Making it through the recession.Digital Top of the Pops.UK takes lessons from Obama.Change in a tough climate.Marketing with a Chinese accent.Changing the rules in Washington.Taking PR back to its roots.Green top ten.

ISSUE ONE | SPRING ‘09

Colin Byrne CEO, UK & Europe

As a guy whose first foray intomedia was publishing a punkmusic fanzine, and who stillsecretly hauls out his boxes ofvinyl and arranges all thosepretty sleeves around the floor, I hope you are as taken withblatant nostalgia of the cover of our new e-magazine as I was.

Know about The Lipstick Index? As we marketers wrestle with the seconddownturn of the decade, can we learnanything from The Great Depression?Check out Leo Rayman’s history lessonwithin.

Our Digital Chief Creative Officer JamesWarren continues the pop picking themewith his digital top of the pops. ABC’s ‘The Look of Love’? Ah.

Our London-based Labour andConservative public affairs experts Luke Akehurst and Tara Hamilton-Millerlook at the battle in British politics to learn the digital lessons of the Obamaelection campaign.

And David Liu, Managing Director ofWeber Shandwick China and recentlynamed as that country’s top publicrelations professional, gives his insightsinto marketing in the ‘Middle Kingdom’.

Just some insights and opinions fromleading communications professionalsacross our 79-country network. Enjoy.

Now where did I put that Buzzcocks CD?

Hauling out hisboxes of vinyland arrangingthe prettysleeves aroundthe floor.

The Recession Survival Guide.

Leo Rayman EMEA Insight & Planning Director

McKinsey&Co argue that the two biggestmanagerial mistakes in recessions are first;being surprised by the severity of thedownturn, and second; being caughtunawares by the recovery. So it seems wiseto look back for any clues on what weshould do in the present day. Problem is,very few were working in the same types of job in the recessions of 1974, 1980 or1991 – there’s just not that much relevantexperience to draw on.

So let me transport you for a moment tothe American Midwest during the GreatDepression. Picture long lines ofunemployed men queuing at soupkitchens; others are wandering from townto town searching desperately for work.With panic on Wall Street and decliningsales it would take a brave manager toresist pressure from shareholders to cutmarketing budgets and scale back onadvertising and public relations. Whatwould you do? Would you do what Richard Dupree, President of P&G, did? He spotted a new opportunity and seizedit with bravery. In fact, P&G have beendoing the same thing in every recessionever since.

Dupree’s genius was to focus on radio, the exciting new technology of the 1930s.His new strategy was the ‘Soap Opera’. He knew consumers still needed to washtheir clothes, whatever the economicclimate, so the first foray into brandedcontent was born. ‘Ma Perkins’ sponsoredby Oxydol, launched in 1933. By 1939, P&G was sponsoring 21 radio programmes,virtually doubling its radio spend every twoyears during the depression.

Nimble and astuteRecessions accelerate changes that arealready taking place. We need to benimble and astute enough to spot thepatterns amongst the chaos and takeadvantage of them. 2009 is 150 years since the publication of The Origin of the Species. Darwin showed that speciessurvive when they are robust enough tosurvive challenging environments but also adaptable enough to evolve. This isthe simple answer to recession survival: be tough but be prepared to change.

In recessions, clients are forced to cutexpenditure. I’m not arguing that this isalways the wrong course of action. The realquestion is over what you cut and by howmuch. Detailed and longstanding researchfrom the Profit Impact of Market Strategy(PIMS) study has analysed the impact onlong-term performance of cutting budgets.

PIMS shows that over the length of arecession and most significantly during arecovery, those who maintain or increasetheir spend see higher returns. There is avery strong link between share of voice andshare of market. The trick when cuttingbudgets is to cut less than yourcompetitors, thereby stealing market sharefrom them.

Value and valuesDuring tough times something called‘value’ becomes even more important.Sometimes that’s the same as price butvery often it isn’t. ALDI and Wal-Mart arehaving a good recession and low prices dohelp increase their footfall. Other brandssurvive in different ways, by emphasisingtheir emotional values. People turn tocompanies and organisations they trust.Longstanding, predictable brands thatassure quality can be a recession-wearycustomer’s best friend. During therecession of the 1990s, De Beers observedthat consumers were falling back on thethings they felt were most important;family, friendships and love. Their famous‘Shadows’ campaign linked De Beers withlove, family and romance. Sales rose by anannual average of 8% over three years.

