With 2012 just behind us now it’s the perfect time to think about what happened in marketing last year and learn some valuable lessons to help us be more creative and clever with our PR and social media plans and campaigns in 2013. This is why I thought I should share with you what I think was the best communications campaign of 2012 and why.

One of the most successful brands when it comes to organisational PR activities is admittedly Red Bull. For years they’ve been coming up with adventurous and sometimes pretty extreme stunts and have managed to position themselves as a brand that ‘gives content wings’. They have never directly promoted the actual flavour of the energy drink, but have instead focused on what values it offers to consumers, namely to boost energy.

And they’ve certainly managed to do so with the brilliant Red Bull Stratos – an example of PR at its best.

Happy New Year!

An anonymous company executive once said: “Profit is like health. You need it, and the more the better. But it’s not why you exist.” I would agree with this quote 100%. A successful company is not defined by its profits. Especially today, with resources becoming more finite, companies need to reevaluate the core of their business purposes – is it simply just profits that matter, or is it finding a win-win solution that would correspond with the triple bottom line ‘people, planet, profit?’

In my opinion, Milton Friedman’s philosophy “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits” no longer holds true because society increasingly demands corporate conscience.

Understanding how business and society are interlinked is now crucial; companies need to find win-win solutions for both as the Earth’s resources are becoming scarcer. It is not about reducing consumption, but about finding sustainable alternatives that benefit nature, our community and organisations.

2012 has been a fantastic year for my blog!

First of all it was the year I launched it and second, it was the year I learned so much about blogging, PR, social media, marketing, business etc. thanks to putting some great efforts into running this blog.

A lot has happened in my life in 2012 – from graduating at Plymouth University to starting my internship in a PR consultancy.

I believe I have managed to capture my experiences and what I’ve been learning in the areas of social media, marketing and PR in my writing (or at least I’ve tried, you’d be the judge :P). Researching and writing for this blog has certainly helped me enhance my knowledge in the communications and business practice.

Briefly, here are some of the blog’s highlights of the year:

For many years I’ve been a big fan of David Ogilvy, the father of advertising, a “pioneering adman and one of the founding fathers of our modern consumer society.” I recently read Ogilvy’s book “Confessions of an Advertising Man” for the second time, and for the second time I was absolutely impressed with it. I can only recommend it.

It is indeed a little unusual for a PR person to be fascinated with a book on advertising (you know, the ‘constant war’ between PR and advertising…), but it is the understanding of consumers and businesses and the practical tips that Ogilvy shares in his book that I enjoyed so much.

As Sir Alan Parker said, the confessions is “a blueprint for good practice in business” because “it’s not just about advertising, it’s also about how people think and behave at the sharp end of business.”

Understanding how consumers, media, business owners and other stakeholders think and what they need is as essential in PR as it is in any other marketing discipline.

While reading the “Confessions” I noted down everything that intrigued me.

Below are my 25 favourite quotes from Ogilvy’s book: