By Mechelle Manuel on October 4, 2018 
By Barbara Bates, CEO Hotwire
Whenever I hear Hotwire described as a midsize agency I consider it a badge of honor. We’re big enough to give ambitious CMOs and others on the client side the national and international support they need. But we’re certainly not a cumbersome behemoth like the world’s largest PR networks.
It’s a good place to be. And clients frequently agree that midsize is the right size.
For supporting evidence, look no further than The Holmes Report rankings of the world’s top 250 PR firms published earlier this year. This found that fee income growth across the world’s top 10 PR firms was a mere 0.9%. By contrast, the average growth rate for midsize firms was 6.1%.
In other words, the midsize band currently enjoys a fee income growth rate more than six and a half times greater than that of the Top 10. What does that tell you about whose model seems to be working and whose does not?
One of the drivers of growth for midsize firms has been the falling away of the old Agency of Record paradigm. Rather than put all their eggs precariously in one basket, brands increasingly looking to work with a variety of agencies. Some refer to this trend as ‘projectization’. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s by no means unique to clients from within the technology sector.
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By Active on September 26, 2018 Barbara Bates shares thoughts and insights regarding Hotwire’s Partner and Affiliate Program
For more than a decade, Hotwire has been partnering and working with affiliates across the globe to help bring knowledgeable and effective support to clients at a local level. We recently spoke with CEO Barbara Bates to get her perspective on how this program works, why in today’s market it is increasingly valuable, and how it sets Hotwire apart from other agencies.
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When you’re speaking to clients or potential clients, how do you typically describe who Hotwire is and what makes you unique?
We are a global communications firm that works with brands of all sizes to help them better connect and engage with the audiences that matter. We do this by unlocking the value of their innovation.
I don’t think there’s any one thing that makes us unique, but instead it’s a combination of several things together. First off is our size: There is something magical about a midsize global agency that can provide the depth and breadth of services clients are looking for but in a more personal and agile…and cost-effective way.
Our heritage in tech: Our deep experience and connections to the technology and innovation ecosystem makes us uniquely qualified to advise many of the world’s most disruptive businesses.
Our employee first attitude: Our people and culture mantra is “built around you.” We firmly believe in hiring, developing and retaining great talent is the best thing we can do for our clients.
Finally, our willingness — even our passion —for challenging the status quo: We are constantly bringing new ideas to every part of our business, whether it’s the services we offer, the skill sets we hire or the programs we offer our employees.
Beyond your internal team, you work closely with other agencies around the world. What is the Partner and Affiliate program, and how does it work?
We have four exclusive partners – Political Intelligence in London (Public Affairs), Yellow Communications in Amsterdam, ViaNews in Brazil and Active DMC in the UAE. We then have affiliates in Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, India, Japan, China, and Singapore.
Partners commit to being exclusive to Hotwire and invest in carrying the Hotwire logo as a sub-brand, whereas affiliates are agencies we work with who might have other global partners in addition to us. We consider Partners to be surrogate offices and they receive a high level of interaction from across the Hotwire community as a result. Partners get access to more sales and marketing resources; to business consultancy; to people and culture policies and processes; and more. However in all cases we work closely with them to ensure the client experience is seamless between Hotwire offices and local affiliates.
Clients work with the local offices in each region to ensure they are getting the PR support they need specific to their area, but that office is part of a broader network of agencies globally, working together to achieve wider-ranging goals and success.
How long has the network been in place?
The network has evolved over the past 15 years. Many of the relationships we have with partners and affiliates have been in place for that period while others have evolved through personal relationships and client recommendations.
How do you qualify partners and affiliates?
Partners are very strictly qualified because they carry the Hotwire brand. In all cases, they are firms we have deep relationships with; who share our values and culture; and with whom we have worked on multiple client engagements. Our non-exclusive affiliates follow a very similar model.
Other than the U.S., Hotwire has built its network from the ground up so every office was built with the same DNA. It’s important that our partner network reflect the same values, quality standards and general approach to clients so when we select a partner we look at synergies with the rest of the network.
