Job Description:

We are looking for an Account Executive with a passion for technology and the media. Due to a growing client portfolio, we need someone to join the team, located in London’s Marylebone, to assist with the delivery of our client accounts in the broadcast, media and telecommunications industries.

If you’re someone who is serious about moving your PR career forward, and you’re a great team player, you could be just what we’re looking for. You will have some previous PR experience working in-house or agency-side, and a relevant degree (PR, marketing, journalism, etc.). A demonstrable passion for the media industry and the changing ways in which we watch and interact with content is also ideal. You will have excellent communication skills both written and verbal, possess a proactive nature, good presentation skills, be organised, and competent with MS Word, Excel and Outlook.

Day to day activities will include:

• Working with the Account Manager/Director to deliver PR campaigns to plan
• Drafting press releases, features pitches, press kits, background information sheets and briefing documents
• Writing contact, weekly & monthly progress reports
• Providing regular creative input and new ideas, and initiating ad hoc activities
• Carrying out desk research for existing clients
• Maintaining and expanding relationships with relevant trade and national media journalists
• Assisting the Account Director in arranging press briefings and other events

To apply, please send your CV to sally@platformpr.com

Talking to industry friends and colleagues we all feel that the media/tech world’s really hotting-up. I’ve been thinking about why and I’ve come up a few ideas and things to watch out for:

• We’re at the weigh-in stage in the upcoming fight over TV and other media distribution and aggregation. That’s the bit where the contenders make rather foolish appraisals of their competitor’s parentage. Friends fall out and enemies become friends; all before enmity sets in again. This is going to run-and-run. I’ve been anticipating and thinking hard about this fight for over 15 years. So it’s pretty exciting to see that it’s starting to happen.

• CE devices not only make great copy but also are really important. Watch the money is good advice. But watching what content is being watched on is a good idea too.

• Music’s an interesting battleground, but be careful you don’t extrapolate too far.

• Distributing video to the end user has traditionally been a local business. Globalising video distribution (pay and free OTT) has huge potential – and broadband access makes this possible.

• Very large and well-funded companies full of very intelligent people will continue to make very poor decisions about the TV and video industry.

• That doesn’t mean that they will continue to make major mistakes. Microsoft made the cardinal error of not understanding that it didn’t understand TV. That was bad news for Microsoft and even worse news for its large telco customers. Google has clearly made mistakes, but may be bright enough to realise it in time.

• What if video distribution is not the ultimate fight – the space could become a loss-leading battle ground for the next big thing: the connected home. How would your business model stand-up under that scenario?

I’m really looking forward to the next 12 months. I’m seeing some very exciting developments just from the clients that I handle personally, let alone the rest of the agency and media/tech industry. I want to finish with one cautionary note: providing new ways to access video and entertainment doesn’t necessarily persuade consumers to make incremental media purchases. New market entrants and the existing media distributors, in the developed markets at least, are likely to be fighting over a slow growing fist full of entertainment dollars for some time to come.

David Bramley
@david_platform

It was therefore interesting to follow the recent debate and discussion regarding Apple’s (albeit speculated at the time of writing) plans to deploy Siri, its artificial intelligence software, as the control mechanism for any future TV development. Nick Bilton, (@nickbilton) in his blog for The New York Times, ‘What’s Really Next for Apple in Television’, argues that it’s “not a matter of if…it’s a matter of when” Apple enables you to talk to your TV, while Microsoft has seemingly stolen a march by announcing Xbox TV services will be live by the end of the year, using voice commands via Kinect to select content. “It’s about time” claims this promotional video from the company.

Whether it’s using voice commands or not, it is certainly about time that the way in which TV viewers interact with, browse and select their content is re-evaluated. Personally, I can’t imagine using voice commands to control the TV, as I believe that you actually lose the most important element here – control. While I don’t think outside or ambient noise will be a problem – the technology is too sophisticated for that – there is the problem of who exactly the TV listens to. We’ve all had the debate at home as to who has the remote control in their possession for the next hour, and allowances have to be made (we usually ‘agree’ in my house that I’ll have it). But if the TV just does what it’s told, living rooms up and down the country could see the TV flicking between Match of the Day and X Factor every 5 seconds. Where’s the control there?

I’m also dubious about browsing through what’s on. While search and recommendation features are getting much more accurate and relevant, I’ve certainly been guilty of scrolling through every available channel before just to see what’s available. If I sat at home and said “scroll” or “next page” 50 times, I think that might even get even more annoying for those around me.

