Advice is good, but sometimes you can rely on common sense

October 26th, 2011

In today’s Journal there is a story about a Teesside company that launched an online search engine called iBod and then wondered why they heard from the legal team at Apple Corp. After six months of begging to disagree with the lawyers of the world’s richest company, the small business has changed its name “to avoid legal fees”.

The iPod family with, from the left to the rig...

Image via Wikipedia

This article is not about the rights and wrongs of Apple picking on the little guy, but about the importance of common sense and getting it right first time. The story in the Journal stood out because I could have told them from the second the iBod name was first mentioned that it was totally unworkable. It’s not only about the fact that Apple would inevitably issue a cease and desist letter, it’s also about brand recognition and the fact that the brand is far too similar to one that is already deeply established in the public psyche.

I’m willing to bet that, in the six months it took them to give up the battle, the owners of iBod have spent quite a bit of money on legal fees and other advice, while knowing deep down that this was a battle they could not win. It’s not even about the rights and wrongs of the argument as, with $70 billion in the bank, Apple could simply keep pursuing them until their fledgling enterprise ran out of cash.

At some point, the owners of iBod must have had a brainstorm or talked to a designer about their new brand. If indeed they paid a brand development consultancy to come up with this name, they should be asking for their money back. I think they could have avoided a lot of pain and freed up a great deal of time to concentrate on building their business, simply by realising from the beginning that this name was a millstone around their necks.

Every day, companies pay for advice on everything from recruitment to intellectual property, PR and marketing – in which I declare an interest – in the hope that they will receive good value for money and a return on their investment. It’s important to remember, however, that some things come down to common sense. If something is so obvious that it’s staring you in the face, the iBod v iPod disagreement being a prime example, move on and spend your money or energy elsewhere. Save your cash for where it’s really needed and you’ll do better in the long term.

Online may be the future, but you ignore the past at your peril

April 15th, 2011

Let’s get one thing straight before we start – This is not an attack on social media and online PR. In fact, I would go so far as so say that a purely online media is the future, but it’s not here yet. I think that some PR people are too willing to dismiss offline PR as ‘traditional’, by which they mean that it is outdated and ineffective. This misguided approach often limits the amount of media coverage that they can achieve and does their clients a dis-service.

Until the eventual demise of print, we need to take an integrated approach to online and offline media channels, tailored to suit the requirements and target audiences of the client. It’s fine to have an online specialist within your business, in fact it’s to be welcomed as they will have a lot to share with the rest of the team and their own unique skills to bring to the table, but they should not be marketed to clients as some kind of standalone product, especially one that costs extra.

Here at Point Pleasant, we are currently working on a rebranding exercise for a large nightclub. This involves everything from a new website to online networking and traditional media relations, which will all be handled as part of a single, integrated strategy. The website will be a front page with news, photos and event hosted on Facebook. This will link directly into Twitter feeds and other social networking sites where the club has a presence.

Blog entries and press releases, written with SEO and offline needs in mind, will be distributed across online forums and local news pages, as well as being sent out to traditional media and posted on the club’s website. There might be subtle changes to the text for different audiences, but all in all this translates to giving the client much more bang for their buck.

The key point is that, for all you might like to dismiss it as a dinosaur, offline media is still very much part of the PR landscape and, for many clients, it remains the main priority. It is the job of the professional PR consultant to take advantage of all possible media channels when looking for coverage on behalf of the client and, if you ignore the half of the media just because it’s not digital, you could be losing out on half your potential cuts.

When we deal with our clients, we look at every story as a series of possibilities. It’s no longer just about writing a press release and sticking it on an email to key contacts. From Twitter alerts to blogs and internet forums, the possibilities are endless, but ‘traditional’ media isn’t dead yet and you write it off at your peril.

Extended Online Remit for Advertising Standards Authority

March 1st, 2011

It’s quite possible you may have missed the low-key announcement that the powers of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) are to be extended significantly to cover more online channels. This has far-reaching implications for all businesses promoting or selling products and services online.

Firstly, I should stress that this is a good thing, at least in its aims and intentions. Many people are still nervous about buying online as they either don’t feel they can be 100 percent sure of what they’re getting or they’re nervous about entering payment deals. If customers know that the ASA is cracking down on fraudulent advertising, it can only enhance the credibility to responsible online retailers.

