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Last week I was fortunate enough to attend one of the highlights of the UK infrastructure calendar as Highways UK rolled into the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. Wednesday 6^th November marked the start of the two-day conference where all major players in the sector from Highways England to government leaders all shared their views on whether the road of the future will be more like a Scalextric track, if cars drive themselves or if electric vehicle charging is the answer to helping the planet.

Throughout the conference, there was a clear focus; sustainability. Organisations admitted it was a challenge of magnitude with some attendees believing this was the greatest challenge that the sector has ever had to face.

This theme created a hot bed of different ideas; one eye-catcher for me was discussed at a talk hosted by an array of leaders from sub-national transport bodies, where the idea of pay-as-you-go mobility was introduced. The concept was simple, as cars become more advanced, they will essentially become data beacons for the network, which means road tax could be linked to the number of miles that the car covers on a yearly basis, rather than a flat amount. This makes perfect sense in every other part of our lives from utility bills to phone contracts, so can it work for our cars too?

The sustainability topic rolled on throughout the event, but one thing that was dismissed on the whole was electric vehicle charging being the sole answer. While electric vehicle sales may have seen a 151% increase in October compared to 12 months ago, the idea of every car on the road being powered this way is currently flawed because of a lack of  infrastructure to support it — with around 25,000 charging points in the UK, compared to the 37 million cars that were registered on the road in 2017.

Drilling down into a more immediate proposition that appears to hold the key for any sustainability ideas is the use of data, which is being widely accepted by transport bodies and technology vendors alike. Nick Smee, CEO of our client, Yotta, a leading technology company in the highways sector, took this one step further and believes there is ‘a growing recognition that data is the most valuable resource that people have at their disposal’ and acknowledges that more data will continue to be available from a variety of sources such as ‘asset surveys and first autonomous vehicle’.

In terms of what the road of the future might look like, it is very much still up for debate with creating roads out of recycled plastic being one option put forward by one Scottish  firm earlier this year. Meanwhile Shell, has developed a clear picture of what the road would look like, featuring glow in the dark lanes to pollution sapping road surfaces all of which seem a long way of becoming a mainstream and long-term solution.

The highways sector clearly has plenty of hurdles to overcome in tackling the sustainability challenge and although there is no fast lane to success, the event provided a fantastic insight into how the issue is being approached and it was clear that the majority agree that data will still be king in 2020.

When they’re part of a carefully strategised marketing plan, B2B technology industry events provide an excellent platform to share expertise, raise brand awareness and build relationships with key media and industry influencers.

Download our eBook, ‘Making the Most of Industry Events‘ now, to ensure you achieve the best return on investment from your events marketing, with tips covering content creation, media relations and PR and social media.

Industry Events eBook

Related: Event Series Webinar – Redefining event marketing: Plan for success

Bekki Bushnell, Head of Business Development

Apple TV+ launched at the start of this month, entering the already-crowded arena of streaming platforms. With Britbox also having launched this month, and the likes of Disney+, HBO Max and NBCUniversal slated for upcoming release, the competition is set to heat up even more as the battle for subscribers continues. This new array of content also joins the established players like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Now TV, which account for usage in over 46% of homes in the UK.

Apple’s challenge is not only to stand out among the new platforms, with Disney emerging as its biggest rival, but also those existing channels which have cemented their places as the streaming giants and set the standards we expect from platforms today. Where ‘Netflix and chill’ has become a commonplace phrase, ‘Apple TV+ and chill’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. The reality is that even if we wanted to, most of us couldn’t afford subscribing to all the streaming services available, so the challenge for each platform is creating a higher value to the consumer than its competitors.

So, what is Apple’s strategy to break into the market?

Undoubtedly, Apple’s top priority is pushing its original content. Original content is on the rise across the board to combat the increasing threat of rights holders pulling their content from existing platforms to monetise it themselves – such as WarnerMedia pulling Friends from Netflix to include on its own upcoming platform HBO Max. By creating original content, Apple avoids this risk entirely. It has also invested heavily in talent, with its shows featuring huge names, from Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carrell, to Steven Spielberg and Oprah. This is a bid to assure consumers that its original content is going to be worth subscribing to. After all, you could say that Spielberg’s repertoire of blockbuster hits speaks for itself.

Apple has also opted for a staggered approach in releasing its content. Its launch debuted eight TV shows and one documentary film, and M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller ‘Servant’ is due to drop on November 28th. Although other dates are yet to be announced, Apple has an impressive amount of new content in the pipeline. Despite the pressure to churn out shows, a focus on quality over quantity could work in Apple’s favour. Meanwhile, Netflix has recently been flexing the ‘surprise drop’ strategy (staggered timings for new content) which Apple could end up imitating – although, it would likely need a healthy base of subscribers first to make this worthwhile.

