October 2008
30 posts
10 of the Best Social Media Tools for PR... →
—From Mel
I think my favourite concept is ‘Your Pitch Sucks.’ Haven’t tried it yet, though!
Budgets cut can't mean an end to PR
—From Tony
The latest comScore data tells us that only six percent of the online population accounts for more than 50% of all clicks on display ads. That means 94 percent of the online population isn’t clicking through (source Revolution 22 Oct 2008)
If the same people are clicking on the same ads over and over again, does that mean the click-through rate as a metric is fatally...
London online PR: One big happy family?
—From Melanie
So it’s been just over two months since I arrived in this fair land and just under two months since I started working in the London online PR scene. One thing I’ve noted is just how much everyone seems to support everyone else. It’s not that it’s not competitive, but I’ll maintain that the strongest friendships I’ve made here are with other...
7 tags
RaxRaxRax.com: Setting the UK marketing world on...
—From Melanie
We’re feeling the love of the blogosphere right now. Rax from Splendid wrote this lovely onlinefire blog endorsement over the weekend. Thanks buddy!
8 tags
Diesel 'SFW' XXX is Klassy
—From Tony We are a year and a bit old now and the client list just seems to be growing. Our newest client is My Mall, the world’s first virtual shopping mall. It’s a great concept - and just something that we need on these cold and dark nights when we can’t be bothered traipsing up and down Oxford Street looking for that elusive present that we saw in that sparkly...
Happy 10th birthday to the blog!
—From Jimmy
1998 was somewhat of a landmark year for the Internet. In the same year that Earth saw the launch of Google, it also saw a number of Web-based blogging tools beginning to emerge. Whilst the presence of blogs is increasingly becoming common knowledge, their influence and impact has been somewhat misjudged and still remains somewhat of a “grey area”.
Winston Churchill once ...
Biggest Mistakes Made by Social Media Gurus -... →
How not to make your corporate blog completely and...
—From Melanie
One of the most challenging things about starting a company blog is differentiating yourself from all the other company/industry blogs out there. PR has an interactive blogging community, and while I respect everyone dearly, we do tend to ramble on a bit about the same thing, essentially making the blogs very similar.
The thing is, if all you do is post commentary on...
Pussy Galore…I must be dreaming…
-From Jimmy
You’re not dreaming, James Bond! Last week saw the UK launch of Harrods bullet proof line of clothes.
Developed in Columbia 15 years ago (no surprises there!) by designer Miguel Caballero, the clothes apparently don’t make you ‘invincible to attack’ but they do give the victim the chance to run away.
This line definitely isn’t for your average...
The spectrum of outdoor advertising
—From Jimmy
I was walking through London this morning and came across this really cool piece of advertising art on Manette Street that must have taken hours to put together. I think there missing a trick though as there was no brand present and it was located on a back street… A+ for effort though.
However, it brings up an intersting point: when a brand is missing from an advert,...
“Wearing my ‘wearing my twitter shirt’ shirt”
– Melanie’s Twitter
Investing in the Yoof!
—From Jimmy
You have to love it when CSR goes bad. You can just picture the brainstorm at Wadebridge Council that resulted in the idea to create a graffiti wall for the area’s youth to intentionally ‘vandalise’ instead of town’s streets – but apparently it wasn’t the youth that that took to the idea.
Prior to the opening the young people were nowhere to be found....
Who is Tony Thomas?
Name: Tony Thomas, new business development
Hometown: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Favourite campaign you’ve won: There’s two actually, Kangaroos shoes for Alphabet Advertising (my maiden win) and Sacla for Banc Advertising (my biggest win)
Favourite PR campaign you wished you had worked on: Joga Bonito for Nike and Surfer campaign for Guinness
Top 5 songs: Eagles - Hotel California Wham! - Club Tropicana ...
6 tags
'Think! Drink and Drive' stunt: Effective or...
— From Jimmy
It has become somewhat of a tradition that in the run up to Christmas media exposure surrounding driving under the influences increases. Being that people somewhat expect to be exposed to such campaigns, the need to be more creative also increases.