From March 1st this year, the ASA’s online remit will be extended beyond paid-for advertising and sales promotions to include marketing messages on corporate websites, non-paid-for social networking (ie. Facebook and Twitter) and marketing across all UK websites, regardless of their ownership or purpose.

The new rules have been formulated by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and they are designed to enhance consumer protection online.  Content that does not comply can be removed, with the offenders named and shamed through ASA’s own networks. Businesses that are not aware of the new rules can find out more at www.cap.org.uk.

So what does this all mean? For honest and reliable retailers it should make no difference, although you will have to ensure that your advertising, website and other promotional tools are managed in accordance with the guidelines. Where companies deliberately mislead their customers, however, for example by describing counterfeit products as genuine, it should make it easier for the ASA to act.

The AdviceOnline section of the CAP website offers advice on everything from viral advertising to gaming and insurance, as well as mobile campaigns and promotional offers. Because the online marketplace has been so open until now, it’s possible that many perfectly legitimate companies may have got into bad habits, so I would recommend that everyone takes a look.

As with most rules, if you have done nothing wrong, then you should have nothing to fear. In fact, I would hope that this will go some way to persuading doubters that it is safe to do business online, thereby encouraging further growth.

If need further assurance that your online activities are in compliance with the  new guidelines, The Centre for eBusiness can offer services ranging from simple advice to a full audit of your online campaigns and content.

Article by Pascal Fintoni, Chief Executive of The Centre for eBusiness (www.centreforebusiness.eu).

When Public Sector Intervention Goes Too Far, Pragmatism Goes Out of the Window

January 12th, 2011

Pragmatism is becoming the watchword for the regional economy in the North East. We need to take stock of where we’re at and consider all external factors before we make business decisions, especially if they regard expansion, development or investment.

The word ‘pragmatism’ came into my head this morning when I read an article in the Journal about the closure of Sunderland ARC (http://tinyurl.com/4szusz2), the urban regeneration body for Wearside. ARC has spent £75 million acquiring land over the past few years, but it is best known for its long-running battle against Tesco for control over the future development of the former Vaux Breweries site.

Tesco had acquired the land from Whitbread in 2002, intending to redevelop the key city centre site as a new business and retail zone, incorporating a Tesco Extra superstore and some residential units. One North East and later Sunderland ARC, were fundamentally opposed to this and fought every proposal put forward by Tesco for development of the10.4 hectare plot.

Finally Tesco reached a compromise and agreed to move to the run-down Sunderland Retail Park on the other side of the Wear, a site which is arguably better suited to the needs of a modern supermarket and which will undoubtedly deliver benefits to the local area. The only problem is that the Vaux site, now owned by One North East, remains vacant, with only the promise that it will be developed “within the next few years” offered by the ARC’s outgoing chief executive.

When Sunderland ARC commenced its fight against Tesco, it was operating in the benign environment of a booming property market and seemingly limitless public sector backing. By the time it won the battle, the alternatives to Tesco were severely limited, if not non-existent. In the heat of the  battle to beat the supermarket giant,  pragmatism went out of the window.

The size of its business gives Tesco huge spending power, which is leveraged through its Spenhill development arm, to facilitate major development programmes, incorporating far more than just a supermarket. We are currently seeing this in Gateshead, where Tesco is leading the redevelopment of the entire town centre, working in close partnership with the local council without placing a burden on the public purse. The prospective profit from the supermarket, which will account for around one third of the overall development, makes this possible.

Instead of working with one company that was ready and willing to put up the money here and now, Sunderland is left with an empty site that may be developed “in the next few years”. Meanwhile, the taxpayer is down £75 million that could have been well used elsewhere in the current financial environment.

I am a supporter of regional development agencies and I feel they have done much good work, which they should have been allowed to continue in a slimmed down form, but this type of battle seems nonsensical, especially given the legacy that Sunderland ARC will leave behind. To claim that it leaves the city with a brighter future seems wide of the mark to me, as demonstrated by the large scar that will continue to blight the city centre for many years to come.

Why the News of the World scandal is about so much more than phone tapping

September 7th, 2010

Back in 2007, it seemed that the News of the World phone tapping scandal was over. The two journalists implicated were jailed for four months each, Andy Coulson resigned as editor and the world seemed to have moved on. If only.

