Collective Conversation

How to handle a crisis in business

David Ferrabee — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:29:00 GMT

SOHO SQUARE -- My friend Tim Luckett has got to be one of the best crisis communication guys out there. He always seems a little stressed. And that's got to be a good thing.

Tim gets it coming and going. Both when that dreaded thing happens -- the proverbial mouse in the box of chicken -- and when you are just planning for it -- what happens if...

So, if you're in either of those situations, call Tim.

But I am interested in the times when we use the word crisis and we don't mean it. I am interested in the management-adrenaline-junkies who create difficulties just to get through the day. And I think that our business, the "creative industries", are particularly strong at that. We could stage the Crisis Olympics in Soho Square and competition would be fierce.

So, here is my list of things that I think do not amount to a crisis:

Anything to do with your hair or grooming -- or anyone else's, for that matter
Your failure to meet a deadline or do work in a timely way
The weather (even if you run outdoor events, I mean, this is London!)
Your love life... real or imagined
A client, colleague or passer-by saying something mean to you; unless the police are involved
A last minute cancellation

In these days of insurance and promised reparations for just about anything, you should have a plan. Crisis plans are the business equivalent of having the fire department number beside your home phone. It's just something you learn to do as you grow up.

Everything else is, frankly, poor planning.

/df

P.S. I would certainly welcome any other suggestions of what does not qualify as a crisis.

Does the FDA Need an "Instant Replay" Rule?

Chris Gidez — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:00:00 GMT

According to the rules of the National Football League, if a coach believes that a referee has erred in making a ruling on a play, the coach may throw a red handkerchief on the ground, signaling his desire to exercise his right for an instant replay.

Perhaps the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should consider handing out red handkerchiefs.

The recent media frenzy over the salmonella scare (allegedly) associated with tomatoes got me to start thinking about a conversation I had with a senior executive of a major consumer products company. Some of the points we discussed then -- the growing power of the internet, consumer uncertainty about the concepts of safety and risk, the hyper-sensitive nature of regulators, the uncertainty of science, the hovering presence of trial lawyers, etc. -- all seem to be at play here.

And even for communications managers whose companies are not in the business of selling fruits and vegetables, this is a cautionary tale for anybody involved in the messy business of managing communication and reputation.

As everyone in the Western Hemisphere surely knows by now, an outbreak of salmonella in the U.S. prompted food safety experts (including the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control) to issue a warning in June to consumers about eating certain types of tomatoes. The issue quickly became a national news story.

Saturday's (July 5) Wall Street Journal caught my attention. "Jalapenos Probed in Outbreak --- Tomatoes No Longer Seen as Prime Suspect for Salmonella," said the headline of the top story, above the fold, on page 1.

After reading this report, I went back to the transcript of the joint FDA/CDC conference call with media on July 1, when the agencies conceded that the source may not be tomatoes at all. Specifically the comments of Dr. Robert Tauxe, CDC's Deputy Director, Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases:

I'd like to say that the process of investigation is complex and often difficult and when CDC and the states conduct a foodborne outbreak investigation, it's like a - a detective trying to solve a case. We often have to rely on peoples' memory about things that are not very memorable such as what they ate last week or the week before or the week before that. People may remember many things but they may not remember everything they ate and they may not realize or remember that many of the things that they ate have many different ingredients. So our information is gathered through interviews with people who got sick as well as other people who did not get sick. It might be family members or neighbors or other people that are in the area. And then we compare that information....

Hardly what one would consider a sound scientific investigation. Now contrast that to what the FDA said in its June 7 news release (emphasis added):

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expanding its warning to consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak has been linked to consumption of certain raw red plum, raw red Roma, raw red round tomatoes, and products containing these tomatoes.

Certainly no sense of uncertainty in this declaration.

If there is one thing crystal clear as I write this blog entry, is that there is absolutely no clarity as to the source of the salmonella outbreak. Yet almost a month ago the FDA and CDC were speaking as if they had every confidence that the source of the salmonella was tomatoes. The response provided by Dr. David Acheson, the FDA's Associate Commissioner for Foods to a question from CNN's Amy Burkholder during the June 16 FDA/CDC media conference call is telling, particularly in light of the new revelations about a possible alternative source of the outbreak:

Amy Burkholder: We had one other quick question. We are getting a lot of questions about salsa. Can you help us give the proper message regarding fresh salsa or even jarred salsa?

David Acheson: I think with regarding the question to ask is what kind of tomatoes was the salsa made from and where did they come from? And if the place that's selling the salsa can - has information to say that they come from one of the areas where we don't have concern, then fine. If they - if they're from an area where we still have concern, then that's not fine and it shouldn't be consumed. The salsa shouldn't be consumed. If the salsa obviously made with grape, cherry, or tomatoes that are still on the vine, which is probably unlikely, then that's okay too. But it's the usual message that if a consumer is in doubt, it's better to play on the side of safety and not eat the salsa. I - but that's one of the reasons why we're emphasizing to retailers and restaurateurs -- know where your tomatoes are coming from and tell your consumers. Tell your customers, because you're' right -- it's about an information flow and how's a customer going to know.

