Reputation Matters

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Reassurance, Responsibility and the Toyota Impact

2010-02-23T17:00:00.003Z

Good CSR insight - and life-saving tips! - on how to mitigate a Toyota-style disaster by my esteemed associate, Tom Peyton, Managing Director of CSR specialist firm, Enact Consulting.

We seem actively to promote fear in today's society; everybody is at it and there are few sources of advice or reassurance as to what to do when that emergency strikes. I remember being told by a US Ambassador, in one of those places where bombs used to go off occasionally, not to wash the car because it was then obvious if someone had tampered with it. It was a simple assurance that some of the risks were actually within my control. You may well ask what all this has to do with Toyota, but bear with me.....

I was, until last month, the very contented owner of Toyota Avensis. Fortunately, it's too old to be suspected of having an accelerator fault but, nevertheless, it makes you think! Toyota has built a fantastic reputation for reliability over the years and it is well deserved. But now it's in tatters; was there anything they might have done to prevent this, once the fault had become apparent? If we consider this from a Corporate Responsibility angle, what is the most important thing to do?

Respond appropriately and reassure your customers. The recall is appropriate, but the reassurance is missing. The recall is expensive, while the reassurance is actually the cheap and easy piece. Did Toyota owners need to flood garages with enquiries, lawyers commence class actions and the press go stratospheric? Or are we just being scared irrationally once more? No, they did not and yes, we are - because the actions are quite simple.

With all the recalls, you won't get your car fixed for a while. So: do you stop driving? It might help climate change, but it won't solve your transport problem. Would you like some advice, just in case that unlikely occurrence happened to you? I think you might, because it gives you some measure of control over the situation. Clearly you will still need to get the car checked, but life doesn't have to come to a grinding halt in the meantime.

Having read more of the press coverage than is good for me, I have yet to find any advice as to what to do in an emergency. Neither the press, our over-indulgent nanny state nor our esteemed motoring organisations have announced any guidelines on what to do if it happens to you. Why not? Are they scared to advise in case they get it wrong and then find themselves to blame? Is this being responsible?

Actually, after some searching, I found that Toyota provide the answer as FAQ19 on their website. Perhaps a little more prominence might help. Like headline stuff! It would have saved them money, (not the key consideration, I agree), and helped defuse what became a crisis. Most importantly, it would have immediately addressed their customers concerns; your concerns. This is the CR aspect and it's really very simple. It's also just plain good business.

Because it really is very simple:

Check your mirror
Put your emergency brake lights on
Put car in neutral (expect a horrid noise)
Switch off
Move to the side of the road - and coast to a halt!

It worked for me 25 years ago when my accelerator cable jammed on the M6. It was a Chrysler!

Word of Mouth: Reputation Builder, Reputation Killer

2010-01-29T17:54:00.005Z

Latest research by The Nielsen Company this month points to 82% year-on-year growth of global time spent on social media sites. This has clear implications for companies looking to build and protect their reputation in the online space and for those who either mismanage or underestimate the power of 'member communities'. Examples of corporate misdemeanours in this area were alluded to in my previous post: Online Reputation: Tips to Navigate Disaster.

However, it is not unreasonable to expect that many companies do not have the expertise to effectively manage their own reputations - and that they have genuine needs for wise counsel in this area. It can be a minefield finding the right expertise, however, in a PR industry that is largely self-regulating.

At a regular monthly networking meeting with the intelligent and fun folk at the Executives Association of Great Britain, I had the great coincidence - and pleasure I might add - to be seated next to Nick Peters. As it turned out, a fellow, no-nonsense Yorkshireman (should I state, more specifically, of the East Riding). Following a colourful journalistic and broadcasting career in the UK and US, Nick recently launched and now edits and publishes Business First magazine. I have already tweeted on how content-rich and refreshingly informative his title is.....

......and that before he published my feature on pages 26-27 of this month's issue. A feature delving right into the pitfalls of dealing with the PR industry. Take a look. I'm risking contention I know with my industry peers. But it's not all bad news! Companies do have a practical guide here how to ensure they work with the best and safeguard their public integrity.

Thanks to Nick Peters, Editor-inChief/Publisher, Business First Magazine for granting link-to permission www.businessfirstmagazine.co.uk

Survival of the Fittest: PROs at the limit of Endurance

2009-11-30T20:20:00.003Z

With the corporate lifespan of a CEO reduced to 3.5 years, the pressure is on for close advisors to demonstrate worth beyond the cloistered confines of the Board room and into the darker recesses of the business. For decades, communication and PR professionals have fought for their place at the Board, garnering trust and necessarily close rapport with their CEOs. Rightly so. It is a place I defended rigorously during my career as a Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 corporate communications director.

However, a precarious situation arises in that intimate rapport between a senior communicator and their CEO as career fortunes become intertwined; the term departure of a CEO can mean the shunning and corporate isolation, if not sometimes dismissal, of a communications chief for no apparent reason other than their perceived over-association with the 'ancien régime'. Unfair, yes. But internal perception often prevails over business logic.

Yet bright prospects beckon. With PR professionals placed fortuitously at the ever-narrowing intersection between traditional and emergent social media, and with an increasingly volatile issues and advocacy environment that business must contend with, stars in the communications industry may be re-aligning.

In true Darwinian style, those PR agencies and individuals who flex, who broaden their skills, who actively apply their accumulated past wisdom and sate their knowledge are those most likely to outlive the short CEO life-cycle; those least disposed to change simply risk dropping out of the PR gene pool altogether.

So, with market turbulence still in prospect, what are the key attributes that will determine survival of the fittest among in-house PR executives - and agencies?

This summer, we advised Dr. John A. Caslione on the launch of his business book, 'Chaotics', written in association with global marketing guru Philip Kotler. Their case study based premise is that an era of turbulence, with chaos, risk and uncertainty, will characterize the future business landscape. Corporate communicators will correspondingly need to fine-tune their agility, composure and strength in handling the 'material' issues facing industry. Acquisitions, divestments, increased activism and the need for ever broader community engagement will test the commercial, leadership and predictive strengths of the communicator charged with bringing the outside world in to corporate strategy.

A contributive understanding of what constitutes good corporate governance, an acquired intuitive sense of consequences of corporate action, of the process and rules of engagement in exchanging meaningful dialogue with mobilising influencers are essential in this recession and post-recession environment. It will force supreme skills in building collaborative networks, in leadership and tactical diplomacy.

Communicators will need to emerge as a new breed of innovator, leading organisations through new social pathways.Too many still underestimate the need to upskill beyond their traditional media understanding. But arguably the train is already leaving the station: Twitter is establishing itself as potent social media platform among Fortune 100s and over 61 Fortune 500 CEOs are penning blogs.

