O-Vote Joe

Gemma Clarke, Account Manager

A record 19.1 million of us tuned into the X Factor final last weekend. Simon Cowell must have been seeing pound signs in his eyes.

And why was this show one of the most viewed ever?

Was it purely down to Geordie Joe’s singing ability or the fact that almost half the population of teenage girls have been going ‘Radio Ga Ga’ over Olly Murs’ dance moves?

I believe what made the show one of the most successful and what inevitably helped Joe to win was down to the media frenzy that surrounded what could be dubbed as ‘Joe-Gate’.

As a region that is fiercely proud of its people and nurtures its talent, the overwhelming regional support that we have given local lad Joe McElderry is not surprising.

From illuminated boards at the entrance to the Tyne Tunnel, which have the words ‘X Factor – Vote Joe’ to South Shields Town Hall flying ‘Vote Joe’ flags at half mast, people actually changing their names live on the North East’s Real Radio via deedpoll to ‘Vote Joe’ - the region went well and truly Joe crazy.

An image of Joe’s face was also projected on to South Shields’ Town Hall for three hours prior to last Saturday’s show and the Vermont Hotel in Newcastle put up a flag, which was visible from the Tyne Bridge.

It was hard to tell at first whether this ongoing promotional campaign was coming from the X-Factor’s PR machine or whether we ‘as a region’ were just using all our own resources to support Joe– and gain a little PR for ourselves at the same time. I believe it was the latter.

From the support of South Tyneside Council, Newcastle Airport, Real Radio, Metro Radio, Tyne Tunnel, and indeed Newcastle College – to name but a few – who have all ran their own promotional ‘Vote Joe’ stories, we have all helped to create Joe McElderry mania – surely a collaborative award winning PR campaign in itself!

What also created mass hysteria in the region was the power of social media. This year, the X Factor created an online buzz, which the programme has never seen before.

Famous regional names such as Kevin Keegan ‘tweeted’ his support for Geordie Joe as did, top Toon radio presenter Tony Horne amongst many others.

But Joe faced stiff competition to take the Christmas crown this year. Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing In the Name Of’ pipped the cherubic Geordie to the post, thanks to an online social media campaign through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

It seems that the nation has had enough of the X Factor winner taking the top spot.

Simon Cowell is said to be ‘furious’. Yes, he’s furious that he has under estimated the power of social media. This was an example of social media marketing at its best and something that is sure to go down in history.

Joe McElderry The Climb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNXayt_UiyQ

Rage Against The Machine Killing in the Name of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuOAY-S6OY

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Gemma’s not-so glamorous world of PR.

Gemma Clarke, Account Manager

FOR an industry that is all about reputation, PR has had a hard job in losing its Ab Fab Luvvies connotations, but since the industry was given its chartered status in 2005 things have been looking up.

However, when I was presented with the task to promote the Miss Sunderland 2009 beauty contest I did start to worry about what my fellow professionals in the world of B2B PR would think about this rather ‘fluffy’ campaign task.

Heading up the ‘Lifestyle’ division at O Communications, I have to admit though, that the thought of promoting Miss Sunderland 2009 did, actually, thrill me!

After setting objectives and strategy, actually getting down to the grit of promoting the competition was not at all as glamorous as you might think!

Indeed we’ve have had a ball in meeting some well-known faces such as the Star of ITV’s Paris Hilton’s My British Best Friend Emma Beard, ITV’s X Factor finalist girl group, Bad Lashes and Sky 1’s The Gladiators.

But being part of one of the biggest events on Sunderland social calendar- the glitzy Grand Final – definitely saw the glamour factor hitting a top note. Here we, (amongst other things!) got our glad rags on and sipped champagne whilst mingling with the glitterati of Sunderland, watching a fashion catwalk and being entertained with live music. We were then – in true glamour style – whisked off to the after show party at Sunderland hottest night club, Cosa Nostra where we entertained clients until past 2am!

Behind the scenes of this of course, is a somewhat different story. The pressure was on when I had to chair a meeting with the editor of the Sunderland Echo and try to secure his support to be the official sponsor of the event this year as well as arranging technical issues such as a text voting system. We agreed the deal, but this high profile business meeting was sure the sharp end of PR.

Then there were the actual photo calls and press interviews. The most memorable non-glam moment has to be the press launch. The day after the launch there was a fantastic picture story in the regional dailies featuring two beautiful girls standing in front of an Audi banner – what people didn’t actually see was our team standing on the football pitch at either side on the banner hoisting it up with our high heels digging into the ground!

We then spent the rest of the day running up and down the pitch sides, in and out of the tunnel , changing rooms and conferencing suite dragging the models and celebrities in front of a microphone to speak to the many journalist that had arrived that day. Keeping up with their schedule and print deadlines was very demanding, let alone following up and securing the coverage afterwards.

At the end of the day the glamorous bits far outweigh the gruelling groundwork but the Miss Sunderland 2009 experience was a blast and we have generated loads of press coverage and secured sponsorship deals – this is the true value of PR.

In my view, the aim of the PR game is to work hard and play hard!

Job done x