Have you heard of the charity DebRA?

DebRA is a charity devoted to finding a cure for a terrible skin afflication called Epidermolysis Bullosa.  More about the condition.

Have a look at this film about sufferer Jonny Kennedy – a real inspiration.

This is a very rare inherited condition that results in blisters, internally and externally, at the slightest knock.  Many sufferer develop skin cancer early.  The pain and restrictions on normal living are tremendous: changing dressing can take many painful hours.

I am giving some of my time to helping promote a dinner that deBRA is having in a month’s time.

The dinner has Michale Portillo speaking.  The event is now half full, but the organisers want to be sure of filling the remaining seats.  (I believe it is £450 per table of 10). The charity has some notable household names in addition to Michael.

The brief

The event should fill, but Tony one of the organisers is extra keen to put this to rest.  If the night is a success it will act as a platform for more – it will give the charity a real impetus.  So he is looking for ideas.

But more than that, the work of DebRA is not well-known.  The brief is flexible if it can get DebRA a higher profile.

All creative ideas welcome – something more than a charity run or jumping out of a plane – let your imagination run wild.

And you don’t have to be a PR to help – I also want to show how online interaction can work

Please leave ideas in the comment box!!!!

I had to do this, if only to use the image.

(Unfortunately I do not have the skills to airbrush myself – never mind).

The election will be almost upon us and as sure as summer used to herald the thwack of willow on hippy or crusty, the election will have that most weary of images: senior politicians pointing up at unconvincing posters, surrounded by photographers clicking away as though the public could not wait to read about it next day in the papers.

There are exceptions.  Saatchi and Saatchi’s Labour Isn’t Working had a touch of genius and was devastatingly effective.

But even I hoped this specimen might have dampened enthusiasm for the thrusting billboard campaign, I am disappointed:

I prefer:

Back to the serious point after these cheap jibes.  The conversations online are affecting the effectiveness of the traditional billboard.  This can be seen no more clearly than with my www.davidcameron.com

Within the time it takes to make a spoof, a campaign in “the real world” can be derided and scuppered, indeed work against the party in question.

Suddenly communications are more integrated and multi-channel than some imagined.

I expect when a political commentator asks will the election be fought online the answer from the “expert” should be it will be fought everywhere, and especially online.

George Dearsley, of Avante, has a 20 year track record providing media training for businesses such as Shell, Kodak, KPMG, Bupa and HBoS.

So he has been fascinated, when once again, brilliant marketers and business people continue to cause incalculable damage to their organisations when a crisis hits.  George compares how BAE Systems got it right and Toyota are still getting it wrong, and it need not be that way:

BAE Systems called me about a year ago and asked me to present to its main board on how the company was perceived by the media.

I was both flattered and intrigued. Why me?  I am not a defence specialist, but looking back maybe that’s exactly why I was invited.

I talked to a dozen national media friends beforehand: the first words spoken were “bribes, corruption, brown envelopes.”   There was little or nothing about full order books, cutting edge technology or good employee relations.

In a recent BBC commissioned poll of viewers voting on “What Makes Lancashire Great?” BAE Systems had come 140^th.

Slide two told them that in the same poll black pudding was 1st and the late Fred Dibnah was….26^th.  After the wry smiles we moved inevitably to bribery.  It clearly hurt.

But I told them (as I’m sure a PR person would) that the issue would not go away until there was a significant resolution to the whole affair.

I was reminded of that meeting when I saw a wonderful television performance last week by BAE Chairman Dick Olver.  The company, he announced, had agreed to pay fines of £286m in a deal with US and UK authorities to settle criminal investigations into its actions in Saudi Arabia and Tanzania.  He said in the interview the move would allow the company to “put a really hard line separating the past from the future.”

His key messages were all in place and delivered with great gravity and credibility.  It was a majestic performance.

Compare Mr. Olver’s effort with the shambolic PR exercised by Toyota in handling what began as a minor software glitch involving the braking system in one model.

The opening shot was a Japanese executive who faced television cameras wearing a surgical mask, quite commonly worn during Japan’s cold season.  This soon became a metaphor for a company that wasn’t being totally open with its customers.  The brand loyalty, which took years and millions of yen to build, was beginning to melt away.

The safety defects were initially portrayed as an American problem.  But this was not true and the dithering led to new questions about Toyota’s famous quality control.

In Europe and the US there were crucial delays between Toyota’s confirming a planned recall millions of cars and communicating this to the public.

Journalists, keen to keep the tale hot, were delighted when customers called in with complaints about other Toyota models. The dreaded “bandwagon effect” was about to take effect.