Attributes such as penetrative media contacts, razor-sharp written and verbal communication skills, a motivational presence and an aesthetic eye will no longer stand out as key differentiators. In Maslow's terms, these once-lauded skills have become simple hygiene factors, though they certainly credit the evolution of the PR industry thus far. Foresight and ongoing evolution are necessary here.

For communication agencies, acquiring in-house levels of client and commercial insight will be essential. It is where I have found my reverse transition from in-house to consultancy extremely valuable. De-layering, driving economy, transparency and accountability will remain essential in these straitened times. Breaking down protectionism and forging strategic partnerships with social media, marketing and technology companies will drive integrated client solutions. Out-sourcing specialist skills and improving the short-term project offering will enhance agility.

For organisations, only those willing to attract and empower strong communications talent will see their own prospects transform, whilst resistant ones will certainly continue to require application of the communicator's more traditional powers; those of persuasion, endurance - and staunch optimism!

Saving the Soul of Private Enterprise: A Fit Place for Religion?

2009-10-07T13:45:00.004+01:00

This week I went to the Hexagon Theatre in Reading to hear The Soweto Gospel Choir. The music was powerful, authentic - and spiritually moving. Now, I recognize that I risk contention by bringing religion into my blog. I'm not sure it's appropriate. Should I even tackle it in a business context? As the evening progressed, my twin-tracking mind convinced me I must. For it was in that cocoon of kinship and celebration where I realized there is room - and necessity - for spirituality at work.

The irony of me initiating an evening to hear South African churchfolk sing divine praise was not lost on my oldest friend whom I had invited. For over 20 years she and I have sparred over our beliefs: she, a staunch Christian and avid defender of the faith, me rather on the agnostic side, finding my inspiration less in a single omnipotent entity but more in the wonder of nature that surrounds us (cif: William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey)

I am also a Myers Briggs ENTJ type. I tend to rely on tangible evidence and facts to reach conviction and judgement and this rather disposes me towards Darwinian Theory versus monotheism.

Faith, in whichever form it takes, presents a further conundrum alongside corporate practice. Many would argue (not least in the current economic climate) that the demon of wealth acquisition cannot be reconciled easily with the virtues of religion and spirituality; that the fervour with which enterprise leaders have worshipped at the altar of personal profit has irreversibly corrupted the heart and reputation of private enterprise at the expense of its people. Examples are too numerous to include here. Think Robert Maxwell, the Guinness four, fraud scandals at Enron and Parmalat, Robert Madoff. Some might argue the entire global banking hierarchy.

According to the 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer which surveyed 4,500 upper income, highly educated people across 20 countries, nearly two thirds (62%) said they trust corporations less than they did a year ago.

Yet the soul of corporate enterprise is redeemed by shining examples of other business leaders whose religious grounding has moulded the spirit and direction of their companies, the successful stewardship of their people and of the communities in which they operate. Here I am not referring to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which is, in any case, a reporting requirement. No. This is about the intimate religious conviction of business leaders whose core values and behaviours present no moral compatibility issue with wealth generation.

For instance Gary Grant, owner of The Entertainer - Britain's largest independent chain of toy stores - became a Christian in 1991. He refuses to open his 48 stores on Sundays recognizing it as a sacred day. Yet, whilst banning "occultist" Harry Potter and Halloween products from shelf probably contributed to the collapse of pre-tax profits last year, sales in the first half of this year have rocketed to 33% with record annual profits anticipated.

World-leading food giants Kelloggs and £10bn UK confectioner Cadburys (a recent take-over target of Kraft Foods) each trace their present day success to their strong Quaker origins. While Reverend Graham Cracker, wishing to supplant sexual appetite with the creation of a bland food diet back in 1829, invented the namesake cracker which remains a staple food today - mercifully with little known side-effect!

Whilst heading EMEA communications at imaging monolith, Kodak, I had the privilege to be mentored by a Board member. He was a very spiritual person, a man with massive empathy but no less efficient at work; a supreme facilitator and arbiter always keen to share knowledge and nurture others' growth. He exuded calm and serenity and regularly took time out in monastic retreats. Likewise, I have witnessed the galvanising charm of a Fortune 500 leader of a profitable, multi-billion dollar business division lead change and motivate people to follow. He was also a lay preacher.

The skill leaders need to inspire people to embrace change and perform against all odds appears to be the fine business art of persuasion. Aristotle attributed this to the three key elements of Ethos (credibility, trust), Pathos (empathy) and Logos (logic/words) [1]. Yet beyond words, how can empathy be achieved - and therefore trust - without a fundamental understanding of the human condition? How can business leaders understand the motivational needs of employees facing workplace uncertainty unless they first reconnect with themselves as a fellow human creation?

Sometimes, to get to that place, we must make room for silent contemplation; to gain perspective on the personal and professional constraints, pressures and acquired (mal)practices that skew our everyday judgement and pollute our social interactions.

With that in mind, I asked a community of Linked In professionals from hedge fund management, commodity and currency markets, right through to organisational change and development, how they sought spiritual balance in the workplace. The response I got from 40 separate individuals was revealing. Whilst there was plenty of lively commentary around the carnal delights of chocolate, the spiritual importance of family and friends, the need for hobbies and exercise and the satisfaction of voluntary work, over 50% of respondents directly referenced their reliance on prayer, religious faith and meditation. Indeed I was moved to receive many personal prayers.

And whilst some pioneering companies like Google, Vodafone and Virgin Atlantic are offering employees the chance for "sleep pod" or prayer room meditation in the workplace, they remain a minority. Beyond simple work:life policy measures, perhaps organisations should be more creative to integrate the spiritual and faith needs of employees within the actual workplace; to unlock the innate potential and wellbeing of many people who, it seems, find additional motivation beyond the simple lure of material reward.

In the event it seems religion and the workplace may, after all, be an ideal union.

[1] James Borg, Persuasion: The art of influencing people, 2nd edition
Image: 'Like Drifting Spirits', Getty Images (photographer: Paul Grand, www.flickr.com/photos/paulgrand/)

Economic Upturn? 10 Questions CEOs & PROs Must Ask!

2009-09-13T21:41:00.006+01:00

With the OECD's Interim Economic Outlook published just last week, this has been a good time for many state officials around the world to declare visions of "green shoots" of economic recovery. Indeed Japan, France and Germany were reported officially out of recession (if you consider at least two quarters of positive domestic growth as an indicator).

If you are a British Member of Parliament, however, such an early prognosis may condemn you to Whitehall's wasteland and a very public drubbing along the lines of that received by Business Minister, Baroness Vadera, when she dared allude to prospects of an UK economic revival earlier this year.

