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The share factor: implications of global digital strategy for public relations

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The share factor: implications of global digital strategy for public relations

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Content THE SHARE FACTOR Implications of Global Digital Strategy for Public Relations by Sarah Kane A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) December 2012 Copyright 2012 Sarah Kane i “We, the people, have no excuse for starry-eyed sycophantic groupthink in the Information Age. Knowledge is but a fingertip away.” -Tiffany Madison ii Acknowledgements Some were readers. Some were editors. Some were inspirational. Some were supportive. Some were there to whip me into shape. Thank you all. You know who you are. I could not have made it without you. ii i Table of Contents Epigraph……………………………………………………………………………………i Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..ii Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………iii List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………….iv List of Terminology……………………………………………………………………….v Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...vi Research & Methodology………………………………………………………………..vii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 Section 1: Looking Back at Our Roots……………………………………………………2 Chapter 1: What is Public Relations? …………………………………………….3 Chapter 2: Public Relations Becomes an Industry………………………………..5 Chapter 3: Thinking Outside the Box……………………………………………..7 Chapter 4: The Emergence of PR in Europe………………………………………9 Chapter 5: PR as We Know It……………………………………………………12 Section 2: Being Digital………………………………………………………………….16 Chapter 6: What is Digital?………………………………………………………18 Chapter 7: The Share Factor Marks Its Presence……………………………...…21 Chapter 8: PR Campaigns Get Social……………………………………………32 Chapter 9: Measuring Successes…………………………………………………37 Section 3: Global Digital Strategy For Public Relations……………………………….. 39 Chapter 10: Globalization………………………………………………………. 40 Chapter 11: Guinness Globally Integrates……………………………………… 44 Chapter 12: Hilton Builds Global Buzz………………………………………… 48 Chapter 13: Strategic Implications of Integration………………………………. 53 Chapter 14: Global Digital Strategy for Campaigns……………………………. 58 Chapter 15: Public Relations as Strategic Counsel………………………………67 Conclusion: What the Future Holds……………………………………………………...70 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………..77 List of Appendices……………………………………………………………………….82 iv List of Figures (in document) Figure 1: The Holmes Report 2011 Global Rankings……………………………………………13 Figure 2: Map of participating countries and ranking of PR consultancy market size…………..14 Figure 3: A Short History of Social Media………………………………………………………23 Figure 4: Social Media Milestones by Edelman Digital…………………………………………29 Figure 5: Top PR Campaigns – A History……………………………………………………….34 Figure 6: Social Media Brandsphere by Brian Solis & Jess3……………………………………60 Figure 7: Press Releases: More Media = More Views…………………………………………..63 Figure 8: Infographic: The Business of Facebook………………………………………………75 v List of Terminology Blog – a personal journal published online typically displayed in reverse chronological order with the most recent post appearing at the top of the webpage Brand – a trademark or distinction that identifies a product, manufacturer, person, organization, or business. Over time, that ideal will become associated with a certain level or group of expectations from consumers, peers, and/or the market PR 1.0 – uses a combination of traditional tools such as the press release and press conferences. This type of public relations activity focuses around the promotion of client communications towards traditional media outlets, including newspapers, publications, television, and radio PR 2.0 – uses a combination of social media tools available to communications professionals to reach and better communicate with influencers and target audiences directly. This type of public relations activity focuses on the two-way communications seen on the Web 2.0 Social Media – forms of electronic communication, such as websites and blogs, through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content, including videos, photographs, and audio Web 1.0 – The first stage of the Internet boom, mostly among corporations. The Internet introduced a new way to trade stocks and access important financial information, but involved one-way communication from static pages. Web 1.0 involved dial-up internet access with average bandwidth of 50K Web 2.0 – the intersection of web application features that facilitate participatory two- way information sharing, user-centered design, and collaboration online. Web 2.0 often involves access through wireless technologies with an average of 1 megabit of bandwidth. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, and web applications Web 3.0 – the future of online information that includes personalization and the Semantic Web. While definitions do vary, the essence of Web 3.0 and 4.0 are where the computer is generating new information, rather than humans, through the conversion of currently unstructured documents on the Internet to a “web of data,” complete with wireless formats, 3D simulations, and augmented reality Wiki –a website whose users can add, modify, or delete its content through a web browser to promote collaborative creation v i Abstract This paper examines the status of public relations in the digital era through a look back at the evolution of public relations and outlooks for the future, furthermore, how the digital landscape is affecting brand advocacy and perceptions on a global scale. The key issues discussed within are the rise of public relations in the United States and around the world, the emergence of social media, the new tactics that are being used by public relations professionals, and how the public relations sector is evolving into a new brand of all- encompassing communications firms. This paper will also discuss the ideals behind digital media and campaigns, as well as important considerations for global digital strategy. Public relations is changing, and while traditional public relations activity is the heart of its practice, the public relations industry must be prepared for the digital age and beyond. v i i Research & Methodology The goal of the research was to examine the direction that the public relations industry is heading and to see what industry professionals think of the current environment, as well as hear their thoughts and predictions for the future with expressed concern for the growing use of digital applications of the practice. Research Goals 1. Outline the changes in public relations since its establishment at the start of the 20 th century 2. Provide examples of the effective use of traditional public relations tactics 3. Understand social media and the Web 2.0 4. Gain perspective on the merging of digital media and public relations activity 5. Gain perspective on the implications of global engagement within a public relations capacity 6. Identify examples of effective use of PR 2.0 7. Gather thoughts on the direction of the public relations industry held by thought and industry leaders Methodology The qualitative primary research for this study consisted of conversations with various public relations professionals and digital experts, as well as attendance at several lectures and seminars. Discussions were conducted with Dave Senay, chief executive officer of Fleishman-Hillard international communications agency; Richard Dale, global planning director at Fleishman-Hillard; and Richard Price, a seasoned public relations veteran in Europe and the United States, to understand perceptions on the effect of digital platforms, as well as opinions on the future of the industry. In addition, secondary research from v i ii case studies on new media and public relations, scholarly journals, online encyclopedias, books, blogs, and wikis were used to substantiate opinions, ideas, and primary research. 1 Introduction The Share Factor 9N C< DM A< > X OJ M: noun) the element or elements contributing to a piece of content or information’s ability to be used, distributed, participated in, received, etc., jointly by other individuals, groups, and/or networks In our fast-paced societies and hyper-connected worlds, brand managers have found themselves responsible for speaking to a global community instead of only local, regional or national markets. But, what does this mean for the public relations world? Will our traditional roles be challenged, as brands need to communicate in different ways and with evolving audiences? This research will review the ways in which public relations has grown since the phrase was coined in the early 20 th century, what the projections are for the future, speculation on how the communications department could become the umbrella under which public relations, marketing, and digital strategy will be housed, and how they must work together to create the ultimate brand reputation management in the future. 2 Section 1: Looking Back at Our Roots To hypothesize on the future of the public relations industry, it is important to reference where it all started. This section will review the history of public relations, how its pioneers pushed the envelope, and the progression the discipline has made in its 100 years of establishment with its beginnings in the United States through to its current global status. 3 Chapter 1: What is Public Relations? Since the dawn of time, leaders have used various outlets, such as art, poetry, writing and architecture, to influence, impress, and persuade the publics surrounding their reign and ideals in what were arguably the first movements of public relations. Christians used prolific speeches in churches and gatherings to gain followers and guide them in their choices. As the Renaissance emerged, the foundations of public relations were a necessity for the management of organizations and bringing public opinions to light, which was perpetuated by the advent of printing. Wars introduced populations to government propaganda in support of their initiatives. But still, the classification of what public relations actually is requires examining the big picture view of the overall goal: managing the communication between a brand and its various publics, hopefully exposing them in a favorable way. Public relations is, in its essence, a communications art form focusing on advocacy. Though it tends to vary as far as specific tactics and the nature of individual industries are concerned, across the globe this rings true. Although the overall goals of any public relations campaign work may be similar, it goes without saying that cultural and historical influences have often made a great impact on the day-to-day practice of these activities. Unfortunately, this can mean a lot of things, and the traditional tactics often cloud the vision of public relations practitioners in reaching this ultimate goal. Today, it’s possible to find a few dozen definitions of the word. In a Merriam- Webster dictionary, it will say, “public relations: the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm or institution.” The Public 4 Relations Society of America says, “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other,” while Sally Falkow of Press-Feed and USC Annenberg adjunct faculty says, “The purpose of PR is to participate in conversations about your industry and your business, build relationships with relevant stakeholders and ultimately build a supportive community of influencers and interested parties.” And when asked to describe public relations, Peter Shankman of Help A Reporter Out said, “I walk into a bar and the friend of the hot girl sees me and tells her friend how great I am in bed. The hot girl goes home with me.” [Heidi Cohen: Public relations is communication. While all of these ideas may be different in their expression, there is one key theme running throughout: communicating a message. It’s what we do. And to understand where the industry is going, it is important to understand its beginnings. 5 Chapter 2: Public Relations Becomes an Industry Public relations as a professional practice ultimately developed first in the United States in the early 20th century. Although the principles of public relations activity have been arguably present throughout organized society, the first publicity agency is historically recognized as the Boston-based, the Publicity Bureau, established in 1900. Railroads, oil companies, and public utilities expanded, as America became the Mecca of capitalist enterprise. Those industry giants quickly realized the need for corporate advocacy, and pioneers in the communications sector began to acquire clients like American Telephone 3 @ G @ BM < KC 3 3 D I A JM KP=G D > M @ G < O D JIN R JM F 9 Price : From there the industry began expanding with the help of one significant pioneer named Ivy Lee. Often cited as a founding father of modern public relations, Ivy Lee began his career as a law student. During his studies, he discovered his talent for writing and pursued a career in journalism, where he started to understand the problems large corporations were facing at the time. By 1904, Lee established his first business as a public relations consultant, taking on clients like the Democratic Party and New York stockbrokers, which led him to his first major client, the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1912, for which he gained large successes for by gaining positive coverage and in mitigating crises such as train crashes. Credited with issuing the first news release, which the New York Times ran word- for-word, his principles helped to define an emerging industry, as he is thought to have pioneered crisis communications. In 1906, he laid an important foundation in modern public relations, when he said: 6 “This is not a secret press bureau. All our work is done in the open. We aim to supply news. This is not an advertising agency. If you think any of our matter ought properly to go to your business office, do not use it. Our matter is accurate. Further details on any subject treated will be supplied promptly, and any editor will be assisted most carefully in verifying directly any statement of face. … In brief, our plan is frankly, and openly, on behalf of business concerns and public institutions, to supply the press and public of the United States prompt and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to know about.” What were later titled Ivy’s Declaration of Principles outlined a public relations practitioner’s responsibility to the public extending beyond client obligation. Throughout his career, Ivy was the public relations officer for Rockefeller, Guggenheim, and Chrysler, as well as the American Red Cross and other pro bono non-profit clients [Credo Reference, Lee : ' JR @ Q@ M ( QT + @ @ G < O @ M @ < M I@ ? O C@ ID > FI< H @ ^ / JD N JI ( QT _ R C@ I ?P M D IB a court hearing he stated, “What is a fact? The effort to state an absolute fact is simply an attempt to give you my interpretation of the facts” [Economist : 3 CDN N O< O@ H@ IO R < N damaging to the reputation of public relations practitioners everywhere leading the industry to be perceived in a negative light. 7 Chapter 3: Thinking Outside the Box Throughout the 20 th century, “Master of Spin” Edward Bernays was also making waves in the industry. His background in propaganda for the Wilson administration during World War I led him to curiosity about the ability to sway human perception through the use of promotions. As negative implications of the word propaganda mounted in the US due to its use by the Nazis, he began punting the word public relations and popularized the use of the press release, developed by Ivy Lee. More than anything his innovative thinking and philosophical understanding of the human psyche, possibly thanks to his Uncle Sigmund Freud, led him to grand successes in the commodities sector. Such out- of-the-box thinking included the use of third-party authorities to endorse his clients, as he was quoted saying, "If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway." Bernays’ revolution of marketing through manipulation of the subconscious can be seen in his client work involving the promotion for the then-declining sales of bacon. After conducting a survey among physicians who recommended that people eat hearty breakfasts, he sent that information out to the public, touting bacon and eggs as the perfect hearty breakfast meal, which popularized the phrase “bacon and eggs.” In another stunt, he broke the taboo of women smoking in public by hiring 10 carefully chosen and fashionably clad women to walk down Fifth Avenue smoking cigarettes, for the American Tobacco Company. 8 By the 1930s other figures began to rise up as leaders in the industry, such as Arthur Page, vice president of public relations for AT&T. His approach took into account that any company’s performance is largely determined by its public relations, and was quoted as saying, “All business in a democratic country begins with public permission and exists by public approval. If that be true, it follows that business should be cheerfully willing to tell the public what its policies are, what it is doing, and what it hopes to do. This seems practically a duty.” His open book policy and whole-of-organization approach acknowledged the fact that public relations, itself, isn’t just restricted to communications practices and led him to establish what is now referred to as the Page Principles, where were to: Make sure that management thoughtfully analyzes its overall reaction to the public Create a system for informing all employees about the company’s general policies and practices Create a N TN O @ H BD QD IB > JIO < > O @ H KG JT@ @ N O CJN @ C < QD IB ?D M @ > O dealings with the public) the knowledge needed to be reasonable and polite to the public Create a system drawing employee and public questions and criticism back up through the organization to management Ensure frankness in telling the public about the company’s actions From there, the public relations sector boomed as leaders began publishing works on professional public relations, and by 1946, 30 colleges offered 47 courses in public relations. 