In a recession people change the way theybuy. They take more time to research theirpurchase decisions. We know that peopleare less and less trusting of official sourcesof information and increasingly reliant oninformed friends or even strangers online.Brands that focus their campaigns on fameand generating talkability enjoy thebiggest positive profit impact in difficulttimes.

Social Advocacy We call these fame-building strategiesSocial Advocacy. They are designed toincrease the number and volume of peopletalking about your brand. The techniquesare relatively simple; first you need a goodstory well-told. Second, make use of digitaltechnology to allow easy sharing of yourstory. Finally, identify the importantcommunities with which you need to makecontact and reach out to them.

In conclusion remember that whilst theeconomic environment can look prettynasty, not every category suffers. Peoplewill still need to feed their cats forexample. Things will change; the latest IMFforecasts predict a return to GDP growth inmost markets by 2010. In the meantime,just remember the Dodo.

Times are tough. There ispressure to cut communicationsspend. What should peopleworking in Marketing andCommunications do to ensuretheir brands survive thedownturn?

Dupree’s genius was to focus onradio, the exciting new technology of the 1930s. His new strategy wasthe ‘Soap Opera’.

5 RULES FOR RECESSION SURVIVAL

1. Cut, but cut less than competitors.

2. Design campaigns to build fame and talkability.

3. Use digital technology to amplify the story others tell about you.

4. Insulate yourself through the power of emotional branding.

5. Be bold, resilient and adaptable.

James Warren Chief Creative Officer, Digital

Leader of the Pack The Shangri-LasFacebook is the undisputed King of thesocial networks. Yes, yes, I know Facebookis so very ‘2007’ but its continued,relentless accumulation of users andfunctionality has set it apart as the majorplayer in the 2009 attention stakes. Slowlybut surely Facebook has become anoperating system in its own right, withmessaging, entertainment and self-publishing tools all embedded. All that’smissing is the ability to email and instantmessage to and from non-Facebookcontacts. As soon as this hotly-anticipatedfunctionality is introduced, Facebookbecomes an entirely new and compellingproposition – and a marketer’s dream.

My Generation The WhoThe myth that digital activity is onlysuitable for reaching young audiences stillpersists, in the face of considerableevidence to the contrary. Online andmobile channels have the ability to reacheveryone, irrespective of their age or socialstature. All that matters is that the activity(and story) is relevant. And on the subjectof relevance, avoid anyone who is stillbanging relentlessly on about social media– all digital media is social. To deliver trulyeffective communications campaigns weneed to broaden our horizons.

Never Gonna Give You Up Rick AstleyDon’t fall into the trap of developingdigital campaigns at the expense oftraditional channels. Weber Shandwick’sinline communications approach dictatesthat in order to truly influence you shoulddeliver consistent and engaging contentacross multiple media. If your onlinecommunications do not directly reflect orbuild on your offline messages and activitythen you are passing up a significantopportunity to create a truly impactfulcampaign. Media and experiential activityhelp drive activity online. Aligning theplanning and execution of online andoffline activity into an inline programmewill ensure you maximise the resultsachievable and – crucially – maximise yourROI.

Orinoco Flow EnyaTwitter has been the media’s digital posterboy in early 2009, with the resulting rush ofnew subscribers mirroring Facebook’sascent into the public’s consciousness. Andjust as with Facebook, marketers arerushing to work out how Twitter – andother lifestreaming platforms – can helporganisations reach their customers in newand effective ways. Weber Shandwick’s topTwitter tips? Listen and respond, informand support.

Fake Tales Of San Francisco Arctic MonkeysThe second generation of digital spam isupon us. Unscrupulous marketers arealready being social online on behalf oftheir clients. The manipulation of crowd-sourced news results, brand-sitting onlifestreams, ghosted blogs… the potentialchannels are almost infinite. Theauthenticity of conversational marketingwill continue to be questioned during2009, with plenty of agencies prepared toengage in degrees of subterfuge to winbusiness. Weber Shandwick’s advice? Do ityourself. We can help you create aninternal structure and process that allowsyou to plan and execute effectively.

