Cardiff CIPR

To Cardiff to speak as their first guest of 2010 for their Rise n Shine breakfast briefings. An impressive 50+ attendees to hear my thoughts on the future of evaluation, current best practice and of course what Mediatrack was advising in regard to social media. Judging from the questions the challenges of twitter, blogs, etc are at the forefront of minds. I hope that by giving our view on how to make the interaction manageable we may have helped a few people appreciate that there are straightforward measures that when taken can prevent information overload.

Whistle-blowing: How to get it wrong

Listened with interest last night to the reports on the sale of data by T-Mobile. The first reports were followed with denials by all the leading players and a no comment from T-Mobile, the clear implication being that this was the 'guilty' party. Only later were we to learn that it was indeed T-Mobile who had drawn the attention of the authorities to the situation - surely at some point it might have been considered wise to have a statement prepared which could have been released in a timely fashion when the news entered the public domain. It could conceivably have turned this negative in to a positive.

Interested to know if T-Mobile has some crisis comms evaluation in place.

And the winner is....

Following considerable effort to demonstrate the work we do for our clients on just two pages, we submitted our entry for this year’s AMEC industry awards earlier this year. The six months passed very quickly and as winter appeared to arrive, so did the awards evening. It was certainly very enjoyable and made all the more special by our silver award for our work with Bupa, to add to the collection. Beating off stiff competition in this B2B category, the judges commented that we had positioned ourselves as “true advisers, offering honest help for the client.” This is exactly what we aim to do so it was nice to have that recognized. Now we just have to find some more wall space!

Battling into the blogosphere

In the midst of the current economic crisis, both the Labour and Tory parties are turning their crisis management techniques to their own reputations first. It was reported in PR Week that they are applying tactics to the blogosphere – that risky ground where anyone can rise up as an influential voice, damaging the reputation of an organization. However, if harnessed well it can be another powerful tool in the armory of public relations strategies. The Conservative party is using a local blogger charm offensive at its annual conference this week for example, having identified the key influencers.

This increasing reliance on social media provides a challenge for those involved in media content analysis and we have a range of solutions which we can discuss with our clients. The blogosphere is a vast arena to get to grips with, making evaluation all the more important for assessing the impact your public relations programs are having. This challenge facing public relations firms was succinctly put by Ashely Friedlein at e-consultancy.com:

“Traditional PR was mostly about focusing lots of effort on a smaller number of key influencers, for example journalists at a national or trade press, whereas online PR is now more about the intelligent and efficient distribution of content, management of conversations, monitoring of hundreds if not thousands of media outlets, and measurement. A good online PR would be like a spider at the centre of a web sensing and reacting to the slightest reverberations across its network and moving fast to capitalise on opportunities as they arose.”

Terminal 5

I had the misfortune to fly out of T5 in the midst of the chaos of the opening week. Although painfully delayed and some shocking incompetence I resisted to turn the knife via the blog - I thought that others were doing a pretty good job in creating the latest case-study in how not to handle crisis communication. It was therefore with some trepidation that I arrived for my flight to Geneva this week.

The whole experience was nigh on perfect, passing seamlessly through security to the gate, with time to buy a couple of items from smiling shop assistants. The return leg proved equally impressive, taxiing on to a stand in good fashion to sailing through passport control without a hint of a queue. As a media evaluator it got me thinking, well you would expect nothing less. Where were the good news stories about the turnaround of the terminal? - have the good ladies and gentlemen of BA and BAA been told to keep their own counsel for fear of reminding the potential customer of the previous 'challenges'. Or is it the media are simply not interested in a good news story and would rather sharpen their knives on another victim (another slice of M&S anyone?).

Media analysis on Murray

Andy Murray’s image has suffered some blows in the past particularly for his jokes deriding England and his emphasis on his Scottish heritage. In the build-up to the tournament two years ago he joked he wanted "anyone but England" to win the World Cup which didn’t go down too well south of the border and this jibe at Henman was misrepresented in the papers. A little media training would have been helpful here and indeed Andy took on a PR agency earlier this year.

