Charlie Almond, Head of Sponsorship PR at Dentsu Aegis Network Sport & Entertainment was integral in helping us to realise the ‘Gillette Trick Shot’ video with Roger Federer (now the most viewed tennis video on YouTube) when he was at Hill & Knowlton.
What time do you get up?
Whenever my daughter decides to wake up, which is usually about 6 or 6:30am…
iPhone, Android or something more exotic?
iPhone, although I recently dug out all of these bad boys from years gone by. Can you put them in date order?
Social media: Banned from the bedroom or full scale addict?
Addict, although I try and stop looking about 30 mins or so before lights out.
What is your favourite piece of social video (UGC or branded) from the last 6 months?
The Liverpool FC squad dancing to the Kolo/Yaya Tour song together. https://twitter.com/FootbalIFights/status/603488688492978176
It made me smile being a Liverpool fan myself, but also because it showed a human side of the players that we’ve lost over the past few years. I suspect that’s partially the fault of too many brands pushing out bland content because they’re worried about pushing teams/athletes too hard. But the video also shows how you don’t need super production quality these days (I can hear all my video production friends scream as they read this…), people are really happy to watch grainy, shaky footage if it shows them something fun. That puts the onus on social and PR teams to be ready to pounce and turn around quick content that taps into the news agenda. Which is what the industry has done for years and years (pre-social media even!), it’s just the format has changed slightly.
What brands do you feel are nailing their tone of voice in this area?
I think adidas always do a great job and their publishing model bringing PR and social under one roof if probably testament to that. Otherwise, I think the most interesting content is coming out of rights holders at the moment. Man City spring to mind, plus most of the American associations do a great job. They have the access and are finally realising how important it is to use that to engage the fans. It used to be brands taking advantage of assets because the rights holders either didn’t care or have the manpower to do anything with them, but now the tables have turned it feels.
What do you think the biggest changes in social video will be in the next 2 years?
Finding stuff! Seriously, there is now SO much content being produced and SO many channels to browse, it’s beyond saturation point. Gone are the days when you could come up with a good idea, then rely on a decent PR push and a bit of seeding to bag a viral hit (as we did with Rubber on the Gillette/Federer video).
You still need the great idea, for it to be editorially worthy, but particularly if it’s a big campaign you also need to have a really clever media plan, making use of all the channels available to you (and that your audience will be on). That doesn’t mean it needs to be expensive, you just need to be smart. That’s one of the great things about being here at Dentsu Aegis, we can tap into that media know-how that’s inbuilt into the network and develop these incredible integrated amplification ecosystems. They look bloody bonkers on paper, but they really do work…
If you could see one amazing thing on video in the next ten minutes what would it be?
Find out what happened next in that Kolo/Yaya video…
Posted By
LizP