The Look of Love ABCThe role of search in directing thoseindividuals looking for information to relevantcontent is clearly hugely significant as far asdigital marketing is concerned. What is lessclear is the extent to which communicatorsconsider (or even understand) the role ofsearch and its successful integration intocommunications programmes. As a starterfor ten, Weber Shandwick recommends youfind out what language people are actuallyusing to search for information and replicatethat in your online content – as a simplisticexample, don’t write about an ‘engagementscheduling application’ when people aresearching for ‘diary’.

Groove is in the Heart Deee-LiteAt the heart of every successfulcommunications campaign lies a story. Theconcept of storytelling as a criticalmarketing asset is not a new one, but theability within the digital realm to reach andinteract with your audience directly clearlyamplifies the effectiveness of a compellingnarrative. There is both an art and ascience to storytelling, something WeberShandwick understands. And of course thecreation of a consistent and relevant storyrequires you to understand how yourtarget audience is influenced, who yourpotential advocates are, where they areand what they’re talking about.

Easy The Commodores At first glance (and, in some instances,second and third glances) the digitallandscape can appear to be highlycomplex and unnavigable. In reality, asmall amount of experience allied to somepowerful analytic tools makes makingsense of the digital world relativelystraightforward. To simplify things evenfurther, Weber Shandwick has developed afour stage process (the Four Cs) toplanning and delivering digital activity.Briefly, this involves at stage oneidentifying who is having Conversationsabout your story (and who isn’t but shouldbe) and what they are talking about. Thesecond stage takes into consideration the

assets you have to turn into relevantContent that will appeal and add value tothe conversations identified at stage one(please note in this instance ‘content’ mayjust be one half of a conversation). Thethird stage is then about Connecting yourcontent with those people having theconversations and incorporates search,tagging, crowd-sourcing and so on. Thefinal stage, Community, ensures that youare amplifying the output of the previousthree stages within relevant communities.

Holding Out For a Hero Bonnie TylerFinally, as a rousing finale, the WeberShandwick guide to successful onlinemarketing can be condensed to three key elements. Be active. Be everywhere.Be nice.

Here are Weber Shandwick’s top pop picks for success in the digital hit parade thissummer. It’s an eclecticselection, mixed for your auralpleasure by resident digitaljockey James Warren.

Don’t fall into thetrap of developingdigital campaigns at the expense oftraditional channels.

Now That’s What I Call Digital.

Luke Akehurst Director, Public Affairs, UK Tara Hamilton-Miller Non-Executive Director, UK

Should you not wish to give cash/add toyour wardrobe you are invited to hold anEconomic Recovery House Meeting in your living room. An experience similar to a coffee morning or a Tupperware partybut with less plastic. Could this work here?With an election possibly just months awayhow much influence will political partiestake from Obama’s success embracingtechnology?

The Labour and Conservative approach to technology and it’s use has differed,though both have had slightly stop andstart attempts at neon websites andpodcasts. Somehow Obama and hissupporters’ internet campaigning got itright. They were clever and they had the all important ingredient; humour. It has yet to be cracked here, the main bloggersget it but the parties are far behind.

Boris Johnson’s London Mayoral campaignwas slick and different and used theinternet with style. Not a huge amount ofcontent but countless passionatevolunteers were recruited on-line. ArguablyBoris is the exception to every rule, Borisachieves because he is Boris not becausesome whizzo pre-pubescent teenager is an internet genius.

The official Conservative Party website has not been so successful competing with excellent websites likeconservativehome.com, loyally read by party followers before they go nearconservatives.com.

There was a problem when theConservatives attempted a fundraisingtactic based on the Obama blueprint to appeal to those who did not want tobecome a full Tory member but wereinterested and could show their support.