Throughout, Akio Toyoda, the company’s president, was invisible.  After weeks of silence he finally faced the media and was thoroughly unconvincing.

He forgot the golden rules:

• Act quickly and decisively
• Apologise
• Thank customers for their patience
• Explain what’s being done to put the problems right
• Carry out the remediation as soon as possible, whatever the cost

Toyota is now one of the stories of the day – day after day.  The cars have become the butt of pub jokes and programmes such as Mock The Week are getting great mileage out of the situation.  Toyota is now the Skoda of 2010.

The initial $2 billion recall and the loss of 17% of share value is likely to prove small change when the final bill is totted up.

In Japan there is a proverb: “If it stinks, put a lid on it.”

Sadly, it is the very opposite of good crisis news management strategy.

PR agencies sometimes don’t deliver – that is not big news, is it?

There are professionals and organisations that do not measure up in all sectors, perhaps over-selling to ensure the contract is theirs and then disappointing then when tested.

There are real issues concerning the reputation of PR agencies and when I saw this thread on LinkedIn I felt I had to answer.

Here are three comments I think show real misunderstanding – such views need to be challenged.

“The average agency client relationship lasts just 18 months because 99% of agency pitches are dishonest….sounds like PR firms need a lesson in PR!”

Kathy Towner, owner Win Communications

Well if I am honest that means statistically every other PR agency in Manchester and the North West is not – that doesn’t seem quite right.

But let me argue the real point and not the vitriolic bit, which might come from a bad experience and requires a venting of anger.

“Client relationships last 18 months.”

I am not sure where this is sourced and whether it is correct but let’s say it is.

Client relationships can end because a client suffers from a critical cash flow because of tax issues, loss of one of their key clients or the economic conditions.

Client relationships can also end because of the following reasons (I have listed 10 possibles):

• New marketing director wants his or her own agency brought in.
• The client feels a new agency will be extra keen, this is a perception that does not always ring true.
• The PR resource is brought in-house.
• Some clients only want a project with specified aims and time period.
• Sometimes after a couple of years the original aims of the client have been achieved or the account has been exhausted; some clients have a restricted range of subjects and news.
• The client is very busy and feels they do not need a PR agency anymore.
• The client has become very busy and does not have the time to devote to handling the agency and so has decided to put things on hold
• The client has grown or has changed and believes a new agency with specific experience or skills is needed.
• The client has unrealistic expectations and are disappointed when they are not filled.
• The agency has had enough of the lack of co-operation of the client; sometimes clients might not pay on time or at all.  (I worked for an agency where the client refused to pay and said the work was all done for free to curry favour despite contracts and e-mail clearly stating the work had been commissioned.  Apparently they had done this to a number of suppliers).

I have one client that I have worked with for two years and they put things on hold  in April for reasons that were no-one’s fault.  I met them today and they want me to take up the communication reigns again; I am starting work with them tomorrow.

“I’ve always found retainers to be self defeating in that they repeatedly prompt the same question: “what am I getting for this?” My response always has been to offer retainer, hourly rate and “per project” arrangements and let clients decide which they prefer.”

Bill Brody Professor Emeritus at the University of Memphis

Retainers make sense for an agency and client:

• Retainers allow an agency to invest time in researching opportunities.  It allows an agency to act on an opportunity; if you had to wait for an affirmative every time something came up it would be an impractical relationship.
• Retainers enable agencies to plan financially – retainers enable clients to plan financially.
• Retainers give agencies a robust model to work around.
• Retainers show the agency that the clients are committed to the relationship – this is reciprocated by any agency worth hiring.

If you want to offer a range of arrangements then do so.  But if you try and bend to all demands and requirements it is going to be more complicated than it need to be.

“We had two disappointing experiences with PR firms. How can you justify the expense of hours worked if at the end of it you can’t correlate any tangible improvement in business, customers, profits, image, or anything?”

Todd Lempicke

OptimalResume.com

It is not always easy to measure PR.  I tell that to all prospects.  I try to give a realistic opinion about possible results and let clients make a call based on sensible estimations.

• Clients – Let me say that some clients do not ask where new business has come from, so how can you measure it?  What if a client’s website loses a prospect or the way they are handled on the phone? mmmmmmm
• Profits – Doesn’t this mainly depend on variables that aren’t anything to do with PR such as costs of suppliers, wages, the economy, competition etc?
• Image – not easy to measure.
• Anything – PR works on many levels and it has a positive affect on many elements of a company.  If you agency does not deliver at all, either you have a really awful agency and you really need to be more careful in your hiring process or perhaps handle your agency better.

