Hill+Knowlton Strategies

I never thought I would say this but I think I may have just found a hybrid car that I actually like thanks to the guys at Top Gear. Most of the hybrid cars built so far have done very little to excite me, the generally look very square, dull and not very sporty but the Bentley Continental Supersports has everything a dream car should have – looks, heritage and power and it comes in a hybrid version. OK, so I will probably never own one but it goes to show that car manufacturers are waking up to the fact that if they are going to get people driving greener cars, they need to give them more va va voom!

But, there is a little point having a biofuel-powered car if you can’t refuel it. In the UK, there only a small number of stations that sell E85 Bioethanol fuel so unless you happen to have one near you, it may be quite hard to top up your car on those long journeys. So will this change anytime soon?

The UK government’s plans to develop a network of electric charging points to encourage greener motoring, along with the gradual development of a high-speed rail network, means it could be sooner than we think. But with the G20 apparently dropping a pledge to invest in climate-friendly energy generation from their final summit statement last week, it seems we may have a long battle to change perception and get to a point where we’re all driving vehicles that are powered by greener means.

I guess only time will tell, but if investments in alternative fuels and access go ahead and if manufacturers continue to develop pioneering and attractive hybrids, then there may come a time when we abandon traditional fuel-powered cars and drive luxurious, sporty green vehicles.

But until then, I will stand by my beloved petrol engine and look at other ways I can do my bit for the planet…the Exhaust Burger (as featured on Top Gear) is looking like an interesting option.

I was away.  Now I am back. Try and contain your joy (I know it’s hard, but for Christ’s sakes show some backbone, will you?).

So when we last spoke I was about to go on holiday here – unfortunately, I ended up somewhere that looks a lot more like here. It all went to tits, webmongs, and frankly it’s still a bit raw and painful. Suffice it to say that I will not be buying the US Department of Homeland Security a Christmas card this year.

But! It wasn’t all bad! The World Cup started! And then finished again yesterday, as far as I’m concerned (my own personal message to the Italian team can be seen here, should you care to look). Deutschland uber alles for Sunday, by the way. Even better, Big Brother started again! Eh? Oh. Look, I’m not ashamed – until they finally do that televised version of the Stanford Prison Experiment here in the UK, it’s the only place i can get my fix of legitimised pychological torture. And this year it features a man with no legs and only one eye, who frankly cannot fail to win. You don’t vote out the mutilated squaddie – put the house on him to come first (NB – Web Curios accepts no responsibility for houses lost as a result of gambling) The weather’s nice, that self-indulgent tool won’t be ruining Glastonbury, and a Brit’s in with a chance at Wimbledon! Calloo, callay, o frabjous day, etc etc.

Oh, who am I trying to kid? I totally failed to go on holiday and spent a week slumped in front of the (really, really mediocre) football, dulling my frontal lobes with drink and drugs in an attempt to numb the pain as big salty tears trickled down my cheeks. England could well jam their way to winning the World Cup, forcing me to emigrate. The weather may be nice, but I’m a wageslave officemonkey who’s chained to his desk for hours at a time so I can’t enjoy it. And I’m obviously not at Glastonbury. Modern Life Is Rubbish, and so is the blog this week. Suck it up.

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Northern Trust Group, one of the oldest financial institutions in the US has a 120 year history in banking and wealth management. Its recent decision to join the twitter community makes it one of a growing number of US banks and financial service companies using the micro blogging service.  In the UK, the financial media, including publications as diverse as Fund Strategy, Mortgage Solutions and Financial News are making full use of twitter’s ability spread news and content in real-time but the financial service industry which they serve, for the most part, has been slow to join and dip its toes in the twitter pond.

To put this situation in context, according to a recent Chicago Tribune article, as of late 2009, more than 710 financial institutions in 38 countries were using twitter, a tiny fraction of the companies out there. Even in the US where twitter is becoming a relatively mainstream tool for companies to communicate, take-up is limited.

This initial reluctance to experiment raises a number of questions, in particular, is twitter an appropriate medium for financial service companies to engage with their audiences and how could the industry use the tool to best effect?  