The idea was that you could become a‘Friend’ with a minimum donation of £1;the party could beef up funds with humbleamounts and build a database ofsupporters. It was a disaster, the campaignand it’s advertising cost was not cheap,various figures are banded about but£500,000 is thought to be the loss. It issuggested that the total number of‘Friends’ who joined was in double figuresonly. A spectacular waste of money.

Paramount to viral campaigning is the facebehind it. John McCain could have had thesame digital infrastructure as Obama butat his age anything too radical looks like anold guy getting down with the kids. It’srotten but a cruel sign of the times thatpolitics is becoming a young man’s (orwoman’s) game.

‘Web Cam’, featuring Tory leader DavidCameron chatting as he fills hisdishwasher/drinks railway coffee/changeshis Britta water filter, has been relativelywell received. He’s a natural in front of thecamera. Brown will have more problemswith this kind of message; name onedomestic chore Brown could carry out withdignity while talking about pensions andMRSA to a nervous aide with a camcorder.

The Left has been slower to engage withdigital campaigning than the Tories, whodominate the UK blogosphere. Even moresignificant is Labour’s internal culture,developed in order to win back power in1997 after years of internal divisions, ofbeing ‘on message’ at all times. It’s difficult to blog spontaneously andrapidly about unfolding events if you have been trained that you need to clearpublic statements with a press officer andto wait for the ‘line-to-take’ to be issued byparty HQ.

Labour has yet to develop individual blogstars with the readership or public profileof the Tories’ Iain Dale, or the ability to set the mainstream media agenda ofGuido Fawkes. Nor is there a Labour siteto equal conservative.home's role inhosting internal party debates.

However, as with New Labour’s craze for all thinking Clinton in the ‘90s, Labour issending party officials across the Atlantic in droves to try to harvest state-of-the-arttechniques from the Obama campaign forUK use. A smaller stream of Obamaadvisers and digital consultants has beenover here speaking to Labour MPs,campaign managers and activists – withsome of the consultants hoping to pick upLabour contracts, though they may bedisappointed by the small budgets inBritish politics.

Not everything Obama did is transferableto a parliamentary rather than presidentialsystem, particularly as lots of Obama’sonline ‘fan base’ was created by his appealas a charismatic, insurgent personality. Noris all of it necessary as much Obama onlineactivity was about small-donor fundraising(Labour gets large union donations andthe UK has strict campaign spending limits)and building local grassroots campaignteams. UK parties have permanent localbranches rather than having to build avolunteer base afresh for each newcampaign.

At local level, party candidates from allsides are increasingly using social medialike Facebook as a way of identifying andmobilising active supporters – with onlinenetworks driving ‘real world’ doorstepcampaigning. And the Labourblogosphere has started to try to competewith the Tories with the launch oflabourlist.org, though it appears to havebeen eclipsed by former Deputy PrimeMinister John Prescott who hasdiscovered to his delight a brand newstage.

For all the digital furore and smarty-pantscomputer geeks claiming “it was the netwhat won it” Obama’s message appealedto the time; traditional speeches based onJefferson’s dream of citizenship. It cannotbe ignored that good old fashionedcampaigning worked for Obama.

Americans liked and craved the idea of anup-standing citizen; they were comfortedby the feel of old frontier hustings, avision, and face-to-face charm.

For a small contribution couldyou be tempted by a ‘GordonBrown polo shirt’ or a ‘DavidCameron hoodie’? Even after hisvictory, the welcoming page ofBarack Obama’s website,barackobama.com is a requestfor a donation and if you give$30 or more you will receive an Obama Victory T-shirt (100% cotton). It is all veryinformal, messages from theWhite House start with “Hey” as in, “Hey, President Obamasubmitted his first budget toCongress on Thursday.”

UK Politics LearningNew Tricks.

The Labour and Conservativeapproach to technology and it’s usehas differed, though both have hadslightly stop and start attempts atneon websites and podcasts.

Arnaud Pochebonne Managing Director, France

Strategic corporate change is a delicateundertaking. While the commercial logicmay be laudable – for example, reducingthe burden on business of unnecessarycost or boosting productivity – a badlymanaged reorganisation can have anegative effect on both corporatereputation and the bottom line.

