With recent planning changes having come in, the media’s reaction to new localism has generally been mixed, with many pointing out the obvious dichotomy between localism and a presumption in favour of sustainable development. However, with just 102,570 properties being built in 2010, 13% less than in the previous 12 months and the lowest level since 1923 according to recent stats from the department for Communities and Local Government, something has to be done.

The GS panel of experts featured some of the country’s top PRs, planners, surveyors and property gurus giving their views on a range of topics, from localism and the relevance of local media to recent government policy initiatives. And on this final point, there was absolute agreement from the panel – not one person thought the coalition government was adequately communicating its host of new policies, nor sufficiently engaging with the property and construction sectors.

After Mr Pickles’ bold (criminally rushed?) move to scrap regional spatial strategies and Mr Cameron’s lack of articulation as to what localism actually means, it seems there’s a lot more work needed from the government when it comes to communicating their initiatives to win round our panel of experts.

A clear example of this general confusion came from Colin Harrop at King Sturge. When the panel was asked how stakeholder engagement and community communications might change with the advent of new localism, Colin said “I think that most people are still confused about new localism. At the moment localism is just a concept and not a very clearly defined one at that. Communications needs to focus on what impact concepts such as localism will have on consumers. As with most things, if it cannot be explained in simple terms, it’s very unlikely to work.”

This trend for confusion was similarly echoed by Jeremy McNulty from Jackson Coles. Jeremy commented “Those wishing to consult will need to establish new formal and informal routes to consultation, but there will be a lot of confusion for some time as existing bodies jockey to transform into new bodies or expand.”

But to end on a more positive note, Donal McCabe from Land Securities, said: “Community engagement will change massively, because although most do it and concentrate on a select few stakeholders, the localism bill gives others a much bigger share of voice as well. However, fear of localism is probably overblown for the bigger companies have probably been doing most of the right sort of communication anyway.”

And on that note, we at Golley Slater couldn’t agree more. Stakeholder engagement has always been about listening and building relations with the local community. Now what’s changed is that development plans will really have to show how they’ve listened to the local community and what improvements have been made to the scheme. For the PR agency, their role is only going to become more and more important and for developers, the age of paying lip service to community consultation might well be over.

Derek Harris, senior account director at GSBuild

With the recent acquisition of Zagat, an online restaurant reviews site, Google has taken its first step into acquiring businesses for their content and not their technology. So, is Google diversifying its portfolio by investing in the publishing industry, or does it intend to draw advertising revenue by optimising third-party sites such as Zagat thus guaranteeing reviews appear higher up in the search results listings. The latter route would prove a bold move – at present, a lot of Google’s usefulness is in its transparency. Consumers trust the search engine, and therefore value the brand, selecting it as their browser homepage and adopting the name into their vocabulary. If consumers no longer feel that the internet giant is impartial in pulling its content this could seriously affect the trust held by the end user.

That said, all in all there are only about 1 in 3** of us who understand how a search engine such as Google generates results. For instance, 24 percent believe that a website’s position in the listings cannot be influenced by the people running that website, whilst 22 percent believe it is entirely down to how much money has crossed hands. Over 19 percent have no idea where the data comes from and one in twenty believe results are generated at random. With much of Joe Public still in the dark as to how the technology works, Google could potentially pull off this contentious move without consumers becoming aware of the conflict of interest.

With other review sites such as Yelp and Open Table attracting more users than Zagat, it is difficult to see what Google stands to gain if its interest lies purely in accessing the publishing industry, though this is unlikely to make publishers feel any less uneasy about the move. More likely than not, Google, like most major consumer brands worldwide, has recognised the value in endorsement from third parties; PR is a vital component to maintaining brand health online, as it offers consumers a reason to believe. More and more consumers are consulting review sites before making purchasing decisions; IF Google does choose to walk this path, what it takes from the consumer in transparency, it gives back to brands through trusted, word-of-mouth recommendation.

