The Swedish model – How to turn rookies into Cannes winners

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Written by: Joseph Borenstein, Cohn & Wolfe Sweden Print@J_Borenstein
Linnéa Rinäs, Cohn & Wolfe Sweden Print@linnearinas

We were invited to the ICCO Global Summit 2015 to talk about our winning campaign from Cannes Young Lions this summer. However, since talking about one single campaign for 30 minutes gets kind of dull, we decided to  broaden the theme and name our seminar “The Swedish model – How to turn rookies into Cannes Winners”.

In many markets, the PR business is very hierarchical and it takes many years for a junior consultant to even meet the client. Not to mention taking own initiatives, like pitching on a new client or managing a big account. For us, that has never been an issue. Our CEO has never been afraid of letting us try, letting us fail, and letting us succeed.

We therefore decided to share with the audience a few Swedish-inspired tips for how they themselves can turn their rookies into Cannes Winners:

  • Throw away the titles! We would never have won our awards if we would have been stuck in the blogger-email, journalist-calling, social media-copy-trap for 2 years. Which is easy if you’re bound by titles and official work descriptions. In Sweden, we dropped a lot of the formal structures at companies in the 70’s, and we sure don’t miss them. What junior consultants may lack in experience, they compensate with in curiosity – let them not only be part of creative processes, but sometimes even lead them!
  • Mix & Match! A wannabe engineer with a political junkie. A sports geek and a fashionista. Unexpected combinations of people can be pretty awesome!
  • Enable us! Our boss sometimes say that the least she can do is to not stand in our way. That might sound harsh, but I’d say it’s crucial to believe and trust in your younger team members. They want do things differently than you? Explore a whole new way of doing PR? Let them try! They might fail from time to time, but so what? That’s how people learn and grow, both as individuals and as businesses. And that’s how you get to keep your talent past the famous 3-year “I quit”.
  • Let us have fun! It’s been proved that millennials want a fun and social workplace, and that doesn’t mean we’re slackers. One of the reasons we work at Cohn & Wolfe is that it is hard to imagine a more fun place to be. Our colleagues are the goofiest, funnest and sweetest people we’ve ever met, and sometimes our open floor plan feels more like a schoolyard than an office. Does that mean we win less new clients, score less coverage, or are less productive? On the contrary. It just means we have fun along the way.

We came to Milan not only to tell the story of how we won Cannes Young Lions, but also to encourage agency leaders  to nurture and take care of the talent they have within their agencies. Because we’re pretty sure that every single agency has the potential of winning a Young PR Lion  – by just following our tips.

Next year, we’re going be too old to compete in Cannes Young Lions, but we’ll be standing on the side, cheering for the next generation of Cohn & Wolfers to get their chance to shine. And we’re looking forward to seeing not only all agency leaders from the ICCO Summit, but their junior PR-talents as well.

See you in Cannes!

Eight things you need to know from the ICCO Global Summit in Milan

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Written by: Tanya Hughes

Print@TanyaTalkPR

Over 150 communications and PR leaders from all around the world gathered in Milan last week to attend the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) Global Summit. This year’s theme was “Food For Thought” and explored how consultancies and communicators are surviving and thriving in our changing world. SERMO president, Tanya Hughes, joined the heads of some of the biggest independent agency networks for the “Going Global 2.0″ panel discussion. Here are her top eight take outs from the conference on the state of the global PR industry:

1

The two biggest drivers of change in the PR industry are the rise of social media and PR’s increased presence at Cannes Lions – the world authority on creativity in communication, still dominated by ad agencies, but changing fast.

2

AVEs RIP! PR must deliver business results. Ask yourself if your account teams know the share price of their clients.

3

Corporate and brand reputation are now indivisible – marketing and communications are converging. It’s estimated that 60% of market value can be attributed to reputation.

4

And the CEO’s reputation matters. Successful CEOs must now fulfil a public engagement mandate. For PR agencies too, the CEO must embody the brand.

