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@ Work questions:

1.     What’s your career background, in brief?

I originally planned on working in HR, but after a year in the industry as part of my Psychology degree I decided to pursue a more creative path. Once I’d graduated, I went off to India to work in advertising, before returning to the UK and landing my job with Whiteoaks as a Junior Account Executive. I’ve been here ever since and now work as an Account Manager in Team Aries, looking after clients across the B2B tech spectrum. It was definitely the right move for me.

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

The most challenging job I ever had was selling balloons at a local theme park. Especially during the warm summer months. The uniform was not designed to withstand temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius, and my hands were full so there was no way of carrying around a water bottle. To make matters worse,  everywhere I looked there were people enjoying the sun with ice creams and drinks while I melted around the park on my feet for hours on end trying not to let the balloons go (which I often would — accidentally of course). The icing on the cake was that most days I would actually make a loss on balloons but I assure you I am much better at PR than I am at balloon selling. My next student job was signing up sixth form students to UCAS cards at student fairs which was much more exciting and successful, I really enjoyed being target driven and getting to engage with groups of people as I tried to make ‘the sell’.

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

Right Move and my Amazon Echo. I have developed a growing obsession with checking out properties on Right Move; I probably do it about three times a day. I like looking for inspiration (as well as checking out the many great home interior accounts on Instagram), and I’m always planning my next house move, whenever that may be. I also love my Amazon Echo, mainly for playing music at home and keeping timers when I cook, but it has so many useful features.

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

‘It’s better to be at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb, than to be at the top of one you don’t’. Obviously it speaks of the importance in being in a career that you genuinely enjoy, but I think it also applies to other aspects of life too. Do what makes you happy is essentially the take home message.

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

Great coverage for the client. Nothing beats seeing a story that you’ve worked on with your client covered in a top tier publication or seeing them on a TV screen talking through the angles you’ve developed together. When your coverage also sparks conversation in the industry and amongst readers it’s really rewarding to know that the work you’ve done has actually made people think and generated debate.

6.     Do you personalise your workspace?

Not particularly! At the moment there’s a cool pair of cat themed sunglasses in a pencil pot and some cat shaped highlighters (are you noticing a theme?) but that’s about it. Currently, I think it might be overkill to bring in a framed picture of my cat too.

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

Once the laptop is up and running I like to check any emails that might have come through since I left home in the morning, before having a chat with the team. Then we’ll talk about the priorities for the day and make sure everyone knows where their focus needs to be, followed by a scan of the day’s news, including my guilty pleasure, online celebrity news.

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

I’ve just finished watching Stranger Things 3 which was amazing as expected and I’ve started with Keeping Faith on the BBC which was recommended to me by my Account Director, Mary. I’ve also just read that the new season of Orange Is The New Black is on Netflix now so that’ll be binge watched over the next week, much to the delight of my boyfriend. I’m on the lookout for a new book, so if anyone has any good thriller or comedy recommendations do get in touch!

It may be a few years away, but London can celebrate – and start the hard work;  the city has been selected to host the prestigious IEEE Robotics and Automation Society’s (RAS) International Conference on Robotics and Automations (ICRA) in 2023.

An extensive and heavy-weight group of organisations supported the bid, led by Professor Kaspar Althoefer from Queen Mary University of London. They included The Mayor of London, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kings College London, Imperial College London, University College London, The Alan Turing Institute, Cognition X, and software companies DeepMind and Shadow Robot.

Encouragingly, as well as the usual business-related conference programme, workshops and networking, the conference organisers will be running a robot competition between schools in England for children aged 7 to 12, with the aim of raising interest in STEM subjects. The hope is that this will avoid a future skills crisis in AI, especially given that 13 universities in London offer AI, machine learning and related undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

In the B2B technology industry – and I’d argue more broadly in the overall technology space – AI and robotic process automation (RPA) is the most transformative innovation around. So much so that ethics are of top priority in the UK and US, the implications of which my colleague Tom Webb wrote about here recently.