9 Chapter 4: The Emergence of PR in Europe Not far behind American public relations came the emergence of publicity activities in Europe and the United Kingdom. Before an established industry formed, movement towards organized corporate messaging was seen when commercial giant Krupp set up a news bureau in Germany in 1893. These types of communications divisions from large businesses emerged in the first 30 years of the 20 th century. However, the first public relations agency in the United Kingdom, Editorial Services, wasn’t seen until 1924, and it was a far cry from the type of activity that was emerging in the United States. It focused largely on government propaganda, as its founder, Basil Clarke, spent many years in war reporting and public service. After W JM G? 6 < M ( ( OC@ " C< M O@ M @ ? ( IN ODOPO@ J A / P=G D> 1 @ G< ODJIN " ( / 1 R < N established in the UK. It was mostly comprised of information officers from various government sectors. CIPR primarily focused on press clippings, column inches, and press books, which turned into an art form. This was a drastic difference from the social science style of practice seen in the US that took more of a marketing approach to client advocacy. Former journalists dominated the public relations industry, using their personal knowledge of the media system to gain favorable coverage for their clients. [Price : As formal public relations began to emerge in other countries and throughout Europe, the need for standards of practice began to evolve. In 1955, the International Public RelatioIN N N J> D < O D JI ( / 1 R < N @ N O < =G D N C@ ? R D O C O C@ BJ< G JA D H KM JQD IB O C@ quality, ethics, and efficiency of public relations practitioners across the globe. By 1961 the Code of Conduct of IPRA was adopted to set a standard for its members, currently 10 totaling 80 countries around the world [IPRA.org: 3 C@ ( IO @ M I< O D JI< G " J?@ J A $ O CD > N JA Public Relations Practitioners, also known as the Code of Athens,” played a valuable role in affirming the principles and precedents set by the public relations’ founding fathers to establish international guidelines for ethical behavior in the industry. [For details see Appendix 1: By the 1980s, deregulation of UK business led to an expansion for public relations and thoughts changed as marketing directors began to realize that public relations consultancies could support marketing objectives and promote public perceptions. Public relations activities were used to communicate key brand messages to mass audiences, and the emergence of corporate social responsibility, with the help of the European Union’s environmental agenda, created a platform for corporate communications advocacy. According to Richard Price, a United Kingdom government press officer and 30-year veteran of the public relations industry in Europe and the UK, the expansion of consultancies resulted from the formation of transnational companies post-World War II. While these public relations agencies began to spring up across Europe, they varied greatly due to the type of industries country-to-country, as well as cultural implications that greatly affected the tactics used by public relations practitioners. With the formation of the International Communications Consultancy . M B< ID U < O D JI 9 ( " " . : < I? O C@ D I> M @ < N D IB PN @ JA LP< G D O T N O < I?< M ?N KP=G D > M @ G < O D JIN =@ B< I to grow at a rapid rate, especially within the technology, sector throughout Europe. While university courses in the United States were seen as early as the 1920s, public relations was not taught in the UK until the 1990s and only at a post-graduate level. The idea of public relations as an academic subject is still under strong debate in 11 the country as the practice is understood as theoretical perspective and universities struggle to develop literature. 12 Chapter 5: PR as We Know It Today, public relations has become a global industry with clients running the gamut of industries and sectors including government, NGOs, corporations, professional and trade associations, unions, activists, entertainment, and public figures. The industry is still booming in the United States with spending totaling $5.7 billion in 2010 for 12.8 percent year-over-year increase [PRSA Industry Facts & Figures : > > JM ?D IB O J O C@ ' JG H @ N Report’s 2011 Global Rankings, the public relations industry as a whole grew by eight percent year-over-year, with a fee income upwards of $8.8 billion. Throughout the United Kingdom, the industry has secured itself as a key element for integrated marketing campaigns, pushing its rank to number two internationally [Price : Below, the Holmes Report 2011 Global Ra IFD IBN 9 N @ @ % D BPM @ : M < O @ N O C@ B M JR O C and fee income of top public relations firms worldwide, where three of the top four being publicly traded global firms. The top four US giants: Edelman, Weber Shandwick, Fleishman-Hillard, and Burson-Marsteller, have infiltrated markets across the globe with offices and affiliates on nearly every continent. With these global brands representing clients from a wide variety of backgrounds, the importance of global strategy is becoming more of a priority, in conjunction with the growing presence of multinational companies as a result of globalization and the increased ease of instantaneous communications around the world. If as a result of these global brands, communications and public relations outreach may become less regionally focused, which will demand that global digital strategy and online tactics will hold even more emphasis in strategic brand communications. This trend can already be seen in the rise of these PR powerhouses. 13 Figure 1: The Holmes Report 2011 Global Rankings Source: www.holmesreport.com Also in its 2011 world report, the International Communications Consultancy . M B< ID U < O D JI ( " " . R CD > C M @ K M @ N @ IO N I< O D JI< G O M < ?@ < N N J> D < O D JIN M @ KM @ N @ IO D IB JQ@ M 1,500 public relations firms in 28 countries around the world, found that public relations industries are growing strong all around the globe. As seen in Figure 2 below, the United States and the United Kingdom are still the dominant countries for public relations activities; however, Brazil saw a surprising surge where business grew 23 percent, predominantly due to rising demand for social media services. In France, though traditionally an in-house oriented market, five of the top 10 agencies in the country are now US-based firms, reaffirming the US’s dominance over the industry even on an international level. But this does not mean that these activities will not continue to flourish in the coming years. 14 Figure 2: Map of participating countries and ranking of PR consultancy market size Ranking of market size Those markets worth an excess of €100 million annual fee 1. US 2. UK 3. Brazil 4. Australia 5. Italy 6. Germany 7. France 8. Sweden 9. Slovenia 10. Russia Source: www.iccopr.com Not represented in the figures above is the growth of the public relations industry in Africa. The development of public relations on the African continent began in South Africa around the 1960s, and since the country’s emergence from isolation in 1994, public relations has shown major growth with the movement of large American firms such as Fleishman-Hillard, Burson-Marsteller, Cohn & Wolfe, and Weber-Shandwick into metropolitan cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town. While the political shift in the 90s was a move towards a more unified country, historic events led to the creation of the unique and harsh segmentation of the country, which South Africa has struggled to 15 overcome. Though the distraught political environment formed much of the base for public relations activities in the country, now there is a shift towards mobile communications as the country struggles with the costs to develop infrastructure enabling universal Internet access via computer. While the publicity industry is not nearly as developed in Africa as in other areas of the world, South Africa and Zimbabwe still dominate the continent as few serve practices in other countries in the region, but the future is bright as the country has seen a surge in popularity after the 2010 FIFA World Cup brought the region to light. Even so, one must leave room in the definition of the practice of public relations as not all countries have the same developments or capacities for the trade. The press clipping still holds strong importance as a valuable tool for measurement and indication globally. While PR in the United States, which is home to many multi-national brands, is often prone to stretch beyond the borders of its home country, and the UK, perhaps more specifically London, often serves as the headquarters for the EMEA region, which is Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, public relations practice in South Africa is very much centered singularly around South Africa-centric politics, brands, services, and commodities. This clearly makes for a more homogenous group and a very culturally specific way of communicating. Although there are differences, what still remains are those ideals that the business was founded upon in the early 1900s and that have encouraged movement since the beginning of civilization. Public relations is about advocacy, and therefore specialists must learn to adapt to the markets in which they serve. 16 Section 2: Being Digital Since the industry’s dawn in the early 20 th century, technology has always had an important impact on the way that public relations practitioners have done their job. With the progression of radio and television, mass media became an integral component to spreading the messages of brands. Practitioners in the field forever clung to their telephones, depending on them to reach journalists in real time and negotiate coverage and interviews through the decades. In the 1970s, the video news release took off, offering broadcast journalists additional features for their programming while publicists garnered valuable coverage for their clients in a medium that consumers trusted. But now more than ever, the Internet Age and Web 2.0 are not only providing new tools for public relations practitioners, but they are changing the very way they must think about their role in communications. It is important to understand the digital revolution to see the implications the technologies have made on publicity outreach and how the industry will continue to evolve. In order to stay one step ahead of our already highly informed and information- saturated consumers, public relations practitioners must stay on the cutting edge of new communications capabilities. Though its roots as an industry have aged little more than a century, public relations has become one of the fastest growing disciplines of our time. Communications pioneers like Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays truly revolutionized how a business communicated with its customers and represented itself in the public sphere, as well as helped to build the foundation and theories associated with public relations practice. However, they may not have been able to foresee the scope of its future. Where 17 we lie now is at a crossroads for the industry; each step will undoubtedly change the course towards our success or failure. 18 Chapter 6: What is Digital? Most dictionaries define the word digital as relating to or using signals or information represented by discrete values (digits) of a physical quantity, such as voltage or magnetic polarization, to represent arithmetic numbers or approximations to numbers from a continuum of logical expressions and variables [Word Reference : 3 C< O > JHK GD> < ted definition really boils down to the idea of information being transferred in terms of data, as opposed to traditional analogue methods like the telephone and radio waves, but in the realm of public relations, it signifies the movement towards online communications emphasizing the computer or smartphones as a point of access. This is not to say that these methods are in lieu of traditional tactics such as the press release, press conferences, pitching of media, and aggregating press clippings. Instead, there are now new ways of adapting those traditional methods of communications, in addition to new platforms for the digital era. And perhaps most importantly, this era greatly attributed to the ability to share. Digitalization of information can be traced back in 1969 when the Advanced Research Project Agency, run by the United States Department of Defense, developed ARPANET to link universities with research facilities. Many theorize that the technology was originally conceived as a communication fail-safe during the nuclear standoff in the Cold War era, but either way it became the foundation for the Internet we use today [Abraham, 2010 : It took 20 more years, but in 1989 Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first proposal for the World Wide Web and the first protocols were finished a year later. By 1991, the first web page was created, which merely explained what the World Wide Web 19 actually was. Later that year, research from audio engineer Karlheinz Brandenburger’s doctoral thesis on “Digital Music Compression” led to the development of the MP3, which would later become a popular file format for sharing songs via the Internet and thus a nemesis to the music industry. The first application of the webcam soon followed from Cambridge University, where a camera was used to “monitor a particular coffee maker, so that the lab users could avoid wasted trips to an empty coffee pot”. [Chapman: These technologies spread when Mosaic, the first graphical web browser for the general public, was released to encourage less-technical users to access the web. As Internet usage grew, businesses like HotWired, a banner advertising service, learned how to capitalize on it. First customers AT&T and Zima saw a click rate of 30%, which is astronomical when compared to a success margin around 1% today. In 1998, Google began to revolutionize the way people searched for information, and Napster boosted file sharing via the Internet causing a mass-effect crisis in the music industry. Online formats for everything from documents to music, photos, and videos were now available to even the most technologically inept users. By the end of Y2K, Internet World Statistics reported that 361 million people, around six per cent of the world’s population, were now using the Internet. This number has grown to nearly a third of the world’s population since then, and it now boasts over two billion users worldwide. The United States, alone, accounts for over 85 million users, which is around 80 per cent of the population. [Internet World Stats : The Internet has provided its users with a wealth of information at their fingertips and the ability to share that information among a multitude of platforms. The only problem is that brands must work harder in order to get noticed amongst all the clutter. 20 But that isn’t where digital stopped evolving. New websites are born every day, and the 21 st century has begun to foster the social application of the Internet as a branding tool. 21 Chapter 7: The Share Factor Marks Its Presence Before social media platforms were commonly used, brands had the capability of controlling one-way messaging, but that system has been changed as social media has become a key player in brand reputation. Now, people everywhere have the ability to share ideas, opinions, and comments, as well as influence their own communities on any subject, brand, organization, or persona they wish with their rights guaranteed by freedom of speech, at least in the US. The ability to be published online, and the subsequent possibility of that information to be seen by the Internet’s millions of users, has led to content about brands that is not necessarily consistent with the preferred brand story. Public relations practitioners, as well as brands, have lost ownership of messaging. Social media may not be a new trend to the digital natives born post-1980, but it is a medium that public relations professionals will need to adapt to as they fight to maintain management capabilities of client and brand reputations. As seen in Figure 3, A Short History of Social Media, the idea dates back as far as the 1970s. Social media got its start on the Internet in early forums that worked like digital pin-boards allowing users to comment, ask questions, and answer the questions of others on a variety of subjects. Though accessibility to the World Wide Web was limited at the time, these virtual communities allowed passionate hobbyists, experts, and the occasional browser to communicate on the topics that interested them. But, the idea of online sharing really took off when Pitas.com and Blogger.com were released as free blogging platforms to the public [Chapman: 3 C@ N @ A D M N O @ S< H KG @ N N KM < IB O J KJKPG < M D O T < N anyone could use the sites like an online diary, not to mention that writers and journalists 22 began to publish works with the software in the late 1990s. Becoming the first hired blogger, Steve Gibson began to blog full-time in 1997 for Ritual Entertainment, a computer game software company [TimeToast: + <O@M OC<O T@<M . + G<PI>C@? DIN O<IO messaging, or IM, services with the capability of communicating real-time via the Internet with friends, family, and coworkers, as well as join chat rooms and transfer files. This user-friendly adaptation of IM cemented the public’s comfort with sharing and trusting information online while enabling users to create a virtual space revolving around the things those individuals chose to be connected with. 23 Figure 3: Source: Socially Aware [http://www.mofo.com/sociallyaware] 24 According to Kelli S. Burns, Assistant Professor in the School of Mass Communications at the University of South Florida, 2003 was the “definitive moment for blogs” as it was the first year bloggers received media credentials for the Democratic and Republican conventions. In an industry founded on pursuing client coverage in esteemed publications such as mainstream media, newspapers and periodicals, this turn of events opened the doors to a new sector of outlets to consider. In fact, Technorati, a blog search engine focusing on expanding the presence and outreach of blogs, says the site has indexed over 133 million blogs since 2002 and over 77% of Internet users read blogs [Bradley : 3 CJPBC = G JBBD IB BJO D O N N O art as a form of online diary, in 2011, 34% of bloggers regularly posted opinions about products and brands with 15% of bloggers spending 10 or more hours per week blogging [en.gauge media: ' JR ?J@N OC<O O M <IN G<O@ to the readers? For women especially, likely due to the surge in Mommy Bloggers around 2005, blogs have become a trusted resource for purchase decisions. In 2012, BlogHer, a group blog and online community for news and trends among women, reported that 61% of the 2,000 online American women surveyed have made purchases based on a blog recommendation [PRNews, 2012: OJM Online resources, such as blogs and wikis, have grown into valuable information hubs, not only for leisure and entertainment, but also as influencers of purchase decisions and sentiment towards brands and trending issues. This type of influence is often a key constituent of public relations activities. A blog’s ability to lead to an opinion change, reinforcement, action, or reaction by consumers shows that the public relations industry should be using these outlets to assure key messaging where users are accessing such information. 