5

Agencies need to restructure to attract young talent – millennials are demanding: they want best possible technology, equality and diversity, customisation, rewards beyond salary, mentoring, a ‘noble’ purpose, recognition access to leadership and empowerment.

6

Over 400 hours of video are uploaded per minute on to YouTube. To have stand out your content needs to appeal to a community (spark and be part of a conversation), engage (hit on a passion point) and have authentic value (entertainment, inspiration, education).

7

Video series are a big trend on YouTube.

8

PR agencies give 20% of their work away. They like to be liked, but the more they give clients, the more they’ll want. That means Fridays are free!

Click here to read more on SERMO

Connecting PR Women Around The World #agencypublisher

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Written by: David Gallagher

dgPrint@TBoneGallagher

GLOBAL WOMEN IN PR To Launch At ICCO Summit In Milan

I have learned a few things about the PR business over the years: it’s global, it’s highly interconnected and it’s powered by women.

The global part has happened recently, with PR consultancy now thriving around the world and contributing significantly to business, government and civil society in economies just about everywhere.

The connectivity goes without saying; every industry event is a homecoming and a reminder of how small the PR world is.  We all owe our careers to a surprisingly small number of people, and as anyone who has ever attended a PR conference or awards dinner, it’s hard to be heard over the buzz (roar?) of memories shared and friendships re-established.

And the powered by women bit – that’s a sign of our collective strength and a reflection of work yet to do.  It’s no surprise that a service industry built on empathy, insight and, well, communicating, would be one in which women thrive.  But while many PR agencies are largely populated by females, the numbers in senior management positions remains disproportionately underrepresented.

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) has enjoyed considerable success in recent years in all three areas – nurturing international expansion of the consultancy business, creating opportunities to network and collaborate and, now, playing a small role in helping PR women meet, mentor and shape the future of the industry.

A new organization – Global Women In PR (GWPR) – committed to furthering the industry by helping women meet, share, mentor and shape our future.  GWPR will launch at the ICCO Global PR Summit in Milan, Italy this week, and here’s the official announcement:

Milan, October 6th 2015 – A new international association, linking independent networking groups of senior women working in PR, is being launched at the forthcoming ICCO (International Communications Consultancy Organisation) Global Summit in Milan (October 8th – 9th).

Global Women in PR (GWPR) has been formed to act as an umbrella organisation to enable groups of senior PR women worldwide to come together to share ideas, contacts and experiences and to campaign on the major issues directly affecting women working in the PR industry today.

The development of GWPR is fully supported by ICCO and their President David Gallagher had this to say about the new initiative “women are the heart, soul and mind of PR consultancy all over the world, and we at ICCO are pleased to be associated with GWPR’s ambitious global plans.”

Following the recent success of Women in PR (WPR) in the UK and its resurgence as a significant and powerful networking organization; former Joint-Presidents Angela Oakes and Susan Hardwick felt that the time was right to encourage other countries to form their own WPR associations.

“The widely reported gender pay gap and the lack of women in the boardroom are two major issues which are not limited to the UK PR industry, but affect those working in PR worldwide. Coupled with what we believe to be an important vehicle for senior women to meet in a non-competitive environment, WPR also offers its members a chance to help shape the future of the industry and to act as mentors to the next generation. We want our successful networking blueprint in the UK to be rolled out globally and are taking the first steps to make this happen,” commented Angela and Susan.

The launch of GWPR is being supported by Business Wire (a Berkshire Hathaway company) and a major sponsor of WPR in the UK. “We are delighted to be supporting this important launch,” said Kim Deonanan Business Wire Regional VP, Northern & Central Europe.

————————————-

David is a senior partner and CEO for Ketchum in Europe, and outgoing president of ICCO.