*http://www.itpro.co.uk/635515/more-brits-browse-with-bing

**http://www.topclickmedia.co.uk/pay-per-click-advertising-blog/brits-don%E2%80%99t-understand-google

Lindsey Reaney

Social Media Consultant, Golley Engage

Brands know that consumers are concerned about the use of their data and the impact on their privacy, and that much of the blame is attributed to the use of “cookies”.  When you visit a site for the first time, a cookie is downloaded onto your PC. The next time you visit that site, your PC checks to see if it has a cookie that is relevant and sends the information contained in that cookie back to the site. The site then ’knows’ that you have been there before, and in some cases, tailors what is presented on screen to take account of that fact.

However, some cookies are more sophisticated. They might record how long you spend on each page on a site, what links you click, even your preferences for page layouts and colour schemes. They can also be used to store data on what is in your shopping cart, adding items as you click. My view is that the humble cookie can generally be a force for good if used responsibly and I am making a clear differentiation between cookies used for legitimate purposes and illegal software e.g. spyware or malware when I say this.

At Golley Slater we have run many campaigns for our clients demonstrating that with well executed behavioural targeting techniques that are respectful of user’s privacy, both the digital agency and site owner can deliver an improved experience for their visitors. However, due care needs to be taken in the selection of technology and the design of targeting programs to ensure the brand is protected and gains an enhanced reputation for trustworthiness and relevance.

If the industry guidelines are followed, behavioural advertising is safe and transparent. At the same time, cookies don’t reveal individual’s personal information (e.g. name, workplace, email) rather they are only interested in collecting information about browsing activity. This could include products that might have been viewed on a particular site, enabling marketers to deliver advertising that best reflects that individual users interests.

Another key consideration must be one of consumer acceptance. Currently opt-out rates from behavioural targeting are incredibly low. Conversions from behavioural targeting ads are far higher than standard display advertising, with some of our clients seeing double their standard site conversion rates. So in our experience consumers are not finding them intrusive, they are responding positively. But if consumers are concerned or want to be rewarded for giving their data to brands what options do they have?

Services such as i-Allow.com, yourprivacy.co.uk and the IAB site, youronlinechoices.co.uk are now emerging that enable consumers to control how their data is used, even get paid by brands for access to their data. Their mission is to prevent companies tracking, compiling and selling personal information without the consumers consent and in some cases reward. I need to make it clear though that this is not just online data usage but also mailing and telephone lists as well.

So while it is true that new technologies are enabling previously unimaginable levels of surveillance and tracking, it’s also making it possible for people to specify what privacy actually looks like. I think that the philosophy of online engagement with consumers is worth noting here. The online world is created by individuals not manufactured for the masses, brands can not control this consumer created space they can only visit and when they do they must be responsible, entertain and engage, and be open not closed.

Open means letting go and allowing the consumer to co create and get involved with your brand. A.G. Lafley, CEO of P&G said recently “Consumers are beginning in a very real sense to own our brands and participate in their creation. We need to learn to begin to let go.”

What David Oglivy, probably the greatest Mad Men of all time, said in the 1960’s is still true today: The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife. Probably better, in today’s environment to say she is your daughter! Brands, Agencies and media channels forget that at their peril!

Chris Lovell, Group CEO

The latest research from Golley Slater Insight provides some interesting intelligence on news consumption. Scotland and Wales are more than 50% more likely than those in Greater London to be interested in local news and the other eight English regions are not far behind. Newspaper consumption is highest in Scotland (and by some margin) and less than a third of those living in Wales use the Internet everyday (compared with more than half of London). As a proportion of the overall population the number of 65+ year olds living in London is less than half that of the rest of Great Britain.

So what? Well, let’s consider that last statistic and its implications. The percentage of the 65+ year olds living in London is 10.38%. In Wales it is 26.18% (OK, nice place to retire). That has big implications for advertising in Wales, the weighting of marketing spend, the media agenda and the way in which PR should engage. In Wales of course communications goes beyond tonality and importantly (and quite literally) into language but that’s another story.

Grasping this should help to shape the way that campaigns are delivered across the nations and regions. From a PR perspective it means that communications which understand the local landscape and are delivered with a local twist from on the doorstep will chime better with the regional audience.