No. For the moment at least, British MPs - and Labour pundits in particular - are well advised to keep stumm as the country lags the overall economic trend, notwithstanding tentative signs of UK manufacturing recovery (the strongest growth in three years during July.) Whether Prime Minister Gordon Brown's address this Tuesday to the annual Trade Union Congress will raise the embargo - and thwart David Cameron's electoral ambitions in the process - remains to be seen.

This restrained approach must not, however, be aped by commercial enterprise. Just as contingency planning is necessary in advance of an imagined crisis, organizations need more than ever to anticipate and embrace the notion of resumed corporate success - even if it currently seems to be doomed prophecy. For this is not the time for bears in the boardroom if companies are to muscle their way out of the curve and seize early competitive advantage (a philosophy echoed by corporate strategy guru, Philip Kotler and CEO Dr. John A. Caslione in their latest book, 'Chaotics', whose UK launch strategy we recently advised).

Nor, must I say, is it the time for organisations to cut their communications talent. While CEOs and senior leadership teams may be bunkered down in their war rooms, good PR professionals* - in-house or agency - are those supremely qualified and adept at raising a head above the parapet, at sounding the marketplace, at taking a long-view of horizon opportunities and shaping a more bulllish internal culture to evolve corporate success.

In an earlier blog, 'The Client Brief: When PR Agencies Fail', I mentioned that strong PR advisors would tease out the essence of what makes a company viable for the future and build strategies to create subtantial corporate reputation and growth. Certainly CEOs should already be asking themselves the following questions with trusted, seasoned PR/communication advisors driving answers in a way that builds a future corporate mission that is transformative, perhaps even revolutionary, in helping an organization re-launch itself into a deeply altered landscape.

These, then, are my top 10 questions for the current climate - in no particular order and by no means definitive:

1. Learning
"What learnings - or "gems" - have we taken from being forced from our comfort zone? (What worked? What failed? What mattered to the marketplace?)

2. Innovation
Are we embedding those "gems" throughout our product service offering, talent recruitment/retention, issues intelligence and control, corporate language? (What will be the timeline and specific action points to do so?)

3. Skills
Have we upgraded our skills to achieve more with less (for our clients/customers/shoppers/users?)

4. Proximity
Have we reinvigorated our public/social and internal employee networks?

5. Dialogue
Have we evolved our understanding of, and outreach through, their connection channels? (have we clarified internal roles/responsibilities and protocols?)

6. Competitivity
How will we organise our infrastructure and processes to secure and maintain future USP innovation and agility?

7. Value
How will we (re)structure to make our client/customer value sustainable - and understood?

8. Feedback
How will we capture and feed client/customer/public/regulatory trends and response into our continuous improvement?

9. Relevance
Is our current business model still relevant to achieve all of the above - sustainably?

10. Vision
What does success look like and how will we measure it/drive accountability?

Just as slowly as doors to opportunity open, so too can they slam shut, leaving many institutions - and their consultants - on the outside if questions about the company's future shape and role are not aired in a frank, timely and trusting environment.This is where robust, proactive PR counsel matters.

We'd be very interested in hearing whether the current climate and prospects are re-shaping the way your are interrogating your business. Or that of your clients. Please do post your insights which we always enjoy reading!

*In a future posting, I will take a look at what makes a great communications advisor and the skills they too need to survive in these turbulent and uncertain times. Please feel free to share any advance thoughts.

Image thanks to kind contribution by Alex Nolasco http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexandernolasco/382374166/

Dark Confessions of a Facebook Sinner

2009-08-25T22:22:00.015+01:00

Tonight I have committed a gross, some might even say indecent act of modern communications heresy: I have deactivated my Facebook account. It was an impulsive move and one that had to be made with a sharp intake of breath, eyes shut tight with immutable dam buster spirit. Like jumping into a plunge pool of ice water, best not to think too long about it before reason prevails and forces a re-think.

In the two hours since, I have vacillated between feelings of great liberation and a gnawing doubt that I may have consigned myself somewhat rashly to the community of laggards who either fear, reject or simply cannot get to grips with emerging and evolving technology. Will I be doomed to social - and familial - obscurity? Should I even be confessing my sin to a broader, professional public who may consider my move an indictment of my proclaimed aptitude in online reputation management? By shutting down such a pioneering dialogue channel, am I in fact kicking my own professional credibility and reputation into the long grass?

In the hot forge of my decision this evening, I am writing this blog because I need to capture the raw intuition behind my decision making along with something that, I believe, passes for a rationale.

In an earlier blog, "Time to Write Off Twitter?", I was very clear about the role Facebook plays in my own social/networking mix. Unlike Linked In and Twitter, to which I remain absolutely committed on a professional level, Facebook for me was always a 'closed community' deal. One that had strict admittance criteria for close friends and family only; a forum for domestic and trivial news share that I was always very comfortable to segregate from the more academic business exchanges I've contributed to, and profited from, through my Linked In and Twitter accounts.

Facebook is an amazingly colourful, engaging tool that I have a lot of warmth for. I know I shall miss it deeply. The applications are ingenious to bring laughter, insight and collaboration into one's personal relationships. Yet, ironically, my growing sense has been that the quality of those relationships may actually be falling victim to that ingenuity.

It just seems that the more time spent with family and friends on Facebook is less time spent on human - yes, dare I say, telephone - conversation. For this is the added brilliance of Facebook. The instant text messaging facility is just so easy! And compelling. Though not confining you to a mere 140 characters, it does mean your real-time "conversations" are so much more to the point; text messaging forces conciseness. By its clinical nature, it cuts down the more fallible nature of human discourse: emotion, innuendo, political sniping. It lends a more objective, less risk-laden and therefore, I suppose, innocuous form of discussion. It's an ideal channel for those wishing to avoid the intricacies of complex humanity and family ties.

The visit today of a close friend, whom I have not seen for a long while, threw into stark relief the sense of how much I value human interaction; of how much of it was moving away as our collective addiction to Facebook text-chatter intensifies. I'm reminded, in my brutal decision this evening, that I will never escape my nature. I'm a humanist, a communicator. Words, expression, nuance have always been the make-up of my character as well as the tools of my trade - whether I've been aware of this fact up until this point, or not.

I have always been interested in human 'presence' and reaction and know from experience that reading faces, listening to tone beyond words and pure, personal chemistry form the most powerful basis for collaborative and gratifying relationships. Tonight I realized these cannot be sustained by Facebook alone.

The PR Brief: What it Should Include

2009-07-30T20:09:00.010+01:00

In my last blog, I outlined the reasons why so many agencies fail to deliver against client briefs. One of my esteemed associates suggested that I focus this month on what a client brief should include, given that I profess a robust brief to be the foundation to building solid PR programmes - and to recruiting the right agency talent.

