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Category: Technology

Aspectus appoints Melissa Jones as Integration Account Manager in Technology Practice

Aspectus, the global communications agency, announced today the appointment of Melissa Jones as Integration Account Manager working in the Technology Practice.

Melissa brings more than six years of communications and digital marketing experience in the technology sector to this position, both in-house and agency side. Her mission at Aspectus is to grow integrated accounts in the Technology Practice, in line with Aspectus’ wider integrated strategy.

Previously Melissa worked at fast-growing HR tech firm, Breathe, managing the marketing team and external suppliers to ensure social, blog and PR campaigns increased brand awareness and drove leads. Breathe’s 8,000 SME client base includes the likes of Huel, Big Issue and AgeUK.

Most recently, she worked at Brighton-based agency addmustard where she led the content team – building engaging and creative brand and content campaigns and measuring impact through an integrated approach to marketing communications.

Commenting on her appointment, Melissa said: “From my time at Breathe – where I managed our partnership with Aspectus – their hard-working and fun company culture was infectious. I admired the team’s proactivity, business-results focus and knowledge of the technology sector. I’m excited to be part of this dynamic team and contribute to the team’s growth, by accelerating new integrated revenue streams in 2020.”

Aspectus is one of the fastest-growing global technology communications agencies. The Technology Practice represents firms from Silicon Valley-based security firm, Malwarebytes through to expense and travel management giant SAP Concur.

Michael House, Head of Technology at Aspectus added: “Melissa is going to be central to the technology sector’s growth this year. What’s super exciting too, is her unique experience of the kind of integrated approaches that drive results on the client-side and her experience running accounts at leading digital agencies.

Lucinda Armitage-Price, Head of Integrated Communications added: “Our communications strategies are powered by industry knowledge and digital expertise – all under one roof. With Mel joining the team, we have someone with sector knowledge who can connect the team’s PR efforts with a measurable, multi-channel approach that delivers business results.”

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How businesses can create their own podcasts – part 3


In the previous two blogs in the series, I looked at the most popular tech podcasts and the best business ones I listen to on my way to work. Today, we’re going to explore how businesses can start their own podcasts.

As the popularity of podcasts continues to boom, we’re not simply seeing a greater number of podcasts from the traditional sources, but more organisations are releasing their own versions too.

They provide a platform for experts from across the enterprise to talk about their specialisms in-depth, without the constraints of word counts or time that come with articles, and radio and TV opportunities, respectively. However, this doesn’t mean that podcasts should just involve experts speaking at great length – that’s not going to cut it. Some listeners may well be potential customers and if they’re disengaged, they won’t come back.

When thinking about technology, much of the successful comms within the space is about finding and telling the stories behind the innovation. The fires of imagination need to be stoked, enabling listeners to understand what and how new developments can benefit them; but that can be really quite difficult when you get bogged down in the more technical aspects.

How to start a successful podcast

So, obviously, it’s vital to get the content right, but there’s a lot more for any organisations thinking about launching their own podcast to consider too. Every step of the listeners’ journey has to be thought of.

  • The host / presenter and any guests need to be engaging, dynamic and conversational, not sounding as if they’re reading a script word-for-word.
  • The MANY abbreviations that the tech industry loves to deploy have to be explained, the knowledge of the listener-base shouldn’t be assumed. It’s always better to start more basic and build upwards – take the listener on the journey.
  • Deciding the format and sticking to it helps with consistency. If each edition is delivered in different ways and contains different features and sections, listeners won’t know what to expect. Planning each episode becomes that much harder too.
  • Length can also make or break a podcast. While the massively popular Joe Rogan Experience can regularly exceed 2.5 hours, the average podcast clocks in at around 36 minutes – that’s a far more digestible length.
  • The frequency of releases has to be just right to keep listeners coming back. Too often and they might decide it’s too difficult to catch up if they miss a few days; too far apart and interest may dwindle.
  • The channel of delivery is also critical. For example, if I can’t listen to it on my phone while heading to work, it’s going to be a nope from me. Being forced to play podcasts on open browsers is a faff so companies need to think about using Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or some other application, such as Anchor, which enables easy setup and listening.
  • Make the most of all available data to ensure efforts are completely fine-tuned into what listeners want. For example, Spotify recently announced its Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) technology will be available to podcasters for the first time, giving them access to key data, including age, gender and device type of listeners. That level of insight is so vital to improving output.

