PR Matters

When the messages become so blurred, disparate and even meaningless, surely it’s time to retire the brand. Such is the case with the “Occupy” movement in this country.

There was a time and place for “Occupy” in our civic precincts, but it has now totally lost its legitimacy. The individuals involved in the tatty remnants of  “Occupy” are entitled to their views and free to express them, but their encampment is no longer acceptable.

In Auckland, the Council’s limp and long drawn-out treatment of this issue has become a disgrace.  John Minto has maintained that the illegal camp in Aotea Square was no more messy than other New Zealand campsites. I don’t know where he’s been, but I’d suggest it’s not to any Council or DOC parks around the Auckland region this summer.

The proper functioning of the city depends on the observance of a whole raft of bylaws, of which the “no camping” in Aotea Square is one.  How do you respect a council which is penalising parking breaches on a daily basis, yet vacillating over the illegal presence of a few flimsy tents?

Perhaps Occupy is not the only blurred brand here.

The Press has accused EQC of being unprofessional in its portrayal of two of its reporters – one as “schizophrenic in his writing” and another as a “rogue reporter”.

The background to this is the EQC’s presentation to field staff on Monday reminding them of the organisation’s responsibilities to the media and that media enquiries should be referred to the designated media contact person.

This story is evidence of natural tensions between an organisation in the spotlight (and even under siege) and the legitimate role of the media – a fact acknowledged by EQC.

Any organisation that’s dealt with the media on sensitive issues will have some sympathy for the frustrations of the EQC at this time.  No matter how brilliantly they respond to many claims, some people will remain disaffected and will take their complaints to the media, because they feel that is the only power they have.  Whether these complaints are legitimate or not, the EQC has to accept this.

If the EQC made a mistake in it presentation to staff, it was in overtly personalising its concerns with individual reporters and preference for others.  For its part the newspaper has over-reacted to this. I suspect there’ve been instances when its own reporters have privately characterised some of the EQC’s personnel in less than flattering terms. That’s just human nature.

It should not be forgotten that contacts between reporters and organisations are complex human relationships.  In pressure situations there can be an added edge, and what the reporter sees as relatively straight forward is often not so, and the relationship can become prickly.

There is a long way to go in the repair and re-establishment of Christchurch.  The Press and the EQC are two organisations critical to a successful outcome, and it is vital that they take stock of their respective roles and make the relationship work for everyone.

For any business, dealing with reporters can sometimes be a fraught experience – never more so than in higher-stake situations such as this.  Getting professional advice is often the best course.

St Matthew-in-the-City sees the Christmas season as an opportunity to spark thought and conversation in the community.  They’ve put up their Christmas billboard portraying Mary, Jesus’ mother, looking at a home pregnancy test kit revealing that she is pregnant.

In much less dramatic ways, on one level many of us use the Christmas season to express thanks to our clients or customers, business partners and colleagues using small gifts, cards or a timely call.  It is a time for thinking about and acknowledging others.

On a more personal level, we are out buying for those near and dear, and preparing for the occasion that is Christmas.

All this shows that with the right imperative, we are all very good communicators.  Our challenge is to push that spirit of good communication deeper and deeper into New Year. Right?

During the next four weeks New Zealanders’ combined spending on food, beverages and other grocery items is likely to once again break records.  Even though purse strings are tighter, people will over-compensate for fear of being caught short.

Budget pressures aside, we forget how fortunate we are to have access to such an impressive choice of products, particularly as our Christmas falls in the summer season.  It’s a reminder of the critical role the food and grocery industry plays in NZ on many different levels, domestically and in exports.

These important contributions were recognised at last month’s Food & Grocery Council Annual Conference, opened with a brief televised message from PM John Key.  The PM stressed the importance of the food and beverage sector to New Zealand. Now, he would say that wouldn’t he? But in fact the stature of our food industry has been recognised in a special way by the past two governments.

When in office, Labour initiated a food and beverage taskforce chaired by Tony Nowell. Research undertaken by the taskforce started to crystallise for politicians the industry’s importance and opportunities.  This has continued under National, no doubt assisted by the foreign earnings’ contributions of food exports that are impossible to ignore in the world’s troubled economic environment.

Our Government has set a target of tripling the country’s food and beverage exports over the next 15 years, meaning that the food and beverage sector will remain the linchpin of the New Zealand economy for many years to come.

