A Media Person's Musings

Manners Maketh Man

About six weeks ago a big prospect invited me to pitch for their business. It was to be a competitive pitch and they emailed over a very comprehensive brief. Clearly the company took PR very seriously.

It was all looking good until the bombshell dropped. The pitch was in 2 days time! Obviously I have accounts to look after, a business to run and prior commitments. I pointed out that this gave me very little time to prepare. As it transpired, the lady who had tracked us down had written down our name wrong when they received the recommendation and had only just found us. This only concerned me more as the other agencies would have had much longer to prepare.

However it was a great prospect and I pushed all other commitments aside and dedicated my time to creating a full professional pitch complete with creative ideas and an outline programme. The pitch went really well and they requested that I bring the entire account team in to meet with them again the next day! Trying to coordinate diaries was a nightmare but we did it and had another really good meeting. They then asked us to develop a full written formal proposal with more ‘meat on the bones’ for that Friday!

A whole week was devoted to them. They promised they would have an answer by Jan 31. We called numerous times and there was just radio silence. Only this week did I finally get through to be told that they had selected someone else. The reason they hadn't been back was that they were trying to find out a way of incorporating us in their roster. Still very frustrating!

This is a call out to anyone who is thinking of choosing a PR agency. Respect our time and treat us with respect. If a company puts time and effort into coming up with creative programmes then you should understand that it costs us in time and money. And even if you don’t like the agency or its ideas a simple thank-you goes a long way.

No PR Virgin

Over the weekend came reports of a tragic railway accident (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/24/ncrash424.xml) where a Virgin train was de-railed at 90MPH causing one woman to die and injuries to numerous others. Sir Richard Branson's immediate response was to come back to the UK from a family holiday and visit the injured in hospital. Branson took many media interviews and praised the bravery of the train driver. When one cynical Sky reporter inferred that Branson was just appearing as the CEO of a corporation who was trying to limit the damage to the brand Branson batted him away with dignity stating: "I am here as a human being".

I have long admired Branson (many people will know my Richard Branson story which I love telling repeatedly) but I have to say he set the perfect example of what CEOs should do at times of crisis - have a crisis plan, respond quickly, considerately and take visible immediate action.

The Daily Dilbert

Yesterday the Daily Dilbert caused much consternation on www.ukpress.org. The cartoon showed a PR and a journalist 'lunching' together and yet again portrayed our industry in a cynical light - implying that we bribe journalists with boozy lunches and get them just to publish what we give them http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2007916360222.gif.

Interestingly, on UK Press, the discussion also centred on lazy journalists who simply cut and paste press releases instead of thoroughly investigating a story.

This clever little cartoon encapsulated all the things that people perceive as bad in both PR and the media.

The cartoon was very timely when you consider the results of a recent PR Week sponsored debate where the motion that 'PR has a duty to tell the truth' was voted out. Martin Moore makes the point on his excellent blog (http://mediastandardstrust.blogspot.com) that If this is the view across the industry it does not bode well for a constructive dialogue between PR and the media.

It also does not bode well for our profession as a whole.

The Web Rules

The CIPR has published its terms of conduct for blogging www.cipr.co.uk/socialmedia. All very good guidelines but interestingly the CIPR hasn't brought the guidelines into the Code of Conduct to which all members must understand and adhere to. Their reason for this says the CIPR's Francis Ingham is "owing to the fluidity of social media the guidelines will sit seperately from the Code of Conduct so that they can easily be updated to take into account new and emerging issues."

When you take a close look at the guidelines, I rather suspect that they haven't been included in the Code because they are pretty much unenforceable. I'll give you an example. Considerable emphasis is given to AstroTurfing - where PRs will use social media to fake grassroots support, hence the term AstroTurf (artificial grass). The CIPR advises PROs to act transparently, honestly and with accuracy, and never knowingly mislead.

I may be sticking my head above the parapet here but we all know that there are dedicated teams who are actively seeding blogs. The internet gives people the ability to remain relatively anonymous or even create multiple identities. Frankly it is a fact of life that any media, even social media, can be manipulated in this way. Remember the phrase 'Don't believe everything you read in the papers' - well I am afraid the same can be said for social media.

An attitude of gratitude!

A little while ago I wrote a post about my dog being attacked and at the end of it I added a small p.s. to say thank you to someone who helped me and they were surprised and touchingly pleased.

It did make me think though. We spend a lot of time moaning, criticising and chastising and very little time taking the time out to say a simple thank you or well done. And, while I think about it a nice word of gratitude or encouragement is often worth a lot more to the recipient than you know.

So while I am determined to make a conscious effort to do this I  am also determined not to forget to thank those people who are always good and nice and dependable and often get taken for granted.

Bleedin' Britney

I despair! I really do. There are wars going on, genocide, political wranglings, global warming, murders and yet what have our news broadcasters been focussed on for the past 2 days? Britney Spears' new choice of hairstyle.