It now seems clear that there was much more to this than meets the eye and the original revelations may be just the tip of the iceberg, with rampant illegal phone tapping activities going on right across the newsroom. This not only raises serious questions about standards in British journalism, it also had deeper implications as Mr Coulson is now head of communications for the Prime Minister, David Cameron. If it does emerge, as seems increasing likely, that Mr Coulson knew about these practices and permitted them to continue, it’s going to look bad for the Con-Dem administration as well.

What we have here is no more and no less than a major scandal that will affect everything from the direction of future privacy laws to the reputation of News of the World proprietor, Rupert Murdoch. Good journalism should not be about illegal phone tapping. We have a great tradition in this country of high quality investigative journalism, built over generations by legendary figures such as Roger Cook, which now risks being undermined by these underground tactics. The scurrilous methods used by the News of the World are closer to the criminal underworld than Fleet Street.

Then we need to look at what they are trying to find out. Can the private conversations of Prince Charles or a director of the FA really be described as being in the public interest, regardless of the legality of the methods used to obtain them? If the headlines are to be believed, we could be looking at hundreds of individuals in the public eye being violated by this scandal, with many more journalists from the News of the World facing a prison sentence. The fallout will be major and far-reaching, leading indirectly to the heart of government itself. Keen to stay whiter than whiter, David Cameron will not be pleased if Mr Coulson is implicated further, although it was always a risk to employ him in the first place.

The other key question is how this was allowed to happen. There is no doubt that the British have an insatiable appetite for the sort of stories delivered by the News of the World and there is a huge rivalry between the leading tabloids to deliver the next big scoop. As a Public Relations professional, I am always keen to distance myself and the profession from people like Max Clifford (A publicist, not a PR), who may be very good at what they do, but also play a key role in the dumbing down of the media. It’s quite possible that, once the technology for phone tapping was in place, News of the World journalists felt pressured into taking part in order to secure potential headline stories.

We should not forget that underhand methods do have their place. Few would argue for example that the leaking of parliamentary expenses to the Daily Telegraph was outside the public interest, even if we were all wholly sick of the story by the end of the first month, but it’s about setting boundaries and sticking to them. Even people who choose to live in the glare of publicity have the right to personal privacy and, if the scope of the phone tapping scandal is as great as we’re currently hearing, I hope that an example is made of everyone involved.

Workplace Communication in the Age of Austerity

July 22nd, 2010

Well, the coalition is well and truly settled at the heart of our democracy, the fate of the regional development agencies has been sealed and, like it or loathe it, Britain is heading for a new age of austerity. Sadly, but unavoidably, this will bring with it cost-cutting, pay freezes and employee rationalisation on a scale we have never seen before in the public or private sectors.

This is not a negative article, but I felt it was important to set the stage. Nobody, and especially not employees and HR professionals, should underestimate the challenges we face. It’s also true, however, that there are right and wrong ways to handle negative situations. The way you deal with them will affect your company, workforce and customers for a long time to come.

Here then, is Point Pleasant’s quick guide to concentrating on the positive:

  1. Keep your employees informed – Nothing breeds bad morale better than secrecy. If you try to cover up your company’s problems, efficiency and productivity will suffer.
  2. Don’t leave things until the last minute – If you’re having financial problems, your team will know about it, even if they don’t know the finer details. Don’t bury your head in the sand, a difficult decision taken early will benefit the business in the longer term.
  3. Consult and communicate – There are of course legal guidelines to making people redundant, but you can always do more. If you are making cuts, explain why and keep the process transparent. This will make it easier for those who go and those who stay.
  4. We’re all in this together – If pay freezes, bonus reductions or other cost-cutting measures are called for, communicate the reasons clearly and treat everyone, including senior management, the same. Also consider special measures to protect the lowest paid.
  5. Inspire a lasting commitment – Look for ways to keep your key employees loyal by offering long-term incentives in the form of a bonus scheme or share options. This will give them a focus beyond the current difficulties.
  6. Publicise the positive – Use eNewsletters, the intranet or staff newsletters to keep your staff informed of good news within the company. Good news helps to improve morale and commitment among your employees.
  7. Explain your decisions – If you’ve cancelled the Christmas party or cut your spend on CSR, explain the reasons why. Staff will be much less resentful if they know the background to a decision.