In its food industry, New Zealand has an enviable strategic advantage and we should celebrate our food heroes, big and small.  In the next month we’ll have every chance to do just that.

What’s on your food and beverage agenda this Christmas?

As President of the Public Relations Institute of NZ (PRINZ), I was privileged late last week to present Bob Parker, Mayor of Christchurch with the Institute’s Communicator of the Year award in Christchurch.  It is an annual award bestowed by the College of Fellows, so the selection of Mayor Parker is not simply one of popularity due to level of profile.  It was hard earned and well deserved.

The word resilience is one I have heard a lot lately and it aptly describes the quality that has been evident across Christchurch as people adapted to these new circumstances.

Earlier in the year I heard it suggested by one expert commentator that New Zealanders were perhaps less resilient to situations like this because we had, by international standards, such an easy life.  Mayor Parker showed that to be wrong when, as the public face of his city, he consistently demonstrated how resilient they really were (and still are). His wife who was never far from his side and who also carried a significant workload did the same.

What has emerged is a strong and purposeful community consistently showing resilience in circumstances that none of us dreamt of dealing with.  I would also add: resourceful and proud. Recently we saw this exemplified in the containerised new City Mall that sprung to life and the reopening of Ballantynes, that symbol of classic Christchurch.

Ballantynes is another brilliant example of the Christchurch resilience. It has shone as a beacon of hope and normality for people. From the start Ballantynes adopted a ‘business as usual’ attitude – even though their iconic store was in the red zone and their own staff were seriously affected – no workplace and in some cases no home themselves.

It has been a remarkable story of how managing director Mary Devine and her team worked to remain accessible to customers throughout eight months of closure. Their website (online store), household mailers and special customer events held at venues around the city helped maintain precious contact.

In receiving his award, Mayor Parker said he was not the only one who deserved this acknowledgement as a communicator. That’s undoubtedly true, but leadership through communication sets the path for others and that is what he did. Congratulations to Mayor Parker and his entire crew on being inspiring communicators.

On arriving for their first day at Parliament yesterday, MPs were given a goodie bag with pen and notebook, iPad 2 and iPhone or Blackberry. The iPads were preloaded with key information new members could refer to during their induction programme.

No doubt there will be some of the usual criticisms leveled at our public servants receiving anything more than the basic tools of the trade, but in reality, issuing iPads makes perfect sense and the substantial benefits will be shared by taxpayers in many different ways.

While Danish and German parliaments have already announced their adoption of iPads, our own New Zealand Parliamentary Services are just as forward thinking and these modern tools of the trade have been sitting in Bowen House for some time ready for their new users.

We’ve moved a long way from the desktop computer and mobile phone to a range of items that might include a laptop, smart phone and iPad.  Excessive for some, but basic essentials for others.  Schools too are making iPads essential, and while many may balk at the cost in comparison to some prior technology innovations, it isn’t as bad as we might think.

Particularly when you bear in mind the cost of the ear-thumping stereo systems or the latest DVD player or flat screen TV – more expensive and probably a lot less essential and multi-purpose.  Even so, here’s hoping those prices continue to lower as these almost essential life tools become as commonplace as televisions and telephones.

It’s all about the Personal Communication Mixology; the personal customisation of information, communication and technology tools and techniques we each adopt both consciously and unconsciously. This of course is influenced by individual access and ability combined with their learning and communication style.  It’s a complex space that communication specialists like Network are constantly exploring and working in on behalf of clients.

For MPs, where the volume of reports and information around the house could probably keep a convoy of paper trucks busy, the ability to share and access information on a small device is an opportunity we would be mad to miss.

But we know that the opportunity is far more than this.  It would therefore be fascinating to study the use of those two items provided in the goodie bags for each MP.  Perhaps someone will do this.  Meanwhile I love my iPad, iPhone and Macbook Pro which I liberally interchange depending on circumstances.  But I am also rarely without a pen and paper.

The best outcome we could hope from the “cuppa” saga would be that editors and their charges realign their news senses with the public’s expectations.

While there will always be legitimate stories with which the public, or at least sectors of it, will be uncomfortable, the consensus seems to be that our media lost its way in its treatment of this  “private conversation”.