Ultimately, podcasts are a great format and more businesses should look to them as a platform for telling their stories. But it’s not as simple as pressing record and talking. Engaging podcasts are the result of planning and understanding what the listener wants; get that right and you might expand your customer base…as well as joining me on my commute.

For more advice on how to create and deliver your own podcast campaign, get in touch with the tech communications team at Aspectus (tech@aspectusgroup.com). We’ve helped organisations across a range of industries to deliver engaging content that always leaves people wanting more.

Astor is an account manager working in the technology PR team at Aspectus

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Mind the measurement gap: stating the case for PR measurement & reporting


There is no definitive system of PR measurement. Still. For decades, the industry has been going around in circles discussing column inches, press clippings and AVE — pondering what to measure and how to measure it.

We know that measuring the impact of PR is crucial to the industry’s future. Without demonstrating the return on investment that strong communications provide, PR finds itself in trouble. Senior managers who are ever conscious of the bottom line will ask, but why does it matter? What does PR do for us?

For PR to get the investment it needs, it must demonstrate its tangible successes.

This is problematic. But data and analytics, now weaved into every corner of the workplace, are enabling us to understand the impact of communications in new and enhanced ways. Read more on our thoughts on the role of big data in PR measurement here.

Moving toward integrated communications is an important step in justifying how PR drives results. Now, we can measure and track campaigns at every stage to understand how communications activity is performing.

For instance, monitoring for specific spikes in traffic and engagement enables us to understand what type of content is successful. If we know what works well, we can optimise the process to capitalise on this success.

Equally, understanding what isn’t as advantageous can prevent us from wasting money on activity which doesn’t align with key objectives.

Using Google Analytics introduces reliability and rigour to comms measurement. It’s no longer necessary to spend hours determining how much space a client has in the newspaper or how much it would be worth in advertising rates. We can now understand how people interact with specific content online, how long for, and what action they took after that.

PR measurement remains nuanced, it’s an issue that is complex because so many models and frameworks exist. But as analytics become more sophisticated it’s becoming easier to state the case for PR as an essential part of organisations.

We are attending PR Analytics 2020 to ensure we remain on the front foot of PR measurement and continue to deliver clear ROI for our clients. Looking forward to hearing from some great speakers, discussing the latest topics in PR measurement and analytics and connecting with others to hear their thoughts. Get in touch if you are going along.

If you’re struggling to measure communications or if you’re interested in hearing more about our results-driven PR approach, email the team tech@aspectusgroup.com. Our team recently delivered an integrated campaign for ZoneFox which lead to a 300% increase in daily website traffic.

Ellie Clark is an Account Executive working in the technology PR team at Aspectus

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The best business podcasts: telling engaging stories (while also making commutes bearable) – part 2


It’s me again. Last time out, I spoke about some of the most popular technology podcasts that I tend to fill my commute with. But, as the podcast ecosystem is so vast, one blog didn’t do it justice. So, I’m back to focus on another area that’s relevant to a lot – if not all – of us, business.

Now, the world of business podcasts is even trickier to navigate than tech because the term is all-encompassing. I’m fairly sure I can make an argument for any podcast being linked to business somehow.

For example, No Such Thing as a Fish. The weekly podcast is hosted by the ‘QI Elves’ (they research the little nuggets of trivia that you’re used to hearing on the show), who get together to talk about the facts they’ve learnt that week. How is that relevant to business? Weather chat to fill awkward silences while waiting for conference calls to begin or at networking events is too boring and British, drop an interesting knowledge bomb instead. Such as, “a person who was invisible wouldn’t be able to see anything”.

Decisions, decisions: what should you listen to?

With such a variety of business podcasts available, this list could really be endless; so, I’m going to simplify things by speaking about podcasts from a range of categories.

Business conversations

The Bottom Line – hosted by economist and Dragons’ Den presenter, Evan Davis, the podcast involves sit down roundtable conversations with ‘people at the top’ who provide insight into some of the UK’s largest industries, including what’s potentially going wrong and how they can be improved.  Chats also stretch to new markets and their impact / potential, as well as talking about more direct-business issues, like supply chain failures.

The workplace

Is This Working? – work to live, don’t live to work is the mantra we should all abide by, but a huge part of that involves challenging the conventions that can sometimes make offices a difficult place to be. Journalist Anna Codrea-Rado and writer Tiffany Philippou tackle those challenges, exploring the topics that can sometimes be considered taboo, such as mental health, office politics and asking for more cash.