My thoughts may not be all-encompassing and I recognize that a degree of tailoring is always necessary. In essence, however, I have 3 guiding principles in setting up a good brief:

CONFIDENTIALITY: No brief must ever be submitted to any outside service provider without a legally endorsed NDA (non-disclosure agreement). I am happy to provide an example of this.
INTEGRITY: Extreme care must be taken not to include material of a financially sensitive nature (always worth running a brief past the IR team). An equal amount of care must be taken not to 'spin' content. The brief is not a PR document, but a frank and honest review of the company's opportunities and issues to build robust PR response.
RELEVANCE: The brief should be geared towards framing the issues and opportunities that the agency can be expected realistically to support. This demands that clients have given first thought to what their marketing/agency expectations are and that they understand what peripheral information is important in helping agencies better understand the company and climate in which they'll be expected to operate.

For me, word count does not matter. Content does. And this, in my view, is what a good agency brief should include:

1) The Corporate Story
This section must give as much flavour about the dimension, character, values and principles of an organisation to help PR agency familiarisation but also to aid external corporate positioning.

What is the company provenance/history and track record?
What have its milestone achievements been?
What are its stated mission, vision, values?
What are its key metrics (financial/geographic) and growth ambitions?
Is it a market leader or challenger?...
... And how does it shape and execute that role?
What characterizes the company's leadership and internal culture?
What is its business model and structure?
What are the company's issues and crisis alert procedures?

2) The Trading Environment
Here follows an analysis of the company's trading prospects and opportunities, coupled with a realistic analysis of the marketplace threats/issues that the agency may be required to take into account as it develops PR plans.

Who is the competition?
What is driving their strategy against the company?
Which media channels do they exploit?
What is the company's relative performance?
What is the company's market differential (eg. technology, innovation, commercial)
Where are the trading threats - and opportunities?
What are the regulatory barriers? How are these being addressed?
How does the company plan to raise future market entry barriers?...
...Or exploit current market conditions?
What is the company's product/service roadmap?
What key sales and marketing initiatives are planned over the next year to drive growth?

3) The Market Environment
This section begins to deal directly with the company's public outreach strategy and begins to provide insight into the more direct role a PR agency can be expected to play in support.

Who is the company trying to reach?
How are these audiences segmented?
What is the current company proposition/message to these audiences?
What motivates and characterises the target consumer/purchaser/specifier groups?
Which (online and offline) media channels most influence these groups?
Which other organisations (NGOs etc) also influence purchase decision?
What impact have these media/groups had?
What have been the company's past, public issues? Were they resolved?
Which marketing/corporate outreach initiatives have seen most success?
Where has the company failed to reach/penetrate its markets?
What are the company's key marketing objectives over the next 1-5 years?

4) The Internal Community
This section recognizes the interdependencies between external and internal communications planning and focuses on how the internal corporate culture can impact or promote external PR success.

How many employees are located across the company?
What are current employee engagement strategies/dialogue channels?...
...How effective are they?
What is the employee retention record?
What are the outcomes of any employee surveys? What are the key issues?
Are any major corporate restructuring initiatives planned?
How is internal and external communications structured?
Who are the key spokespeople/external ambassadors?...
... How competent or well equipped are they?

5) PR Agency Objectives
This section deals with the very specific company requirements of the PR agency and should relate clearly to the above company analysis. It should form the basis of the final agency quote and be embedded within subsequent contractual obligations. For example:

What credentials (skills, experience, specialism, contacts) must the agency demonstrate?
Which geographies will they serve?
What will be their messaging and corporate positioning contribution?
What strategic market/PR/media insight should the agency contribute?
Which markets/audiences should the PR agency engage?
What (online/offline) influencer programmes should the agency deliver?
How must the agency integrate with the business?
How should the agency evolve its client PR skills?
How will success be measured? What are the key performance metrics?
What is the budget?
How will the agency ensure transparency against spend?
How will they report (to whom, by which method, with which frequency)?

A good client brief is the precursor to any agency pitch and final selection; it sets clear client-agency expectations and is integral to final contractual obligations; it is the reference against which ongoing agency performance can be objectively measured and reviewed.

A good agency, as I mentioned in my last post, will engage with this brief, may challenge it and generate value-adding discussion to help move the company forward in its thinking.

My passion for a good client brief stems from the conviction that, without a brief, there is no performance. And without performance, the communications role will never be viewed as a robust, commercially-minded and trusted entity within an organisation. It is ultimately, therefore, a tool of professional - and personal - credibility.

(With our FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 in-company credentials, we have vast experience in setting up client briefs, including agency performance goals and metrics, as part of any PR agency recruitment or performance evaluation process. Contact us if you would like to learn more).

The Client Brief: When PR Agencies Fail

2009-06-30T15:25:00.018+01:00

Many businesses fail every day for reasons outside of the current economic climate. According to the United States' Small Business Administration (SBA), around 90% of small businesses fail within the first two years of operation primarily because many entrepreneurs lack the basic knowledge and experience to handle early-stage commercial challenges. Poor marketing strategy, where companies are unable to use their PR and marketing tools effectively to promote and sell to their publics, is cited as one critical internal threat to success.

Just this month, 'The Industry Watch' report by accountants and business advisors, Stoy Hayward, predicted that rising unemployment and falling consumer spending would cause a record 36,200 businesses in Britain to fail this year - almost one hundred per day - with no let-up until at least 2011. Wide-scale threatened job losses across Europe at electronics giant, Phillips, bear out the gloom but raise nagging doubts as to whether a more progressive consumer outreach strategy could have helped mitigate any potential loss.

As a former corporate director of communications, I've always taken extremely seriously my responsibility to lead my in-house team and out-sourced PR agencies under the common mantra that a marketing/PR campaign (or agency itself) is only as good as the initial client brief. Indeed, I would still to this day vehemently argue that a thorough brief remains the essential pre-condition to any campaign success.

The notion that you only get out what you put in holds particularly true in the client-PR agency relationship. As a former client and team leader, I would have no qualms stalling all activity until a thorough brief was documented, agreed upon internally and contractually bound along with corresponding agency performance metrics (subject to quarterly review). A good brief always makes the difference between focused and strategically beneficial activity versus knee-jerk, unaccountable action that offers little sustainable worth to a company.

What concerns me, despite having made the transition to consultancy, is that placing the entire onus of campaign success on the client's ability to brief is a distortion of a relationship that, by its very nature, should be collaborative and based on shared responsibility.

All too often I have encountered PR agencies using the mantra of poor client briefing to explain away the failure of a PR campaign to get off the ground - usually at budget renewal time and having conveniently invoiced a year's worth of activity without raising campaign issues along the way. On the flip side, this is usually when I have been called in by companies to trouble-shoot the PR agency relationship on the basis of failed expectation and zero accountability against spend. These can be highly charged, emotional gatherings where no-one - not least the organisation being served - emerges as the winner.