What's Keeping PR Agency Bosses Awake At Night? #agencypublisher

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dgPrint@TBoneGallagher Last week’s annual summit of the International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO) drew PR agency heads from nearly 40 countries to discuss the opportunities and challenges in front of the industry. This meeting is particularly known for its candour; the fact there are no clients in attendance reduces the showboating we’re famously fond of, and the speakers (from independents and the big networks alike) are especially generous and open with their insights. The good news: PR consulting continues to grow worldwide.   This is partly from new markets joining the global pool.  Partly from new clients adding PR for the first time to their wider business consulting and marketing communications investment.  Partly from agencies adding new services to their proposition, particularly in digital and social media. And partly, I think, from clients shifting a (small) share of their large ad budgets to PR. The bad news: well, there’s not much bad news, but there are a number of challenges keeping agency chiefs from feeling complacent.  Specifics vary by market, but the main anxieties follow common themes. Here’s a quick look:

  • Talent:  How do we attract talent from ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds to manage the new services and technologies our evolvling propositions require? How do we keep, develop and inspire our established talent – especially ‘millennials’?  And how do we leverage our senior talent in a fast-changing market?
  • Business models: How do we move from hourly rates and retainers to value-based service propositions (payment for business results)?  How do we structure teams to include more flexible solutions?  How can we integrate with ad agencies and other consultancies to meet complex client problems, without giving the farm away?
  • Competition: How do we manage in an environment in which we compete with each other on some engagements, while working as partners on others?  Are ad agencies our friends (for leads), competitors (for budget) or somewhere in between – frenemies?  Are digital and social media agencies potential poachers? Or acquisition candidates?  And how many unseen / disruptive competitors are there beyond our line of sight, waiting to Uberize our industry with wholly new approaches?  Does “PR” have value with the client community as a description of our proposition? Or is it need of modernization?
  • Creativity:  Are we sufficiently creative compared to other disciplines and channels?  Is it something we can teach, or is it found in talent to hire?  Are awards good indications you have it? How do you measure it?
Obviously a lot of the discussion revolved around what’s changing in our business, and how to address these developments in ways that make sense for our people, clients and shareholders.  Some of it focused on where – with a strong delegation from Africa discussing the remarkable growth and opportunity for PR consultancy there. But maybe it was the theme of why PR advice is now more needed than ever that offered participants the greatest comfort.  Knowing that you play a role in connecting people – helping them understand each other and the world around them – can be a strong incentive to work through the operational challenges. I’ll share some of the solutions and experiments presented in future posts, but for now, it’s good to know that as diverse as our industry is, we’re all worried about similar things. See you in Istanbul for the ICCO Global Summit 2016!

What’s Keeping PR Agency Bosses Awake At Night? #agencypublisher

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Written by: David Gallagher

dgPrint@TBoneGallagher

Last week’s annual summit of the International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO) drew PR agency heads from nearly 40 countries to discuss the opportunities and challenges in front of the industry.

This meeting is particularly known for its candour; the fact there are no clients in attendance reduces the showboating we’re famously fond of, and the speakers (from independents and the big networks alike) are especially generous and open with their insights.

The good news: PR consulting continues to grow worldwide.   This is partly from new markets joining the global pool.  Partly from new clients adding PR for the first time to their wider business consulting and marketing communications investment.  Partly from agencies adding new services to their proposition, particularly in digital and social media. And partly, I think, from clients shifting a (small) share of their large ad budgets to PR.

The bad news: well, there’s not much bad news, but there are a number of challenges keeping agency chiefs from feeling complacent.  Specifics vary by market, but the main anxieties follow common themes.

Here’s a quick look:

  • Talent:  How do we attract talent from ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds to manage the new services and technologies our evolvling propositions require? How do we keep, develop and inspire our established talent – especially ‘millennials’?  And how do we leverage our senior talent in a fast-changing market?
  • Business models: How do we move from hourly rates and retainers to value-based service propositions (payment for business results)?  How do we structure teams to include more flexible solutions?  How can we integrate with ad agencies and other consultancies to meet complex client problems, without giving the farm away?
  • Competition: How do we manage in an environment in which we compete with each other on some engagements, while working as partners on others?  Are ad agencies our friends (for leads), competitors (for budget) or somewhere in between – frenemies?  Are digital and social media agencies potential poachers? Or acquisition candidates?  And how many unseen / disruptive competitors are there beyond our line of sight, waiting to Uberize our industry with wholly new approaches?  Does “PR” have value with the client community as a description of our proposition? Or is it need of modernization?
  • Creativity:  Are we sufficiently creative compared to other disciplines and channels?  Is it something we can teach, or is it found in talent to hire?  Are awards good indications you have it? How do you measure it?

