With the rise of digitization companies now have vast amounts of information on their customers at their disposal.  Companies in industries as diverse as healthcare, telecommunications, financial services and retail, have already amassed terabytes of information about their customers.  The era of Big Data is upon us but it is not enough to have all of this information locked away in a virtual safe in a data-centre in an undisclosed location.  The opportunity that Big Data presents is the access to a treasure trove of important customer information. It presents a new and smarter way to communicate to customers.

Many large companies have already responded to the data driven revolution.  Walmart recently spent almost €300 million on the acquisition Kosmix, a California-based social media firm best known for its social media platforms which filter online conversations. Walmart believes this will help them better link data back to individual needs.  Hewlitt Packard cartridges, recently launched, a digital-fuelled content platform that has helped increase their targeted consumer engagement, awareness and in turn sales numbers.

For the communications professional one of the guiding principles for any campaign is to ‘know your audience’.  Traditionally the public relations profession has lagged behind marketing and advertising in its reliance on independent research to support the activities and goals of a campaign.  It was a commonly held belief within the industry that the ‘gut instinct’ of the PR advisor was better than the views of 10 randomly selected people in a focus group or a national survey of 100 people.  In addition traditional research was also too slow and expensive to justify its use for a small or reactive campaign.

Big Data and its analytics offer the PR industry the opportunity to take the lead amongst communications professionals.  Data driven insights, that are today available to virtually any company with a large customer base, can become the new power in the information game.  PR has always and will remain the owners of content and Big Data can present more content than a PR advisor can ever have dreamed of.  Not only is the data accessible, it can spot trends, meet evolving needs, help in the creation of new products and most of all inform the communications of an organization.  It can turn a company into a truly ‘customer-centric’ entity. It can help a company discover the right formula for growth.

Public Relations can offer organisations valuable insights into how to tell the story of their data.  Technology is driving society forward and Big Data has provided us more raw data to understand our society.  Communication is about connection and the ability to better understand the needs and values of the customer can help us to better communicate with them.

The increased fortunes of television due to the exponential rise of social media can offer us a simple insight into how this Big Data revolution is changing our world.  Television used to be seen as a solitary activity; people would come home from work and sit in front of the ‘boob-tube’ and escape the world.  Before social media this was the case.  Now shows like X-Factor and major sporting occasions like the Super Bowl have positioned television and the centre of vast, geographically disparate communities, all connecting on a deeper level than many other social occasions.  Programmers and brands have instant access to the reactions of their customers or viewers to story lines, advertisements and product placements.  This is instant, personalized, geo-located feedback.  A nimble organisation reacts instantaneously to this feedback.

The Public Relations profession must be ready to take advantage of this data driven world and offer solutions to our clients to manage their Big Data.  As an industry we must offer our clients an adaptable, insightful and measured approach all the while ensuring that the security of customer information is paramount.  Analytics is a core part of the capabilities Fleishman-Hillard can bring to our clients.  Helping our clients explore, analyze and measure the communications potential of their data is fundamental to what we offer as a communications partner. Big Data is transforming the public relations profession and Fleishman-Hillard is changing with it.

What this shows is the simplistic beauty of a compelling story.  As PR professionals, working across many varying industries and sectors, we are challenged with telling our client’s story to an external audience in a manner that garners attention and interest.  This can be an easy task when we are presented with fascinating raw material or a hard news angle but there are occasions when it is more challenging as there may not be an immediate news angle or the subject matter may be complex, turgid or specialised.  The question is, how to make it compelling?

On closer examination Vonnegut’s graph is a simple reflection of the human experience and as such it is easy for the average person to relate to it.  Good and bad fortune with a beginning and end is the daily journey we embark on as we drag our groggy heads out of the bed each morning and launch ourselves ‘once more unto the breach’.    While we may not experience such tumultuous days as Cinderella or Hamlet we do meet our own ups and downs and have to greet good and bad fortune and ‘treat those two imposters just the same’.

To follow Vonnegut’s graph we must develop compelling PR stories that our audience can relate to.   For our purposes we can replace the fortune axis with a C-S axis: challenge-solution.  This way we can present our client’s story in a way that the reader can recognise in their own everyday experience.  Each one of us is faced with challenges and in the face of these challenges we find solutions.

What makes us relevant and important to our clients is our ability to identify the challenges that our clients face, like the launch of a new product, a change of senior management, crisis situation, the discovery of a new innovation, and tell that story to its resolution.   This results in strong media coverage, positive word-of-mouth, or in certain cases the cessation of a difficult communications issue.

