So I was asked by PR Week on Monday for my views on Gordon Brown’s Ask the PM initiative on YouTube. This was the latest foray into the online world by Downing Street, following its recent embrace of Twitter. My assessment that Ask the PM “smacks of gimmickry and desperation” led the article and there was a clear consensus from other industry commentators, that this project was a typical case of ‘too little, too late’.

I had a couple of interesting conversations on Friday in response to the piece. These boiled down to the argument that as a Social Media evangelist I should have welcomed the initiative, however imperfect, as a step in the right direction. Sorry to disappoint.

I have come to a view, which has hardened in recent months, that high profile examples of digital tokenism such as Ask the PM, are actually devaluing the real potential of Social Media. They are feeding a scepticism which makes the pioneering work we are doing unnecessarily difficult.

A couple of years ago, the medium was the message when it came to organisations adopting Social Media. This was typified by those endless stories in the national press, with leading youth brands like IBM and PA Consulting opening virtual offices in Second Life. Today, the filter I always use when assessing Social Media initiatives, my own and others, is whether the communication objectives and creative approach are actually more interesting than the digital platform(s) being utilised.

Using this filter, Ask the PM just doesn’t cut it. It’s not a genuine attempt by Gordon Brown to reconnect and really start listening to a disillusioned electorate. His comment at the end of his welcome video, where he states, “I’ll be back to talk to you at some point…” betrays a total lack of understanding of the two-way conversation that Social Media enables. You may as well write a letter and stick it in the post - you’d probably get a quicker reply!

In my mind the YouTube channel, the Twitter feed and whatever online gimmick is announced next, is primarily about metaphor, the hope that some shiny digital zeitgeist will rub off on an increasingly lacklustre Prime Minister. Equally, it’s a clumsy attempt by the new Downing St communications team to ‘get with it’ and reduce the gaping void between their digital approach and that of the Opposition.

As I have been saying a lot this week in new business pitches, Social Media is not a magic wand. Ultimately whatever Stephen Carter and his team try to do, Gordon Brown at heart, will always remain an analogue politician in a digital age.

Gordon Brown’s latest digital comms moves have been widely panned by bloggers and PROs… ‘The Tories’ embrace of online media seems natural and intuitive,’ said Daljit Bhurji, MD of Diffusion and the PRO behind the comms blog Under Strict Embargo. ‘Ask the PM smacks of gimmickry and desperation from Brown to connect with the YouTube generation.’

Read more…

Diffusion had the pleasure of sponsoring BIMA’s Spring Party last night at Soho House. We were up on the roof terrace and despite the slight chill in the air, there was a distinct sense that the summer is here. Congratulations to Paul Walsh and Janice Cable for organising a great knees-up. Chatting with people working across the digital industry, what struck me was a real genuine optimism about the state of the sector. In fact there was a bit of pitching fatigue setting in, which we could relate to, but given the media’s fixation on economic doom and gloom, that’s quite a nice thing to be able to whinge about…

You really need a fresh challenge. With over three years as a PR professional you have an address book bulging with media contacts across the digital media, marketing, technology and national press. You have a real interest in how brands are using the web to engage with customers and a real desire to represent the companies who are pushing the boundaries of marketing services innovation. As an account manager you have demonstrated you can build relationships with senior decision makers based on trust, honesty and confident and considered client counsel.

Now you’re asking yourself – what next? As a Campaign Manager at Diffusion we promise you three things: innovation, responsibility and real job satisfaction. By working with leading players in our Marketing Services practice, you will be given the opportunity to help shape and deliver innovative campaigns. These will use your skills and love of media relations enhanced through the latest techniques in Social Media and Search.

You will be given the responsibility to manage and grow your own team and portfolio of clients through extensive involvement in new business development. You’ll not only get job satisfaction from doing brilliant work with great colleagues for fantastic clients, though we think that always helps. Through our commitment to Talent Management we offer fast-track career development to the brightest and you’ll be rewarded with a progressive salary and benefits package. Is this the challenge you’re looking for?

To apply and for further information, please send your CV to daljit.bhurji@diffusionpr.com
For more information on our Talent Management approach and benefits packages click here.

Closing date: 5 JUNE 2008

No recruitment agencies please.

I thought PR was about more than just endless cold-calling? Well we think you’re 100 per cent right. At Diffusion we’re looking for a candidate who wants to build their career within a 21st Century PR and Communications agency. As an ambitious graduate with a strong academic record, you will have over a year’s PR experience under your belt either in-house or in agency. You’ll also be an enthusiastic ‘digital native’, with familiarity with all things Social Media second nature.

Working across our Digital practice you will have an insatiable hunger to get real results through both media and Social Media relations. You will have equal enthusiasm for both consumer and business campaigns, for household names and new start-ups, relishing the challenges they each present.