Public relations in sports are notoriously precarious as reputation is based on a concoction of personality and results. It was Murray’s seemingly dour personality which has been criticized in the past as many commented that he doesn’t smile enough. There was a glimmer of a grin as he turned the match around last night beating Richard Gasquet and as he started to make his long comeback suddenly the crowd had something to cheer about. It seems the fickle public are backing him now he’s winning because let’s face it if he makes it to the semis we’ll see him as British and, as Murray commented: “once I got ahead they got behind me more than they ever have before.”

This was in stark contrast to reports earlier in the tournament that there was “hardly a painted face, union jack, Saltire or ill-advised red, white and blue ensemble in sight.” They may go as far as to put it down to his strong Scottish determination if he continues to do well, which would prove that a message can be turned on its head. It just goes to show how reactions can change overnight based on performance, which is something we often find when measuring PR impact.

As for Murray’s image it’s been said that he’s been advised to be more like McEnroe than Henman yet one spectator commented: “I preferred Henman’s personality. He belonged to a time when Tennis was a little more refined.” Henman fitted in as he was more the English gent, though he was at times criticized for being just that and labeled “boring.” The firey Scot is slowly rallying the crowd as Boris Becker remarked: “the whole country is now expecting greatness from him.” I’m backing him, but then I am half-Scottish!

Bluetongue - evaluating the latest threat to civilisation

How the media love a story that contains all if not any of the following...cuddly animals, politicians desperately trying to appear knowledgeable, a threat to the nation's health, a chance to rehash an old story. All of these came together in the latest animal health scare: Bluetongue.

The media, as one, pronounce this as yet another cataclysmic assault on the livelihoods of the farming community. Yet the facts seem to be far less interesting. The outbreak has been predicted for some time as the virus has been carried by midges across Northern Europe, and there are several approaches that can be taken to ensure the continued wellbeing of cattle, as well as milk and meat supplies. So what is the fuss all about? Well from where I sit, not a lot. The real threat to the farming industry remains Foot & Mouth and Bluetongue whilst still an unpleasant and unwelcome arrival is of considerably less significance, I would be surprised to see it appearing in the mainstream media again next month.

Evaluating the media at the Rugby World Cup

Last Friday the 2007 Rugby World Cup kicked off with a bang... on the head for Les Bleus. Overnight an exuberant, vital and excited Paris bursting with gallic pride turned to the blues (the other type) as a sense of national gloom descended. As the second half progressed and the final whistle approached the whole idea of "Mais c'est impossible!" loomed larger and larger until the nightmare turned true as Argentina defeated France, the host nation, on the opening night of this most magnificent, stylish and thoroughly comprehensive festival of rugby.

The media spotlight was intense with rugby heroes, past and present, parading before the sell-out 80,000 crowd in the imposing Stade de France, one of the best rugby stadia in the world, and in a tinge of dramatic irony also the home of the Argentinian fly-half Felipe Contepomi who tore France apart with his lethally accurate goal-kicking, for he plays his club rugby for none other than Stade de France.

But that was not the only reason why the media spotlight was intense. For a Jonah Lomu size row between the press and the RWC organising committee had erupted in the build up to the biggest day in modern rugby. Interestingly this ruck and maul has been characterised throughout as a dispute between the press and the RWC, when in reality it was nothing of the kind. In the modern world television audiences for the third largest global sporting event make or break the economics not only of the event but also of the sport itself for the sponsorship, marketing and advertising investment ploughed in pay for the development of the sport, particularly in the developing world.

Naturally, when television has paid such extraordinary sums for the exclusive rights they expect to be taken pretty seriously. And so when the new kids on the block - press media experimenting with every conceivable digital and online format - try and horn-in on the action, it seems like time for a yellow card and a ten-minute sin-binning. The RWC organising team - pressured by the broadcasters - had asked for a fixed limit on the number of digital pictures that could be transmitted from the ground which seems not unreasonable. From the reaction of many notable newsprint organisations, you could be forgiven for thinking it was time to storm the Bastille all over again. The shouts of "liberte, egalite, fraternite!" could be heard all the way from from one side of Paris to the other. The barricades were up and the tumbrils rolling over the cobbles. "It's about the freedom of the press," cried the mob, "our freedom to go wherever we want, write what we want, take pictures of what we want, in a totally free and unfettered way, so that the rights of all the free peoples of the world are protected...to buy our newspapers!" And of course it's advertisers who support newspapers and journalist jobs just as television and sponsors support the RWC.