I don’t want to be too dismissive right now though – it would be foolish to before I’ve seen and tried it for myself. But it is really interesting to see the remote control back as the centre of attention. ruwido, a Platform client, has been researching consumer behaviour and developing highly innovative remote control devices for 40 years, and is now using tactile feedback in its devices. You can find out more about their solutions here.

Who knows, maybe in another 20 years we’ll look back fondly at quiz shows giving away TVs with voice control (“Oooooooooh”) and remember the time that wasn’t seen as the norm, but navigation devices and methods are, right now, central to an interesting debate that has been long overdue.

Now, where did I put that remote…?

Ian Westover
@ian_platform

Starting as a pure play cable and satellite forum, CASBAA has expanded its horizons in recent years and the traditional TV speakers on this year’s programme were joined by representatives from ‘the enemy’ – Hulu, YouTube/Google, Facebook and the like. There is no doubt that the face of TV is changing and no more so than in Asia, ‘the most exciting and high growth TV market’. The threat of over-the-top TV is being taken seriously by traditional players. Liang Xiao Tao, President of China’s CITVC stated: “Hulu and YouTube are killing TV” going on to talk about how that threat is driving CCTV/CITVC to innovate more and use multi-platform convergence for service differentiation – a healthy competitive landscape that can only benefit the consumer.

There was also mass agreement that linear TV is here to stay, with live TV viewing figures rising and consumers using social media to share their live TV experiences – taking linear deeper than ever before. BBC Worldwide President, Jana Bennett talked about the need for TV producers to “create TV moments” and announced plans for near simultaneous global launch dates for top BBC shows such as Top Gear and BBC Earth as a way to create global live TV momentum and avoid piracy.

As a communications person I am always thinking about how we can use fresh language to describe the TV business. I really liked the BBC’s concept of ‘curating’ the iplayer and mining niches in production archives to create strong TV brands. On the other hand, Microsoft’s alternative term for tablets, ‘smart glass’ as used by the firm’s Blair Westlake made the dim sum churn in my tummy. As my friend and TV Genius CEO Tom Weiss @tom_weiss tweeted – “Microsoft prefers the term ’smart glass’ to ‘tablet’. Presumably because they have zero market share in tablets.”

All fairness to Microsoft they did also show a fantastic video of the Xbox for TV – with a voice controlled interface that makes talk of a Siri controlled Apple TV look almost like old news.

UK based journalist (and top shopper) Kate Bulkley hosted a great panel – The 365 Experience – which featured speakers from Disney, BBC World News, Starhub, TV5Monde and GroupM – and explored what service providers and content owners need to do to truly engage and entertain today’s digital savvy consumer.

Wednesday morning was kicked off with an interview with Jeff Shell, president of NBCUniversal International who updated us on progress between the Comcast and NBCU merger, its approach to building out its Asian business and quaintly described Downton Abbey as a British period soap opera. Judging by the final episode of the series which I watched on Sky+ last night, he was spot on.

Overall I’d say the Asian TV market is looking very healthy. Some of the operator thinking is a little behind the trailblazing of some services in Europe and US, but Asia has often used that lag to its ultimate advantage, leapfrogging its Western counterparts just at the moment when consumer demand is right – take HD, high speed and mobile Broadband, Smartphones. With forecasts for rapid digital TV growth in the coming years, one can also see huge potential for ‘new’ TV experiences such as tablets/companion devices, iPlayer style services, over-the-top delivery and sophisticated content discovery. There has never been a better time to be doing business in Asia and I’m excited and honoured to be involved in the region and the development of its TV landscape.

Gay Bell
@gay_platform

Nativ, which specialises in “Total Video Logistics”, is a great addition to Platform’s high calibre portfolio of clients and this win is a perfect end to the already hugely successful IBC period. We are looking forward to expanding our relationship with Nativ as it is a really exciting and fast growing company in the hub of the broadcast industry.

John Folland, Nativ’s CEO said “Platform’s approach to PR and its specialist knowledge of the industry has been a real asset for us. They really understand both our business and communications objectives and have tailor-made a communications programme that delivers. Our Platform team has worked hard from day one to quickly become an extension of our internal marketing department and has been instrumental in helping us successfully launch our latest offering at IBC this year.”

