Today we launched our annual Social TV Trends Report 2011 which finds that the way Brits watch, share, discuss and interact with their TVs is fundamentally changing as a result of social media – as reported by BBC News, PaidContent, and The Next Web. More than three quarters (76 per cent) of TV viewers surf the internet, use our mobile phones, use our iPads or instant message while watching our favourite programmes. Surveying the habits of 2,025 British online consumers with YouGov, our report has found that ‘media stacking’ continues to grow in popularity and has now become mainstream.

Among ‘Media Stacking’ activities, Internet browsing is the most popular activity with 62 per cent of us surfing while watching TV followed by using a mobile phone (46 per cent) and using Facebook (38 per cent). One in five (20 per cent) 18-24 year old TV viewers are on Twitter while watching their favourite TV shows while 28 per cent are using instant messaging such as BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). While 96 per cent of 18-24 year old TV viewers admit to ‘media stacking’, it’s not just an activity for the younger generation as almost two thirds (63 per cent) of TV viewing Brits aged over 55 do it too.

According to the report, 43 per cent of British adults have commented or discussed it with other people not in the same room as them. Women are more likely to be doing so – one in two (50 per cent) compared to 37 per cent of men, while 18-34 year olds are the most prolific commentators (68 per cent).

Social media continues to revive TV as a truly social experience allowing a deeper, shared viewing experience with one big difference: instead of rushing home with our friends and family to huddle around the box on a Saturday night, we are flocking to our laptops, iPads and mobile phones to share the experience virtually. British consumers are information hungry and it appears that not even the most compelling new TV shows can glue our eyes solely on the box as Brits of all ages are combining their viewing with at least one other digital channel. This trend is good news for TV manufacturers who can integrate social TV capabilities into their products, and an opportunity for broadcasters who can truly still create national TV moments that aren’t just major sporting events and see off the naysayers who predicted that the internet and catch-up TV would be the death knell of linear TV programming.

I love my BlackBerry. I’m also a big fan of using BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to keep in touch with friends and family around the world. There’s no denying that BlackBerry has moved far away from being a smartphone for the suits to a cult consumer device. If you just search ‘BlackBerry user’ on Google images you’ll see the aspirational image that BlackBerry has worked hard to create with a mass of celebrity advocates – a stark contrast to the cheesy lifestyle and product shots you get when searching for ‘Android’ or even ‘iPhone user.’

So as the dust settles and people clean up the streets across the UK, BlackBerry also has some cleaning up to do. The past week has seen BlackBerry, through the mass popularity of BBM, being flung straight into the heart of the media storm, directly linking it to the UK riots. One BBM message shown to The Guardian called for people to target Oxford Street, loot and attack the police. But is RIM, the makers of BlackBerry smartphones, really to blame for this? Of course not. BBM hasn’t caused the riots – it’s just one of the many forms of technology that people have used to communicate. Yes young people use BlackBerry smartphones but they also use Twitter, SMS and other messaging platforms. But early reports are suggesting that the BlackBerry brand image has already taken a hit as people negatively associate it with the riots and gang culture.

BlackBerry is undoubtedly the most secure mobile platform, so the real challenge for RIM will be to reinforce this message and make sure people don’t misconstrued the sensationalist headlines we’ve seen over the past few days with it being insecure or pinned to crime. When the fingers started to point at RIM, the company was right to issue a statement showing cooperation with the police.  The next step for BlackBerry is to work with both traditional and social media influencers to reinforce the security of the BlackBerry platform to mitigate further brand damage, and effectively monitoring social media forums is a key part of this. BlackBerry will also need to continue to tap in to its range of high profile celebrity and business advocates, from Cheryl Cole to Alan Sugar, so when the media storm dies down, only then will it be positioned away from the gangs involved in the riots and back to the aspirational device it has been.

As reported by PR Week today, Air New Zealand has appointed Diffusion to  develop an integrated communication campaign across mainstream media and drive social media strategy.  The campaign will focus strongly on articulating and building the airline’s brand both with a focus on quality of service, new in flight features and amplifying Air New Zealand’s  ‘Forget all you know about flying’ marketing campaign.

Diffusion will run a sustained media relations and online influencer campaign to promote Air New Zealand’s two key routes from London Heathrow to Los Angeles and Hong Kong as well as routes to destination New Zealand.

Work will begin with promoting the airline’s acclaimed new Skycouch and Spaceseat products that were introduced to London routes in April.  Skycouch is a new design that is revolutionising ‘economy’ air travel by turning three individual seats on a Boeing 777 into a single “skycouch’’, to give couples and those travelling with children a more flexible space when flying.  The seats are already becoming affectionately known as ‘Cuddle Class’.