Learning from the best

The Tim Ferriss Show – led by the titular American entrepreneur and author, the podcast contains interviews with successful individuals, in order to find out what makes them tick and empowered them to achieve what they have. Guests range from business people and sports stars to actors and authors, meaning different conversations that provide new sources of inspiration.

Entrepreneurs and startups

Tech Talks – while the name may lead you to be that this suggestion belongs in my previous blog, the twice-weekly podcast interviews tech leaders about the challenges they faced starting and running a business. There are also wider discussions on important broader issues, such as the lack of diversity that exists across numerous industries, the growing skills gap, or how organisations can make better use of their data. The hosts describe themselves as not ‘techies’, meaning the podcast is kept at an accessible level, and the large catalogue of past episodes means there’s undoubtedly a podcast relevant to everyone.

There are four more business podcasts for you to add to your regular listening schedule. In the next blog, I’ll provide some top-tips for any companies thinking about creating their own.

Looking for advice on how you can harness podcasts within your communications efforts? Send us an email at tech@aspectusgroup.com and we can discuss how to create an integrated campaign.

Astor is an account manager working in the technology PR team at Aspectus

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The best tech podcasts: telling engaging stories (while also making commutes bearable) – part 1


Podcasts are excellent. With so many to choose from and available in an accessible format, they make my commute considerably more bearable. Being a bit of a creature of habit, I have my favourites – most of which are released weekly – meaning that I have set days to listen to each while they’re still the most recent episode.

I’m not alone in my liking for podcasts. According to Ofcom’s 2019 Media Nation report, around 7.1 million of us in the UK listen to podcasts each week, and the medium is now used as a platform by many. Previously, we discussed the booming popularity of podcasts and that trend is still apparent.

Decisions, decisions: the best tech podcasts to listen to

With such a wide variety of podcasts out there, there really is something for everyone. However, for the sake of keeping it relatively concise, I’m going to focus on tech for now (…maybe someone from the Financial Services and Energy teams will produce their own lists…). Here are five of the most popular tech podcasts:

FT’s TechTonic – hosted by John Thornhill, the FT’s innovation editor, the weekly podcast contains an interview with an expert discussing how our future will be impacted through technology. Topics vary between episodes, with recent editions discussing AI, sustainable technology, how innovation can boost the developing world, and open data. John Thornhill obviously knows his stuff but he makes sure that the listener is kept engaged through his questioning.

TED Talks – organised by the non-profit TED, TED Talks provide a platform for individuals to spread their ideas and passions. More of a seminar format, speakers are given less than 20 minutes to say their piece. While TED stands for technology, entertainment and design, topics covered have widened hugely since the organisation’s creation and all aspects of life are up for discussion.

WIRED UK – the popular publication has a weekly tech podcast that takes a look back through the past seven days. While not always completely technology-focused, it contains fun discussions and advice around how listeners can improve their lives – either through tech, or through using less of it. There’s also a smattering of fun facts; did you know, penguins have a gland under their eyes that filters out salt enabling them to drink seawater? Add that to your pub quiz knowledge bank.

The Missing Cryptoqueen – undoubtedly, one of the breakout podcasts of 2019. The limited series follows journo Jamie Bartlett’s investigation into the mysterious Dr. Ruja Ignatova and her crypto coin company OneCoin*. Released weekly in a similar format to the incredibly popular crime podcast ‘Serial’, each episode uncovers more of the story as Jamie discovers further details around the strange ongoings.

The Digital Human – in this offering, Aleks Krotoski explores the links between us and technology. Thought-provoking, it makes you think about your relationship with the digital world and how it drives your behaviour with others in the physical one. Self-reflection isn’t always painless, but as digital actions become more intricately linked with all aspects of life, people have to understand the influence technology has and learn how to manage it more effectively.

So that’s five of the best tech podcasts, according to me anyway. Why not give them a go on your commute? You’ll be surprised at just how much of the technology chat will be relevant to you. Next time, I’ll take a look at some business podcasts.

*SPOILER ALERT – it all turned out to be a massive multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Know of any other tech podcasts that Astor should be listening to? Ping him an email on astor.sonnen@aspectusgroup.com to send suggestions, or simply to chat about anything comms related.