Obviously a lot of the discussion revolved around what’s changing in our business, and how to address these developments in ways that make sense for our people, clients and shareholders.  Some of it focused on where – with a strong delegation from Africa discussing the remarkable growth and opportunity for PR consultancy there.

But maybe it was the theme of why PR advice is now more needed than ever that offered participants the greatest comfort.  Knowing that you play a role in connecting people – helping them understand each other and the world around them – can be a strong incentive to work through the operational challenges.

I’ll share some of the solutions and experiments presented in future posts, but for now, it’s good to know that as diverse as our industry is, we’re all worried about similar things.

See you in Istanbul for the ICCO Global Summit 2016!

The Death of the PR Pantologist? Hiring for the future of our industry – from the ICCO 2015 Global Summit in Milan

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Written by: Aaron Kwittken

Print@AKwittken

The Death of the PR Pantologist? Hiring for the future of our industry -- from the ICCO 2015 Global Summit in Milan

Last week, I traveled to Milan, Italy to participate in the ICCO Global Summit to moderate a panel called, “The Talent Integration Game, Decoded.”

ICCO is a gathering of some of the best and brightest in the global PR community so I was thrilled to take on the job – plus, how bad could a few days of work in Italy (and the inevitable extra pasta) be?

The panel I moderated explored the implications on hiring talent for an industry that is shifting toward a more integrated and omni-channel approach. I was joined by Maxim Behar, CEO of M3 Communications Group, and Rachel Bell, CEO and founder of Shine Communications. In our discussion, we explored how the historical sentiment that PR agency talent should be “jacks of all trades” fits in with today’s omni-channel environment. Social strategy, community management, content creation, experiential and data analytics skills are all par for the course in today’s world of PR agencies.

One of the major takeaways from the conversation came in the staunch agreement that PR agencies, globally, must start changing their internal culture to be more inclusive of specialist talents and non-traditional backgrounds. Agencies need to start integrating team members who understand a multi-disciplinary approach in order to form inter-disciplinary teams that are focused on building data-driven programs that are social and digital by design. There has been an increasing amount of comfort and credibility in the minds of CMOs, but we need to change the hearts and minds through procurement practices as well. Finally, we need to navigate meeting the “old-school” earned media needs of certain clients with the more “modern” demands of clients who favor an omni-channel approach and understand the value of a creating for them a broader message and brand awareness.

The discussion was an important and timely one, held among influential peers in the industry and around the world by whom I was honored to be surrounded. I look forward to continuing to explore and embrace the changing agency landscape, as Kwittken continues to build our specialist talent practice areas to enhance our client offerings. And meanwhile, I will continue to decompress from over indulging in gelato.

PR As A Force For Global Competitiveness? #agencypublisher

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Written by: David Gallagher

So today the World Economic Forum released its 2015-2016 Global Competitiveness Report – billed as the most comprehensive analysis of economic competitiveness among 140 countries and, in my opinion, a pretty good indicator of where it’s good to do business today.

And next week, ICCO will publish in conjunction with the Holmes Report the 2015 Global PR Report – the only analysis of its kind looking at the PR agency business across 30 or so markets.

Coincidence?

Well, yes. There’s no relationship at all between the two reports, their design or their conclusions, for that matter.

But there may be a pattern emerging between the two that’s worth considering. All ten of the most competitive economies overall (Switzerland, Singapore, US, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden and the UK) also have well-established and generally growing PR consulting industries.

I’m not suggesting there’s a causal relationship, but it’s not too far of a stretch to imagine economies conducive to competition are also conducive to PR consultancy, and vice versa.

Dubious?  Consider the factors needed for PR consultancy to be effective and valuable (yes, some may be relative):

– freedom of speech and independent media

– democratic institutions of government

– market competition

– digital infrastructure

– engaged citizenry / consumers

– global / international trade

– rule of law

– creative talent

Or looking at the other end of the spectrum, it’s hard to see PR thriving in the least competitive markets.

