pr-media-blog.co.uk

The relationship between journalists and PR people is privileged, even if it can be somewhat strained at times.  It was never more so than with the embargo, the implicit agreement between press office and journalists that they won’t publish until a given hour, if it no one else does.  Social media has essentially seen the death of the embargo but some PR people seem to want to dig it up, rebury it and dance upon its grave.   

PR organisations are handing out press releases with embargoes and then breaking the story themselves.  Kris Vire the Theater Editor for Time Out Chicago magazine recently posted “PR firm asks for 11am embargo, then posts/tweets its news itself at 10:55. Why am I even here?”.  There is no reason PR firms can’t break stories but this is about trust - if you make an agreement stick to it.  It is essential for your relationship with the media both on and offline. 

Control of the flow of information, whether embargoed or not, has changed.  The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) sent e-mails yesterday to all the entrants in the CIPR Pride Awards informing them as to whether or not they had been shortlisted.  Within minutes the wires were alive with PR people tweeting about their own fortunes, before the CIPR posted the list and presumably before the media had the information.   We have to be circumspect about the objectivity of PR people posting news about their own successes.  I couldn’t help but notice the agency which announced that it had been entered just five categories and been shortlisted in all five, only to proudly confirm later that they’d been shortlisted in a sixth category.

I love travelling and hiking and treasure hunt used to be one of my favourite childhood games, so weirdly enough I only found out about geocaching a few days ago.

If you also missed the ‘in the know’ boat, it’s basically a high-tech treasure hunt – a brilliant combination of the old-fashioned game and new technology, with Internet and social-networking added to the mix. Geocachers hide and seek small trinkets (caches) at different locations all over the world with the help of GPS gadgets and then log clues and photos on the Internet for other gamers.

Some tourism companies and national parks have already tapped into this growing craze. Brecon Beacons National Park, for example, helps visitors set up caches within the park and also offers special Geocoins with unique tracking ID codes to promote the park.

And with over 700,000 registered caches around the world and a huge following online (abundance of support groups on Twitter and Facebook – the largest one has nearly 14,000 members), I can see why.

New technology is developing fast (the iPhone 3G is great for geocaching), and could open up some interesting opportunities for experiential marketing and PR in many areas, not just travel. Imagine finding keys to a new car in a cache, instead of the usual trinkets? Or bringing your local geocachers together to regenerate parks in disadvantaged areas?

Of course, as with anything new there are potential pitfalls, from someone walking into a lamppost or being arrested for shady behaviour (you might look a bit odd walking down the high street with a TomTom) to the more serious issue of a bomb squad carrying out controlled explosion of your branded treasure cache (read ‘suspicious package’).

Still, I have a feeling geocaching’s here to stay – this week’s Time Out London has devoted a whole page to the subject, and I’ll keep my eyes out for the first big branded campaign.

Indy’s claim “we do not follow maps to buried treasure and X never, ever marks the spot” might be proven wrong after all!