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November 29, 2004
Ethics in PR
The PR industry suffered two blows in the past month. The Wall Street Journal reported that Qorvis, a Washington, D.C. based public affairs firm, on behalf of a large insurance company, recruited third party experts on an anonymous basis (via a speakers bureau) to criticize regulatory overreaching by NY State Attorney General Spitzer. This led to an op-ed article by James Stewart in the same paper later that week suggesting that the best move for a company in crisis was never to hire a PR firm. Then the Controller of the City of Los Angeles issued a report last week alleging that Fleishman-Hillard had over billed the city's water department by $4.2 million. Knowing the senior management of the firm, I am confident that this matter will be resolved with alacrity and to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned. Yet the issues raised in these two situations are worth serious consideration.
Let me begin by recognizing that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. I am sure that in the 53 year history of Edelman, there have been instances where we have drifted too close to the ethical line, whether in our choice of client or in our tactics on behalf of clients. With that caveat, I have a few thoughts that I hope will prompt further discussion in our industry.
First, we should not take on any client in the way that a lawyer can claim that every client deserves representation. We are not working in a court of law. We are working in the court of public opinion. We cannot say that the media is the ultimate screen on truth or the jury for the public. We are increasingly sending messages directly to end users of information, without the intermediate step of the media. What we disseminate often moves into public discourse with immediate effect and this information can move markets, affect consumer health or well-being. We should have a higher standard today on who we represent and what we say on their behalf.
Second, we need to be utterly transparent in our work methods. If we are trying to put forth a controversial point of view, we should give our clients the best chance of success. The way to do it is to be entirely forthright on motive and funding source. The process of communication is now seen as a litmus test of the honesty and integrity of the client. It is more than what you say, it is how you say it, that matters.
Third, we should demand a seat at the decision making table and not simply accept the role of mouthpiece for legal counsel. We have a unique sense of the potential impact of a given action on multiple stakeholders, from Wall Street to employees and consumers. If we are limited to a classic, small box communications role, we are unable to fulfill our broader mandate of advice and counsel.
Fourth, our billing methods should provide the same incentives to client and agency. Most PR firms look at billability or utilization rates of personnel to assure appropriate profitability. This sole focus on the most economic use of resources fails to assure quality or client satisfaction. What is required is a broader analytic framework, akin to environmental economics, where "externalities" are measured. One possible solution is a performance bonus, granted by clients for achieving specific measurable objectives. Another solution is to return to a retainer-based billing structure, with the agency committing staff against a set fee for a specific amount of work.
As an industry, we are just now recovering from a series of setbacks, from the implosion of the technology sector which provided up to 40% of PR fees in year 2000 to the Sarbanes-Oxley induced reticence of executives to speak to business media. Today we are seen as central to the decision making process at enlightened companies. We can be the growth segment of communications. We just need to self-regulate, so that our word is our bond, because nothing less will do.
Richard
Posted by Edelman at 9:13 AM |
Comments
Right On! We can no longer rely on the media to filter controversial issues. Partnership between legal counsel and PR professionals is the only way to honor our professions ethical obligations of truth and transparency. Many of us attorneys respect tremendously our responsibility toward the shaping of public opinion (those of us that do sometimes don't earn very much, but we definitely sleep better at night).
Posted by: Nichelle Jenkins at November 29, 2004 6:53 PM
"we should demand a seat at the decision making table"
before one can demand something, one needs to prove that it is deserved or that they have earned it.
Can you give any examples of someone going from PR into a C-level position? How many people from purely PR backgrounds sit on boards of major companies?
Posted by: John Scotti at December 3, 2004 12:26 PM
John, it is happening. Charlotte Otto, PR director of Procter & Gamble, sits on the board of Royal Bank of Canada. Dave D'Allessandro moved from PR into the CEO position at John Hancock Insurance. PR people are moving on up.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at December 4, 2004 7:43 AM
Have you ever noticed thad most of thouse who work in PR are women?
Posted by: Miranda at August 1, 2005 4:04 AM
Miranda,
Indeed I have. As I am the lucky father of three girls in a private, family business, I understand fully the benefits of women in my professional and personal lives!
