It Aint Yo' Daddy's Crisis Communications

Great grand-daughters and great-grandsons of P.T. Barnum. An apology for not posting. Things have been manic. Some thoughts on crisis communications that struck me as my Marketing Magazine deadline approached. Read on, enjoy (and comment!)... 

At some point in a darkened room, a wise and learned soul sat down and created the original PR crisis communications course. Much like a cherished family heirloom, this course has been handed down through the generations and across the agencies, tweaked occasionally, but it essentially says the same things.

It tells us the first 24 hours is the only 24 hours. It tells us (and misleads us slightly) that the Chinese character for crisis is a combination of the characters representing "danger" and "opportunity".

It reinforces that crises can smoulder or be sudden, that understanding the news cycle is critical.  It also instructs that candour is one of the best tools in an executive's arsenal.

It is a sad reality that this document too often dusted off once a crisis has hit - or following a poorly managed crisis. The challenge is that today the dynamics of crisis have changed. Social media has turned some of the old rules on their heads. While we happily extol the virtues of social media's ability to enable business through (jargon alert) appropriate community engagement, the darker side of social media is often glossed over even ignored.

Several recent events have hopefully slapped the collective faces of companies that happily employ the "ostrich approach" to crisis management. The first relates to Domino's Pizza. This decades-old global brand reinforces an image of fresh, hot food prepared by happy, enthusiastic workers. It received a wake-up call on April 12 when two employees felt compelled to post a video to YouTube showing them performing various unsavoury acts on food products. See the video (TV news coverage here); you'll know what I mean. 

What's interesting is that prior to the age of YouTube, such a thing may have been limited to a video cassette played at frat parties. But within 48 hours, the offensive video had been viewed millions of times. Domino's did many of the right things in responding - it posted its own YouTube video, and replied directly to the blogger that broke the story.

The company - and hopefully others like it - learned a lesson in how easy it is for idiots with video cameras to cause a brand considerable damage. 

Another topical crisis that has raised questions over the role of social media in a crisis is the recent Swine Flu / H1N1 outbreak. Social media flavour of the month Twitter came under fire for spreading misinformation. Such was the level of incorrect tweets, that mainstream media saw it as an opportunity to quite rightly raise questions over Twitter's credibility.

On the positive side, the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) has used Twitter as a force for good to spread reliable and accurate information. Its followers have grown from 2,621 (April 23) to 249,940 (June 6).

A third example of social media's ability to amplify a crisis comes from the god-mother of e-commerce, Amazon.com. In April, social media channels were full of the news that sales rankings and search results for gay and lesbian books had disappeared from Amazon's website.

Amazon did itself no favours by telling the Associated Press two days after the fact that the error had been caused by a glitch in the system. A new Twitter hashtag (#glitchmyass) and twitter user quickly appeared - symbols of the community's distain over Amazon's actions and response.

So, what to do? Traditional media channels are increasingly feeding on crises and issues that break through social media. Channels such as facebook, twitter and YouTube have become trusted sources - but their ability to misinform or mislead is as powerful as traditional media's historical ability to credibly inform and lead. 

There are three fundamentals that all companies need to take on board

today:

Be vigilant: Understand the social and traditional media landscape and monitor for issues in real time. This is commonsense, but companies are still being surprised. Make sure employees' actions in social media channels are also under review.

Fish where the fish are: Ensure you have a credible presence in key social media channels in advance. Just as with mainstream media, a crisis is the worst time to make a first impression. Companies need to be part of key communities if they hope to secure support in times of crisis. 

Change plans: Unlike the crisis plans of old, don't wait until the crisis to bring it out of the drawer. Crisis preparedness needs to be part of the daily communications mix - starting with something as simple as listening to the conversation that's already going on 24x7. 

- Jeremy

PR versus advertising - the battle rages on

I put together these words for Marketing Magazine - a new take on a perennial debate...

US merchant, religious leader, political figure and "father" of advertising, John Wanamaker, is often quoted as saying "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."

I think John would be scratching his head today - as are many communicators - when asked to justify a modern communications mix. In the past, the leap of faith that dictates that noise in the "free" media and buying ads equates to marketing success has kept many a marketeer employed. But the current global unpleasantness has put every dollar, ringgit, or renimbi under scrutiny that we haven't seen since the post dot com crash days. 

Today we face CEOs who, over the past few decades, have become accustomed to measuring PR and advertising success in the same way you assess fish at a wet market - by the kilogram (of press clippings and ads). Their complimentary marketing programs floated in harmony, mysteriously above and below a magical line.

These same CEOs are now being also being asked to comprehend Facebook groups and Xiaonei pages, tweets with twitter, discussion forums and BBSs, and being told to blog until they can blog no more. 

And when, as is common in these difficult times, they ask what the return on this increasingly complex investment is, all the smoke and mirrors in the world won't protect the un-informed marketing manager.

