Category: Uncategorized

Strike a pose!

At Riot, we pride ourselves on being excellent communicators. We’ve won awards that stand testament to that, and clients who return again and again. However, we also know that success comes from constantly honing our skills – even when that means going back to basics. First impressions are critical to the work we do: from pitching to new clients to journalist meetings, winning the talent’s trust to networking with peers.

Over the past few years, there has been a focus on empowering professionals – especially women – when it comes to presenting skills and negotiation. TED Talks – such as those by social psychologist Amy Cuddy on body language, and comedian and coach Deborah Frances-White on charisma – are giving us the tools we need to create an impact on our audience, verbally and non-verbally. The science of first impressions is straightforward: an in-built vetting system in our primal brain means that we size people up within 30 seconds of meeting them. What’s often called gut instinct overrides most rational thought and, as with our ancestors, is based on both perceived threat and learnt experience. Think lion vs. prey on the Savannah, but in the boardroom.

We’ve taken the most salient points and turned them into a handy Riot 101 on how to make the best first impression. After all, that killer Cos jumpsuit isn’t going to do all the work for you…

T is for trust:
We judge people on how warm and trustworthy they seem: in fact, understanding someone’s intentions and perceived competency accounts for at least 80% of an overall first impression across all cultures. Your first job on meeting someone is to put them at an ease. Do you have mutual connections? Can you ask them a question about themselves? Can you align your body language to theirs, and ensure you are not giving off hostile non-verbal messages? Crossing arms is a real no-no, as is hiding your hands; maintaining an open posture, showing your palms and holding firm eye contact are all essentials here.

R is for respect:
Listen and be gracious. However experienced you are, you should always show respect for the time someone’s giving you. Whilst you should always be prepared ahead of a meeting, you should go into every interaction with an open mind and a willingness to listen to another’s agenda and concerns. Bulldozing might work for some, but generally it’s not the answer when it comes to building a long-term relationship. Show an instinct for harmony rather than appearing combative. It’s vital to be aware that your response (verbal and physical) can ramp up or deflate tricky situations: in a difficult negotiation, simple things like retaining an open posture and nodding your head to show you’re absorbing someone’s point (you can return to counter that point later if needs be) are more likely to help you resolve issues and reach the desired outcome.

I is for interest:
Show interest in the person you’re meeting – it may be a business meeting, but you’re also two human beings interacting. It’s good to engage in a little small talk: research has shown that just five minutes of chat before a negotiation increases the financial value created. Ask informed questions and encourage them to open up and share things about themselves. You can prepare for this by reading a LinkedIn profile, asking mutual connections about them and bringing up any shared interests you might have.

P is for personality:
No one likes a robot. Your personality and – ideally – a sense of humour will take you from a paint-by-numbers publicist to someone vital and worth listening to. Not full-on Siobhan Sharpe or Malcolm Tucker, but at least someone who has a something to say for themselves. You want to be memorable, and for the right reasons.

So there you have it: T.R.I.P.
If in doubt, channel Riot heroes Ellen de Generes or Oprah Winfrey. They are masters of non-verbal communication. From now on, we’ll be adopting Oprah’s expansive pose in all future negotiations.

Watch this space!

Purposeful and beneficial team away days

‘We’re going to have a team away day’ is the sort of sentence usually met with universal groans from colleagues as they stare at the 5,000 emails and counting in their inbox and the To Do list running across ten pages. An entire day spent away from the desk can feel like a monumental waste of time (‘Remind me, how is shooting a paint ball at Gary from Accounts’ head contributing to our bottom line again?’).

But an away day done right, can have fundamental, long-lasting benefits to the development of an individual, team and business. They can meaningfully bring a team together, inspire honesty, allow for transparency, improve lines of communication, generate ideas and create solutions. We love an away day at Riot. We down tools for the day, put the out of office on and head out to an external venue where we can hunker down to get practical, get inspired and get fat on break-time brownies.