Hotwire believes having local representation is important; however, the agency also offers a seamless, global experience.
Yes, we call it going “glocal.” Many companies are going global from the start and larger firms are looking to expand in new geographies. Until now companies felt like they had to choose between great local support in their specific region or the efficiency of a global network. We offer both by providing local offices the independence to run their organizations, leading in their region while providing them with all the resources and connections they need to be part of a seamless global team.
Many organizations are only familiar with large global agencies of record and may not understand how an organization like Hotwire can help them regionally. How is this accomplished?
Many companies have had the experience where a large, global agency of record has been selected for reasons such as efficiencies, consistency and coordination — and while that helps from a macro level it rarely appeases the local regions because they want to work with the best possible team in their region. In this scenario, someone is always unhappy. Either the global team has to manage too many agencies with inconsistencies and expenses, or the local teams are unhappy because they are forced to work with a team they don’t think is the best in their region. We really bridge that gap.
A lot of the success we’ve had has been going in and working with one or two regions, who are very happy with the work, and they start spreading out and trying us in other regions and see great consistency and quality of work, and it feels like a one-brand experience. That’s where we are seeing a lot of success because we put equal weight on the local regions and the global decision makers.
What value does the network bring to clients?
The value is enormous. We are able to offer true local specialists who in many cases are best in breed agencies across the regions. Most are the right size to be able to offer the level of service and agility that the client expects from Hotwire. And when they work with our partners and affiliates, there is a sense of one agency.
How do these agencies/local teams working together to provide true “global” support? Can you share with us how this works and your success here?
One of the best examples is the work with do with Eaton, a US$20 billion dollar global industrial company. Half of that business is done through affiliates or partners. The global hub is run from London and each region — whether they are a Hotwire office or a partner — has access to the entire network, materials, tools, sharing of resources, and more.
We practice what we preach about the role of technology in how we innovate in our own business. Not only do we use tools to automate parts of work, but we rely heavily on collaboration technology to facilitate a “one team” borderless brand experience for our staff and clients.
Looking ahead five years, how do you see global PR and the role of the agency changing, if at all? How is Hotwire, along with its partners and affiliates, positioned to support these changes?
There will continue to be more of a demand for support across regions. China in particular will continue to grow in importance, for example, which is why we’re looking to expand our presence there.
Ultimately, networks that can break down the silos you see in typical multination behemoths will drive a new excellence of standard and raise expectations for clients.
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By Yasser Zeriz on August 9, 2018 
We know at Active DMC that most of the global brands have businesses in the Middle East and they aren’t all based in the region – or read Arabic. Therefore, we wanted to share some insight into the Arabic language media across the region, with a special focus on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as they are the most targeted and important markets in the region for global brands.
With an initiative to further add value and raise the need for regionally relevant news and analysis – we have put together this short and summarized infographic based on our research, analysis and expertise with key media to give a bigger image for to brands to plan the next quarter.
As we enter the third quarter and the summer period, most of local management and decision makers are on their annual leave which causes major drop ads in Arabic publications. Hence, Arabic media have reduced the number of pages in the business sections by up to as much as 70%. The focus and the priority for these pages is for news only.
There is an opportunity for us to engage more with Arabic journalists during this period as they are not under the daily pressures or filling the content they will have in September. This is the time to arrange for media briefings – where possible – with the brand`s spokespeople to educate the media on the brand, plans for the rest of the year and further enhance the brand`s media relations with the Active team as your guide.
We hope you find this useful and feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions!
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By Stacy Fernandes on August 2, 2018 
By now we are sure you have heard of the trending viral videos like The Ice Bucket Challenge, The Mannequin Challenge and now the ever-famous Kiki Challenge. Thanks to social media, these popular video challenges have started a global sensation. According to Complex.com, The Kiki challenge, which was started by Instagram star Shiggy for Drake’s popular song “In My Feelings,” is adopted by everyone from Leslie Jones to Will Smith, pushing the song to the forefront of the pop culture conversation and to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The hashtag #DoTheShiggy received over 2.3 million Tweets, and the #Kikichallenge aw hundreds of thousands of participants on Instagram.