Another differentiator is Apple’s price. It’s cheaper than its counterparts at £4.99 a month, but arguably couldn’t justify charging more given its initial lack of content. It offers a one-year free trial for students, a clever strategy given that the student demographic is known for social media usage and can spread enthusiasm and positive reviews via social feeds and word of mouth. It’s also free for new iPhone and iPad owners. However, this offer was marred by technical difficulties on launch day as some users were unable to claim the free trial while others were given the offer without owning a new product.

Product accessibility is another issue. Apple TV+ is currently compatible with Apple devices, some Samsung smart TVs, Roku and Amazon’s Fire Stick, but not with any Sony, LG or Vizio devices. Additionally, although its price is lower than other streaming platforms, ‘stacking’ ends up being expensive (a term for subscribing to multiple platforms). In this sense, it will be harder for Apple to convince those already subscribed to existing services to unsubscribe and opt for TV+ instead. Its closest competitor, Disney+, has the advantage of existing films, rights to franchises like Marvel, and a global fan base. Meanwhile, HBO Max is an extension of its existing network, offering a combination of content already proven popular alongside new content that promises to be the same.

Ultimately, Apple TV+ needs to prove its original content is top quality, binge-worthy and appealing, as this remains its key differentiator in the increasingly crowded market. With good reviews it could see a surge in subscribers, but bad feedback could be its downfall. Whether I’ll subscribe? Only time will tell.

What’s your career background, in brief?

Since graduating from Uni I have worked in marketing and project co-ordination roles. This is my first role in the world of PR, and my position at Whiteoaks involves working on our marketing campaigns, from content creation to updates with clients.

What’s the most challenging job you’ve ever had?

When I was 18 I worked as a retail assistant at HMV, and our stock of the X Factor winner’s CD was late to arrive at the store on the day it came out. With X Factor being insanely popular at the time, we had hundreds of customers coming in to buy it when we opened first thing in the morning, and I had to disappoint them all with the bad news. (Online downloads and streaming really hadn’t kicked off at this point).

What apps, technology items and gadgets can’t you live without?

I listen to a lot of music so I can’t live without Spotify. I also play a lot of FIFA so a functioning Playstation 5 is helpful.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given?

Always be yourself, unless you can be Spider-Man, then be Spider-Man.

Name one thing about your job that gives you a sense of satisfaction or makes you leave the office smiling…

Writing good quality copy that doesn’t need much correcting is always satisfying!

What’s the first thing you do in the office in the morning?

As we’ve hit the winter months, hanging up my coat is always the first thing I do. Then it’s time for the morning coffee to get my brain into gear for the day.

What are you reading, watching or listening to at the moment?

The last book I read was called Ready Player One, where in a dystopian future the main character plugs himself into a much nicer virtual world to live out his life (Similar concept to The Matrix). I’m currently watching the last series of a comedy on Netflix called The Good Place, and Liam Gallagher’s new album is my go-to music at the moment.

In June 2019, Facebook announced the launch of its proposed digital currency, Libra. But since then the social media platform has run into a number of roadblocks; from France blocking the currency’s development in Europe, to Mark Zuckerberg getting a grilling by US lawmakers about Libra’s privacy policies. As it stands, it doesn’t look very good for the social media giant’s latest venture nor does it look like it will get any easier for the company, especially as the US House Financial Services Committee is still unsatisfied with the steps that Facebook has taken to try launch Libra.

With all the bad press and Facebook and Zuckerberg’s trustworthiness at an all-time low, is it time to abandon the whole cryptocurrency venture?

A BBC News article recently reported that some of the biggest payment companies including Mastercard, Visa and PayPal have pulled out of the project. PayPal released a statement saying:

“PayPal has made the decision to forgo further participation in the Libra association at this time and to continue to focus on advancing our existing mission and business priorities as we strive to democratise access to financial services for underserved populations. We remain supportive of Libra’s aspirations and look forward to continued dialogue on ways to work together in the future. Facebook has been a longstanding and valued strategic partner to PayPal and we will continue to partner with and support Facebook in various capacities.”

Although most of the companies leaving didn’t give a reason as to why they were leaving, you can assume that the scrutiny from regulators and France’s stance hasn’t helped.