25 Also during the 1990s came the advent of wikis, which allow multiple users to edit documents or web pages directly through their web browser. Today, the most popular wiki, Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, has more than 10 million content pages in 230 languages and ranks sixth in the United States for traffic [Alexa.com : 2 DO@ N including Wikipedia, Reference.com, and Dictionary.com, are now being attributed to the decline of reference brands like Encyclopedia Britannica, which announced the discontinuation of its print editions in 2012, and even Microsoft’s Encarta software, due to the wealth of knowledge now available on the Internet at no cost to users. What the creators of these services have since come to realize is that each was not merely in the business of printing encyclopedias, or selling software versions of them, but that they should have aligned their business strategy with the supply of information. Understanding that differentiation might have opened their eyes to the need to adapt to new user @ SK@ > O < O D JIN O CD N D ?@ < R D G G M @ N PM A < > @ D I 2 @ > O D JI < N KP=G D > M @ G < O D JIN KM J A @ N N D JI< G N R JM F to remain relevant beyond the Digital Era). Though Encyclopedia Britannica launched an online platform in 2006, it was five years behind Wikipedia founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger and has yet to salvage the company’s financial difficulties. Since the turn of this century, the world has seen a leap in the popularity of online platforms in the wake of the dotcom boom, and social networking soon took hold. Apple introduced iTunes in 2001 and showed the music industry how to take advantage of the MP3 by selling songs and albums via the Internet, a format more aligned with the times. Two years later, Tom Anderson founded MySpace, which would go on to “re-define the way all following generations communicate. In the future, some will meet their boyfriend or wife-to-be, not in a disco, but via a social network” [Abraham, 2010: > > JM ?D IB O J 26 ! JT? < I? $ G G D N JIN < M O D > G @ 6 CT 7 JPO C ' @ < M O 2 J> D < G - @ O R JM F 2 D O @ N 3 C@ 1 JG @ JA Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life", social networking sites are defined as: “… web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.” Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in 2004, which quickly jumped the charts as a leading website once it branched out beyond Harvard University students. In 2006, the website allowed any person over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail address to create an account, thus leading to over 500 million active users today. Also in 2006, the world =@ B M J =G JBBD IB N @ M QD > @ _ 3 R D O O @ M 3 C@ N CJM O > C< M < > O @ M G D H D O maximum) of the messages, called “tweets,” has made updates on current events, especially emergency situations, easier to access. This phenomenon became evident during situations like the emergency landing of US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River in January 2009, where tweets regarding the event surfaced just prior to news broadcast coverage. [Ovide, 2009: Nearly every industry has been challenged as new digital applications of goods and services begin to emerge on the web. The podcast, a term created in 2004, introduced a digital platform for on demand radio-style programming and took off when Apple’s iTunes adopted the platform in 2005 [Burns : 3 C< O N < H @ T@ < M QD ?@ J N C< M D IB N D O @ 7 JP3 P=@ dared web surfers to broadcast yourself by allowing users to upload and share personal videos. The site has since been adopted as a popular release site for videos by performing artists and amateurs alike, and now boasts that 50% of its 300 million users visit the site at least once per week. 27 The key theme running through all these advances in technology is – whether it is words, sound, video, or images – the content’s ability to be shared over a network, whether that is a physical network infrastructure, the World Wide Web, or a digital social network. The Internet has arguably become the number one resource for information on every industry and issue, and its accessibility and breadth of multi-media makes it more prolific than subscription-based publications and traditional resources, which have technological or cost barriers to access. What makes the share factor powerful is the growing trust of peer and influencer sentiment over brand messaging in the media, whether that is tied into opinions on the best macaroni and cheese dish in New York City or a human rights violation in Rwanda. Combine that with the growing accessibility of the Internet, which is now available on a variety of devices, and there is a potential reach of billions. Current statistics indicate there are over 1.2 billion active mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide [mobiThinking: ( I M @BDJIN R C@M @ CJH@ ( IO@M I@O <>>@N N is not available, one can infer that the likes of the New York Times newspaper is not either, and these users are getting their information from any source available through their mobile Internet browser, including blogs and social networks. However, just as public relations efforts can be highly effective in traditional outlets, so can those efforts be effective in newly adapted platforms. Seth Godin, an author and public speaker on marketing principles, wrote in his book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, that it is human nature to share and be part of communities: “A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings 28 have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.” All the new tools provided by the Information Age and the Digital Era are connecting people, and social media is a force that cannot be ignored by PR. Tribes asks who is going to lead these groups and suggests that those leaders can be the brands, themselves. Public relations professionals must learn to harness the share factor and make it work for brands by empowering brand advocates who align themselves with brand ideals, instead of allowing consumers continue to contribute inconsistent messaging. In 2011, full service global public relations firm Edelman released a visual timeline of milestones in social media from its Edelman Digital division. The infographic, seen in Figure 4, N CJR N O C< O / 1 D N =@ B D IID IB O J O < F@ O C@ D ID O D < O D Q@ < N < A @ R of these – indicated with an asterisk – included Edelman clients) and that many firms realize the significant role that digital applications of traditional media can play for the public relations industry. Just as many other industries have seen the digital age effect, or even diminish, the nature of its business, public relations will need to learn to adapt to these new tools and understand the essence of the services its firms and practitioners offer brands. 29 Figure 4: Social Media Milestones by Edelman Digital 30 31 32 Chapter 8: Public Relations Campaigns Get Social Though public relations campaigns have had their many successes, traditional strategies and tactics are being adopted for new digital platforms. Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business, says that, “Social media is the biggest shift since the industrial revolution.” Society is driven by people, and the people are using social media. According to an infographic from en.gauge media in 2011, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the web, 3.5 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each week, 96% of 18-35 year olds are on a social network, and Twitter averages more than 30 million tweets per day. To get noticed, =M < I?N < M @ G JJFD IB < O R < TN O J M @ < > C O C@ > JIN PH @ M N R C@ M @ O C@ T < M @ JIG D I@ < I? C< Q@ begun to evolve their strategies to include digital components. While there are pros and cons, lovers and haters, the press release is still a go-to for public relations practitioners everywhere. But in 2006, Todd Defren of SHIFT Communications brought the press release up to speed with the introduction of the social media news release. The idea took a traditional news release and leveraged social networks used by bloggers, journalists, and consumers, ushering the technique into the 21 st century. Instead of the long-form text format, new components allowed for complementary media such as audio, video, and pictures, allowed sharing and social bookmarking, and linked to other relevant information. [Glaser, 2008: -JR N JAOR< M@ and newswire sites offer similar functions for uploading press releases to Internet databases accessed by journalists and making the “story” accessible on the web. However, practitioners must understand that adding a few hyperlinks to the news of a 33 new corporate vice-president or company-wide eco-initiative is only scratching the surface. Figure 5, below, shows a history of top PR campaigns dating back to the early successes of Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, including that famed first press release in the New York Times. But, 2010 shows a turning point in leading campaigns with the Breeders’ Cup Thoroughbred World Championship, which made use of popularized social networks. Though the event is an international showcase among horseracing fans, Conover Tuttle Pace agency was presented with the challenge of raising mainstream awareness. By creating a Twitter feed for the undefeated fan favorite, Zenyatta, where they shared the story of the star in the “Quest for Perfection” campaign, integrating e- mail marketing to talk to consumers, and developing a YouTube video that eventually went viral, the campaign resulted in “all-time highs for the Breeders’ Cup event over its 27-year history”. [CTP : 34 Figure 5: Top PR Campaigns – A History Source: PRWeb Blog [http://www.bloggingprweb.com] Though the Breeder’s Cup Twitter campaign may have been among the first public relations campaigns to utilize these new platforms, the trend has quickly become standard. Perhaps one of the most compelling uses of social media in a public relations capacity was that of President Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign, 35 developed in part by co-founder of Facebook, Chris Hughes. According to GlobalHumanCapital.org’s “Web 2.0 Case Study: Barack Obama’s Use of Social Media,” the Obama campaign broke ground on a new relationship between leaders and their supporters by empowering them to become directly involved. Most voters will probably agree that they feel many degrees of separation between themselves and the candidates, especially during an election as big as the one for U.S. President. Obama’s campaign efforts broke down the usual barriers between candidate and voters, by enabling existing supporters to rally for the cause by creating events, sharing their opinions, and even encouraging donations for the campaign. Obama was able to leverage his platform based on community to some of the largest online communities known by allowing users to make a difference through MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and lesser-known BlackPlanet, DNC PartyBuilder, GLEE, and more. Though employing every form of social media isn’t usually the recommended course of action, in this case, the President’s audience included every potential voter in the United States. Obama took his grassroots campaign to digital heights with the development of my.BarackObama.com, a social networking tool that let users create a profile, join groups, connect with other users, plan events, write blogs, raise money, and volunteer on the campaign, which led to over 1,000 phone-banking events during the last week of the race alone, 150,000 other campaign-related events, and 35,000 user-created groups. The response was overwhelming. My.BarackObama.com boasted over 1.5 million accounts and the campaign raised over $600 million from three hundred million contributors made possible through the digital application of door-to-door marketing. In addition to the usual television advertisements and kissing of babies, what won the campaign for Obama 36 was the idea that consumers have learned to trust each other, first and foremost. The campaign responded to the question, “How can I be a part of something greater?” letting users control the content. This made them part of the change the campaign promised, focused on the positive, and rewarded their participation by tracking activity that was presented similarly to a game. [Beuker, 2009 : There is no doubt about the power of social media and the likelihood that it is here to stay, at least until the next big shift. For now, PR2.0 is about putting the public back in public relations. On his blog, Brian Solis, a prominent thought leader on new media, said that PR2.0 “is the realization that the Web changed everything” and is about “inserting people equally into the process of traditional influence.” [Solis, 2008 : ( O D N O C@ > JIN > D JPN act of choosing the right tools for interaction and participation. Sites and media outlets do not define social media best practices. They are defined, instead, by answering key questions during the planning phase, such as: Who will manage the social networking < > > JPIO N # J O CJN @ K@ M N JIN PI?@ M N O < I? < I? C< Q@ @ SK@ M D @ I> @ D I ?D BD O < G > JIO @ IO N O M < O @ BT Which department do those personnel report to? And, what is the purpose of the account? These digital dos and don’ts will be further discussed in Section 3, but until a brand understands those questions, it will not matter which tactics are chosen for the communications strategy. 37 Chapter 9: Measuring Successes While day-to-day tasks for a public relations worker bee may mostly revolve around the press list, the press release, the press packet, or anything that involves the press in some capacity, these duties really serve a greater purpose, which is measuring perceptions. The age of the advertising value equivalency, or AVE, is out, and public relations will need to foster brand sentiment. Brand communication involves gaining favorable coverage, but by qualifying its impact on brand objectives, public relations are able to relate the value of these activities. The Institute for PR’s Guidelines for Measuring Relationships in Public Relations from 2003, originally published in 1997 by Dr. Walter K. Lindenmann, outlines the guiding principles of establishing a clear program with measurable goals and objectives from the start, differentiating between measuring PR outputs, outtakes, and outcomes, measuring media content, and linking the PR components to the overall goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics of the organization as a whole. For measuring outputs, focus on the number of participants in an event or stories, quotes, or messages placed in the media, which usually includes the potential number of impressions these activity garnered as well as assessment of the content. With outtakes, this includes the impression the public relations activity left on intended recipients and < IT M @ N PG O D IB < > O D JI N N A J M outcomes, these are any resulting behavior changes. Due to the psychological nature of this type of measurement, this type of measurement is usually only conclusive with the use of research and survey methodologies. One of the most important parts of measurement, which is often overlooked, as PR is not considered a function for generating sales necessarily, is to link measurement of PR activities to its 38 accomplishments towards bigger picture organizational goals. This is where public relation’s ability to add value can be qualified. [Lindenmann, 2003: The same goes when using social media and online strategies. Fortunately, the nature of online interaction has afforded the industry the ability to track sentiment, clicks, and mentions better than traditional outreach in the likes of an article in a newspaper, where it can be difficult to truly know how many people read the article. Several analytical tools are available that can perform these types of in-depth searches automatically: Radian6 is a social media monitoring platform that evaluates consumer sentiment and analyzes posts to create insights; Lithium provides products that make use of the web through platforms, social applications, and tools for analytics; and Sysmos lets organizations monitor, measure, gain insights, and engage through tracking online sentiment. These tools can be used to shine a light on conversations involving brands that may yet to have surfaced in mainstream media. Social media metrics can even add value to qualitative research methodologies, according to Juan Mancuso and Karen Stuth of the Research Intelligence Group in their 2011 article, “Can Social Media Metrics Actually Enhance the Value of Qualitative Research?” Utilizing conversations on the web among target groups, researchers can gain insight before and after qualitative assessment activities, which can reveal key topics and issues of interest. [Mancuso, 2011: 3 C@ =J OOJH G DI @ H@ < N PM @ H@ IO DN < I DHKJM O< nt function of public relations on any scale; it directly contributes to a public relations practitioner’s ability to plan strategically and discover the return on investment of program efforts. While planning and measurement can be heavy on time and expense, it affords communicators the ability to demonstrate worth. 39 Section 3: Global Digital Strategy for PR With the rise of digital communications, print media have been on a rapid decline, and so has corporate advertising spend. Consumers no longer place value on the one-way monologue paid for by brands, and more than ever before, discussions are taking place in visible online communities, where consumers can dictate what they see and are free to share anything they want. To continue to influence communication both online and off, brand messages must become a two-way dialogue to foster brand advocates. Section 3 builds from the infiltration of digital and social media to look at the ways globalization is affecting the PR industry, the ways brands are using it to their advantage, and the strategic implications for incorporating global digital strategy into client service offerings, as well as campaign strategies. 