Survival of the Fittest – who will win out in the end?
It seems to me that the current economic climate is possibly being met more with pragmatism than doom and gloom. I attended a Public Relations Institute of New Zealand College of Fellows Symposium on Friday and the theme for the day was “Survival of the Fittest.”
A panel discussion on the topic of how to survive in leaner and meaner economic conditions provided us with the opportunity to hear from Brent Impey, CEO MediaWorks; Scott Bartlett, CEO Orcon; Phil O’Reilly CEO Business NZ and PR person Michael Dunlop, Director of Republic of Acumen.
Each one of them acknowledged the challenges that companies are facing at the moment but what also came to light was that during tougher economic times, opportunities also exist for businesses to improve, but you must act quickly.
As the Chief Executive Officer of Business NZ, Phil’s advice for businesses is “stay exactly the same – but don’t”. He elaborated that it’s important for companies to stay true to their values, purpose and core brand during tougher times but to also be able to see when they need to change and react quickly to different market conditions.
Phil highlighted McDonald’s as an example. While the golden arches remain, they’ve re-focused their menu on building in healthier options and reducing the amount of fat, sugar and salt in their original menu. In fact, while other fast food chains are seeing lower sales, McDonald’s is seeing global growth.
Brent Impey said that TVNZ and MediaWorks are actually doing ok in a tight market. In fact, they’re seeing substantial improvements in regions such as Gisborne, which recently saw a 21% increase in growth. He said it’s important to think beyond the Auckland market.
Scott Bartlett said it was important for businesses not to panic and lose focus on managing stakeholder relationships and instead reinforce stakeholder relationships.
All of their ideas, advice and suggestions pointed towards optimism.
Samantha Allen who heads up Pulse Communications, the consumer offering for Ogilvy PR Worldwide, offered some interesting insights into where public relations is heading in the next three – five years, and how it needs to evolve in order to survive and improve.
She says key factors that will see the public relations industry continue to thrive include the ongoing importance of providing smart thinking and solutions to our clients, building strong C-suite connections (i.e. Chief executive level) and retaining the ‘grey-hair’ factor to do this. She also highlighted the changing face of PR talent and addressing the needs of Gen Y.
So what are your views? How can PR and communications practitioners continue to retain clients and grow our businesses when times get tough?
Tags: Business NZ, Economy, Gen Y, MediaWorks, Orcon, PRINZ, Pulse Communications, Republic of Acumen
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I agree with Phil. Stick to your knitting, but be flexible with how you apply it. Certainly in the area of food and nutrition communications, overall trends don’t just creep up on you – they’re usually like big obvious freight trains rolling down the track. It’s a matter of looking at them from all angles and critically examining how they apply to each client individually before jumping onboard and making your actions relevant to the appropriate groups.
October 6th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I think in tough times our skills as communicators come to the fore.
Reputation management becomes more important than ever – only the fittest will survive and we need to demonstrate that our clients or employers are survivors.
Demonstrating that in a credible, relevant way during a recession is more valuable than in a boom economy.