Richard
Posted by: Richard Edelman at August 1, 2005 9:58 AM
This is a good piece, I agree with your four proposals. This discussion has continued but my feeling is that it needs to get louder. Ethical issues, increasingly play a role in consumers spending behaviour, as such it surely makes sense for our industry to be leading with way with ethical decision making.
Posted by: Robin Dally at January 20, 2011 4:54 AM
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November 22, 2004
Gettysburg, Lincoln and Principle-Based Leadership
I have just joined the Board of Directors of the Gettysburg National Battlefield Foundation. Our goal is to build a new museum at Gettysburg to educate the two million visitors who come each year. The mission of the museum must be to describe the battle but even more importantly, to explain the great principles that were at stake at Gettysburg, specifically the insolubility of the union and slavery.
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to participate in the dedication of the Soldier's Cemetery. For three days in early July of that year, armies from the North and South struggled mightily in the ten square mile space of the battlefield, with horrendous loss of life (11,000 dead, 29,000 wounded). On that day, Lincoln was not even the featured speaker; that honor went to orator Edward Everett who babbled on for four hours. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was 272 words and lasted only 10 minutes.
Lincoln's speech that day provides inspiration to all citizens of the world. "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." But the speech did not "directly address the prickliest issues of the day," according to historian Gary Wills. Slavery is not mentioned any more than Gettysburg is. The discussion is driven back beyond historical particulars to the great ideals...Lincoln is after the ideological game, to win the Civil War in ideological terms...Preparing the public mind is a thing of great importance." Note the success of Lincoln's effort. According to James McPherson, a noted Civil War historian, had the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves, been put to a vote before Gettysburg, it would have been defeated, but after the battle and the address, it was supported by the overwhelming majority of Northerners
This has led me to reflect on how brands and companies can win in a communications environment, where all major institutions suffer from a trust deficit. I believe that brands should offer a compelling vision for consumers, such as Nike's Just Do It. What will not succeed is simply a recitation of product benefits, a functional approach. There is too much competition for minds and hearts of consumers, as well as increasing skepticism about claims. Dominant brands will achieve and retain leadership by having an end benefit that is linked in some way to a better life or meets an important need.
Those seeking to advance corporate reputation should take Lincoln to heart as well. A major corporation should embrace principle-based leadership, a phrase coined by Frank Jurgen Richter, until recently at the World Economic Forum. This entails a very specific outline of a vision that takes into consideration public good and inspiration of the employee base, such as BP's motto, "Beyond Energy." We need to help our clients to understand that great companies are built from the inside out. Peer-to-peer or horizontal communications from employees and customers are the most credible because they are unfiltered.
It is our job in public relations to help our clients understand that people respond best to rational and emotional leadership. We should promote an agenda that appeals across all stakeholder groups, not simply to the investment community. We can no longer control the message, but we can set a context, and then deliver on the promise.
Richard
Posted by Edelman at 10:39 AM |
Comments
I believe that one of the most challenging problems facing today´s business leaders is finding the right balance between the devolution of power to so-called autonomous units within a corporation and the exercise of power and decision making at headquarters. While I agree that any corporation should embrace `principle-based`leadership (in most cases just paying lip-service to a mission statement will be detected by the media sooner or later anyway).
However, I see a problem in the simple fact that the bigger a corporation is, the less the right hand knows what the left hand does.
Another issue would be that many global corporations did not manage to sign the UN´s Global Compact, or signed only parts of it.
My question therefore would be: Is the cost of risking to have your reputation ruined by only paying lip-service to a mission statement actually less than investing in the kind of reputation you talk about? And if the answer to this question is `yes`, what would entice a corporation to a) streamline its (probably) international subsidiaries to adhering to this `social` mission statement and b) spending additonal money on community building?
Posted by: Gudrun Herrmann at November 24, 2004 2:05 AM
While doing research for a Gettysburg Address article, I clicked to your site.
You fellas really need to read for background. Consider the question that brought folks to such a point that they were wanting none of the solutions offered them by business or government.
The people wanted a proper wage for what they did, a claim on what they created, and their birth right which might include the natural resources of the cave they were born in. Slaves in the worse conditions had food, shelter and a good master provided them half a day to do their own bidding. All they were ever really robbed of was their culture, personal will, identity and self determination. Their dignity.