Time after time we see company bossesfocus their attention on the legal, logisticalor financial aspects of change withouttaking into account the most crucial factorfor success: the human one. For many,essential lessons about the importance ofsolid internal and external communicationsat times of corporate change remainunlearned.

When a business goes through any kind ofchange, it’s not just those at the top whoare affected. Employees wonder about thefuture of their jobs; shareholders fear thatthe cost of reorganisation may itself lead tolower profitability; clients may question thequality of the company's products orservices; suppliers ask if the company willcontinue to work with them; and localcouncillors worry about the impact on thelocal job market.

We in France have seen instances where alack of communication with salariedemployees has led to lost motivation,resistance to change, and finally adamaging rejection of the project.Opposition may be expressed by theleaking of negative stories to publicauthorities or the press, strikes and evenacts of sabotage.

If the company can’t effectively explain itsdecision to reorganise, criticism from allstakeholders will gather pace. Moreover,where there is uncertainty and a lack oftransparency, rumours will be generatedinternally and externally. Competitors canencourage these rumours and the mediawill spread them.

The emergence of Web 2.0 with its vastswathes of user generated content onsocial networking sites and elsewhere hasmade it easier than ever for disgruntledemployees to denigrate corporationsonline. As shown by Weber Shandwick’sown recent Risky Business survey onreputations online, developed by mycolleague Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross andconducted with the Economist IntelligenceUnit, the internet provides innumerableplatforms for current and formeremployees to undermine, usuallyanonymously, a company’s reputation.

Our survey shows that executives rankemployee criticism (41%) in a tie for firstplace with leaked confidential informationas the greatest online risk to their owncompany’s reputation.

Yet sadly many companies fail tocommunicate sensitively, thereby allowingtricky situations to escalate into full-blownreputational crises. Recently, when a majorinternational manufacturer closed one ofits French plants it totally mishandled theinternal communications, pouring oil onthe flames. The closure announcement tothe French-speaking ‘blue collar’ workforcewas made in English, giving the impressionthat the company didn’t care about itsemployees. Resentment and publiccriticism flared up, with the Frenchgovernment even questioning whether thecompany had followed the law in the way ithad announced the closure.

In a similar vein, not long ago a UK-listedretailer pulled out of France, informing thestock market of its decision well ahead oftelling its French workforce – incontravention of French employment law,which puts the onus on companies to firstcommunicate with their employees.Needless to say, the move sparkedoutrage and inflicted severe damage onthe retailer’s brand. Damage which could

have been minimised had there been amore coordinated and thoughtfulapproach to communication.

In January, unemployment in Franceincreased by 90,200 to 2.2 million, a 4.3%rise over December and up 15.4% onJanuary 2008. Many companies faceexceedingly tough market conditions andmore corporate bad news inevitably liesahead.

Externally, being vague about the future ofan organisation can have negativerepercussions. If jobs are being lost, themedia may focus exclusively on the socialimpact of change and a political and tradeunion backlash could follow. Financialmarkets will voice their concerns about theability of the company to keep itspromises. Analysts may even regard thecompany as high risk if there is a lack ofconfidence in its strategy.

When working with companies in France,there are four golden rules ofcommunication during a period ofreorganisation:

� Be proactive in communicating keymessages through a variety ofmechanisms including email, briefingsand meetings.

� Tread the line between a solidcommunications plan and being flexible,depending on the situation. Don’tcommunicate externally withoutconsidering the internal impact of whatyou say. Define in advance theappropriate contact person for eachtarget audience.

� Anticipate every possible reaction. Salesteams must alert directors to reactionsfrom clients and competitors, anddepartment and regional directorsshould report what is going on in theirareas.

� Take regulation into account and strictlyrespect French law, which imposes arestriction on communicating externallyduring a reorganisation, particularly withthe media, before discussions withemployees' representatives havestarted. It’s advisable to refer to a‘project’ rather than a decision, and tospeak in conditional terms if labour forceconsultation has not been concluded.

In our experience of helping Frenchcompanies manage change, successfulprogramme implementation depends oncommunication being seen as a corefunction within the company.