I was speaking to a client I worked for for over two years and whose contract finished in the summer.  He told me last Friday that his agency had got many inquiries, as much as a quarter, from a source he wasn’t sure of.  He supposed, as all his inquiries came from referrals, that this must be PR.  As his agency was small then, he told me PR was an important ingredient in its growth.  But there was no system in place to measure the effect.

I don’t mean this to be a them against us piece: it is not.  All I am saying is that it can be more complicated that is stated by the above statements.

When PR agencies peform and work well with clients the results can make companies.

What a great piece of PR.

I like it anyway.

A pub, probably with few stories to tell, suddenly has a “discarded” tank in its car park and some handy coverage in the local paper.  No-one knows whose tank it is, why it was left there; it is a good talking point: get a pint, have your photo on the tank – some useful revenue.

Actually there is only one “enthusiast” that has tanks in the area.  It is not a big mystery Poirot.  And you hardly forget where you park your tank; I have a silver Honda and in a big car park it can be hard to see, not so with camouflaged military hardware.

I just think this is quite a good example of how to create a story from nothing – a little bit of creativity, perhaps nothing special, but it tickled me.

Well, getting a start would be ideal for most graduates or school leavers.

It is not easy to get a career; it is not easy to get a job at the moment, and a sought after career: forget it.

Even in good times things are not easy, so what do you do if you want to get started in marketing or PR in such a discouraging market?

Here are a few tips that I hope helps:

Social media – If you want to get into marketing or PR and you do not know about social media then you are letting yourself down.

You are not taking the opportunity of building relationships with professionals that could help you.  You are not noting opportunities as they come up.  You are not showing that you have the skills and intellectual curiosity to succeed.

Flexibility – It is tempting to wait for the right job.  But the right position rarely comes along.

Make a start, if you get offered an opportunity – a placement or junior role – think seriously about taking it even if it is not perfect, you can still look for your dream job in the meantime.  You might find the role you get offered turned out to be what you wanted or was much better than you imagined.

CV and applications – I have received CVs with grammatical errors!!  Really, do I have to say more?

Cultivate opportunities where none present themselves – I have received speculative CVs and reply and get no word of thanks when I offer advice.  I understand that if you want a job you have no time to dwell and you move on as quickly as you can.

But if only they called me or asked for leads or pointers, I would be happy to reward a little bit of initiative, so would many other people.  Yet my efforts to reply are never rewarded – if I was recruiting I would not employ such individuals although this might be unfair.  This one example where initiating a quick conversation might really help reduce that job hunt’s length.

Networking – following on, look for people that can help you.

Do not be afraid to ask: it is not cheating to ask contacts to get introductions that can lead to work experience or even, dare I say it, work.

Have a real think who might be able to help, ask those who you do not think could help, you might be surprised who they know.

Determination – it is a difficult road for many and one that I do not want to travel again.  But if you really want it, you are most likely going to get you dream job.  So have courage and keep at it even though it is a miserable process.

This is quite a clever piece of marketing: a campaign to banish cliches from B2B marketing.

IAS, a marketing agency, has set-up a site called 101 cliches that invites readers to submit the worst offenders and vote on those already up.  Connected up through social media channels this could be quite a hit as it asks for participation and is fun.

It is heartfelt for me as I cannot stand stock photography – are so many work forces repulsive enough to buy dull bland images rather than expose them to the public? – I really think it is insulting and poor marketing as you want to see who you are going to be working with: we can all spot stock photography.  I have commented on this before on this site.

(The image is number two of worst offenders at present).

Anyway have fun and thanks to Dr Dave Chaffey – who won’t remember me contacting him in 2000 when he was a marketing lecturer and I worked at Congress, a sales and marketing agency for US Internet businesses looking to get into European markets; I can’t think what my question was about exactly or even inexactly, but Dave was helpful.  Thanks for the tweet.

Winston Churchill said a politicians job is predicting the future, then explaining why it didn’t happen like that after all.

I am not going to make any wild predictions, but I am going to note how I feel at the start (or near the start) of the year and if I am here at the end of the year I will compare some notes.

I think this year is going to be hard for the economy.  Caution will still reign, but I saw signs of easing in November and December and that is hopeful.  Anecdotal evidence and that from surveys also seem to back-up that impression). (See my entry about the Bellweather Report about the PR industry Business Desk NW echoes these sentiments).

What is not is the public sector’s up coming tidal wave of misery.

Whoever gets in power in May will be making cuts, probably of historic proportions to re-balance the books.  The harbour of recessionary times will not protect in this storm.  In fact agencies in any marketing discipline that are focused on the public sector will have worrying times.  I can see Q3 being disappointing.  It is a pity that the election was not in 2009 and this pain had been addressed earlier.