All this attention and the wide-ranging impacts of AI and RPA on our personal and business lives means international technology providers are focused on two things: firstly, differentiating their proposition and secondly, expanding into new markets.

Firstly, the AI and RPA industry as a whole faces the challenge that cloud and digital transformation technologies did a few years ago – and that’s explaining what they can achieve in real terms, not the meaningless buzzwords and jargon which can negatively affect the B2B technology landscape. And, as AI and RPA businesses at home and abroad pile in, looking for their share of this ‘hot’ market, the big challenge for each will be why they are different from and better than the rest.

To turn to the second issue, London stands a good chance of acting as a central hub for US-based firms wanting to enter the European market. London is already the base for over 750 AI businesses, double the total of Paris and Berlin together and international investment increased by 50% in 2017 from the previous year. In the last few months a flurry of US-based companies have announced international intent, including insurance AI and machine learning (ML) operator, Lemonade and Innowatts, which specialises in AI-enabled analytics and SaaS for the energy industry. As Thomas Stone, partner at AI Seed recently said: “London has technology, finance, and government — it’s like SF/NYC/DC in one city. And within an hour by train, you have access to four world-leading research universities in addition to the Alan Turing Institute.”

The senior Marketing and PR decision-makers within software providers, which choose to spider outwards into the EU from London, will be faced with choices about their PR and communications options. Do they attempt to run everything from the US HQ, distributing news announcements down the wires and hiring local freelancers in the biggest markets? With the ability to turn on and off as commercial needs dictate, low cost and low risk, it’s easy to see the upsides – but the translation and account coordination involved can be vast.

Or do they hire a multi-country agency in the EU and brief them to execute media and PR requirements in every territory? With that comes high fees, perhaps unjustifiably high at this stage, more resource to manage the high-capability agency teams and their outputs, in turn increasing the need for bigger sales teams.

But, there is a middle option. It will provide a sustainable, effective choice for leading PR and Communications from the UK. Curious to read more? Our CEO James Kelliher wrote about in detail here.

I was brought up to regard America as brash. US slang was banned and my parents were so traditional I had to play football in a tweed jacket (all right, I made that bit up). But when punk rock erupted, I loved it. British youth culture started expressing itself in British accents, singing (shouting actually) about what mattered here, not over in the US. The Clash summed it up: “I’m so bored with the USA.”

US tech and the force for good

Now of course, I readily acknowledge the dominant role of the US in changing everyone’s lives (mostly for the better) through technology. But the language problem remains. As a content creator in B2B technology PR you quickly learn to de-Americanize (yes -ize as recommended by the Oxford English Dictionary) copy to make it relevant to the UK audience. It is not a trivial matter. While Britons can understand most American English, any heavily North Atlantic text gives the impression of remoteness – that the company responsible for the copy doesn’t really understand the UK market or regards potential British customers as an afterthought.

Where do voice bots feature in language battles?

This is, however, not another gripe about tech jargon. What intrigues me is where developments in Natural Language Processing, virtual assistants and voice-bots will take us in the journey across world English.

According to a Zion Market Research report published earlier this year, the global intelligent virtual assistant market accounted for US$2.3 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach US$19.6 billion globally by 2025, at a CAGR of 35 per cent between 2019 and 2025.

The global sale of smart speakers in 2018 was about 98 million units and is expected to reach 164 million units this year. Growth will be further driven by the autonomous vehicles market, using artificial intelligence and smart voice assistance to make the experience more reliable. In Europe, Germany and UK are projected to be the prime revenue contributors.

What kind of English?

But what sort of language will these assistants speak and who will do the talking? While voice bots will of course be in the native language or languages outside the non-Anglophone sphere, what kind of English will be used within it?

