Archive for the ‘Horizon Management’ Category

Real values, mission, organizational culture drive crisis PR – a collection of case histories

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

New Road Ahead

Posted by Tom Gable

The Wall Street Journal covered the Penn State crisis and Jason Gay, who usually lights up the fun side of sports, writes that they are dealing with much deeper institutional issues than simply getting on the gridiron and starting the healing process. Questions remain. He asks for answers. But beyond that discovery process, any institution, individual or organization under fire needs to speak to evoking change, what it will look like in the future and how it will make a difference in all that it does.

This brief preamble leads to providing links to six posts in the past 18 months on different elements of crisis PR, case histories and a few recommendations on steps to take at every level – from the corporate suite to the Twittersphere and blogosphere. As noted in the headline: real values, mission, organizational culture drive crisis PR. Get it right internally, then tell the world.

 

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Eight Easy Ways to Damage Your Brand Image, Lose 1 Million Customers and $8 Billion in Market Cap the Netflix Way

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Blowing up the Brand

Posted by Tom Gable

Recent analysts reports, coverage in the major media and the Twittersphere are being less than kind to Netflix and its two recent corporate announcements: raising prices by 60 percent; and coming back two months later to apologize while announcing the split of the company into two (Netflix and Qwikster). In looking at it from a strategic planning and PR perspective, the best companies incorporate image as a part of corporate strategy, especially when one has built such a strong brand. They do things right and also do the right things. Netflix appears to have advanced toward bursting its own brand bubble through eight easy steps:

  • Raised prices seemingly without much consideration for the existing customer base, its needs, wants, expectations
  • Went for a big number rather than incremental increases
  • Provided a rationale that didn’t ring true and made many long-term customers feel betrayed by the brand
  • Did it all top down and one-way in a CEO voice rather than human voice
  • Didn’t join the conversation; didn’t use social media to actively engage its many audiences
  • Waited a couple of months to apologize and then do it with an amazing lack of sincerity
  • Seemingly as an afterthought, changed a successful business model to confuse customers, analysts, and the stock market
  • Gave competitors openings to attack, reposition the company, declare pricing advantages

And if you are really successful, here’s what you can expect: 50 percent drop in stock price and market capitalization, enmity versus admiration, lack of support in the financial community (buy and sell side analysts), a zillion Twitter and Facebook comments, a Hitler meme or two, and confusion among consumers on how to order and from whom when you split the company, create a new brand name and dilute the brand image.

David Pogue, columnist for The New York Times, parsed the apology:

“Ah. O.K., good. We’ve seen this movie before. Corporation bumbles, apologizes, makes things right. Business schools take note. Life goes on. But this time, Mr. Hastings did not follow the formula. He only pretended to. He goes on to say that the new higher prices will stick — and, worse, Netflix is about to break off its DVD-by-mail feature into a completely separate entity, called Qwikster.”

The PR and marketing blogs offered good insights.  Mr. Media Training cited six reasons why the apology failed.  Liz Goodgold, of Redfirebranding, provided four ideas Netflix should have used before going down the primrose path to greater profits.

In summary, another NYT story delved into the reasons for raising prices (to generate more income for acquiring content from the major studies for streaming). The “self-inflicted” wounds could have been avoided with better planning for an integrated and strategic evolution of what were in actuality major change initiatives at Netflix.

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Crisis PR, Horizon Management, In the Beginning, Social Media | Comments Off

Biggest Issues for PR 2.0, 3.0 and Beyond?

Monday, August 8th, 2011

Future PR News?

Posted by Tom Gable

In advance of a workshop on “Managing For Results” at the annual PRSA Counselors Academy spring conference, I conducted a survey of attendees on the most important issues facing agencies in the U.S.

The survey listed 25 current issues and trends in the public relations profession. The top rankings from the Counselors Academy workshop were:

  1. Connecting PR to the C Suite
  2. Demonstrating ROI
  3. Measuring Results
  4. Providing Authentic, Strategic Counsel
  5. Mastering Social Media
  6. Recruiting and Retaining Talent

The survey has just been updated to include PR practitioners on the client, agency and academic sides of the desk. Please provide your input so we have a large sample size to work from. A link to the survey is being posted here and also linked to from different professional groups and sites.

Many thanks, in advance, to all who participate. Results will be shared in articles, future workshops for the PRSA Counselors Academy, and in the Fifth Edition of The PR Client Service Manual, Managing for Results, to be published later this year.

 

 

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Social Media the New Sock Puppet? Or Part of a Strategic PR Tool Kit?