The notion that a PR campaign/agency is only as good as the client brief is flawed on several fronts:

Firstly, it assumes that the commissioning client fully understands the nuanced discipline of PR or audience dialogue.
I am astounded that, in this day and age, some large corporations still segregate the in-house marketing function from PR (in the same way that some micro-segregate online reputation management from social media marketing). I have been often struck by the absence of basic experience and knowledge some senior marketers - and other commissioning functions - display in such a grass-roots area of public engagement so pivotal to a company's public fortune. Whilst it's a fabulous opportunity to help educate and raise internal organisational standards in public engagement (as I've often done), it's also an open invitation to poor campaign management, wasted funds and corporate exploitation by unscrupulous PR agencies (as I have witnessed and also had to correct all too often).

Secondly, it assumes the client PR principal is an expert in PR campaign and resources management.
Whilst institutions such as the UK's Chartered Institute of Public Relations are seeking to address professional standards in the qualification and practicing license of PR executives, there is still an overhang from an era that saw executives from all walks of functional life drift into the communications role as a 'pre-retirement' holding place or where organisations misguidedly perceived communications to be a safe, soft haven to place people - for a variety of reasons. A controversial statement, I know. But I've seen plenty of examples of the effects of poor talent placement in senior PR/communication roles.

Thirdly, it assumes that the client is fully candid about their business!
It is perhaps one of the hardest tasks of any communications professional to deal with a company that refuses to acknowledge it has issues to address or opportunities for change. Yet the 'Pollyanna Principle' is rife in organisations where a fear of failure prevails. This can be borne out of a punitive corporate culture, (I know one where executives were fired if a negative press article appeared) the complacency of market leadership, the refusal to acknowledge a need for change - or out of the primitive and ill-judged belief that the purpose of PR is purely to spin good news stories as an extended form of corporate advertising.

Yes, these companies still exist. In a June article in the Wall Street Journal, 'Why Business Plans Don't Deliver', its author states a number of reasons why business plans commonly fail, citing, among other things, an 'Everything is Wonderful' belief on the part of leaders who fail to recognize potential pitfalls to their organisation's success. Failure, for instance, to acknowledge the impacts of competition, pending legislation, changing public mood, the evolution of technology and new media channels will fundamentally distort any campaign brief and set PR teams immediately up for failure. Worse still, any attempt to distort reality among the public and its serving media will carry long-term reputational damage from which it is always extremely difficult - and often impossible - to recover without fundamental leadership or corporate change.

Finally, it allows too much abdication of responsibility and passivity on the part of outside agencies.
As a client, my respect for the calibre and value of an outside consultant always rose proportionately with the lengths to which they would go to risk an incisive, thought-provoking and sometimes unpalatable question to draw you out of your comfort zone. Being provoked to a mild degree of defensiveness is a good sign of an agency capable of analysing your business, of seeing disconnects with public expectation and future trends, of delivering stark truths and guiding your company towards meaningful and positive change.

Of course, some companies and individuals will always prefer the nodding acquiescence and unquestioning compliance of an agency that has retention of that year's contract at the forefront of their mind beyond the construction of a long-term client relationship built on commercial insight and candid exchange. Equally, those companies and corporate individuals may not yet be ready to face change - and may be culturally incapable of doing so. There are plenty of well-paid, big-name PR firms already trading in that space. It is not where my company operates.

Thankfully, there are also plenty of pioneering PR enterprises staffed by passionate individuals motivated to see their clients prosper at the risk of pushing sensitivities. Equally, there are companies keen to maintain their agility and profile edge when the upturn comes and who encourage active agency intervention and strategic input.

It is always incumbent upon any outside advisor or agency to interrogate a company's brief; to cross-check the robustness of a company's position and assumptions in a changing marketplace; to unearth the gems that may not be immediately apparent to those operating perhaps too closely within an organisation; to challenge existing methods of audience outreach and to inform new dialogue channels; to help companies achieve and exceed their existing and future marketplace potential. None of which can occur without healthy exchange and proactive input by the agency into that initial corporate brief that symbolises the manifesto on which the company will secure its future public licence to operate.

Online Reputation: Tips To Navigate Disaster

2009-05-12T13:42:00.008+01:00

When an organisation finds itself 'on the ropes', deemed culpable of having committed grave oversight and dereliction of duty in its dealings with the public, it is good crisis management practice that its leaders come forward, admit the failing, deliver a personal apology and outline the precise, systematic and often sacrificial steps underway to restore trust.

It's a nerve-wracking strategy and one I've selectively counselled to organisations in crisis situations. If well managed, it is one that can take the real sting out of an issue and put a company's reputation and commercial prosperity back on track.

Within the last month, Domino's Pizza used this recovery strategy to great effect in its very own marketing nightmare. In a scandal dubbed "Boogergate", two uniformed employees at the pizza chain posted a tawdry YouTube video of one of them rolling a cheese slice up his nostril before placing it in a customer sandwich. With other gross acts performed, it spoke to every primordial, gut-churning suspicion one might have about back-room food hygiene and dubious employee practices in low-budget, fast food environments.

Effective crisis management dictates that any company should be aware and on top of an issue, having contained media and public spread and committed to substantive remedial action, within 24 hours. By these standards, Domino's response within 48 hours was sluggish.

Having sparked in the niche GoodAsYou.org and the consumer "watchdog"-style Consumerist outlets, the video made that fateful leap across to the mainstream, appearing in NBC and The New York Times. Over 1 million people, meanwhile, had watched the YouTube posting before it was eventually 'pulled'.

Nonetheless, Domino's decision to launch its own YouTube apology by Patrick Doyle, Domino's US President, will still go down as an example of classic crisis mitigation within a non-traditional environment. Despite a stilted delivery, Doyle announced assertive action that would see the local store closed, the two employees fired and placed under police investigation and top-down reviews of the company's hiring practices. Recognising its international demographic, the company moved swiftly to Australia, where its CEO, Ron Meij, relayed strong and reassuring messages about standards in its regional outpost.

It was an astute recognition of audience demographics and mood that allowed Domino's finally to recover brand image and to achieve the highest form of reputation management: turning a seemingly insurmountable crisis into a valuable learning and social marketing opportunity.

"The Challenge that comes with the freedom of the internet is that any idiot with a camera and an internet link can do stuff like this - and ruin the reputation of a brand that's nearly 50 years old, and the reputations of 125,000 hard-working men and women across the nation and in 60 countries around the world."

- Tim McIntyre, V-P Communications, Domino's Pizza, LLC.