The principle Lincoln realized was in conflict with the powers of his day was that of liberty. Most focused on the right to own property. Industrialist wanted slaves, mechanical ones were best, but those made of flesh would do also. Production for profit was the goal, competition was the only obstacle they wish to be challenged by. The sky was the limit.
The only thing different now is the world is the limit.
Lincoln once Driver has not implemented the disconnect_all method. at C:/Perl/site/lib/DBI.pm line 565
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observed that if all the same forces come together, what happened before is sure to happen again.
Same story, different day. This time will we be wise enough to consider the larger questions of all humanity, or we will suffer for it again. You speak of a purpose to build brand, community, benefit, energy, unfiltered communication, and most of all trust. Trust is a good word. So is integrity.
Lincoln was recognized for his integrity. It was his only tool. He didn't have but a single year of formal education. He was an observer and thinker who never claimed to have all the answers, but how clever he was. He didn't have answers, he recognized them.
He chose what was right, whether or not he would profit by it. Fortune was destiny.
The 1860 election had four presidential tickets. Every one of the gentleman had 20 years plus experience in governing. All but one had been aligned with or authors of two or more fixes to the pressing problem. Not a one of them had defined it properly. Each one had spent their political capital on at least one act, a resolution, compromise, doctrine, law, movement, or policy measure. They had press releases, speeches, debates, campaign slogans, and cartoons. All they accomplished is tighter wound spring.
Lincoln won. Then the real work began.
If it's not of the people there is no desire for it, if not for the people there will be no function to it, and if not by the people there will be no value in it.
Define desire. Observe. Think.
If you can't do that, then try not to do harm.
Sandy
Posted by: Sandy Madison at December 22, 2004 3:02 AM
Sandy
Thanks for your posting
I was just in Gettysburg with my kids this week Met a fantastic man, Prof. Gabor Boritt, a Lincoln scholar I asked him about Lincoln and slavery Why the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to the slave states, not to the border states Prof Boritt said that Lincoln exercised his wartime powers to implement the Emancipation Proclamation That he did not have the power to free the slaves in border states in 1863 because they were not in rebellion Then Lincoln pushed the 13th amendment to the Constitution to free the slaves forever as the Civil War neared its end He understood the need to bring along the people and that the Emancipation Proclamation would create "facts on the ground" that would create the conditions for easy acceptance of the 13th Amendment Thought you might be interested
Posted by: Richard at December 23, 2004 8:58 AM
Richard,
Yes, that is interesting. We have a tendency not to look for the rest of the story. That's why we need professors who are dedicated to doing it for us.
Northern industrialist were likely no more interested in the 13th than were the Southerners.
Every industrious adventurer wanted the railroads. The westward lines were build by cheap labor. I cannot imagine the backbreaking labor that must have been. Nor can I imagine those workers were paid much better than slaves.
Lincoln is remembered for the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet when we look close it was his railroad clients who pushed his nomination and supported his campaign. It was their interest he served. Which is not to say the others might not have done similarly, but as we can see by all their efforts leading up to the campaign, the topic was their focus. Lincoln was the only candidate who did not have a promised solution. He continued to say it was such a large question that only the people would actually settle it.
I wonder what he thought of prejudice. He expressed it himself often admitting that he believed a Black man not to be equal to a White. I think he was referring to socially equal, not necessary equal in wit or strength. He obviously believed they deserved equal protection under the Constitutional law. The law is what he had a keen sense about.
Posted by: Sandy Madison at June 26, 2005 4:36 AM
Sandy,
I asked leading Lincoln scholar Gabor Borit about this very question--why Lincoln was not a more open supporter of racial equality early in the Civil War. Borit says Lincoln had a keen sense of the political temperature of the country and that Lincoln had to do this at the "right time". Not a justfication, just an explanation. Borit is at Gettysburg College if you want to reach him.
Richard
Posted by: Richard Edelman at July 6, 2005 1:38 PM
Richard,
It would be very interesting to know a scholar's opinion. I've studied Lincoln and the events, but not nearly to the detail I'm sure he has.
