can follow all the latest election twitterings as they appear.

On this side of the pond too, we are no strangers to experimenting with how politics can use the web as a powerful vehicle, with the Conservatives relaunching their all singing, all dancing website this week and the recent blog-like incarnation of the new No.10 portal. The Guardian never likes to be left out and joins the fray with its own Twitter feed for its US election coverage. Popular political bloggers on this side of the pond include Iain Dale, Guido Fawkes and Tom Harris MP.

At the end of the day, it will be hard to tell how much all of this will change the eventual outcome in the election. But from a marketing, PR and media point of view, it’s fascinating to see how these new channels will evolve and how they are already being used (and exploited).

Gordon Brown’s move today to invest £300m to offer free computers and internet access for more than a million children from low income families has to be welcomed. As does Boris Johnson’s vision of London as a ‘wi-fi’ city, also unveiled today.

With more and more of us spending more and more time online, doing more and more things from communicating to searching for jobs etc. etc., countries that invest in the proper infrastructure will surely find themselves in a very strong position in the future. Britain is in danger of lagging behind.

Jeff Jarvis even questions whether the $700bn that the US government is pledging to bail-out the US economy could be better spent in other ways, including rolling out public Wi-max for a fraction of the price.