Revolver PR signs Boyd as Head of Social Communications

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:15:07 GMT

Revolver PR has appointed Annie Boyd to the newly-created role of Head of Social Communications.

Formerly Head of Social Media at D8 Digital, Boyd takes on a varied role that will include advising clients on the use of digital communities in public relations strategies and taking on responsibility for various aspects of Revolver's marketing. Previously founder of online dating and events company The Beluga Club, she will be tasked with bringing her experience of using social networks to build businesses to bear on the agency's cross media campaigns.

"As one of the few candidates in Scotland with proven expertise in using social media to promote events, push messages and sell services, Annie was in a class of her own when it came to looking for someone to fill our social communications role. We're delighted to have her on board, and look forward to working with her on client campaigns that deliver results across every channel," said Iain Bruce, Managing Director of Revolver PR.

Founded by former European Entrepreneur of the Year Steve Leach and award-winning journalist Iain S Bruce, Revolver PR has a growing client list that includes the technology transfer institute iSLI and Sir Peter Rigby's SCC - Europe's largest independent technology solutions provider. Scotland's leading Digital PR company has also recently forged partnerships with award-winning online agency Line and the digital signage design house Yuva.

"Revolver PR's brand of digitally-enabled public relations is really starting to make its mark on the industry. In recent months we've seen the company sign its first US client, and given the cost-effectiveness, the impact and the international reach of Digital PR there's clearly tremendous scope for growth both domestically and abroad. When the opportunity to join that kind of team comes along, you grab it," said Boyd.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge of taking clients beyond the hype that surrounds the social media and showing them how it can be used to enhance their press campaigns. Applied effectively it can be a powerful tool for developing relationships, building brands and connecting businesses with consumers."

About Revolver PR
Revolver PR is Scotland's leading digitally-enabled PR consultancy and is geared to deliver results across the print, broadcast & digital media. Combining key press and public relations consultancy skills with leading-edge understanding of Digital PR, internet news distribution, social media, events PR and video marketing, the agency offers a full range of corporate communications services designed to deliver twice the value of traditional PR.

http://revolver-pr.co.uk

Revolver PR ups its Game

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:21:54 GMT

Revolver, Scotland’s leading digital PR agency, today launched its brand new Interactive Entertainment division, headed by games industry veteran Brian Baglow.

The new division will cover all aspects of the rapidly evolving Interactive Entertainment sector, from the mainstream console market, through to the emergent social gaming, casual and independent (indie) markets, as well as the high growth iPhone and iPad platforms, the online, mobile and massively multiplayer and everything in between.

Brian Baglow has worked in the games industry since 1995, cutting his teeth at Dundee’s famous DMA Design, where he worked on the notorious Grand Theft Auto. From there he’s gone on to work with almost every single Scottish games company, founded the industry news site Scottishgames.net, helped organise events such as the Edinburgh Interactive and North East of North digital arts festivals and generally stuck his nose into anything games related the length and breadth of the country.

Iain Bruce, Managing Director of Revolver PR, says, “The games market is an area that has weathered everything the global recession could throw at it – and is still growing - in all sorts of interesting and unusual new directions. Scotland alone has over 30 development studios, covering all of these new platforms, market segments and routes to market. However, it requires a great deal of specialist knowledge understanding to provide credible support to these companies. Brian has worked across all of these areas and with all of these outfits over the last 15 years. So when the opportunity arose to bring his expertise and experience on board, it made perfect sense to grab him and give Revolver instant access to the whole of the games market.

Brian Baglow, the new head of Interactive Entertainment for Revolver, says, “There’s a growing need for focused and expert PR and communications within the games sector. There are more companies, creating more games for more platforms than there’s ever been, yet most of the creators and development studios have little or no option in the PR companies they approach. Revolver has shown that it understands exactly what interactive companies actually need when it comes to PR. The games market is an exciting, enthusiastic and passionate place to work. Revolver’s a perfect match for it. I am thrilled to be back in the game again.”

