Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Last month, I discussed an article by Lucy Kellaway in the Financial Times in which she criticised the extensive use of Twitter by the UK head of Starbucks as a distraction from his day job.

Today it seems she’s at it again, only this time on the subject of whether senior employees should blog as part of their remit. Unlike her Twitter argument I’m inclined to agree with many of her key points, though I still dispute her central thesis that “social networking has become the number one way for senior management to waste time”.

Kellaway makes three very good points as follows (ironically I was discussing this very issue with my colleague Ed Jones over a pint last night but I have a feeling he won’t fully agree with me…)

1. “There are a few people inside companies who are natural bloggers, who are actually good at it, and enjoy it” – very true and see here, here and here for some good examples of this in H&K. People shouldn’t be forced to blog if they either don’t want to, or don’t feel they will be contributing anything by doing so.

2. “You {the writer of today’s letter} are wrong to think it has to take hours and hours. Blogging will only take so long if you are fretting unduly over every comma or trying to present original, complicated material” – again, very true. Make it quick, make it impactful and make it relevant

3. “Most corporate blogs are read by almost no one” – not 100% true, but an important lesson nonetheless. One of the first rules we employ here at H&K when it comes to discussing blogging with clients is to ask them straight up – ‘Why is there a need for you to blog about X, Y or Z?’. If you can answer that question in the positive then you’re ready to start looking at a blog (and again, see here for a good example from one of our clients)

It’s not often I see something on Facebook, Twitter or some other social networking site that I feel compelled to blog about.  But I write this as a forty year old and it made me think about what advice I would give.  Most is in fact covered off in the 340+ comments on the Coolhunters Facebook page. Just scroll down to the comment:  For those who are 30+, What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self? and read some of the comments… now standing at 350 comments and rising!  Reading the many responses made me laugh as I had heard them before in when I was in my 20’s and I thought, bah! I have loads of time before I have to worry about all that!  The rat race that we call the life we are living can be fraught with many worries and diversions but all of us have a duty to enjoy the time we have here be us 20+, 30+ or 40+… and more!  Be that simply looking up (instead of down at your feet) as you walk along to work. Smile and say good morning to someone you don’t know… and always tell the people around that you love that you do, because one day that opportunity might not be there.  Or maybe just something as simple as breaking a habit and doing something today that you have thought about but never got around to doing. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I have survived my first week back at work after two weeks lovely holiday in Sitges and back in the groove.  It’s not often I get the chance to compare Valencia with London with regard to new initiatives that have been introduced by the cities.  But on my return to Valencia I was pleased to see the new cycle hire scheme up and running in the city.  Valenbisi it’s called here and after filling in my online application for a annual card and paying my €18 fee, my card duly arrived three days later!  (I was suitably impressed with the admin of the scheme!)

After the recent launch of Barclays Cycle Hire in London, I was really excited about seeing if Valencia could pull off a good launch also.  Because the two cities are so different in size (7,556,900 in London vs. 814,208 in Valencia) I think it would be a bit unfair to directly compare the two prices directly.  The overheads for installing and maintaining 400+ cycle stations around the city of London compared to Valencia’s 275 planned stations clearly would make the London scheme more expensive to start. But I was surprised but the difference in initial outlay to join and the difference in say three hours use.  €6 in Valencia compared to £15 in London!

Me on my Valenbisi bike

Valenbisi bikes

Read the rest of this entry »

What happens when you get a bunch of 30-somethings raging against the dieing sporting light, and a bunch of confident 20-somethings with it all to prove?

The result is a sporting contest for the ages. And so it was last Wednesday afternoon as H&K’s finest Lads, Dads and everything in-between emerged from the 4^th floor to contest a heavyweight footballing battle at London Bridge.

Or at least that’s how it should have been but for an alarming drop-out rate amongst the physically fragile Dads – the result being that we ended up with Lads vs Dads(& Lads).

But enough of that and onto the game which started at a frantic pace with the muscle-strewn Roberts snapping around the heels of the Lads in his imposing red wifebeater, and Whitlock demonstrating all his semi-pro skills with a couple of nifty turns. It was the Lads who struck first however, rifling the net with a crisp strike after only a few minutes. The Dads were undisturbed though, sticking to their tight, controlled passing game with the cat-like Sutherden barking the orders from the back like the Peter Schmeichel he clearly wished he always could have been.

Honours remained close throughout, with excellent solo efforts from Jones and Bell cancelled out by a net-ripper from chief lad Battersby and a mazy, Kaka-esque run from Woods ending with the ball in the net and the man himself seeking a high five at every turn.

With time running out, bodies shattered and sweat dripping from every limb (plus the Dads’ goalkeeper struggling to keep the score), the call went out for ‘next goal wins’. The Lads, sensing victory, launched a last bombardment but were repelled by the twin rocks of Ben ‘Edgar Davids’ Curson and the go-go gadget arms of ‘keeper Sutherden.