A recent installation from the government’s Central Office of Information has attempted to acheive this. The added...
Who is Melanie Seasons?
Name: Melanie Denise Seasons Hometown: Ann Arbor, Michigan in the good ol’ US of A
Favourite PR campaign you’ve worked on: Promoting sexy ladies in their underwear to guys’ sites and fashion blogs. Like shooting fish in a barrell.
Favourite PR campaign you wished you had worked on: Comcast on Twitter: The company every American loves to hate starts winning over people one at a time on...
onlinefire PR Week coverage
—From Graham
Good news! The aforementioned coverage on our work with BBC 5Live went to print today in PR Weektoday:
Who is Graham Lee?
Name: Graham Lee
Hometown: A born and bred Scot, I grew up in Barrhead just outside of Glasgow
Favourite PR campaign you’ve worked on: Our work right now with BBC Radio 5 live
Favourite PR campaign you wished you had worked on: The Irn Bru Snowman
Top 5 songs of all time: Michael Jackson – Thriller Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit - Pearl Jam - Even Flow Sasha - Magnetic North Roy Davis Jr -...
re: Shop talk at the onlinefire birthday party...
From: Jimmy Bang Sent: 08 October 2008 16:46 To: Melanie Seasons; Graham Lee; James Fitzgerald Subject: RE: Tonight Don’t worry mel we’ll all be too busy dancing on tables, wearing satchels and supping on Fruli to talk business…...
Who is Jimmy Bang?
Name: Jim Alexander Bang
Hometown: Burbage, Leicestershire
Favourite PR campaign you’ve worked on: In March 2008 onlinefire were appointed by Virgin Mobile to implement a publicity campaign for Virgin Mobile’s ‘Road to V’ competition - Virgin Mobile’s search to find the best unsigned bands in the UK.
Favourite PR campaign you wished you had worked on: Sliced Bread
Top 5 songs of all time: Bob...
Who is James Fitzgerald?
Name: James George Edward Fitzgerald Hometown: London, England, UK
Favourite PR campaign you’ve worked on: Anything I devise because I am a PR genius
Favourite PR campaign you wished you had worked on: The opening up of Buckingham Palace to the general public and tourists of the world
Top 5 Songs: Basshunter -Now You’re Gone Otis Reading - These Arms of Mine Blackstreet - No Diggity Gadjo...
Who are onlinefire?
— Note from Mel
As James so eloquently mentioned in the blog’s first post, it’s unlikely that you’ve ever heard of our company before. I’m sure there are a number of reasons for this, but the main one (in this blogger’s humble opinion) is that the guys have been pretty busy winning all those amazing clients.
Well, that’s about to change. For the next few...
Blowing away the Competition
— From Jim
I came across this really creative piece of advertising over the weekend:
The design created by RPM3 Beechwood for hair care brand Babyliss was a reaction to a competition instigated by the The London Paper. By winning this competition instigated by the newspaper, they received free ad space worth £37,000, together with a £5,000 cash prize. The competition’s aim was...
onlinefire in PR Week today
Good news on the onlinefire client front today: Our BBC 5 Live project was formally announced on PR Week.
BBC Radio 5 live has hired onlinefire PR for a football based social media campaign to target fans between the ages of 20-40.
Radio 5 Live has created a free news feed with video and radio content. Football lovers can customise the application so that they only hear about the clubs they...
Graham Lee is 'one man who knows how to work the...
In addition to our first birthday, I’d also like to brag announce that Graham, also known as the guy on the camel in the sidebar, was just named as part of PR Week’s 29 under 29 (although just under the cusp).
He’s the bloke on the top right next to tie-straightening dude. Doesn’t he look dapper?
Graham was later quoted as saying, ‘I’m kind of a big...
The cheekiest first post from a corporate blog...
—From James
Welcome to the onlinefire blog. My name is James Fitzgerald and I am a man, don’t be fooled by the picture :) I am also the joint managing director of onlinefire, a creative online PR agency. Today is our first birthday. It’s unlikely you will have heard of us before, most people haven’t, other than our clients that is: Becks, Virgin Mobile, Virgin...