Air New Zealand has developed a strong reputation for its use of video virals, and Diffusion will drive online seeding and media amplification of video campaigns as well developing concepts for future digital campaigns.  A new in-flight safety video “Fit to Fly” featuring US fitness legend Richard Simmons, released by the airline in March secured over one million views on YouTube in just three days. ‘Fit to Fly’ follows on from the airline’s hugely successful Nothing to Hide and Bare Essentials of Safety inflight video campaigns which have totalled more than 12 million views on YouTube to date.

Sarah Hopkins, communications manager for Air New Zealand Europe commented, “Diffusion impressed us with their ability to quickly get under the skin of the Air New Zealand brand and bring freshness, tenacity and creativity of thinking that matched our own.  We needed an agency which really understood today’s interconnected media landscape and was expert in designing and implementing integrated communication campaigns and at the same time understands traditional media relations well.”

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Motors.co.uk, one of the UK’s leading used car search websites, has appointed Diffusion as its retained consumer PR agency.  Diffusion has been selected to develop and implement an integrated communications strategy using both traditional media and social media channels.  Key objectives of the campaign will include building brand awareness, amplifying a new TV advertising campaign and creating an online community around the Motors.co.uk brand.

Diffusion will be embarking on a sustained issues-based national and local media campaign for Motors.co.uk, aimed at articulating its motoring expertise and appeal to mainstream consumers, rather than just car enthusiasts.  The traditional PR campaign and Motors.co.uk’s wider marketing strategy will be closely integrated with the agency’s digital work.

Diffusion will be using its extensive expertise in community building and management to make Facebook central to Motors.co.uk’s online engagement strategy.  Social media platforms including Twitter, blogs and forums will also be used to build on the site’s goals of empowering mainstream car buyers and sellers and making car buyers feel safer and reassured about purchasing a used vehicle.

Phill Jones, commercial director, Motors.co.uk commented, “We recognised that we needed to take an integrated approach to our communication strategy to make the biggest impact. Diffusion impressed with their ideas and energy for building consumer engagement around our brand, allowing consumers to share their emotions around the car buying process.  They demonstrated that rare quality among agencies of being as strong in traditional media as they are in digital and crucially, expert at bringing those multiple channels together.”

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As you may have read in Marketing Week, Diffusion has been working with mobile location-based social networking service Foursquare to create an official presence for our client Metro. This is a UK first with Metro becoming the first UK national newspaper to feature editorial content on the social networking site. You can follow Metro on foursquare here.

Users of Foursquare who follow Metro will now be able to view London restaurant and entertainment reviews from the UK’s third largest national newspaper when they ‘check- in’ to relevant places, providing them with up to date trusted reviews, exactly when they need them.

Jamie Walters, Digital Director, Metro had this to say, “Foursquare is a cutting edge social tool that helps users find new ways to explore cities, making it the perfect fit for Metro’s Urbanite and City Clicker audiences.  We are really excited to be the first UK newspaper to take advantage of this platform and I am sure users will find our reviews helpful when they are on the move and exploring the UK’s cities.”

Metro’s readers, particularly those living in London, have become enthusiastic early adopters of Foursquare in the UK and they are crying out for tips they can trust.  By creating a dedicated Metro layer on Foursquare we now have the ability to deliver targeted, timely and trusted editorial reviews to Metro readers and to create new opportunities for brands keen to work with an established media partner to deliver location based marketing.

Today we launched our Social TV Trends Report 2010 showcasing interesting findings for the future of broadcasting, as covered by Broadcast Magazine, Media Week, BBC News, and The Independent.  Surveying over 2,000 British consumers with YouGov, the results show that a night in front of the television is not quite what it used to be. Many of us are multi-tasking as we surf the web, instant message and text whilst watching our favourite shows.

Women are leading this trend, as 40 per cent of women surveyed said they consume more than one type of media at any one time. Although men aren’t too far behind at 29 per cent, there looks to be some truth in the myth behind a woman’s ability to multi-task!

Consumers have indicated that they want to see a future of television and internet access joined together on their TV set. Keen for functions that will enable them to comment, vote and download information on the programmes they are watching. Viewers want instant commentary and recommendation by their family and friends, currently turning to social networks and text messaging to do this whilst watching.

With manufacturers already producing internet enabled television sets the next step lies with production companies and broadcasters. How long will it be before they are working in conjunction with retailers, music companies and social networks to elevate their product to the next level? In a time where technology and its accessibility are at a premium, will TV keep ahead of the curve and act on the predicted trends? The report is positive news for the broadcasting industry, but it is essential that broadcasters take notice, and don’t get left behind.

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.