My experience in politics and parliamentary law has brought me to a new understanding of Lincoln. I consider him most rare among presidents in that he recognized the will of the people was a force no one could stop. To attempt to avoid war was going to lead to more division. There were constant outbreaks of criminal type events against slaves and slave owners. Every question in the Congress and Senate was colored by the question. Thoughout the debates and his presidency, Lincoln consistantly stated that it would be the people who would decide if the contest would be settled by fighting it out. Equal to that opinion seemed to be his recognition of the US Constitution which recognizes the people as the ultimate assembly of deliberators.
I agree the best he could do was use timing as a tool to make the best of a bad situtation.
Sandy
Posted by: Sandy Madison at July 6, 2005 4:29 PM
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November 12, 2004
A Personal Journey
My colleague in Hamburg, Germany, Cornelia Kunze, put me in touch with the city managers who intend to build a Museum of Emigration in the old port area. This will be a mirror image of the Ellis Island Museum in New York Harbor. Between 1880-1913, about nine million Europeans sailed from Hamburg and Bremen to the United States. An entire town known as Ballinstadt was constructed for the emigrants, who came by train, boat and cart, to prepare for voyage across the Atlantic. Key buildings in Ballinstadt will be refurbished, with an opening planned for 2006.
I gave the approximate dates of emigration from Europe of my father's parents to the Hamburg officials. Amazingly, they came back with photocopies of the original passenger logs. My grandfather, Selig Edelmanova (note the ova), age 6, left Hamburg on June 4, 1888 with his mother and two older sisters. He came from Minsk, Russia. My grandmother, age 3, left Hamburg on March 6, 1890 with her father, mother and three siblings. She came from Kalisch, Poland. I am even the proud owner of a photo of the ship Warrington, which carried my grandfather to Liverpool and then to New York.
One other interesting Edelman family story needs to be told. My paternal great grandfather, Abraham Isaac Edelman(ova), was a rabbi. He lived in the US from 1887 until 1919. He began to think about his own mortality and decided to move to Palestine (now Israel). He worked there as a rabbi for two years, then died and was buried on the Mount of Olives. My father visited Israel with my mother about three years ago and found the grave of my great grandfather.
I have one more tale to relate which has a very happy ending. I belong to Congregation Habonim on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Last Friday night, a German man named Ralf Rossmeissi attended services. He brought with him two silver Rimonim, which are crowns atop the handles of the Torah, inscribed with the family name Tuchmann. They had decorated the Torah in the main synagogue of Nuremburg, Germany, until its destruction on Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938. Mr. Rossmeissi, who lives in Nuremburg, found the Rimonim and tracked down the 90 year old Mrs. Hella Hammelbacher, member of our congregation and great granddaughter of Salomon Tuchmann, who donated the Rimonim in 1874. She fled Germany in 1939 and helped to found our synagogue. These Rimonim now sit atop the scrolls in Congregation Habonim.
Why does any of this matter? Here is a wonderful passage from Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Antipholus of Syracuse, notes, "I to the world am like a drop of water, That in the ocean seeks another drop; Who, failing there to find his fellow forth, Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself: So I, to find a mother and a brother, In quest of them, unhappy, lose myself." At the end of the play, he finds both and all is well. I believe in the centrality of family and the connections made by exploring family history. As we move into the holiday season, I hope that all of you take the time to value what is really important.
Richard
Posted by Edelman at 11:37 AM |
Comments
My pedantic self can't tell whether you understand the "ova" bit or not. If so, stop reading, if not, keep on. Ova is the feminine ending for names in many Slavic languages. Hence since your grandfather was only with his mother, her name would have been Edelmanova, and he was presumably given the same by the non-Slavic Germans. Your great grandfather would have been simply Edelman. Here in Prague and I suspect elsehwere, even street names come with ova endings, because street is a feminine noun and the names need to be in the feminine adjectival form.
Posted by: Arthur Schankler at November 15, 2004 9:14 AM
Similar story: my father has his grandfather's kiddish cup from when they came to the United States; it's from the early 1880's, and is a short little cup, shaped like a Dixie cup.
It's interesting to me that Hamburg is celebrating it's history as the emigration hub for Europe. It wasn't under the best of times for people to leave, and I am guessing that your grandparents left the Pale for the same reasons my great-grandparents did: to escape the Cossacks and the pograms.
