As reported by PR Week, Mothercare has appointed Diffusion to an exciting, integrated brief to help develop the social media strategy for its iconic Mothercare and Early Learning Centre retail brands.  We have also been tasked to raise national awareness for Mothercare’s social networking site for new and expectant parents, Gurgle.com, through a high-impact mainstream print and broadcast campaign.

Mothers and young parents are an increasingly active group online, placing a huge amount of value on the opinions, advice and recommendations of their peers.  Figures from comScore reveal that over 4.6 million mothers in the UK go online every month, spending over 26 hours surfing the web with a high focus on retail sites.  We will be working with Mothercare and Early Learning Centre to develop an online engagement strategy based on actively listening to perceptions of the brand and its products online and then increasing participation on key parenting blogs, forums and social networking sites.

Key objectives will be to use social media to emphasise Mothercare’s expertise and heritage in the baby and parenting space, as well as promote key products and offers to drive both footfall on the High Street and sales via the brands’ ecommerce sites.

Our issues-based PR campaign for Gurgle.com will seek to make it a destination site for expectant and recent mothers looking for advice from both resident experts as well as the site’s extensive community of mothers. Core to the campaign will be to increase Gurgle’s profile in national and lifestyle press, positioning Nifa McLaughlin, editor of Gurgle.com as a recognisable media spokesperson on key social, lifestyle and health issues effecting new parents.

The Mothercare Group, which owns the Mothercare and Early Learning Centre brands, has charged Diffusion with developing a social media strategy to target parents on and offline. As part of the brief, Diffusion will also raise awareness of Mothercare’s social networking community for new parents, Gurgle.com, via mainstream print media and broadcast channels. Read More

Mothercare Group, the UK’s largest provider of baby and parenting products, has appointed Diffusion to an integrated brief to help develop the social media strategy for its iconic Mothercare and Early Learning Centre retail brands.  Diffusion has also been tasked to raise national awareness for Mothercare’s social networking site for new parents, Gurgle.com, through a high-impact campaign targeting young parents via mainstream print and broadcast media.

Mothers and young parents are an increasingly active group online, placing a huge amount of value on the opinions, advice and recommendations of their peers.  Figures from comScore reveal that over 4.6 million mothers in the UK go online every month, spending over 26 hours surfing the web with a high focus on retail sites.  Diffusion will be working with Mothercare and Early Learning Centre to develop an online engagement strategy based on actively listening to perceptions of the brand and its products online and then increasing participation on key parenting blogs, forums and social networking sites.

Key objectives will be to use social media to emphasise Mothercare’s expertise and heritage in the baby and parenting space, as well as promote key products and offers to drive both footfall on the High Street and sales via the brands’ ecommerce sites.

Diffusion’s issues-based PR campaign for Gurgle.com will seek to make it a destination site for expectant and recent mothers looking for advice from both resident experts as well as the site’s extensive community of mothers.  Core to the campaign will be to increase Gurgle’s profile in national and lifestyle press, positioning Nifa McLaughlin, editor of Gurgle.com as a recognisable media spokesperson on key social, lifestyle and health issues effecting new parents.

Brian Curran, Head of Group Direct Marketing for Mothercare commented, “Mothercare and the Early Learning Centre are brands which over many decades have built very strong reputations for quality, safety and innovation.  We recognise that today reputations are increasingly being shaped through online channels, and this is particularly true given the explosion we’ve seen in parenting forums and blogs in recent years and through our own site Gurgle.com.  We will be using Diffusion’s digital integration expertise to develop a social media approach which will allow us to enhance and safeguard our online reputation and increase our ability to listen to our consumers to deliver even better products and customer service in the future.”

Ivan Ristic, director and co-founder, Diffusion commented:  “The UK’s online community of parents is growing in both size and influence and is understandably becoming a major consideration for retail brands looking to reach UK mothers who control household budgets.  Developing relationships with key online influencers and working with Mothercare’s brands to make it an active and valued part of these online communities will be central to our strategic approach. Gurgle.com in particular provides a very active and vibrant platform for new mothers, which we will look to build through a proactive media relations campaign that brings a fresh and informed perspective.”

Mothercare Group is preparing to launch a social media strategy for its Mothercare and Early Learning Centre brands. The company has appointed integrated agency Diffusion to develop a strategy of engaging the 4.6m UK mothers who spend more than 26 hours surfing the internet each month. Read More

LONDON, 27 May 2010: Metro, the UK’s third largest national newspaper has appointed integrated agency Diffusion to develop and implement its social media strategy for Metro.co.uk.   Diffusion has been briefed to build awareness of Metro’s online offering to the 3.5 million consumers who read the paper daily in 33 cities across the UK.