One of the most valuable lessons in online crisis management is crisis preparedness. These are some of my top tips to help you in your online crisis and reputation management strategy:

1. Track Your Mentions

Company name/URL
Employees/Key Staff
Competitors
Brand/Product
Impacting Issues/News Themes

2. Take The Audience Temperature

Who is talking about you online/offline?
Where are they talking?
How influential/connected are they?
IS YOUR BRAND/PRODUCT WORKING?
Who else is impressing them?
Which media/communities do they reference?

3. Stay Close to The Ground

Train the team/assign media responsibilities
Prioritise outlets
Develop online company/brand tracking toolkit
Listen in to online 'buzz'/follow 'hashtags'
Evaluate what's being said (impact/control)

4. Bring the Outside World In

Define your dialogue style/persona
Build unsolicited consumer feedback channels across all "portals"
Evolve company/executive blogs, corporate Twitter accounts etc
Use social media evaluation to inform corporate & marketing strategy
Engage in value dialogue that enhances accessibility, understanding
Avoid 'hard sell' at all costs!

5. PERFORM! Structure for Agility

Establish crisis governance team
Establish satellite crisis management teams
Embed crisis alert and escalation procedures
Clarify functional responsibilities
Train key spokespeople (outlets/messaging)
Generate communication toolkits/protocols
Undertake regular scenario planning/alert tests

Where Greek Myth Meets Modern Reality

2009-04-05T20:27:00.005+01:00

It's time I posted my latest blog again and, being away for two weeks in Cyprus, I thought I would use the opportunity to escape to a remote, cobbled-street cafe in Polis and post something more light-hearted beyond my usual observations on technology and the economy. Ha! It is not so easy to escape one's predilictions, I find - even here as I sit a universe far away, it seems, from the call of the Western World digesting the rich G20 summit meal that left a rather gristly lump of further Afghanistan commitment to swallow.

I thought I might 'pen' something casually observant about the unsettling juxtaposition I find between the entrenched, "sunset stage" English expat community clearly at home here with left-hand driving - and inclement weather as it happens to be today! It is a population finding its place amidst an ebullient, though rather aesthetically decayed form of mediterranean life. For Cyprus appears to have quite a unique character.

Here, on the Northern coast in Latsi, understated fish tavernas serve an amazing array of fresh catch yet pay little homage to the precious needs of tourists looking for the usual trappings of finished boulevards and well-groomed hedgerows. Indecipherable road signs in the Greek alphabet make navigation in some parts impossible on pot-holed, half-completed roads, whilst liberal consumption of a particularly potent form of 80% proof "fire water" makes driving more precarious with locals given to test their new-found invincibility on hair-pin mountain bends.

Meanwhile, not far from Pomos , an ominous military outcrop juts over the coastline. Set among deserted hills and erected by the Turkish military to keep monitor over Greek Cypriot counter-activities, it's a hideout worthy of any James Bond villain. An expressive love of children, voluptuously-curved olive-skinned women and children further accentuate cultural differences.

From what I have seen in my short stay thus far, half-finished cement-block villas are definitely de rigeur. It has not taken long to realise that the country, a close neighbour with Lebanon, Syria and Iran, is mirroring similar Western European, if not UK-specific, issues.

Talking to long-term visitors and residents of the island, the collapse of Sterling has meant that many pensioners looking for their final sanctuary here in the sun are having to retreat back home with pensions eroded and mortgages now unsustainable. House/villa prices here are startlingly high by UK standards. The building boom that happened under past EU funding means vast tracts of natural land have been turned over for development and now remain in a state of unattractive disrepair as new purchases are abandoned and building contracts suspended under the current economic freeze.

Selling existing villas, I am told, is nigh on impossible as the market has come to expect ownership of brand-new builds. Rental markets, however, are threatened by the shrinkage in global travel and, despite being the Easter season, all seems unseasonably quiet with some local restaurant takings down 40%.

One resident bitterly reports that this has not stopped the Russians from acquiring prime land designated and previously protected as areas of natural beauty as local officials look to any forms of (multi-million dollar) income generation. Indeed, the sweep of cliffs leading to the impressive Aphrodite Baths, that once apparently afforded uninterrupted views of mythical coastline, is now entirely obscured by luxury villa and hotel developments.

It is here where I lost my mobile phone. If ever there was a good place to lose it, here it was on the dramatic shores where Aphrodite, acccording to Greek Myth, used to bathe and receive her lovers. No doubt she felt the compulsion to claim my phone to put in a quick 'come-hither' call to Adonis. Who can blame her?

Whilst once such a loss might have caused apoplexy, I find myself amazingly non-chalant about my loss of mobile phone connection. In the past, it would have felt like a limb had been severed or that my business had been placed in mortal jeopardy. It is, however, astounding to think that I can sit in a back-street cafe in an obscure part of town, re-connect to the world in a WiFi flash via my laptop, update my Facebook and Twitter accounts, log into essential emails to notify everyone that I simply now have a different channel through which I can be reached. I can sit, thousands of miles away from home, take in the atmosphere and life around me and post my 'live' thoughts as they occur to my company blog.

We are increasingly one world. United by technology and bound by common economic issues that increasingly transcend geographic borders and cultures. It somehow feels appropriate to me that the G20 summit happened when it did, at a time when I might otherwise have presumed I'd find myself here in Cyprus in a completely different world, comfortably isolated and immune from 'other world' issues.

I am not by any means a political activist, but I find some degree of serendipity in this sense of shared responsibility and united citizenship. And, of course, in the fact that I can still operate the realities of business seamlessly from the land of far away myth.

Time to Write Off Twitter?

2009-03-10T10:04:00.008Z

How Twitter compares to Facebook and Linked In and whether it's a simple, passing fad are questions that persist in the blogosphere. Just last night I found myself issuing a rapid response to that very question posted by an industry peer.

Remarkably, I've already formed a firm perspective on this since former Kodak Digital boss (virtual-world mentor, friend and demonic early-adopter, Pierre Schaeffer) persuaded me to join the site just last week. Initially sceptical, I'm now in danger of becoming hooked - with good professional reason.

In my view, Twitter is more 'spiky' in its opinion base than Facebook (generally a closed social/familial community) or Linked In (a more professional networking outlet). It is also a more virulent and unashamed social recruitment tool, allowing complete strangers to comfortably 'follow' one another around given discussion topics or themes. As such, its potential is huge in allowing individuals or corporate entities (represented in impressive scale) to galvanise and shape public opinion ; and is equally huge in leading them unwittingly to the sharp, pointy end of it - with all its consequential impact to reputation.

You may only have one or two isolated people 'following' your company's Twitter postings ('tweets') but, behind them, pay close attention to how many 'followers' they have tracking their tweets. What may seem like a passing discourse about product/service dissatisfaction between two seemingly innocuous and unrelated individuals could ignite a viral outburst of fevered debate as their disciples chime in with similar experiences, initiating their followers in turn to mobilise against the company concerned. Examples of this are well documented in David Meerman Scott's book 'The New Rules of Marketing & PR'.