Next time I'm in NYC, I'll have to stop by the congregation to see the Torahs.
Posted by: Jeremy at November 15, 2004 3:36 PM
This is impressing. I'am a local politician from Hamburg who is engaged to this project. At the beginning I was a little bit skeptic about the "Auswandererhalle", but I like the idea behind the whole "link to your roots"-project the city of Hamburg started some time ago.
It is great to see some people oversea who likes the idea of rebuilding the ballinstadt. How small the world is in these times. I read your blog since the first post and now we have something "in common" ;-)
Posted by: Hansjörg Schmidt at November 17, 2004 12:51 PM
Interesting post. Because I am jewish too, I really undestand what you are feeling when looking for the "Edelman history". In fact, history is one of the central concepts of judaism. In the life of jewish people, holidays celebrations commemorate historic events in the history of Israel. There is a paralelism between what we call "History" and our own "History". Every ritual celebrates the life cycle events, and the searching for the roots is an important part of this jewish attitude towards life itself.
Jordi Ballera
Posted by: Jordi Ballera at November 19, 2004 8:36 AM
That was a good post, thank you!
Posted by: Mike Knous at November 23, 2004 3:33 AM
Jordi,
You are right about ritual. In fact it was bat mitzvah of my eldest daughter that brought me home to Judaism and a wonderful rabbi named Robbie Summers. It takes an event and a human face too.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 24, 2004 1:36 PM
Jeremy,
My father has one too...handed down from my great grandfather who emigrated to the US from Russia. Every time I handle the battered old silver piece, I feel I am going back in time.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 24, 2004 1:38 PM
Hansjörg,
I am a real believer in this project. To connect to one's roots is just inspirational. My family was thrilled to know when my grandparents emigrated and the exact path of emigration! So let's get the project started.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 24, 2004 2:08 PM
Interesting... that's good info to know.
Posted by: Baxter at November 24, 2004 3:47 PM
These posts are great. I now know why I keep coming back. Thanks!
Posted by: Steve Davis at November 25, 2004 9:29 PM
This is a most interesting family story and it brings to mind the cultural losses so many emigrants' offspring born in America feel when they haven't had someone to teach them their heritage.
Posted by: Barry Moreno from Ellis Island at December 3, 2004 2:51 PM
Barry,
I assume that you work at Ellis Island
This discovery of my family history has been the basis of numerous conversations at the dinner table I am now considering going to Minsk to find out more about my grandfather...where he lived etc. You are right..it is so important to know your roots
Posted by: Richard Edelman at December 6, 2004 10:52 AM
Hello Richard,
I want to thank you. I too was very moved during the ceremony at Congregation Habonim when the Rimonim were returned to Hella Hammelbacher - and then when her grandaughter carried the Torah with the family's Rimonim. My family, like Hella Hammelbacher's, were refugees who came here with nothing but felt having escaped from Nazi Germany, they came with a lot - their lives!
On the weekend of July 4 we will all come together for the first time from; Holland, Italy, South Africa, England Canada and many places in the US. We will be together to share our stories from the past, the present and our hopes for the future. These will be put together in a family journal which each person will get. Just as the Rimonim were returned, so we are coming together to share our stories in order that they will not get lost and be forgotten; and that they may find a home.
Posted by: Ellen Mendel at June 18, 2005 8:50 PM
Ellen,
I will be interested to see what happens at the event on July 4.
Would they like a copy of Margot's film on you and others of the Habonim family?
Richard
Posted by: Richard Edelman at June 21, 2005 11:10 AM
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November 8, 2004
What's Doing in the Media Business and Why this Matters to Us in the PR Business
There have been several important announcements in the past few weeks by media companies. CNN/fn, the financial news network of CNN, will be shut down in the next few weeks. The Far Eastern Economic Review will be discontinued by Dow Jones, which will also initiate a Weekend edition of the Wall St. Journal. Sirius Satellite Radio has poached shock jock Howard Stern from Viacom in a five year deal beginning in January, 2006. Double Click has initiated a strategic review with an investment bank, to determine whether its pieces (example: Internet advertising serving) are worth more than the whole in current market valuation. Time Magazine is seeking to reenter the Chinese market through a Chinese language edition, after a five year absence. This is the first season in which the number of cable TV viewers in the US now exceeds network TV viewers in prime time. Supermarket tabloid publisher American Media, owner of the Star, has endured a 25% drop in circulation in the past three years.