Dr. Acheson's response focused solely on the tomatoes in the salsa. Never once was there discussion about the potential that other ingredients may be the culprit.

In fact, in a review of the FDA's special website (which includes the title, "Salmonella Saintpaul Outbreak" over a photo of tomatoes) I was hard pressed to find any discussion of alternatives to tomatoes as a possible or likely source of the contamination. Bottom line: If one were to solely rely on the FDA website, one would draw the conclusion that tomatoes were the definitive culprit.

So, in light of the growing uncertainty and confusion, one has to wonder...

Were the regulators acting solely based on scientific evidence and investigation, or did the politics of fear (including the fear of Congressional and media criticism) creep into their decision process?
Did the FDA move too fast without solid conclusions because it feared criticism that it was moving too slow?
Did the media know enough to ask the right questions, or were they willing (if not enthusiastic) participants in the hype?
Was the speed and breadth of the internet a force for good or not?
How does industry expect to keep the conversation focused around reason and facts in the face of this strong headwind?

I excerpt two passages from a NY Times article from April 25 that tell us a lot about the mood of the consumer and the dogma of NGOs and consumer activists. While these individuals were speaking specifically on the bisphenol-A controversy, these comments have equal relevance to the tomato commotion, or any similar episodes of market reaction (or overreaction):

"...There is a an extraordinary fear level right now, whether or not it is justified on the scientific side," said Carol Schreitmueller, director of research and development for Pacific Market International, the maker of Aladdin food containers and water bottles, based in Seattle. "It is going to change what happens to materials. We have to decide if people will trust this material anymore."

"...This may be a completely safe product, but we don't have the information we need to make that assessment," said Aaron Freeman, the policy director at Environmental Defense..."

In short, fear trumps reason, and industry is guilty until proven innocent.

A July 6 column from the Tulsa World points to a Deloitte study which captures the potential consequence of such fear:

"After more than 300 food recalls last year is it any wonder that a recent survey by the consultancy arm of Deloitte showed that three-quarters of those polled were more concerned about the food they eat than five years ago, and 57 percent said they had stopped eating certain foods following a food scare. Fear creates harm in the marketplace. Consumers avoiding certain foods can put producers out of business and that can affect state economies."

Perhaps when all is said and done, scientists and regulators will conclude that tomatoes were the source of the salmonella outbreak. But for the time being, confusion reigns supreme, and the reputation of both industry and regulators suffers.

Where are those red handkerchiefs?

# # #

The Hygene Factor: How to Get Ahead

Bruno Soares — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:48:00 GMT

Here we are in what some are calling: The Mother of All Crises. One thing is for sure, it's not going to last forever. And another thing we know: a crisis is hygenic - the best will survive and strive; the worst won't.

So, what to do to be in the first platoon, the ones that get ahead? Three things come to mind, let me go through them quickly.

Optimization: companies that get ahead are companies that are careful with their efforts right now. They think through each step although they don't let inertia push them into passive mode. If you see a company wasting energy and resources on 'the next big thing' right now, it's because they're desperate. Do what you do best and keep the course.

Innovation: there's no such thing as a 'safe bet'. Either it's safe or it's a bet. But you can't stop innovating, or you'll be left behind when the storm clears. So this might be a good time to go ask your coleagues, your employees, your team members what would they do to change things. The fact is, most organizations have lots of ideas hanging around by the door bell or the coffee machine. This could be the time to take care of the little things, to change processes and solve small problems, to unblock arteries, eliminate burocracy and improve communication, while you ride the storm. Cut costs too much and it will cripple the company - this is the time to think-out-of-the-box and find efficiencies.

Talent Retention: forget about hydrogen or solar - talent is the new fuel. If you don't have talent these days, you're not going anywhere. Curiosly enough, this could be the time to mend fences. An external threat is one of the most effective tools to unite a group. And when every company in the market is applying pressure on their employees and breeding chaos, your company could become the safe haven, where people are there for each other.

The trick is: how can you be dynamic in the market whithout intensifying inner conflict. There's something the martial artists call the 'inner calm', which is the ability to stay calm and alert, serene and swift, quiet and determined, while the battle rages around you. I believe companies should manage it as well.

Pre-briefing rules of thumb for public companies

Alex Anderson — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:10:00 GMT

It’s always a good idea to pre-brief industry analysts on company news right? Pre-briefings are one of the most powerful tools analyst relations professionals have for driving real influence. It’s an AR maxim: Tell ‘em early, tell ‘em often, make friends and get ‘em to say nice things about you – preferably to their buy-side clients.

