As we enter the 2020s, it is the perfect moment to rewind the 2010s. This decade was marked not only by technological advancements but also by the rise of new societal concerns – and it is this intersection of tech and society that is the defining comms trend of the last 10 years.
With this in mind, we handpicked 10 PR Tech campaigns that not only impressed us with their creativity and impact to help shape the storylines of the decade.
1 . IBM: Watson on Jeopardy (2011)
In 2011, Watson, IBM supercomputer played Jeopardy against two of the game’s former champions, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. The supercomputer won the game and with it $1 million that was then distributed to charities. Watson became a celebrity and awareness was raised about IBM.
This campaign really kicked-off what would be a decade of hype around machine learning and AI, and which today shows no sign of abating. As we enter the ‘20s, the debate is now firmly on the human impact of AI and big societal questions such as does AI have inbuilt racial or gender bias, reinforcing stereotypes rather than arming us with the tech to challenge and overcome them. Who knew a computer playing a board game could be so profound.
2. HP: document management (2011)
HP wanted to freshen-up the image of document management, which let’s be honest isn’t generally revered as a sexy segment of the tech industry. They worked with Bletchey Park, the centre for code breaking during the Second World War to digitise more than a million unseen historic documents, making them available online to view and search.
Source: PRWeek
The angle here is to tap into history, helping unearth the hitherto untold story of the ground-breaking – and war-winning – work which was done by the men and women of Bletchley Park. For historians of computing, it is obviously the home of Colossus, the world’s first programmable digital electronic computer. But more than that, the work done at Bletchley Park is about the contribution of women to the world of cyber-security, and of course Alan Turing who is now remembered not only as a brilliant mathematician and computer scientist but also as a byword for men who were unfairly prosecuted for their sexuality and who have now been retrospectively pardoned.
[Agency: Edelman]
3. Live streaming from Wembley Arch with EE’s 4GEE Action Cam (2015)
Ground-breaking technology requires ground-breaking measures. For the launch of the world’s first 4G-enabled camera, EE counted on the participation of UK urban adventurer James Kingston, who stood on top of the Wembley Stadium arch and broadcast a live stream using 4GEE Action Cam.
Source: EE
If nothing else, this story really shows how quickly technology moves – five years later and it’s 5G which is being hyped and launched. However, for those of us who remember GPRS and BT Cellnet’s promise of “surfing the mobile web”, what marks this as EE event as noteworthy is that the promised experience was one that could be delivered. With 4G we finally saw video really start to define social media, and the availability of high-speed mobile connectivity change how we consume our TV and video content.
4. Xero Chasing Payments (2016)
As a B2B cloud-based accounting firm, Xero’s is well aware of one of its customers’ concern: late payments. To address this issue, they chose humour. Thanks to its parody of Adele’s ‘Chasing pavements’ turned into ‘Chasing payments’ the company managed to address a sensitive issue in a lighthearted way with lyrics such as ‘Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing payments?’
On top of media coverage in nationals and SME trade publications, this campaign managed to connect with individual through humour which is a key factor to a successful and impactful campaign.
[Agency: Shine]
5. Empowering the People Through Debate on Digitalisation—Telefónica Deutschland (2017)
With empowering the People Through Debate on Digitalisation campaign, Telefónica Deutschland won SABRE Award EMEA 2017. A hot topic of the decade has been the digital revolution and this campaign brilliantly delivered on that issue. Telefónica organised a debate bootcamp called BASECAMP where more than 200 events were held and more than 10,000 visitors welcomed.
That this campaign generated more than 350 articles and achieved even wider reach online is impressive enough. But it also showed the power of embracing and not shying away from debate, empowering people to contribute so that all voices could be heard.
6. Mozilla Nativo: Opening the Internet to Indigenous Cultures—Mozilla with JeffreyGroup (2017)
Inclusivity has been an important discussion during the 2010s. Tapping into this, Mozilla created Mozilla Nativo with the aim to facilitate access to internet for indigenous populations. Mozilla Nativo is available in indigenous languages facilitating digitalisation of indigenous cultures and the campaign itself took him the 2017 SABRE Latin America Technology awards.