What is it about these challenges that gain such viral attention?
A recently published Gulf News article featured Jonah Berger, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, who published the book Contagious. In his book, he explains the science behind things going viral. The sharing of videos is typically due to triggers such as attention-grabbing content that users believe is important to share within his or her social circle. Taking part in these challenges also gives users a sense of belonging and self-identity. Moreover, when these videos have celebrity support, the challenge becomes even more prestigious.
Berger goes on to emphasize that emotions also play a big part when things go viral. Viewers love to share their opinions with each other and when they come across something that’s funny, informative, or awesome, they need to tell everyone. Emotion is behind almost every single viral video till date. Once the viewer is overwhelmed with emotion, they share. Also, according to psychological theory, content that feels novel or that fills information gaps may trigger the release of dopamine in the brain.
The Kiki challenge no doubt triggered an emotion that contributed to the song’s – and Drake’s – global success. If you’re a marketer, it is important to understand your target’s trigger points to develop a solid marketing campaign. A lot of these viral campaigns get millions of views across the globe and the brand representing this idea undoubtedly gets a large amount of visibility. Marketers should not be overwhelmed by sky-rocketing production costs of viral activities. It is possible to execute easy and effective campaigns, as long as they’re timely, relevant, and captivating.
We at Active DMC are happy to consult you on how to can create the next #Kikichallenge.
Hit the right campaign notes with us!
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By Yasser Zeriz on July 17, 2018 
منذ ظهور شبكات التواصل الاجتماعي وبدأت ظاهرة المواهب المدفونة بالظهور، وأصبح المئات والألاف من الناس مشهورين أو ما نطلق عليهم مسمى “المؤثرين على وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي” “Social Media Influencers”. ولكننا في زمان أصبحت الشهرة فيه بمتناول الجميع، الصغير والكبير، الفاشل والناجح، الغبي والذكي، التافه والمثقف، وأصبحنا نرى المؤثر الإيجابي والمؤثر السلبي.
لقد حاز الكثير من هؤلاء المؤثرين الإيجابيين والسلبيين على حدٍ سواء على شهرة واسعة، وأصبح الناس يتباهون بصورة مع أحدهم، ولكن يكمن السؤال من كان سبباً في هذه الشهرة التي حققوها؟ وهل يستحقونها فعلاً؟
يقدم البعض منهم محتوى جديداً وأفكاراً خلابة ومبادرات إنسانية ولديهم أهداف سامية وإرادة قوية لصناعة الاختلاف في حياة كل من يتابعهم، إلا أنه قد تحول في الآونة الأخيرة الكثير منهم إلى رويبضة – كما أخبرنا الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام – واكتسبوا شهرة وهمية، بحيث لا يستطيعون تقديم فكرة غير مقلدة، حتى وإن كانت تهريجية بدون أي نجاح يذكر. لم ولن ينفعوا المجتمع المحيط أو متابعيهم “followers ” إلا بمضيعة الوقت، جلّ ما يعرضونه يكون مدفوعاً لقاء أجر مادي، دون أي دراسة فيما إذا كان ما يعرضونه قد يؤثر بصورة إيجابية أم سلبية على المجتمع.
بالطبع، لا يمكننا إنكار التغيير الحاصل على قيادة الرأي بكل أدواته وأوساطه، إلا أنه يمكننا توجيه هذا التغيير إما بدعم نخبة المؤثرين الإيجابيين الذين لديهم رسالة ذات فائدة يودون إيصالها، أو من خلال الإبلاغ عن المؤثرين السلبيين “المهرجين” في المنصات التي يتنشطون عليها.
وأخيراً ليعُد كل مقامٍ لمقامه.
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