However, some clients have demonstrated a powerful reluctance to talk to third parties about anything before the news release crosses the wire – even under a non-disclosure agreement. As executives at public companies they have been trained to be hyper-sensitive to regulations surrounding fair disclosure and rather than risk crossing their lawyers they write off the potential benefits of the pre-briefing.

Clearly this is not a best practice and as strategic counselors it’s our job to pull them back from that position, but it’s important to note that they aren’t always wrong. Do you want to involve analysts early about the next product release? Absolutely. What about the announcement of a significant customer win or a new partnership? Yes, again. But what about M&A activity? Or a change in the company’s executive leadership? The more material the news, the more caution needs to be taken when considering who you invite into your tent, if anyone at all.

Generally speaking there are a lot of good reasons to pre-brief: on the PR side, you have an informed third-party source of comment for journalists and possibly even a quote for the press release, while the pure AR benefits include a closer relationship with analysts who are influential in your market. After all, analysts trade in knowledge. Providing them with the kind of information that will help inform their advice to clients can only help them. The closer you are, the more comfortable they are going to be about recommending and short-listing your company. Plus, they can ask questions and provide feedback that may help you position yourself most advantageously or avoid a pitfall or two when you do cross the wire.

But anytime you tell someone a secret, you run a risk leading us to another analyst relations maxim: Never disclose anything to an analyst that could cause material damage to your business. The aforementioned M&A activity, for example, is incredibly sensitive. While the overwhelming majority of analysts hold to their NDAs and vows of confidentiality like Indiana Jones does his favorite hat, there are a few exceptions out there that make the rule.

So what about those pesky NDAs? The whole subject of non-disclosure is a sensitive one, especially with your top-tier analysts at Gartner, Forrester, IDC and one or two other firms. If you’re a client, you probably have a standard NDA as part of your service level agreement, but you still need to tell the analyst you are talking confidentially and this is where you need to approach with some sensitivity. Most top tier analysts will flat out refuse to sign a special NDA and by asking you risk damaging your relationship with them. A couple of years ago one vendor tried this at an analyst day, only to have the attendees from a top firm walk out.

Exception: If you engage Gartner – or Forrester, IDC, Yankee, etc – to do a consulting project before making a material business decision (tearing the covers off an M&A target, for example) then they will expect to sign an NDA, but this is not related to a pre-briefing.

The lower tier analysts are a different crowd altogether and they won’t care about your NDA and will sign whatever you want. They are used to this and understand the reasons. But why are you pre-briefing a lower tier analyst, whose clients are most likely your competitors, on something sensitive anyway?

So where exactly is that middle ground? We asked a couple of investor relations experts here at Hill & Knowlton, for the IR perspective, talked to a couple of analysts and we came up with some general rules of thumb around pre-briefings.

Ascertain how the news relates to that second maxim – will it materially hurt your business if it becomes public knowledge prior to the embargo date? Is your CEO quitting? Are you being acquired by a competitor? If so, then keep it to yourself – though it won’t hurt to give your best friends in the analyst community a heads up to keep their eyes open for the announcement.
Pick the analysts you want to pre-brief carefully...restrict to selected Tier One influencers... people who will both act as a source of credible third-party comment to the press and people you want to get closer to because having a more intimate relationship will meet top-line AR goals of driving sales and revenue.
Limit the number of analysts you do pre-brief. In most cases, there’s no need to go beyond two or three of your closest friends.
If you are talking about a new product briefing, then you should engage the analysts early, at least three to four months before the announcement date. This will provide them with the opportunity to give feedback while you can still actually gain some benefit from it. Then come back to them again for a sanity check a couple of weeks before the announcement. For announcements that are more material, brief within 48 hours of the announcement... and preferably within 24.
Diplomatically establish the ground rules with the analyst when asking them if they are interested in the pre-briefing and setting up the call.

Remind them that the conversation will be under NDA. Are they interested in such a call?
Point out that the conversation makes them an "insider" and they can't trade the stock until the announcement is made public.
If they agree to these terms – and the overwhelming majority will – then go ahead and book the call, but don’t be surprised if some decline. Some analysts prefer not to operate under non disclosure.

Presentation best practices

Insert an NDA slide at the beginning of your presentation. You always, always need to remind analysts that the presentation is confidential and this is a ‘gentle’ way of making sure it doesn’t get forgotten.
Be clear about exactly what is and isn’t under NDA. Not everything will be. One suggestion is to use different background colours on slides that are under NDA to slides that aren’t. This creates an easy, visual reference for analysts.

Follow-up in writing to let analysts know when the material you pre-briefed them on becomes public. Specify in the email which material you are talking about – especially if you are doing multiple rounds of pre-briefings on different announcements. Pasting the announcement in the email is a good way to do this.

The Commodities (Ka)Boom

Anil Dilawri — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:25:00 GMT

Have you ever heard of Potash Corporation?
The ticker symbol is POT on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange.
Potash Corporation is a fertilizer producer that is just one example of how crazy the commodities market has become. Potash’s stock price is up 1495% over the past 5 years. To put that into perspective, the market capitalization of Potash Corporation is currently higher than that of the Royal Bank of Canada.