40 Chapter 10: The Effects of Globalization on PR In the fast-paced societies and hyper-connected world of today, the digital revolution has led to brands finding themselves responsible for speaking to a global community instead of only regional or national markets. What users post online does not simply remain within their network, but most often can be accessed from virtually anywhere. This defining element of the Internet is what can potentially make any digital or social media outreach a global effort. What brands are beginning to realize is that while their regional efforts tailor to the uniqueness of each market, the use of online tactics, as well as the proliferation of websites for traditional media sources, can lead to a potential presence of disjointed communications strategies that can be viewed the world over. The evolution of communications and technologies since the turn of the century has not only created a demand for sharing ideas, goods, and services internationally, but has also enabled easier and cheaper means of delivery on a global scale. Point of origin no longer associates particular audiences nor attributes meaning. As for public relations, traditional tactics will no doubt be challenged with the growing need to communicate in different ways and with evolving audiences, but it will be important to remember the basics of the business that have led to so many successes in the past. The thriving interdependence and interconnectedness of the world will have a huge bearing on public relations practice in the coming ages as technologies continue to compress time and space resulting in increasingly rapid rates of global interaction. As seen in Chapter 5, the ease of communication from region to region has given rise to large public relations conglomerates, each housing dozens of offices around the 41 world: an asset for serving clients with cross-cultural and multi-national communication needs, especially. These large-scale firms can use this to their advantage by teaming up regional offices in support of a global communications goal. Global outreach is not only about the bigger global picture, however, and any attempts to downgrade the importance of local and regional strategy will only damage PR’s reputation. In reality, the majority of PR is local, as we rely on specified targets to alter overall views, but we cannot disregard the fact that the world is getting smaller each day. The Internet created a global network that can become a powerful tool for mass outreach. Though some may hypothesize that globalization could eventually lead to international homogenization and uniformity of thinking and culture, this is unlikely to occur in our lifetime, if ever. So, for now, global public relations will only be successful if practitioners can regard the importance uniting local strategies under universal themes. In an essay titled, ‘Globalisation and Public Relations: An Overview Looking Into the Future,’ public relations professor Krishnamurthy Sriramesh proposed conceptual framework for global public relations resulting from the Excellence Project in the 1990s. “The Excellence Project was a $400,000 research study funded by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) that sought to assess the contributions that public relations makes to the bottom line of an organization.” The study contributed to theories on global public relations and led to the development of the first element of conceptual framework, which consists of 10 generic principles of PR that can be adopted around the world. The second element suggests that the environment for PR differs regionally based on three key variables: infrastructure, culture, and the media system. While there will no doubt be ideals of the discipline or any particular campaign that 42 resound with audiences and consumers globally, local and regional characteristics must be taken into account despite the level of globalization the world has achieved. By linking these elements in any communications strategy, practitioners can create more harmonious plans that satisfy both local cultures and a unifying global message. Sriramesh, 2009) Aligned with these principles, in that same year, Robert I. Wakefield, PhD, ART wrote an article in PRSA’s Public Relations Journal on ‘Public Relations Contingencies in a Globalized World Where Even “Glocalization” is Not Sufficient,’ which centered on the popularization of the terms glocalization, meaning think global, act local, and globaloney, a pejorative term first used by Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce in 1943 “to trash what vice president Henry Wallace called ‘global thinking.’” The essay goes on to discuss four scenarios likely to occur due to organizational ineffectiveness in a global environment: insufficient global oversight or “caught sleeping,” overaggressive centralization, globalutionaries or “activism from somewhere else,” and cyberactivism. While each of these contingencies is more or less self-explanatory, the key to his findings is that it takes a careful balance of both global and local efforts. Dr. Wakefield argues that there is no phrase that can guide practitioners to the right ideas and practitioners must be wary of jumping aboard trendy terms that will not necessarily add value. [Wakefield, 2000: The Guinness case study discussed in the following chapter, a campaign that made use of both local and global tactics to rally support for the company’s 250 th year anniversary and to drive growth, is an excellent example of how this can be done successfully. Though most see Guinness as an Irish brand, this ideology doesn’t 43 necessarily resonate with other regions, such as Asia, and the company will continue to cater its efforts in emerging markets to better align with varied consumers. Guinness global brand manager Brian Duffy made note of how the brand must innovate to adapt to each new territory, “Our roots will always be in Ireland but the tree has grown on a global scale and will continue to do so.” 44 Chapter 11: Guinness Globally Integrates Issue 20 of Contagious magazine in 2009 featured ‘Dark Matter,’ a case study on Guinness’ 250-year celebration campaign, where the brand chose to globally integrate for the first time ever. For a brand with such a strong heritage as well as a global presence, it was caught at a particular crossroads of utilizing its signature advertising style while remaining relevant among emerging technologies and digital trends. According to Brian Duffy, global brand director for Guinness, “Of course, by definition, history is in the past but it is also constructed of moments of time. In this sense, heritage isn’t static; you create and add to it every day.” The key to celebrating its landmark birthday was to ensure that Guinness also communicated its ability to move with the times. However, Guinness couldn’t be a better-suited brand during a time of converging media. The company’s core principles are based on community, a trend that has been reinvigorated with social media and networking sites. As the company was still suffering from its first-ever decrease in sales in 2000, the Ireland-based stout producer needed to incorporate its global community, which was accounting for nearly 85% of its business. Though traditionally recognized for its iconic advertising and partnerships with rugby events in the EMEA region, CEO Simon Francis explained, “Not only is 250 a massive promotional and PR opportunity, but perhaps more than anything else, a fantastic way to connect with a new generation across all the digital platforms which now exist. All of this activity is extra special because to date, everything Guinness has done has been very centered on the individual local markets and regions, but this is the first time the brand has broken out and run a fully global programme.” 45 True to form, the campaign launched with a TV advertisement, but this particular spot focused on the brand’s global expansion by showing a toast that started in Dublin and continued around the world. From there, the campaign fully integrated with digital, live events, in-bar and in-store activation, and a competition to win “unique, ultra-exclusive ‘Guinness Experiences’ including a trip out of the Earth’s atmosphere and a private gig courtesy of the Black Eyed Peas.” For those who preferred interacting in the digital space, Guinness devised a ` QDM OP< G OJ< N Oa HD> M JN DO@ R R R BPDII@ N N > JH > JHKG@ O@ R DOC QD?@ JN A M JH > @ G@ =M DOT endorsers, which allowed users around the globe to upload their own raise of the glass to founder Arthur Guinness. Though the brand was lucky to be able to call upon its hoards of advocates who exist in their own right, the digital aspect of the campaign was “carefully balanced to give the consumers all the information they need to get involved and to create buzz around the event,” according to global head of Guinness marketing, Kathy Parker. The campaign went on to merge online and offline applications by creating a mobile PubFinder app in conjunction with their sponsorship of the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament, where users played mini quiz games on their phones to compete for a year’s supply of Guinness. The campaign also extended to “corporate social responsibility and public relations.” The philanthropic arm of the business is the Arthur Guinness Fund, which during the campaign featured a series of posters as a portal to charitable donation. Customers in pubs throughout Ireland were encouraged to place their signature alongside that of the company founder’s, where in return a donation of €2.50 per signature would be “used to enable and empower individuals with skills and opportunities to deliver a 46 measured benefit to their communities.” This is a commitment ringing true to the brand’s heritage of community amid its global platform. Throughout the campaign, public relations work was done through WHPR of the Ogilvy group, where objectives focused on four distinct phases to build anticipation of the grand finale global Arthur’s Day event: 1. Drive awareness of the 250 th year 2. Drive participation in the Guinness Signature campaign 3. Build anticipation and create a sense of celebration around Arthur’s Day 4. Celebrate the philanthropic legacy of Arthur Guinness, by co-creating the Arthur Guinness Fund with celebrities and consumers The event culminated in a series of music events that took place in Dublin, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, New York, and Yaoundé, Cameroon, which were broadcast D IO @ M I< O D JI< G G T JI 2 FT 3 5 ( 3 5 < I? # D M @ > 3 5 O K H & PD II@ N N ?M D IFers around the world were brought together as they raised a glass in memory of Arthur Guinness and the year the Guinness Brewery was established. [Murphy : After all was said and done, in 2009 Guinness achieved 7.6% of the global beer market contributing to an increase in share price. While Guinness had access to its unique fan base, such as its nearly 100 Facebook fan pages and 500 related unsolicited groups, it doesn’t mean the principles of leveraging brand insights and communities cannot be utilized for lesser- FIJR I =M < I?N IJO O J A JM B@ O O C< O D O O JJF & PD II@ N N T@ < M N O J B< D I such a following and often relied on the use of big-budget advertising campaigns). Juan Morales, creative director at iChameleon interactive agency notes, “…it’s a given at this point that no campaign can survive on TV alone.” With today’s consumer audiences, remaining relevant is about creating or building upon a space that fosters a more enriched 47 level of engagement, whether it calls to a niche or mainstream audience. In Guinness’ case that required adapting to new global markets while staying true to their Irish roots. Though the EMEA division of global advertisers Saatchi & Saatchi masterminded this campaign, there is no reason that a campaign like Guinness 250 cannot be created from PR agency talent. Inspiration for the campaign was derived from communications messaging, focused on bringing together a global community, and ultimately revolved around participation in a PR-coordinated event. In a presentation given by Richard Dale, Global Planning Director at Fleishman-Hillard, on utilizing insights, he talked about how public relations firms are not only facing competition from each other, but now from all forms of communications specialties. Though traditionally it has been the advertisers that generate those ideas, which are then sent over to the marketing and public relations teams to build on, public relations agencies have the same capabilities of harnessing insights to become a strategic part of the big idea. If PR firms uphold their duty of understanding and protecting their clients’ messaging, there can be a transformation towards becoming strategic thinkers for clients, instead of just executors of PR. 48 Chapter 12: Hilton Builds Global Buzz In 2009, executives at world-renowned chain Hilton Hotels & Resorts decided to expand its hospitality offerings to include spa concepts after noticing a growing trend for spa services in contemporary travel. Hilton Worldwide thus launched widespread research with the help of industry experts and founders of spa product brands. One survey with participants from the US, UK, Australia, and China, which revealed that “nearly 50 percent of respondents” indicated that “the existence of a spa is an important factor when selecting a hotel,” and “69 percent of travelers said they were at least somewhat likely to visit the spa at their hotel.” For a brand rooted in style and innovative hospitality, incorporating these services would prove to be a valuable competitive advantage in the global hospitality market. The result was eforea: spa at Hilton, the company’s first branded spa line, and one that offered patrons “custom journeys through luxurious treatments.” With Hilton’s clientele ranging from tourists to business travelers, the promise to rejuvenate and reinvigorate worked well for those looking to decompress between business meetings and those extending their vacations to body and soul. [Hilton Blue Paper : Being the 5 th largest global hotel brand with over 3,700 hotels in 91 countries, the hotel operator knew it had a lot of ground to cover to make a splash with its spa launch and entice property developers, as well as get its concept to stand out among competitors. Assembling a public relations team of in-house, Murphy O’Brien Public Relations, and Covalent Logic agency staffs, a plan was developed to introduce the concept at a global 49 launch celebration that included media coverage, digital efforts, and centralized messaging. The specific communications goals were to: 1. Secure consumer trade and media coverage about the new spa 2. Generate interest from guests and property owners, who develop Hilton brand hotels 3. Position Hilton as a legitimate force in the spa industry 4. Generate sales leads and increase the development of eforea: spa installations worldwide 5. Extend brand cachet by showcasing the style, sophistication and contemporary relevance of Hilton Hotels & Resorts From there, the team embarked on a “multi-phased approach” designed to gain coverage from traditional media, social influencers, bloggers, and celebrity-focused outlets. During the first phase, the PR team provided targeted media with information centered on an October 2010 event in New Jersey to coalesce with the worldwide launch, all while keeping the details hush-hush to promote intrigue. Exclusive coverage was given to the Wall Street Journal to be released the morning of the event, and articles would appear in The New York Times and USA Today. To ensure that coverage made its way around the globe, press releases were translated into 14 languages to meet the needs of international audiences, and the guest list for the launch included media from Australia and the UK. [Case Study, 2011: On the day of the event, reporters from target outlets were invited to an exclusive first-look of the spa and indulged in treatments before the evening’s party, where a blue ><M K@O 'D G O JIa N N D BI<OPM @ >JG JM R<N M JG G @? JP O A J M >@G @=M D O T <OO @I?@@N 3 C@ M @N PG O R<N < “high-profile party,” instead of a run-of-the-mill press conference, that garnered coverage from outlets around the world within hours of the launch. A microsite specific to ephorea: 50 spa and complete with videos and tours with Hilton executives, went live just as the party started, and conversations moved online when bloggers were green-lighted to spread the details of the party in phase three. [Case Study, 2011: Digital applications for the launch were made to reflect the spa’s brand identity while tying into Hilton’s global platforms. The key was aligning the new service with the greater brand story. John Forrest Ales, director of global brand public relations at Hilton and team leader for the project, said, “This was new territory for us in the eyes of the consumer because we didn’t have a known presence in the space. We decided to create a brand experience for those on hand, and to produce a ‘come out all at once brand story’ full of digital assets to be available online immediately after the event.” Recently, Hilton Hotels Corporation had reunited with Hilton International, which laid the groundwork for developing a singular flagship brand. Covalent Logic focused on digital platforms for the media by creating the online Hilton Global Media Center '&, " <BGJ=<G HPGO D -lingual resource for information on the brand and its properties. The site extends “PR hospitality to media professionals” and hopes to “improve speed to market and media response times by leveraging new media to communicate with the press.” During the site’s planning phase, Hilton consulted with reporters, bloggers, writers, and its global PR team for optimal site navigation and key elements to create content “tailor-made for the media, by the media.” HGMC can be accessed in over 50 languages and allows Hilton to receive requests from the media, distribute materials, share content through over 200 social media channels, receive notifications when 51 E JPM I< G D N O N < > > @ N N > JIO @ IO O J @ I> JPM < B@ A JG G JR -up), and it even incorporates a mobile application for on-the-go reporters. [Covalent Logic : The success of the launch party combined with the information accessibility of the HGMC led to over 70 media entities covering the event, totaling an estimated circulation of more than 140 million, and 67 development inquiries with 11 confirmed spa openings during 2011 in the US, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and China. Within three months of HGMC’s activation, there was a 5% increase in positive media coverage and the site has gone on to receive page views in over 100 countries. Covalent Logic’s work has since received awards from the Internet Advertising Competition, Bulldog Awards, The American Business Awards, and PR News Awards for its online pressroom. [Case Study, 2011: Unlike the Guinness campaign in Chapter 10, Hilton approached digital with a different constituent in mind: the media. While most brands focus solely on building social media communities for consumers through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, brand reputations can benefit just as greatly through digital adaptations of traditional public relations activities that incorporate the share factor for the media. Instead of having to navigate the PR grapevine, journalists can access the latest information on a variety of Hilton-branded ventures through one source, at any time of day or night, where messaging is consistent and up-to-date. This is a breakthrough for the 24-hour news cycle introduced by the Internet, and Figure 7 in Chapter 13 will explain more about the benefits of incorporating digital media in brand communications. As put by Mr. Ales, 52 "The Hilton Global Media Center has transformed the way we interact with media and driven a direct increase in our share of voice and media coverage prominence." 