Archive for the ‘Blogroll’ Category
Private Dunn Reporting For Duty
Sean Moffitt over at BuzzCanuck/Agent Wildfire has drafted a list of the top 150 or so (updated: Canadian) marketing/pr/social media/etc bloggers. Even more astounding to me than the vast amount of work that must have gone into this is the fact that I made the list. There are some truly thoughtful and insightful bloggers on the list and it’s a fantastic resource. Not surprisingly, there has been a swell of comments and additional ideas about how to expand and enhance this community. In keeping with the army theme, I’m going to suggest a series of blogging ‘war games’:
- In light of Strumpette taking Chris Clarke & Joe Thornley to task, is it possible for someone throw themselves on the grenade and get the last word in when conversing with Amanda?
- Without breaking client confidentiality, what’s the most ‘wow, they just don’t get it’ comment you’ve heard regarding social media/blogging etc…? And how did you respond (if at all)?
- If you were David Beckham, what would you say on your blog to respond to Colin McKay’s brand analysis?
A few simple ideas. Others welcome, of course.
Tags: Canada’s 1% Blogging Army, PR, Marketing
Do Sweat The Small Stuff
I took the elevator up today with our events director. She was carrying with her bags of candy, pop, etc…basically a couple big bags of treats. After complaining that it is hard to buy name-brand candy in bulk outside of the Halloween gluttony window, she told me that the treats were for the judging panel for the upcoming Marketing Awards.
She also told me that she had bought a ton of cough drops & throat lozenges. Cough drops?
Well, turns out it’s winter (today being the first day you could actually confirm that) and it’s inevitable that someone on the judging panel will have a cold. Plus, you would hope that some of the judges make themselves hoarse arguing passionately for their picks.
It’s this kind of attention to detail that makes her so good at her job. Sure, people who have a cold will generally have their own supply of cough drops. And it’s likely that no-one will give it a second thought if there weren’t cough drops supplied for them. But it’s the kind of small thing that people take notice of when it is there – much more so than all the standard, bigger details all being in place.
It was a good way to start the week. An important reminder that when dealing with any sort of client service, it pays to sweat the small stuff.
Tags: Client Service
Agency of the Year?
AdAge surprised me by naming ‘the consumer’ as its ad agency of the year. The pat on the back is nice but after Time did the same thing it just seems derivative. By selecting the consumer, Adage seems to want to send a message to the agencies. What that is, I’m not exactly sure. A wake-up call?
The ad community today is responsible for some very high quality creative. For all the praise lavished on consumer creative, surely the year’s biggest YouTube hit is Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty spot (created by Ogilvy in Toronto). And for every Mentos/Coke bit of viral magic, I’ve seen hundreds of gross, dumb, boring or deceptive efforts. The rise of consumer media is forcing agencies to adapt. No question. Digital media shops are in vogue, gaining both influence and budget share. Marketing selected promo shop Capital C as its agency of the year (vs the traditional big, sexy, creative shops that both it and Strategy have typically selected.) based on its mastery of consumer interaction.
Agencies are still leading the way when it comes to building and shepherding brands, but the consumer’s rising influence will force them to remain nimble, clever and creative. Toronto ad guys Doug Walker and Sean Moffitt have thoughts on this too.
Tags: AdAge, advertising, marketing, agency of the year
PR Agencies Are No Good At Marketing
Part of my client base at Marketing magazine includes Toronto’s PR Agencies. I’ve been fortunate enough to have met with the heads of many of these agencies and with senior professionals at others. As a result, I’ve gained insight into their business and, in particular, how they go about marketing themselves and their services.
And what I’ve found is that PR agencies suck at marketing.
I put a lot of the blame for this on the inability (or disinterest) of the PR community to educate their publics about what PR really involves and how it can enhance a business’ operations. There are many out there who still view PR as the domain of unscrupulous spin doctors or as nothing beyond media relations and I have yet to find a contact who doesn’t agree with this statement (to some degree at least). I’ll admit that this was my opinion before I started my PR diploma.