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Tool Time

 

Posted by Tom Gable

The blogosphere, Twittersphere and mainstream media are waking up to the fact that the hot new item they fell in love with not too long ago is starting to remind them of infatuations of old. The packaging might be brighter, more exotic and stimulating to the senses. But this hot new item could be a time sink; with hours and days disappearing with little of value to show. Yes, the titillation has been stimulating. But could this hot item simply be distracting us all from more serious, important and strategic activities?

Sound familiar? Remember the first encounter with The World Wide Web and Mosaic (pre-Netscape)? Then came Netscape, email, Yahoo, Google and a million new websites that bragged about capturing eyeballs (but no income), ad infinitum. Many firms, Gable PR included, succumbed to the siren songs of the web. So many pretty new faces are now tired or gone. Is the hot new item – social media – heading for the same fate?

Experts seem to agree that we are seeing the evolution of the social media phenomenon into the development of a commoditized set of tools to add to the PR arsenal for strategic use as needed.

Peter Shankman, of HARO fame, wrote that he would never hire a social media expert, and neither should you.

“Social Media is just another facet of marketing and customer service. Say it with me. Repeat it until you know it by heart. Bind it as a sign upon your hands and upon thy gates. Social Media, by itself, will not help you. We’re making the same mistakes that we made during the dotcom era, where everyone thought that just adding the term .com to your corporate logo made you instantly credible. It didn’t. If that’s all you did, you emphasized even more strongly how pathetic your company was.”

The Sysomos blog offered this guidance:

“In simple terms, social media as a standalone activity is coming to an end. If you are a social media consultant, you need to be really, really good at providing strategic counsel, as well as have in-depth knowledge of the tools and services need to execute tactically. For everyone else, they will need to offer than just social media strategic and tactical services. Instead, they have to offer services that embrace communications, marketing and sales strategies and goals.”

Even Steve Rubel, who grew up being a social media consultant and blogger ubber alles, noted that:

“It was fun while it lasted. But I totally agree that the future is all about integration. We need more systems thinkers who can see the big picture.”

I led a workshop at the recent PRSA Counselors Academy annual spring conference where we discussed PR as the ultimate platform for building image and reputation and social media as part of the tool kit.

The metaphor was PR as the Internet of communications. PR starts with a solid, authentic foundation using traditional methods (e.g. Media relations) and then layers on new applications (websites, email), leverages off other platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and connects with people from all angles to move perception and behavior in the desired direction.

The senior PR counselors attending the workshop agreed that the “start” button for authentic PR was strategic planning brilliantly synchronized to support client business and marketing goals. The strategies, tools and tactics can be far-ranging to support building reputation and driving results with multiple target audiences. The obvious basic list included internal relations, pro-active media relations, social media integration, special events, breakthrough promotions, cause marketing, community relations, trade relations, investor relations, speaking engagements, conferences, trade shows, crisis PR and issues management.

In delving deeper into the hottest topic – the social media component – the Counselors discussed media disintermediation and the rise of what was characterized as the PR Publishing House – a powerful emerging force in marketing communications and public relations. Think of PR as content developer for many communications products, all integrated within unified themes. PR pros serve as creative directors. They develop their own editorial calendars and control multiple channels that bypass traditional media filters. When done strategically, the work of the PR publishing house advances education and knowledge, building trust and credibility through authentic conversations in a human voice that build long-term relationships.

What’s next? The gurus noted the end of the social media gurus, which does have a touch of irony to it. The workshop talked about communications at the speed of light and the two-second news cycle. There will surely be new layers of digital tools that drive faster actions and forms of communications we haven’t yet imagined. And it will be up to the PR pros to manage those new tools within a brilliant strategic context.

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PRSA Counselors Academy Confab Drives Authenticity, Values; Sharp Contrast to Facebook-Google PR Fiasco

Saturday, May 14th, 2011

PR Pros

LAKE LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Senior counselors from throughout North America gathered here May 12 through 15 for the annual spring conference of the PRSA Counselors Academy, which produces a content-rich program each year aimed at sharing knowledge and setting new standards for the public relations profession.

The program was packed with sessions on the importance of PR evolving as a vital, authentic, strategic force in helping clients of all sizes build long-term images and reputation. Experts covered how to translate solid corporate values to many audiences and walk the talk with no empty claims or unethical tactics.

This was in sharp contrast to the negative coverage being given one of the larger PR firms in the country, Burson-Marsteller, for launching a whisper campaign on behalf of an unnamed client (later revealed to be Facebook) to get media to report that a Google Gmail feature ostensibly trampled the privacy of millions of Americans and violated fair trade rules. The PR fiasco soon blew up and was covered in USA Today, Media Bistro, New York Times and many other outlets.

