#1. So, what’s your favourite word?

Fuck. You were probably expecting me to say something like hustle or innovation weren’t you? 🙂 I love the flexibility of the word, I love finding new uses for it like a chef experiments with new dishes.

#2. Oui, Chef! What gets you up in the morning?

A constant desire to move the ball forward. I don’t need to create success overnight. That’s impossible. But I’m charged up every morning to make moves that will put me and my firm in a better position than the day before. Also, coffee. All of the coffee.

#3. What do you truly, honestly think of social media?

I love it for its potential to bring people together, make the world feel smaller, give us more knowledge, create real change, give people a voice. But – it’s just a tool. People decide what it does and how it functions. It clearly can be used for great information or disinformation. That’s something we’re struggling with in America right now when our President uses it to tell us the sky is red and the world is flat and hopes we won’t notice.

#4. Which reminds us. We’re still holding USA’s drink. Kindles or books?

Books. Does that show my age? I read 90% on my phone but if I want to sit down and read long-form content, a book still feels sexy and more like an experience.

#5. Trust us Sonny Jim, you’ve got youth on your side. What do you think is the biggest challenge to your industry right now?

In PR, there are a few. Fake news is the obvious one because if trust in the press erodes so does the business potential of securing that press for a client. I think a bigger challenge is finding a better way to connect all the mid-tier influencers out there on social media with brands. There is unlimited, untapped potential for brands to create stronger bonds with customers through micro-influencers. And it would be way more cost-effective to shift their marketing model toward third-party recommendations. All the data is there. Now it’s just about creating the right tools to quickly identify and leverage this influence.

#6. Agreed. What did you want to be when you were growing up?

An architect. I liked building things. I still do. I just build companies rather than buildings.

#7. Middle name Bob by any chance? What led you to your current career?

Chance, luck and a little foresight. I knew six years ago that building a large social network would be vital. I stumbled into my first few media contacts and from there realized that there was a market for combining social media and public relations in a no-nonsense way that was highly transparent. I identified that my target clients were mid-level companies and start-ups looking for national media attention. From there it’s been a lot of fine-tuning but the core has remained.

#8. Can you use your favourite word in a sentence?

“Oh my fuck,” he screamed as he realized there was no peanut butter left and he had already put jelly on one piece of bread.

#9. Now can you make it rhyme?

Oh my fuck, well I guess that’s my luck.

#10. No point crying over plain bread. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Get started sooner, travel more, your life is a collection of memories (both good and bad), not things.

#11. What’s the best thing anyone’s ever done for you?

My fiancé Sarah pushes me every day, we renovated a beautiful 1927 house together. That’s not easy. We didn’t have a kitchen for three months and did dishes in the sink but it’s so worth it in the end. There’s a metaphor for marriage and life in there somewhere.

#12. There is indeed. Tell us, what’s been your ‘career-defining’ moment?

Probably my Shorty Award in 2015. Validation. It’s very easy to wake up one day and say you’re a social media expert. And by no means am I discouraging anyone from doing so or trying. But it’s an entirely different and far more difficult task to be recognized nationally and internationally by your peers.

#13. True dat. So when you did win that big award, who did you thank?

When I received the Shorty Award, I thanked my mom. She home-schooled me and poured her heart and soul into making me who I am – giving me the encouragement and freedom to pursue very large and terrifying dreams.

#14. Mrs Barrett, we salute you. Can you give us a timesaver of the day?

Write down your goals for the day when you start. Not what you need to do, that’s different. Write down you want to achieve and use that as your compass the entire day. My worst problem is focus. I want to tackle everything all at one and this helps keep me centred.

#15. Where do you see your industry in 24 months?

Fully ditching press releases, creating a new system based more on relationships and shared value rather than trying to come up with a perfect story that somehow catches the eye of a producer or writer. That seems flawed and inefficient with the technology we now possess. I haven’t used a press release in years and we’re doing better than ever.

#16. Betamax and VHS springs to mind here. Where were you 24 months ago?

On my phone, somewhere, not watching where I’m going. Nowhere near where I am today. I had recognition, I had clients but I hadn’t fully found my voice yet. I have it now.

#17. What’s an interesting fact about your company?

We have never hired an employee. It’s just a collection of seasoned professionals all over the world that join to provide value for clients. It’s fun to be nimble and build a unique team around each client so they get the best possible results. It makes so much sense once you see it in action that you wonder why hasn’t everyone done this all of the time.

