The event provided the audience with a fantastic insight into the types of content that the team produces and the team shared their top tips for PRs looking to pitch.

See below for key quotes and images from the event.

Thanks to all that attended and a special thanks to Catrin,  Katy and Matt for speaking and Eversheds for hosting. Were you at our #GorkanaTheLawyer event? We would love to hear your thoughts.

.@thelawyercatrin 'I don't know what's going to happen to print in the long run but its working for us. Revenues are up 15%.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@thelawyercatrin 'The redesign of the magazine has allowed us to explore the huge issues globally as well as domestically.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@thelawyerkaty 'It's also now about how you present the news and bring it together with infographics, statistics, surveys.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@TheLawyerKaty 'We have a weekly planning meeting at 10am on Mondays & we aim to get the mail out finalised by 12pm daily.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@TheLawyerKaty 'Monday is our busiest news day – we have the most hits online on a Monday.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@thelawyermatt 'I like people to pitch with a case, trend or deal that is innovative and groundbreaking.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@TheLawyerKaty 'We do about 10 news stories a day but it can range from 6-13 a day.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@thelawyercatrin 'When pitching please also cc editorial@thelawyer.com just incase the person you're emailing is away. ' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@Thelawyercatrin 'All comments on the site are moderated.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@thelawyercatrin 'We would never go behind a pay wall for news but we do gate our research content already.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

.@TheLawyerKaty 'I love Twitter. I have got a whole bunch of new contacts through my twitter feed.' #GorkanaLawyer

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 13, 2013

With a marketing budget rumoured to be almost as much as the production budget (an eye watering $225 million dollars) you could be forgiven for wondering why such a film would need a good PR campaign behind it.

The simple truth is that a major blockbuster is just a product, and, as we all know, there are tons of products in the market, all competing for that share of voice and a converted consumer who actually goes out and buys the product. That said; Man of Steel flies onto screens at an excellent time in terms of the cinema release market.

There have only been two major “event” blockbusters released so far this year: Iron Man 3 (April 25) and Star Trek Into Darkness (May 9).

Adding to this, Brad Pitt’s World War Z, which is released a week after Man of Steel on June 21, has landed a 15 certificate, meaning that its potential audience is heavily reduced compared to the audience that can be reached thanks to Man of Steel’s 12A rating.

But you can have everything in the right place and still see the product fail if there isn’t that final pull for the consumer.

Last year, for example, sci- fi epic John Carter became infamous as the biggest blockbuster failure of all time as it took a mere $282 million dollars at the worldwide box office – compared to the $250 million dollars it took to make the film in the first place.

Personally, I thought John Carter was very good, but for many consumers, the fact that neither the character, nor the stars were particularly well known, coupled with average reviews, proved fatal to the overall performance of the film.

So, how does Man of Steel avoid this eventuality?

Luckily, the film makers have a character that pretty much every consumer already knows, along with a fan base for the character which is relatively easy to galvanise (I’ve been eager to see Man of Steel since it was first announced in late 2010) – This means that a simple campaign of posters and online trailer launches have been enough to raise the awareness of the film and hook in the committed fans such as myself.

To engage with potential new consumers, a range of content has been released, such as the below infographic charting a concise history of Superman.

Source: MoS Facebook page

While many could argue that an interview doesn’t engage with the audience, remember that you engage with the product when you recommend or criticise.

Last week’s special edition of Shortlist magazine featuring exclusive interviews with stars Henry Cavill and Michael Shannon is a fantastic example of a clever and engaging PR stunt.

To turn the aware and engaged audience into the converted consumers is probably the toughest part; but, with the film predicted to break box office records left, right and centre, it looks as though Man of Steel is set to be one of the blockbuster events of the year.

What are your thoughts? Do major product launches face different PR challenges to smaller launches? Let us know below.

We have spent the last few years at Gorkana researching and building networks with the best blogs on the internet, ensuring we have the best quality contacts. Every blogger is different, so it’s better to read about their interests and then approach them in a tailored manner. That’s why the database doesn’t actually allow you to download or send mass emails to bloggers through the send press release function. Every so often, we still get asked why and whether we can make the exception for a few clients… Oh dear.

Let me begin by asking, who are the bloggers and what defines them?

Well, that doesn’t really clear up much or answer who they are. It’s because there isn’t a correct answer and as we all know, bloggers can be anybody – lawyers, doctors, full time mums and even 3 year olds reviewing toys (with the assistance of a parent/ guardian of course!)

Source: http://nwamotherlode.com/archives/9023

What this means is that blogs have that human element, the flaws in words are strengths rather than weaknesses, the ramblings allow readers to trust the bloggers.