There was concern that the Burson fiasco would be damaging to the overall image of the profession. But this dissipated as the counselors delved into the programs that demonstrated the growth of the profession in driving strategic and authentic PR programs for clients of all sizes, shapes and needs.

Yours truly was part of a workshop that included a focus on image as a part of corporate strategy. Establish strong core values – what do you stand for – and then demonstrate proof of principle over time (e.g. if you are a high-quality, community-oriented company, how do you demonstrate those values?).

Think about core values as the essential element of building any image and reputation for the long term, like carbon in the universe.

The mission of strategic PR is to delve into the heart and soul of an organization to tell its authentic, credible stories through multiple means and build reputation for the long-term. Agencies use a robust arsenal to achieve the strategic mission, which can include; changing perceptions and behaviors, positioning new companies, repositioning companies that have become stuck, launching new products and services, building brands, managing a crisis, driving value and much more. Processes, built on a foundation of solid values and corporate culture, build image over time.

Other sessions delved into: how to grow counselors, not tacticians; approaches to delivering stellar client service;, integrating new approaches into multicultural strategies; taking control of your reputation in the new stakeholder economy; and new strategies in media relations measurement.

Janet Tyler, president of Airfoil Public Relations, Detroit, conducted a session on value-driven leadership and translating personal values into brand strategies. The concept: establish core values, which are used to build vision and mission. She provide a list of 374 traits, attributes and values and asked the audience of senior PR counselors to identify 20, then prioritize to their top five. From there, she suggested that they adapt those values to the everyday operation of their firms. Her firm, a hot tech shop with some 60 on staff, listed: collaboration, accountability, learning, leadership, service and fun.

Janet said the values are then applied to three key elements for driving the firm: people, processes and performance. The values are used to differentiate and connect with clients. Airfoil also consults with clients getting their values aligned with stakeholder needs – the heart and soul of authentic PR, which was evident everywhere at Lake Las Vegas during the conference and spoke volumes about the profession.

(Search Twitter using #caprsa for running commentaries on the sessions, links to valuable information)

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Cultural and Other Changes Needed First at Japan Nuclear Plant, then Crisis PR

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

Image Meltdown

Posted by Tom Gable

The unfolding disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant in Japan will inevitably be positioned as a monumental crisis PR challenge to be addressed by the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company.

That comes later. First, TEPCO needs to solve its management and culture crisis – a situation perhaps worse than what came to be discovered about BP as the oil from its ruptured rig spread throughout the Gulf Coast.

The concept is simple. As management guru Peter Drucker noted decades ago: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

TEPCO failed on many fronts in doing things right and also doing the right things – the foundation for positive PR. The Wall Street Journal has dug deep and found a history of failures at the “trouble prone” Daiichi plant. Worse yet, when the earthquake and tsunami struck, the WSJ and New York Times reported that TEPCO hesitated to flood overheating nuclear reactors with seawater because of worries about ruining their investment, even though those steps were included in their emergency plans. The media reported other delays in taking action by the Japanese government, the military and other agencies.

Crisis PR? Yes, plus extensive reputation management after management resignations from TEPCO, criminal indictments, civil lawsuits and pledges by the new management team to make things right and maybe do the right thing.

Then, they face the biggest PR challenge: can they deliver on the new promises?

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Shopping List for Inspiring Books on PR Creativity, Management and Innovation

Friday, December 17th, 2010

New Morning

Posted by Tom Gable

The SmartBlog on Workforce wrote that some of the most interesting conversations between business leaders tend to start with the question “what are you reading?” It created a forum that asked everyone to contribute ideas on “books that keep your forward-thinking wheels turning.”

It asked: What have you read that has made you a better leader?

The responses included classics from the field of management, war, leadership and even a few pieces of fiction. For PR, I went back through books we’ve found most helpful over the past 35 years in managing our own business and also better understanding the thinking and needs of the entrepreneurs we work with in different industries (biotech, high-tech, medical technology, renewable energy, wireless, etc.). Despite the wide variety of educational disciplines required to succeed in these different industries, several common traits emerged:

  • The creative mind is always exploring beyond the boundaries of his or her areas of expertise and comfort
  • There are no new ideas, just combinations of other ideas that can magically transform something as yet undefined and vague into a brilliant concept for the future
  • Be prepared to fail (Thomas Edison said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”)
  • The best companies – from start ups to Fortune 100 – have both cultures that encourage creativity and established systems to keep all the elements moving forward toward measurable, desirable results
  • Good systems and leadership can turn C players into B players and B players into A players

As Michael Gerber wrote in E-Myth Revisited, the systems run the business and the people run the systems. The way we implement using the systems provides a clear means of differentiating. Gerber notes that your business model can provide consistent value to your clients, employees, the community and all others you touch — beyond what they expect. So create the system where average people can achieve extraordinary results.

