PR & The Future: Time To Think BIG

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Guest blog post by Pascal Beucler, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, MSLGROUP.

The ICCO Summit (International Communications Consultancy Organisation) held in Paris October 10-11 chose a bold theme – Change or Perish: The Future of PR.

It certainly is a sign of the exciting – and challenging – times we live in.

We need to think really big.

I dare refer here to the legendary “Think Different” campaign TBWA\Chiat\Day created for Apple at the end of the 90′s, and the way it contributed to the firm’s actual reinvention, I’d be tempted to say that the challenges our industry are facing are equally critical.

Although various topics were discussed during this ICCO Summit – gender inequity, diversity, change of mindset and organizational models, innovation, creativity ,to name a few – the motto of most presentations and panels was about much more than just change: it’s been about transformation and reinvention. From this standpoint, the ICCO Summit delivered against its promise, with a bunch of bold and thoughtful debates.

So let’s briefly examine:

  • What’s already changing, fast (clients’ expectations, employees’ needs and aspirations, competitive landscape),
  • What didn’t change yet, or not enough (gender inequity, poor degree of diversity),
  • What still needs to change – and the sooner, the better (mindset, organization, offer).

And of course these are my personal thoughts on the matter, inspired by what I heard and saw last week.

Think FRESH.

Reinventing ourselves for the new competitive landscape is not an option, it’s a vital priority.

As Paul Holmes underlined it, the PR agency of the future is not going to look like the one of the past. The issue is that too many agencies are still organized “the old way”, poorly equipped for the Digital & Social Age, with far too many “villages” or silos, and too many managerial layers. Before their “G4” reinvention was launched, said GolinHarris CEO Fred Cook. “there were more levels of hierarchy in our agency than in the US Army”!

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Paul Holmes at the ICCO summit

What should the agency of the future look like, then?

First of all, a place where the best of data, insights, ideas, connectivity and engagement is conceived: this is what clients expect today…even if too few of them give PR agencies the credit for it. It’s up to us, and – believe me – no one else will help, to bravely take the challenge.

To make this happen, a full reshaping of the agency is a vital necessity: new skills, diverse teams, a more agile organization, new tools and processes, and even a redesigned workspace where strategists, planners, creative people and “connectors” can interact and collaboratively imagine disruptive solutions. We’re not there, obviously. Just walk into most of PR agencies around the globe, and you’ll realize how the existing space planning and cubicle-inspired design mindset keep encouraging the deadly silo culture (best friend of the “Not Invented Here” syndrome).

Amid other though, yet in a different industry, one firm shows the way, these days:

 

Fleishman-Hillard CEO Dave Senay shared a similar vision: reinvention is not an option, when most of the dominant agency structures reflect the past, not the future – not even our present: how many PR agencies can claim today that they have a truly holistic approach to business, a really diverse and social savvy talent pool, a best-in-class Analytics, Research & Insights resource, a 24/7 Newsroom and a genuinely Content-Centric value proposition?

Meanwhile, our clients run fast, and they do expect timely, useful, relevant, 360°, effective solutions, not internal revenue conflicts between silos and endless channels’ debates. Who can seriously believe that a consumer bothers whether a message comes to him through a “earned”, “owned” or “paid” media? Really?

Transformation is not an easy task though, in our industry like in most sectors: people are, too often, change adverse. And the talent part of it is essential, though. Mobilizing people is of the essence. Training, coaching and Change Management should therefore be at the core of our investments in the two of three years to come.

Another fight is on the compensation front: as Cook highlighted it,

“We are about insights and ideas, that’s the kind of company we want to be in the future (but) our clients are used to be paying for our hours!”

Data analytics, market research, insights generation, Brand & Reputation Management, focus on Social Enterprise and Social Media should be our top delivery, and the value we thus create properly compensated.

Think DIVERSE

Is the PR Industry “A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”? Yes it still is, very sadly.

Gender inequity remains a painful reality, a disgrace and a true concern for our sector. Speaking about “Women in PR”, APCO Worldwide CEO Margery Kraus revealed that 73% of the PRSA’s 21,000 members are women, but that four out of five leadership positions are still held by men. As of 2010, the average income for women in PR is 60% of men’s average, and it was 69% in 2006. So it’s getting even worse. Just a shame. Still a long, long way to go….