In our office we need to have broadcast news on all day in the background so that we can pick up on breaking stories and respond putting our clients' views across. But today I really feel like switching over to a daytime TV show or even a makeover show. Something (anything)that will give me some meaningful and useful content.

Now I know that there is an argument for a bit of celebrity 'gossip' style coverage to chop the content up a bit and make it more palateable. But that doesn't justify the drivel and subsequent 'expert comment' that has been pouring out of Sky news today. I do have more than a little bit of pity for any girl who is in meltdown, but there are people in this world with far more serious problems and far more challenging lives than this distressed Princess of Pop. And there are far bigger news stories that could and should be covered.

Meeting Meltdown!

In a previous post I put up on Weber Shandwick losing the Coke account I mused on the fact that large organisations find it incredibly difficult to communicate internally. Oftentimes its not that the intention isn't there but its the process, infrastructure and ownership.

Getting information across in an easily digestible, efficient and attractive way is an art form. Many organisations believe that the only way for groups to communicate is by having a meeting. I have seen from first hand experience executives suffering from 'meeting fatigue'. They are in so many meetings that they don't actually have any hours in the day left to do their job!

I hate to say it but I too am overwhelmed by meetings. Some clients need a meeting every week. These meetings are always valuable and I do think you get more information face-to-face but what with the time spent travelling here and there I estimate that at least 50% of my time every week is spent in meetings. And I am sure that my time could be used more productively on my clients accounts rather than on the 243 bus catching up on the latest PR Week. However I don't resent it as I think it is really important to be close to my clients business.

So what to do about this dilemma? Well one of my clients gave me a clue today. Share the burden! They make a special effort to come to our offices for our meetings when they can and it is much appreciated - even though I get teased for not treating them to the 'special biscuits'. It does make a big difference.

Got Coke? ..not any more

The announcement that Weber Shandwick (WS) has parted with the Coca Cola company came as a huge surprise. Theirs had been a long and productive relationship of 15 years and had seemed impenetrable.

What beggars belief is that WS lost the account because of a client conflict. WS had taken on the Milk Processors Education Program and executed a campaign called 'Think About Your Drink' which publicised the results of a study that showed that people in America consumed nearly a quarter of their total daily calories by drinking unhealthy beverages - the majority of the drinks were 'nutrition poor, sugar sweetened..soft drinks'.

The angry statement issued by Coke said: "WS conducted work on a programme for another client that was a direct, inappropriate and misguided attack on our industry".

It seems absolutely ludicrous that WS didn't realise this before they took on a relatively obscure small account like the Milk Processors Education Programme. I spent a long time thinking about this. Surely someone at WS thought 'hang on..we can't go out and run a campaign criticising one of our biggest clients products and industry?'

Or not. Perhaps it is indicative of how large organisations that operate in silos just don't communicate well internally. At Peppercom we put a huge amount of effort into integration and communication internally and it is a challenge. We are only 70 people and have 5 offices. For an organisation like WS this has to be a huge problem.

However - and this is where I have a problem with believeing that it was just an internal communications disaster - we are supposed to be communications professionals! WS even has 'internal communications' as one of its service offerings. And I just find it hard to believe that the team on the Milk account were oblivious to their largest client.

That's where it all looks a bit fishy..was the client wobbly already? Was it handled badly by WS? A relationship of 15 years to end over a mistake like that is a bit suspicious to say the least. Whatever the real truth is, I am sure that there is a story behind the story.

Valentines Day Survey

Today a survey came out claiming that more women than men hate Valentines Day. The survey became a topic for debate in the office where everyone had done something for their partner yet everyone agreed that they resented it somewhat and it was just commercial.

I agree but (as someone who didn't get a card, flowers or a dinner out tonight) I still think it is kind of nice to have an excuse to remind someone you love them. That said I didn't send anything myself so the theory that you get back what you give seems to hold true!

E-vil MAIL

Because I remember a time before mobile phones, email. SMS etc., I often think about how things used to be much more simple. The Internet has made the world a smaller place and has opened up a myriad of opportunities. Modern telecommunications have allowed us to do so much more work in a standard day. But I also think they have caused a world of stress too ...not only because of the extra workload but also when it comes to how you are interpreted!

I am sure I am not alone when I say that I have often fired off emails that come across as far more direct than I mean them to be. It seems that any emotion you are feeling can be amplified enormously in an email or a text message. Consequently they become misinterpreted and you end up in a whole world of trouble.

Also people seem to change personality when they write to you instead of speak to you. One of my old clients was really timid and quiet when you were with him in person but as soon as he got to his keyboard he was a lion! Ferocious!

When I look back at that time before email, when you simply had to pick up a phone to communicate, I really do hanker for it. Life really was much less complicated then.