Revolver PR is a digitally-enabled public relations consultancy, geared to deliver results across print, broadcast & digital media. Combining key press and public relations skills with leading-edge understanding of Digital PR , online news distribution, social media campaigns and video marketing. The company offers a full range of corporate communications services designed to deliver twice the value of traditional PR.

Brian can be reached at: brian@revolver-pr.co.uk or 07747 792247. If you’re involved in videogames in any way, you’ll be hearing from him shortly.

Revolver PR and YUVa launch digital signage project

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:39:19 GMT

Revolver PR and digital signage specialists YUVa have announced they are to develop a range of real-time digital products designed to deliver online press and promotional campaigns at street level.

Already underway, the collaboration has begun with the phase one development of a media mapping system that creates visual representations of the news and information landscape for a range of industries. Once completed the technology will be adapted to deliver a raft of real-time media monitoring, promotional and advertising applications to clients in Scotland and the UK.

"There's increasing demand for cross media PR and marketing campaigns that can be deployed on every channel from the online media to outdoor displays and we're delighted to be working with YUVa on a series of applications designed to explore the possibilities on offer," said Iain Bruce, Revolver's Managing Director.

"Out of home advertising is no longer a static medium and as such has enormous potential for public relations consultancies looking to run 21st Century strategies that can make an impact everywhere from your favourite news sites to the High Street. From outdoor displays that encourage consumers to interact with them via social media services to lighting and projection installations that turn city landmarks into highly visible campaign centrepieces, the range of possible options is almost infinite."

Digital signage experts YUVa's system will enable users to publish almost any digital asset while overlaying custom information to a display. Resolution independent graphics automatically mix and match to different screen resolutions while a separate web application manages all media assets, playlists and schedules and distributes content to multiple displays. The core application is extensible via custom quartz compositions that can visualise internet data as realtime 3D graphics or take advantage of numerous bluetooth enabled input devices to create interactive displays.

"Brands are beginning to demand a joined-up approach to corporate communications that sees their core message deployed across every possible channel in an integrated manner. Retailers are currently the primary consumers of the technology, but it is also increasingly being explored by banks, hotels, travel hubs, car dealerships, corporate offices and public sector organisations that need to run dynamic campaigns around events like Glasgow's upcoming Commonwealth games," said YUVa founder Dan Roy.

"Our system will target customers that need an affordable, easy to use solution that will work in the most varied of public environments. These range from dynamic wayfinding signs to digital posters, menus, maps, realtime info-graphics, transport schedules and twitter streams."

YUVa - whose clients have included BBC Scotland, The Lighthouse and the Scottish Symphony Orchestra - will work with Scotland's leading Digital PR agency on delivering a number of proof-of-concept and practical digital signage applications for clients. According to many reports the market for out of home digital advertising is set to grow rapidly over the next few years, with once recent analysis predicting that the global market will enjoy an annual growth rate of over 26.8% between now an 2013.

Revolver PR calls for investment in Digital PR training

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:11:22 GMT

Revolver PR has called upon companies to invest in Digital PR training for young entrants to the industry.

Responding to recent calls from industry figures for the range of qualifications available to both aspiring and current public relations practitioners to be more digitally orientated, Scotland's leading Digital PR agency has challenged communications firms to invest more heavily in training staff on the job. The company, with offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, believes that organisations must be prepared to put time and resources into providing staff with the support required to get to grips with the digital media.

"While there is a need for existing PR qualifications to encompass digital issues in order to meet the growing demand from agencies for digital PR practitioners, there is a limit to what you can expect such course to achieve. The digital media moves at the speed of light and is in a constant cycle of evolution and change, meaning that formal course materials are at risk of falling out of date before they've even been written," said Revolver PR Managing Director Iain Bruce.