Should Facebook be looking at new ventures when it has an already damaged reputation to repair? To be clear, Libra isn’t actually Facebook’s cryptocurrency. It’s the project of the Libra Association, which Facebook co-founded. But we did find out from the testimony on Wednesday that Zuckerberg acknowledged that having people use Libra would likely drive up the cost of advertising on Facebook, which would benefit the company. Facebook’s secret weapon in all of this is Calibra, a digital wallet that is designed to work on top of Libra’s blockchain and resembles a normal payments company but its integration with Facebook’s enormous user base could give it a significant advantage over any rivals. With its ability to leverage WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, Calibra could very well become Facebook’s next big thing.

The signs don’t look good for the Libra currency succeeding. Companies are looking to distance themselves from the project and with regulators watching every move Zuckerberg has an even steeper hill to climb and with more investment needed. Facebook is still dealing with the consequences of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the damage to its reputation, as well as ongoing issues concerning fake news, political advertising, privacy… the list goes on.

I can’t help but think that with Facebook’s deep pockets and the limitless potential of a proprietary digital wallet as motivation, the idea isn’t necessarily dead just yet.

This week saw 203 new words, such as whatevs, simples and chillax, added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as part of its quarterly update. As a writer who also has a French degree, I love language and find the etymology and evolution of words fascinating. So, the updates to the dictionary always spark my interest – even if I don’t agree with all of them… 2015’s bants sticks in my mind!

The four updates to the dictionary each year demonstrate how pop-culture, technology, politics and a more multicultural society, among other things, impact the way we speak. For instance, the latest update features Star Wars terms (Jedi, lightsabre, Padawan and the Force), regional dialect and words borrowed from other languages. Above all, the new additions to the dictionary highlight the ever-evolving nature of the English language.

And, as much as new words and phrases are being thought up every year, others seem to have stood the test of time – after all, it’s thought 1,700 words and phrases in the English language were invented by Shakespeare.

Conversely, words can fall out of fashion. For example, how frequently do you hear people saying things like ‘whence’, ‘whilst’ or ‘oftentimes’? Similarly, some words can disappear altogether. Take scurryfunge, for example, which was once used to mean ‘a hasty tidying of the house between the time you see a neighbour and the time they knock on the door’.

Over time, the meaning of words can also change, as reflected by the definitions of steaming and hanging being updated in line with their use to mean drunk and hungover respectively.

Here are some of my favourites from the latest OED update:

Arancini, n.: Balls of rice stuffed with a savoury filling, coated in breadcrumbs, and fried, typically served as an appetizer or snack.

Easy-breezy, adj.: Especially of clothing, style, etc. Informal, casual; relaxed, carefree.

Kapow, int.: Representing the sound of an explosion, a gunshot, a hard punch or blow, etc.

Manhattanhenge, n.: A phenomenon in which the sun rises or sets in alignment with the streets that run east to west on the street grid of Manhattan, New York City.

Nomophobia, n.: Anxiety about not having access to a mobile phone or mobile phone services.

Omnishambles, n.: Chiefly in political contexts: a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged or is characterised by a series of blunders and miscalculations. This phrase was coined by the political comedy The Thick of It in 2009.

While it’s unlikely I’ll be using words such as sumfin, fakeness or easy-breezy in my work any time soon, I will most certainly be snacking on arancini and checking out Manhattenhenge when I’m next in New York.

Last week marked World Mental Health Day and it was refreshing to see the news and social media platforms flooded with personal stories from celebrities and members of the public discussing the state of their mental health and the impact that honest conversations can have on improving it.

As Brits, we’re notorious for our stiff upper lip, especially in the post-war generation, but in recent years Prince Harry himself has warned that he believes this trait is somewhat responsible for the mental health problems suffered by one in six of 16 to 64-year-olds in Britain today.

Given we spend on average 39 of our 168 hours each week at work, mental health support and positive workplace environments are hugely important for our wellbeing. So what can employers do to tackle poor mental health?

Bye Bye 9 – 5

The accumulative impact of demanding work cultures and increased working hours are perhaps some of the most important challenges in tackling the poor mental health amongst the general population. The opportunity to work adjusted hours to suit your lifestyle, commute, family schedule and even additional jobs can have a hugely positive impact on employee mental health, as well as sleep quality, alertness and blood pressure.

Understand absenteeism

Research shows that 12.7% of all sick days in the UK can be attributed to mental illness but with 55% of employees telling their employer they were physically ill rather than admitting mental health issues – businesses need to establish a culture of transparency and trust. Managers should have regular informal catch-ups with team members, developing strong relationships which invite open and honest conversation.

Training

You’d expect any business you work for to have a designated and trained first aider, if not an entire team, so why should mental health be any different? Mental Health First Aid England has over 70 case studies demonstrating the effectiveness of training in increasing mental health awareness and confidence in how to effectively support an employee experiencing poor mental health.