The tech giants who deploy voice bots will doubtless employ native speakers. (A recent BBC radio programme focused on this topic, presented by Jon Briggs – the first voice employed by Apple to present of Siri in the UK) But we can expect to hear American grammar and idioms wherever we go outside the UK. Does it really matter when billions around the globe are completely steeped in US culture through streaming services from Netflix to YouTube? We all know language is a living entity and it is not the job of business preserve its purity. We just need to effective communicators.

Do we need to learn languages anymore?

Similarly, does anyone really need to learn a foreign language anymore? Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa (powered by Microsoft Translator) and Siri all emerged pretty well from complex translation tests this year. Google Assistant will soon be able to act as a real-life translator in 27 different languages as it obtains a new “interpreter mode” that can translate in real time, enabling conversations with someone who speaks a different language.

Is there any point in the hand-wringing that followed a BBC investigation which found declines of between 30 and 50 per cent since 2013 in the numbers taking language GCSEs in some areas of England? Perhaps nobody can stop these trends any more than they halt the tides, because they arise from collective appreciation of how the world is developing.

We still need to pay full attention to the nuances of language

In time, the AI family of technologies behind voice assistants and bots will be capable of picking up and using all the tics, nuances and idiosyncrasies of spoken language. But we are not there yet, and we are not even there yet with the use of NLP to produce written text. In fact, whatever the method, whether through automation or painstaking keyboard-bashing and hand-crafting, we should all concentrate on using the most effective, relevant, direct and respectful language possible when communicating – especially in tech PR.

The Pimms has been poured and the British strawberries and cream bulk bought – it can only mean one thing. Wimbledon is here!

Each year the tennis tournament partners with technology giant IBM to explore the latest in technological innovation and help differentiate Wimbledon from other tennis events around the world.  Previously this has included an AI bot on the Wimbledon app so fans can get answers to all their Wimbledon related questions; and automated video highlights delivered to fans watching from the comfort of their sofa. This year is no different with a host of new AI-based systems to the Wimbledon bunker.

One of the most interesting of the new technological advances being used at the event is an AI-powered machine which uses visual recognition technology to capture players’ reactions and then instantly clips highlights for viewers to watch at the end of the game. With just under twenty courts and up to four matches per court per day, hundreds of hours of footage are produced, which would typically take editing teams a vast number of hours to compile into highlights packages.

Known for his intense and dramatic facial expressions (and of course his tennis playing abilities…), Novak Djokovic’s face is likely to provide a great opportunity for the technology to showcase its abilities. The technology can pick up a celebration from a fist pump to the crowd’s celebratory roar, examining body language, gestures and facial expressions to automatically clip that point in the game. Each clip is then ranked based on crowd excitement and player gestures, enabling the team of 180 people in Wimbledon’s AI bunker to automatically generate the best of the highlights in around two minutes.

The highlights will be posted across digital platforms including Twitter and the Wimbledon app, meaning that whether you are a fan waiting overnight in a queue for tickets; or wanting to keep up to date with the matches while you sit at your office desk – you can be in the loop with the best moments.

This year Wimbledon organisers have really focused on trying to understand what fans want from the sport and how they can enhance the viewing experience – for as broad an audience as possible. As a member of the public, it can often be difficult to grasp the real world uses and the benefits that AI and other emerging technologies can bring into our day-to-day lives, but the IBM Watson and Wimbledon partnership is a great example of how AI can be used to bring us what we want in an improved, more efficient, and effective way.

The state of our environment is increasingly dominating global headlines and we are hearing continuous reports of the many and varied impacts the human race is having on the natural world. Just this week this Summer’s first severe heatwave has arrived in most European countries. And there is evidently a growing awareness and increasing effort being made to help lessen the blow of our carbon footprint, shown in the influence of the Extinction Rebellion and countries increasingly declaring a state of climate emergency.

We are also seeing an undeniable trend and desire to move to a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly world not only in our personal lives but in businesses too. An obvious example of this is the numerous food service organisations, including the likes of McDonald’s, Nandos and Wagamama, which have banned the use of plastic straws in their restaurants and Waitrose and Marks and Spencer trialling recycling and packaging reduction initiatives. Thankfully, calls are now being made for production of single use plastics to stop, hitting the problem at the source rather than treating the symptom.