I work on the Gorkana database by day but in my spare time I take to my blog with my own ramblings. I receive press releases from PRs regularly but most are generic and uninteresting. Every so often, I see a release for a product I’m actually interested in so I reply and review it. However, I don’t have a deadline and I definitely don’t feel the urgency in writing anything up. Admittedly, when I receive a free sample, that does encourage me to blog more for the company, but handing out freebies can’t be great for a PR budget.

Source: http://www.mirnabard.com/2012/05/the-art-of-giving-freebies-in-the-present-generation/

Last week, I received a press release from a PR asking me if I’ve been catching some rays (with the short lived stunt of sunshine), but immediately a few others on Twitter also commented on the same press release. I know that I’m not special, but it just occurred to me this company doesn’t need my coverage if they’re sending it out to every journalist in the country!

What I’d prefer, and what many successful bloggers out there would prefer is if PR’s took that extra time to research our blogs, carefully understand what we do and build a relationship with us. By doing this, it wouldn’t be necessary to tempt me with free samples as often and I wouldn’t feel the need to block them as spam.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/10/the-economics-of-spam/

I’d like to open this up as a debate because I may be wrong, but do you think it’s acceptable to send generalised emails to bloggers?

The Huffington Post (UK) is a website covering politics, world news, sport, entertainment, celebrity, comedy, culture, style, technology, lifestyle, education and has an extensive blog section. The site receives around 4,800,000 users a month (comScore) and the readership is described as 49% male and 51% female aged 15-35.

The event provided the audience with a fantastic insight into the types of content that the team produces and the team shared their top tips for PRs looking to pitch.

See below for key quotes, images and a video interview with Carla Buzasi.

Thanks to all that attended and a special thanks to Carla, Caroline and Jody for speaking and the ICA for hosting. Were you at our #GorkanaHuffPo event? We would love to hear your thoughts.

.@carlabuzasi ‘In terms of food, recipes from chefs work well, or if you have a product that is leading a new food trend. #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@carlabuzasi ‘Love Letters Series – if you would like to write a love letter to your home town, let @jodythompson know #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@carlabuzasi ‘We are strong believers in free content for our readers so we won’t be going behind a pay wall any time soon. #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@carlabuzasi ‘We’re often looking for sponsors for round table events and debates.’ #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@jodythompson ‘Meetings for me are better after work. It’s also better if its about more than one client.’ #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@jodythompson ‘Email is better. Sometimes we don’t have our phones on as we have so much going on.’ #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@carlabuzasi ‘We really like video and pictures that you haven’t given to anyone else.’ #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@jodythompson ‘The blogs aren’t a place for a press releases. Have passion and say something that is going to engage people.#GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@frostalicus ‘We have a section called ‘Who Is’ where we feature anybody on the rise who we think is worth talking about. #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@frostalicius ‘We don’t rely on exclusives but if we get them we like them to be topical and newsy.’ #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@carlabuzasi ‘As well as the big headlines, we encourage sharing tips and tricks with other readers.’ #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

.@carlabuzasi ‘Or UPS is debate and opinion – we’re all about kick starting conversations’ #GorkanaHuffPo

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 11, 2013

The awards, part of AMEC’s 5^th European Summit on Measurement, is the top accolade in the media analysis field and recognises and celebrates exceptional work and accomplishments in putting programme research, measurement and evaluation on the PR Agenda.

The conference’s theme this year was using good PR measurement to drive better business performance with speakers and delegates including Agency CEOs, in house Heads of Comms, plus the teams from their partners (including Gorkana).

The awards ceremony delivered well earned celebrations to over 200 delegates from 35 countries who gathered to discuss best practice and standards. The evening was held in The Real Fabrica de Tapices (Royal Tapestry Factory) founded in 1721 by King Phillip V.

Image from Aseem Sood

Gorkana Group with its clients won four of five shortlisted awards:

Best use of Communication Management: Business-to-Consumer
Silver – Gorkana with eBay

Best use of Communication Management: Public Sector
Gold – Gorkana with Defra

Best Use of Measurement for a Single Event
Gold – Gorkana with Museum of London

Best Use of Social Media Measurement
Shortlisted – Gorkana with Defra

Integrated Communication Measurement/Research
Bronze – Shine Communications & Gorkana Group for Multiple clients

Measurement of earned media is at the very heart of Gorkana Group’s offering and a special congratulations goes to the Museum of London, Defra, eBay and Shine analysis teams for their hard work over the last year. Here’s to next time…

Head here to see the full list of winners.