Renewed, the Dads assaulted the opposition goal with everything they had, forcing bodies, balls and buttocks to be thrown in the way by the exhausted Lads. And it was then, when the fire of the Dads seemed to have finally been extinguished that Pythagoras struck his cruellest blow.

Chambers, clearly desperate for a pint more than his soul was worth, allowed a harmless shot to bounce off two walls and into the path of a grateful, surprised and utterly clinical Roberts, who took revenge for all over-30s everywhere by gleefully burying the ball high into the gaping net.

7-6 to the Dads and cue the gloating. Until next time…

Coaching my colleagues on their presentation skills recently I’ve been thinking a lot about good and bad narratives.

 And two more 80s remakes hitting the box office, Karate Kid and The A Team, brought this into perspective; in particular the relationship between content and delivery.  C.C. Colton couldn’t  possibly have imagined the negative impact of his aphorism ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’.

To be fair I’ve not seen either of these movies, but in my experience most remakes simply don’t work (and I’m being polite here). They are never as good as the original, in fact they don’t even come close. Usually they’re just a case of form over substance.

Of course that only annoys oldies like me, or younger retro fans.  After all, for those who haven’t seen the previous movie isn’t ‘my’ remake ‘their’ original?

And yet I’m not against adapting stories. One of my favourite guilty pleasures is Cruel Intentions, the almost verbatim teen adaption of Dangerous Liaisons.  It’s clever, witty, has a great cast and tells the story in its own compelling way.  And that’s the clue.

A great story can be retold thousands of times, depending on how you tell it.  Take Shakespeare, an inspiration to narrative makers the world over. I’ve seen everything from toe-tapping musicals to a gangster movie (Joe Macbeth) based on Will’s works.  The quality may have varied, but I’ve found something in them all.

Where so many ‘take two’ blockbusters fall down is that they try to tell the same story in the same way.  No amount of special effects can cover that up.

And that’s where so many pitch narratives fall down, failing to achieve a more individual, compelling, and memorable way to take the audience on a journey. Adaptation, not imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Thanks to fun apps like My Tweet 16, all our fledgling tweets can be uncovered. As the countdown to the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival begins, I was reminded of mine.

With a cosmic bit of serendipity, my first trip to this holy ground was last year when H&K brought Biz Stone to our seminar. We held the first ever Tweetup at Cannes. Biz answered live tweets from the audience and how he describes Twitter is worth reviewing. Here are a couple of clips but the whole seminar is on our YouTube channel. Enjoy and stay tuned as we start to talk about what adventures this year’s seminar will bring.

What is Twitter?

The benefits of Twitter to companies

Earlier today, I spoke to Catherine Cross, Head of Media Training at H&K, on last night’s Election debate and the performance of the three party leaders. Here are Catherine’s thoughts…

I don’t want to compound centuries of misquoting Marie Antoinette but when our charity committe said ‘let them eat cake’ yesterday it was a right royal bun fight.

The cake bake was in support of Kids Company, the charity we are working with this year.  Our budding bakers made – and sold – 365 cakes in all.  And delicious they were indeed. Sweeter still, this raised £199.00.

So that’s the cakes, what about the ‘wail’?  Well today sees the first rehearsal of Pitch Perfect, H&K’s answer to Glee.  We’ve never had a choir before, so here’s hoping it really takes off.

I’ve been limbering up my baritone and am looking forward to a good old singalong.  Watch out for further developments.

We do quite a few events for clients here at H&K. But the two day D2 conference is the biggest I have ever been involved with. Both for the power of the speakers on the agenda, and the wonderful range of clients and guests attending. I am not really nervous, because we have done so much prep, but I do hope my part goes well. I get to follow the opening keynote from Sir Martin Sorrell. Ok, so maybe I *am* a little nervous.

You should follow #HKD2 and @HK_London to see more content as it gets posted from the event.

I got a different train to work today which was much slower, after I finished my usual email, Facebook and Twitter trawl, I discovered I had watched everything on my itouch. So I found myself lifting my head and doing some people watching.

Its amazing how interesting it is and I realised how much I’ve missed it (although it is more fun doing it on a bar terrace with a glass of something cold and white). A couple of things really struck me
1) Not a single person had a paid for paper. Everyone was reading Metro. I wonder therefore what the peak time is for purchasing news papers as it certainly wasn’t that long ago that there was a much greater mix (including the freebies) on the morning commuter train
2) The vast majority had no newspaper at all. 70 per cent were reading either a blackberry or iphone (or something similar).
3) There was no chatter whatsoever: If they saw something they found interesting they’d nudge the person they were with, raise their chosen device and put the screen in front of them. Not a single noise would escape their lips. There was definite communication, but not the usual kind of conversation between 2 friends.

So what to make of this? Couple of lingering thoughts I was left with: When do people by newspapers nowadays?
And how communications and conversation can take all kinds of forms and still be understood

FWIW I was very thankful that there wasn’t a single loud mobile phone conversation. I’m sure there will be on the friday evening journey home!!