#18. If you could have a 24-minute Skype chat with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

I always love that as a hypothetical question because there are so many people in history I would be interested in learning from. Steve Jobs. Cliche, I know. But he seemed to always know where the world is heading. Elon Musk is perhaps today’s version. People that think beyond what is currently possible and see the world five moves ahead fascinate me. I like to think I am capable of that sometimes in my field but not at their level.

#19. What’s one word you’d want people to describe you with?

Caring. I want people to know, every time I’m talking to them, that their words matter and that they matter. Every conversation in life is important. The conversation you are currently having is always the most important in your life. You never know where it will lead.

#20. No wonder you’ve got so many mates. Would you mind taking a selfie for us?

Not at all. But this seems like a terrible medium for it. How do you take a selfie in Word? Where is that talking paperclip when I need him?

#21. He’s counting his Betamax. What’s your favourite Twitter handle or social media campaign?

@chrissyteigen – of all the people I know she enjoys life the most.

#22. Our kind of gal. What’s one quote that defines your work ethic?

Work smarter, not harder. Waking up at 4 a.m. doesn’t make you successful. It’s what you do when you start your day that does.

#23. Again, true. What’s been the best part of your day?

When I put my phone away and focus on my family. Right now our daughter is teaching me how to be less awful at the hula hoop. I have no hip shake. I dance like Drake. It’s a problem. But I have my best people working on it.

#24. Just give us a call on the cell phone. We’ll help. Even if it’s late at night. Finally, anything to plug?

barrettpr.com of course. I would love to do more work, speak at more events across the pond. @barrettall if you’re looking for jokes.

The post 24 questions with Jeff Barrett, social media influencer first appeared on 24 fingers.

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Part of Burberry’s problem was that it lost its focus. In the 1990s, keen to compete with other luxury clothing brands, it expanded its range of clothing and leather goods. From socks to dog collars, everything featured the Burberry check pattern. The luxury goods market was a crowded marketplace and soon the brand not only found itself struggling to compete but its competitors were making inroads into outerwear, previously Burberry’s strength. Burberry was forced to close factories, make staff redundant and there were many a management shake-up.

When Angela Ahrendts became the Burberry CEO in 2006, she had a clear vision of how to transform the company and stuck to her plan despite mounting criticism and even Parliamentary hearings regarding the closure of the Burberry plant in Wales. She cites an executive meeting early on in her tenure as the turning point. With over 60 people flying in from around the globe into a wet and cold Britain, she was shocked to see that not a single one of them was wearing the iconic Burberry trench coat. Knowing that the margins on a trench coat were ten times what they were on a polo shirt, she shifted the focus back to core products.

She used the talents of Christopher Kane, a fashion designer with whom she had worked at Donna Karen. Ahrendts appointed Kane as her “design czar” and effectively put an end to worldwide licensing in which different product lines and price points were seen in countries around the globe. By making the brand less ubiquitous, Ahrendts also made it aspirational once more.

Ahrendts also used digital media to strengthen the brand. She spearheaded strong staff training programmes that emphasised the quality and heritage of the brand. Now the shop sales teams weren’t just trained in how to sell but were brand ambassadors who could wax lyrical about the hand stitching and how Ernest Shackleton wore a Burberry trench to the Antarctic. Staff were equipped with iPads and audio visual aids were installed in each store to underscore the brand messages.

By 2009, Burberry had launched its own social media platform, theartofthetrench.com. The site which features icons and celebrities wearing the trench, is squarely aimed at millennials. More recently, the brand took its digital reach even further with the launch of Burberry Bespoke, an online service which allows customers to design their own unique Burberry trench coat from over 12 million different options.

Burberry is now a classic example of how 21st century technology can be used to emphasise brand heritage. But there’s no question that the brand owes much to Angela Ahrendts’ unwavering vision.

The post How Burberry went from zero to catwalk hero first appeared on 24 fingers.

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His campaign victory has been greeted with what can only be generously described as tepid enthusiasm from world leaders and when invited to the White House for the traditional meet and greet with the incumbent President Obama, Trump had to be hustled in through the back door.

Yes, Donald Trump has what appears to be an insurmountable public relations hurdle to overcome. During his campaign, he managed to offend Latinos, Muslims and women with his outspoken remarks with many pundits saying that Trump never really expected win. Indeed, there were widespread rumours that Trump was planning to launch “Trump TV” once the election was over.