On second thoughts, perhaps a red card would be more appropriate. Of course there are vitally important principles at stake in the true and genuine freedom of the press, but this ain't it! This is just so much cant and hypocrisy.

The battle between the social networks

Many users have chosen sides when it comes to two of the most popular networking Web sites today, Facebook and myspace.

Both sites aim to serve the same basic purpose: creating communities and connecting people with common interests. Users on both sites can benefit socially, professionally or even romantically due to the availability of information on the large population of users.

Although some users are members on both sites, many have a favourite among the two. The fight to find which site will start to lead the race has taken a distincy PR shift in recent times with the hiring of PR practitioners in an attempt to position their offerings as the safest, coolest, fastest, most accessible etc. Let us hope that they put some solid evaluation principles in place to measure their efforts.

However the time for these sites might have already passed...will we see the growth of more specific networking sites. I have so far not signed up for either MySpace or Facebook, instead I have recently joined MyRagan the network for communication professionals. Although having only dipped a toe into the site it clearly has bags of potential, with forums and offers that will certainly enhance our combined understanding of the issues facing communicators. I look forward to playing an active part in this latest forum.

Rain, Rain go away

Sitting looking at the monsoon descending outside one is tempted to think the only meaningful mearsurement right now would involve a bucket and a ruler.

What can we as evaluators suggest that could add to the debate? Well we can start on the speculation on who will be the long-term winners and losers after the deluge abates. For starters, it appears not to have been the most sensible move by the Leader of the Opposition to go to Africa when parts of his own constituency is ankle deep in brown (Brown?) water. The rumblings of his own party have contributed to a pretty poor week. Maybe someone would like to commission us to see how the media is being challenged/led by the unnamed discontents?

Meanwhile the PM looks suitably glum and adept at invoking the blitz spirit, ensuring that the Brown Bounce continues for a little longer.

As yet we have seen little coverage that suggests any ineptitude at the water companies, and the calling for the help of the army by Severn Trent may be an extremely clever move from a PR perspective. Please note I am not suggesting that this was their motivation!

In the aftermath of this I suspect that it will be a battle between Government and the Environment Agency over who feels the heat from the media.

Evaluating the blogosphere

This is currently the hottest of topics for many communication professionals.

In recent weeks we have visited several clients to discuss the impact that the blogosphere may be having on reputation and how we can effectively assist them to monitor and evaluate this for them. While there is no formulaic response for each client we have identified some key questions that need to be answered before we can deliver a solution.

Among these would be:

1. Which online media key journalists use to source information/stories?

2. Which sites people who don’t read newspapers use to find their news information?

3. How much information can organisations reasonably be expected to assimilate? (The enormity and speed of the online world makes it unlikely that all coverage is required)

The response to each of these, and numerous other, questions, will assist in forming a basis for further discussions on how projects can be shaped. Together we are then in a position to work towards a model that allows companies to effectively develop their online reputation management.

Spreading the word against AVE

Following a correspondence with another blogger, it became clear that we (the media evaluation industry) were in some way being viewed as partly responsible for the continuing use and acceptance of AVE as a measure.

As I am happy to once again restate: For the leading evaluation companies AVE is something that we do provide, but it is (for most) a by-product of the main analysis. Therefore we can, and occasionally do, respond to commercial demand.

We note with interest that while the PR industry bodies are clear in their disdain for the practice, we are still seeing AVE figures still being used in the PRide awards. Until such contradictory positions are rectified, we suspect that the demise of Ave's will be slow and lingering.

No doubt we will be returning to this subject again!