Flash mob by the Cast of The Lion King!

Unsuspecting passengers of a Virgin Australia flight to Sydney were surprised to a seemingly impromptu rendition of "The Circle of Life" by the cast of The Lion King stage tour a couple of days ago. The video is set to go viral and already has over 700,000 views on Youtube. This simple idea has caused a stir on social media, and what would have been a stunt reaching just the people on the flight has turned into a massive publicity drive for the tour. This is thanks to the power of social media and the ability for hundreds to share the video on their profiles, making it go viral very quickly.

Whether intentionally or not the cast have successfully carried off a PR stunt that could help to sell a huge number of tickets for the already highly popular stage show.

The "Frozen" campaign that reached Twitter before it even began...

A campaign to mark the release of Disney's "Frozen" on DVD saw children being offered the chance to adopt a snowman. Snowmen were set up in Covent Garden on Wednesday, the morning of the last day of winter, and were said to bring a solution to the snow-less winter seen by the capital this year.

The campaign was noticed on social media before it even began with people tweeting sightings of the snowmen being delivered. This is a prime example of how quickly news can be picked up on through social media

Dear Future Mum...

15 Down's Syndrome sufferers star in an emotional video for World Down Syndrome Day today that has been viewed 1.2 million times in a week, and is being shared all over social media. A concerned mother-to-be emailed the National Association of People with Down Syndrome asking what she can expect her future child's life to be like living with down syndrome. The film was created by Saatchi and Saatchi and is made up of clips of people with down syndrome telling the mother not to worry and that her Son will still be able to live a happy life.

This video addresses the concerns of the mother whilst raising awareness of the condition and spreading the word about World Down Syndrome Day. Video content such as this is a very helpful PR tool to get an important message across, and as it appeals to people's emotions they are likely to share it on their own social media after viewing it. 

#NoMakeUpSelfie

A craze of no-makeup selfies has taken social media by strom over the last 48 hours. Thousands of women have been posting pictures of themselves with no make up and claimed it is to raise awareness of cancer. It all began with people taking their pictures and then nominating their friends to do the same. At this point there was little evidence of people actually donating to cancer charities, causing doubts about the motives behind the activity. However, throughout the day more and more people have been donating to cancer charities as they post their photos.

Cancer Research UK have said that they have no idea where the craze started but that they are in support.

They sent out this tweet, embracing the trend and urging people to donate £3 by text as they upload their selfies. This is a fantastic example of social media listening. Cancer Research have seen what is being done and responded quickly, meaning that their message was able to be linked the the craze. This turned it into a PR campaign that required little effort on their behalf, but one that has gone viral and looks to gain them lots of support and donations. 

Disney On Ice's Instagram Tactic

Disney On Ice have been embracing the power of social media by encouraging people to take pictures amongst Disney characters on their advertisements and posting them on Instagram. The trend takes a very simple idea but creates publicity with people sharing the photos online. The hashtag #DisneyOnIce on Instagram has been linked to the photos and they appear amongst pictures from the shows. The PR tactic is successful because it creates a fun activity in getting children involved in the social media activity whilst gaining publicity for the show.

60% Twitter users read news content on social media that they wouldn't read in print.

A study by Newsworks has found that 60% of twitter users read news channels on Twitter that they wouldn't read in print.It was found that more than half of Twitter users follow at least one UK national newspaper. 43% said they actively post links to articles and 57% retweet stories that interest them.

The results of this study show the growing importance of new media, and how old media is now integrating with social media and being viewed on new platforms. I am very interested to see how this trend continues and whether social media and online news sources will eventually completely take over from print.

Further details of the results of the study can be found here:  http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/03/04/60-twitter-users-engage-newsbrands-social-network-they-wouldnt-read-print-study-says

Time To Talk Day - Time To Change

Time To Change is a campaign aimed at ending the stigma attached to mental health conditions in the UK. The campaign is run by two UK mental health charities, Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and focuses on raising awareness, in order to break the stigma and discrimination faced by many who experience mental health problems.

On the 6th February Time To Change held their Time To Talk day. They used social media to spread the word and encouraged people to take time out of their day to talk about mental health with their friends and families. The night before as commuters came through London's Kings Cross station they were faced with giant tea cups featuring the hashtag #TimeToTalk. This raised awareness and the photos were then shared online via social media.

The #TimeToTalk hash tag on Twitter played a big part in the day and many people tweeted about their experiences, leading to this eventually becoming a trending topic on the site. The campaign also had a presence on Facebook, encouraging people to write statuses promoting the messages behind Time To Talk day, and encouraging friends to join in. The Facebook presence included photography of Time To Talk day biscuits and teabags that were being used to promote the special events, along with Youtube links to their television adverts.

A live blog was regularly updated throughout the day on the campaign's website showing pictures of celebrities on TV talking about Time To Talk day, newspaper coverage, a live webchat, trending on Twitter, photos from the public that were shared on social media and also sharing links to support services. The website made use of user generated content from social media sites by involving the public's photos of them taking part and compiling them in the blog.

This campaign, and particularly this event of Time To Talk day, are a great example of how an integrated approach to media can have a big impact on awareness of a topic. Although traditional media has a wide reach, social media brought this campaign to life with real people sharing their experiences and sharing photos. This lead to greater reach of the campaign as others saw their friends on social media discussing the campaign when they may not have noticed it in a newspaper or watched coverage on TV.