Farewell, 2009... and tally-ho, 2010
2009 has been a media maelstrom. Twitter went mainstream. Gordon Brown bombed on YouTube. Myspace didn’t die, and David Cameron took a few direct hits on mumsnet. The Evening Standard went free, while thelondonpaper and London Lite disappeared altogether. Rupert Murdoch scrapped with Google (well, quite a few people scrapped with Google, about everything from Street View to their Digital Books project) and the future of free news online looked doubtful.
And still some PR agencies maintained a divide between ‘old’ and ‘new’ media.
If ever there was a year that confirmed the inexorable link between social media and the news agenda, this was it (come on – Simon Cowell missed out on his Christmas number one thanks to a Facebook campaign). And although we’ve said it before, we’ll say it again, with more confidence than ever - we at Beam believe that the mix of ‘traditional’ PR and social media savvy is the best way for PR agencies to promote their clients’ products and services.
Well, it’s worked for us, anyway - our approach has attracted some fantastic clients this year, all of whom have been a joy to work with. In 2009 we launched the first ever Lego Education Centre in the UK, and introduced the weird and wonderful IWOOT Experiences to the world. We added new members to the Beam team, we helped motorists to be a little bit greener with Vexia’s Econav, and we worked with UK Trade & Investment to highlight the talent within the British technology industry.
So, thanks for the memories, 2009. It’s been fun. But we think that next year could be even better. We hope you all have a very merry Christmas – and we’ll see you in 2010.