In practical terms, that sort of relevance will encourage news editors working in regional media to use the stories.

But we knew that already. Anecdotally we know that editors are better disposed to news generated locally and they like working with agencies closer to them who understand the issues on their patch. In fact most of those we talk to prefer to work with local agencies.

Yet many PR campaigns are centrally generated and often have little feel for or understanding of what makes the UK’s nations and regions tick. Consequently there is a huge amount of time wasted on irrelevant and inaccurate communications which deliver poor results.

Martin Long, MD Network PR

At a rumoured £550 on pay-as-you-go and £35 a month on a mobile contract, the device certainly doesn’t come cheap. While it’s unlikely to put off hard-core gamers, the handset, dubbed the ‘PSP Phone’, is likely to struggle to attract casual gamers who prefer the simplicity of games such as solitaire and Angry Birds (not to mention the fact that they’re free to download). These have the advantage of being quick and easy to dip in and out of, especially on the commute to work.

One obvious way in which Sony could grow the appeal of a PSP Phone would be to drop the price. However, another strategy would be to use PSP games to drive greater awareness and loyalty to the Sony Ericsson brand. Perhaps offer ad-sponsored games for free, but only to owners of these specific handsets. An added advantage is that it would allow the brand to distinguish itself in a market that is increasingly saturated with competitively priced, well-designed, Android smartphones. Watch this space.

Jim Clark, Research & Insight Analyst

Much has changed since then – research today is more than just sales figures and market research reports. It’s about listening and talking to customers, recording and analysing what they’re saying both face to face and online. Most companies haven’t the processes in place to listen to consumers this way, and the few that do often fail to ask the right questions, making effective decision making harder and the time scale to react longer.   

Rather living with information overload, it should be the role of agencies to ensure that clients are aware of the right research approaches to take. For example, they should suggest relevant techniques and guide them through the process of converting the data into actionable insight to drive swift decision making. 

This will require agencies to use the “conviction” and “balls” described by Claire Beale in her recent column. Too often agencies stick by methods they know, remaining in their comfort zones by promoting the type of research they think clients will be happier buying, rather than what best fits with the problem at hand.  

But before becoming this beacon of light, agencies themselves must put actionable insight and swift decision making at the heart of everything they do – rather than leave it to the last minute, for example, after storyboards are drawn up. It should be implemented much earlier in the process to enable it to have an actual impact on creative strategy. 

And it isn’t just about buying in the right research tools and getting specialist information professionals on-board. Agencies need to create a culture where research is a way of life: driven by a clear understanding of their client’s end-user and supported by a desire and enthusiasm for innovative thinking. 

Ad-avoidance is an established concept in our industry. This has forced the sector to up its game, so much so that the majority of advertising aimed at consumers today is of a ‘good’ quality. It is the role of research to lift advertising from ‘good’ to ‘great’ to drive greater cut through – not just benefiting sales but contributing to long term brand strength.  

Chris Lovell, Group CEO

The most important factor about this trend is not the product – it is the occasion and its validity in our modern lifestyle. Despite this, retailers annually promote the ‘spring clean’ event when very few of us will go anywhere near a feather duster.

Some of the best loved occasions have been engineered — from ‘Jif lemon day,’ to the more contrived ‘Doritos and a movie.’ But then there’s the inevitable jump onto the world cup bandwagon which often lacks a little imagination (Read about it in Marketing). Yes, the snacks and drinks market will see the undoubted benefits as it fits with the occasion of watching football, but how much more petrol will Esso sell offering free cardboard ‘medals’ with every £15 spend.

The occasion and product have to fit and create an emotional connection. By identifying the mood and matching it to both a suitable product and event, we have recipe for success. Retailers are constantly looking to create occasions, so what better way to support them, sell some products and raise your game.

Emma Sutcliffe
Golley Slater Retail
Leeds

While HIPs’ demise had been on the cards for quite a while, the speed and lack of notice on the announcement has come as a bit of a surprise.

But is it a good thing? After all HIPs were supposedly providing house buyers with important information and were originally introduced in December 2007 to reduce risk, delay and uncertainty to the house buying process.