BusinessGreen is a business website that offers companies the latest news and best-practice advice on how to become more environmentally responsible, while still growing the bottom line. It provides companies with information on how to plan and undertake successful green initiatives that both cut costs and enhance the brand values of their organisations and provides senior decision makers in both the private and public sectors with the news, analysis, reviews and context that these business leaders require.

See below for key quotes and a video interview with James.

Thanks to all that attended and a special thanks to James for speaking and Norton Rose Fulbright for hosting. Were you at our #GorkanaBG event? We would love to hear your thoughts.

.@james_bg ‘If your client is not available to speak quickly, the chances are it won’t make the cut.’ #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘Please make the quotes interesting, or don’t put them in.’ #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘We do accept guest posts but if it is marketing material it will have to go through our sponsored content channel’ #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘Email is probably still the best way to pitch. Make sure you include an eye catching headline.’ #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘As a safety net for what we should be covering, Twitter is absolutely essential now.’ #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘Mornings are not best time to contact us. Ideally we prefer in the afternoon between 2-4pm a day ahead. #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘We publish 8-10 news stories a day and 2-4 more in depth features, which are a part of the subscription service. #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘Readers include sustainability executives, speciality green companies and people from the political sphere.’ #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘The website receives up to 250,000 hits a month. Readers are mostly from UK but also lots from China and the US.’ #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘We were one of the first titles to provide news for the business market in the green sector.’ #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

.@james_bg ‘Business Green started 7 years ago as a blog.’ #GorkanaBG

— Gorkana (@Gorkana) June 4, 2013

Image from www.viralblog.com

As a member of the sales team here at Gorkana, I am frequently asked about social media, everything from “How does social media monitoring work?”and “What is social media evaluation?”, to the more general questions about the ever increasing number of social media platforms and which ones to use.

Over the next few months I will be writing a series of blog posts focusing on the types of social media related questions I get asked as a Business Development Manager at Gorkana. To start, this post will focus on “Why is social media so important?”

When being questioned about the importance of social media, I always tell our clients, whether they are existing or prospective, that any company that has a service or a product to sell will need to identify and engage with their own prospects in order to build up rapport and target their audience correctly. Social Media makes this process extremely fast and easy to do.

Today social media is the most translucent, interactive and engaging form of PR. It makes real time engagement possible and allows brands to create and seed their own content, plus the ability to develop deeper connections with clients and prospects in ways that were previously not possible. It also gives retailers and consumers alike more of an opportunity to engage with each other, on a much wider scale.

A recent blog post by Ebun, which discusses the distinction between B2B, B2C and Person to Person (P2P) gives more weight to this notion that no matter the audience, it’s all about people.  Social media is the best way to connect with your audience, which is why it is so important.

With the ever increasing socially-connected world we live in now, it is very easy to get left behind. Often I find when speaking to clients, one of the barriers that prevents them from engaging with social media fully is they find the vast array of social media platforms available rather daunting. One of Gorkana’s Head Analysts’, Barnaby Barron, recently wrote a very interesting blog post on why he thinks that a little knowledge of chaos theory can help us understand social media.

Image taken from www.tslwebdesign.comGorkana

In summary, social media is such a powerful and important tool for customers and clients to engage with each other, so there has never been a better time to dive in to the Social Media pool and start reaping the benefits of being so closely connected to your target audience, whoever that may be!

Are you a business wanting to delve into the social media world but not sure how to take the first steps? I would love to hear from you. Feel free to ask any questions below.

Gorkana Radar, our real-time social media monitoring and analysis tool, allows you to quickly understand and then respond to the most important conversations, about your brand.

I perhaps should not have been surprised by what happened next. I didn’t exactly break the news. Several other passengers and spotters got there first. Maybe it was the Gorkana association that resonated with journalists, I don’t know, but within a matter of minutes I had been contacted by the BBC, LBC, AP and others. Some were asking if I was on the plane, some asking what I could see, some wanted to use my picture and credit me – all well and good but I had used another passenger’s picture as I was on the wrong side of the aircraft to see it. Note to self – always credit pictures and references…

I was on BA490 bound for Gibraltar and we were two in line behind the ill fated jet. My information initially came from our captain but I logged onto Twitter once our engines had shut down to see what was being said. Other passengers had the same idea but some Tweets from outside the airport perimeter were talking of an “incident” at Heathrow and some were making scare-mongering connections with Woolwich and terrorism. I decided to set the record straight and tweet about the engine failure. And there I was in the middle of the story. Suddenly this was my most popular tweet ever (I’m not prolific) with a full 317 re-tweets, and I was being quoted on websites and newsfeeds. What slightly confused matters was that the marginally better known Jeremy Thompson, the Sky News presenter, was also at Heathrow, and the CEO of Ketchum, David Gallagher, was on the stricken BA jet. His video of a cowling-less engine would be front page news hours later.