Some may compare this commodities boom to the technology bubble that was created in the late 1990’s and early 2000's. But is it the same?

A population explosion among the middle class throughout the developing world along with continued infrastructure growth in developing countries is legitimately fueling demand for these commodities.

During the go-go days of the technology bubble, companies had difficulty justifying their valuations. There was very little concrete data available that could validate the lofty valuations of companies that were low on revenue and high on dreams. That’s not exactly the case in the commodities game these days. Like Potash, many companies are spinning off tons of free cash flow and the growth data is there.

From an IR perspective, it is critical for commodities driven companies to provide data, and help interpret data, that justifies their relatively high stock prices.

Google's reputation opportunity in the Viacom case

Niall Cook — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:17:00 GMT

Google receives its fair share of criticism over how it exploits the personal data of the users of its search and other services, so what a refreshing change to see it defending privacy rights in its tussle with Viacom.

The entertainment company has won a legal battle that will see Google disclosing the usage data for its video-sharing service YouTube, as Viacom tries to prove "the attractiveness of allegedly infringing video with that of non-infringing video" on the site.

Regardless of the legal rights and wrongs - or why Viacom needs user logins and IP addresses when they only want to compare the popularity of original videos with those that feature copyright material - Google has an opportunity here to prove to its critics that it really respects its users' private information. By publicly standing up for privacy in the face of Viacom's demands it could change perceptions about its motives for good.

For the benefit of internet freedom, I really hope it will.

Toxic Shower Curtains... or a sign of things to come?

Brendan Hodgson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:54:00 GMT

Woke up to find a link to this New York Times story in my inbox.

Albeit a tad depressing given the context, it's also an important reminder of the "art of strategic word selection" as a means to grab the attention of media and influencers via both the newswires and the search engines. Equally important, however, it highlights the rising "sensationalist" tide that pervades today's media environment, and the potential for damage that it can cause.

"With varying amounts of credulousness, other outlets ran with it as well, including U.S. News & World Report, The Daily News in New York, MSNBC.com and The Los Angeles Times. The gist of some of the coverage was that it was all a tempest in a bathtub, though other reports took the information at face value."

While this story about toxic shower curtains appears to have been successfully debunked by most mainstream media from the outset, the fact that even some took the information at "face value" is worrisome. Quite simply, the potential for other questionable research to cause significantly greater and longer-term damage to an organization or industry given the rush to publish, appears to be increasing, particularly as stories are picked up and shared across the social web. Vigilance will be critical.

On a lighter note, however, I agree fully with one PR expert's assertion - cited in the same article - that such dreck as “solutions,” “leading edge,” “cutting edge,” “state of the art,” “mission critical,” and “turnkey” are, without question, the kiss of death.

Change management: When will it end?

David Ferrabee — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:12:00 GMT

THE CENTRAL LINE -- "All I want to know is when to cancel the milkman?"

The single hardest thing about managing change seems to be one of the easiest: telling those affected when the key events are happening... and when it will all end.

We are creatures of habit, after all. We like to play on our spontaneity. We think that we're unpredictable and wild and crazy. But we're not.

I read a great book a few years ago called Chasing Daylight. It's the true story of a senior exec at a global accounting firm who found out he had a limited time to live. So he set about putting all his relationships in order. It's compelling reading. Not least because it highlights our fear of uncertainty and death. And what we might do if we really knew what the timetable was.

(Sorry about that morbid side-bar.)

If people know what the future will look like they're pretty good at making plans. We can adapt to almost everything. I have been talking a lot recently about living in a car under a bridge. Because I see that as a future option for me. And with that knowledge I feel that I can adapt.

Without a view of 'when we will know what' we cannot plan properly. And then we start to plan for all sorts of possibilities. And that's when things get ugly.

In a vacuum the smallest scrap of information becomes incredibly important. Minor details take on massive significance.

All that because we couldn't communicate an end-date.

This entry finishes now. You'll be okay.

/df

Enterprise 2.0 - It's Here!

Niall Cook — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:34:00 GMT

UPDATED 6 July 2008 - If you are in any doubt as to whether the book is relevant to you, I invite you to download the intro and first chapter (820Kb PDF) and decide for yourself.

I arrived back from a very relaxing vacation to a small package from my publisher containing nothing less than 6 presentation copies of Enterprise 2.0, hot off the press.

The official publication date has been confirmed as 21 July, but I’ve already heard from someone who pre-ordered that theirs arrived yesterday.

I’m now in the process of making sure the key people involved get either a hard copy or the eBook version to thank them for their contributions.

If you want to purchase your own copy, you can do so at the publisher’s site or Amazon (UK or US). Alternatively, if you're interested in a bulk order to give to your clients, staff, senior executives, conference delegates or otherwise, drop me a line and I'll organise a discount for you.