What is concurrent throughout is the rules of story-telling remain the same.  You must identify the story arc, the rise and fall of the line between the challenge and solution, and plot it against its beginning and end.   As we sit with our clients and listen to them talk about their organizational goals and day to day operations we must constantly be thinking about the story arc. We can identify the treasure trove of stories that may not be as obvious to an insider.

The questions we must ask ourselves are; how would the line move across the blackboard?  What is our client’s ‘man in hole’ story that people will pay attention to and react to and how did the story change over time?  The simple beauty of our profession is that once the story formed and you can visualise the story arc then pitching the story is the easy part and the result is pleasing to all concerned.

Click here to watch Kurt Vonnegut’s Youtube video

]]> http://fleishman.ie/2012/02/the-vonnegut-approach-to-pr/feed/ 0 http://fleishman.ie/2012/01/crisis-the-power-of-language/ http://fleishman.ie/2012/01/crisis-the-power-of-language/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:57:07 +0000 James Dunny http://fleishman.ie/?p=847 Read Post »]]> The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.

George Orwell (1903 – 1950), “Politics and the English Language”, 1946

Words are powerful and can be very damaging when used carelessly.  They have the power to evoke potent emotions and they can help inspire, encourage and motivate people. They can transform the world that we live in and in a crisis they can be your strongest allies or your most damaging adversary.

One should always be very careful when using words – but this is especially so in the midst of a crisis. Who can forget when, during the middle of the largest oil spill in US history, the Chief Executive of BP, Tony Hayward, said ‘I’d like my life back”?

When a crisis breaks a company needs to be particularly careful in framing its response. While attempting to assert control it also needs to be aware of the implications of the response and what it may mean in the future.  Framed properly, a trained spokesperson can use their language to calm nerves in a very anxious time and can give the impression that the company is in control and working hard to resolve the crisis.

However, there are always a number of questions that need to be answered when preparing this initial response. Can the company accept responsibility? Should you apologise for what happened? Should the statement contain emotion or should it just outline the facts in a cold and matter-of-fact manner? These questions can be addressed a long time before the specific crisis ever arises and therefore eliminate potential catastrophic roadblocks.

When writing a crisis manual a number of legally approved draft statements should be prepared. Having these to hand will allow you to respond quickly and effectively. Valuable time can be lost if the initial response statement has to be sent for ‘legal approval’.

Unnecessary delays have to be avoided. Having a debate during a crisis on the merits and implications of issuing an apology or sympathising with the family in the event of a death can waste valuable time. These debates should take place before a crisis ever arises and therefore ensure that a response can be issued in a timely and effective manner.

However, the language in all crisis communications materials should be carefully managed and reviewed. For example, has the media spokesperson been selected and trained correctly?  (Body language can be just as important as what the person says.)

Be conscious of your medium. An email to your employees may require different language to any engagement on social media.

Jargon – has all jargon and academic language been removed and adapted? The language should be simple and self-explanatory.

Respect – are the communication materials respectful of all audiences including stakeholders, employees, media and the general public

Text – are words the best method to explain what happened? It may be useful to have a graphic designer / photographer / videographer available to allow you to communicate clearly what happened in a simple and logically way.

Social media – can your press release be converted into 140 characters or less (Twitter)? Unlikely – prepare alternative strategies to allow you to engage via the Social Media channels.

A serious crisis can destroy companies and / or individuals however proper preparation combined with an appropriate response can actually help improve the reputation of both. Language is a powerful weapon and should be treated as such in all communications.

New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) chief executive Steve Tew has warned that the country’s participation in future editions of the Rugby World Cup could be under threat unless changes are made to the commercial structure of the tournament.

Tew has outlined that participation at this year’s World Cup has cost the Union NZ$13.2 million (US$10.4 million) due to the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) regulations. Incoming tours are stopped in a World Cup year and competing nations are not allowed to grant presence to their sponsors for the duration of the tournament. The IRB is set to complete a review of how the World Cup is run by May and the NZRU chief has warned that New Zealand’s place at Rugby World Cup 2015 in England could be in jeopardy if the current system remains intact.

“We think we are at a really important juncture,” Tew said, according to The Guardian. “We want a couple of things taken very seriously around the IRB table. One is the money that flows through and out of Rugby World Cup. It is well publicised that the major unions lose a significant amount of money net by participating in the tournament and that makes absolutely no sense. We lose $13.2 million worth of revenue after income from Rugby World Cup and costs are adjusted. It cannot carry on.”