One possible explanation for its absence from the twitterverse is the level of regulation faced by financial service companies. It is true that relative to many sectors, financial services companies are more limited in what they can say about their products and it is difficult to explain risk, charges or terms and conditions in a 140 character twitter message. In a recent paper on product promotion the Financial Services Authority urged financial services companies to adopt best practice when communicating through social networks and in particular warned that promotional activity will be subject to scrutiny.

To my mind, this misses the point about how financial service companies can use twitter. It is not a forum for broadcasting promotions or pushing products, instead it is an opportunity to engage with customers and other audiences, listen to what they have to say about a company or product and to help and inform them if possible. The Twittermavern blog offers a number of sensible guidelines for companies thinking about using twitter. They are as follows:

• Don’t push your message
• Focus on conversations by inviting, engaging, cheering and helping the customer
• Listen for the relevant conversations and then try to be helpful
• Employees should speak with their own voice and personality
• Most of all, be responsive

These principles are reflected in the practice of some of the more successful companies using twitter. From the world of retail banking, Bank of America is using twitter to address customer service issues and has appointed a team to proactively search for customers experiencing problems. Tara, Sarabjit and Georgann (the current twitter team) give the bank a face and personality and the account has grown to more than 7,500 followers.

Twitter is also an outlet through which companies can highlight their expertise or interests. Fixed income manager PIMCO for example uses its twitter feed to circulate the views of its fund managers as well as more detailed commentaries to those with an interest in bond markets. Its follower base has grown to over 4,000 people since it started in December 2009. None of the messages are overtly promotional, nor do they seek to sell a specific product but the depth of PIMCO’s knowledge and its willingness to share its views with existing as well as potential clients helps it stand out in a busy market place.

The number of financial services companies on twitter is still relatively small but there are a growing number of examples of companies, each with different products and audiences, using twitter effectively. What is clear from the examples listed is that each of the companies has dedicated a significant resource to the task and has clearly thought out a strategy on how they will use account. I expect that despite the slow start, the number of UK financial service companies using twitter will grow significantly over the next twelve months and it will be interesting to see who emerges as the most innovative voice in the coming months.

Jonathan has an extensive list of UK and international financial service media, journalists and companies using twitter. It can be found via his profile at – http://twitter.com/j_g_henderson

The measures which will impact the energy and industrials sector did not fit the tone of the rest of today’s Budget, with nothing particularly far-reaching announced.

What is clear is that the Government wishes to incentivise both business and consumers to make progress to a low-carbon economy and hit increasingly stringent emissions targets.

For business, the Green Investment Bank and a reformed Climate Change Levy will be the tools by which the Government will encourage investment in politically palatable forms of energy, whereas it is hoped that households will be attracted by the Green Deal.

You can’t escape the media’s preoccupation with energy at the moment, if it’s not new trans-continental pipelines, it’s wind farms, solar, Carbon Capture Storage and our ‘old friends’ coal and nuclear. On a daily basis we’re presented with a full gamut of energy solutions that will power our ever busy lives.

Energy is even dominating media coverage of the World Cup – from the hot air blasted out by the eardrum splitting and nausea-inducing Vuvuzela to the huge power surges during the half-time of England matches. The Bangladeshi government has even allegedly asked factories to stop production during the evenings to save electricity so that their football-mad countrymen can tune into the World Cup.

Renewables are also playing a part in this World Cup. Some Ghanaians are using solar energy to power their World Cup coverage and a new wind farm has been launched to provide energy for the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth. More is expected of London in 2012. A key indicator of whether we are able to move to a low-carbon future is our capacity to produce renewable energy for major sporting events as well as for industry and private households.

So as I write this with the next England match only hours away when millions of televisions and radios will be switched on and fridges rammed with six-packs of beer, I’d be interested to know how much energy is used directly or indirectly as a result of the World Cup. Do these figures exist?

I came across two very different articles today which I found interesting as I think they both talk to our ever changing world of PR and media. And the added pressure it places on our industry as a whole to either evolve with it or dissipate into cyberspace…

The first was Nielsen’s release of a new study looking at Internet usage and how there has been in an increase in users engaging with social media. April alone showed 22% of the total time we browse, we engage with social media – which is not huge, but the consistency and increase of it globally shows how the borders are merging, even when there are language barriers.