Explain’ and ‘Communicate’ are the key words to remember. Hard decisions can’t be avoided and things will probably get harder before they get better, but keep these simples suggestions in mind, and you’ll find the whole process a great deal less stressful for all involved. ‘Explain’ and ‘Communicate’ are the key words to remember.

Two Weeks in iSolation

April 27th, 2010

I’m heading off to Everest on Friday and will have to endure two weeks with no TV, internet or phone (Except in emergencies). I say ‘have to’, although there are in fact mobile phone masts up on Everest these days, but I’m leaving the iPhone in Kathmandu and that is that. It’s going to be weird though, as a person who spends most of the day either on the computer or on the phone, to switch off completely. I know the business and my clients will be in safe hands, but usually I’m always on the other end of the phone, even when I’m away.

Of cours, when Mallory and his team went in 1924, they were a week’s trek from the nearest telegraph cable. We will have a satellite phone that can be used in an emergency and we’ll check in for messages once a day. Hardly total isolation then, but compared to the constant stream of media we’re used to, it will feel like it. It’s going to be particularly galling on Thursday next week when the election is on. As a huge fan of general elections – I usually stay up all night – I’m gutted to be missing it. Perhaps we’ll get the World Service, if we’re lucky.

This has all made me think about what the world was like without electronic communication and how we’d survive if we lost it again. The volcano cloud didn’t really affect business as people were able to use the phone or email, so it didn’t matter where they were, but if the internet ever failed it could spell doom for the entire global financial system. In the old days there was a lot more room for personal initiative, particularly in the fields of war and business. In 1982, for example, the  Captain of HMS Conqueror had to surface and radio for permission to sink the Belgrano, which came from the Prime Minister herself; Nelson would never have had that option.

I’m not saying that all decisions have life and death implications, but it demonstrates how regulated our world has become, and it’s all down to technology that we largely take for granted. With the advent of the satellite phone, there is no place on Earth where you can genuinely claim to be beyond reach, there are simply degrees of contactability sic. As I’ve written this, I’ve become less fearful of my impending remoteness and I’m actually looking forward to it. If I took the iPhone up the mountain, what would I have to gain, except of course for a whopping great bill when I get home? Maybe it will do me good. So, I’ll see you in a fortnight. Until then then, don’t call me and I won’t call you.

And they’re off! Election 2010 will be the hardest fought yet

April 6th, 2010

Well, here we are folks. They started off this morning as they mean to go on, with David Cameron stealing an unprecedented lead on Gordon Brown as he held a press conference before the PM had even returned to Downing Street from Buck House. So what does this tell us, well regardless of your political viewpoint it’s downright bad manners. The Prime Minister should be given the right to announce the election on the steps of Downing Street, something that  traditionally signifies the starting gun for the campaign. A masterful manoeuvre on Cameron’s part or a calculated risk that will backfire hugely? The electorate ultimately probably won’t care and we’ll know their decision in four weeks anyway.

This election will be remembered as the first true fight of the digital age. Yes, they had the web in 1997 and Flash swingometers in 2001 and blogs in 2005, but those elections were all forgone conclusions, something which 2010 most certainly is not. We’ve already seen on both sides that online communications can backfire, most recently with the Tories’ ‘Cash Gordon’ effort that was brought down by spammers within hours when they made the mistake of permitting unmoderated comments. It will be interesting to see which of the main parties, if any, can make effective use of tools like Twitter. Blogs will provide a vast resource for commentary and debate, but the main online battle will still be carried out across the sites of the mainstream media.

One thing we will see is unprecedented levels of polling, with Yougov issuing daily polls and sites like www.ukpollingreport.co.uk serving as a single point of access and analysis for every opinion poll conducted in the UK. Whether  this is a good thing or a bad thing depends upon your own personal point of view, but you can be certain that it will provide the primary focus of a hard-fought campaign. The French actually ban all polls for seven days before the election, but from my perspective this would make people even less likely to vote than they already are.

So where will we be on May 7th? Well I’ll be half way up Mount Everest on a trekking expedition, not my first choice you understand, but these things are planned a little further in advance than a general election. As for the politicians, it may well be into the afternoon before they know where they stand thanks to the well-meaning  jobsworths who have moved many counts to the morning after, thereby destroying one of the few genuinely exciting spectacles in British politics as the results come in through the night.