In any case, it’s food for thought.

I’ll look forward to your views or at next week’s ICCO Global Summit in Milan.

David is president of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation and will chair its annual summit in Milan, 7-9 October in Milan

10 words that weaken your message

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Written by – Lorraine Forest-Turner, PRCA trainer 

What message do we convey when we say or write “I’m just checking if Friday’s meeting is still on” or “this is just an example of our creative work”?

‘Just’ has become the new ‘basically’, the word many of us habitually use without even realising it.

While ‘basically’ adds nothing, but doesn’t necessarily harm our communications, ‘just’ weakens our words by trivialising the thing that follows it.

Remove ‘just’ from the phrases above and see how much more important the meeting and the creative work sound without it.

Pruning out the weak words

Any good editor will glance at a piece of writing and remove weak and unnecessary words.

So what are the biggest culprits? Which words should we banish from our communications? Or at least use cautiously.

Just

Use ‘just’ when you want to convey something happened in that moment, when you mean ‘merely’ or when referring to fairness and justice.

  • He had just hid the evidence when the police arrived.
  • He had just enough time to hide the evidence before the police arrived.
  • Based on the evidence presented at the trial, the judge made a just decision.

That

You’d be surprised how often you can eliminate ‘that’ from a sentence. Read the following sentences out loud, first with ‘that’ and then without it. Which sound better?

  • The Government believes that Universal Credit will make it easier for people to move into work.
  • Please let us know if there’s any information that you feel we should take into account.
  • He was on holiday at the time that the decision was made.

Of

Like ‘that’, when used correctly, we’d be lost without ‘of’. However there are numerous times when ‘of’ can be eliminated. Each of the following can lose ‘of’ (or phrases containing ‘of’) without affecting the meaning. (No, you can’t lose ‘of’ from that last sentence. And you can’t lose ‘that’ from that one. But you can get stuck in a loop if you continue in this vein.)

  • He threw the evidence out of the window.
  • We’re in receipt of your letter. (We’ve received your letter.)
  • She made a total of £86 at the car boot sale. (She made £86 at the car boot sale.)

Think/feel/believe

These words are often used to soften harsh messages or express an unpopular opinion. However they can weaken your message by implying what you’re saying isn’t factually true. Read them with and without the opinions and see how they weaken and strengthen the message.

  • I think John isn’t up to the job.
  • I feel the campaign would be more effective in December.
  • I believe we’ve made the right decision.

Really/very/absolutely/completely

Too many qualifiers in your speech/writing can make you sound unclear or less knowledgeable. We tend to rely on words such as ‘really’, ‘very’, ‘absolutely’ and ‘completely’ when we don’t know (or can’t be bothered finding) a more appropriate word.

  • He’s really good at singing. (He has a three octave range.)
  • The system is very fast. (The system downloads data at 100 mbps.)
  • You’ve absolutely ruined the design. (You’ve used five different fonts on one page.)

Once you start eliminating these unnecessary words from your communications, you should notice people paying more attention to what you say.

Here are a few more to watch out for/use sparingly:

  • Basically
  • Essentially
  • Generally
  • Kind of
  • Mostly
  • Pretty
  • Quite
  • Rather
  • Slightly
  • Somewhat
  • Sort of
  • Various
  • Virtually

Lorraine Forest-Turner, a PRCA trainer, takes on the PRCA “Writing effective press releases and “Honing your Copywriting skills” training courses.

An Armchair Conversation to reclaim Public Relations

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Written by: Georgia Stephens,

Print@PRIANational

Set in cosy 332 Manhattan café, Canberra, the first PRIA ACT Armchair Conversation took place between two Fellows, Tom Parkes and James Mahoney.

With a glass of red and canapés, Tom interviewed Jim about public relations, in particular the importance of strategic communication. Full of anecdotes and evidence, Jim shared his research findings, experience and advice with a captive audience who left revived about their purpose in professional communication.