The industry urgently needs to work on this. And a specific effort is also to be done on women’s own attitude towards the male-chauvinist dominant culture in society at large. “Women need to have each other’s backs, we have to coach women to reach out for help when they face challenges and have doubts”, said Porter Novelli CEO Karen van Bergen. A perspective Margery Kraus brightly echoed, quoting Eleanor Roosevelt:

“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent”.

From a broader perspective, van Bergen insisted on the fact that there was still a lot to do, in order to break through the “glass ceiling”: clearly for women, and also for the so-called “minorities”.

Karen insisted that the crisis of diversity is not “just” a personal issue: it’s clearly an industry issue: “Diverse teams come up with better solutions, solutions that resonate with diverse audiences”. So her message to the business is: “Embrace diversity like your future depends on it – Because it does!”.

Interestingly, several participants underlined the fact that diversity is not only an issue to be aggressively addressed by our organizations: it should also be considered a great opportunity. The debate went beyond inequities in terms of gender and origins, to focus on the question of efficiency: diversity is also about enlarging angles of vision, perspectives, points of views.

The consequence is that we need to start recruiting differently, attracting and retaining the diverse talent of the future.Rethink the way we recruit our people and hang on to them. Endogamic recruitment (searching the same profiles, with the same skills, coming from the same schools) is a deadly route, nowadays.

Yes, PR need brains, but different kinds of brains, coming from very diverse horizons, cultures, backgrounds.

Think SMART.

Innovation in PR was another insightful debate, introduced by Text 100‘s Cecile Missildine: the golden rule today is audience-led communications, with content and conversational strategies which have to be built upon a deep understanding of people and communities. Content + Communities + Contact: a vision we definitely share at MSLGROUP!

Cecile said it was somehow worrying to see that so many brands and CMOs still rely on the old marketing funnel, born in the sixties with the blooming of the consumer society: yes it is still out there! People’s attitudes and behaviors have changed and keep changing a lot, though…The decision-making journey is actually very different, and the challenge is to manage it rightly.

Language strategies are equally crucial here, and Maslansky + Partners CEO Keith Yazmir showed it with talent, starting from something we all know, or should know, but don’t truly understand: it’s not what you say, it’s what they hear which actually counts. Another point we fully share at MSLGROUP, having put what we call the art & science of conversation at the heart of our people-centric Brand Essence.

Be heard is the difficult part of it, and if we’re not good at that the risk of disconnection between brands and people will grow very fast.

It’s all about understanding the message you are getting behind the words you’re hearing. Too many messages are still rooted in what you want to say, not what the audience will actually hear: the dialogue gap.

Innovation in PR is also embedded into the Science of Engagement, as Weber Shandwick’s Adam Mack rightly showed it.Yes, the traditional model of research is changing fast, with the Big Data turmoil, the need for insights, the focus on field observation…all leading to better, “bigger” and smarter ideas.

Neurosciences, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Semiotics are now supporting the new Science of Engagement, and it makes a big difference (we could see good examples of this too during the Holmes Global PR Summit last November in Miami). Never has our industry been in such a need of Social & Human Sciences, and it’s very good news!

Understanding that the contemporary drivers of engagement are very diverse, and numerous, is essential: it’s a complex and fast-evolving field and we should never forget that “We’re still cavemen at heart”! This is why engaging at the same time, but in different ways, the thinker AND the caveman in each of us is the key to successful campaigns.

WEF‘s Diana El-Azar demonstrated why the effects of the Social Revolution are – unfortunately – still poorly integrated in our conceptual and operational models. We need to keep in mind that disintermediation is affecting and putting upside down each and every sector of society – including our industry.

If we do not understand that leadership today is about dealing with transparency, velocity, empowerment and complexity, we’re not going to help our clients navigate the blur.

Think BOLD

Last, but not least, lots of insights and ideas were shared on two separate – but highly connected – topics: creativity in PR, and award-winning strategies.

What is creativity in PR?

Well, 50% of our clients spending less than 5% of their budget on creation, it’s not necessarily something clients value the way we do…In such a context, we need to be very good at managing costs, or start argue. Or both.