In an attempt to help our clients answer some of these questions, my company, Text 100, did some digging. Realizing that an unfortunate by-product of tougher economic times is a reduction in marketing spend, we tried to figure out the role that public relations plays in building brand value. How? By assessing the statistical relationship between media prominence (measuring prominence of mentions in unpaid media) and brand value for the 100 companies in Interbrand's 2008 Best Global Brands report.

While I'm not a statistician (and have no desire to throw gasoline on the advertising versus PR fire), the results were interesting on several levels. Overall, we found that how often a company appeared in the press accounted for over a quarter of its brand value. The survey (fact sheet here) determined that the more complex the product, the smaller the role advertising played in its brand value. Net-net, a sizable amount of brand value, particularly for high involvement industries, is tied into media coverage.  

So...PR is good for complex products and makes a difference. But just how good is it? A recent Neilson AIG study concluded that advertising builds confidence in financial brands in crisis. In essence, they determined that those financial institutions that spend more on advertising will maintain more consumer confidence than those that pull back.

Not rocket science. But check out this data, buried under a sub head in the press release. "When asked what factors would increase confidence in the safety and soundness of their financial institution, respondents cited:

- Seeing regular advertising for that institution (25%)

- Receiving regular mail or e-mail offers from that institution (25%)

- Regularly seeing internet offers/advertising from that institution (21%)

- Reading positive stories in the press about that institution (44%)" 

Read that last bullet again. It clearly states that reading positive stories in the press bolsters much more confidence than seeing regular advertising. 

Defence exhibit number three, your honour. TNS study on brands in the digital world provided a couple of choice factoids. When asked what types of digital media have you seen being used, respondents cited dedicated websites, sponsored content, banner ads, popup ads and email as their top five. But when it came down to what people actually trusted, only manufacturers' websites appeared in to rate highly. 

The ad spend went into channels that weren't trusted. Recommendations from friends and family, independent reviews in publications, expert product reviews from websites, product labels on packaging and consumer reviews from websites were Asia's most trusted channels. So, if you rightly assume that trust is a big part of purchase decisions, then channels that fall under the PR domain are the place to spend your money. 

So, is it PR = good, advertising = bad? No, I don't think so. But I think in a time of greater scrutiny, any decision needs to be measured on its ability to create or boost stakeholder confidence. We're talking to the most media savvy generation in history. Advertising will always play a critical role in creating and changing perception. But if you want to create confidence and community, the PR spend seems to fall into the half not wasted.

- Jeremy

Measuring PR success

The good folks at PublicAffairsAsia recently asked me some questions on PR measurement (which has always been a pet topic of mine).  Here's the resulting article. My full responses follow...

How has evaluating PA (public affairs) activity changed in the last five years?

There has been a significant shift in measurement over the past five years, but it is inconsistent across companies. While some are using sophisticated tools like Biz 360 to measure output, many still rely on out dated (and discredited) techniques such as ad value equivalency. In North Asia, many still rely on character counting and the volume of clippings as opposed to more sophisticated action and message or tone oriented metrics. On the positive side, companies are increasingly not just measuring their own output, but also assessing competitors’ performance.

Is there more demand for quantifying PA work and what are the drivers behind it?

Yes. The global recession has forced companies to look very closely at their marketing spends. This means the need to demonstrate return on investment has become significant. Critically, the ability to make a connection between marketing activity and business or organizational change is vital.

The impact of the credit crunch on evaluation.

As above, there is more and more pressure for better evaluation. Ironically, this is coupled with a smaller spend. So evaluation techniques using free web tools are becoming popular. Companies are increasingly compromising holistic measurement, and looking at representative measurement of campaign success.

The role of evaluation in Asia....

Becoming more important as more sophisticated marketers come into management roles. The large global measurement companies are improving their double byte character support and this is making global best practice measurement possible in Asia. This is leading to better analysis and forcing communicators and agencies to demonstrate a better connection between their programs and the business as a whole.

The future trends behind evaluation processes....

The future is more, real-time assessment. Online dashboards will replace monthly clippings books, allowing for campaign decisions to be made in real-time (as opposed to waiting for a monthly or quarterly review). With better data and analysis will come better, more quantifiable results.

The Revolution Will Be Tweeted

Some ramblings on mainstream media's newest darling, twitter. This ran in the latest issue of Marketing Magazine in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. As an aside, I find the headline especially telling as just this morning, the New York Times reports that anti-government protests in Moldova were "fueled" by twitter. Read on... 

Twitter's success is testament to the social media tenant that everyone can publish. With the entire online population empowered to report, stories will increasingly break online. The new model seems to be Twitter stories leading to more in-depth analysis in traditional media channels.

