A fine example of a well crafted campaign on "change" can accomplish
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Re-branding Australia
The "where the bloody hell are you ? " campaign has gotten into some trouble. So, the Ozzies are looking at re-branding Australia. Check out this video, it offers an alternative to the existing strategy.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Why Barack Obama must win
I must admit, I havent been following the race for the presidential elections very closely. But all of that changed when i was in Bangalore recently, and bought Barack obama's book " The Audacity of hope", a very well articulated vision of a person, who i believe has what it takes to steer America out of the mess that it is in. Barack Obama is a visionary, a dreamer who also has the conviction to change the political landscape of the USA. For this reason, i believe he must win.
Some pointers towards why Obama seems to have identifited with what America needs and his unique insights can steer the nation towards peace and prosperity :
- Mass support : Mr Obama has rallied to garner the support of the masses. Millions of americans have come forward to donate money for his campaign, and he has intentionally not gone after the corporate donors
- New vision for America and its politics : Mr Obama also seems to follow the approach taken by Lincoln, Jimmy carter towards a more inclusive approach to politics. Being an African-American himself, he has integrated his campaign with messabing and ideas that are truly aimed at integrating the minorities while ensuring that the majority is not slighted
- Unique background : Having a Muslim father and being an Afro-american, raised in Indonesia and Hawaii does give Mr Obama a unique cultural background. This I am assuming has shaped his thinking the way it is, as a tolerant politician who can see both sides of the coin.
While Mr Obama may not have the experience of other politicians in Washington, his vision and conviction may help him win the nomination to the Democratic candidature also the elections subsequently.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Hania Thabet on How to evaluate PR performance in a diversified Global holding group -- MD, TBWA/ RAAD
Dubai – growth story. It was based on visionary leadership. Dubai – the name of the brand is synonymous with quality of life, commercial centre, multi-cultural society, strategically located and connecting east and west. As a brand, Dubai offers high quality of life, city of choice for modern professionals, and also ideal hub for multi national companies.
Leadership
Sheikh Mo. Acted decisively and eliminated red tape and took brash actions…palm Island is an example of a daring action of private sector joining in the governments move. Many components working in the city which are working to build the brand.
Dubai world
- Messaging also helping keep up the message of the Dubai city messaging.
Dubai Holding
- A single goal – The good of tomorrow
Next came – Dubai the global city
DAE , EMAAR are both working to build this messaging.
Successful global brands pick up three- four key themes and stick to it…and let sub-brands also toe the line of this messaging. – David
Can brands overshadow the parent company?? Possible, but entities like Emirates Airlines complements the positioning of a brand such as Dubai
Notes :
- Hedgehog principle – intersection of passion, doing things well and values…companies need out what this mix is.
- Benchmarking against people / companies that you most want to be like. Ask the CEO who you would like to be like.
How to measure PR on the Internet – panel discussion
- Samih Toukan ( CEO, Maktoomb), Rob Jones – Editorial director, AME Info, Katie Paine
Samih - Largest online community – 10 million unique visitors in Middle East. We are an audited company. We hope that others in the community will move to auditing as well. We served 2 billion pages on the Internet, double of Al Jazeera company. We are also into e-comm. One of the largest sports, travel network.
Arab internet network is re-shaping the region in many ways. It is becoming an interesting thing in the region and is growing at 25 %. All youngsters want to be on the Internet. The next five years we will see a big boom. There are 150 million pages, most of the content is user-generated. Net has pushed democratization process in the region. And we see a crack-down in the region by the government.
We are in the midst of a media revolution, and we are changing the rules of PR. And a clear shift of usage towards online media. A shift of Ad dollars from traditional media to online. UK = 12 % of the ad spends are on the internet. In the USA, circulation figures are going down. 40% of the revenues are from classifieds. Bill gates said that in five years TV will be very different than what it is today.
PR professionals need a good understanding of Web sphere.
Case study : Aramex, one of the customers attacked it. People started commenting about it. Suddenly, there was a response on that blog which said. Aramex reacted proactively and the CEO had posted on the blog. CEO invited the customer to share the frustration about the service. This led to a meeting and also positive reviews on the blog.
PR is no longer about relationship with media. Today PR allows us to a direct relationship with the public. We must learn to use the existing tools which allow us to do that.
Tracking and monitoring messages is easier today. Why not have PRLs’ customized for the internet ( with links, downloads etc..). Build online communities – upload videos etc..
Rob Jones – AME Info
Headlines in PRLs’ need to be self-explanatory. A lot of people come to us through Google and go away too…the headlines are the ones which really matter.