More evidence of this is cited by Mashable, “We’ve seen ample proof of the burgeoning popularity of social media in the past — just two months ago, Nielsen reported similar growth — and it makes sense. Facebook has been giving Google () a run for its money when it comes to traffic, and YouTube () recently surpassed two billion views per day.”

Secondly, the Next Web discusses how journalism will change in 5 years, by the creator of Google News. The top 5 changes are going to be:

1. Clarity over the role of every journalistic organisation.

2. Use of social networks much more than today.

3. Efficient Packaging and Payment

4. Smarter Ads

5. Interesting new ways of packaging

These are definite external forces that will shape journalism, not withstanding other factors like the overall mergence of technology. We’re seeing it more and more with the release of Google TV, linking to content, ads, apps etc. I think we’re moving into a world where the lines are going to be more blurred than we’ve ever imagined and the place of PR increasingly questioned. If we don’t shape it, our future will be lost and it’s high time the marketing industry (both internally and externally) starts to consider how traditional ways of communicating are no longer valid.

Times of crisis emphasises this point more than ever before with social media in the mix – and communicators are the best to facilitate this process both internally and externally.

I’m certainly going to give this subject more thought and will contribute further to this discussion. I’d be interested to hear your point of view – how we as an industry can pull together to enhance our communication capability that will better service our clients and the industry at large. If not, we may as well start looking for other jobs.

I’ve just finished reading Super Freakonomics by the straight talking – and excellent – Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.

The chapter that particularly grabbed my attention focused on Seattle-based invention company: Intellectual Ventures.  These aren’t just your typical garden-shed inventors either.  Founded by Microsoft’s former chief technical officer and chief software architect they are – amongst other ideas – pioneering radical ways of creating nuclear energy, and have developed an innovative approach to wipe out malaria.  Big thinkers with big ideas.  Bill Gates describes Nathan Myhrvold, Intellectual Venture’s CEO as “the smartest person he knows”.

Myhrvold and his team think that existing global warming solutions are too little, too late and too optimistic.  Added to this perhaps one of the greatest challenges is getting humans around the world to change their behaviour and reduce their carbon footprint.  On an individual basis the cons of becoming carbon neutral outweigh the pros.

So.  What’s the answer?

Forgive the science lesson here, but it’s important.  Myhrvold was interested in volcanic eruptions and their effect on climate.  In layman’s terms most volcanoes send sulphur dioxide into the troposphere (the atmosphere closest to the earth’s surface), which then falls back to earth.  However, big volcanoes – such as the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines – shoot this gas far higher.  Seven miles higher, into the stratosphere.  This then forms a cloud that instead of falling back to earth blankets the globe, diffuses sunlight and provides a sustained drop in global temperature.  Simple.

Not quite that simple as it would clearly be preferable to reduce global warming without the volcanoes.

Intellectual Ventures estimates that it would take 100,000 tons per year of sulphur dioxide to be put into the stratosphere to reverse global warming in the high Arctic and reduce it across much of the northern hemisphere.  This sounds a lot, but 200 million tons per year is already put into the atmosphere, so we’re only talking 0.05% of existing global sulphur dioxide emissions, or 130 litres per minute.

The simple solution is to suspend an 18 mile long hose from earth to the stratosphere by a series of helium balloons and attach lightweight pumps along the length of the hose to pump the sulphur dioxide skywards.

There are plenty of arguments why this won’t work, but Myhrvold’s team has sensible answers to all of these.

Setting up a single station would cost $20m, and have an annual operating cost of $10m.  Myhrvold estimates that scaling this to five global stations would have start-up costs of $150m, and annual operating costs of $100m – to effectively reverse global warming.  Considering the Stern Review estimates $1.2 trillion per year to attack the problem it’s surely worth a go?

As an aside, if you want to discuss this further, The Times is hosting a web chat for Stephen Dubner at 3.30pm BST tomorrow.  If you’re registered on The Times’ new website here’s the link to the live event

Rivalry. It’s something common amongst all walks of life, be it the animal or human world. What the global financial crisis has taught us is that a newly formed economic landscape (a landscape that is still very much shifting) provides new types of competition. As such, this is a theme that I wanted to run with for my first post this week on the HanK blog. 