Nativ’s MioEverywhere platform is a business process automation solution that removes the complexity of digital media management and distribution. Nativ helps some of the biggest content owners and brands reach their audiences with the highest quality audio-visual experience on any platform, and reduce their costs.

For Platform it was a monumental year with our growing team on hand to support 11 of our clients, all of which had an extremely successful show.

Over the past few months we have worked hard to produce great results with no less than 170 press meetings organised, 43 press releases issued and 6 award wins across our clients.  The success continued throughout the show with 19 hits in the IBC Daily and 5 IBC TV News videos, producing great coverage and an increased profile for all our clients.

“We’re delighted to be able to look back on the challenges and successes of another IBC and see such satisfying figures be produced at the end of the show” said Gay Bell, CEO. “We were pleased to be able to work with and help our longstanding clients for another year running as well as be there to support some of our new clients for the first time. IBC is integral to the industry and a key event for our clients and it is great to be able to celebrate this success with them”

TV Genius gained 2 nominations whilst ADB, ACCESS, and Civolution received one each.

There were over 150 entries from organisations in 27 countries, so this result is a fantastic achievement for our clients. The Connected World Awards recognise the creativity of broadcasters, independent producers, technology companies and consumer electronics manufacturers pioneering the business of ‘content everywhere’.

Results will be confirmed on the penultimate night of IBC 2011, Monday 12^th September.

The finalists and category break-down is as follows:

TV Genius

Portable Device Application Award – Brand engagement app for Freeview DTT service

Search & Content Discovery Award – Social feature for content discovery platform

ACCESS

Bulding Block Award – Netfront Browser DTV Profile HbbTV Edition

ADB

Service Delivery Platform Award – Connected TV Portal

Civolution

Service Delivery Platform Award – VideoSync 2^nd Screen Synchronisation

Ericsson is nominated for four awards, Civolution and T-VIPS for two awards each and ADB,  Appear TV and Tvinci for one.

Winners will be announced on Friday 9^th September at IBC and we wish all our clients luck on the night.

Platform clients’ CSI Product of the Year nominations are as follows:

Ericsson

Multi-Platform Stream Processor - Best digital video processing technology

Voyager II - Best satellite contribution/distribution/transmission solution

Media Delivery Management System - Best content-on-demand solution

Multiscreen TV Solution - TV Everywhere/multi-screen video – NEW

Civolution

NexGuard - Best content protection technology

Video Synchronization – Best interactive TV technology or application

T-VIPS

TVG425 Transport Stream Gateway - Best cable or fibre contribution/distribution/transmission solution

DVB-T2/SFN Seamless Switching Solution - Best HDTV technology or project

ADB

Multiroom Solution - Best customer premises technology

Appear TV

Universal Distribution Headend - Best digital video processing technology

Tvinci

OTT Platform - Best Web TV technology or service

The clients we will be representing at the show are;

ACCESS (13.115) will be demonstrating market-leading solutions in DLNA, HbbTV and iPlayer.

Advanced Digital Broadcast (5.B48), will showcase the full range of its broadcast and broadband devices and software and demonstrate how they work together to provide a complete multi-room, multi-services experience.

Appear TV (1.C61) will be showcasing its unique universal distribution head-ends, its high-density bulk descrambler module and its new advanced MPEG encoding.

Civolution (2.C30) will be presenting its new video synchronization technology which allows for the automatic identification of the TV channel being watched and the content being played.

Ericsson (1.D61) will demonstrate its leadership in advanced video compression, content management and workflow, on-demand back office and delivery solutions, internet video caching and distribution, alongside it rich, open suite of enablers for creating unique, connected consumer experiences on every device.

Grey Juice Lab will be on site to discuss the impact of the VoD explosion, and how the TV industry is responding to, and monetizing, the rapidly changing trends in non-linear TV consumption.

Nativ (4.A61e) will showcase the latest version of its MioEverywhere platform which allows broadcasters and content owners to organise their digital assets in order to quickly reach audiences, on all platforms and devices, and at a low cost.

ruwido (1.F68) will showcase its intuitive range of high performance interactive devices that are evolving the TV engagement experience, and will discuss how the company’s own extensive research ensures that these solutions meet the exact needs and behaviour of today’s consumer.

