Panasonic NZ, like most other companies these days, wanted to be involved in social media. But, they didn’t want to just jump in without any business strategy behind the actions. Bullet PR has launched a variety of products for Panasonic, such as the Blu-ray recorder and 3DTV, and we were asked to do the brand’s social media marketing as well.

Before starting work on the social media marketing itself, we wanted to sell what we were doing and why we were doing it, to people outside the marketing department. We organised a half-day strategy session with all product managers and senior management as well as the PR and marketing teams. This made everyone feel involved and it also gave us access to more ideas, which can never be a bad thing.

The social media programme is now fully up-and-running and we have helped start a blog, writing posts across a range of topics. We have also just put up our first blog post with an accompanying video. There are more on the way so keep an eye out!

Bullet PR has been working with nationwide retailer and finance company, dtr, for several months now. One of the key requirements in our brief was to increase the company’s profile amongst the New Zealand business community. To achieve this, we have undertaken several initiatives. First up was media relations, of course. The results so far include a retail trends story that featured on the NZ Herald Online as well as a profile piece on MD, Mark Spring that appeared in the Dominion Post and on Stuff.co.nz

Outside of core media relations, we also helped organise an event at one of the dtr stores where the owners of the company outlined their vision of the next three years for all the business partners to hear. At the event, we issued the company’s first-ever Annual Review, which looked at financial figures as well as giving an insight into the company.

Most recently, we have launched a blog where Mark Spring and other members of the senior management will give their insights into retail trends, change management, their community involvement and life on the frontline of a Kiwi business.

Ogilvy NZ and Bullet PR have today joined forces to create a new digital engagement and social media marketing practice, Ogilvy 360 Degrees Digital Influence.
Drawing on the proven technical expertise of Ogilvy Digital and Bullet PR’s extensive experience in online communications, Ogilvy 360 Degrees Digital Influence offers clients a powerful combination of digital communications, web development, search and social media marketing to deliver meaningful engagement with stakeholders.
In addition, Bullet PR joins Ogilvy NZ, merging Ogilvy PR’s business into the one brand, Bullet PR, offering full service consumer PR, experiential marketing and corporate communications.

BulletPR has launched an online consumer PR and social media engagement campaign with NZ Girl will promote the new IDEOS™ smartphone with Google™, exclusive to 2degrees Mobile.  Via Facebook, Twitter and email marketing, NZ Girl’s many aspiring fashion devotees are invited to channel the vibe of one of four ‘So Smart’ style icons: Emma Stone, Alexa Chung, Zooey Deschanel or Natalie Portman.

The would-be stylists must publish their fashion spread on fashion trend site Polyvore featuring the IDEOS Smartphone as part of their look.   To boost their entry further, they are invited to tweet their look with the hashtag #sosmart.

The winner will walk off with a prize worth over $2000 including an IDEOS Smartphone, a year’s free airtime and a ‘spoil me’ makeover day with one of NZ’S top stylists.

Bullet PR director Jennifer Duval-Smith said “The IDEOS is a smart looking phone, with a very smart android 2.2 operating system, at a smart price. It’s great to have the chance to explore those brand values of the technology in the fashion space.  NZ Girl readers are smart and creative and we’re really looking forward to seeing how far they’re going to take this concept.”

Bullet PR Managing Director Nicholas O’Flaherty and Senior Account Manager Kevin Ptak are quoted on social media in the current issue of NZ Management magazine.

The article relates to ‘harnessing the power of social media’ and discusses how NZ shapes up compared to the rest of the world in terms of digital know-how. Read the full story

Bullet PR Account Manager Alex Erasmus is quoted on social media in the current issue of AdMedia magazine.

Alex was asked how social media has changed the way he communicates in his personal and professional lives. Read the full story

Bullet PR Account Manager, Alex Erasmus, hosted the most recent Auckland Social Media Club event at the Saatchi building on May 11^th.

The event was on ‘Brand Voice: balancing personal and corporate tone in Social Media’ and featured Monteith’s, Rebecca Smith of Telecom, David Farrier from TV3 and Vaughn Davis of ad agency Y&R.

The night was a rousing success, with well over 100 attendees and plenty of good conversations about Digital and Social Media best practice.

For more on the night, click here.

And to keep updated on the future monthly events, click here.

Bullet PR hosted the first ‘Social Media Junction’ conference and workshop at SkyCity convention centre in Auckland on 17^th and 18^th May.

With a varied line-up of international and local speakers, the conference attracted over 250 delegates over the two days. Read the full story

Jayson Bryant of Wine Vault TV was the speaker at the inaugural Social Media Club event at 42Below Bar on Commerce Street in downtown Auckland last night. Bullet PR is a founding member of the Social Media Club committee and Account Manager Alex Erasmus hosted this event.

With video set to be a key topic in media circle in the coming months, Jayson spoke about what he has learnt in 179 episodes of Wine Vault TV and how incorporating video blogging into his business has helped drive extra revenue.

By being one of the first businesses in New Zealand to start using Social Media, The Wine Vault has helped to increase online sales by 4000% (20% of overall sales); Jayson admitted this figure originated from relatively humble beginnings, but it is still a huge game-changer for how his company operates.

One key insight to take away from the evening was that video (and not just YouTube) are significantly underappreciated and underutilized in New Zealand. The chances of a video ‘going viral’ are incredibly slim (you would be better off with a Lotto ticket), but if you keep the content interesting and digestible, people will soon start to follow what you are doing and a fan base will build.

Another factor people must remember is that Social Media is time consuming. Jayson reminded us that although many of the tools are free or relatively cheap, time is the biggest cost to factor in. With video, it is really important to use intelligent tagging. This is particularly true with YouTube, where there is an incredible amount of white noise (approximately 20 hours uploaded every minute).

However, the most important point is that content is king. Social Media is not an essential part of your business model and the tools, especially video, should only be used if you have something interesting to say. As Jayson alluded to, if you have something interesting to say and the market is not crowded by other people trying to say the same thing, there’s a great chance you can build a trusting following, brand equity and extra revenue from home and abroad.

Bullet PR Senior Account Manager Paul Matthews spoke recently to conference delegates at the ^7th annual Media Relations conference in Wellington. Paul delivered a 90 minute workshop to delegates on building an integrated approach to internal, external, online and offline communications.

As well as providing local case studies to illustrate the effectiveness of integrated communications, Paul‘s presentation also discussed the importance of measurement, gave delegates tips on how to develop an effective media relations strategy, and highlighted how social media has become an important facet of a successful communications campaign.