Riot’s 6 tips for a successful away day:

A clear purpose to the day is essential. Everyone needs to know exactly what the objective of the day is in advance. The agenda must reflect the purpose and not veer from it. The purpose of our most recent away day was to specifically focus on our new business strategy. The purpose of our next one will be skills consolidation – we’re all going on a negotiation skills course. Everyone in the company has inputted into the agenda of this course for maximum impact.

A realistic agenda carefully timed out in advance. The away day is an opportunity for the team not to be racing around feeling rushed, overwhelmed and deadline driven. The away day should create a sense of space and freedom for clear thinking and clear communication. Trying to fit too much in will leave everyone feeling harassed.

Set conscious intentions for the day. A powerful exercise to get everyone in the right frame of mind from the off is to ask everyone to share their intention for the day. What do they want to get out of the away day? What quality will aid them in that endeavour e.g. patience/openness/generosity? Lay out picture cards on the floor or pin them to the walls, random images from goldfish to rainbows, the Taj Mahal to a set of keys. Each person chooses a picture that represents their intention and shares it with the team. This picture is kept visible to them all day as a reminder. Come back to the intentions at the end of the day and ask everyone to reflect on how they achieved their intention.

Create a safe space for participation. A successful away day involves everyone feeling as though they made a valuable contribution and to do that were able to be honest, open and transparent. People need to feel safe to do this. A set of rules laid out at the beginning is a good idea and might include:

1. reserve judgement
2. no negative responses or behaviour
3. every individual will have time and a platform to speak
4. every individual’s contribution is valid
5. ‘seek first to understand, then to be understood.’

Make the day fun, creative, unexpected. Remember the purpose of the day at all times, but within that bring the day alive with exercises, games, activities that challenge and excite. At Riot away days we’ve done everything from the spaghetti tower marshmallow challenge to a rock, paper, scissors championship to creating magazine cover stories. Each activity has fed into our higher purpose but has resulted in lots of laughs, chafed knuckles and tears of frustration. Not your average day in the office.

Invite feedback. Finally, always end the day with feedback from the team. A good old-fashioned bit of circle time is uniting and is a clear indication that you want to learn from your team.

Happy away day!

Here at Riot we LOVE a debut – whether we’re launching a new voice we know is going to resonate on a global scale, like we did with Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, or running the “the UK’s most prestigious award for first-time novelists” (The Telegraph), the Desmond Elliott Prize.

Over the past six months or so we’ve had the great pleasure of working with the team at Hutchinson to promote a particularly special debut – Tara Westover’s extraordinary memoir, Educated. We were thrilled with the coverage, which included The Times Magazine, Observer New Review, Harper’s Bazaar, Stylist, FT, Economist, Press Association, BBC Online, Channel 4 News, BBC Radio 2 Steve Wright and BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, to name but a few.

To celebrate the success of the campaign and Educated becoming an international bestseller, we thought we’d share some of our top tips for launching debuts:

• Having a book published can be quite a daunting process, so it can be reassuring for first time authors to get to know others who are having the same experiences. Shout out to Amy Baker and Rosy Edwards who run The Riff Raff, a community for debut writers. Getting your author featured on their podcast or in the line-up of one of their monthly events helps to build buzz, but also gives the author the opportunity to meet supportive peers who will hopefully go on to champion their work.
• Identifying the right influencers and early adopters who can help position the book and generate word of mouth is of course crucial for a debut. Another shout out is due here to the wonderful Caroline Sanderson, who is such an incredible supporter of the books she loves. Having such an important figure from the book world on board can help you get cut-through in the mainstream media and Caroline’s early coverage of Educated in The Bookseller was invaluable to the success of the campaign.
• A tip for your pitches – don’t be afraid to tell media what else you already have in the bag. Nervousness around this is understandable as worded badly it can make the recipient of your pitch feel like they’re late to the story, but worded right, and with the inclusion of a bespoke angle specifically for that outlet, it can help convince them this is going to be an important and high-profile book that they really should be covering.
• Given that your author won’t have an existing fan base, you need your coverage to be as wide-reaching as possible. Focus on working with media to create shareable content. Two examples from the Educated campaign are this BBC Online piece, which featured on the UK and International homepages all day on the day it went live, and this video interview shot by the Channel 4 Digital team, which has been viewed on Facebook over 130,000 times.
• Lastly, plan for longevity – how are you going to keep your author relevant and interesting to journalists beyond the publication moment? Are there any hot topics that you could establish them as experts on? If so, use the publication moment to secure coverage in special interest titles, such as the TES, which you can point to later as evidence of them being a respected spokesperson on those issues. This will help you secure additional pieces of coverage further down the line – for example, comment pieces on current affairs.

