Posts Tagged ‘communications’

1. Well, that’s a relief

   Published on Thursday, September 29th, 2011
   Two days ago we were all wringing our hands with despair over World Health Organisation data that showed Auckland had New Zealand’s worst air pollution, double that of Sydney.

   We read yesterday that the data has been withdrawn, and new data will show that Auckland is only slightly worse than Sydney and Dunedin, which the previous day was said to have had the cleanest air in New Zealand, now has the worst.

   Perhaps all the data is fine, and the problem is that the WHO, for all the flags it flies, does not know where the RWC is being held, or at least where our various cities and towns are geographically located.

   Thank goodness Environment Minister Nick Smith had his people challenge the WHO data.  But spare a thought for those spokespersons who rushed to judgement on the earlier data and started berating us about the use of cars as the cause of this pollution – not buses, trucks, diesel trains, but cars!

   Once again, the earlier WHO statement reinforced the importance of the advice I received many years ago, when as a reporter covering the work of the ambulances following horses around at the local race meeting.  In my naïve way I suggested to the driver that perhaps we were too far behind the galloping nags, and should close up a bit.  The crisp but polite response was:  no good being there until the jockey has stopped bouncing!

   Sound advice for communications people in any crisis, me thinks.

   What are your top tips for ensuring that in haste you don’t get the wrong end of the stick?

2. A Time for Self Reflection

   Published on Friday, September 23rd, 2011
   With Parliament set to rise in a couple of weeks ahead of November’s general election we are about to head into the valedictory speech season. The last ‘hurrah’ for those MPs that have decided not to stand for re-election.  This time around there will be 14 of them starting on 27th September with Green MP Sue Kedgley and finishing on October 5th with Simon Power.

   I strongly encourage you to catch as many of these speeches as you can. All will be streaming live on the Parliament website or on Sky TV.

   They will offer personal insights from our national leaders that we rarely see, regrettably due to the nature of the political game.

   Based on a very quick estimate there is more than 200 years of collective parliamentary service departing over the next few weeks. In anyone’s book that represents a phenomenal amount of parliament experience and insight into the machineries of government.

   There is no standard format for a valedictory speech other than conformance with the House standing orders. MPs are therefore free to dwell on their successes or otherwise and their musings on public life. Many with experience in the government benches reminisce about legislative triumphs, others who have spent their whole parliamentary career in the opposition benches will reflect on how they have tried to make New Zealand a better place. Some like to leave with a bang while others prefer to slip out quietly.

   The topics and tone, the highlights and lowlights will be fascinating to observe over the coming weeks.

3. Concern and outrage – time to chill

   Published on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
   Excuse me if I’ve said this before, but it’s sad when price is the only message of certain communication initiatives, and value is left unconsidered.

   I for one welcomed the “glossy flyer” that came through the mail box from Auckland Council, inclusive of a “letter from Len”.  While this may have contained nothing new for the bureaucratic who expressed “concern” and the councillor who found it “outrageous”, I found its content of interest.

   We have reached the stage in our little country when concern and outrage are trotted out every time information is gained under the Official Information Act.  Last week we had one of RNZ’s senior reporters wanting to know whether the Treasury got a better interest rate from the banks because they had lunch or dinner with their senior executives.  It appears she sees no value whatsoever in business relationships.

   It is time to cool it, in merely reporting the cost of everything without any effort to measure value.

   As regard the glossy flyer, some say there were “cheaper and more effective ways to communicate”.  OK, let’s hear them.

4. All Whites get media communications spot on

   Published on Friday, June 25th, 2010
   The All Whites, and football, have won more than the hearts and minds of the public with their greater than expected performances at the World Cup.

   They have also won the admiration of the media for the way players, the coaching staff and top officials have readily made themselves available for interviews – regardless of the difficulties created by the time difference between South Africa and New Zealand.

   In our prime news time of 6am to 8am this morning, some two to four hours after they had failed by the narrowest of margins to ‘achieve the impossible dream’ and when emotional and physical exertion would have been taking its toll on body and mind, they repeatedly fronted, answering the same set of questions with enthusiasm and a fair degree of articulation as every news outlet sort their views.

   It capped an impressive media performance they have maintained throughout the tournament.

   The media loved it, and was not slow to compare the difference between the All Whites and the attitude of the ‘other two’ football codes.

   It is a timely reminder to all sports (and to business) of the importance of the media to them, and the promotional power generated by good media coverage.

   In the space of a few weeks we have learnt, and can recall, the names of the All Whites with the same ease as we can the nation’s top rugby and league players, and the beautiful game has moved from the wings to centre stage.

   If on a regular basis football received the same level of coverage as the other football codes, it’s possible it too might not be as media friendly.

   However, let’s not allow scepticism to tarnish a media performance that ranks alongside their playing performance.

   Well done the All Whites, you got your communications spot on.

5. No cure, but other miracles

   Published on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
   As PR and communications specialists we are sometimes humbled and often inspired by the communications initiatives of those whom typically we’d regard as amateurs. (Perhaps this is a sign that we take ourselves too seriously.)