Many of these systemic movements and changes are being assisted by technology. In the office environment, technology now allows us to run virtual meetings and partake in mobile working, cutting emissions and reducing our daily carbon footprint. We can now create biodegradable products at almost mass scale, reducing waste and decreasing the number of harmful chemicals that pollute the air when producing plastic. In our homes, new technologies are tackling some of the biggest producers of emissions (electricity and heating) with eco-friendly tools and renewable energy technologies including heat source pumps, solar and wind. Additionally, smart technology is teaching us to be more efficient with our energy, and it’s the same in our offices, too.

Another way in which technology is supporting and driving environmental change is through the development of AI, satellite data, drones, remote sensing and thermal imaging. These applications are being used in environmental experiments to allow scientists to monitor and make accurate and informed decisions, in order to develop new and effective strategies to help care for the environment better.

Technology has also had a huge role to play in spreading awareness of environmental issues. TV/broadcasting and social media are incredibly powerful platforms that are allowing us to share news, reports and live footage from all over the world – including those areas most vulnerable to global warming and plastic pollution, from oceans to secluded frozen landscapes. In turn, this growth of awareness is influencing people’s choices and is prompting many to make lifestyle changes, whether this be reducing their waste, using shared public transport or sourcing more local food produce. It is also encouraging businesses to go green by banning plastic use, installing water re-fill stations in cities and implementing cycle to work schemes.

There is no doubt that we will continue to see new developments in support of the race to halt the negative effects on the planet that we’re already experiencing, so what does the future look like for green technology in our everyday lives? We are certainly likely to see more smart city solutions and transport methods evolve – as an example last month Transport for London announced some buses would be powered by hydrogen in 2020 – and it’s not too hard to picture an all-virtual business world either. While we may never reverse the effects of climate change, technology is certainly giving us a good opportunity to assist in the rescue and restoration of our planet.

Unless you’re in advertising, where the role of the copywriter has existed for decades, the availability of writing-only roles is few and far between — and it got me thinking.

You can apply to be a marketing exec and writer; a PA and writer, or an account exec and writer, I discovered after a cursory Google search. It’s true that in PR and marketing there are many roles where writing is a required skill. It’s always handy to have a few people on the team ready and able to draft a synopsis, press release or blog.

But the lack of dedicated content creation or copywriting roles is concerning. Of course, this is just my initial impression based on a 30-minute online exploration and doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the case across all organisations or marketing disciplines — it could just represent a snapshot in time. But it does raise questions around the importance attached to creating good content.

The thing about writing, especially in the B2B tech space, is that it requires a specialised skillset. You’re taking technical information and reshaping that into something that not only appeals to journalists (in the PR space) but to end audiences as well. You’re giving them something relevant, meaningful and beneficial. Yet, you also need to ensure that it encapsulates the right messaging and hits all the right notes to get readers to engage with the content, whether that’s a press release, thought leadership article, eBook or email.

Can you do this effectively when your focus is split? The answer is almost always no.

The challenge when you’re juggling other responsibilities and tasks, such as account management or media relations, is that writing requires single-minded focus (speaking from experience here!) and the ability to meet the needs of the audience as well as the client.

Now for the part where I tell you how Whiteoaks is different. It’s one thing to say we’re different, but our team structure is one of the ways we prove it. Each team member at the company has a specialised role, whether that’s content writing, media relations, social media or account management. That’s not to say we work in siloes — quite the opposite in fact. We have dedicated roles which all combine to complete the integrated PR and marketing picture.

Looking specifically at the writing team (affectionately known at the Writers’ Pen, take from that what you will!) we’re an eclectic bunch of individuals with different career histories (marketing, teaching, journalism, PR) and complementary skills that ensure we add value to our account teams and consistently meet our client briefs.