Katie : In the US, there is a concern that are we editing through Google ? ( depending on the release)
Samih : You have to be available to people where they are looking for you. Have your PRL’s which are search engine friendly….have a content strategy…and give good content to users searching for it.
Rob : I would love to have PRLs’ which have links or videos ( corporate videos etc..). Don’t hide the fact that it is a PRL. We need to work closely with PR professionals.
How does one customize a press release ?? for the internet
Rob : Where we are today, we post 150 PRLs’ a day. We would not be able to customize. For us, the relevance of the PRL is important. I know that during the peak time, we know the data about our users.
How do you measure repeat customers ?? Versus someone who has come accidentally ??
Samih : How do you come up in top ten of a search engine ? We use SEO etc.. also, he/she should be able to get relevant information easily. PR agencies must go ahead and learn. We do Ad recall studies and similar things can be done for PR. We have Maktoob Research unit.
Online research is also growing in a big way. We are launching Trend tracker 2007. We help track brand reputation online. This monitors trends in blogs, releases and other . forums.
Event blogs etc… are a good idea too….
Samih - Largest online community – 10 million unique visitors in Middle East. We are an audited company. We hope that others in the community will move to auditing as well. We served 2 billion pages on the Internet, double of Al Jazeera company. We are also into e-comm. One of the largest sports, travel network.
Arab internet network is re-shaping the region in many ways. It is becoming an interesting thing in the region and is growing at 25 %. All youngsters want to be on the Internet. The next five years we will see a big boom. There are 150 million pages, most of the content is user-generated. Net has pushed democratization process in the region. And we see a crack-down in the region by the government.
We are in the midst of a media revolution, and we are changing the rules of PR. And a clear shift of usage towards online media. A shift of Ad dollars from traditional media to online. UK = 12 % of the ad spends are on the internet. In the USA, circulation figures are going down. 40% of the revenues are from classifieds. Bill gates said that in five years TV will be very different than what it is today.
PR professionals need a good understanding of Web sphere.
Case study : Aramex, one of the customers attacked it. People started commenting about it. Suddenly, there was a response on that blog which said. Aramex reacted proactively and the CEO had posted on the blog. CEO invited the customer to share the frustration about the service. This led to a meeting and also positive reviews on the blog.
PR is no longer about relationship with media. Today PR allows us to a direct relationship with the public. We must learn to use the existing tools which allow us to do that.
Tracking and monitoring messages is easier today. Why not have PRLs’ customized for the internet ( with links, downloads etc..). Build online communities – upload videos etc..
Rob Jones – AME Info
Headlines in PRLs’ need to be self-explanatory. A lot of people come to us through Google and go away too…the headlines are the ones which really matter.
Katie : In the US, there is a concern that are we editing through Google ? ( depending on the release)
Samih : You have to be available to people where they are looking for you. Have your PRL’s which are search engine friendly….have a content strategy…and give good content to users searching for it.
Rob : I would love to have PRLs’ which have links or videos ( corporate videos etc..). Don’t hide the fact that it is a PRL. We need to work closely with PR professionals.
How does one customize a press release ?? for the internet
Rob : Where we are today, we post 150 PRLs’ a day. We would not be able to customize. For us, the relevance of the PRL is important. I know that during the peak time, we know the data about our users.
How do you measure repeat customers ?? Versus someone who has come accidentally ??
Samih : How do you come up in top ten of a search engine ? We use SEO etc.. also, he/she should be able to get relevant information easily. PR agencies must go ahead and learn. We do Ad recall studies and similar things can be done for PR. We have Maktoob Research unit.
Online research is also growing in a big way. We are launching Trend tracker 2007. We help track brand reputation online. This monitors trends in blogs, releases and other . forums.
Event blogs etc… are a good idea too….
Panel discussion on How to evaluate PR performance in a diversified global holding group
David Rockland, Partner and MD, Ketchum Global research Network
Dow case study ( diversified Chemicals company)
- Hired Ketchum in 2000 prior to purchase of Union Carbide ( of Bhopal Gas tragedy)
- How will merger help the reputation of these two companies. Both have legal issues. Dow needed a reputation management system to track progress of reputation management campaigns.
- Evaluation is on how messaging – all ways of messaging – of how what and when they need to say things..one of the things that happened is that their messaging and their advertising is around technology ; of how innovative they are…and also this doesn’t resonate well. To grow reputation, one has to put a human face and a personality about the company.