So now that he’s headed for the White House, how does he manage to appeal to all Americans when more than half the American voting public voted for Hillary Clinton? He has started by tempering a number of his campaign promises. Rather than abolishing the Affordable Care Act which has provided health insurance for many of America’s poorest, he is now promising to merely reform it. After an appeal from President Obama, he has pledged to ensure that pre-existing conditions are covered and also that young people can be insured on their parents’ existing health insurance policies.

He has said that he has not given much consideration to indicting Hillary Clinton, contrary to one of his campaign promises and the much vaunted wall between the US and Mexico may just be a fence by the time it’s built.

He has also sought to give reassurance to the Republican party establishment by meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan and appointing the chairman of the Republican National Committee as his White House Chief of Staff.

While these moves may have given reassurance to some of the American electorate, Trump has a long way to go. He would do well to concentrate on the key issue that won him the campaign in the first place: promising to restore jobs to the American working class. It was blue collar workers who saw him ushered into the White House and truthfully, if Trump did nothing to change abortion laws or never got banning all Muslim immigrants, his fans wouldn’t care so long as he increased the American manufacturing base.

Bill Clinton signed the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992, ensuring free trade between Canada, Mexico and the US. Many working class Americans blame the trade pact for the erosion of America’s manufacturing base as Mexico’s wages are far below America’s. This means goods can be made more cheaply in Mexico and imported into America without any tariffs. Many in America’s so-called “red states” claim that NAFTA along with trade agreements with China are responsible for the closure of factories across the country. Even though unemployment is down, many of those employed in Middle America are working in lower paid jobs with fewer benefits.

Trump must tread a fine line to ensure he boosts American manufacturing without triggering a trade war with Mexico or especially with China. If he can do this, the rest won’t really matter. America’s economy will improve and the general malaise that has set in in America – one in which many Americans believe their country simply isn’t as great as it once was – will be reversed. Both Republicans and Democrats can get behind that and if Trump could succeed in uniting a bitterly divided country, he might surprise us all and be regarded as a truly great president.

The post If we did the PR for… Donald Trump first appeared on 24 fingers.

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It’s a real PR tester for business, post Brexit and the first in which a British supermarket has defended its actions directly to the general public. It’s a tricky one to manage but if we were at the helm of the ship, we would have to come down on the side of the manufacturer. Long before Brexit, Tesco had locked horns with British milk producers, with farmers in the UK and Europe and with small-scale producers of individual products all over the world. As a former supermarket leader, it prides itself of achieving low prices – but at what cost?

Marmite is made in the Midlands, 6,000 tonnes of the stuff each year, all coming from one single factory. Almost 30 jars of Marmite are sold every minute and it’s consumed both in our kitchens at home and used in high end restaurants. It’s a marvel that a business that has managed to stay afloat for 114 years is still, well, in business. I think it’s safe to say that there is definitely more love than hate for Marmite.

So why is Tesco the baddie? Recently polling consumers on the streets of the UK to ask what they thought about the British milk industry going down the (milk) pan, most people said they would pay more for their milk if the cost was directly passed on to the producer. Yet despite this support for our ailing farmers, Tesco continue to try to drive prices down. In an age where inflation affects just about every other facet of life, this behemoth of the supermarket industry thinks that prices should remain the same, even rolling back prices to previous eras as a marketing ploy.

“Tesco, stop!” we say. Rethink your PR strategy. Show people why they should #PayMoreforMarmite. Let’s take the workers of the famous Burton on Trent factory onto the streets and treat the passing public to toast and soldiers. Let’s start a campaign on Twitter and Instagram to show how we like to eat our Marmite – all together now, grab your kids, oldies, soldiers, actors, pop stars, politicians, authors and wannabies:

Let’s get our nation’s favourite chefs to reveal their use of Marmite.

Let’s create a Facebook campaign to support the #PayMoreforMarmite campaign.

Let’s make it national policy that iconic brands should be protected no matter what.

Let’s get a leading newspaper (The Sun) behind the campaign.

Let’s all love Marmite just a little more and show Tesco that some brands won’t be dismissed so lightly.

Yours, 24 fingers. ‘Cos we’re lovers, not haters.

The post We’d Pay More for Marmite first appeared on 24 fingers.

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