53 Chapter 13: Strategic Implications of Integration The Internet age and Web 2.0 are not only providing new tools for public relations practitioners, but these digital technologies are changing the very way communications professionals must think about his or her role in brand messaging. Though it is easy to hypothesize that PR has the capabilities to come up with the grand ideas, the big question is: Is it feasible to think that PR can pull it off? Meaning, do public relations firms, as well as in-house practitioners, have enough resources to become the idea generator, the strategic partners for their brands, or the umbrella covering all forms of communication? And do those brands even want PR to become this involved? These are high aspirations for an industry founded on crisis control and leveraging of the news cycle. Progressive agencies are beginning to lead the industry toward what could be PR 3.0, whereas top global PR agencies have already begun to incorporate new divisions and expand their client services. Fleishman-Hillard has declared itself, “Digital. Integrated. Global.” and encouraged employees internally to “Go Beyond” R R R A G@ DN CH JH For Weber-Shandwick, “A new era, a new approach,” welcomes you to the engagement era, which they say is the heart of what their business is all about [www.webershandwick.com : I? $ ?@ G H < I C< N H < ?@ < H D N N D JI JPO JA H < FD IB ^ public relations the lead discipline in the communications mix, because only public relations has the immediacy and transparency to build credibility and trust” [www.edelman.com: One issue when transforming the discipline to include more than the traditional services its was founded upon, is that most likely only the large scale firms will be able to afford a broad expansion in capabilities beyond offering lower-range social media services. 54 In a Contagious magazine article titled “PR2.0,” Jane Richardson, director of brand communications at drinks conglomerate Diageo said, “The effort and resourcing required to sustain a campaign via social media should not be underestimated. Brand teams need to equip themselves with appropriate advice and resource – either in house or agency – to ensure they can maintain participation in a dialogue once started. Content derived from social media channels can quickly become headline news, and mobilizing a rapid response is critical.” Social media is not something that should be left to interns at the likes of massive Twitter #fails, such as British furniture retailer Habitat’s voucher giveaway that tried to make use of controversial trending topics like #Mousavi to interject its promotions [VanRysdam: Instead of incorporating a strategic plan for social media, they left it to an overzealous intern, or so they say. Planning doesn’t mean it will be fail proof, but social media deserves the same attention to detail that a more costly campaign would. While these platforms may not be a strategic use of PR in the traditional sense, the point is that they are a new medium that has the potential to create both positive and negative sentiment about a brand. In 2004, bike lock manufacturer Kryptonite was caught off guard when a customer realized that the locks could be opened with a pen. She took to bikeforums.net to talk about it, and within a few days, around 340,000 people had seen the post, which led to another customer posting a video of picking the lock. The video was seen over three mi GGDJI ODH@ N =PO ?P@ OJ < N GJR M @ N KJIN @ M < O@ A M JH OC@ > M DN DN O@ < H A DQ@ ?< TN Kryptonite subsequently lost an estimated $10 million to the incident in incurred costs and lost sales. The brand, which had only one public relations employee before the 55 incident, had been overwhelmed by the product failure, for which they had no preconceived crisis strategy. Perhaps this employee broke public relations’ cardinal rule: be prepared for potential crises. But the company’s real failure stems from inexperience with the power of the Internet. [Wakefield, 2009: Examples similar to Kryptonite’s are abundant due to the rapid-fire nature of cyberactivism, though by now there is nearly a decade worth of trial and error to learn from. Luckily, public relations firms are expanding their offerings to include the digital disciplines and embracing the nature of the social media generation. Nearly half of the countries contributing to ICCO’s PR World Report 2011 estimated that “between 80- 100% of local PR consultancies provide digital communications services to clients.” And, in its September 2009 issue, Contagious magazine reported how the public relations industry, which maintains reputation management, is where the abilities to “respond quickly and protect brand and corporate reputation if an issue develops” are already housed. It seems that in crisis situations there is little doubt cast on public relations’ capability to manage responses on urgent and sensitive matters. However, if the goal is a move towards becoming strategic counselors, it will involve much more than hiring some staff and labeling them the digital team, though an understanding of new media is an intricate part. In the ICCO Trends Barometer survey from May 2011, nearly one-fifth of respondents said that a “majority of clients do not see social media services as belonging to public relations at all,” which means that PR consultants still need to gain credibility and capabilities in this area. [ICCO, 2011: 2JH@ firms are working towards gaining that trust. During Fleishman-Hillard’s annual EMEA conference call with CEO Dave Senay, he talked about the strategic convergence of 56 communications disciplines within the firm. By expanding capabilities and services the company hopes to create a new kind of global integrated communications consultancy that is able to reach “anyone via any channel at any time with any message,” and that by increasing communication between practice groups within the firm, F-H will be able to better serve its clients. The goal is to create a new industry around the core principles of PR that is more proactive towards client services. Instead of waiting for clients to approach the company with needs of PR execution, the business hopes to solidify a presence as idea-generating, whole-approach communications strategists. There is no rule excluding public relations agencies from incorporating additional specialists, such as creative concept, content producers, strategists, and developers. Combining those additional resources with PR’s innate ability OJ ?@G DQ@M A <N O M @N PGON OC<O C<Q@ HJ M @ Q<GP@ than advertising alone) could be the first step towards the next generation of communications consultancy. The Contagious article goes on to discuss what could bring this all to a halt: “The fallout of this burgeoning skillset within the PR community is a wave of advertising campaigns with traditional PR ideas at the core.” The campaign that earned the most Grand Prix awards in the festival’s history in 2009 for PR, direct and cyber was “The Best Job in The World” created by Cummins Nitro agency, in Brisbane, for Tourism Queensland. The campaign evolved from a PR idea and used a social media strategy to solicit a caretaker and blogger to live on a deserted beach in the region. The campaign touched on the often symbiotic relationship between PR and social media, meaning that a great idea will likely lead to PR success. There is no greater achievement than “buzz” in the world of PR, and any campaign that can create such will likely increase the number of 57 impressions it makes. In the case of “The Best Job in The World,” the campaign goal was to get as much content about the Queensland region circulating from the placement of online ads on job sites. The search resulted in massive PR coverage. Lars Bastholm, chief digital creative officer at Ogilvy and Cyber jury president for the awards, reinforces that in this campaign, “Hence without digital, nothing to PR in the first place.” [PR2.0 : There’s no doubt that people are beginning to question the need for PR to be present “when the briefs are being handed out.” All-agency meetings are becoming a trend among enlightened clients and lead to highly evolved, cohesive campaigns, unlike the old model of adapting from above-the-line concepts that can result in disjointed tactics among specialties. Ty Montague, chief creative officer and co-president of JWT North America says, “I think in a digital world the “baton pass” method of story development is dead. That means multi-background teams, including PR, working together from the start are a requirement. In this new world having a clearly defined brand story, one that anyone in the organization can tell, has never been more important.” 58 Chapter 14: Global Digital Strategy for Campaigns While choosing campaign tactics can, no doubt, be complicated, the idea of incorporating global digital strategy into a public relations campaign is simple. The goal is to create a universal idea that will resonate with the brand and with consumers no matter the regional or cultural implications of each particular environment. In 2011, Levi’s denim company had become the victim of worn-out advertising that focused on the globalization of American culture in the wake of a backlash against the US in many foreign markets and all things mainstream in the States. To better align itself with newfound ideals among younger generations, the brand discovered a new take on its old identity with “Go Forth,” which complements both the brand’s pioneer roots and the newfound appreciation for localism among Generation Y. Doug Sweeny, vice president of brand marketing for Levi’s, is adamant that, “Go Forth is a universal idea. It says that Levi’s is a brand for people who want to get shit done, and that sentiment resonates everywhere.” During the campaign, North American efforts included reviving a blue collar Pennsylvania town through an agreement with a non-profit group, as well as opening workshops in San Francisco and New York that focused more specifically on arts and crafts education, where Levi’s could use the events as fodder for its social media channels. A Latin American extension of the campaign emphasized pioneers among local artisans and musicians. Incorporating Facebook, Levi’s invited fans all over the world to support clean water efforts in conjunction with Water.org that will result in ‘Sponsored Stories,’ which will be promoted in 24 countries. Building on the ideas of moving forward, embracing local interests, and contributing to society, Levi’s has been able to 59 create a variety of regional campaigns that unite under a global theme. These efforts have helped reinvigorate the brand, making it relevant to disenfranchised young adults around the world, who are bombarded by stunts and radical marketing ploys every day. This is a new kind of brand communications, one that centers on community and a more interactive form of public relations. It incorporates sentiment beyond flashing lights and whiz-bang advertising spend to encourage participation in brands, instead of purchase, and emphasizes ethical behavior and open, transparent advocacy. The glory says of shiny advertising spots are over, and our cultures have taken a step back to look at the important things in life in the wake of recessions around the globe. Cause marketing, as with Levi’s partnership with Water.org, allows consumers to identify with brands through common interests for the good of society. There used to be two main types of coverage a brand could get: paid advertising and earned media, which was usually not- paid-for coverage in print and/or broadcast media, but as with many other disciplines, the Internet has made traditional market segments more diversified and new strategies have emerged. Brands are now capable of connecting with consumers and the media more personally through a multitude of touch points resulting in earned media. Figure 6 shows one theory for the new communications sphere, specific to digital platforms: 60 Figure 6: Social Media Brandsphere by Brian Solis & Jess3 Source: www.jess3.com The “Social Media Brandsphere” by Brian Solis, an industry analyst specializing in new media strategies, and Jess3, an interactive agency based in Washington, D.C., makes use of five distinct areas of expressing what is now being called the “brand story,” also known as core messaging: 61 1. Paid: Digital advertising, banners, adwords, overlays 2. Owned: Created assets, custom content 3. Earned: Brand-related conversations and user-generated content 4. Promoted: In-stream or social paid promotions vehicles 5. Shared: Open platforms or communities where customers co-create and collaborate with brands, such as Facebook These categories are affected by consumers’ perceptions, their peers, and key influencers, and offer a variety of opportunities to connect with impact through “transmedia storytelling,” which uses a variety of traditional and digital assets that provide tangible and intangible value by catering to the ways a brands’ customers connect. The diagram emphasizes relevance, reach, resonance, and outcomes as key factors and measurement tools to consider for campaign efficacy. Brands can still buy advertising and negotiate media coverage, but social media platforms enable brand-to-consumer, consumer-to-brand, and consumer-to-consumer communications. Within these communities, it is possible for messaging to diverge from pre-selected corporate ideals, however. In 2011, UK computer superstore chain Currys PC World took control of messaging on social media networks across all of the social media brandsphere communications channels by creating a humorous advertising campaign featuring Star Wars characters that could be maximized via online channels. 3 C@ < ?Q@ M O D N @ H @ IO N K< D ? G < PI> C@ ? D I O D H @ A J M O C@ CJG D ?< T N @ < N JI < I? CD BCG D BCO @ ? D O N customer service and sales st < A A @ SK@ M O D N @ =M < I? N O JM T 3 C@ > < H K< D BI @ SO @ I?@ ? O J % < > @ =JJF N C< M @ ? R C@ M @ A < IN > JPG ? ` G D F@ a O C@ K PN O JH O < =N JR I@ ? ( I < ??D O D JI % < > @ =JJF < ?N < I? N KJIN JM @ ? O R @ @ O N JI 3 R D O O @ M KM JH Jted) surfaced to entice entries for the competition. 62 Other humorous videos posted to YouTube, one features Chewbacca testing hair dryers and another shows R2D2 flirting with a Hetty Hoover vacuum, went viral as fans began to share them through their networ FN @<M I@? 3 C@ N @ PN @M -generated conversations from =M < I?@ ? H @ ?D < O C@ N C< M @ A < > O JM C@ G K@ ? =PD G ? " PM M TN a > PN O JH @ M =< N @ O CM JPBC ^ R JM ? -of- click,” the Internet’s answer to traditional word-of-mouth tactics. [Virreira : As seen in the Currys PC World example, none of these categories are mutually exclusive, which only furthers the question on which is the right communications specialty to manage digital platforms. The Star Wars campaign worked through a variety of communications tactics that are traditionally used in advertising, public relations, and marketing programs, but social media has blurred the lines that previously categorized paid media as belonging to advertising, for example. Communications strategies will increasingly integrate to include multiple platforms that spark conversations and promote more meaningful earned coverage, which has proven to have more impact on consumer perceptions. This includes bringing online campaigns offline and vice-versa. At the October 2011 iStrategy conference in Amsterdam, speaker Robert Withagen of Dorst & Lesser social media agency in Amsterdam outlined four elements for merging on- and offline experiences: information, conversation, win, and experience. Successful communicators tell stories, or create spaces where consumers can tell their own, that are relevant to audiences, instead of selling. Those stories “stick in consumers’ minds and create… associations that elevate brands.” [Marsounova: The Chapter 11 case study on ephorea: spa at Hilton shows that bridging the gap between traditional and new media tactics does not necessarily mean PR needs to incorporate soup to nuts social media campaigns, however. In a recent study by PR 63 - @ R N R D M @ N @ @ % D BPM @ < ??D IB H PG O D H @ ?D < N P> C < N KCJO JN < I? QD ?