Ed Lee wrote in a recent post that:
As an agency guy, I’ve heard many of my seniors, both in the UK and here in Canada, bemoan how their latest client “doesn’t understand PR”. I’m sure that there are also many clients out there who believe their organisation doesn’t understand (or prioritise in the budget) PR.
In my view, there are several reasons that public relations finds itself in this position:
1. Earned Media Mentality
PR is the business of generating earned media and an authentic dialogue with a client’s stakeholders. The communication must be transparent and genuine. It must be grounded in truth. As a result, there is a feeling in the industry that anything that smacks of self-promotion is disingenuous. New business is generated by referrals, networking, or RFP pitches. This speaks to a “work speaks for itself” mentality. But if this is all that is needed, what about Ed’s comments. One of my contacts* is a senior PR pro at a multi-national agency. She told me that when they bring on a new client they hold a PR 101 to educate them about what PR is and what it can do for them. Shouldn’t this have happened during the pitch process? Why are companies hiring PR agencies if they don’t even know what they can do? Why hasn’t PR earned the coveted ‘seat at the table’?
2. The Inner Journalist:
There are a lot of people in PR who have either worked or have been trained as journalists. PR people spend a lot of time trying to get journalists to cover their clients. As a result, PR people have been trained to think like journalists. Self-promotion runs against the gain. But PR is also the business of selling – selling services to clients; selling clients to media; selling client’s activities/actions/products to consumers; etc…Sales is about understanding client needs and providing solutions that meet those needs. A switch from an editorial to sales perspective could go a long way.
3. The Wagons are Circled:
There is a lot of chatter within the PR community about the state of the industry, but very little of this escapes to the wider marketing or business community. Look how active PR people are in the blogosphere; how well-represented they are at conferences like Mesh. But these are ahead-of-the-curve kind of activities. Do any non-PR people attend industry awards shows? Are there ever PR-related specials in newspapers like the Globe & Mail has done with advertising? There is a lot of talking among themselves, not a lot of talking about themselves.
But I do see promising signs. The PR community is well-represented in the blogosphere. Several Canadian agencies have banded together to form the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF). Marketing mag recently acknowledged, for the first time, a PR agency of the Year.
PR agencies need to take a closer look at their own brands. Few outside the community (and maybe even many within) could tell me what differentiates one agency from another. This is a brand crisis. Businesses don’t know what PR agencies can do. They don’t know what distinguishes one agency from other. They don’t know why they should allocate more budget towards PR.
PR agencies need to start making serious investments in marketing. They ask clients to pay for services that raise awareness, generate understanding and create the need for action. Maybe some money needs to be spent doing the same things for themselves.
Start selling.
* I have to respect client confidentiality which is why I have not disclosed this person’s name or firm. This may be bad blogging practice, but so be it.
Tags: public relations, marketing, PR, branding
Suits? Whatever.
I recently completed the Research & Evaluation course which is part of the PR diploma program at Ryerson University. The course involved doing in-depth research on a topic aligned to the field and pulling together a comprehensive research paper. Part of the evaluation was a presentation to the class on the group’s findings.
The class was held on Saturday mornings and consisted of a lot of group work and weekly meeting with the course instructor. These meetings were usually quite informal and took place over many a Tim Horton’s coffee and in casual environment. This was not high academia. That said, I was surprised by how at least one member of another group approached the final presentation of their findings to the class.
My group made a concerted effort to show up at the presentation in suitable attire. This was not a presentation to corporate executives it’s true. But we were being marked on it and a professional approach was clearly appropriate. What caught me by surprise was a member of one of the other groups showing up in a very low cut, mid-riff revealing, top. Completing her ensemble was a pair of what I believe are called ‘skinny jeans’. While there is nothing wrong with this outfit in general, it strikes me as being wholly inappropriate when one is being marked on a presentation and needs to be taken seriously.
Having done hundreds of presentations in my professional and academic life, I’ve always felt that it is better to be smartly dressed (no-one will criticize you for looking good). I work with the advertising community in Toronto and am often doing presentations where the person I’m meeting is in jeans and a t-shirt (and these are the heads of some very well known agencies). But when you are trying to convince someone that what you have to say has value to them, that your advice is credible and deserves to be taken seriously, the best place to start is with looking the part. Anyone have good stories to share along these lines?