In today’s harsh economicclimate, corporate retrenchmentand restructuring is rife. Makingstaff redundant, shutting downfacilities or indeed implementingmajor cutbacks of any kind arehighly emotive actions thatemployers should handle withgreat care and sensitivity.

Communication is the Key to SuccessfulCorporate Change.

The Middle Kingdom:Where Global Meets Local.

David Liu Managing Director, China

As a longstanding trading hub, Asia has always been at the forefront ofglobalisation. Of the 60 ‘global cities’listed in Foreign Policy magazine’s mostrecent Global Cities Index, 23 were in Asia and six in China. The combination ofan upsurge in foreign direct investment, a rise in international tourism and greateraccess to technologies has heraldedChina’s relevance to, and appetite for,globalisation in the 21st century.

Yet it is in this environment that localisation continues to flourish. And, in many respects, China is not alone.Across the world, ethnic conflict showslittle sign of becoming extinct. In 2008, the Heidelberg Institute for InternationalConflict Research revealed that self-determination (the desire of a group togain independence for itself) was thesecond leading cause of medium andhigh-intensity conflict around the world.

Today, there is a growing sense of nationalpride among many people in China. InWestern media, for example, much of lastyear’s civil unrest in Tibet was reported as a reaction to government policy. Here inChina it was quite the opposite, with someChinese beginning to wear their nationalpride on their sleeve. Quick-actingnetizens created a website, anti-cnn.com,protesting at some international media’s

use of cropped photos believed toinaccurately portray the situation. Andmore literally than metaphorically, 2.3million Chinese added the “I (heart)China” logo to their usernames on MSN’spopular chatting application in one day.The impact was profound.

When rumours that respected Frenchcompany, Carrefour, had contributed fundsto the Dalai Lama’s cause, the backlash wascrippling. Fuelled by the fact that Tibetanindependence protestors had reportedlydisrupted the Olympic torch relay in Paris,there was a swift call for the boycott ofFrench goods – with Carrefour quicklybecoming the number one target.

Carrefour’s response was clear and precise.It issued its employees new uniformsbearing the colours and pattern of theChinese flag and a cap labelled “Beijing2008.” And when, shortly after the OlympicGames, western China was hit by adevastating earthquake, Carrefourimmediately donated 23 million yuan(US$3,382,353) to relief efforts – the largestamount contributed by a French companyin China. In some respects, it wasn’t thesize of Carrefour’s donation that helped re-establish its position in the market. Itwas the absolute lack of ambiguity withwhich it did it. The company acted as alocal company would have acted.

It demonstrated compassion, generosityand good will in equal measure. And inChina, that matters enormously.

Elsewhere, a local approach to theintroduction of brands can be pivotal tocommercial success. Like most consumers,the Chinese want to consume on theirterms. Last year, Weber Shandwick wasinvolved in the local roll out of the ‘smartfortwo’, one of the first sub-compact carsto hit the market. Rather than take a globalbrand and apply global launch techniques,we started with ‘found objects’ –selectively choosing successful strategiesfrom other markets that would be locallyapplicable. One such ‘found object’ – asmart fortwo sized vending machineallowed shoppers to preview and registerfor a test drive of the automobile in malls –originated in Japan. By coupling this withviral videos that re-imagined the smartfortwo, we tapped into China’s burgeoninginternet population and, as aconsequence, generated more than amillion online views of the new car.

Right now, the eyes of the world are onChina. If Chinese GDP looks to show theslightest sign of incremental growth overand above market forecasts, internationalstocks surge. Put that into the context ofnegative growth across most otherdeveloped nations and doing business inChina is more attractive a proposition nowthan it ever has been.

But the pitfalls of business in China are asdeep as the opportunities are wide. Whichmeans the rules are simple. Understandthe nuances of Chinese culture and theaspiration of its people and theircommunities, and Western businesses willflourish. But to simply apply the tried andtested rules of other markets and assumethey will work is to not only miss the point,but creates the prospect of long-termreputational damage that has far reachingconsequences at home as well as abroad.

The companyacted as a localcompany wouldhave acted. It demonstratedcompassion,generosity andgood will in equal measure.And in China, that mattersenormously.