@ JN O J O M < ?D O D JI< G press releases was found to increase views by as much as 77%. The study begs the question, “Can you afford to not add multimedia to your news content?” Still, nearly half of the industry has yet to adopt features of the social media news release. In a recent poll from PRESSfeed, a social media newsroom website, founder Sally Falkow discovered that of the PR professionals polled, only 55% use multimedia in their news releases. Infographics, photos, and videos all lead back to content’s ability to be shared, and these features have the ability to add that value in the digital space. Figure 7: Press Releases: More Media = More Views Source: www.prdaily.com 64 The surge in visually oriented social applications, such as Facebook Timeline, Pinterest, Instagram, and Path, shows that audiences are responding more to visual storytelling than long-form, text-saturated information. Most brands already publish press releases and company news to the organization’s website, which can be accessed by anyone on the web. By adding social tools that allow users to share items of interest with the click of a =PO O JI < I? O C< O JA O @ I C< Q@ > M JN N -application functions allowing the same information to be distributed to multiple networks) brands must take advantage of potential word-of- click communications by making the information share-friendly. By linking the information in brand communications to a variety of related media, or developing a platform that brings the pressroom online in the case of the Hilton Global Media Center, the brand increases its share factor, thus leading to more coverage and brand visibility that is consistent with the brand story. Many brands already have usable multimedia, so it is just a matter of collating the information in easy to use and share packages online. From there, creating the campaigns and supplying the right information must be supplemented with analysis. Monitoring consumer-brand interaction is key to measuring brand perceptions, developing appropriate reactions, and providing insights. The question then becomes who can facilitate and manage those engagement points best? The answer is likely to be determined by understanding who is empowered to react appropriately, who is versed in brand messaging, and who has the time and capabilities to maintain it. The fact is that there is neither one formula that works, nor a distinct combination of tools that will guarantee success, but the ability to create lasting relationships with fans and followers is possible wh@ I ?JI@ M D BC O 4 I?@ M N O < I?D IB O CJN @ < P?D @ I> @ N D N F@ T < I? O C@ 65 brands that seem to have the greatest success are those who act like people, instead of looking at social media as an advertising opportunity. Trendwatching.com, a global trend insights firm, reported ‘Why brands that behave more humanly, including showing their flaws, will be awesome’ in its April 2012 Trend Briefing, Flawsome. The theory insists that consumers do not expect brands to be flawless, and that they may even embrace those who show their character and humanity going on to say, “...human nature dictates that people have a hard time genuinely connecting with, being close to, or really trusting other humans who (pretend to) have no weaknesses, flaws, or mistakes.” With the rapid exposure of something like a social media leak, chances are consumers will find out about the flaws anyway. In Maritz Research’s report findings from September 2011, results showed that, “76% of people who complained on Twitter received no response from the brand. But among those who were contacted, 83% liked or loved that the brand responded, and 85% were satisfied with the response.” This shows that a brand’s potential to mess up on occasion can be easily turned into a positive through participation. Things will go wrong. There will be negative reviews. These events are the characteristics that can make brands more human, and for “every business that succeeds while remaining reasonable, helpful, fun or even somewhat ‘human’, consumers will become increasingly disenchanted when dealing with traditional, boring, impersonal brands.” Domino’s 2009 Pizza Turnaround proved this point when the brand live-streamed both good and bad customer feedback in Times Square. By boosting transparency, and showing its flaws, Domino’s ensured that consumers felt they were finally being heard, and the campaign turned a negative 66 N D O P< O D JI KJJM > JIN PH @ M N @ IO D H @ IO M @ B< M ?D IB D O N KD U U < N D IO J < N @ customer service. [Flawsome, 2012: Going back to traditional media outside of interaction on social media platforms, the same categories from Figure 6 can be applied to include the likes of print and mass > JH H PID > < O D JIN JPO G @ O N O C< O < KKG T H JM @ O M < ?D O D JI< G G T O J / 1 " JIN D ?@ M D IB O C@ ?@ =< O @ N over newspaper credibility and the ability to maintain objective reporting, the idea that as much as 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations, while only 14% trust advertisements, cannot be ignored [en.gauge media: 3 CJPBC N J> D < G H @ ?D < D N JA O @ I R C@ M @ those peer groups can be easily quantified and coerced, it does not mean that traditional word-of-mouth communications are going by the wayside. It is arguable that the public relations industry has done as much to foster the decline of mainstream viewership, as has the public’s own growing cynicism. With new initiatives for growing the transparency of public relations functions, the public has become aware of the extent to which PR practitioners have worked to place articles categorized as news. However, brands are still capable of garnering earned media attention that evokes positive sentiment through corporate social responsibility projects and new initiatives, for example. In light of changing media dynamics, PR must continue to evolve as a whole and maintain open, transparent communications to revive consumers’ trust in the media. 67 Chapter 15: PR as Strategic Counselors Since the industry spends so much time looking at, dissecting, and interpreting a brand’s reputation, is it only logical that public relations practitioners be able to serve as strategic counselors to those very brands already being serviced. The future of public relations will be a shift in the perception of the industry itself as the press clippings book moves to the shelf and clients look to our field as partners for whole approach, strategic brand communications management. In Chapter 7, Encyclopedia Britainnica failed to adapt to new user expectations at a critical moment when digital platforms sprang to popularity. Learning from this mistake, brands must understand that no industry is invincible to the effects of the Digital Era. By adapting to new user expectations – which for practitioners is the brands they represent – the public relations industry will preserve its status as a valuable brand tool. In the PR2.0 piece from Contagious magazine in 2009, Brian Solis agrees that, “There is no doubt in my mind that eventually all PR agencies will transform into new media communications and marketing organizations rich with in house or contracted content producers, digital sociologists, research librarians, community managers, digital architects, connectors, and industry experts/strategists.” This has already begun to happen. In 2012, Fleishman-Hillard began to incorporate all areas of communications as the agency vows to “Go Beyond.” Similar approaches have been implemented by other agencies, both big and small. As brands continue to collaborate with web developers, digital experts, and advertising, marketing, and public relations agencies, the battle for ownership and management of a brand’s social media 68 and online space will create the need for whole-of-campaign collaboration. This is a task that can be done more efficiently under one roof. Though bloggers have already seen the push of messaging from PR professionals, the leap into the “statusphere” will undoubtedly be a more complex feat due to its to-the- moment nature and 24-hour cycle. With that being said, there is no reason to believe that public relations cannot grow to house capabilities to manage brand communications at all levels. Currently, many public relations firms have incorporated the capacity to handle six of the seven major areas: media relations, press agentry, governmental affairs, public affairs, lobbying, issues management or crisis communications, and investor relations R D O C O C@ H D N N D IB G D IF =@ D IB O M < ?D O D JI< G < ?Q@ M O D N D IB ?@ Q@ G JKH @ IO O CJPBC H < IT < B@ I> D @ N provide advertising placement services). This is not necessarily a setback, since shouting out a one-directional dialogue to the masses is no longer as effective. In lieu of TV spots and full-page magazine layouts, many public relations firms have recently incorporated other forms of advertising. Leading global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller introduced Proof Integrated Communications as its integrated marketing solution with advertising capabilities, and many others are using digital applications of the practice, such as online banners, Google Adwords, sponsored tweets, and promoted stories on Facebook as part of their digital toolkits. However, in the future brands must come to rely more on G D N O @ ID IB > < K< =D G D O D @ N M @ G < O D JIN a G JIB -standing role as media monitors) while coordinating the various functions of brand communications through complete and strategic approaches to brand management, which includes both 69 partnerships and inspiration-driving tactics. All of which can be done within the PR capacity, whether outsourced or in-house. 70 Conclusion: What the Future Holds There is no foreseeing the road ahead, especially in consideration of the rapid adaptation of digital over the last decade. The prospects of the next big thing and Web 3.0, where the web, rather than humans, could be capable of generating information through semantics, seem to be leading to a higher level of personalization. Others believe the overcrowding of opinions to be a coming resurgence of experts and key influencers. As for the future of public relations, Dave Senay puts it best: “The principles of public relations will always drive our business, but the way in which they are applied now have new relevance across all channels of media: paid, earned, shared and owned. And at the heart of all this is the resurgence of “reputation” as the most powerful force in communications today. This has a major bearing on how branding is conducted, and has great implications for every other form of PR and public affairs.” To succeed in growing the business and applications of public relations, it is important to focus on the core principles of PR: strengthening the publics trust in the profession, emphasizing client advocacy, networking, and perhaps most importantly, maintaining ethical behavior. Expectations for ethical behavior are at an all-time high and responsibility for doing the right thing will be the top priority as consumers and clients look for value in their selections. A recent article in a Business Ethics journal study found that consumers responded to ethical information, and product features with “social values,” with an increased willingness to pay, but perhaps more importantly, when exposed to additional insights regarding negative corporate ethical practice, a significant 71 portion of respondents reported a willingness to pay of zero. This references the growing number of consumers that are unwilling to “buy products that breach their ethical standards at all.” [Moosmayer : ! @ > < PN @ JA O CD N < ? QJ> < > T R D G G C< Q@ O J =@ JK@ I < I? transparent, as the public grows skeptical of one-directional advertising and communications tactics. Users want to get information from a source they can trust, and in an age when newspapers and magazines have seen a steady decline in subscriptions and are being accused of unethical behavior, PR professionals must fight to maintain their reputations as honest individuals. The industry has been scorned as the masters of spin and dodgers of truth; therefore PR functions must also take consideration of public health by asking questions about the ethics surrounding those tactics. From there, branching out to new specialties will have particular focus on characteristics of new media technologies. Since its beginnings, technology has always had great impact on public relations. With the progression of radio, television, and the video news release in the 1970s, the industry has been able to incorporate a growing expanse of services in keeping with consumer trends. It is important to understand the digital revolution to see the implications the technologies have made on publicity outreach and how the industry will continue to evolve. In order to stay one step ahead of those highly informed, information-saturated consumers, public relations practitioners must stay on the cutting edge of these new communications capabilities and be able to respond in a timely manner. These responses are likely to be derived from processing the data. While the Internet has brought about a point of information overload, it has also made the tracking of information and analytics easier to come by. Making use of information from surveys, 72 questionnaires, mailers, Facebook advertisements, Google analytics, etc. can lead to real, valuable insights. The surge of sites like Klout, Alexa, and Google, which carefully monitor Internet usage statistics, coupled with social media analytic services like Radian6, Lithium, and Sysmos have introduced new insights into user behavior that can be used to promote multi-directional social engagement with brands and identify key brand influencers and advocates. Social media has risen to become the ultimate platform for consumer engagement, but being successful in this space requires more than merely creating a branded Facebook page or Twitter feed. It requires more than writing a company blog. What originally drew the masses to these sites was the ability to self-brand, say what you feel, and have a space O C< O R < N @ IO D M @ G T < =JPO PN @ M N < N D I?D QD ?P< G N > JH KG @ O @ R D O C < G G J A O C@ O CD IBN O C@ T G JQ@ J M hate) to dish about. This has created an increasing number of segments to which practitioners must learn how to tailor their approaches: adapting to the individual, to every platform, to every culture touched, and to the ways those communications channels are utilized. New tools and consumer behaviors have changed the landscape for the creation and consumption of content. The world has already seen the successes, and the explosive failures, but the industry must wade through those cases and make sense of the digital landscape for each brand individually. Edward Bernays once said, “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it.” This may have been true nearly a century ago, but from those beginnings skeptical generations have been born that show pride in their individuality and divergence from the norm. Devising tactics that will foster brand advocacy by relating to consumers’ passions and ideals will prove 73 more powerful than the limited interaction provided by advertising. Personal connections that forge meaningful relationships are vital. How brands adapt channels to brand and consumer communications needs and tailor their approaches to market segments will be decided by communications practitioners’ ability to think creatively and develop mutually beneficial campaigns that add value. As for the business, the future will place pressure on PR’s ability to respond to changing media environments. The industry is no longer a lone-standing communications function, but a link between marketing, advertising, communications, brand management, and consumer engagement. While the first press release, distributed in 1906, was run verbatim by the New York Times, it does not work that way any longer, and the business will need to make use of new specialties and dynamic employees. This could prove tough, as both the US and the UK reported shortages in the talent pool for individuals with both digital and client service experience, according to the ICCO World Report 2011. The US has been a forefront for PR education, but unless training broadens to include digital strategy, the industry will lack in the expertise it needs to become strategic partners across all communications channels. Expanding education on digital strategy and implementation will be key. Global outreach will continue to expand. At Fleishman-Hillard, more than two- thirds of the agency’s top 200 clients make use of the company’s services in more than one region of the world, and with the influx of big business from China, India, the Middle East, and the Pacific, firms will need to expand inter-regional cooperation. These international teams are a valuable resource for navigating differing media environments and consumer segments, while coordinating communications strategies from a global 74 level and integrating channels and languages appropriate to key local markets. Messaging must be able to translate in a way that makes sense to consumers in cultures beyond its own. Making use of tools that spread the brand story beyond regional markets, such as Hilton’s Global Media Cent @ M R D G G PID A T H @ N N < BD IB A JM BG J=< G < I? KJO @ IO D < G G T BG J=< G brands. For continuity, centralize analysis and reporting, which will allow PR managers to adjust and respond to campaign issues and opportunities quickly. Providing consistent communications across all regions must be a priority for brands as the world continues to become more globally integrated. The following graphic, Figure 8: The Business of Facebook, is perhaps the best demonstration of the power of the share factor, after all it is the world’s largest social network. Brands are gaining millions of followers on social media sites, consumers are buying products online, and users are spending hours of their lives tapped into social networks. These statistics are hard to ignore. In fact, in the business of public relations, these large-scale trends should be regarded as a roadmap for future communications activities that will highlight consumer engagement in lieu of traditional one-directional tactics. Though Facebook’s reign is unlikely to be permanent, there are lessons to be learned from the universal adaptation of popular social platforms and the prominence that brands have the potential to gain through the use of digital tools in strategic global planning. As public relations practitioners assert themselves as brand partners in communications strategy, the industry will be able to move into the greater role of N O M < O @ BD > > JPIN @ G JM N D IN O @ < ? JA H @ M @ G T @ S@ > PO JM N J A KP=G D > M @ G < O D JIN < K< M O I@ M N CD K O C< O D N likely to foster a new breed of communications consultants at both the in-house and agency level. 