As I lurch towards becoming a grumpy old man my natural inclination is to disagree with the masses, but on this one they’re absolutely right. HIPs definitely had to go and well done the new coalition for dispensing with them.

As RICS Director of communications (and our client) Gillian Charlesworth said: “HIPs have failed to address the significant problems in the home buying process they were originally supposed to tackle…taking a swift decision will have minimised the impact on the market and ensured that estate agents who stick to the rules will not lose out.”

Timing was everything and introducing a significant £500 cost to the house buying process just when the property market was teetering over a big price correction was never sensible.

What was better timing though was introducing Energy Performance Certificates and it’s good news that this element has been retained. Here the onus will remain on the estate agent to ensure an EPC has been ordered prior to marketing and that they have made reasonable efforts to ensure it’s available within 28 days of the property coming to market.

So good news all round? Well, apart from the many people who paid for expensive training to become an inspector. If I was one of them I’d seriously be considering what legal action I could take against either the new government for scrapping them or the old for introducing them. But then again, with the curtailing of legal aid that might be difficult too!

Derek Harris, Account Director, Golley Slater London

There are many benefits to volunteering including expanding contacts, making new friends and gaining new skills and experiences that increase confidence and employability. A 2005 YouGov’s survey showed that 44% of business leaders linked employee volunteering to staff retention, 36% to recruitment of high calibre graduates and 28% to employee training. It also showed that employees actively engaged in community programmes are more satisfied in their work, with 85% saying their perception of their company had improved.

Volunteers tend to feel strongly about the cause they support and employers can harness this passion by integrating employee volunteering into their business strategy. Even in an employers’ market, competition for the best staff is high and employers compete on more than salary. A company’s reputation is important to job seekers and they expect to receive training. While volunteering is not a substitute for formal training, it can be incorporated into staff development plans to build team work and leadership skills. Many volunteering projects involve both team work and leadership roles so volunteers strengthen these skills.

Many companies run their own employee volunteering schemes, but as corporate social responsibility has increased in importance, more companies are turning to organisations like Business in the Community (BITC) because they can provide resources, help and advice on developing a structured programme. This involves championing the concept of employee volunteering within the organisation; selecting projects and promoting them to encourage staff to take part; looking at how volunteering fits with employees’ development plans; tracking volunteer hours and gaining feedback from the community groups being supported. Management can assess how volunteering is benefiting both the community and the organisation in terms of its reputation; staff performance, recruitment, retention and morale.

Each year Business in the Community (BITC) runs a national employee volunteering event – Give & Gain Day – which gives companies the chance to get involved in a community project. This enables companies to try employee volunteering and, if they decide to continue afterwards, to gain support with developing a volunteering programme.

Last year 4,300 employee volunteers from 208 companies in 43 towns and cities across the UK took part in Give & Gain Day. Participants include major corporations, SMEs and public sector organisations. This year’s Give & Gain Day takes place on 9 July and BITC is aiming to have 6,000 volunteers helping on projects as diverse as building reading gardens at schools to companies running open days for students. To learn more about Give & Gain Day visit www.bitc.org.uk.

Althea Taylor-Salmon, MD, Golley Slater Public Relations Cambridge

Weekday meal preparation has changed, with 4 out of 5 of us now favouring so-called ‘combination cooking’ (mixing both raw and ready prepared, store bought ingredients). The research also shows shoppers don’t plan meals and lack confidence in the kitchen. They want more information about how to cook healthy meals for their family when they are short of time and what to buy when they are at the supermarket.

An opportunity exists for brand owners to provide meal suggestions when shoppers need them most, in-store. Providing shopping lists and recipe ideas will direct shoppers to your branded product and may even tempt them into new categories.

Our specialist retail team works together with brand owners helping them connect with shoppers, analyse the latest trends and create campaigns to increase sales which meet with the changes in shopper behaviour.

Emma Sutcliffe
Golley Slater Retail
Leeds

*Ref Institute of Grocery Distribution, shopper research report, Meal Occasions