- Focused on a group called Influentials. Top 10-12 of a country’s population. They lead public opinion. If you isolate this group of people, it is a very effective way to lead the campaign…as the rest of the country will come along with them – this survey also validated that we need to put a human face to the chemical company
Stake holders groups: desired outcomes
- Employees – stay loyal
- Customers – loyal
- Shareholders – buy and hold Dow stock
- Communities – perceive Dow as respected corporate citizen
- Infleuntials – Likelihood to recommend Dow stocks
- Media – recognized as a business leader
The idea was to pull these groups together and keep them glued in.
“The Human element campaign “
In the periodic table, add the Human Element. Launched globally and successful throughout. Brand equity – gone up 25 % and Stock price gone up 29 % .
So, does this work and how does it work ?? IN our tracking we did every six months, our surveys bring out the fact that people know about this. The real test of the campaign is that through 2007, as a result their equity and stock prices have gone up. They are way ahead of their competitiors and a lot of this is being attributed to it.
How you do it ?
Look at connecting the dots statistically. You know what ppl should do, and what values and attributes drive the message The survey is to check about values, attributes etc.. and also you correlate these things. Look for drivers for each stake holders group where such data are available.
Values which are emphasized In each country
Honest – UK, US, India
Responsible – US, UK, India
Visionary – S. Africa, India
Accountable – US, Spain, Germany, India
Proactive – Netherlands, Russia
Intriguing – Netherlands, Spain
Respected – UK, US, Netherlands, Russia
What do you want people to do and what messages are going out for them to act on these messages ??
Dow case study ( diversified Chemicals company)
- Hired Ketchum in 2000 prior to purchase of Union Carbide ( of Bhopal Gas tragedy)
- How will merger help the reputation of these two companies. Both have legal issues. Dow needed a reputation management system to track progress of reputation management campaigns.
- Evaluation is on how messaging – all ways of messaging – of how what and when they need to say things..one of the things that happened is that their messaging and their advertising is around technology ; of how innovative they are…and also this doesn’t resonate well. To grow reputation, one has to put a human face and a personality about the company.
- Focused on a group called Influentials. Top 10-12 of a country’s population. They lead public opinion. If you isolate this group of people, it is a very effective way to lead the campaign…as the rest of the country will come along with them – this survey also validated that we need to put a human face to the chemical company
Stake holders groups: desired outcomes
- Employees – stay loyal
- Customers – loyal
- Shareholders – buy and hold Dow stock
- Communities – perceive Dow as respected corporate citizen
- Infleuntials – Likelihood to recommend Dow stocks
- Media – recognized as a business leader
The idea was to pull these groups together and keep them glued in.
“The Human element campaign “
In the periodic table, add the Human Element. Launched globally and successful throughout. Brand equity – gone up 25 % and Stock price gone up 29 % .
So, does this work and how does it work ?? IN our tracking we did every six months, our surveys bring out the fact that people know about this. The real test of the campaign is that through 2007, as a result their equity and stock prices have gone up. They are way ahead of their competitiors and a lot of this is being attributed to it.
How you do it ?
Look at connecting the dots statistically. You know what ppl should do, and what values and attributes drive the message The survey is to check about values, attributes etc.. and also you correlate these things. Look for drivers for each stake holders group where such data are available.
Values which are emphasized In each country
Honest – UK, US, India
Responsible – US, UK, India
Visionary – S. Africa, India
Accountable – US, Spain, Germany, India
Proactive – Netherlands, Russia
Intriguing – Netherlands, Spain
Respected – UK, US, Netherlands, Russia
What do you want people to do and what messages are going out for them to act on these messages ??
Measuring effectiveness of sports sponsorship- - Alun James , Four sports ( UK)
Tour de France
Objective : promote evnt where public attends for free and profle London as a world class destination. Increase no. of people cycling in London; attract tourism to London during the event.
PR Focus : UK, France, Holland, Spain, Italy
Media coverage – overall favourable – 20,000 pieces of news. 68 % favourable. AVE of GBP 35 million. Most media highlighted that London is the venue. 28 % said that media coverage encouraged them to attend the event.
Green King – partnership for Rugby
PR and sponsorship for Official Beer of England Rugby
Some questions about sponsorships ??
- How does sponsorship evaluation differ from PR ?. Sponsorship tends to focus on broader
- Is AVE Relevant ? when measuring sponsorships ??
Katie’s question on how can you factor in the negative coverage in AVE ? you got to factor in only the positive coverage in the AVE and leave out the negative as the client is not going to pay for the negative coverage in any case.
Alun replied that the factoring was taken care of and that overall AVE is what was taken into consideration.
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