Lights, camera, PR!

A few years ago it was claimed that the UK has more CCTV cameras (per head of population) than anywhere else in the world. Certainly the digital camera has revolutionised the way we see our world – pretty much everyone’s mobile phone has one too and it has offered us all the ability to record newsworthy events and put them on the web, often before the news big boys can do so themselves. Equally, reality TV and its online offshoots have made the idea of one day finding wider recognition a far more achievable goal. It’s something which we have been continually reminded of again this week as we have helped PR Britain’s Got Talent hopefuls Kai and Natalia (*insert shameless plug here* – don’t forget to vote for them in the final this weekend!!) – who have been doing the rounds of TV (as well as radio) interviews. And yet the idea of being filmed professionally for business exposure is something that I would wager fills many people with dread. This leaves something of a paradox. Whilst the opportunities (and demand from the media) have never been higher there is something about the perceived permanency of recorded footage that can turn a confident, well-informed and interesting potential speaker’s knees to jelly! At MCC we have recognised the value of producing filmed PR for a long time. Services such as YouTube have brought filmed publicity to the masses and yet there can be even greater rewards in offering good quality video content to the press. Some of our press contacts like to video interview industry experts directly as well, which can offer some great PR coverage that reaches out to exactly the audience you want to be talking about your company, services and products. If you’re happy to give a confident presentation to a room full of people, it’s not a great leap to do so to a good interviewer and a camera.

The world of mobile apps providers had a new member this week as Facebook launched its own app store, as reported on the BBC news website. Already offering a number of mobile versions of its ubiquitous social networking website, the company obviously sees there is a good market in offering other apps. A key USP is that the apps will be tethered to Facebook to operate, a shrewd move it could be said for cementing users to the website which must already be a permanent fixture for a large percentage of the worldwide online community.

As 3D has become a big name technology recently it’s perhaps no surprise that it is starting to make an impact in the business as well as the consumer sector. V3 reported this week on Microsoft’s Mirage Table, an augmented reality product that uses a 3D teleconferencing system in which users can move around a virtual space and move virtual objects. Whilst a full production model is some way off, it’s an interesting development on the way we view our media. Debate in the MCC office this week centred on how technology visuals will continue to develop and realistic 3D (once the preserve of sci-fi) seems to be getting tantalisingly close. It might make some people want to reach for a good old-fashioned printed book for their escapism in the future, which would be a nice irony!