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Congratulations CBRE NZ!

We love to see our clients succeed - so it's great to read that CBRE NZ has been named as New Zealand's best property consultancy for the fourth year in a row at the Asia Pacific Property Awards! Read on HERE to view an article in Property Click on the win:...

3 things I learnt at Espire Media’s Content Marketing Strategy workshop

As a passionate content marketing enthusiast, I gladly leaped at the opportunity to attend Espire Media's workshop at Britomart's Generator to learn a thing or two more about the trade, and thankfully Espire Media's Group Editor and Head of Content, Colin Kennedy, had plenty to teach. More than advertising, more than traditional marketing, more than business development - the subtle and somewhat-more genuine art of content marketing is a way to boost consumer engagement by offering value in ret...

5 things all communicators could learn from Ronnie Corbett

By George Hulbert, a big Two Ronnies fan: Sad days, when comedy greats drop off the perch. Last week, a tiny man of huge comedy stature, Ronnie Corbett, set off to join the heavenly entertainment industry. Famous for more than 50 years, Ronnie Corbett was best-known for his long-running collaboration with Ronnie Barker in the hit comedy showThe Two Ronnies. I grew up watching the show, and my sense of humour has I am sure been indelibly dyed by their love of wordplay and silliness. And, whe...

Hello, is there anybody in there?

No one likes talking to an empty room. It's an innately human desire to want to be heard, and to seek validation of your opinions and concerns. And yet, in one of the fastest growing communication platforms, the majority of customer voices (67% in fact) are being ignored by brands - that's a real problem for businesses and organisations. Social media marketing has developed into so much more than pushing out content through all the channels you can - or as we call, the "spray and pray" techni...

PR internships: a question of value

Through recent conversations and LinkedIn/web browsing, I've noticed a couple of instances of unpaid internships in and across the communications industry, which I think warrants some friendly discussion and debate. I know that internships, paid or unpaid, are an investment in the future. I was fortunate to be able to do a number of unpaid internships and volunteer roles when I was studying, and the skills and connections I cultivated have been invaluable. At the time, I thought to myself: "I...

Clarity Media Mixer: the big themes and issues of 2016

The Clarity Business recently hosted an enthusiastic panel of media leaders from publishing giants Fairfax and NZ Herald to get their take on the media themes and issues to look out for in 2016. Here's what they had to say: Timing is everything To get things started, National Business Editor at Fairfax Media, Ellen Read, argued that journalists have to be skilled in the new media environment. Everything is now and every deadline is now, argued Read, who pointed out that the outlet a reader f...

Unexpected business communications lessons from the Kardashians and Beyoncé

There are some valuable business communication lessons to be found in the recent activities of the world's most famous women - the Kardashian sisters and reigning pop queen, Beyoncé - if you care to spend a few minutes thinking about it. Much to the chagrin of my colleagues George and Dylan, I'm a proud card-carrying member of the Kardashian-following, Beyoncé-loving fan club. I don't have a particularly low IQ (testing pending) in case you were wondering, however I am fascinated by the women...

How B2B marketers can succeed with content in 2016

88% of B2B marketers say they are producing online content, yet only a mere 30% believe their efforts are successful, according to the Content Marketing Institute's B2B Content Marketing 2016 report. So let's address the elephant in the room – why are 70% of marketers that are producing online content unhappy with their results? The answer – it's complicated! Content marketing itself is nothing new – brands have been producing content to capture the attention of their target audience for...

Long-form social content, data and deeper engagement

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has released its annual report 'Media, Journalism and Technology Predictions 2016'. With statistics and commentary from publishers, media and brands, the survey offers useful insight for businesses and organisations looking to engage with audiences through media and online channels this year. In this blog, I'll touch on a few of the key points in the report that have implications for businesses and communications strategy in the Year of the Monk...

Viral marketing

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Blundering in 2016 - top PR fails

As cricketer Chris Gayle leads the way into 2016 by hitting a PR blunder out of the ground through hitting on a TV interviewer live on air earlier this month - who will be able to forget "don't blush baby"? – we thought that an ideal way to celebrate the start of 2016 might be to look back at some of the top PR fails of the last 12 months: Mitchell Pearce and the dog: Although it must be pretty confusing to be an NRL player – expected to be a warrior on the pitch and a monk off it – let's...

7 tips for creating viral content

We all want our content to go viral in the same way we all want to win the Lotto, but in reality, creating content that takes the internet by storm is a lot harder than including a funny picture of a cat (not to say we don't love a good picture of a cat). The secret behind creating content that goes viral is exactly that, a secret. In fact, one of the biggest pain points for marketers is producing content that is engaging. According to Content Marketing Institute, the biggest problem for B2B...

Three views on Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2015

The Clarity team weigh in with three views on the announcement: Mikela Dennison, Account Manager, The Clarity Business Emojis take their rightful place in the lexicon of 2015 So, Oxford Dictionary has announced the 'face with tears of joy' emoji as the Word of the Year for 2015. People are up in arms - including my two colleagues - that an emoticon could be a stand in for the written English language. I have to respectfully disagree. I was one of millions of people who were beyond delight...