Techie Insights Into Team Dynamics

Bruno Soares — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:55:00 GMT

A couple of interesting studies have caught my eye recently.

A study by two INSEAD and one California’s Naval Postgraduate School professors found that, in fast changing environments, the experience a team manager comes with has little or no impact on the performance of the team. In fact, the performance of a team manager will be based on his/her mental model – i.e. the basic structure he/she uses to make decisions. When faced with radical changes to the environment or the conditions of a project, experienced managers tend to use the same kind of criteria for decision making as used before, even though they recognize the need for change. This makes them as effective as naïve inexperienced managers. And these wouldn’t fare too good either.

This suggests that even when people are able to learn new information and new concepts about the market, the clients, the products and many other factors, they will still have a difficult time changing the way they make decisions.

Another study, by Harvard Business School professors, looks into the impact of the fluidity in teams. Studies suggest that there could be a negative effect of isolation and accommodation in teams that stay together too long: but this impact would only become noticeable after five years (hardly a condition that would occur in today’s typical company). On the other hand, the effect of high member-turnover and rapidly changing roles on the team’s performance appears to be painfully negative.

The Harvard study reveals that a team’s performance is independent of the accumulated experience of the professionals, but it is very much affected by the amount of time that a team works together. Team familiarity, it seems, provides the psychological security for the individuals to learn better, besides improving coordination and the willingness to engage in relationships.

These two studies combined show us the true difficulties in developing changing and learning teams in today’s environment. In one hand, a team will not be able to adapt to full potential if it cannot find a way to change how to make decisions. And it will have a hard time finding new ways to make decisions if it cannot create the team familiarity necessary to learn better.

Jay-Z at Glastonbury & the culture gap at work that we ignore

David Ferrabee — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:12:00 GMT

SOUTH WEST LONDON -- On Friday night I stood on a chair in our sitting room watching Jay-Z on Friday night with Jonathan Ross. I was on the chair because we have mice passing through. But the image is not unconnected.

I was surprised to see Mr Z in person and hear him talk and laugh. He did well on a show that makes many people uncomfortable. Like other Americans before him, he asked quietly "Can we curse on this show?" before letting out a string of mild expletives. He was big and awkward and funny looking. But modest, self-assured and funny.

Not what I expected.

He then went on to be one of the biggest hits of this weekend's annual Glastonbury mud-festival on a pig farm in south-west England. He crossed a divide that is larger than just the Atlantic Ocean I suspect. His audience in the USA is big. Far, far bigger than in the UK. But it's also young and urban.

Glastonbury is anything but young and urban. It's a festival for well-to-do, aging hippies. It has done a lot to try to change that image, but that's essentially what it is. Witness, for example, how the festival closed this year: 71-year old Neil Diamond, followed by 73-year-old Leonard Cohen were both staying up late for their age. And they were followed by The Verve. Relative newcomers by comparison, but who started almost 20 years ago in 1989.

What does this have to do with Change & Internal Communications?

A lot.

I recently returned from a tour around the globe for a great client who is going through a big change. We visited four continents and five English-speaking countries. All of these places are countries that work with each other daily and share many cultural touchstones. In fact, the English-speaking world assumes a certain amount of homogeneity in business -- "You speak English, you'll get this..."

But that's not the case.

In fact, Jay-Z came up on that trip too. At a workshop in South Africa with a group of 25, predominantly black participants a successful and beautiful company executive announced that only Jay-Z could take her attention off her job.

Really?

What do we really know about our own English-language culture and the people who inhabit it?

Very little.

"I'm not a 'Business-Man'! I'm a Business... man! Let me handle my business, damn!" - Jay Z.

Can't really hear that coming out of the mouth of a Member of the House of Lords, can you?

We pretend we're all the same, but we're not. There are pockets of diversity and commonality in communities and cultures around the world. What is common currency in one place is far from understood in another. And we gloss over it, without trying to understand it, at our own peril.

/df

It's official - ICANN approves recommendation to expand top level domains

Matt Overington — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:21:00 GMT

In my previous post, I mentioned that ICANN was looking to broaden the availability of top level domains... Well, it's official. ICANN has approved a recommendation to expand the list of top level domains beyond the current number of 21 (.net, .com, .org, .info, etc). The internet's peak body responsible for global co-ordination of domain names is also to expand domain name registration to include non-Roman alphabets.

The next step in the process involves the body drafting up a final version of an implementation plan, which is due early in 2009. From there, the body could be ready to accept applications for new top level domains as early as the second quarter of 2009.

Marketers, watch this space.

Boys and girls forever

David Ferrabee — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:52:00 GMT

BATTERSEA PARK -- When I dropped off my giant 5-year old son at kindergarten this morning, he was surrounded by chatting boys. I asked him for a kiss. They snickered and he compromised with a running hug.