We are well versed in tackling subjects from hybrid cloud and the state of retail, to cyber security, fintech and customer engagement, and transforming these topics into compelling narratives that engage and inform, forming part of a wider campaign.

If you need convincing about the importance of great content and how we can help you create it, why not get in touch?

As part of the University Guide 2020 series on The Guardian’s website on Friday 7^th June, there was a feature on Journalism, publishing and public relations (PR). The article looked specifically at how these professions have evolved especially since the advent of social media and the increasing prevalence to self-publish, presenting both opportunities and challenges for print media.

It got me thinking about how fast paced and varied the B2B tech sector is and the four tips I would offer new recruits thinking of joining.

 

#1 Understanding media

To succeed in public relations, it’s important to read, watch and listen to as many newspapers, blogs, magazines, radio and TV and social channels. From the outset it may seem an insurmountable task but when you know your B2B tech client and the specialist verticals they operate in it becomes a more manageable part of your job to navigate.

#2 Storytelling

The ability to tell a story and shape the narrative when pitching a new fintech solution or providing fast action commentary on a topical news item like cyber security or artificial intelligence (AI) will help you cut through the media noise and get your client the media exposure you were hired to secure. Understanding what makes a good story should make you friends with journalists for life.

#3 Networking

‘People buy from people’: it’s not just a truism in selling, it’s also valid in PR and communications. While your social profiles (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) are all excellent ways to connect and show that you are keeping up to date with the industry, it’s also important to network in person with targeted, relevant journalists and influencers. All PR professionals that are successful are well connected and, more importantly, seen as reliable sources for access to media commentary.

#4 Creativity

PR is a very creative profession, where original ideas are hugely valued, no matter the industry. Notwithstanding the need to be well organised, injecting a creative spark will be what makes your hard work worthwhile and gets your client the headlines they are looking for and the subsequent sales leads.

If you would like to find out more about B2B tech PR and who works for Whiteoaks just watch this short video on our Careers web page and get in touch. We’re always on the look out for the next B2B tech superstars!

In an age when we’re always connected and find it almost impossible to go anywhere without having some kind of technology with us, are we right to blame the technology and not ourselves when there’s a problem?

Since we’re surrounded by technology wherever we go, and its involvement in almost everything we do, it can become easy to blame all our problems on technology “Automation is destroying jobs” “Social media is addictive and damaging our social relationships”. We are quick to blame social media for our bad choices – being on your phone and crashing your car, and then blaming it on social media, well, it’s a bit like blaming the oven for burning your food.

And how does this track when most of us now look to technology to solve the world’s problems, for example, technological innovations are now seen as one of the main drivers to help tackle climate change. So, should we be blaming technology for our problems but then expect it to solve every challenge at the same time?

On a personal level, technology has helped me stay in touch with people that have moved further away, so if it wasn’t for technology I wouldn’t be in contact with them now. But that doesn’t mean using technology should completely fill my time. Taking a break from technology and trying new experiences outside of your normal routine can be a very beneficial thing to do. Yet, placing all the blame on technology doesn’t seem right when we’re the creators and controllers of technology.

Belinda Parmar, CEO of The Empathy Business, recognises technology has many positives but points out that “tech also has a dark side”. There is an argument that some tech companies have abused their power and influence to create a society that is completely reliant on technology – such as social media companies. At SXSW 2019, Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Center for Human Technology, spoke on a panel about the “digital loneliness epidemic” and the “infinite scroll”, the design principle that enables users to continuously scroll through their feeds, without ever having to decide whether to keep going or stop.

On a surface level, it’s a great design feature but it contributes towards us being unable to put our phone down and potentially causing addictive behaviour. It’s true that Big Tech has figured out a way to steal and keep our attention, but we’re not powerless to resist. We are now inundated with notifications, whether it’s a reminder of a distant friend’s birthday or a suggestion of a photo we might like, we seem to struggle to ignore notifications (no-one wants to experience FOMO) leading to the feeling that you can never be without your phone. In fact, some of Silicon Valley’s tech pioneers keep their phones on black and white mode, because they themselves know how the bright colours and those little red iPhone notifications were chosen to create addictive behaviours in us all.