Tew added: “We said at the last board conference that we needed a full review of the IRB’s financial model, Rugby World Cup commercial rules and Rugby World Cup money flows. We are waiting with some anxiety what the IRB are going to do about it. The IRB did put an extra £1 million on the table for the major unions six months ago which helped and which was appreciated, but frankly the prospects of us going to England in 2015 under the current model are very slim. We cannot continue to sign on for an event that costs us so much money.”

Tew highlighted the IRB’s protection of its official sponsors as particularly strict. The regulation is designed to drive maximum revenue from commercial deals, allowing nations outside the top 10 to secure greater funding. The NZRU is not seeking to cut into the smaller countries’ share, but Tew added: “The commercial rules for the tournament for participating unions are, we believe, far too tough, much tougher than FIFA’s.”

Tew continued: “If this was a soccer World Cup, the All Blacks’ hotel would be decked out with our sponsors until Thursday (before a Saturday game). In a Rugby World Cup, our sponsors do not get a look-in. They are very excluded. All we want is what is best for world rugby.” An IRB spokesman said: “We will continue to work with our unions to ensure that the tournament continues to balance the strategic needs of our unions with the global development of the sport.”

Clearly, the longevity phenomenon has put us in a time of real change, of great challenges and opportunities. Even the terminology has changed, we talk about longevity not aging, older people not the elderly. And of course, 65 isn’t old anymore!

With the world’s economies in a tail spin, aging populations are key issues in social and health services, taxes and growth. Older people are an enormous consumer force. In the U.S. they account for some 50 percent of all discretionary income. Contrary to some reports, they tend to be open to fresh ideas and they represent new business opportunities that will continue into the coming decades.

Up to now businesses have largely ignored the 65 plus cohort but the products and services that respond best to these consumers and tap into these vast markets for women’s fashion, appliances, housing, groceries, entertainment, insurance, new cars and home-based electronics and business products will reap significant benefits. In essence, to relate to aging populations, it is necessary to understand them. Research suggests that older people have five key needs: health; financial security; the ability and opportunity to contribute and be productive; the ability to connect with their communities; and the opportunity to have fun and to recreate. Frankly on the rare occasion that marketers focus on this group they are usually guilty of looking at them as one big block aged 65 plus. As we live to the 90s and beyond the needs of this group are vastly different.

The aging opportunity is to offer products and services to enhance and protect older people’s health and wealth, to reap the value of older workers, to benefit from people’s connection to the community and their desire to give back and to tap into the vast consumer market of older purchasers.

However the longevity phenomenon may be stopped in its tracks by the rising obesity epidemic…

As I do at most concerts, 10 minutes into the show I began my usual digital routine:

1. Check in to the venue using Facebook places
2. Tweet I am at the Roger Waters gig
3. Text friends to let them know I am at the Rogers Waters gig
4. Text friends to let them know how jealous they should be as the gig is AMAZING
5. Take pictures and text them to friends proving that I am indeed there and it is indeed AMAZING
6. Take video on my iphone and upload clip to Facebook for those I didn’t text to show I am indeed there and it is AMAZING

(Usually at this stage there has been a massive over use of the humble exclamation mark)

It was only when I reached stage 6 that I took a step back and realized that the time taken to perform this, now standard ritual, was time not spent actually watching the show! Looking out at the crowd it was evident I wasn’t the only one not fully focused on the performance as in front of me was a sea of white lights emitting from the thousands of phones, cameras and even iPads (I kid you not) people were using to record the events unfolding on stage.

This got me thinking, whilst Digital technology and social media provide us with a huge leap forward in our communications capabilities sometimes we need to step back and enjoy life as it happens, through our own eyes, not through the viewer on a camera or iPhone.

How many genuine moments are missed while we text, tweet, e-mail or check-in when out with friends? Jokes and stories just aren’t as funny if they have to be repeated to accommodate someone reading an email that they simply couldn’t wait. They can usually wait.

In our rush to be virtually connected to as many people as possible at all times we should be careful not to miss the chance to engage face to face in a personal manner. This thought has relevance to the modern PR professional. When integrating digital into any campaign it is important to remember that Twitter followers, Facebook fans and bloggers are not anonymous Digital assets but real people. We should make it a point to get to know the opinions of the people who have been good enough engage with our campaigns, why not create an event for Facebook fans where they can meet the brand up close and personal. The network we build via digital channels can be a huge asset to furthering brand messages.