As the system is weighted fundamentally in Labour’s favour and there is simply not the same tide of public enthusiasm for Cameron that Blair enjoyed in  1997, I’m going to put my head on the line and put the Tories on 36%, with Labour on 32%, a result that would deliver a hung parliament. Even if the Tories get a few more seats than Labour, Brown would still be offered the first chance to form a government as the incumbent PM. It would then be down to the Lib Dems who, incidentally, will be down to about 45 seats. Despite Clegg’s constant protestations, they won’t be able to resist the prospect of a seat at the top table and we will end up with a Lib-Lab coalition. Whether we’ll also see Vince Cable in No 11 is a different question, but I think that a great office of state may be a step too far. Perhaps Chief Secretary to the Treasury? Only time will tell.

BA Comms Battle Really Takes Off

March 26th, 2010

Sorry to return to this old chestnut, but it really has been fascinating to watch this battle of wills developing over the past couple of weeks.

In the left corner, we have the Unite union desperately trying to portray BA and its management as the school bullies – Big Brother trying to do down the little guy. In the right corner, we have Willie Walsh and his cronies claiming to have delivered more than 70% of passengers safely to their destinations. If you’re like me, you’re probably sick of the sight of both sides by now.

My first post made it clear that nobody wins and this remains true, but it’s rapidly becoming clear that there are different levels of loser. What is most striking about this dispute, if you’ll excuse the pun, is that the public seem very much on the side of the management. While they may sympathise with the strikers, this recession has inspired the feeling that we’re all in this  together, so we simply need to knuckle down and ride it out.

The strikers have not been helped by Ryanair’s comparison of BA staff pay and conditions to those of its own cabin crew, making it crystal clear that BA staff will still be on a far superior package even after the proposed changes. Mr Walsh’s hand has also been strengthened by his announcement that the airline will follow through on a threat to remove non-contractual travel perks from strikers, a decision that is sure to have caused many cabin crew to cross the picket lines.

It was telling that, on the third day of the strike, BA’s share price actually went up. This is a sign that the city does not believe that the airlines image and long-term viability will be affected by the strike. Put simply, they think the workers will ultimately lose out. In a recession where everyone has made sacrifices to the altar of austerity, there is no public appetite to back a strike over something so trivial as overnight accommodation and the loss of a single crew member on transatlantic flights.

So, where do we go from here? My prediction is that, having failed to achieve the devastation it sought, Unite will be forced back to the negotiating table by the end of next week. BA will table the same offer that Unite’s leadership rejected last Friday, which will be put to a vote and accepted by staff. To keep his reputation for hard-nosed negotiation intact, Mr Walsh will not restore the travel perks as this would be a volte-face too far. So the cabin crew are the biggest losers.

In the battle for hearts and minds, nobody wins, but BA will emerge victorious in the PR battle., if only on points.

Managing the Message: The Devil’s in the Detail

March 15th, 2010

Walking in the Lake District at the weekend, I saw a sign that said simply ‘Keep Off’. There was no explanation, no visible indication of risk, no obvious geographical feature that might mean danger, it was simply a field gently sloping away from the side of the path, with no fence or barrier of any kind to deter entry, except for this stumpy little sign. It occurred to me later that, had I not been aching from a 10 mile hike and desperate to get back to the car, I might have been overcome by curiosity.

There’s a message in there somewhere. If you simply tell someone something, but give them no reason, they’re far more likely to ignore it than if you have provided a valid justification. There might have been a danger such as quick sand, or even a sign saying ‘Private Land’. At least then you know where you stand, if you’ll excuse the pun.

The message conveyed by the sign itself can also play a role in its effectiveness, so ‘Please Keep of the Grass’ would probably not be as effective as ‘Trespassers Will Be Shot’. Like in PR, it’s all about deciding on your message and then looking at how it can be conveyed most effectively. The owners of this sign have gone for the simplest and cheapest solution, but they haven’t thought through why the sign was needed and whether it would achieve its desired purpose.

My favourite sign of all time was next to a hotel swimming pool in Jersey. It read ‘Push for Emergency’. Of course, I knew the actual meaning, but every time I passed I wanted to press and see just what horrible fate might befall the occupants of the pool! It turned a sign with serious meaning into an object of fun, and that’s what you can do to your business if you don’t get your communications strategy right.