Tags: Soapbox, Professionalism, Marketing, Public Relations
Word of the Year – The Results
In a previous post, I wrote about the contest Merriam-Webster was holding to determine the Word of the Year for 2006. Well, the results are in and I’m pleased to say the Word of the Year is “Truthiness” (the hyperlink takes you to the definition page). I’m also pleased to note that the other two words I suggested would be contenders made it into the Top 10 – “Sectarian” at # 8 and “Quagmire” at #9.
But enough back-patting, it’s also time to announce the results of the little contest I was holding to determine the PR Word of the Year. After an unsurprising lack of responses (thanks Ed and Brendan), I am going to choose Brendan Hodgson’s “authentication.”
Congrats Brendan! A richly deserved honour.
I realize I should justify this selection so I refer you to the Edelman/Wal-mart scandal (no link provided b/c there’s just so much out there on this already…). Other than that, I will take my inspiration from the Grammy judging panel and leave it a mystery.
It’s worth taking a look at the mashed-up words that made up Brendan’s other submissions. My personal favourite is “conver.licious” (and not just because I have a hard time pronouncing the other suggestions). As the winner, Brendan has the opportunity to submit his definition of “authentication” for the world to read (because I’m sure it’s more nuanced than the definition Merriam-Webster provides….’to prove or serve to prove the authenticity of’).
I’d also like to spend some time coming up with defintions of the mashed-up words (open to all) as we’ve all seen how one (Stephen Colbert) can capture the zeitgeist and propel the collective conversation (do I owe H&K royalties?) to new heights.
Tags: Word of the Year, Truthiness, Public Relations, Language
Second to None
A recent study from the Center for the Digital Future at USC found that 43% of online networkers felt as strongly about their online friends as they do about their real-world friends. Among the study’s other highlights are:
- Online networkers made an average of 4.6 new virtual pals in the past year
- Those surveyed had met an average of 1.6 of the friends they had made online in the real-world
- 40% of the users surveyed were using the web to stay in touch with people
- 37.7% felt that the web was helping them communicate more with friends and family
- 2006 marks the first time that an equal number of women and men are online
The director of the centre comments that:
“More than a decade after the portals of the worldwide web opened to the public, we are now witnessing the true emergence of the internet as the powerful personal and social phenomenon we knew it would become.”
While I am not a Second Lifer, I do blog, stay connected to friends through instant messaging and use tools like Flickr for posting photos. I have friends that I interact with entirely online and can feel a sense of community with bloggers who I read and enter into a dialogue with through comments on their posts.
Far be it for me to comment on the richness of other’s online lives, but it is clear to me that the emerging landscape of online networking broadens the opportunities we have to expand our spheres of influences, discover communities of like-minded individuals (influencers) and explore ideas, tools and places (real or virtual) we can use to engage with the world.
Tags: Second Life, Media, Relationships, Online, Survey, Internet
Word of the Year – The MarCom edition
Merriam-Webster is conducting a search to find the Word of the Year for 2006. Previous winners include ‘integrity’ (2005), ‘blog’ (2004) and ‘democracy’ (2003). In previous years, M-W has reviewed the millions of searches conducted on their database and selected a word of the year from the most frequently looked-up words.
This year, they are asking their users to submit words that sum up the year that was 2006. My early favourites are ‘sectarian’, ‘quagmire’ and ‘truthiness’. But I thought it would be interesting to see if we could come up with a PR/Marketing word of the year. To get things started, I’ve stolen much of the following list from Ed Lee’s excellent Social Media Jargon Buster bingo game (hope you don’t mind).
- Transparency
- Trackback
- Engagement
- Conversation
- Authenticity
- Mash-up
- Content
- Measurement
Since this is an industry known for its way with words, I think it’s only fair to not limit contestants to single words. Phrases, compound words, made up words (see ‘impactful’) are all fair game. Entries will be judged on their inventiveness and the quality (creativity) of the justification. The winner will be feted in an upcoming post (if someone has a good idea for a prize, I’m all ears).
Tags: Word of the Year, Marketing, Communications, Public Relations, Language
MarComedy: Don't make me laugh 