Astor is an account manager working in the technology PR team at Aspectus

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Zuckerberg’s new year’s resolutions, circa 2020


By: Kelley Wake

Every year the king of social media sets himself a set of new year’s resolutions, or what he calls personal challenges (because, you know, he has to be different), and in true Facebook style, shares them with the world.

We’ve been witness to: ‘wear a tie to work every day’ in 2009, ‘read a book every week’ in 2015 and ‘learn Mandarin’ in 2010. My favourite so far was ‘get more comfortable with public speaking’ – he really needed that one last year given all his Q&As with the heavies in Congress.

But this year, he’s stepped up his game and given us no fewer than five challenges, which are more like ‘new decade’ resolutions, by the sounds of it.

Generational change

Coming in first is his quest to provide generational change. He says that when he launched his platform, he hoped it would give those without a voice the power to make a difference. He says that while it has given people a voice, it hasn’t made the generational changes in addressing important issues he had hoped for (no surprises there). Anyway, he has committed to focusing more on funding and giving a platform to younger entrepreneurs, scientists, and leaders to enable these changes.

Private social platform

His second challenge is to create a private social platform. Acknowledging that, while Facebook has created a global community, it leaves a lot to be desired in the intimacy and purpose department. With the global decline in mental health being connected to humanity’s dependence on likes and shares, Zuckerberg wants to create smaller, more meaningful communities where people can truly connect and discover their unique roles in society.

Decentralising opportunity

With more than 140 million entrepreneurs reaching customers through Facebook, there is no denying the opportunities Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram provide to small-to-medium enterprises in growing their customer base by using his platforms. His fourth challenge is to use technology to build payment systems so smaller companies have the commercial opportunities that were previously only available to larger businesses. Hello Libra, we see you.

The next computing platform

Elon Musk’s Neuralink doesn’t get as much airtime as his other ventures – maybe because it’s an implantable brain chip which will “merge biological intelligence with machine intelligence,” and probably freaks out the majority of the population. Zuckerberg has a slightly different approach to melding human consciousness with technology. He sees the future of digital communication through rose-tinted augmented glasses. Far less invasive, his glasses will track brain functions so that users can control actions like clicking and scrolling by merely thinking about them. “‘Facebook wants to perform brain surgery,’” Zuckerberg joked. “I don’t want to see the congressional hearings on that one.”

New forms of governance

His last challenge – I see it as more of a wish – is for governments to take a more regulative role in online privacy. He has repeatedly said that he doesn’t think “private companies should be making so many important decisions that touch on fundamental democratic values”. Fair enough. He wants governments to establish clearer laws around elections, content, privacy and data. Another suggestion he has given is community self-regulation. He wants users to be able to report problems to an independent board which will have the final say on whether certain content is allowed.

After an eventful couple of years, this seems like quite the undertaking from the social network. We’ve all heard the accusations of unfathomable atrocities the platform has faced, from privacy violations and involvements in elections to spurring literal genocides. Yes, Zuckerburg faced Congress and paid a $5 billion penalty but still made profits every quarter. Who’s to know if these are purely words on paper – like so many of our own new year’s resolutions turn out to be –  or if there will be actual change. One can only hope. Right?

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How an ace AR (augmented reality) application earned ASOS attention


No doubt you’ve seen the coverage: ASOS has released a nifty new tool that shows customers how a dress might fit on them, before they buy it.

See My Fit uses augmented reality to offer a simulated view of how an outfit looks on a range of models with different dress sizes and body types.

We think this is brilliant. Not because of the coverage, but because it’s a wonderful example of what we call “considered creativity”.

Considered creativity is about applying maximum creativity to solve a communications problem – ruthlessly focused on results, without distraction, without fluff and without ego getting in the way.

In this case, ASOS is addressing a key drawback of online clothes shopping: the lack of changing rooms. Customers have no idea how something will look on them until they’ve made the purchase and tried it on.

The result? A constant stream of returns that waste customers’ time, cost ASOS money and spill excess carbon into the atmosphere. Not to mention the self-esteem hit that can come from clothes not fitting as you’d hoped and expected.

This AR application goes some way to solving these problems. Rather than relying on a flashy PR stunt to get attention, ASOS has made a well-considered and creative change to the customer journey that saves money and buys goodwill.

The attention still comes – because the brand has truly earned it.

Dan George is the creative director at Aspectus Group.