Implication #1--Advertising in financial services and technology is not coming back as expected. The business media had built significant infrastructures during the 1997-2000 boom. These are now being downsized or disassembled. That means a smaller news hole in business news, particularly for technology companies.
Implication #2-Media companies are now looking at the opportunity to market to a reader/viewer as an investor, consumer of upscale products/services, technology devotee, cultural connoisseur and science maven. The need to satisfy the "whole person" with one-stop shopping is much harder to achieve in a "continuous partial attention world (phrase courtesy of my friend and cousin Linda Stone). That suggests a more "news-tainment" approach to PR, hard news blended with human interest.
Implication #3--There will be more paid content, less advertising-sponsored free content. As an example, I can no longer watch the NY Yankees on WPIX, a "free" channel, because the games are only available on the paid YES Network (by the way, I am too cheap and don't care that much--but don't take away my hoops, especially the NCAA tourney on CBS). Have you looked at your cable bill recently--i am in trouble because all three of my kids now know how to order pay per view movies. There is no more "town square" effect from the nightly news broadcasts on network--too much dispersion of the audience. Therefore, PR will have to work patiently niche by niche, cable plus trade media plus local media plus business media to achieve an overall effect. And perhaps we ought to consider playing in the paid content segment, with sponsored programming on cable.
Implication #4--Media companies are integrating forward beyond custom publishing, even into creation of advertising as part of Internet sales strategy. Thank goodness they will not offer PR services (clearly a conflict of interest). That trend (Time Warner doing this among others) is leading Double Click to reevaluate its current business model. These same media companies, in search of efficiency, are hoping to repurpose content, without compromising the editorial quality. Note that the NY Times Company has acquired 100% of the International Herald Tribune to create a broader platform for content. To assure product quality and local feel, the IHT has hired a dozen new reporters in Europe, with more to come in Asia. PR people need to rethink their media strategies to consider these cross-platform opportunities.
Implication #5--Circulation is declining in publications where content can be found for free on the Web. The Star has arrested its audience erosion only with more stories on sex (latest is most embarrassing shots of celebrity cellulite, featuring Brittany Spears and Donatello Versace). I am sure that there is erosion in audience time devoted to traditional media, in favor of peer to peer communication, whether via IM or other techniques. For PR folks, this implies directly to on line media (Yahoo News) and consideration of ways to reach out directly to end users of information, whether through employee oriented web sites or finding catalysts who are conversation starters on the Web.
One final thought for the week, as if the above is not enough for the hardiest blog reader. On my recent trip, I was surprised to find a strong preference among Asians for reelection of President Bush over Senator Kerry. They believe the President to be a more stout defender of free trade, rather important if you are trying to develop your outsourcing or textile export business. They also believe Bush to be more open to Asia, less to Europe, as the preferred strategic partners for the US. Is this election result the end of the Western Alliance, as proposed in an op-ed piece in the Financial Times this week? Probably not, but if my trip is any indication of a trend, the US will find a friendlier audience in the Pacific than ever before.
Posted by Edelman at 8:37 AM |
Comments
RE: Implication #1
Have to disagree, or the dot-com mentality is really back in the Valley, with the launches of the Always On, Red Herring, The Deal tech's quarterly, and who knows what else. It shows that publishing companies believe that there is advertising dollars to be made in technology.
RE: Implication #4
Apparently, there are some custom publishing houses that are getting into advertising and public relations. You are right, though. I liked this one custom publishing house, had a lot of respect for the editor of their magazines ... but now would never recommend their company, as how will I know that they aren't going to try and poach my client?
RE: Implication #5
You forgot one of the better ways to reach the public directly - a Blog. It's a way to get the message directly to the public, create a dialogue, and be forthright with customers. It's a way for PR firms to offer more than just offline print media experience, but counsel in smart blogging and online outreach. The key word here is smart online outreach, which sometimes seems to be forgotten in public relations.