While some of us may feel like we’re in an epidemic over the misuse of technology – new technology always comes with a stage of adoption, during which time we figure out the best ways to use it and break every rule, until we find a better way, or at least a way that works for us.

There could be more education about the risks as well as the benefits of technology and having an informed society will benefit us in the long term. New innovations are developed faster than we can master them, and while Big Tech has an enormous amount of responsibility, I don’t think we should be blaming them for every problem that we have.

We are living in a time of innovation. The sheer volume and diversity of disruptive businesses being started, invested in or sold is testament to this.

At Whiteoaks we have had the fortune of meeting – and discussing growth strategies with – firms across the globe – from Russia and India, to the US and Australia. It makes tech PR and communications a hugely dynamic and exciting place to work in 2020. It’s true we’ve all been impacted by the pandemic, but moving forward, the focus on growth and success will remain.

With that in mind, it’s important for businesses of all sizes and stages to consider whether communications consultancy is the right strategic support service for their brand – but it’s a particularly important question for businesses undergoing some form of step change or transformation – be it corporate growth, a re-brand, entering new markets, or refocusing and looking at a future post-COVID-19.

The first question any such tech company should ask themselves is “what do I want PR to achieve?”. This may sound a fundamental question, but too often it is ignored by businesses that embark on a PR campaign because they feel they should, or they have been told to by people outside of the company to do so. Worse, it often results in sending out a press release every once in a while to journalists who, with the best will in the world, have never heard of said company, receive (honestly) hundreds of similar news releases, and are therefore are far less likely to report on the announcement.

This creates a vicious cycle.

With no coverage generated, leading to no inbound phone calls, PR can be viewed as a waste of spend, and effectively kill any debate around ramping up budget for some time. For any marketing professional joining these firms, it can be a frustrating experience.

We believe there is a better way, as our credentials explain.

The starting point for all our campaigns as a B2B Tech PR Agency is to define business objectives – and this is where it gets interesting for fast-growth businesses, as we believe PR should be fundamental to achieving that growth.

We have worked with clients looking for very specific outcomes; building towards a funding round, creating a pathway towards an IPO, entering the US market for the first time or increasing the number of channel partners on their books – and sometimes, all of these goals at once. Each of these objectives would require a very different set of tactical recommendations, using a number of different channels – not just PR. Importantly, by being far more targeted, the ability to measure outputs attributable to PR increases exponentially.

What’s more, the robust, reader-centred content needed to generate results in traditional PR, including media relations, should drive the content chosen across the marketing mix, including web content, social media and sales materials. This adds value to the business and increases overall return on investment in PR and marketing communications.

Businesses undergoing a step change need PR to actually deliver for them, but the perceived lack of transparency around what they are getting for their investment can be a huge stumbling block. How does a set number of hours every month help them achieve their strategic goals? Frankly, it doesn’t.

This is why our deliberately different approach of set fees for set deliverables, linked to clear performance commitments underpinned by a formal service level agreement, continues to resonate so well with tech firms.

Working on the business development side of our business, organisations we speak to tend to have had one of two experiences regarding PR:

• They have never invested before – and therefore like the certainty that we can offer in terms of transparency and commitment to results. Oh, and if we fail to deliver what we said we would, they get their money back;
• Or they have invested in PR before and had a negative experience with the retainer-based approach, for all the reasons outlined above.

I would encourage any company considering PR investment to first ask themselves how it can aid their growth plans, not accepting any set of recommendations until the agency can directly prove a link between what they are doing and the company’s goals. It sounds simple, but PR justified through filling out a timesheet simply doesn’t cut it anymore.

To hear more about the fast-growth tech firms Whiteoaks represents and discuss how we could help your organisation, click this button tell me a bit more about you.

Let us elevate your PR

Bekki Bushnell, Head of Business Development