Now we're at a sports day for my older daughters. My eldest wins the 800 meters by half a lap, (proud dad) and I run into a group of boys from her year in the men's loo. They're wound up like crickets on coke. They could no more stand still than I could dance a rumba. They are all energy and motion like buzzing bees. It would take fireworks to divert their attention from the joke at hand. Whatever it is.

And they're big. They are only 10-11 but I reckon they could take me.

The girls, meanwhile, wander about in tight-knit circles, whispering and casting an eye over each other's shoulders. They are women in a Jane Austen novel.

The groups of boys and girls couldn't be more different. And they may be young, but they're only slightly less practiced versions of me and you as working adults.

For every argument I can make that boys and girls, when they become women and me, are much more complex than that, and we don't behave by gender stereotypes... I see two indications that we do.

We are boys and girls for life. If we start to factor that into our business dealings, we'll make a lot more progress, faster.

/df

Friday Digital Miscellany: Crisis, activism & a behind-the-scenes look at what IT is really up to?

Brendan Hodgson — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:09:00 GMT

Summer in London may not be springtime in Paris, but at least it didn't rain last week for an internal digital and crisis conference I attended with fellow H&K crisis practitioners from across Europe, North America and Asia.

The key learning of the two-day event - other than to not let Cy Twombly's art truly aggravate you: digital can no longer be considered an afterthought when preparing for, or executing during a crisis. It must be burned into the system from the outset - the technology, the people and the processes. It must become an integral part of the training regimen, be designed to support various crisis thresholds and provide sufficient flexibility to evolve as the crisis evolves. And not only is it simply about launching a "dark site" or adding a line item to a manual. It is also about guiding employee behaviours online, assessing how and when to respond (and not respond) to misinformation and speculation that may be bubbling throughout the social web, considering new ways and formats to deliver content and messaging, and working with other functional areas (per my last post) to ensure the 'machine' operates seamlessly.

Developments on the activism and social media front and the impact of the citizen journalist on the newsmaking process also caught my eye this week. In Canada, much like what happened recently in the U.S. over downed cattle resulting in one of the largest beef recalls in history, activists using a hidden camera were able to reveal what many consider to be questionable practices related to the slaughter of horses. And while the footage generated considerable media coverage, it also raised a number of questions related to how the industry is regulated. Not only is this further demonstration of the increasing levels of transparency now being imposed upon organizations through the use of technology and the rising importance of video and images to communicate in a way that text never could, it also demonstrates how easily such footage can be taken out of context, according to one industry expert:

"...Shanyn Silinski, executive director of the Farm Animal Council in Manitoba, an animal welfare group, noted regulations govern the slaughter industry... Silinski cautioned against drawing conclusions about a particular facility based on clips of camera footage."

Finally, and on a more humorous side, props to Churbuck for Thewebsiteisdown.com, one sick video that, in the words of Homer Simpson, is funny cuz it's true.

Latest news from Twitter: Forrester hires a Senior Analyst

Dominic Pannell — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:32:00 GMT

Peter Kim tweets that Forrester Research has filled a vacant position and will soon be announcing an analyst to cover social computing. Who says Twitter is useless?

Carter's Analyst Twitter Directory currently lists 104 analyst accounts and that doesn't include the AR folks who also use the medium.

Personally, I find Twitter to be a very useful tool for my work - it allows me to loosely follow several analysts whose work is highly relevant to my clients, thus keeping an eye on their current research interests and allowing me to flag interesting developments. I'm then able to act where necessary using more traditional communications methods (is it correct to refer to the phone and email as 'traditional', I wonder?).

Yes, it's not all serious, yes I admit that I do tweet about rugby matches that I'm watching and yes, I have been known to tell my 81 followers what I'm eating. No, it's not everybody's cup of tea.

Nobody's forcing to anybody to sign up. All I'm saying is that I find it helpful.

Worlds Largest Vending Machine . . . Smart Car In Japan

Ryan Peal — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:52:00 GMT

Just came across this story from my friends over at CScout Japan and so glad I did. I, like most people, are constantly inspired by the focused, creative approach and similarly creative, focused campaigns that come from smart car. Yes, they have it a bit easy in that their brand is their product and their product is their message but they still don't get distracted by things that don't ultimately continue to create the right brand personality for the company.

Case in point, the company recently installed this vending machine in Japan, complete with a slot to insert the needed $20,000 for the car. Instead, for a simple push of a button, curious fans receive a cool tube branded smart with some stickers and product information - only wish it had a very small smart car in the tube as well, maybe a cute key chain (but I am a perfectionist so please forgive me). The materials also provide a link to a fun campaign site where you can take a mini for a spin, and worth a few seconds of your time for some fun.

In any case, a great example of a brand that gets it and a way to engage consumers in a fun way that enhances the personality of the company and makes you want to come and play. Nothing wrong with that.