75 Figure 8: Infographic: The Business of Facebook Source: Fast Company 2011 What this all boils down to: the dawning of a new age of public relations activities centered on the technologies brought about through the Internet Age and facilitated by modern values. PR 3.0 will incorporate new fundamentals of engagement derived from 76 social media, such as self-publication, online social networking, and the potential to build buzz and brand advocates through shared content, integrated approaches, and interactive campaigns. 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Web. 10 June 2012. <http://www.prnewsonline.com/free/Womens-Deep-Trust-in-Blogs-Converts-to- Purchase-Action_16236.html>. 82 List of Appendices International Code of Ethics of Public Relations Practitioners…………………………83 Lecture notes from Richard Price, Public Relations Consultant………………………..85 Infographic: The Biggest Shift Since the Industrial Revolution………………………..92 Interview and conference call notes with Dave Senay, President & CEO of Fleishman-Hillard…………………………………………………...93 Insights Presentation Notes from Richard Dale, Global Planning Director at Fleishman-Hillard…………………………………………….…….97 83 Appendix 1: INTERNATIONAL CODE OF ETHICS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTITIONERS CONSIDERING that all Member countries of the United Nations Organisation have agreed to abide by its Charter which reaffirms “its faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person” and that having regard to the very nature of the profession, Public Relations practitioners in these countries should undertake to ascertain and observe the principles set out in this Charter; CONSIDERING that, apart from “rights,” human beings have not only physical or material needs but also intellectual, moral, and social needs, and that their rights are of real benefit to them only insofar as these needs are essentially met; CONSIDERING that, in the course of their professional duties and depending on how these duties are performed, Public Relations practitioners can substantially help to meet these intellectual, moral, and social needs; And lastly, CONSIDERING that the use of the techniques enabling them to come simultaneously into contact with millions of people gives Public Relations practitioners a power that has to be restrained by the observance of a strict moral code. On all these grounds, all members of the International Public Relations Association agree to abide by this International Code of Ethics, and if, in the light of evidence submitted to the Council, a member should be found to have infringed this Code in the course of his/her professional duties, he/she will be deemed to be guilty of serious misconduct calling for an appropriate penalty. Accordingly, Each Member: SHALL ENDEAVOUR 1. To contribute to the achievement of the moral and cultural conditions enabling human beings to reach their full stature and enjoy the indefeasible rights to which they are entitled under the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”; 2. To establish communications patterns and channels which, by fostering the free flow of essential information, will make each member of the group feel that he/she is being kept informed, and also give him/her an awareness of his/her own personal involvement and responsibility, and of his/her solidarity with other members; 3. To conduct himself/herself always and in all circumstances in such a manner as to deserve and secure the confidence of those with whom he/she comes into contact; 4. To bear in mind that, because of the relationship between his/her profession and the public, his/her conduct—even in private— will have an impact on the way in 84 which the profession as a whole is appraised; SHALL UNDERTAKE 5. To observe, in the course of his/her professional duties, the moral principles and rules of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”; 6. To pay due regard to, and uphold, human dignity, and to recognise the right of each individual to judge for himself/herself; 7. To establish the moral, psychological, and intellectual conditions for dialogue in the true sense, and to recognise the right of these parties involved to state their case and express their views; 8. To act, in all circumstances, in such a manner as to take account of the respective interests of the parties involved: both the interests of the organisation which he/she serves and the interests of the publics concerned; 9. To carry out his/her undertakings and commitments which shall always be so worded as to avoid any misunderstanding, and to show loyalty and integrity in all circumstances so as to keep the confidence of his/her clients or employers, past or present, and of all the publics that are affected by his/her actions; SHALL REFRAIN FROM 10. Subordinating the truth to other requirements; 11. Circulating information which is not based on established and ascertainable facts; 12. Taking part in any venture or undertaking which is unethical or dishonest or capable of impairing human dignity and integrity; 13. Using any “manipulative” methods or techniques designed to create subconscious motivations which the individual cannot control of his/her own free will and so cannot be held accountable for the action taken on them. 85 Appendix 2: LECTURE NOTES FROM RICHARD PRICE PRESENTATION 22 FEBRUARY 2012 International Public Relations The birth and development of public relations in Europe Richard Price Jan 2012 Where and when did ‘Public Relations’ start? Some suggest that PR-like activities go back so far in history that the ancient Babylonians and Sumerians of what is now modern Iraq are often held up as instigators because of some messages scrawled on mud-brick walls around 3000 years ago. Early pre-historic drawings and later hieroglyphics and ancient manuscripts were all used to persuade. In the 15 th century Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press, making it possible to mass-produce written works. By the 17 th century newspapers began to appear and ordinary people gained greater access to information and ideas. Governments and their leaders became more concerned with public opinion as with the development of democratic societies the concept of “the consent of the public” began to be seen as important. PR in the US The term ‘public relations’ was probably first used in late 19 th century US. There have been several claims of first use and it is contested as to which person or organisation actually invoked the term first, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s accept that public relations was first applied around the turn of the 20 th century. In the US, historians have pointed to public relations having two quite separate beginnings – the publicity and press agents of the circuses that provided popular entertainment, and the railroads, oil companies and public utilities. The circuses provided the route towards today’s celebrity PR and product publicity while the less exciting but economically richer organisations have led to modern corporate PR and corporate communications. The US historian Scott Cutlip identified a Boston publicity agency, The Publicity Bureau, which set up in 1900, as the first PR agency business in that country. It started with business clients and gained the account for the telecommunications monopoly American Telephone & Telegraph in 1903. This was followed by Parker & Lee, in which the famed pioneer, Ivy L. Lee, was a partner. The firm issued its Declaration of Principles in 1906, which accentuated a public right to know and was, over time, to have profound influence on the evolution of press agentry into publicity and publicity into public relations Lee left in 1908 and went to Pennsylvania Railroad. He later worked for the oil magnates, John D. Rockefeller Sr and Jr, as a strategic adviser. Although the focus is often on the “great men”, pioneers like Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, a ferocious self publicist who was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, as he told everyone! , the business application of public relations developed most in major organisations like the railways and transport organisations, oil companies and parts of government. Leadership came from major figures such as Arthur W. Page in AT&T who took an holistic view of public relations as being a whole-of-organisation set of behaviours that weren’t just restricted to communications practices. 86 PR in the UK PR in Europe emerged In Germany with the industrial giant Krupp setting up a news bureau in 1893 and there are other examples of organised business and governmental communication activities and operational units in the first 30 years of the 20 th century. In the United Kingdom, the Marconi company had sent out its first news release in 1910. The first PR agency, Editorial Services, was set up in London in 1924 and the first holder of a “public relations officer” post was appointed in 1925. However, public relations and corporate communications in the UK did not take off until after the Second World War. In the UK wartime expansion of information, news management and propaganda led to post war growth. The Institute of Public Relations was established in 1948 and comprised mainly government communications people who were in Information officer posts. IPR produced its own journal of public relations which were dominated in the early days by articles about methods of collating press cuttings with a focus on how to do this cheaply and espoused strong anti-intellectual views with lots of complaints about American mumbo jumbo about PR being a social science with too much reliance on market research. There was very little training. PR in the 1950’s and 1960’s were dominated by clip counts, column inches and creating cuttings books, which were turned into an art form. “Pepping up your results was seen as a key to success! So there was little attempt to evaluate what was being done. PR people got on with the job of trying to get favourable coverage for their clients. Many of the PR practitioners were themselves former journalists who were able to exploit their knowledge of how the media works. They understood what makes a good story and what does not and they knew the pressures under which journalists work. This continues even today as former journalists’ understanding of the media is still valued. PR continues to provide an alternative career for journalists, and one that often offers better pay and working conditions. There was also the opportunity to set up a business independently by establishing a PR consultancy. These consultancies were mainly small but a small cadre of large PR consultancies emerged often owned by advertising agencies envious of PR consultancies’ ability to gain retained fees providing good cash flows compared to variable project work in advertising. PR companies have changed shape and ownership at a rapid rate. From the 113 PRCA members in 1985 when I joined the Association only 4 now remain in their original format. Hill and Knowlton, Edelman, B-M and Weber Shandwick. All of these are international, US owned companies, although the Shandwick part of Weber shandwick started in the UK. Its owner Peter Gummer recognised that large corporations like to work with large companies. In the 1980’s most PR companies were considered to small by multi-national companies so Peter set about buying up small Pr companies and shoe-horning them into one central London office and persuading individual owners to give up their independence in return for what seemed to be attractive earnouts at a time of booming growth. If only I had ticked the Shandwick box in the 1980s!! The core business of consultancies during this time was national. Local and specialist print media relations based on personal contacts with journalists and sustained by an understanding of clients’ products and services. UK national media was based in London so the main PR companies were also in London and a large PR company tuntil shandwick began its acquisition trail was about 30 people. 87 In the 1980’s under the government of Margaret Thatcher, currently being portrayed in the film The Iron Lady by Meryl Streep, , privatisations of key utilities and greater business deregulation proved a boom for the PR sector. Also rules on promoting professionals such as accountants and lawyers changed. Greater opportunities arose and marketing directors were beginning to see PR consultancies as having a key role in creating a favourable image for organisations and saw that public relations worked to support marketing objectives. With deregulation following the “Big Bang” in the City of London in the mid 1980’s financial and investor relations really took off. Corporate PR accounts grew and healthcare communications emerged as a specialist sector. Government too ran big public information campaigns and as well as expanding the central office of information to provide more effective news management services, PR consultancies were also employed to communicate key messages to a mass audience. Concern about environmental and consumer issues led to big PR campaigns often led by QJG PIO < M T JM B< ID N < O D JIN O C@ IJO A JM K M JA D O N @ > O JM < I? O C@ K@ M > @ D Q@ ? I@ @ ? A JM =PN D I@ N N @ N O J be seen to eb doing good led to the emergence of CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility – an area which expanded significantly as the EU produced its own environmental agenda Training of PR professionals was improving but PR wa not taught in universities until well into the 1990’s and when it was it was initially taught at post graduate level. The first formal PR qualification was a masters degree at Stirling University in Scotland in 1987. Today over 20 universities have accredited courses in PR. Of course there is a health debate about to what extent PR can be termed an academic subject linked to a theoretical perspective backed up by research. Edward Bernays may have believed that PR is a branch of applied social science with its roots in the disciplines of psychology and sociology but not all would agree and it has taken some time for universities to develop a literature on PR which provides a theoretical perspective to practical activities undertaken by PR practitioners in-house and in consultancies. Over the last 20 years PR has secured its position as key element of integrated marketing campaigns. The UK Pr consultancy sector grew to become the second largest internationally after the US. PR consultancies began to introduce systems to promote efficient working. Greater scrutiny was now given to results and at the end of the 1990’s the PRCA introduced the Consultancy management standard to improve industry standards and to differentiate those who achieved it. During this period PR consultancies began to re-define their roles, beyond media management. “Perception management” became a popular consultancy service and expert consultancies in finance, technology, consumer lobbying healthcare and corporate communications were created. Consultancies began to charge much higher fees than before although it was noticeable that consultancies struggled to stop their staff costs from eroding profits. With the boom in PR staff were seeking higher wages and in a people business keeping your best people was a costly business and poaching of staff by agencies became a real headache for the industry as recruitment consultants made hat whilst the economic sun shone. Paul Holmes of The Holmes Report,with whom I had several discussions about PR in the UK, and I agreed that in the late 1980’s and 1990’s PR consultancies faced a choice to become more like advertising agencies or more like management consultancies. 88 Most PR consultancies had a billing model that represented that of a management consultancy. I recall being very envious of the fees that management consultancies could charge. When I was old and grey enough to be allowed into boardrooms of companies to advise on strategic communications I knew that the directors whom I was addressing had a view about how much they were prepared to pay a PR consultant. This was significantly less than they were prepared to pay a senior management consultant. For several years management consultants were clients in my business including Arthur D little and Ernst and Young and I know that the UK MD could charge three times what I could for giving advice on strategic communications. However Paul Holmes noted that many PR consultancies were owned or influenced by advertising agencies and in the end they veered of in the direction of the advertising agency model, as it was this group that was prepared to invest in them. This led to a period when PR was subordinated to advertising. Indeed some PR people got into the habit of giving away thinking even before they won the business. They found it easier to charge for an account executive to make 50 media calls than for a consultant to advise on strategy. They also allowed their objectives to be defined in advertising terms, typically in what is termed “advertising equivalents”. But PR is not about being equivalent with advertising. It is much more about building relationships. AVE’s are attractive because they offer tangible evidence. “Building relationships” does sound so much weaker and so much more difficult to measure. The last decade has seen a significant growth in services called “reputation management”. Increased interest and scrutiny from the media into business life helped executives recognise that it was worth investing in a professional approach to safeguarding corporate reputation. Governance reviews also demanded greater transparency and thus better communications. PR consultancies increased their expertise as they increasingly saw themselves as taking responsibility for corporate identity and reputation, whether of an organisation, its people, its products or its services. However PR consultancies now faced significant challenges from expert in-house PR teams. Operating a consultancy profitably had become even much more challenging as clients queried the quality of services provided and the professionalism with which consultancies were run. This was the period when procurement professionals became part of the consultancy-client contracting process. Delivering measurable “value” through communications campaigns was all-important, if difficult to demonstrate and this debate continues today. Specialisation has also been a key growth area in recent years as niche PR consultancies secured large blue chip clients for high value retained project work. Not always now did big companies employ big well-known branded PR consultancies. So the Shandwick model came under attack as a more sophisticated client was not prepared to just give business to a well-known name but sought specialist expertise to add value to their in-house expertise The dominance of the Internet and 24/7 news meant that PRs were now deployed to interpret and analyse the ever changing external environment. With increasing numbers of communications channels there could no longer be control of stakeholder communications. In the last 40 years the UK has gone from having 3 TV stations to 89 nearly 300 and on-line communications now dominate the media with blogs, face book and twitter all providing communications outlets and present particular challenges of monitoring and evaluating all the on-line noise that is constantly around us. So where are we today? The PR profession believes that its practitioners enable organisations to benefit from PR people’s ability to understand and deal with complex interactive communications. As organisations have become accessible and accountable, safeguarding their brand and corporate reputations is inextricably linked. Thus although craft based PR still abounds, media relations has been commoditised and often seen of lesser value than in the past However, there seems to be a re-emergence of the role of PR as offering strategic communications which when well executed is recognised as a vital part of managing successful organisations. PR in Europe Public relations is not a widely used name for the field within individual countries in Europe. In many countires it is still “not done” to talk about public relations and there is a stigma attached to the name, which is often replace by “communications management” and “corporate communications”. However, primarily Europeans fostered the concept of “international public relations”, many of them reflecting the pain of war and seeking a platform for international understanding and promotion of democracy through public relations strategies and practices. The formation of IPRA was driven by Odd Medboe -JMR< T 3 J H % D A @ " G < M F 4 * < I? ) JC< II@ N ! M JIB@ M N - @ O C@ M G < I?N A M JH onwards and, when it started in 1955, had representation from France, Netherland, Norway, UK, and US. Belgium and Finland joined shortly afterwards. Although IPRA’s membership seldom rose above 1000, it was an important influence in the spread of public relations across Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. It was responsible for the first >J?