For much of last week, this story became an excuse for journalist hectoring, and the opportunity for some to build their careers on rudeness and intrusion behaviours in the so-called public good.

Before the polls showed people’s tiresomeness of this subject, surely on the basis of their professional antennae in-touch editors would have called time of this subject.  Or is it that editorial judgement is now also determined by the polls?

As the election campaigns unfold, the ‘lolly scramble’ of policy has been in full swing (as has the obligatory media distraction from the real issues at-hand). Political parties, and their people are interacting with their publics like there is no tomorrow… because for some there won’t be, at least not in Parliament.

The candidates and parties are doing almost anything they can to increase their name recognition and relevance to you. But it is also an ideal time for you to turn the tables and engage with your local MP or party spokespeople to state your issues of concern.

Of course, you are likely to have far more success if you have had previous and sustained connection with that key person or group.  It’s vitally important that we keep in regular contact with our representatives, not just when they come knocking on your door every three years.

A common problem for many is knowing how best to contact public officials and what the appropriate protocols and procedures are for this. Granted, there are some unique considerations, but once understood, the opportunities are tremendous.

Network’s own work in Government Relations spans many years and many governments.  In producing the New Zealand Government Directory we have cause to interact with nearly every single representative, department and organisation.

We know their pet peeves, such as spelling a name wrong or the incorrect salutation.  And did you know that you do not need to put a stamp on an envelope to parliament?

One of the significant components of the New Zealand Government Directory is a comprehensive guide to contacting relevant people or government organisations. This essential guidance includes full biographical details and key contact numbers and emails. There’s also a searchable database at your fingertips to group relevant contacts and cross-reference with protocol guides on how to effectively target your concerns to the right people or entities.

We encourage you to check it out here and exercise your democratic right – not just once every three years!

It is hard not to feel that that the 2011 General Election has descended into farce.  We’re now ten days out from the Election, and for nigh on three days our politicians aided and abetted by the national media have given us a diet of irrelevancy about a tape of a private conversation.

The PM raised a matter of principle about being secretly recorded in conversation over a cup of tea with the aspiring MP for Epsom, but before long our media are excusing the blatancy of this illegality and claiming the PM has something to hide if he’s not prepared to reveal what’s on the tape.  In climbing into this matter,  two of the other main parties, while tut-tutting at the secret recording, have been lavishly proffering public relations advice about what the PM should do because it “doesn’t look good” to have a private conversation and keep it that way.

It is a sign that politicians are now more interested in doing what “looks good” than explaining the social and economic measures that will advance our wellbeing over the next years.  Is this because they judge us to be totally facile?  Are they right, and is this what we want?  Is it also a sign of the media is more interested in feeding us a diet of gossip and innuendo because they understand  people are so disinterested in policy unless it is to directly affect them?

Surely it’s time to drop this nonsense of the tape and get back to debating the issues that matter so that we can have some substance on which to cast our votes.  This goes for the lot of them.

All the professionals I’ve spoken to agree that Vector, and particularly its chief, Simon Mackenzie, did an excellent job of communicating during the gas supply crisis. That is why it was surprising  to read that the organisation had been quick to “admit communication errors”, and was undertaking a formal review of its communication process.

However, I was not an affected party, so had no actual experience of the supply problem suffered by so many businesses and organisations where it appears there were issues with communications.

It is commendable that Vector is tackling this head on and so soon after the crisis, so that its customers can have objective answers.

From the experience of the disruption to the gas supply in Hawke’s Bay in 2004, I know that businesses can never have enough information in these circumstances. On that occasion, East Coast gas supplies were cut by a major washout in the Manawatu. The frustration of not being able to process crops ripe for harvest was enormous. At the time NGC was the owner and operator of the pipe so there was a single point of contact.

It seems clear that the recent crisis was exacerbated by the dichotomy of ownership and operation and the inability of Maui Developments to grasp the communications challenge. When Maui’s spokesperson did speak it was unhelpful and defensive. He likened the break in gas supply to a disruption to a highway, going on to say when such events happened no compensation was paid. He’d forgotten, it seems, that Maui derives revenue and profits from its “highway”. The fact that the owner was not up to it, was not the fault of Vector.

Vector’s initiative in reviewing communication around the event points to the importance of all companies having a crisis plan as part of the business continuity plan, and from time to time testing it.

What was your experience or view of this event?