   One such experience has been a blog titled Mike’s Big Adventure which was started in February by Tracey as a way of sharing with family and friends the journey on which husband Mike and her set out to beat his recently diagnosed aggressive form of stomach cancer. Given little hope by traditional oncology, they traveled to a clinic in San Diego for a different solution.

   If you’ve ever had someone close to you very sick, you’d agree that this little blog was a wonderfully effective way of staying in touch. Narrative updates at the press of button, without the need for endlessly repetitious phone calls.

   Mike and Tracey returned to Auckland around mid-March to carry on the treatment with the comfort of family and home. 

   While there was no cure, there were miracles – the simple ones of support and love.  Almost every day, without fail, Tracey blogged on the joys and anguish of this terminal adventure. She shared a very personal perspective and her blog following grew exponentially.  At times it has surely been the best-read blog in New Zealand.

   What started as a journey of hope, became a mechanism for coping with the struggle and powerlessness of saying goodbye and losing the one you love most.  

   There was no happy ending, and at the funeral Tracey said that the only way that she could cope with speaking at the very large gathering to farewell Mike was to treat it like another blog.  Later that evening there was a Blogger Party, the modern equivalent of an Irish wake.

   Through her blog Tracey showed us how natural communications can be. Outside of her close family, whanau, friends and workmates (of both her and Mike), she built a community of support through a modern tool of communications.

   Thanks Tracey for showing us how good and purposeful a blog can be.

   PS: This blog touched thousands of people in different ways. At Network PR, it was a special experience because Tracey is the mother of a colleague, Cameron.

6. Clear messages from the golden age of advertising

   Published on Thursday, March 4th, 2010
   If you are anywhere near the creative industries, public relations and advertising, and want a good pick-me-up, go see Art and Copy at the Documentary Film Festival.

   Yeah, it’s a review of the early American advertising industry, but there is still freshness about their thinking and their client solutions.  We learned of the irreverence these pioneers had for their clients, but also of the tremendous results that were achieved. This was the golden age of advertising, when people loved marketing and weren’t yet called ‘consumers’.

   For me, two comments had particular resonance:

   - People make advertising decisions by committee, because it avoids them taking responsibility if things go wrong (this applies equally to other industries of course); and
   - If you make a mistake, forget it and move on. You learn nothing from your failures, but lots from your success. Art & Copy featured this ad as an example.

    

   Another thing that I’ve learned about managing communications, and it was only today, from a client who was talking about preparing good briefs: the proposals that clients receive from their agencies are only as good as the brief they’ve been give. Most likely, if the ideas are crap, the brief was crap. I hasten to add that our discussion did not relate to anything that had just been proposed.

7. Media training lessons from Jetstar

   Published on Friday, June 26th, 2009
   While the saga of Jetstars’ stranded All Black fans became a communications quagmire, with
   claim and counter-claim, there is one particular element we would like to reflect upon. It is the way Jetstar’s spokesperson responded to questions about the incident during an interview with Radio NZ’s Morning Report last Monday.

   Jetstar’s spokeman Simon Westaway was not prepared to give any ground, let alone apologise.  The key messages were:  These people were late; we will debate this any time anywhere; we carry 12 million people a year.

   To paraphrase: No ifs or buts, we were right; these people were wrong.

   This approach even seemed to ruffle Morning Report’s nice guy Geoff Robinson, and was almost certainly the reason for on-going criticisms of the airline, some of which became quite toxic in the online space.

   Jetstar seems to have seriously misread the New Zealand culture as, in all likelihood, a local company and a local spokesperson would have been more conciliatory with messages like:
   We take all complaints seriously; we will review the matter thoroughly and examine our processes; and If we are wrong, we’ll take it on the chin and talk to these customers about making it right. (Apparently there was CCTV footage that could be reviewed).

   Such an approach would have de-escalated the situation which quickly went from simmering to boiling.

   If you are going to adopt this staunch, brash approach – no nonsense, no vacillation, let’s move on – just be sure you’re bulletproof… Today (Friday), Jetstar’s own reported actions suggest the airline did make some errors.  They are apologising to some customers, offering discount vouchers and reviewing their check-in performance.

   Public 1, Jetstar 0

8. Perceptions are reality, aren’t they?

   Published on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
   Perceptions are reality  - that’s the long-held mantra of the advertising and communications industry.

   Why then was there such scandal when Yang Peiyi with her flawless voice got changed out of the Olympic’s opening ceremony with Lin Miaoke for her flawless image and expressions.

   I recall a furore and outrage that we had been duped by China’s Olympic organisers.

   Where did they learn such tricks? 

   From western democracies I suspect.  Look no further than Sarah Palin who is now the Republicans’ Lin Miaoke. She’s the wholesome, conservative.All-American Sarah-get your-gun poster girl for the re-election of the Republicans. Never mind her serious lack of experience.

   When communicators sense that people have stopped thinking for themselves or that the message is too complex,  there is a temptation for perceptions to get changed-out for reality. 

   Our challenge is to ensure that communications maintain substance.  This is a steep task in a world that loves the one-liner, like the one I read yesterday. In lamenting the health woes of Maori, one columnist compared their changing eating habits over 200 years as ‘the journey from kereru to KFC’. We are easily seduced by the glib.

   But that blog’s for another time.