Jim recalled a stage in his career when it was a struggle to convince senior practitioners to take a strategic approach to communication – a must for an organisation to succeed.

“The problem for PR practitioners is we tend to have all this accountability but no authority. We need to think strategically and avoid getting drawn into just digital media.”

“For PR to prove their worth to an organisation we need to demonstrate our understanding of how the business operates, pre-empt issues and create a communication strategy that supports an organisation’s short term, midterm and long term horizons.”

Jim believes our current politicians are an example of defaulting to tactics rather than strategy, “Everything they do is for media exposure, their channel, and their short focus – reactive.”

Strategy on the other hand requires analysis about who you want to read the story, and creating the right situation to do it – an environmental scan – one of Jim’s must do’s as a PR practitioner. “You need to be aware of what’s happening all around you. Read the news every morning – watch ABC news of an evening – watch the 7:30pm report tonight. View!”

With his hard hat on, Jim was honest about many topics, including the public sector’s need to begin evaluating properly, starting with smart objectives. “Too many people produce outputs rather than focus on outcomes which requires measurement.”

In summary, Jim’s top advice is:

  1. Don’t accept the status quo – challenge it;
  2. Always think strategically; and
  3. Don’t default to tactics.

Researching, Measuring and Evaluating PR Success

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Written by Sarah Alvarez for the PRIA.

From Optional Extra to Valued Must-Have: Researching, Measuring and Evaluating PR Success

With lines blurring between public relations, marketing, advertising and communications it is increasingly important for PR practitioners to be able to tangibly demonstrate the outcomes of their efforts and the value of public relations to clients. In response to this the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) Registered Consultancy Group (RCG) Research, Measurement and Evaluation (RM&E) Committee released its Principles on Best Practice in RM&E and Media and Social Media analysis guidelines. At the end of last month PRIA held a special panel event in Sydney to discuss the guidelines on how to best implement research, measurement and evaluation in public relations. The panel consisted of:

PRIA’s RCG RM&E committee members;

Carol Moore, Director of Moore Public Relations and
Michael Ziviani, Founder & CEO of Precise Value, Co-Chair AMEC Asia-Pacific Chapter

With special guests;

Rhys Kelly, Head of Communications at The Smith Family
John Vineburg, PRIA NSW Council President and Senior Project Officer (communications) with NSW Health and
Professor Jim Macnamara Associate Dean (Engagement and International), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of UTS.

The panel discussed the guidelines, which were the outcome of extensive thought, discussion, experience and effort. They also gave some practical examples of how to apply the best practice RM&E principles. Here are some snippets of what was covered;

  • PR professionals need to stop demonstrating their value based on comparisons to Advertising. Advertising equivalent values for earned media are not valid measurements of success, using them does a disservice to the work that PR professionals do, there is no proof that PR content is more credible than advertising.
  • How you, as a PR professional, measure success may not be how your client measures success.  It can take time to really work that out, but it is paramount that you do, and will benefit you in the long run.
  • Research provides the foundation for success. Research doesn’t have to be costly, but it should be part of your budget, it will enable you to set objectives that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely).
  • PR campaigns need to be measurable wherever possible. If PR professionals don’t communicate and report their successes in measurable ways, clearly demonstrating how their efforts have produced desired outcomes they leave themselves vulnerable to having others claim credit for their work – and also their budget.
  • It is not big data that makes the difference it is big insights. The data you get through research measurement and evaluation from your campaign should teach you something.

“Research measurement and evaluation needs method and structure to deliver good insights…good insights create valid understanding… understanding has high value to senior management. Using research, measurement and evaluation properly provides feedback to review and refine what you do and then do it better” – Michael Ziviani

If you want to learn more about the guidelines or how to apply best practice research measurement and evaluation in your PR and comms practice, or learn how you can implement the guidelines you can read more on the PRIA site, or attend PRIA’s full-day RM&E workshop in Sydney on 19 August where you and your staff can explore the detail of best practice RM&E and how to adopt the principles to benefit your business and your clients.