TV Genius (13.325) will demonstrate its award-winning Content Discovery Platform and will discuss how its new social discovery functionality utilizes the power of Twitter and Facebook to improve the way in which viewers engage with content, improving the accuracy and relevance of recommendations for TV.

tvinci (3.A15c) will showcase its complete, end-to-end Pay-OTT services platform that enables operators, broadcasters and media companies to offer end users linear content, catch-up TV and VOD on multiple devices.

T-VIPS (1.B71) will be demonstrating new product launches and increased functionality across its video transport, monitoring and switching and transport stream processing and remultiplexing ranges. T-VIPS will also show new products in its cProcessor processing and multiplexing range.

If you would like to set up a meeting with any of our clients then please get in touch with Chloe Sisson on chloe@platformpr.com.

During the 12 month programme Chloe will complete a three month stint in each of Platform’s three account groups and finish off with a chance to learn more about the overall running and operations of a PR company.

The new scheme is designed to give each intern the broadest understanding of the company and the industry as well as a chance to interact with all of our clients and learn about the exciting technologies they offer. Our aim is to help young people starting out in the industry to build on their personal strengths and skills, discover areas they thrive and flourish in and to complete the programme with the best possible experiences and opportunities.

Chloe joins us fresh out of University with a first degree honours in Marketing and Advertising from Hertfordshire. Chloe will spend her initial three months in Tracey’s team getting stuck in to all things IBC.

The annual table, which was published today, recognizes the most successful technology agencies and confirms Platform’s leading position in the industry.

‘This is great news for Platform and a fantastic boost for the whole team. We have worked hard to build an outstanding client base of leading technology companies and I am proud to see us take our place in the Top 20 list of tech agencies,’ said Gay Bell, Platform CEO. ‘As more and more video enabled devices are launched, the role of video and TV has become core to the future of consumer entertainment and communications. Our expertise, understanding and wide connections in the digital video sector puts us in a strong position to help new and established technology and services providers to build their profile around the world.”

http://toppragencies.prweek.co.uk/Technology-table.aspx

Heavy rain showers halted the Canadian Grand Prix for two hours halfway through the race, meaning BBC viewers were forced to watch images of a waterlogged racetrack rather than Grandma’s collection of Royal Doulton teapots.

But even the most avid fans of F1 would have to agree that watching FIA stewards attempting to sweep water off a racing circuit isn’t particularly entertaining; luckily Twitter was on hand to keep us all updated and amused.

As a keen user of Twitter I’ve always found that the micro-blogging tool is at its best when used in conjunction with a live TV event. My Twitter feed is full of conversations with friends watching the same TV programme, sharing frustrations, opinions and jokes. I am able to speak to my network of friends – and the rest of the world through the use of hashtags – as if I was down at the pub, creating a much more social experience.

I believe that nowhere is Twitter used more effectively than in Formula 1, mostly because of the way racing teams themselves have embraced social media. The whole way through the race, from its rain drenched start to its thrilling conclusion, I was receiving live updates from inside the team garages and reporters in the pit-lane, keeping me in touch with everything that was going on.

If last weekend was anything to go by the use of a second screen to interact during live TV is proving to be a useful tool to keep viewers engaged and for brands and media to reach their consumers. Maybe next time it will be the antiques fans causing a Twitter trend (#mahogany).

With our impressive growth rate catching the publication’s eye, Platform debuted in the PR Week ‘Top 150 PR Consultancies’ league table which was published today. The annual league table is the most definitive and up-to-date barometer of PR agency performance. The magazine’s editorial team selected four agencies as ‘Ones to Watch’.

“2010 was a great year for Platform and for the clients we work with. We have always had a great reputation for top quality client work, and for our very strong connections in the digital TV and media sector, but we had never really focused on our own business growth,” Gay Bell, CEO and founder of Platform said.  “Recognising that ‘good enough wasn’t good enough anymore’, we have set out a clear strategy for success and I am delighted that our vision, and the hard work of our team, has been recognised by PR Week today.”

As well as its commercially led communications offerings and talented people, we attribute much of our success to a growing demand for PR from such a dynamic part of the technology industry. We operate on a global basis for many of our clients and during 2010 generated new business from a number of regions including new markets such as Asia and Israel.

Gay added, “We have worked really hard over the years to create an offering that focuses on the needs of our clients’ businesses and matches strategy, messaging and tactics with those needs. We’re in a really exciting part of the technology market, at a really exciting time and our success is certainly an indicator of the growth of this industry.”