In a decade that also gave us greenwashing and rainbow-washing, brands too often get it wrong, using a societal cause for their commercial benefit and not authentically contributing to addressing the issue. Our sense though is that Mozilla got this one right, not just recognising that the rising societal discussion of the decade was diversity and inclusivity but also genuinely doing good with their work. With this powerful campaign, Mozilla not only told a story but also delivered in terms of inclusivity within the digital revolution. This is a beautiful responsible Tech PR campaign that in its very own way shaped the 2010s.
[Agency: Jeffrey Group]
7. Siemens: Fabric (2019)
Siemens blended innovation with creativity in a unique campaign called ‘Fabric: an Afro digital future’. By 2050, 1.4 billion people will be living in an African city and this campaign used fabric as a medium to tell the story of major African cities. The idea was to spark a conversation about how data and smart technology can makes tomorrow’s African cities more connected and efficient. By using data to design unique fabrics for each city and designing garments from those fabrics, Siemens won Best In Show at the African SABREs 2019.
Source: Between 10 and 5
https://new.siemens.com/za/en/company/topic-areas/fabric.html
Through those beautiful garments that are true representations of each city, Siemens combined creativity with relevance. Indeed, building smart cities in Africa is more relevant than ever. Tech PR is about result and impact. ‘Fabric’ delivered in that regard since it generated traditional media coverage and social media engagement. ‘Fabric’ also led to more than 35 sales leads for the company.
[Agencies: King James Group and Atmosphere Communications]
8. KASPERSKY LAB: THE DATA DOLLAR STORE (2018)
Data became a prominent topic especially in the second part of the decade. With initiatives such as the GDPR, privacy online became highly prominent and issues related to data were put on the spotlight. To raise awareness on this issue Kaspersky, the cyber security company, took over London’s creative hub Shoreditch and opened a pop-up store called The Data Dollar Store and created the ‘The Data Dollar’, the “world’s first ever currency for personal data”.
In a world where we have grown used to trading our personal data for free access to content and services, the campaign tapped into the idea that all your data – from photos to texts to emails – has value. To bring this concept into life, visitors could buy products with their ‘Data Dollars’. The campaign won The Drum Best B2B PR Campaign USA 2018 Award and was righly recognised for its spot-on and hard-hitting message and that data privacy has a value.
[Agency: Radley Yeldar]
9. Populating Plexal – The AI legacy of London 2012 (2018)
Plexal is a tech-ideas hub that is part of London’s Olympics legacy -creating a co-working space aimed at businesses working in AI and Robotics. Before its opening, the PR was was given a target of reaching an occupancy rate of 35%; by the end of the campaign, it had reached 60% occupancy. Its secret weapon: full plain PR. PR Week Awards judges
commented ‘Low budget. Strong results.’
Source: PR Week
While technology may change, traditional PR remains the same and media relations are at the very core of it. Populating Plexal is the very proof that the profession is about stories and relationships, which is Temono’s strongest belief.
10, Cisco – ‘There has never been a better time’ (2016)
Finally, let’s finish with an optimistic look to the future, and Cisco’s 2016 campaign called ‘There’s never been a better time’. Focusing on real stories from customers and partners, this campaign aimed at displaying technology as a tool for good, transforming a wide range of industries. The message – that no matter the dream, the technology exists to make it happen.
Some of us at Temono remember the days of thought leadership campaigns for clients where we’d try and be clever and talk of ‘a 2020 vision’. Well, as we enter 2020, the message of this campaign is pertinent: Why wait for later when the technology exists now?
[Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners]
If this retrospective look a past decade of creative storytelling hasn’t inspired you, nothing will. All those brilliant campaigns share one single message: whatever your industry, you need to connect to your audience. Be it through jokes, debates, stories or experiences, engaging with your audience is key. So in 2020, when planning a campaign, be creative, be relevant but by all means be bold.