The Art of the Earnings Call

Anil Dilawri — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:37:00 GMT

Coordinating an earnings call is like conducting an orchestra. There are many moving parts, some strong players, and some weak links. One thing is for certain with respect to an earnings call, the stakes are high.

Perhaps the most anticipated and entertaining portion of an earnings call is the question and answer session. Financial analysts are given an opportunity to fire whatever unscripted question they want at an exposed management team.

You would think that most management teams would want to appropriately prepare for these Q&A sessions, but far too often that is not the case. CEOs edit away on their prepared remarks, making sure to get every word right. CFOs pour over the financial statements, ensuring that every number is accurate and financial highlights are ready to be disclosed.

But how much time is spent on preparing for the Q&A?

Are the CEO, CFO, and Investor Relations Officer thinking the same way? Would they answer each question in the same way? Bottom line – are they prepared for what the Street has to throw at them?

A well crafted and rehearsed call script means nothing if a management team gets slaughtered during the Q&A.

Web expanding...

Matt Overington — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:27:00 GMT

The web is set to get a lot bigger... if a vote at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)'s 32nd international public meeting goes as expected this week.

According to an article published on the Sydney Morning Herald site, it's expected that the 1,500 delegates from around the globe will back a new address system, IPv6, to add billions of new internet addresses and open up the possibility of domain registration in non-Latin alphabets.

Businesses would be able to register their own top level domains... So, in a few years time, we could all be blogging from blogs.h&k.

This represents a massive change for the web and should have online communicators salivating at the possibilities in years to come.

Whip Indiana Jones On Facebook

Ryan Peal — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:14:00 GMT

Like many people around the world I headed out to the theaters a few weeks ago to catch the latest Indiana Jones movie (is it me or are there no new ideas in Hollywood). As you may have heard the movie had a huge opening weekend and continues to be on pace to provide a pretty good return for Mr. Spielberg. In any case, I heard from some friends who work at Paramount that they helped fuel the buzz with a very simple but cool Facebook application.

The Wednesday morning before the movie hit theaters two days later the company provided Facebook users the ability to sent friends a digital version of Indy’s brown hat as a “virtual gift.” Normally these cost $1 but Paramount offered 250,000 of them free-of-charge, and you guessed it, they sold out in one day.

If you were lucky to get a hat from a friend it provided you a link to the movie’s Facebook page where you could find local listings to see the movie, download widgets, review reviews and check out movie photos. The fun didn’t stop there, you could watch a video on “how to crack a whip like Indy,” check out behind the scenes photos and could upload your own videos.

Today the site has nearly 90,000 fans – not bad for a movie page. Most visitors I’m assuming checked it out, had a look around, and went on with their day. Some came to the site and provided some reviews (some not so good at all) for others to check out.

Given the low costs to create the Facebook page, and the smart use of assets from the movie production that would have probably just been deleted, I think this is a smart way for a company like Paramount to experiment a bit in the social media world to learn how to do an even better one next time. It’s the experimental part of the new online world that companies need to embrace – try something out, give it a shot, see what happens and keep trying. It’s fun, trust me. 

Employee engagement in a downturn

David Ferrabee — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:56:00 GMT

BACK ON THE TUBE -- There was a good note on the Communicators' Network today by Jim Shaffer about employee engagement. Maybe you saw it?

Jim's an interesting guy. He was leading the communications business at Towers Perrin when I first joined that company. Now he's got books out and is doing some interesting stuff.

His view can be badly summed up as follows:

'Engagement is a state of mind. It increased productivity. You want that. And it's improved by a lot of small things, many of which the communications team can deliver.'

And, of course, he's right. He's even got the numbers to proved it.

The bigger question for me remains, how do you sell that to the CFO and the Director of Strategy? Jim alludes to it in his note but misses the biggest issue. IMHO.

Executive Committees aren't generally seized by issues they don't know they have. And engagement tends to be one of them.

Do you recogmise this:

"When I started out, No one asked me how I felt. I just did what I was told. And I liked it!"

So, what do execs care about?

Business leaders focus on issues that they know they have like:

delivering the strategy
managing organisational change
hiring top performers
fighting off hostile competitors and suitors
reducing costs and
increasing sales

Is employee engagement the answer to all of these?

No. (If you think so, re-read the top bit.)

But most of the things you do to increase employee engagement are.

/df

P.S. Readership of this blog appears to have more than doubled in the last 36 hours. Anyone know why?

NikeID Scores With Mobile Phone Fun

Ryan Peal — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:41:00 GMT

While I'm normally an adidas wearing man, I do appreciate all things Nike, and once again giving a shout out to the company for a new campaign they just launched for their NikeID line (thanks Steven in London for the heads up). As you may know Nike ID has been providing consumers with the ability to customise their own shoes for a while now - and obviously the "personalise-everything" youth have been all over this since it launched.