Caitlin Allen, associate director

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve been retained by Penguin Random House to promote the hotly-anticipated new title from global superstar Yuval Noah Harari, author of the multi-million selling Sapiens and Homo Deus.

Riot Communications has a long history with Harari, having handled publicity for his two previous books and, in the process, helped establish him as one of the world’s most exciting thinkers, with fans including Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg. Both titles remain in the top ten bestseller lists years after publication.

After illuminating our past and possible futures, his new book, entitled 21 Lessons for the 21^st Century, will see Harari apply his trademark clarity, vision and refreshingly broad perspective to the here and now, helping us to grapple with a world that is increasingly hard to comprehend. Written in easily digestible, bite-sized chapters, it will take readers on a journey through some of today’s most urgent issues, including terrorism, fake news and immigration, as well as turning to more individual concerns, from resilience and humility to meditation.

21 Lessons for the 21^st Century will be published on 30^th August 2018 by Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Vintage, and Riot will work closely with the in-house team.

Joe Pickering, Publicity Director for Jonathan Cape, said: “‘I think it’s impossible to overstate what a phenomenon Yuval Noah Harari’s books have become, and Riot have been there every step of the way. We wanted them on board from the start with 21 Lessons for the 21st Centuryand are looking forward to working with them to make this the huge success it deserves to be.”

Co-founder and managing director of Riot Communications, Preena Gadher, said: “A writer like Yuval Harari – who combines such great depth of understanding with real flair and a lively, entertaining style – comes along once in a generation. It is a huge privilege to have worked with him, and the brilliant team at Vintage, right from the beginning of this journey, and we are so excited that this will continue with the publication of 21 Lessons later this year. It’s an incredible, vital read that will appeal to both existing fans and new readers alike, and we can’t wait to share it with the world.”

2018 has gotten off to a great start here at Riot HQ as this week we learnt that our La Belle Sauvage launch campaign has won a PPC Quarterly Award. Not only that, but we have THREE of our campaigns shortlisted for the Annual Award.

Judge, Steven Cooper of Waterstones, said: ‘I don’t think it was guaranteed that the publication of La Belle Sauvage would be the publishing event of the year, but this publicity driven campaign made it so. Successfully rejuvenating a beloved series of books relies heavily on the sensitive balancing of the old and the new, and this campaign did that across its various strands. Alongside extensive coverage across traditional media, the campaign also sought to reach new readers with ambitious, and successful, use of social platforms, Facebook Live and influencers. The events programme, which made excellent use of limited author time, perfectly balanced the need to reach large audiences with a sensitivity, through choice of venues and interviewers, to what makes Pullman’s work so special. The lead up to publication wasn’t without its issues but this was well managed by the team of publicists, resulting in the author and his book remaining at the heart of their message. Customers responded positively, and the standout publishing moment of the year was born.’

Two of our campaigns – World Book Day and Moomins – are going head to head in the Generic category, whilst our work on Philip Pullman’s smash-hit ‘equel’ La Belle Sauvage is a contender in the Children’s category.