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What having a ‘gong bath’ taught me about communicating


You probably have no idea what a ‘gong bath’ is, and recently, neither did I. Then, as part of Aspectus’ winter wellness initiative, a group of us were taken to the GONG studio.

Here, our Gong teacher Selma, explained that a gong bath is an ancient healing practice in which sound waves, produced by a gong, heal the mind and body. Laid back on a matt and equipped with a blanket and eye mask, the gong sounded for 30 minutes, transmitting frequencies to the brain which lulled me to a surprisingly meditative state throughout the session.

According to Selma, the gong sounds are used to restructure the body’s water molecules. As humans are comprised of 70% water, the vibrations flow seamlessly through your body, placing you in a deep state of consciousness and relaxation.

Different sound frequencies stimulate the body and mind into balancing its inner emotions and alleviate existing mental challenges – in other words, into better communicating with itself. Some of the frequencies that we’re unfamiliar with at first can have the greatest effect.

But can we apply these lessons about better communicating with ourselves to improve our communication with others?

The incomprehensible is important

Most interactions between people consist of many unintelligible energies. Despite often going unnoticed they are extremely informative. An indication of any effective human-to-human contact is the ability to read the nuanced, non-verbal messages we convey to each other. For example, through eye contact, body language and tone of voice.

These have the potential to convey our true emotions, not necessarily expressed verbally at surface-level communication. A ‘successful’ interaction ensures that these are listened to by both parties, much like the body listens to the gong.

Sometimes, what seems incomprehensible can be therapeutic. The gong bath process and an effective conversation have various requirements in common.

Receptiveness is required

In order to truly be comfortable during a gong bath, you have to be open-minded and welcome the seemingly obscure process. Your body needs to be loosened and your mind clear of thoughts in order to create an environment conducive to relaxation.

Both parties within a conversation must be open-minded and mutually receptive to the words and emotions transmitted by the other. An interaction must see the emotional aspect accounted for, as opposed to only the verbal one.

Presence is a must
A gong bath demands your presence, both physically and mentally. You’ll find yourself navigating between different (often random) seas of thought. The task is to catch yourself doing so and leverage your in-the-moment presence to prevent you from drowning in those thoughts.

We can all be guilty of being somewhere without actually being ‘there’, and we never know how annoying it is until we’re on the wrong end of it. A productive interaction is one in which both parties are fully present throughout.

Listen to the frequencies

Once present, you need to actually be listening. Without listening to the frequencies of the gong, the healing process is ineffective. Similarly, a conversation without listening is futile. ‘Listening’ goes beyond ‘hearing’, but actually interpreting and deciphering the valuable pieces of information.

Acknowledging the information communicated by the gong or your counterpart leads to understanding. This is the overall goal of both a gong bath and an interaction, enabling you to understand other people as well as yourself and your emotions more effectively.

Gong baths might not have been on the job description but, four months into my communications career, I’m recommending that you try one too.

Listen to the gong, listen to people and listen to yourself – they’re all trying to tell you something.

Kanayo is a Spanish with International Relations graduate from the University of Southampton now working as an Account Executive in the Financial Services PR team at Aspectus Group.

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The right horse, the wrong jockey: why Facebook’s Libra has a PR problem


Jenny Corlett, Blockchain PR specialist at Aspectus Group

In City AM last week, I discussed the rocky waters surrounding Libra’s struggle for acceptance and whether Facebook is the right company for the job.

This stemmed from a discussion at the World Blockchain Forum in New York. One of the speakers asked who in the audience thought Libra was likely to succeed in taking cryptocurrencies mainstream. About half the room raised their hands. He then followed with: “Who wants it to be Facebook that achieves this?” All hands were hastily lowered.

It isn’t just the crypto industry who have responded like this. Several governments have moved to block it and 7 of its 28 backers have gotten cold feet and abandoned the project altogether.

This is a shame, because at its core Libra is an excellent idea. Currently, 1.7 billion adults in the world don’t have access to a bank account, however the percentage of that demographic which doesn’t have access to social media or a smartphone is dramatically lower.

Having a stable digital currency which transcends borders and is useable by anyone with access to a smartphone would democratise global payments, allowing people who have previously been shut out by the financial system to send and receive cash on a daily basis.

As a result, I explore the following question in more detail: would the currency have had more success if it was launched by a less controversial company?

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