Risk aversion on the client side is for sure another serious handicap: the main barrier, on top of the lack of money and time.

Prime PR‘s Tom Beckman – a respected voice on the matter in our industry – offered a fresh perspective here: creativity is neither mysterious nor costly, it’s mostly a question of innovative thinking and structures. Again here, diversity is core to the success, and the Prime PR way is for sure disruptive. Tom gave the example of a winning team made of a creative director + a business intelligence specialist + a sustainability expert: such an unexpected team won the pitch because the combination of their very different views created a 100% tailored and innovative solution for the client.

Weber Shandwick’s Chief Creative Officer UK & EMEA Gabriela Lungu insisted that “It’s up to us to fight to raise the creative bar, all the time: and if the agency is small, courage will make the difference”.

What makes an award-winning campaign?

Ketchum EMEA CEO David Gallagher, who led the latest PR Jury there, said the PR industry needs to be massively present at the CannesLions Festival. The process there is fair, and transparent. Too many agencies stay away from the pool, said David. And one week festival of content, inspirational speakers, debates and conversations beyond the parties is a worthy experience for our best people!

Paul Holmes added a very wise note to the debate, observing it shouldn’t be focused on award-winning strategies: it’s actually about creating award-worthy work for clients.

“What makes one work amazing?,” asked Paul.

Insights, research-based strategies, engagement planning, big ideas, perfect execution, results (and correlation of the results with the goals: how do they align?)

“Courage is what separates simply good work from really great work”, added he.

Engagement is king, not bombardment of the audience: make it sticky, shareable, ethical & able to change behaviors.

A fresh vision, a brighter organization, rich of much more diverse teams, delivering the best of smart, bold and creatively executed ideas: here’s the future of PR. Up to us!

 

MSLGROUP’s Chief Strategy Officer, Pascal Beucler holds BAs in History and Language Sciences, a master’s degree in Linguistics and a post graduate degree in Semio-Linguistics.  

This blog post originally appeared here.

The Matryoshka Effect: exploring Russia’s global brand

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This is a guest blog post by Andrey Barannikov, CEO of SPN Ogilvy, Chairman of  Russian PR Association AKOS and ICCO Board Member

There are topics that one can discuss forever. For Russian PR practitioners, one of those is the country’s image in the world. This issue has been regularly raised on key national industry events over the past few years, so you would think that the topic is rather outworn. However, recent news on the business, political and other arenas keep bringing the issue up, urging us to look at it again and again, each time from a new angle.

On April 24th, SPN Ogilvy, in partnership with the leading global PR industry expert The Holmes Report, held a panel discussion in Moscow dedicated to the brand of Russia and the way corporate and product brands affect it. The panel became The Holmes Report’s debute event in Russia. As Arun Sudhaman, partner and Managing Editor of The Holmes Report, noted, the Russian PR industry shows an impressive development dynamics, both in terms of quantitative and qualitative indicators, and the appearance of The Holmes Report in Russia is, in a way, an acknowledgement to this.

The panel called “The Matryoshka Effect: Russia’s face within and without” featured several senior Russian PR practitioners representing such companies as VTB Capital, Shell, MegaFon, UTAir and a government agency Rossotrudnichestvo dealing with foreign affairs. I will try to give you an overview of what was discussed.

A national brand: why does it matter?

The presence of Russia at the international scene, as our colleague Arun highlighted, is getting more and more noticeable, in terms of Russian companies entering the global market, and also in the light of the political transformations and upcoming sports events. That’s why the question of the national image obtains a particular importance, taking into consideration the growing globalization – after all, it affects the success of domestic business in the world and the ability of a country to attract foreign investments.

According to the latest international research Arun cited (Futurebrand etc.), the reputation of Russia as an investment destination is quite strong – it ranks fourth among the European countries – however, the number of projects is decreasing, and the brand of Russia is in the state of decline (alongside with Pakistan and Paraguay – not the most desirable company for a country aiming to boost its reputation before investors…). The coming Universiade, the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and the 2018 FIFA World Cup are opening ample opportunities to change this situation. Referring to the London Olympics, Arun fairly mentioned that such events help to change not only the country’s image abroad, but also the way citizens perceive their country, business, culture and themselves, which is probably even more important.