Doing altogether better for kids by shaping the Buddy Day message

On 13 November, thousands of people all around New Zealand will be carrying 1 metre-high cardboard 'buddies' around with them all day long: to school, meetings, lunch, on the bus, out for a bike ride, down the pub. Everywhere. And yes, that's me with my buddy, Melody, in the photo. Why? Because it is Buddy Day. What's Buddy Day? Buddy Day is a compelling campaign that is all about doing altogether better for kids. Essentially, it is an awareness campaign for Child Matters, the leading child ...

Ch-ch-ch-changes: Social media updates you need to know about now

There's been some significant changes made to several popular social channels in recent weeks, so I thought I'd do a quick recap of the developments that are on our radar and highlight how businesses can make use of the new tools at hand: Twitter makes Direct Messaging a more powerful communications tool Customer service and the opportunity for increased dialogue with audiences took a major step forward recently, when Twitter announced it was doing awaywith the previous 140 character limit to...

Five signs that you are positioned to win at tender time

***This article orginally appeared in the October/November version of New Zealand Construction News*** A tender response is never the time to introduce yourself to a client for the first time: it is the opportunity to underscore pricing and attributes of yours that they already value. Ideally, it should be the final step towards helping them to realise an existing desire to choose you: the time to dot 'i's and cross 't's, not for saying "g'day" for the first time. "How can we build that desir...

Win more awards with these 9 simple tips

'Tis the season to be winning, tra-la-la-la-laaa, la la-la laaaa… Well it should be, if you follow these simple guidelines that we apply when we help our clients target and win awards that give their organisations significant profile: Select the right awards Although it seems that there are a million awards schemes advertised, the right one for you is out there. Choose carefully and focus: there's little point in going for an apple-sellers' award if you sell oranges. And be honest with you...

Digital developments: how news makers interact through social media

How is the media responding to the rapid digital changes on its doorstep? I attended the PRINZ Digital Developments event, a panel discussion which included Paul Thompson, (CEO Radio NZ), Cathy O'Sullivan (Auckland Editor in Chief, Stuff/Fairfax), and Lizzie Marvelly (Founder, Villainesse.co.nz). The session covered how these three media outlets are responding to and leading digital developments in news making and how they are engaging with an increasingly fragmented audience. In no particular...

How can you use social media and content to showcase the people and stories in and around your business?

By Mikela Dennison, Account Manager, The Clarity Business Do you have a passionate and expert team of people within your organisation? Does your organisation support any community or industry causes? Are you struggling to tell authentic stories that do those things justice? Social media channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook can be great platforms to share the human stories of your team, your organisation and your values. Our tip? Bring the 'lens' down to a human level so that your targ...

The future of the news industry

"I believe the children are our future, Teach them well and let them lead the way" – George Benson Whether these lyrics make you soar with inspiration or cringe with apprehension, from a marketing standpoint, the fact remains that today's Millennials will be tomorrow's business leaders (if they're not already), so keeping up with their behavioural patterns is essential. Millennials – people between the age of 18 and 34 years old – are a generation who grew up at a time when the internet ...

Media use of social media matures: what does this mean for businesses?

Latest international research shows that journalists' use of social media has matured and online channels are now seen and used as an integral part of modern journalistic practices. We often hear people and businesses asking; what's the point of Twitter? Does my business really need a social media presence? Isn't it just teenagers sending selfies via Snapchat? The truth is, businesses simply can't operate and communicate to their full potential in 2015 without a well-planned and executed socia...

A few useful tools for finding online trends

You've probably already noticed Google's autocomplete feature, where Google cheekily tries to finish your sentence in search for you based on popular results, but are you aware of its use for spotting online trends? To demonstrate, a recent study by Fixr revealed how the most common word that follows "the cost of …" differs wildly around the world. For instance, in the US the most common is "the cost of Patent", while Canada was "the cost of passport". However, these are rather dull compared...

5 valuable messages from CoreNet

Yesterday's CoreNet Symposium was a cracker: great venue, inspiring speakers, leftfield content, real points of learning – and a bloody good bash to boot. I walked out richer for the event, thanks in part to five messages that I absorbed: 1. Conferences don't have to be dull "Let's have circus tents, ice cream vans, a 'street' of food vendors, flying cheerleaders and a DJ – plus expert speakers from all over the world" they said. Although the symposium topic, 'Wellness and Wellbeing', ...

4 simple ways to create killer content

We all know KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid – the theory that often simplicity is the best option. While we've all grown up since learning this in primary school (hopefully), many of us tend to try and punch a bit above our weight when it comes to content creation without perfecting a few of the basics, and could learn a thing or two from KISS. Content marketing is by no means a new thing. While many businesses have become attuned to the perks that engaging and informative online content can ...

Why news and social media go hand-in-hand

By Dylan Brown, Communications and Social Media Executive, The Clarity Business At a time when newspaper readerships are continuing to decline, it's easy to assume that people have lost their lust for news, but that's simply not the case. A study conducted earlier this year by the American Press Institute found that 69 percent of 18-34 year olds read the news on a daily basis, and a further 40 percent do so more than once. What has changed, however, is the way people get their news. According...