June 2018 Blogs

As sponsors of a certain global football event and long-term FIFA partner, Visa has been everywhere in recent weeks with its Zlatan Ibrahimovic adverts sharing the benefits of making fast payments with Visa.   However, on the 1st of June, a card network crash left millions of people unable to pay for goods and services across Europe. Major retailers quickly started confirming card purchases were failing and huge queues formed at petrol stations and supermarkets across the country. Visa apologised later that day, stating they had fallen "well short" of their goal to ensure cards worked reliably at all times. So serious was the incident that the Treasury Committee Chair Nicky Morgan wrote to Visa's chief executive officer in Europe, Charlotte Hogg, to demand answers over what led to the failure.  With the World Cup kicking off this week, you might say the system failure couldn't have come at a worse time. However, Visa isn't the only company to have been a victim of a badly-timed PR nightmare. Here we take a look at five recent publicity catastrophes that have hit the headlines. Prepare to cringe... 1. Snapchat mocks domestic abuse In March, Snapchat came under fire when it ran an advert that mocked pop star Rihanna’s domestic abuse. Advertising an app called “Would You Rather?” it asked users, “Would you rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown?” Following a flurry of complaints from its users, Snapchat issued an apology and claimed the advert was approved in error and it was quickly removed. The PR nightmare didn’t stop there, with Rihanna posting a response to the advert on Instagram that condemned the app for its handling of domestic abuse: “Shame on you. Throw the whole app-ology away.”  2. Lady Doritos anyone?  During an interview on the Freakonomics Radio podcast in January, chief executive of Doritos parent company PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi discussed the differences between men and women when it comes to eating crisps. She stated that women “don’t like to crunch too loudly in public” and “don’t lick their fingers generously” or “pour the little broken pieces and the flavour into their mouth.” Nooyi said the company was brainstorming women-specific snacks that would be marketed and packaged differently. It didn’t take long for the jokes and the anger to spread across social media, with people asking why snacks have to be gendered. PepsiCo issued a statement to assure people that Lady Doritos will not become a reality: “We already have Doritos for women - they’re called Doritos." 3. London Dungeon's grim Valentine's tweets Top attraction the London Dungeon found itself in hot water back in 2017 when its “Dark Valentine” social media campaign backfired following allegations of sexism and misogyny. The posts included jokes about Jack the Ripper and dead prostitutes (yes, really) and the company only made matters worse with an apology issued in the same branding as the offending campaign. People attacked the brand, accusing them of being insincere and misunderstanding the severity of the situation. 4. Currys PC World: Attention! Proof that the actions of a few can affect many. Currys PC World came under fire thanks to an unfortunate sign that was hung outside of a branch in Wrexham. The sign in the bin area behind the store read: “Attention Tramps - stop looking for valuables in our bins and start looking for a job.” Needless to say that passersby were less than impressed and quick to share it on social media. The manager of the store Iain Yarwood said: “I apologise for any offence that may have been caused to anyone who may have seen this sign at the back of the store. It is in no way an official notice and is not representative of the company’s or the store’s views. The sign has been removed and the matter is being dealt with internally.” Oh dear. 5. Thameslink gets burned Proving that brands always have to be careful when it comes to injecting humour into social media posts, Thameslink got into a spot of bother with execs at Poundland over a mocking tweet. Responding to a passenger, Thameslink tweeted appreciation that its service was “less Ferrero Rocher and more Poundland cooking chocolate”, which understandably got the back up of Poundland’s retail director Austin Cooke. He issued a statement directed at the chief executive of Thameslink’s parent firm, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which stated the retail outlet had successfully served 8 million shoppers last week: “But if we ever fall short, perhaps we’ll describe ourselves as a bit Thameslink. If you don’t want to hear from our extremely twitchy legal team, we suggest you remove your tweet.” Of course, Thameslink swiftly apologised for making the comment and deleted the offending tweet. Despite the media furore around these events, the real story comes from how these brands recover from such PR missteps. Are you a PR or marketing professional looking for your next big challenge? View our latest marketing and PR roles today.

It’s no secret that Angular has become one of the most popular software development instruments in use today. Introduced by Google in 2009, Angular received a warm welcome from the development community across the globe. To get the inside scoop on Angular, we caught up with Ross Gratton, Head of Front End Development for our client, leading marketing communications agency Proctor + Stevenson. Here’s what we discussed... Ross, can you tell us more about your role at Proctor + Stevenson? Of course. I’ve been here for five years, and the agency has evolved considerably in that time. We started by specialising in Full-Stack, PHP and Front End, but as new technology emerged, we noticed the skill set of Front End grow more and more complex. As a result, we required a specific concentration in Front End to be able to deliver what our top-brand clients were demanding. Due to this transition, I moved into a Front End lead role where I guided Front End and built a team around those technologies. This led to a split team, with specialists both in Back End and Front End. Having a dedicated Front End team might not be the norm for our industry, but it’s proved hugely successful for us. When did you first become aware of Angular? Probably around four years ago when it was still AngularJS. We were doing a lot of work in jQuery and other JavaScript libraries, and projects were being delivered using a combination of languages. When AngularJS arrived on the scene, it brought all concerns into one library and took away what I refer to as the ‘Wild West’ of the JavaScript library. Initially, AngularJS wasn’t the best fit for some projects, and there wasn’t a real demand for it from clients; however, the rise of apps quickly changed things. With users increasingly demanding real-time feedback and interactions from the apps they use, AngularJS presented as the only viable library that was up to the task. With AngularJS now legacy, we’re working with the latest iteration of Angular for our work with decoupled microservice applications. We’re so pleased that our clients are excited about the possibilities this forward-thinking architecture brings. Is there a shortage of Angular specialists in the market right now? We’ve found recruiting Angular talent a challenge as experts in this field are extremely thin on the ground right now. We’re looking for people who are proficient in Angular, but as it’s such a new development, we’re faced with the option of hiring someone who’s self-taught and looking to land their first role in Angular or someone who’s actively using it now, but may not be looking for a new role. Do you have any advice for those considering a career in Angular? Due to the relatively small Angular talent pool, the goods news is that you can get to a reasonable skill level quickly to be in with a chance of landing a role. Anyone who has a fundamental understanding of development can get to grips with Angular - the hardest part is understanding the new concepts and the abstract mechanisms that make it up. Buzzwords you need to get your head around if you’re new to Angular include reactive programming, components and model view controller methodology. If you can get a handle on this, you’ll be able to pick up some of these frameworks. What are your predictions for the future of Angular? We’re currently in a bit of an Angular bubble, and the skills shortages mean professionals in this field are enjoying lucrative salaries. Front End is the place to get involved right now, but as with any movement in development, the demand will cool as it becomes more of an industry standard and people move on to new systems. Now for the big question: React or Angular? This is a big talking point in our sphere, and the question for a lot of developers remains whether to specialise in React or Angular. Despite what people say, it’s up for debate as to whether React is the more popular choice, although due to Silicon Valley preferring React, a lot of people are opting for it. However, there is an abundance of jobs available for both and one certainly isn’t superior to another. I’d recommend you to choose the one that’s the best fit for you and your style of working. For more information on roles in Angular or for career advice and vacancies in the technology space, you can connect to the Henry Nicholas team today.