Business takes the lead

“Business is an avant-guard of the international dialogue, it is a communicator and mediator. The way it looks and behaves shapes an idea of the possibility to work with this country”. This very important point was made by Olga Podoynitsyna, Managing Director and Head of Global Corporate Relations and Marketing of VTB Capital, a company for which improving the perception of Russia internationally is an organic part of their communications with the global media.

Leading international media outlets are the key “opinion leaders” shaping investors’ attitude to the country. However, as Olga sadly concluded, today the international media are still influenced by the same stereotypes as 5-6 years ago: in their eyes, Russia is still made up of matryoshkas (nest dolls), vodka, caviar, the Kalashnikov machine gun and girls. However, the surveys show that the image of Russia also has a few characteristics investors consider attractive – those are connected not only with its economic potential, but also with intellectual and cultural resources. These are the things Russians should communicate more actively to key global decision-makers.

It’s not that simple!

However, a country’s image is a complex phenomenon. Petr Lidov, PR director of MegaFon (one of Russia’s top 3 mobile operators), argued that it would be wrong talking about the creation of Russia’s image as a single entity, which would be the same all over the world and for everybody. Indeed, the perception of Russia differs from country to country, depending on the history of our relationships and on the national values. If the West, where democracy stands above all, treats Russia cautiously, then in China, where power is revered, our country is deeply respected. The sector discussed also matters: e.g., Russian oil, gaz and banking industries look very attractive to foreign investors, while no one can call Russia a much-desired tourist destination (although perhaps the potential here lies within positioning it as an extreme travel experience?..). Finally, the country’s geopolitical image and its leaders’ images also form the context of its perception. You know who we mean.

Language is power

The discussion on Russia’s image would be incomplete without representatives of government agencies. Oleg Belyakov, Adviser of the Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, recalled a statement of the Ambassador of Switzerland in Russia: “I have never been to any other country the reputation of which would differ so much from the reality”. Unfortunately, all the efforts to improve the country’s image undertaken on the federal level so far have not been able to improve the prevalent negative attitude towards it. One of the major problems is that there is no one “in charge” of it – however, the country’s image is indeed everybody’s concern. In this respect, the government, the business and the PR community should be playing as one team.

Another problem is that, sadly, we are often not aware of our own resources and the new generation doesn’t feel the connection to the cultural and historical heritage of the country. It is important to show that this heritage is not gone – it is there and present, and it is one of the strongest sides of Russia, in particular, in the eyes of the global community. A powerful resource, the potential of which is underestimated, is also the Russian language, which does not only helps spreading the culture of Russia, but also affects its economic positions in the world: you do business with those who speak the language you know. My father used to be a respected indologist, and I still remember that magazine published in Russian in India – a simple and cheap tool, but what an effect! So there is a huge opportunity for the government and business cooperation lying in the development of Russian language and culture centers across the world.

Think globally

To succeed on the international scene, domestic companies must remember that Russia is part of the global world. Igor Ignatiev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Shell Russia, felt the importance of the global vision when he worked at the Sakhalin 2 project, where the tiniest event on the oil platform would instantly become a global news. The company’s task was to educate the employees that the way each of them acts forms the perception of Russia as a global energy leader.

According to Lev Koshlyakov, Deputy CEO for Corporate Communications of UTair (one of the leading Russian airlines working internationally), when entering the international scene it is important to think, first of all, what values we bring there. For his business, the expert defined the following combination: “international expertise of a company with a Russian experience”.

A riddle wrapped in a mystery

It would of course be impossible to elaborate a strategy of building the country’s image within 2 hours. However, the experts and the audience agreed that for the country in general and for every Russian company it is crucially important to:

  • Think in a global perspective;
  • Tell the truth about the problems and, at the same time, take measures to solve them;
  • Appreciate and leverage the resources available;
  • Start from small details, such as putting signs in English in the underground or ensuring adequate behaviour of Russian tourists abroad, for a start.

And, going back to the matryoshka metaphor, perhaps the most elegant way to close the discussion on this rich subject was sir Winston Churchill’s saying quoted by Lev Koshlyakov: “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. May be, after all, that’s what Russia’s brand is?..