British fashion retailer Next has recently taken the step to train numerous staff in this regard, recognising the importance in creating an open workplace in which mental health can be discussed without fear of judgement, and where employees requiring help can be supported in structured, tailored and effective ways.

Talk to each other!

It’s incredibly easy to walk into the office and go on autopilot mode, opening your laptop and logging in before getting stuck into the 100s of emails that came in after you left the office yesterday. Before you know it, it’s 2 pm and you’ve only left your desk and interacted with someone else when you were waiting for your tea to brew. For your own sake and for those sitting around you, have a conversation – you never know where it may lead and your colleague might be in desperate need of someone to talk to.

Mental health awareness should be more than a day in the calendar and we’re all responsible for being the change we want to see in the world.

Why create content? Do you ever stop to think about what the time and resource is for?

In the B2B technology sector, we believe content aimed at the right audiences can increase brand awareness and reputation, as well as play a critical role in helping generate leads for sales teams. It can be used and repurposed to demonstrate your brand’s leadership, skills and knowledge in a particular area. It’s also a way to show your customers and prospects that you understand their professional challenges – we call this ‘Content with Intent’ – and are committed to helping not only overcome them, but also helping them to reach their broader business objectives.

How to make your content work hard

Generating content is only one step in a much larger process. The campaign and the content within it needs direction, creativity, investment and a measurement plan. And more than that, each piece of content needs longevity and the ability to be used in different ways.  For example, it’s great to have fresh content on your website but how can you make that blog work harder for you? How does it tie into other campaigns? What about social media? What about a whitepaper or research project?

I’d like to share this five-step strategy to help you get the most out of planning your content, using a piece of proprietary research as an example at each stage:

1.   Define your ambitions
Each piece of content, be it an email, webinar, social media post, eBook, blog, video or article needs a purpose. Whether it’s to demonstrate knowledge, drive downloads or boost webinar registrations, this needs to fit into the broader campaign objective(s), which we, at Whiteoaks, define and deliver in a fixed, results-based way. The goals of the campaign ultimately influence your choice of assets, messaging, keywords, and the mix of channels you use.

If we take the example of a research project and working with an independent survey company, as we do, this will allow you to better understand an industry issue and speak to a sample of your target audience. This adds credibility to your narrative and helps position your business as a thought leader, allowing you to apply insight to the raw data.

2.   Perform a content audit
In the process of developing your campaign you need to take the time to find out what content you already have and decide what you need to generate. Again, think about longevity; compelling marketing content can be repurposed for different campaigns, for different audiences and different channels. So thinking long term about how you can get the most out of your assets is key and will provide better ROI.

Building on the research example, while you could just create a report, press release and infographic from the results, but your content audit would first show you what you already have, and whether blogs, articles, podcasts or social media tiles could be used to augment the results.

3.   Get it out there
You’ve got your objective, audience defined and content drafted, now you need to get your message out there. Whether it’s a thought leadership or social media campaign, a media relations programme, or a combination, as we’d often recommend in an integrated marketing campaign, you need to plan it, publish it in various channels with UTM links, and keep a close eye on how it’s doing. It’s also important you keep track of where it is — in terms of where it’s hosted, like a dedicated landing page, and where it’s located internally so that sales teams can make use of the insight for nurturing prospects and so other colleagues are informed.

For instance, your research report could be gated content hosted on your website, while an infographic could be ungated and sections from it promoted as GIFs on social media to drive people to the report.

4.   Measure it
Measurement is crucial for determining ROI. It also helps you understand what approaches, assets and calls to action are performing best so you can adjust the current campaign. You might change something that’s not working or do more of something that’s working well — and this gives you a foundation on which to build future campaigns.

For a project like a research report, your KPIs could be focused around report downloads or if you host a webinar to discuss the results you could measure registrations for the event. Other typical metrics include unique website visits, time spent on a specific web page, subscriber / follower growth, downloads (for gated content, for example), shares, likes or retweets (for social media), sign-ups and attendee numbers (for webinars), and click throughs from emails. Measuring effectiveness will be easier using marketing automation software, Google Analytics, IP tracking and other tools.

5.   Look to tomorrow
Developing a content calendar is a must. This is critical to the planning process, as well as in the content creation stage, as you’ll understand exactly what assets are needed for which campaigns, with associated deadlines. A research report and its associated assets is a good example of populating the calendar with themed content that drives a campaign across a few months and gives you milestones to work around.

Creating a calendar also gives you an overview so that you can easily see where any gaps lie, if there is content that can be repurposed, and makes the whole process more structured. Finally, this makes your content assets work harder over the longer term, which is exactly what you want.

Susan Richter, Marketing Communications Manager