@N JA KM JA @N N D JI<G KM <>O D >@ <I? @OCD >N 3 C@ ^" J ?@ JA O C@IN _ RCD >C R@M @ <?JKO @? widely from 1965 onwards. Although some European PR pioneers looked to the US for ideas and guidance after World War 2, it was the expansion of the major US consultancies, such as Hill & Knowlton, Burson-Marsteller and Barnet & Reef, outside North America in the 1960s that began the internationalisation of public relations in Europe. These consultancies followed their US-owned multinational clients as they expanded into the consumer and governmental markets of Europe and the emerging Middle East. Most started by creating networks of local consultancies and then acquiring them. Other important influences on PR’s growth were the formation of European transnational companies, which led to the setting-up of corporate communication departments, and the rise of marketing-led PR or consumer PR with its highly tactical publicity style. Although the US had a wide range of university courses in public relations from the 1940s onward, Europe was slow to follow. Indeed, most public relations training was provided by the national public relations bodies that sprang up in the 1950s and 1960s. At this time, public relations was not a graduate entry industry. Typically, journalists moved across into the information and communication roles. Women, even with university degrees, came in through secretarial and assistant positions. Through the 1960s and 1970s, public relations was mainly focused on media relations. This was a reflection of the journalistic background of many of the recent 90 entrants and of their employers in companies and governments. This remains a major part of PR practice today and is, arguably, one of the limitations to the recognition of PR as a modern or new profession. It was not until well into the 1980s that university education commenced in Europe. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the former Eastern Bloc, public relations began to flourish in these countries. For some this development is seen as “new PR” which arose from the introduction of democratic governments while others see it as a continuation of practices from the formerly socialist countries. They argue that many of the former governmental communications and propaganda people left their old jobs and became PR entrepreneurs using many of the same techniques and contacts. In many of the “new Europe” countries people place more emphasis on direct personal relationships. A legacy of bureaucratically managed economies and state- controlled media has meant that people come to rely more on trusted individuals for information and advice. However many of the new PR practitioners in the New Europe are young with little time to accumulate knowledge and experience, leaving PR people in some countries unprepared to advise senior executives and unable to deal with problems and opportunities. Thus the quality of PR practitioners across Europe varies considerably. This added to cultural differences in countries makes international PR very challenging and often causes American based companies significant challenges as the Marriott hotel strategy – the same hotel conditions wherever you are around the world - does not work. It is a serious mistake to believe that public relations in Europe is no more than a copy of the Anglo-American approach. In the 1990s, Europe led the PR world in two areas. The first was the formation of O C@ ( IO @ M I< O D JI< G " JH H PID > < O D JIN " JIN PG O < IO N N N J> D < O D JI ( " " . R CD > C =M JPBC O O C@ world’s PR trade bodies together, and the second was the interpretation of the Quality Assurance movement into the public relations field. One of the factors that had supported growth of PR employment and budgets had been the formation of national public relations trade and professional bodies. In addition to ICCO, the PR professional bodies formed the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management late in the same decade. IPRA was behind the formation of the International Quality in Public Relations organisation which promoted QA approaches to public relations. This was picked up in the UK and from it the Consultancy Management Standard was created and adopted by several countries. In the same decade, which started with a recession not unlike current times, there was rapid expansion of public relations in consultancies, government and corporations. One driver was the privatisation of governmental entities, which fuelled further internationalisation of consultancies and corporate communication operations as companies moved rapidly into new markets through acquisition. Another driver was the rapid growth of technology PR from the mid-1990s onwards. This brought new types of expertise and communication methods, as the “wirehead” technology PR practitioners used email and the nascent Internet as communication and promotional tools. This was the period of Web 1.0 and the beginning of the biggest transformation of public relations practices and strategies since the end of World War 2. Until then, technology change was relatively slow with fax machines only recently replacing telex and post. 91 So, by the end of the first decade of the 21 st century, public relations has become a major communication practice in Europe and around the world. The very small beginnings in the US with the first PR agency business in 1900 have led to widespread employment, extensive use of its practices and a burgeoning research and academic field. It’s a long way from a few circuses, steam railways and telephone companies publicising their activities to a very limited range of print media. 92 Appendix 3: THE BIGGEST SHIFT SINCE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 93 Appendix 4: INTERVIEW & CONFERENCE CALL WITH DAVE SENAY, PRESIDENT & CEO OF FLEISHMAN-HILLARD INTERVIEW: 1. How did you become involved in the public relations industry? I decided in my junior year of college that the PR industry was what I wanted to enter and built my resume after graduation. FH was actually my fourth job after graduation. 2. What is the philosophy at Fleishman-Hillard? In summary, “To be as valuable to our clients as they are to us.” 3. What do you believe is the most valuable resource for public relations firms? It’s people. In our business, “growth strategy = personnel strategy.” 4. There has been a lot of talk at Fleishman-Hillard about creating a new category of public relations firms. Where do you feel the practice of public relations is headed? The principles of public relations will always drive our business, but the way in which they are applied now have new relevance across all channels of media: paid, earned, shared and owned. And at the heart of all this is the resurgence of “reputation” as the most powerful force in communications today. This has a major bearing on how branding is conducted, and has great implications for every other form of PR and public affairs. We are shifting our firm to be responsive to these developments. 5. How do you define digital communications? I think the term is outdated. Virtually everything we do today is digital. You may have better luck exploring terms like “social engagement” and “social business.” These are the true developing areas of our business. 6. Have digital tools offered new areas of service for public relations? If so, do you think that public relations firms are equipped to handle these new platforms? Any public relations firm that hasn’t converted entirely to digital platforms…and made every program “social by design,” will soon be extinct. 7. Do you use digital and social media in your personal life? If so, which sites or services do you enjoy? I am an e-mail hawk, have a Twitter and Facebook account, and I am LinkedIn. I also have an internal blog for the employees of FH. 94 8. Where do you look for inspiration? Pretty much everywhere BUT the public relations industry. I try to look across many, many areas of interest and import best ideas, or use observations to inspire new thinking about public relations. 9. As the leader of a prominent global firm, how do you think globalization is affecting your company? Do you have any concerns as the communications industry continues to evolve? Globalization is real and it is here to stay. More than 2/3rds of our top 200 clients ask us to work in more than one region of the world. And more and more brands/companies are emerging daily on the global stage. As you might expect, most of those brands are not coming out of the Americas…they are coming out of China, India, the Middle East and other developing economies like Malaysia and Indonesia. 10. Do you have any opinions you’d like to share on the continued dominance of Facebook in the social networking space? What about its availability as a platform for brand communications? Facebook needs to move quickly to make itself a place that’s friendly to brands without ruining the personal experience of its members. This is very, very tricky, and I view the early attempts in this regard as largely experimental. The real question in my mind is whether social networks will succumb to some successor platform; so far I don’t see one. 11. Traditionally, it has been the advertising firms that generate campaign messaging. Do you think public relations firms can provide strategic brand reputation management and whole approach communications? In which ways to you think that the public relations industry can proactively move towards a reputation as strategic counselors for brands and corporations? PR firms like FH can and are moving rapidly into this space. As we attain the analytical and creative capabilities, our influence will grow. It surprises people to learn that in 2011 FH placed $100 million in paid media in campaigns that we created. CONFERENCE CALL NOTES Milestones: T@ < M N D I & @ M H < IT ! @ M G D I 20 years in Brussels Public global affairs summit 95 Review of 2011 United Europe, Middle East, & Africa under EMEA regional director Best year since 2000 1 @ Q@ IP@ KM JA D O BM JR O C N O M JIB@ N O I@ R =PN D I@ N N H O JK > G D @ IO N PK H > G D @ IO N KM JH JO D JIN < ??@ ? O J M JN O @ M D I N J> D < G H @ ?D < and technology, new initiatives in China masses exchange program and global capital markets Advanced thought leadership in the industry 5 th Cannes Lion in two years GO BEYOND “Built to Last” book Strategic planning and management Strategic convergence of communications disciplines Expand capabilities and services New kind of global integrated communications consultancy that is able to reach Anyone, channel, time, message Strengthen the core of the company Practice group approach 5 mission critical areas: Talent development Industry sectors Make big bets: strategic integration, social media, reputation mgmt Renew commitment to being client-centric and a trusted advisor Creating a new profession around the principles of PR Interdisciplinary communication on the rise Sectors: gov’t, health, consumer, tech, industrials, food, energy Bring in new skill sets in creative, content, film and video production Knowledge and penetration: What do we sell? Capabilities, specialities 10 practice groups:consumer, corporate, branding, public affairs, media, advertising, digital & mobile, social media, research, and specialty We are client relationship managers Analytics & Insights are the fuel to drive the industry Lead to better insights with ideas that cut across Paid media – not necessarily advertising 2011 had $100m in paid media Media planning and placement But these require analytics for success 96 Best social media offering in the world Social media expertise Everything needs to be built to be shared Reputation is the most valuable and powerful force Consumers have more control of brands, and what are they saying? Ended with quote from WH Murray: Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issued from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now. 97 Appendix 5: INSIGHTS PRESENTATION NOTES FROM RICHARD DALE, GLOBAL PLANNING DIRECTOR AT FLEISHMAN-HILLARD Richard Dale’s Insights & GO BEYOND “A category of PR firms” ask about his view on where PR is headed PR needs to do a lot of soul-searching If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn’t thinking Previous competition – other PR firms Ad generates the idea, and then marketing and PR go from there FH has the same capabilities to harness the insights and be a strategic part of something bigger New competition – digital and consulting firms Expanded to point where we need to differentiate ourselves Client-based solutions that may involve additional practice groups Strategic account planning – compass, where are you going? We’re looking for a behavior change, which is a marketing or advertising term, but what do we stand for at FH? Planning: 1. 2 ODHPG< ODIB > M @ < ODQ@ ?DM @ > OJM 2. " JG G < =JM < O D JI B@ O @ Q@ M TJI@ D IQJG Q@ ? 3. ( ?@ < O D JI M D BJM JPN N O M P> O ured process) 4. ( N OCDN M DBCO R C< O < M @ R @ HDN N DIB We are the ______ firm. Can you answer that question? What makes a good planner? Detective work, intuitive curiosity, L-R brain balance, inspirational, team player Expand your mind and see what’s out there INSIGHTS = BIG IDEAS The insight is the intuitive understanding Think about the buyer versus the business Understand the client better than they do Transformation to strategic thinkers for clients, instead of just executors of PR A planning model: Define what the company believes in 98 Create space for company in clients’ minds Touchstone for operation Focus output Opportunity for growth $ S< H KG @ N . K@ M < O D JI " CM D N O H < N =T + JR @ ?@ H J=D G D U < O D JI JA " JG JH =D < I M @ =@ G N 1 @ ? Cross Hope campaign, Cannes submissions PR can be the idea generator – is it feasible to think that PR can pull it off? THE PROCESS: 1. Pre-Insight a. What does the client say? b. What do they mean? c. What are they doing right? d. Clearly define the problem 2. Research a. What do we already know? b. What does the client have? c. Is the information sufficient? d. What do we need to do to prove/disprove it? e. Explore, analyze, summarize f. Have a clear reason for the research 3. Insights & Personas a. Develop a hypothesis b. Use the five why exercise and ask “Why?” five times i. May not always be linear ii. But then mind-map and asky why from each iii. Then, which has the most connection and is worth banking on c. Low impact insights versus high impact insights i. Collective convidence ii. Individual self-doubt d. What isn’t an insight i. Data ii. Facts and figures iii. Observations iv. Behaviors v. Consumer speak does not mean consumer insights e. The art of applying knowledge and understanding i. Is it compelling? ii. Does it INSPIRE? 99 4. Is it the “Best” Insight? a. Levi’s “Go Forth” on rebuilding Braddock Pensylvania could have been a PR idea b. Does it speak to an enduring value? c. Speeding/pinky finger idea d. Citibank strategic goals i. For 2 individual markets, finding a single insight that worked for both ii. Push that insight out for indiidual markets iii. Chief Household Officers versus Small Business Owners

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Asset Metadata

Creator Kane, Sarah Nichol (author)

Core Title The share factor: implications of global digital strategy for public relations

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 10/15/2012

Defense Date 09/14/2012

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag campaigns,Communication,future of PR,global digital strategy,history of public relations,integrated campaigns,multimedia,OAI-PMH Harvest,Public Relations,social media,social networking

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), LeVeque, Matthew (committee member), Tenderich, Burghardt (committee member)

Creator Email kanesn1@gmail.com,skane@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-104478

Unique identifier UC11288396

Identifier usctheses-c3-104478 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-KaneSarahN-1249.pdf

Dmrecord 104478

Document Type Thesis

Rights Kane, Sarah Nichol

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Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

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