The winners will be announced at a dinner in London of Monday the 5th of February. Keeping our fingers crossed!

Five tips for successful charity partnerships

Last week I had the huge privilege of working with the team at Oxfam to launch a new partnership between the aid and development charity and Riot client, Moomin Characters.

The partnership centres around Moomin creator Tove Jansson’s short story The Invisible Child, which is about a little girl who turns invisible after being badly treated by the woman supposedly caring for her – but reappears and regains her place in the world after being shown kindness and respect by the Moomin family. The book is on sale at Waterstones, Oxfam shops and the Moomin Shop Covent Garden with the full £4.99 price going to support Oxfam women’s projects worldwide. It has already been a huge success, with a reprint of the book being ordered just three days after the launch thanks to such high sales.

Planning the launch got me thinking about the potential pitfalls of partnerships, so here are my top five tips for making sure your charity link-ups really make a difference:

1. Authenticity.  The partnership between Moomin Characters and Oxfam came about in an organic way, and fortunately it was a very natural fit – the two organisations hold the same values of compassion, kindness, tolerance and respect for others, and the story of The Invisible Child mirrors Oxfam’s women’s projects so well. If you’re tasked with identifying potential charity partners for your clients, make sure there’s depth and logic behind your suggestions – and that you’re not just doing it because it looks good.

2. Occasion.  Partnerships such as the Moomin/Oxfam one require the generosity and hard work of a whole range of people. A launch event is a great way to not only announce your partnership to the media, but also to thank and reignite the enthusiasm of everyone who has contributed to making it a reality. We launched The Invisible Child campaign at the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence in Kensington Palace Gardens, where the Ambassador gave a speech about how the partnership was fitting given Finland has always been a leader in women’s rights (adding to the campaign narrative) and videos of Oxfam’s women’s projects were shown (reminding everyone of the reason we were there).

3. Collaboration.  PR doesn’t work in isolation, so it’s crucial to mobilise as many networks as you can to help create noise. Waterstones and Oxfam both briefed their shops to share news of the campaign across their social media channels and we were blown away by how enthusiastically they rose to the challenge with photos of the beautiful in-store displays they had created. We also worked with Moomin.com to arrange for the story to go live simultaneously in English, Finnish and Swedish across all its channels. Provide your partners and supporters with assets as early as possible so they can plan their own communications.

4. Appropriate ambassadors. Right at the beginning of the campaign we briefed Oxfam on the demographics of Moomin fans so that they could find someone from their amazing network of celebrity champions who matched that and could connect both audiences. That person was the brilliant Gemma Cairney, who spoke so passionately about her trips to visit Oxfam projects at the launch event. Gemma’s very genuine engagement with Oxfam’s work was what made her the perfect person to front the campaign. We also provided Moomin goody bags, including copies of The Invisible Child, for Oxfam’s wider network of supporters, so that they could share news of the campaign on social media. The total potential online reach of ambassador activity so far is a giant 2,343,000 people.

5. Persistence.  An essential quality for any PR person, but particularly relevant here when you’ve got a reasonable chance of being told by at least one journalist that charity partnerships are ten-a-penny. Don’t be afraid of returning to contacts you’ve already pitched to after the campaign has launched, letting them know how successful it’s been – it could be what they need to convince them to cover it. If your campaign is to run over an extended period of time, milestone announcements will help keep the partnership front of people’s minds and encourage more supporters to join the fundraising effort. As always, persistence is key!

 – Caitlin Allen, Campaigns Director

After months of planning, dedication and hard work, we are delighted to see La Belle Sauvage crash into the number one spot in the Nielsen consumer book charts.

Beating Dan Brown and Jamie Oliver in to second and third place respectively, this is Pullman’s first ever number one, and is officially the fastest selling children’s title since Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Now that’s what we call a return on investment!

THIS VACANCY HAS NOW BEEN FILLED.