This is the beauty of Twitter. Forget the trivial updates about what Maureen's dog ate for dinner. With that pyramid principle and, yes, with the characteristic Twitter profile of cross-demographic, everyday people who consume products, evaluate brands, companies and individuals on rational and often irrational grounds, we ignore Twitter at our peril as the home of potential activism.

With Twitter in particular as a social network, the Trojan horse is not in raw visitor numbers (around 235 million for Facebook (1) versus a reported 7-10 million currently for Twitter), but in the way individuals and groups - often strangers - appear to coalesce so readily around issues and conversations. 140 restricted text characters can generate a lot of vocal - and insightful - thrust!

In my opinion, it is that facility for social mobilisation that sets it miles apart from both Facebook and Linked In and that will constitute, I believe, a key differentiator as it moves into a future world where instant, opinion-based news and grass-roots activism is likely to increase rather than diminish. Here, the genie's already out of the bottle.

Whether Twitter will ultimately escape the clutches of a larger bird of prey - turning collective 'tweets' into resounding 'squawks' - remains to be seen. Site analytics company, Compete, just released 33 percent, past-month growth figures for Twitter in the U.S and revealed 965 percent year-on-year growth. Reports talk of Twitter membership exploding to 50 million visitors by the end of this year in that market alone.

Surely, it was the story of David and Goliath that taught us, never, to write off the little guy.

(1) CNet

When A Sow's Ear Will Do Fine.

2009-02-24T23:57:00.005Z

I've been reminded recently that some things, like men, can't change; nor should they. I'm convinced that as a British nation, decades from now, we'll still be bemoaning our relatively high rates of teenage pregnancy, our innate propensity to binge-drink and our ongoing addiction to working the longest hours in Europe (it is gone midnight as I post this). Aspects of our cultural reputation overseas are, let's face it, not brilliant.

However, just as putting London's Lord Mayor, Boris Johnson, in a suit fails to elevate him beyond the bumbling oaf he resembles (an opinion re-affirmed during my observations of him at the Beijing Olympics), so dressing things up to make them appear anything other than what they truly are is my top PR hate. It's called 'spin'.

Building positive perception of what exists, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter (and challenging for me, I confess, where Boris Johnson is concerned). But where does that leave a common PR calling to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear? Well, best look at what you have - a pig. Not everyone knows that they are one of the cleanest, most intelligent animals that exists. Perhaps they should be told.

So, as I sat recently sipping on a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and observing the pristine shop facades and drift of the well-heeled townsfolk of genteel Royal Windsor, I couldn't help but smirk at the 'little green man' on the main pedestrian crossing. Wrongly installed, he lit up all askew with his nose pointing to the ground and arms up-turned, making like one of the many Heathrow-bound aeroplanes flying overhead.

Did I blame shoddy British workmanship and our confounding ability, always, to ruin the aesthetics of our surroundings? The regimented part of my German psyche certainly did! Compensated simultaneously by the sardonic and very English pleasure I took in seeing such jaunty irreverance amidst such an 'establishment' backdrop.

That momentary shift in my perception will keep me entertained for a fair while yet as I reflect that some things, however irritating, are best left unchanged whilst we figure out how to more positively alter the way we perceive them.

Obama: On the Brink of Danger?

2009-01-20T20:57:00.015Z

Lexicographers ages hence may well look to the word 'deficit' and deem it to have entered common, new-age parlance from around 2008 A.D. It's as prevalent now as were the terms 'easy money', 'fat cats' and 'de-regulation' so reminiscent of the hedonistic era of Thatcherism in the 1980/1990s (Kenneth Clarke should feel quite at home in his newly appointed position as Tory shadow business secretary, notwithstanding Labour's current tenure).

The scale of the current banking deficit means that world governments are collectively having to raise a reported 1 million, billion dollars of taxpayers' money to recapitalize banks to promote even greater spend (debt) among average householders - under the guise of developing the business economy. Meanwhile, according to latest ONS figures published last week, Britain's goods trade deficit with the rest of the world stretched to £8.3bn in November - its widest margin since records began more than 300 years ago. It bears testimony to the criticism of the country as a failed manufacturing and increasingly reliant, service-based economy.

Reputation deficit, however, is a term rarely, if ever, used. It's what I would describe as the shortfall between what communities expect from an organisation - or individual -on the one hand, versus what that company or individual is ultimately willing - or able -to deliver. And yes. It too is measurable.

Too large a gap creates a toxic void that can develop dramatically without warning or it can evolve imperceptibly to corrode any goodwill towards a business, individual or regime. If left unchecked, it can mean the end of careers and personal ambition, or the collapse of any future legitimacy to operate. Obvious examples include the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the forced resignation of Richard Nixon, the abolition of apartheid, the dissolution of Arthur Anderson in the wake of Enron and dismantling of the Berlin wall.

Today marks a truly historic day in America's inauguration of its first black African-American President, Barack Obama. Backed by 92% of black American votes and by international credibility and appeal that transcends global religious and geographic divides, the hopes of so many in the world rest on his promise today to help ''remake America''.

Yet he, too, despite his considerable store of goodwill, stands precariously at the edge of a reputational abyss. Amidst the ''gathering clouds and raging storms'' of an economy in the grip of its most severe recession since the Great Depression, with a budget deficit projected to exceed $1 trillion this year, with two costly wars being waged and the American health and welfare systems under perilous strain, Barack Obama may well find the public's initial euphoria short-lived without swift, positive action and some early economic 'wins'.

For here, at the one end of the reputation scale, is the weight, calibre and values of the individual; at the other the sensitivity and enormity of the political issues faced. It may require that the American people find it in their hearts to rise above any immediate, personal concern and give him a fair chance to succeed for the scales not to tip against him - and generate his own reputation deficit before he's even off his olympian-size starting blocks. As his advisor, I would recommend that reasonable patience be his repeat, key message to the outside world if he is to overcome this first goodwill challenge to this much-needed, new era Presidency.

Digiscribble: Answer to my analogue prayers?

2008-12-02T13:39:00.013Z

Today I walked into a well-known PC store with the intention of buying a PDF writer. I left with what I now trust will be the final answer to my analogue prayers - a Digiscribble.

A "mobile, digital notetaker" using a simple memory receiver unit and "PC pen" transmitter, the Digiscribble claims to convert handwritten notes to typed text for direct processing into Windows XP and Vista. It recognises 15 languages and gets to know your handwriting 'quirks'. Clever stuff.