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Was this really the UK’s first Digital Election? That was the question we wanted to try to answer, at least in part, when Diffusion commissioned YouGov to examine the impact that online campaiging played as we headed to the polling stations on May 6th.  You may have seen the results of our Digital Election Report covered exclusively by the Financial Times last month, but I wanted to share some of the data in a bit more detail with you below.

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One of the key research findings was that over half  (56 per cent) of the voting age population consumed political information via digital channels during the General Election campaign. However, despite the hype surrounding some social media channels, one of the most popular sources for political information online were the websites for candidates and political parties, with 19 per cent of the public as a whole and a third of voters aged 18-24, visiting these sites over the course of the campaign.

Twitter was arguably the most hyped platform in the run up to and during the election itself, but our research shows that only 5 per cent of UK voters read any political content via the site, rising to only 13 per cent for those aged 18-24. This contrasts with Facebook, which was one of the big winners of the Digital Election with over a third (36 per cent) of those aged 18-24 reading political information on the platform. Of the sites we surveyed,  Facebook  was the most popular single online source of election information for young voters.  The social network also remained influential with those aged 25-34 with almost a quarter of this group (24 per cent) consuming political information on the site.

Online video content was a focus for all the main political parties, however only 8 per cent of the public watched political videos on sites such YouTube during the General Election campaign, but this figure is significantly higher at 25 per cent for 18-24 year olds.  Online advertising was also a prominent part of the online election campaign, with both the Labour Party and the Conservatives investing in Google AdWords and other online advertising campaigns on key sites.  According to our research 12 per cent of adults, rising to a quarter of 18-24 year olds, recall seeing online political advertising during the election campaign.

Interestingly, email, one of the oldest and potentially most effective digital channels and one which was a cornerstone of Barack Obama’s campaign, seems to have made minimal impact in this General Election.  Only 13 per cent of those surveyed can recall receiving any emails from political parties and organisations in the run up to May 6th.

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This was also not the ‘Mumsnet Election’. It appears that blogs and forums played a much more limited role as a source of political information for the general public, with only 11 per cent recalling reading political information on such sites.  While ‘online mums’ were courted by Cameron, Clegg and Brown, blogs and forums were actually twice as popular among men (15 per cent) compared to women (just 7 per cent) as sources of political news and commentary.

Finally, we also wanted to gauge the impact of digital campaigning on the voting intentions of the public. Did voters feel that the information they read and shared online actually made any difference? Now, asking voters  to separate out the impact of different channels on a decision as complex as voting is a difficult task, but the research revealed some important results.

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Of those that consumed political information online during the election, only 19 per cent claimed it made no impact on how they voted. Significantly, 15 per cent of voters stated that the political content they consumed online had either a ‘fair amount or great deal’ of influence on who they decided to vote for on 6th May. This may seem like a small amount, but a couple of percentage points can be more than enough to sway an election outcome.

As shown throughout the research, younger voters were most likely to have engaged with the General Election online and also most likely to be influenced by online campaigning. YouGov found that almost a third (30 per cent) of 18 – 24 year olds stated that their decision on how to vote was effected to a fair or great degree.

While the 2010 election campaign was dominated by the novelty of the TV debates, it is clear that digital channels, many also used for the first time in a General Election, influenced the electoral choices of British voters to varying degrees.  This was not the Digital Election some had predicted, but it certainly was a Digital Election, with online campaigning making an impact with large sections of the British electorate.

In the weeks ahead all political parties will no doubt be receiving the results of even more in-depth studies into the effectiveness of their online campaigns. If their results mirror ours, there will be some important lessons that will need to be learned ahead of the next General Election, whether it takes place in five months or in five years.

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The first of the Election TV debates is just hours away and as reported today by PR Week, the post debate spin operation will be on a mammoth scale.  However, despite the army of official spin doctors attempting to convince the media that their man was the victor, journalists will also being playing close attention to the vast online spin room known as Twitter.

From Prime Minister’s Questions to Glee, Twitter has become the official social media TV ‘back channel’ with thousands of viewers using the platform to comment in real-time about the programmes they are watching.  The first of the leader debates is likely to see this trend taken to a new level.  Now, that’s not to say that the reactions on twitter will automatically be more authentic and representative of the viewing audience – every party’s activists and supporters will be furiously tweeting up the performance of their candidates. But before having to negotiate ‘spin alley’ the banks of journalists watching the debate from the press room will be able to tap into twitter and get an immediate feeling for the exchanges and strange behavioural tics that have got people watching talking.

It would be naive to presume that those reactions on twitter won’t make any impact on the way specific journalists chose to report tonight’s events. For those of you wanting to follow the debate while watching DIY SOS I understand the official twitter hashtag will be #LeadersDebate

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