Bottle PR

Who’s in the hot seat?

I’ve got 15 years experience in marcomms, the last five or so devoted entirely to digital media. At BOTTLE I’m responsible for devising creative social media strategies and ensuring that account teams make them work across the board to meet commercial client objectives. You can find me on Twitter as @ThePaulSutton, and I blog about PR 2.0 and digital media strategy at www.thesocialweb.co.uk. I’m fascinated by the psychological and cultural impact of digital media and the web, and my interest lies in completely integrated communications strategies. And red wine.

Sum up your agency’s 2010 in less than 140 characters

We had an awesome year, with fee income up 29% as well as some major account wins and fantastic digital campaigns #2010RockedforBOTTLE

Three best digital client or account wins

Rentokil Pest Control, HISTORY (the TV channel) and Poundland. Rentokil and HISTORY enabled us to implement and promote some truly creative and innovative digital ideas with a unique Twitter application and the UK’s first major foursquare partnership. We’ve worked with Poundland for four years, but 2010 saw us assist in driving its Facebook presence to over 20,000 fans on top of great expansion.

Best piece of digital work NOT done by you in 2010 – eg a campaign from someone else that you admire/wish you’d thought of

I loved the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Decode Recode campaign, the ‘digital art’ exhibition that saw huge viral impact from web coders and geeks alike. What made this campaign so successful was a combination of a brilliant, unique idea and superb execution. The relatively tight budget was made to work extremely hard and created huge media coverage and interest around the globe. It repositioned the V&A overnight.

Highlights of 2010 from a digital perspective

To me, 2010 saw digital PR become more mainstream. Events such as the World Cup, the live election debates and X-Factor saw Twitter and Facebook take centre stage, and this seemed to finally cause brands and organisations to wake up and realise that social media isn’t a passing fad. As a direct result, the desire for knowledge and skill in digital media has taken off in 2011.

Significant hires 2010

Two new appointments at BOTTLE indicate firmly the direction that the agency is headed. Johanna Cassells joined the management team having worked in-house at Sony Pictures Television and O2, and brought a solid technical background. Claire Dunford joined my social communications team to provide ongoing support for the digital and social media elements of our projects. BOTTLE recognises that digital PR is the way forward and is being extremely progressive about ensuring we prepare for what’s coming and stay ahead of the game.

Plans for 2011

More of the same! We’re looking to expand our digital offering in terms of services and to continue developing our reputation for highly effective digital PR. We aim to pull in more social and digital media business as a result.

One key prediction for digital in 2011

I could say mobile or geo-location and both would be valid, if predictable, answers. But one thing that I don’t think has really come to the attention of marketers as yet is the decline of traffic to websites. 7 out of 10 of the Fortune 100 websites are seeing traffic falling significantly, and understanding why and where it’s going is key. That’s where social media comes in, with Facebook in particular absorbing web traffic like a sponge. As marketers, trying to drive people to a branded website is no longer good enough – we have to go where people want to hang out and we have to communicate in a different way. A lot of brands and organisations are still struggling with that.

What can PR bring to the digital offering that no other marketing discipline can?

PR has always been about reputation management, which necessitates building relationships. The digital guys may have an edge when it comes to the technical side and making things look pretty and work well, but in 2011 digital media is all about influencing the decision making process through online word of mouth.

The amount of choice we’re faced with as consumers in 2011 creates a paradox where we can become inert through being unsure about our options. PR has a significant advantage when it comes to this process as we’re natural communicators, geared up to influencing people when they’re faced with this overwhelming choice.

Whether it’s with online journalists, bloggers or brand advocates on Twitter or Facebook, we’re used to building beneficial relationships with key influencers, and that’s what PR 2.0 is all about. Social media channels play into our hands and there’s really no excuse for agencies not to take full advantage of this.