From that preamble, here is a shopping list of books to get your creative mind exploring new and possibly unfamiliar territories or revisiting classic concepts. The combination should stir brilliant new thoughts and perhaps a bigger vision for 2011, with new tools to make the vision a reality.

  • The E-Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber (organization and systems for the entrepreneur, creativity and vision)
  • Borrowing Brilliance, the Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others, David Kord Murray
  • The 500 Year Delta, Jim Taylor and Watts Wacker
  • Innovation – The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want – Curtis R. Carlson and William W. Wilmot
  • The Diffusion of Innovations, Everett Rogers
  • The Innovators Solution, Clayton Christensen
  • Jamming – The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, John Kao
  • High Output Management, Andrew S. Grove, 1983 classic on the team ethic and the theory of assumed responsibility
  • Organizing Genius, Warren Bennis
  • Built to Last, James Collins and Jerry Porras
  • Reputation, Charles Fombrun
  • Flawless Consulting, Peter Block
  • Keys to Success, Napoleon Hill

Happy reading!

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Nine Tricks for Managing the Daily Crush in a Busy PR Shop (or anywhere else)

Friday, November 19th, 2010

Getting It Done

Posted by Tom Gable

The follow hints for managing the daily crush of work and demands are best practices we’ve lifted over the years from four score time management books read and seminars attended. The challenge at Gable PR, or any other PR firm or busy professional service organization, is to take care of a zillion things on the to-do list, sort out the important from the merely urgent and still be able to deal with the unexpected. For your planning pleasures, here nine tricks we’ve found useful for managing the daily maelstrom:

  1. Create a daily to-do list first thing in the morning (or at the end of the previous day) and prioritize (No. 1, No. 2, etc.). Assign a rough amount of time to each and rough deadlines for completion.
  2. Address the toughest action item first. Then second toughest. It’s all down hill from there. Psychologically, it’s a huge confidence builder and personal pat on the back to wrap up the difficult client call, pitch a cranky journalist and make the awkward collection calls on overdue accounts. You can get a real sense of power and achievement and gain momentum during the day while growing your ability to bring open items to closure.
  3. Block out times to eliminate distractions and focus on the most important items. Turn off email. Don’t jump back and forth to the Internet. Don’t take or make phone calls.
  4. There is also power in knocking off the small things. Set small blocks of time in the morning, at midday and in the afternoon for getting rid of the items that don’t require lots of creative or strategic energy or time (e.g. making follow up phone calls, providing data someone else is waiting for, checking news trackers and on-line alerts, reading notes, returning emails when people are asking for input, etc.). Grouping these type of action items and attacking en masse is more efficient that going back and forth throughout the day.
  5. Don’t look at something and set it aside without giving it a priority if it needs action. Almost every time management guru recommends handling something just once. Make a decision on what needs to be done and advance the cause – immediately!
  6. If someone has asked for help, they obviously need it. Analyze the need and move them to the top of the queue after taking care of the toughest things and the details. Your fast response will help them get on with their job rather than just waiting for an answer, improving their efficiency and effectiveness as well.
  7. Take an occasional break and reward yourself with work on a favorite long-term client project, creative need, writing assignment, light reading, browsing The Onion and other humor sites on the Web, checking Facebook or Linked In – whatever can help clear the mental pipes.
  8. After checking off those things from your to-do list, have a good glass of wine, designer coffee or whatever you prefer to toast your success (even though it’s only noon!).
  9. Update your to-do list and notice how many important steps you’ve taken – and in record time! Great job!

(Other hot tips? Please comment. I’m working on the Fifth Edition of  The PR Client Service Manual and looking for new ideas!  And if you would like a copy of the  sample daily checklist shown above in Excel, please email me at: tom@gablepr.com)

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Problem-Solving and Creative PR from the Leopard Hunter

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Finding Rarities

Posted by Tom Gable

We just returned from an African adventure, including a week in three different isolated camps in Botswana where we armed ourselves with cameras and bounced and careened through rugged terrain in search of game. The morning drives would start at dawn and the afternoon drives hit the road when the weather started cooling around 4:30 (it got to 115 degrees one day). We extended the searching into cooler night drives where we tracked leopards and other carnivores using infrared lights.