The effervescent in-store salesman exalted that even his scribble was legible to the receiver. Good. Because years of childhood schooling in pen poise and neat, cursive writing has been obliterated by incessant keyboard use to the extent that even holding a pen now for more than 5 minutes gives me severe finger cramps. Any hand-writing analyst could be forgiven for having serious, (and - I must point out - unjustifiable), concerns for my mental wellbeing.

After a visceral journalistic grounding that has taught me never to leave home without notebook and pencil, I am expecting much of its promised "handwriting revolution". I don't always schlep a laptop around and, in fact, often find that I become more inspired by observations and ideas when I'm out of a PC environment.

Justifying a notepad by the bedside table, ideas often have a Damascus-moment urgency about them and need to be captured there and then, wherever they grab you. This unfortunate urge to scribble last week caused me to spontaneously camp on the floor of WH Smith as if staging a lone, sit-in protest against the amount of shelf-space given over to pointless teenage celebrity biographies.

If this device can decipher my scrawl that even I find barely legible when faced with the tedious, wasteful task of transcribing it to PC; if it really can detect the 'Umlauts' when I'm penning a note to my wonderful German associate, Uschi, then I shall be proclaiming not only a handwriting revolution, but a veritable miracle!

With Friends Like These...

2008-11-12T17:30:00.009Z

I hope my non-British readers will forgive me a short but heartfelt rant on a recent and rather provincial issue. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the BBC's apparent authorisation of lewd comments left by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross on actor Andrew Sachs' home voicemail marks another twist in the spiral of disrepute into which the entertainment industry appears to be falling.

Through the force of incessant exposure, we've become somewhat inoculated against the idiocy of an industry that allows zero-talent wannabes to achieve overnight fame and million-dollar fortune for being nothing other than bizarre, promiscuous or generally inane. But the sight of two middle-aged men cavorting around with Bevis and Butthead adolescent immaturity, high on fame and assumed invincibility, is saddening. Not least, as it has probably irretrievably tainted my own perception of Jonathan Ross whom I have admired for years as perhaps one of the funniest, most sharp-witted and intelligent entertainers on the circuit. Of Russell Brand I would not have expected anything else.

I am sure that the reputation of the BBC on this occasion, despite clear managerial misjudgement, will transcend the personal ones of its two performers. But, as my German Grandmother used to say, "Show me your friends, and I'll tell you who you are." Perhaps someone should advise Jonathan Ross to choose his more wisely.

Public Mistrust: An Engine for Social Reform?

2008-09-30T15:30:00.009+01:00

Today the UK's largest mortgage lender, the Bradford & Bingley, continues the domino-stack tumble of the world's financial institutions. With £50 billion of mortgage and loan debt taken into UK Government, nationalised control, it doesn't take a Chief Economist to work out that there exists a seismic fissure in the reputation of the world's capitalist model and supporting economic institutions.

It seems inconceivable that public faith or confidence will ever be restored in traditional banking and government authorities that have seemingly failed to get a grip on rocketing energy costs, creeping stagflation and house prices that are seeing an average 7% gap in desired sales price versus value. The public is probably justified in feeling betrayed by a system that led them by the nose into massive personal debt only to then brutally pull the rug right from underneath them.

Even the much promoted ISA or gilt/bond investment markets appear to be affording little savings shelter to those who had, more sensibly, bucked the trend of instant "spend, spend, spend" gratification.

So who is there now to platform public anger around the levelling effects of this crisis that has seen City bankers lose their jobs alongside home repossessions among the less wealthy?

The anti-capitalist movement has been strangely quiet on the matter. Indeed, its own reputation and following may well be impacted by the fact that, when handed a golden opportunity to campaign its vision that "Another World is Possible", it has hitherto failed to exert any tangible influence and outline an alternative, more workable economic order beyond rhetoric.

Given the pain of the current crisis, it may be indelicate to suggest that something positive for society could eventually emerge.

In times of crisis, however, many organisations tend to adopt an often unfamiliar phase of introspection. To develop immunity under outside attack, they re-visit past behaviours, take learning's and modify their systems and actions to allow them to better counter future difficulty. It can be a painful process where they have been used to operating for so many years under a stable status quo. Yet it ultimately builds greater strength.

In the current consumer crisis, individuals will instinctively, as human beings, do the same. Retreat is a natural form of defence. It will force us all to re-assess our spending habits, re-evaluate our levels of reliance on others/outside authorities for support. And from this, whether consciously or subconsciously, we are likely to re-learn how to draw on our own resources to better ensure our economic survival.

Could it be, ironically, that it is this period of financial turmoil that will do more for societal change - for individual self-discipline, self-reliance and lessening of the social divide - than any Church or other societal institution could ever have hoped to achieve on such a global scale?

It remains to be seen, however, what this victory for the human race might mean for the future of the banking industry as it currently stands....

E-Books: A Novel Dilemma for the Modern Age

2008-09-20T15:01:00.005+01:00

The e-book has landed! The final boundary of the type-written word breached by a digital tide that has transformed the way we process, relay and absorb information. So what now? With the launch in Britain this week of the Sony Reader, capable of storing 160 novels and reportedly weighing less than 9 ounces, should we be preparing to mourn the death of an old familiar friend or celebrating the final siege of "the last bastion of analogue"(1) - the printed book?

Now I don't know if this is something to be proud of, but I am still of the generation that is instantly transported to childhood nostalgia by the musty smell of leather book bindings and reassured by the crisp sound and feel of paper between my fingers. I appreciate my leisurely reading time, unhindered by processing speed, battery life and the compulsion to squeeze in a quick read before my next client meeting.

Frankly, the issue of e-books leaves me feeling like Alice in Wonderland - a little, how should I say, schizophrenic? On the one hand, there's a Queen of Hearts inside baying to get her hands on the latest digital assault weapon; on the other, a simpering white rabbit needing to retreat down its bolt hole to recapture lost time.

But here's the rub. As that very enlightened 1939 jazz song goes: "T'aint What you Do (It's the Way that You Do It)". War and Peace on e-book? No thanks! An ability - finally - to easily decipher and digest, via a hand-held device, client literature, corporate information and briefing documentation on the move? Why, not?

In the whole communications armoury that marketing and PR professionals have assiduously developed over the last decades, perhaps the creation of a corporate e-book will one day find its place in this digital and paper-conscious age.

Back in the Nineties, at the onset of the digital imaging boom, I was part of a maverick team that successfully marketed the first consumer, Kodak DC20 digital camera - one that had no picture review screen! On that basis alone, my general belief is that anything is possible.

So, until the clever product development folks at Sony devise a fine-grain, textured e-book reader with the Seventies-style scratch and sniff aroma of leather and printers ink, if that belief means having to cross the consumer chasm (2), new e-book firmly in hand, then so be it.

(1): Amazon
(2): Geoffrey A. Moore: "Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Consumers"