Campaigns Executive / Senior Campaigns Executive – permanent, based in London
Salary – £ Competitive

About Us
Riot Communications is a multi-award-winning PR agency, specialising in culture and entertainment. Clients include: Moomins; Penguin Random House; Bloomsbury; Mammoth Screen; Luna Cinema; Gutsy Animations, William Hill; Book Trust; Arts Council England; and The Royal Society.

We are looking for an exceptional and experienced Campaigns Executive / Senior Campaigns Executive to join our energetic team.

About the role
You will be responsible for creating and implementing PR campaigns that are in line with our agency ethos: intelligent, passionate, collaborative, and disruptive.

Key Responsibilities:
• Implementing campaigns both independently and as part of a team
• Liaising directly with clients and talent
• Attending regular journalist meetings and growing your contacts book
• Managing budgets
• Organising and implementing events
• Participating in new business activities
• Managing personal and campaign administration

About you:
• Be a proactive self-starter – you’ll be personally motivated and get things done before being asked
• Have excellent attention to detail
• Be an exceptional communicator in all mediums – writing clear, creative copy is essential as is a natural social ability on the phone and in person
• Be super-organised
• Be curious – you will go out of your way to discover new things, and will be eager to question and to learn
• Be imaginative and thoughtful – your approach to work will be considered, and you will think about things laterally
• Be able to work independently and as part of a small organisation that places team-work at the heart of the business

Essential Criteria:
• Minimum 2-3 years of solid publicity experience either in-house or at an agency
• A passion for culture and entertainment
• Event organisation skills
• Demonstrable experience of creative digital PR

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you. Please apply in writing to info@riotcommunications.com with a CV and a covering letter explaining why you should be our next employee, including your current salary and notice period. Only candidates invited to interview will receive a reply. Deadline for applications is 10am, Monday 30th October.

New book from global phenomenon Yuval Noah Harari for August 2018

Yuval Noah Harari returns in August 2018 with a new book, 21 Lessons for the 21^st Century. In bringing his focus to the here and now, Harari will help us to grapple with a world that is increasingly hard to comprehend, encouraging us to focus our minds on the essential questions we should be asking ourselves today. Employing his trademark entertaining and lucid style, Harari will examine some of the world’s most urgent issues, including terrorism, fake news and immigration, as well as turning to more individual concerns, from resilience and humility to meditation.

Harari’s two previous international bestselling books, Sapiens (2014) and Homo Deus (2016), which explored the past and the future respectively, established him as a household name, attracting legions of celebrity fans,  from Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama, to Russell Brand, Natalie Portman and Lily Cole. The Vintage editions of Sapiens have now sold 1.2 million copies worldwide in all formats. Homo Deus has sold 550,000 copies and counting. Sapiens has been in the non-fiction paperback bestseller list since May 2015 and is currently at no. 1, whilst Homo Deus has been in the top 5 of the same list since publication in May 2017, and is currently at no. 2.

Harari said: ‘My new book will aim to answer the overarching question: what is happening in the world today, what is the deeper meaning of these events and how can we individually steer our way through them? The questions I aim to explore will include what the rise of Trump signifies, whether or not God is back, and whether nationalism can help solve problems like global warming.’ Harari added: ‘I’m delighted to be publishing this new book with Vintage, whose passion and vision for both Sapiens and Homo Deus has been what an author dreams of.’

Michal Shavit, Publishing Director of Cape, who acquired UK & Commonwealth rights including Exclusive Europe from Itzik Yahav said: ‘Few writers of non-fiction have captured the imagination of millions of people in quite the astonishing way Yuval Noah Harari has managed, and in such a short space of time. His unique ability to look at where we have come from and where we are going has gained him fans from every corner of the globe. There is an immediacy to this new book which makes it essential reading for anyone interested in the world today and how to navigate its turbulent waters’. 

For media enquiries contact: Preena Gadher, Riot Communications: preena@riotcommunications.com / 020 3174 0118