"In our experience new staff benefit far more from on-the-job Digital PR training than they do by following a course-based syllabus. While this requires more time and resources to be focused upon each individual, it's a process that ultimately produces far greater returns."

A number of industry commentators have recently stated their belief that young people need to be more digitally oriented in their qualifications in order to meet agencies growing demand for trained digital PR individuals. They suggest that recruitment consultants are now struggling to find suitable candidates and have call for potentials employees to be formally taught the foundations of digital knowledge.

Revolver PR, conversely, calls for employers to invest in youth through a process of in-house digital PR training, whereby employees are given instruction on the job as opposed to studying through external educational institutions.

"There is far too great a number of wasteful media courses out there that do not prepare young people for the future as it is" says Bruce. "On-the-job training is much more beneficial when considering that public relations companies require young individuals who pay attention, are keen to learn and who take direction without hesitance."

Whilst the benefits of this are disputed somewhat within the industry, Revolver is of the opinion that internal training in digitally enabled public relations consultancy and social media usage benefits the company just as much as the individual.

Line and Revolver PR forge digital PR partnership

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:35:58 GMT

Award-winning digital agency Line and Revolver PR have agreed a partnership deal to provide a range of online PR services geared to help businesses maximise the returns on their internet investments.

The deal, which will see Revolver PR partnering with the leading digital agency on a number of projects, reflects Line's strategy to expand the business-focused, 360 degree service offered to its roster of blue chip clients. In addition to supporting the expanding creative agency's online initiatives with a range of digital PR and social media campaigns, Revolver will also provide public relations consultancy and advice to staff at Line's offices in Edinburgh and London.

"We're delighted to announce this partnership with one of the rising stars of the online media sector. A core part of our growth strategy is to build both the company and its offerings through industry-leading partnerships that help our clients drive profit through digital channels, and Revolver's status as proven experts in digital PR made them the ideal choice for this role," said Ross Laurie, Managing Director at Line.

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Bigmouthmedia releases 2009 Digital PR survey

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:49:19 GMT

Bigmouthmedia's 2009 online PR survey has revealed that despite a marked rise in interest, the majority of the UK's leading public relations firms are still failing to get to grips with the world of online media.

According to the latest updated survey of Britain's 100 leading press and public relations agencies, the number of PR firms offering online PR and social media services has undergone a sharp rise over the last year, with 40% now claiming to provide a range of internet services.

Representing an increase of 90.5% compared with the 2008 survey results, the boost is evidence of the growth of a interest in online PR from traditional agencies.

"The PR industry is certainly beginning to come to terms with online PR and social media, no doubt motivated by the proven benefits of digital campaigns, but it is less clear whether the sector fully understands the discipline. It is not simply a case of replicating your offline press releases on the web, but requires specialist expertise and an informed understanding of how people engage with news, brands and products on the web," said Leanne Rinning, Online PR Manager at bigmouthmedia.

"Online PR has to be viewed as part of your overall online marketing mix. It is most effective and more measurable when dovetailed with your SEO, PPC and display activity."

The survey also reveals that the number of agencies publishing blogs has doubled in the last year. Despite widespread recognition of the value and importance of blogging as a media tool, however, a surprising 78% are still failing to produce their own.

Some 60% of the agencies surveyed admitted that they have yet to include online PR as part of their service offering. However, only 45% of the operations that claimed to have new media covered actually published their own blogs.

Taken as a whole, only 22% of UK PR consultancies currently use blogs to communicate with clients, colleagues and the wider marketplace.

London outfits appear to have maintained their lead in embracing the expanding field. A clear 48% of the firms surveyed who were from the capital offer online PR, with 30% publishing their own blogs.

Companies from elsewhere in the UK fared much worse in the research, with only 32% offering online PR and just 14% publishing their own blogs.

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff located across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: Search engine optimisation, PPC, Online Media Planning, affiliate marketing, Social Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics. Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily digital marketing news to ensure clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.