Not really surprised by Asia being pro-Bush. It's a little realized fact that they have their own problems with fundamental muslims, and see Bush as an ally.
Posted by: Jeremy at November 8, 2004 9:11 PM
Mr. Edelman -
Interesting that you are addressing the re-election of Mr. Bush. As a young PR professional from Germany who works in the US, this is indeed of concern to me. It seems that European regard with mistrust the global distribution of power in favour of the US, as well as the corresponding self-assessment as superior nation, and the resulting will and claim to international leadership. Ironically enough, two-hundred years ago, a militarily weak U.S. tried to establish an international order based on common rights, whereas Europe was dominated by power politics. For the last 50 years however, Europe rebuilt itself economically while passing on the costs of its defence to the United States. All Western European countries reduced the martial elements in their national identities. In the process, European identity (with the possible exception of Britain) became post-military and post-national. This opened a widening gap with the United States. It remained a nation in which flag, sacrifice and martial honor are central to national identity.
Will this have any implications for PR? Yes, indeed, at least for global corporations. A mini-war has already started when the city of Munich, Germany, condemned Microsoft as "heartless corporation", trying to avoid the use of MS products in its offices.
I agree that the US might find a friendlier welcome in Asia Pacific from now on. However, if this is in the best interests of a world alliance that kept at least the western world peaceful for the last fifty years remains to be seen.
Posted by: Gudrun at November 9, 2004 1:25 AM
Hi Richard,
Interesting blog this week.
An observation and a link for you:
Point one - tech spending isn't coming back because technology has become a more mature marketplace and technology companies have moved from being growth to value organisations. Don't believe me, look at the trend for traditional growth stocks like Intel and Microsoft to start paying dividends like traditional value orientated companies.
The fundemental difference between the likes of GE, Honeywell, Goodyear and Microsoft et al is that traditional industries have delivered in a business. Much technology hasn't provided the promised improvement in productivity (at least over the past six years, it still takes me the same time to type a press release in Microsoft Word 5.1 on my old Mac as it does using Office 2004). Business management in particular will not be fooled by empty promises like 'agile businesses' or buzz words like grid computing, at least for the time being anyway.
This change in market dynamics together with marketing functions within technology companies having a lack of skills (marketing at technology companies is decades behind practices at Unilever, Proctor & Gamble or General Mills) and the lack of importance of marketing within the management team will see a depressed marketing spending in this sector until (if) a 'new, new thing comes along.'
Secondly one of the previous comments touched on this, but I have a blog entry discussing the impact of blogging and aggregator services (what I have called mass intermediation) on the media including the WSJ.com open house week.
The URL is: http://renaissancechambara.blogspot.com/2004/10/mass-intermediationback-in-day-one-of.html
You can see my thoughts here
Posted by: Ged Carroll at November 10, 2004 3:47 PM
It is interesting to see that economics are coming before rethorics in Asia... I think they are becoming trade sharp, and very competitive.
What is the role of american PR in Asia? DO companies tailor their campaign ads to Asia?
Posted by: Ram at November 11, 2004 12:59 PM
Jeremy,
I agree one of the best ways to reach public directly is a blog
To have that dialogue with customers
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 11, 2004 5:06 PM
Gudrun,
I am huge proponent of the Western Alliance
Seems to me a real opportunity for Bush
To extend the olive branch and get back to where we need to be
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 11, 2004 5:20 PM
Mr. E,
By targeting and superserving and individual, what we're finding in radio is that consumers are spending MORE time with us - play the music we like and we'll listen longer. Talk about Sports all day and we'll listen longer. Tell me what to think about the news (Rush, Hannity, etc...) and we'll listen longer.
While the town square effect disappears, it's void is replaced a legion of new opinion leaders and tastemakers that as a PR pro, you need to find creative ways to leverage to your advantage.
Posted by: Bob at November 15, 2004 4:48 PM
Bob,
I just worked on the announcement of Mel K's joining Sirius Satellite Radio as CEO. Now I am even more convinced of the potential of the medium.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 24, 2004 1:42 PM
Great post! I'm looking forward for more. ,
Posted by: Alexander Kolt at August 30, 2005 2:07 PM