To give some background on myself – as an expat, I like to think that I’m blessed to have perhaps more of a global viewpoint than others. I’m extremely lucky to have been brought up in what I consider to be the best country in the world (as an Australian I would say that…) and to have experienced one of the biggest booms our country – and the world – has ever seen. At the same time, making the well-known Aussie pilgrimage and coming to London at the beginning of 2008 has given me a whole other perspective on global markets, as I arrived at a time when the downturn was only a murmur and no one knew then how loud the shouting was going to get. 

From this global standpoint, I’ve therefore been interested in how countries have been competing to ensure they maintain a strong position in the aftermath of one of the worst downturns the world has ever seen. Regulation is a big one and we’re all fully aware of the measures being enforced by the UK, US and other established centre governments to prevent a crisis (or one of the same magnitude) ever occurring again. To the irritation of the markets, Germany recently announced a ban on naked short-selling in a bid to see itself as another White Knight of the global economy. There’s definitely lots going on but the question here of course is how far is far enough? It’s a very valid question when you look at economies like Canada and Australia which have (and rightfully, in my mind) asked questions on why they should have to adhere to new global regulations when they successfully navigated the crisis itself. 

If you move east, China has also been in the news for different reasons, dealing with negative media spotlight on its accused manipulation of the renminbi and a slowing of its economy, some saying that it could even be the next Dubai (which I have to say is ludicrous). The Government has answered criticisms and taken strong steps to show the world that there should be no talk of overheating and that the World’s No. 2 economy is here to stay. The recent Dubai crisis has painted the rest of the Middle East with a tainted brush, leaving stronger performing countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain with the challenge of allaying investor concern over the stability of their respective economies. This is, however, something they are overcoming through the continued message of strong economic growth powered by oil and gas. 

Competition has always existed between countries and looks set to further increase. The difference now, however, is that they’re playing a game with a new set of rules, in unpredictable weather, on an unfamiliar pitch. Fitting then, that amongst all of this economic competition, the world will unite in just one day’s time to engage in a different kind of contest as the FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa.

Yesterday I met leading energy blogger Nick Grealy over a coffee to discuss all matters energy as well as the shale gas phenomenon. Nick writes a blog called appropriately, ‘No Hot Air’. Interestingly, Nick has blogged about shale gas, perhaps more than anyone else – certainly in the UK at least. According to Nick, shale gas is an energy source where the ‘reality outstrips the hype’. It’s clear that shale gas companies in the States as well as the global energy majors are investing vast amounts in Europe in what they perceive as a game changer as well as what Nick terms a ‘bridge fuel’ for future. Hugely interesting.

On another note, this week Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) launched Shams 1, a huge solar power project. Shams 1, which is being set up together with Total and Abengoa Solar, will be the world’s largest, concentrated solar power plant and the first of its kind in the Middle East.

Shams 1 will contribute towards Abu Dhabi’s 2030 vision and also to the ambitious target of achieving 7 per cent of its power generation capacity from renewables by the year 2020. I spent time working with Masdar on the World Future Energy Summit back in January and have seen their vision from close up. It’s great to see the progress being made in the emirate.

The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival (IAF) is a global festival for those working in advertising, PR and related fields.

This year H&K has involvement in the following areas;

• Paul Taaffe, Global Chairman and CEO is the chair of the judging panel for the PR Lions
• We are hosting a seminar on Tuesday 22 June 2010 from 11.00 – 11.45 led by Charlie Todd, co-founder of Improv Everywhere. That evening Charlie and the H&K team will lead the Cannes delegates in the first ever live mission on the Croisette (hashtag = #HKCannes). Follow us on Twitter to share the fun. Or if you are going to attend the event then you can also RSVP on Facebook
• ‘Cannes Eye’ multi-media platform where you can view the most relevant news & influential voices at Cannes Lions, all in one place
• We have a dedicated online TV channel called Cannes Eye which will be broadcasting daily from the festival. The main content will include exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in marketing. You can view this below (or by clicking this link)

We hope that you find this channel interesting and informative, feel free to check back as new contect will be added daily to the channel and of course we welcome your comments.