At Diffusion through our commitment to training we will future proof your career. You will be equipped with both the traditional and online skills needed to deliver communication campaigns that really connect, both today and tomorrow. As a crucial part of a new agency you will have a unique opportunity to rapidly grow your career in a dynamic, entrepreneurial environment and carve out your own niche. Or you could carry on updating that call-round report.

To apply and for further information, please send your CV to daljit.bhurji@diffusionpr.com
For more information on our Talent Management approach and benefits packages click here.

Closing date: 5 JUNE 2008

No recruitment agencies please.

On the 15th April, Daljit Bhurji will be hosting a session for PR professionals to grill Dan Roberts, Deputy Editor of the Sunday Telegraph. The event is part of the CIPR’s popular Meet the Editor programme, and places are
already filling up. You can book yours here (http://www.cipr.co.uk/meettheeditor/)

Diffusion’s Managing Director Daljit Bhurji will be speaking at the Reputation Today conference on the role of Social Media in modern reputation and crisis management. Fellow speakers include  Mike Love, Director of Communications at BT and  Dr Kevin Money,Associate Professor and Director at Henley Management School. For further information and to book a place click here.

Three-strong agency secures Direct Marketing Association and e-Dialog as first clients.

London, 04 April 2008 – Daljit Bhurji, the former head of Hotwire’s digital media practice has launched his own agency, Diffusion (www.diffusionpr.com), co-founded with PR Week award-winner Ivan Ristic and former Google search expert Barney Jones. The agency is pioneering what it sees as the new model for PR with Social Media and Search Engine Marketing sitting at the core of campaigns alongside traditional media relations expertise.

Diffusion will be using the experience of its founders, who have worked for major brands including Tiscali, FT.com, CNN and eBay, to develop integrated PR campaigns for the digital, mobile and media & marketing services sectors. Diffusion will also be working with leading consumer brands helping them to enhance their marketing campaigns through the integrated use of Social Media and Search.

The agency launches with two clients already on board: the Direct Marketing Association (www.dma.org.uk) and global email marketing provider e-Dialog (www.e-dialog.com).

Diffusion specialises in helping clients harness the power of the online, social media channels and traditional media via powerful integrated campaigns. The new agency’s unique approach will enable clients to go beyond bog-standard media relations techniques.

Daljit Bhurji, managing director at Diffusion comments, “Vast swathes of the PR sector remain preserved in aspic but to survive as an industry we need to move on from the business models of the 1970s. PR today is so much more than glorified press release distribution. Many brands and organisations we have spoken to are alive to the potential of Social Media and digital channels but are crying out for an agency which does more than spout buzzwords and blindly jumps on the latest bandwagon.”

Bhurji continued, “Diffusion’s mission is to offer clients strategic advice on the new rules of communication in plain English. Social Media is about more than just exciting new tools and channels; it encapsulates a fundamental sea change in how modern consumers want to interact with brands. PR is no longer just a one-way conversation conducted through a set of media intermediaries. It’s about connecting brands to individuals, building communities and facilitating two-way conversations with customers.”

At launch, Diffusion has been selected by the Direct Marketing Association to work on a series of projects designed to promote the association’s work to the new breed of digital and integrated marketing agencies in the UK. For e-Dialog, Diffusion will be running a high profile thought-leadership campaign to cement the email marketing provider’s position as a global number one. The company’s clients include the likes of British Airways, Reuters and Nintendo.

Diffusion will be based in central London. Bhurji will head up the agency’s digital practice; Ristic the media and marketing services practices and Jones will optimise communications campaigns for universal search channels including video and images.

Ex-Hotwire head of digital and well-known blogger Daljit Bhurji this week launched his own agency, offering to replicate Barack Obama’s shrewd web strategy for his own clients. Read more…

At Diffusion we are all web video addicts, so we’ve created Diffusion TV, three channels dedicated to all things PR, Search and Social Media. The aim is to educate and entertain – Infotainment I think they call it, as well as to build what we hope will become a really useful online resource. 

Each week we will be bringing you the best videos from the web that clearly explain the latest developments in technology, communication strategy and PR best practice.  Never ones to shun the limelight, the Diffusion team will also be getting in front of the cameras, so look out for our own video tutorials, interviews with clients and industry gurus as well as our campaign case studies.

If you have any tips for videos you think we should feature or a topic you’d like us to cover, let us know. You can drop us a line at videos@diffusionpr.com. Oh, and make sure you don’t miss out on what’s new by subscribing to our clever little video RSS feed.
Happy viewing!

“Bhurji believes that Facebook has not as aggressively chased the under-20s market as has rival, Bebo. That demographic weakness may have left Facebook more vulnerable as some members have scaled back their activity due to privacy concerns.”

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