What amazed us were the abilities of the guides to find rare animals after seemingly random searching on dirt and sand roads, trails through the bush and even off-roading through scrub brush or twisting back and forth among islands of green amidst barren plains to look for leopards and lions resting in the shade. We got as close as five yards to cheetahs, leopards and lions, including one lazy, impala-filled male who rolled into the shade of our stationary Range Rover to take a nap, unperturbed by the steady clicking of cameras.

During one excursion, we noted more distinctive trees on the horizon than in most drive areas and our guide seemed to be following a pattern. At the end of the day, when relaxing at camp over dinner, I probed into the secrets of this king of the leopard-hunters and found lessons we can all use in problem-solving and generating creative ideas for our clients.

Start with the big picture: thousands of acres of brush, jungle, open plains, swamps, watering holes and islands of green (the client industry). Then, define the goal: finding the one male leopard known to frequent the area (differentiating a disruptive new product).

The guide started with looking for environmental indicators: fresh tracks in the sand along the roads (competitive and trend data). Animals used the roads because it was easier and safer than venturing into the bush, where predators lay in wait. The guide used his own version of a Gable PR exercise we call “The Flip Side”: what’s there, turn it over and what’s not there.

He saw baboon and hyena tracks, which indicated that the leopard wouldn’t be in this area (tough competition). He noted the direction and took an alternate route, going perpendicular to the road, noting new tracks and then took a parallel road to the original (pursuing more data). He found more hyena tracks, so he narrowed the quest further and took a new angle (new market niche; new positioning). As he eliminated bad options, he soon found the breakthrough: fresh leopard tracks and no hyena or baboon tracks (the ah-hah moment in brainstorming).

With the search area narrowed further, he started looking for certain habitats known to be favored by leopards (favorites of the target). He eased the vehicle along the edges of the possible locations and looked for something that might stand out – differentiators such as different shapes and colors, or a leopard tail curving down from a tree branch. Leopards are well camouflaged but their shapes are different than brush and bush. He spotted a lump in the shade next to a green bush with ears sticking up then saw a sudden flash of red color as the leopard yawned. Success!

I liked the process: analysis, logic, narrowing the focus, creative thought, constant refining and patience. Our guides kept circling and trying new routes. The roads and trails – however primitive and rugged – provided some structure so they could proceed within a pattern. The approach offered freedom to explore but not randomly so it could be pursued strategically and repeated.

The same process works for PR professionals. Start with the big picture. Set a goal. Narrow down the search strategically. Eliminate the things that won’t work, for a variety of reasons. And bring in colleagues and strategic partners if needed for new ideas. Think like the leopard-hunter and you might just be rewarded with a rare and magnificent discovery in creative development and problem solving.

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Strategic PR Plan in 30 Minutes or Less?

Saturday, October 16th, 2010

Influential Channels

Posted by Tom Gable

Well not quite. But to at least get everyone pointed in the same direction, we often use a little mind-mapping exercise with clients who are unfamiliar with the strategic requirements of a good program. It involves walking through a dozen questions with the client (or internal team) and posting the initial answers on a white board. Once the big ideas are covered, the teams can follow up with creative and strategic sessions to add depth to the program, then fine-tune the tactical details.

In the crude white board example shown here, the CEO of an enterprise software company wanted to use social media to reach its key targets: CFOs of large companies. There are probably a million or two CFOs on Twitter and Facebook, right?

To help this CEO (with an engineering Ph.D.) understand the essential elements of strategic PR planning, we went thorough a quick mind-mapping exercise. If you look at the map, social media is among the missing.

The same approach has worked for a consumer client with a product aimed at 18 to 24 year olds who thought the front page of The Wall Street Journal was his perfect target and for other clients who were a little off on their targeting (Oprah for a biotech compound; USA Today for a foreign engineering firm; etc.). We use this approach internally as well to get the creative juices flowing. You can try this at home.

  • Who are the ideal targets? Make a list.
  • What do you want them to do?
  • What are their motivations?
  • Where does each get his or her information — the most trusted sources?
  • How to influence the flow of information into those channels?
  • Get creative. Key messages – how to differentiate from the competition?
  • Unusual approaches?
  • Identify the tools and tactics to get it done (new product launches, trade show programs, media relations, seminars, direct mail, email, literature, speeches, a Guru Program, YouTube, guerrilla marketing, whatever).
  • How to integrate and leverage the tactics for maximum impact (e.g. how Apple and others leak hints about new products in the weeks leading up to the official introduction, provide reviewers with prototypes, etc.)?
  • Can you measure and monitor the results from each component of the program?
  • How often to review and adjust as needed?
  • What will success look like?

Good job! High-fives around the room. Now, get on with the real work of bringing this to life.

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