These channels are also seeing Twitter as a source of content and viewer collaboration. Sky News has appointed Ruth Barnett as Twitter correspondent, and increasingly Twitter is being used by broadcast outlets such as CNN for real-time talkback (twalkback?) on topics of the day.

But when journalists themselves turn to Twitter, you have to wonder about the way in which news will be broken. Reuters editor in chief David Schlesinger in effect scooped his own company when he tweeted George Soros' Davos statement "the global economic collapse could end up being worse than the Great Depression" - ahead of posting over the traditional Reuters wire.

From a corporate perspective, there are more and more tales of Twitter-centric business and branding success.  Dell, for example, is widely credited to have used Twitter with producing US$1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts. In essence, people who signed up to follow Dell on Twitter received messages when discounted products became available from the company's Home Outlet Store.

When under attack for a bad taste advertisement that showed a cartoon calorie committing suicide, PepsiCo turned to Twitter.  In response to criticism, Communications Manager Huw Gilbert, tweeted: "Huw from Pepsi here. We agree this creative is totally inappropriate; we apologise and please know it won't run again."

Twitter critics saw the post as a positive and authentic response, and were generally supportive of Pepsi's quick action.

So what does all of this mean for those of us in PR? Will Twitter go the way of the dodo? Is it bubble waiting to burst? A qualified "highly likely" to both, but the reality is, the growth and popularity of this tool and similar services such as China's fanfou, Taiwan's buboo, and Thailand's Noknok cannot be ignored.

Twitter offers companies a chance to foster conversations with their key stakeholder audiences. Whether it be journalists (who are increasingly tweeting themselves) or customers, a tweet or direct message on Twitter can help create both an instant response and a initiate lasting relationship.

Whether through 140 character Twitter pitches, real time updates from events, direct customer communications, breaking news, early alerts on issues, or growing maintaining relationships with influencers and constituents, it seems if the answer to "What are you doing?" isn't "spending time on Twitter", you're missing a trick.

Gee Whiz - Social Media!

Short rant to start the day. Noticed a couple of headlines in my RSS feeds:

Microsoft Turns to Social Media to Promote Internet Explorer 8

and 

International bishops seminar considers 'new media'

Is it just me, or is anyone else wondering why these are still coming out as news stories? Perhaps I’m a little close to this, but it is starting to remind me of those old Web 1.0 press release we used to write when our clients first opened their websites.

Hoping soon that the discussion can move from “gee, social media” to here’s what communication looks like – forever.

Side note, spent some time in the company of colleagues from other agencies last week. A little surprised to hear some are still keeping social media expertise in walled gardens within their businesses.

From my POV, that’s backwards looking. While specialists are good to have, all PR consultants need to be rounded communicators – and that means being able to advise with confidence on all channels – social media, traditional media, influencer, internal…

 

-      Jeremy

It's official - PR is more powerful than advertising in building brand value

From my employer Text 100 and our analytics arm, Context Analytics, a new study demonstrating the value PR plays versus advertising. Full study is here. Key findings...

• Companies must closely manage what is perhaps their most valuable asset – their brand – and this study helps executives quantify the impact public relations has on their brand value
• Findings reinforce that PR and communications are important and cost-effective tools that deliver real business value – often at fractions of the cost of advertising
• The Media Prominence Study brand value based on Interbrand’s 2008 Best Global Brands report, show that on average 27 percent of brand value is tied to how often the brand name appears in the press
• In industries that involve more research before purchases are made, public relations can account for nearly half of brand value. For example, in the computing industry, media prominence accounted for 47 percent of brand value, or 16 times that of the personal care industry.
• The more complex a product is to a buyer, the more likely they are to research the product category and to look for information they can trust – from editorial content rather than advertisements.
  

Interesting (and very timely) stuff...

- Jeremy

5 social media suggestions (in 200 words or less)

Recently had in interview with the Shanghai Business Review. They asked for five social media suggestions and gave me 200 words. My response follows - have I hit the nail on the head?

1. Understand your objective and audience

Social media isn't a “silver bullet” for communications. You need to understand your business objective, audience, and what influences them. If the answer is "social media channels" then add social media to the communications mix.

2. Understand the social media environment

Map out the social media landscape before starting to engage in these channels. You have to understand the conversations before you can join them. Remember, the internet is littered with the carcasses of dead blogs!

3. Prepare your spokespeople

Engaging in social media relations is quite unlike traditional media relations. Your social media spokespeople are unlikely to be your MD or CEO. Whoever steps into this role needs to understand the dynamics of peer media conversation.

4. Say after me “be authentic”

Social media revolves around human conversations. If you think channels such as blogs, social networks or discussion forums are places to post press releases or yell about discounted wristwatches, then go back to step two.

5. Measure, measure, measure

Social media is very measurable, with anything from share of voice, to tone, to number of posts and comments able to show success. My advice is to start small, and add new metrics as your confidence increases.

Thoughts?

- Jeremy