As for bloggers the time to fear and revere them has passed. They are not mysterious entities we should fear in case we evoke their anger. They are people just like you and me. Why not try and meet as many of them as possible in a one to one or group setting. Ultimately you want them to give time and engage with your brand the least you can do is invest some time in them.

In a world of what seems like infinite communications channels and possibilities it is important, probably more so than ever, to remember the value of taking time to engage with influencers in meaningful and most importantly personal way when possible.

This shift to an era of digital media is nothing short of a revolution – a revolution that Ireland is fast embracing. And while the use of digital channels has been largely adopted by FMCG brands, pharmaceutical companies have been much slower to adopt many of these trends. This is largely due to the legal and regulatory environment that pharmaceutical companies must adhere to, but is compounded by the lack of best practice guidelines on appropriate online communications. But it doesn’t really matter whether you want your brand or campaign to be involved in social media, because it already is and pharmaceutical and healthcare companies must find a way to join the conversation.

The US, while operating in a totally different regulatory environment where direct-to-consumer communication about prescription medication is allowed, offers the most clarity in terms of understanding the power of digital channels. The rapid growth in social media in recent years has seen the phenomenon develop into dedicated portals for specific issues, one such area being medical social networking. Sites such as Patients Like Me enable people with the same medical conditions to interact with each other online. The site format encourages users to share information including the advice they receive from their doctor through to how effective their drug therapy is.

While Ireland is not as far advanced in terms of specific networking sites such as this, a perusal of Facebook which tripled in size in 2009 to 1.2 million Irish users, will reveal that a large portion of patient support groups in Ireland have dedicated pages where people can openly share their views on related issues. Patient support groups have recognised that this is where they can regularly and cost-effectively reach interested people on a given subject. The number of pharmaceutical companies that feature is far lower.

Another largely untapped trend that is here to stay is the use of mobile marketing. The mobile phone is expected to leapfrog the PC and television to become the first screen in people’s lives. You can see how this prediction might be recognised when you consider the mobile phone penetration in Ireland which is currently at 112%. The increase in 3G enabled mobile phones which allow for much speedier web browsing on the move has enabled the introduction of third party applications that are beginning to be recognised and developed by brands, as once downloaded to a phone will remain with the user indefinitely. In the future, the mobile phone could be used to assist with patient compliance or monitoring specific conditions with invaluable benefits to the patient.

Essentially, digital channels should be viewed as another weapon in your communications armoury and should be integrated into your overall campaign planning. The message that you communicate online should be the same as in any offline communication thereby adhering to the same guidelines set out by the Irish Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association. With this in mind, your attention should turn to a number of digital rules to keep your brand healthy.

An integrated approach. If you’re involving digital in your campaign, integrate it into the planning from the start. Digital communication shouldn’t consist of a bolt-on component to your offline campaign, it should run throughout the campaign utilising the various online channels.

Know your audience. If you’re trying to reach 60 year old men with a disease awareness campaign, digital channels may be less compelling for this audience and should be ranked further down in terms of overall importance in the campaign. Of course, this has always been fundamental to any communications campaign.

A picture (or video) says a thousand words. Attention levels on the internet are far lower than with print media so to communicate your message effectively use far more images and video. YouTube is now the second largest search engine after Google so make sure your brand or campaign features on it.

Adopt an outside in approach. Don’t use digital channels to simply advertise your campaign. A press release that sits on a Facebook page will not engage the reader. If your message only benefits your brand or campaign, it will be rejected by your intended audience.

Stay true to the principles of social media. Social media is about sharing. While you might not be able to use all of the features and functions of social media, you should try to allow some level of customisation or interactivity for the end user if you wish for them to return.

Recognise the value of digital communications. Online communications is an incredibly cost-effective way of segmenting your message and audience to ensure that the most relevant information reaches each group. For instance, a breast cancer awareness campaign can be tailored so as a woman who is just interested in signs and symptoms can read different material to that of a woman who has been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. This is not just common sense, it demonstrates integrity on the part of your campaign in communicating a sensitive message.

The US Food and Drug Administration are currently reviewing the area of social media with a view to providing guidance on appropriate use of social media and this will undoubtedly provide a clearer picture for the future. In the meantime though, your brand or campaign can’t afford to dismiss digital media out of hand. It is here to stay and participation is key if you want to stay relevant to the new consumer.