Now, a potential missing element has been filled when the introduction of a very cool way people can pick our colours to customise their next pair of nikes. Fans simply take a photo of anything they come across when they are out and about, send it via MMS to a special code and then the NikeID website grabs the two strongest colours from the photo and customises your kicks based on those. Back to your moble comes a link to view your sneakers-in-waiting in their new colours and sitting in front of the photo that inspired the colour design. You can save the image as a mobile wallpaper, send to a friend of actually purhase the sneakers - all from your mobile phone. Very cool.

Marketing For The Dogs

Ryan Peal — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:43:00 GMT

Most of my friends know I’m a huge dog lover (have two Labradors myself) so of course one of them sent me a note about the guys over at Milk-Bone (dog treats, food) conducting a search for “100 moments of joy” between pets and their owners which will lead to a new company spokesdog. Love it!

The search is connected to the company’s 100 year anniversary – which they have blown out to the max with the following activities:

Milk-Bone kicked off the fun in Times Square in NYC with the world’s largest dog house, made entirely out of Milk-Bone biscuits – so more than 100,000 biscuits were used. Some celebs like Ivanka Trump (photo) helped kick off the celebration.
Photos of celebrities and their dogs have been auctioned off for charity, raising funds for Canine Assistants
A nationwide “Milk-Bone Moment” tour around the US, stopping at fairs and festivals, taking photos of dogs and their owners to enter in the contest

The company also checked off the “do the right thing” element, providing a $1 million donation to its Canine Heroes program that provides dogs to people in need as well as dogs for police to use. The campaign site has some great photos and videos already uploaded, showcasing how crazy we all really are about our dogs.

The only thing I would have added would have been an active campaign blog that covers all of the stops of the mobile tour and talks about all the fun dogs/owners found along the way. Just something to add a bit more conversation and content to the site, and could have provided a way to give a “bark out” to special stories from the road.

All in all the campaign does a nice job of really blowing out an anniversary celebration to add some personality and fun to the brand.

Dining etiquette

David Ferrabee — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:05:00 GMT

MARCHE BONSECOURS -- What do you do when you sit down with a dozen people from all around the world and start to break bread?

You focus on what you have in common. Tonight we laughed about the strangest things: German words, air sickness bags, French accents, violent criminals, mining, the Irish... All of it.

We talked in an animated way about Canadian history. We talked about the funny things you see in Australia... like kangaroo poo. And the local taxi's lack of suspension. And we're completely exhausted. Our dinner tonight is on the last night of a two week world tour of training on four continents. However, somehow we rise to the occasion.

You talk to the person on the left a bit, then to the person on the right... And tonight the person across the table.

Not everyone is comfortable at these things. I don't think I was until a few years ago. But one of the things that made me most comfortable was my mother telling me how to manage the niceties. Holding a fork and knife. Tilting your bowl. Opening and tasting wine. And other such things.

It's actually hard to say you appreciate these things and that they have a role in modern business. But they do. And when you go out with global clients it becomes readily apparent.

If you've got these fundamentals right then you are safer to go off-piste in your conversations.

/df

Jolt, Alaska - Another Great City Rename Media Stunt

Ryan Peal — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:52:00 GMT

Today marked the northern hemisphere's summer solstice - the longest day of the year. And, to celebrate the day, the smart people at Jolt Energy drink (makers of a very fine caffeine powered drink) teamed up with Barrow, Alaska - the northern most part of the US, to rename the town Jolt, Alaska for the day. Barrow, I mean Jolt, Alaska is 320 miles above the Artic Circle and experiencing more than 10 weeks of consistent sunshine, including today, the longest day of the year. Jolt made the connection with some fun positioning from the founder - "we will not stand idly by and let the citizens of Jolt go un-energized through their 1,992 hour day." A very smart way to break through the cluttered marketing world and drive some solid online buzz.

"Can't talk, I'm busy saving the world."

David Ferrabee — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:56:00 GMT

MONTREAL -- There's a great set of drawings by Matt Groening that pre-dates The Simpsons called "How to waste 8 hours a day and still keep you day job." It's one of the great, lost management tracts. I must look for my copy.

In it there are a number of suggestions like how to make animals out of paper-clips and erasers. But my favourite has to be "always walk quickly, with paper in your hands."

It's always worked for me.

But I can now spot it in others... and it's starting to irritate me a bit.

Why is it that whatever we are doing at this minute is so important that nothing else can be done. We read Blackberries while crossing the street, or sitting in bed. We step out of meetings to get involved in things that would have been perfectly good without our input. We play to the latest issues... chasing fires... because it's easier than doing the real work that is piling up on our desks.

We need to be needed. And we make bad decisions and treat people badly as a result.

"Can't talk, I'm busy saving the world."

Really?

If there's one thing that every business I have ever consulted to needed, it was less action and more careful consideration.

Stop what you are doing and think about stuff for a while. That's what they are paying you for.

Bon soir.

/df