The campaign will look to make Metro.co.uk a destination site for ‘City Clickers’,  18 to 44 year-old young urban professionals looking for the best entertainment, showbiz and sports news as well as the strange and irreverent stories for which Metro has become famous.

Core to the campaign will be to increase online engagement and conversations between the paper and its readers and creating new digital marketing opportunities for advertisers.  Diffusion will be developing Metro’s presence and engagement with readers on key social media platforms as well as building relationships with key bloggers across a range of niche subject areas and at a regional level.

In addition to building visits and reader loyalty to Metro.co.uk, Diffusion will also be promoting Metro’s online services, including the launch of its World Cup Fantasy Football game this month.

Abi Slater, Head of Marketing for Metro commented, “Metro.co.uk has established a strong reputation for fun and irreverent content which sets it apart from traditional newspaper websites. While the newspaper clearly owns the mornings, the website has the potential to give people more Metro moments throughout the day and week.  Sustained online consumer PR and strategic use of social media channels will be key to building awareness, traffic and consumer loyalty to Metro.co.uk. Diffusion impressed us with their strong understanding of social media and the ability to showcase real results from working with online media brands”

Ivan Ristic, director, Diffusion commented:  “The 2010 General Election was a watershed moment in proving the importance of digital channels and online communities to the media industry.  Metro has recognised this with the rebrand of Metro.co.uk and the campaign will provide a positive, solid platform enabling users to share content at a time when other news outlets are restricting access to their sites.”

National daily freesheet Metro has appointed Diffusion PR to drive forward a new social media strategy. Diffusion has been given the responsibility of building awareness of Metro’s online offering to the 3.5 million consumers who read the paper daily in 33 cities across the UK. Read More

Insurance brokers can no longer afford to shun social media; it’s too effective at bringing in new business. But you must set a few rules first – and, most important, think about what you’re going to say. Diffusion director Ivan Ristic comments. Read More

LONDON, 13 May 2010: Thomson Local, the UK local search company, has appointed Diffusion to develop and implement integrated digital campaigns to increase consumer awareness and traffic to ThomsonLocal.com.  Operating for over 25 years and with a database of 1.8 million businesses, Thomson has evolved to become the leading local search company in the UK.

The first campaign, Britain’s Punniest is a competition to find the UK company with the wittiest name.  From ‘Spex in the City’ to ‘Thai-tanic’, members of the public will be able to upload photos of the small business names which make them laugh out loud to a special microsite, where they will also be able to vote for Britain’s Punniest.  Consumers who make submissions and vote will get the chance to win a holiday to Las Vegas with the overall winning business set to receive over £5,000 in marketing support .

Diffusion will be driving entries and traffic to the site via an integrated tradition media and social media campaign targeting national press, SME media, blogs, forums as well as social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter.

Mark Cox, Corporate Communications Manager, Thomson Local commented: “We have seen a fantastic registration rate since we gave consumers the ability to rate and review businesses on Thomsonlocal.com last year.  As the site continues to evolve and new features are introduced we are constantly looking at new ways to engage users. We wanted to work with an agency that really understands how to integrate social and traditional media, whilst not forgetting how important ‘local’ is to our brand”.

Ivan Ristic, Director, Diffusion added:  “ThomsonLocal.com offers a really fantastic service to its users that goes far beyond basic search and directory services. Its target user base has a fragmented media diet across traditional and social media that is particularly suited to an integrated approach and we’re looking forward to implementing an effective campaign and enjoying a successful partnership with Thomson Local.”

The issue of how to measure the value of PR activity is contentious at the best of times, with the debate around AVE raging as fervently today as it did ten or 20 years ago. But a new subject for debate has reared its head, with the rise of social media. Suddenly, the question of measurement becomes far more complicated. Diffusion’s Ivan Ristic is featured as one of two industry experts. Read More

Findings from a landmark PRWeek/Diffusion survey of 128 clients, drawn from across in-house comms, marketing and digital departments, reveal exactly how organisations are grappling with the challenge of integrating social media into their existing operations. The Digital Integration Report should be required reading for anyone involved in comms. There has been much conjecture about what clients want from digital, but quantitative data is still difficult to come by. Read More