But what really struck me was just how quickly the story developed, and how well journalists have adapted to reap the benefit of social media to report on an emerging story. The picture taken by one @MrBarry79 made the front page of the Standard and most of the footage and commentary came from passengers. Heathrow and BA both used social tools to manage the information flow. That all worked well. What worried me was just how easily rumour can build and mislead, and that reminded me that traditional journalism will always have an important role to play in the dissemination of news – newspapers (online or otherwise) may not break news in the way they used to, but they collate eyewitness accounts, they garner expert opinion and they sift fact from fiction. And now they’re doing it 24×7 globally.

P2P is by no means a new term, having been around for a few years. But it has become more prevalent in the last couple of years and is gaining ground.

Discussions online argue that there are differences in the way businesses communicate to other businesses and consumers. Perhaps the reason for a change in discourse is due to two seemingly opposing outcomes. However, the questions is: Are they different outcomes and aren’t people the same in whatever context you put them in?

Social media is making the concept of P2P even more important because of its immediacy. When you need to make a complaint via Twitter you want to know that it has been seen by an actual human being and not receive an automated response, don’t you? The tone I believe it needs to be set as – at all times – is one of respect and a sense of speaking to as you wish to be spoken to.

Image from questmark.co.uk

One commenter on a discussion forum said something along similar lines. Speaking on LinkedIn about the language used for B2B or B2C, Ria Breuer stated: “Social Media is just a communication tool like email and phone, but it has a far greater potential. And it’s about people, whether they represent themselves or a company. I always compare it to real life. What do you do when you walk into a room full of potential customers (a LinkedIn group)? You listen to conversations taking place, add your five cents when appropriate, build trust and apply your marketing / sales skills in the same way online as you do offline.”

And in the context of PR, whether the press release is for inclusion in a niche carpet fitting specialist publication or a popular fashion magazine, the aim is the same: to get a person to listen, and if appropriate, call them to an action – or a feeling such as one of loyalty.

However it would be naive to believe that there should be no difference whatsoever in tone or language for a business or consumer audience – but I believe there should be a balance and sense of the two Fs – friendliness and formality – in both settings. It’s just deciding which way to skew on the occasion.

Whatever the audience – it’s all about people.

What are your thoughts? Is the term P2P more pertinent to you than B2B or B2C?

Image from trendland.com

The fashion college does not promise frenzied fashionistas a direct route into the magazine, or indeed the industry, but instead allows students to complete three projects covering fashion design, fashion publishing and fashion business, whilst learning from industry experts such as Susie Forbes, Principal of the College and former Deputy Editor of Vogue and Course Director Angela Jones, an Educational Consultant at London College of Fashion. A yearlong Vogue course will commence in October with other Condé Nast titles rumoured to be following suit.

As I read and wondered what sorts of people could, and indeed would, shell out £6,600 for a 10 week short course with no formal qualification at the end, it got me thinking of other ways that publications are engaging with their audiences outside the standard print and online content. I like to call them ‘extra-curricular activities’.

Stylist has been empowering women for the last few years with its fresh, innovative and inspiring approach to journalism and I have always been impressed at how the title leverages Stylist Network events to further expose their brand and engage with an already captivated audience. These events give readers access to powerful role models and a chance to meet the faces behind the publication that inspires them. Although I have never attended, I would be sorely tempted by the upcoming ‘Develop Your Own App’ event, if it wasn’t a complete sell out, of course.

A couple of other publications that expose their brand above and beyond print and online publishing are Red and the Guardian. Red, like Stylist, runs networking events hosted by inspirational ‘Red Women’ from media, fashion and the arts, as well as Red Editors. The Guardian draws on employees expertise and runs regular ‘guardianmasterclasses’, with a little help from industry experts and professionals, offering a ‘broad range of short and long courses across a variety of disciplines from creative writing, journalism, photography and design, film and digital media, music and cultural appreciation.’

Recently, Nuria Haering posted about the need for publications to innovate, or risk dying out. So I wonder whether the aim of these ‘extra-curricular activities’ is to drive extra revenue, or to drive a deeper engagement with readers, or both. Are publications such as Vogue and Stylist at the forefront of a new clever trend, using innovative ways to reach out to an already engaged audience whilst making a bit of money in the process? These titles certainly understand their readers and know what makes them tick so it makes sense to use events to generate extra revenue.

What do you think? Have you seen any interesting revenue generating ideas? If you have engaged with your favourite publication we would love to hear from you.