Some sectors, and I am thinking digital and technology will prosper.  I only hear good things from the digital sector, if we overlook the demise of Flame Digital and Latitude.

I will be looking at environmental and technology as sectors I want to concentrate on this year.  I have a good technology record, with plenty of experience.

2008 and 2009 will be remembered by many in PR as times of change: traditional PR being eroded by social media and digital.  Unfortunately for traditional media there was change in a recession that acted as a catalyst for the transition to new media.  Change is painful, uncomfortable, and the combination did not help.

I don’t think traditional media is doomed – it is a re-ordering of the way we communicate.  Trade press is still resilient as is broadcast.  It all makes PR more challenging and interesting.  PRs must now be able to address traditional channels where they feel comfortable with new channels where they often did not, might still not.  The level of knowledge might surprise: some PR professionals have bluffed it quite a bit while they have tried to catch up; others are well-informed.  It makes it confusing for clients.

One interesting development might be that there will be more community based websites and forums: Facebooks for architects, LinedkIns for teachers. I promoted an Oracle professionals’ site for a new media agency that had used Drupal, an open sourced software, that will allow it to extend this concept to many other industries.

News and trade might communicate in a similar way.  Trade and business press is already generating revenue and connecting with events, seminars, awards.  But it is the nature of how it communicates: not pushing through information, more about engagement, building relationships to ensure that trust in the source is maintained and enhanced.  How-Do, a North West based creative media portal is one example, as is Salford Online and its aims.

I will be reading about social media and commenting on things of interest on this site throughout the year.

Anyway this is my general take – not earth shattering, just a few observations.

PR spend for 2010 looks hopeful, albeit weak according to the Bellweather Report.

As mentioned in my annual review post, it seemed that business was picking up in Q4 and this seems to be confirmed by the report.

Spend is still in decline, but at a rate of 4% for Q4 compared to 24.4% for Q3.  It might be that Q1 is the bottom and that PR money will be released.

Recruitment is positive with nearly 40% seeing new staff appointments in 2010 and client budget is also on the up for over a third of those surveyed.  However, respondent numbers are small although trends seem to reflect a lot of conversations I have.

There is still the shock of a public sector cut back as early as summer, so while the overall trend looks reassuring there might be some hard times for agencies with a public sector client base.

Will there be more shocks for the economy, even though the US and China picture is encouraging?

Mick Greer has an impeccable record in advertising.

He has worked for Saatchi & Saatchi of course, Lowe, BBDO and McCann Erikson in the UK and abroad.  Mick ran his own agency in Sydney.  His campaign experience includes Vodaphone, Coca Cola, BP and Cathay Pacific.  And he is even going to work on a project with me in the new year – an undoubted highlight.

So down to business:

What can PRs learn from advertising professionals?

Too many PR stories, I believe, don’t have the compelling hook.

You only have a second to engage your audience.  Sure PR has its moments of brilliance, but we are talking about using a small moment time to hook your readers.  Are PRs measuring up?  I am not sure they appreciate that the window of opportunity to engage with their audience is so, so small.

Do you remember The Sun’s “Up yours Delores” and “Stick it up your Junta” headlines?

Alright, you might not be a Sun reader, but at least it understands its audience and writes accordingly and reels them in.  If you don’t believe me why has it got over  four million readers?

So what makes a campaign a success?

Well, you cannot tell if a campaign is going to be a success.

The Cadbury’s gorilla campaign was amazing.  The creatives and more so the client were brave to put that forward and make it work.  It had a touch of genius.

But ask me why and I cannot tell you.

It comes down to: Is advertising an art or science?  It is the perennial debate.   I have found intuition can be a powerful way of guiding your efforts and should not be discounted.  I do my research thoroughly just to let you know and build my creative work from there.

What I can say is understand the issues, think about the problem and then work harder at the solution.

Social media will badly affect traditional advertising, an accepted wisdom, right?

No, I don’t think so.

Traditional media will not go.  Internet devotees are still pushing the myths that the Internet is the only game worth noting and that you hold it in awe at all times.

You know that more people listen to radio than MP3 players or that more people (in the US) are watching TV than they did 5 years ago?  Traditional advertising spaces on well patronised spaces are still there in abundance.

It all means the Internet, although attractive for advertising revenue, is still one of a number of options.

The point I want to make though it that with the Internet as well as traditional channels, it is how you engage that is important.  What is the point of someone getting to your site and not being engaged?

It used to be get a site up, anything.  Then it was get them there.  Now it has to be let’s make our online communications so compelling they come back again and again and build a relationship with the brand.