Nowhere do the polar forces ofglobalisation and localisationconverge as clearly as they do inthe ‘Middle Kingdom’, anancient designation for China.Thirty years after the reform andopening-up policies of the post-Mao era, the 5,000-year-oldcivilisation is more global thanever before. But the pace of thatchange shrouds what we believeto be the critical success factorfor multinational corporations in China: localisation.

Lance Morgan Chief Communications Strategist, Washington D.C.

The sanctified first amendment to theConstitution, which guarantees freedom ofspeech, the press and religion, also saysthat Congress shall make no lawsabridging the right of the people to“petition the government for a redress ofgrievances”; which is what lobbying is.

Yet, so great has the antipathy grown thatthe rejection of lobbying – or, moreprecisely lobbyists – was a central theme ofthe campaign that elevated BarackObama, one of the greatest underdogs inAmerican presidential history, to the WhiteHouse.

At the heart of the anti-lobbying sentiment(some might call it hysteria and theywouldn’t be far wrong) is the rejection ofthe role that money has increasingly cometo play in American politics and theprevalent – though incorrect – belief insome circles that lobbying reflects much ofwhat is wrong with the money-drivenAmerican political culture.

The growing importance of money inpolitics and the shrinking availability ofmoney in most Americans’ pockets hascreated a combustible mix that is having asignificant impact on the way theAmerican political system operates and,ironically, on President Obama’sAdministration itself.

The day after he took office PresidentObama imposed severe restrictions on thepositions former lobbyists could holdwithin the Administration and what kind ofwork they could do. Moreover, after theyleft the Executive Branch, individuals facedrestrictions on communicating with orlobbying government officials for as longas he was President – a period that couldlast up to five or six years in many cases.

The reasonable purpose was to preventconflicts of interest and to stop the‘revolving door’ through which individualsreturn to the private sector after theirgovernment service at salary levelsdeemed unacceptable to certain critics.But the Administration has been having a hard time filling many sub-Cabinetpositions and the new restrictions haveundoubtedly played a role in limiting theattractiveness of government jobs -- andtherefore the number and quality of jobseekers.

Private corporations, as well as individuals,also have to adjust to the new world ofWashington lobbying. The financialinstitutions on the receiving end of thegovernment TARP (Troubled Asset ReliefProgram) have a complicated decision tomake when lobbying the government.

In the past, banks – like other Americanbusinesses – participated vocally andwithout reservation in legislative battlesinvolving their vital business interests. Buthow vocal and visible can they be when thepeople they want to lobby are the samepeople who hold the financial keys not justto their methods of operation but to theirvery existence? One sign of theconstrained position: labour organisationshave asked the Obama Administration toprohibit lobbying by TARP recipients withregard to labour’s number one legislativeinitiative.

But corporate America’s precariousposition is not simply the result of newlobbying rules or the atmosphere inWashington. The fact is that public outrageover the misdeeds of Wall Street hascreated a palpable anger at business ingeneral and, in particular, at businessleaders whose salaries are deemedexcessive by the changing standards of the day.

This problem has been building for sometime. For years, the American media keptreporting that the gap between the salaryof the average American CEO and theaverage worker was widening -- from 42times as much in 1980 to 364 times asmuch in 2006. (For comparison, the 2003average was 22 times higher in GreatBritain and 11 times higher in Japan.)

The criticism of the escalating gap wasmuted by the overall health of theAmerican economy. But once the economywent into free fall, so, too, did attitudestoward big paychecks and those who cashthem. Today, even America’s mainstreammedia – whose senior executives andbroadcast personalities are not likely toreceive public welfare anytime soon – arejust as likely to be reporting critically onthe earnings and expenditures ofcorporate executives as on rock stars orHollywood starlets.

And companies who cross the oftensubjective line separating responsiblemarketing from disgraceful wastefulnessare likely to have their names and picturesfeatured on the national news asexemplars of ‘corporate royalty’, as oneprominent journalist calls it.

Still, despite this rapidly changing andhighly charged atmosphere, manycompanies – both domestic and foreign –have no choice but to do business inWashington and therefore must bespecially careful in choosing the firms andindividuals who represent them. The rulesof lobbying and public affairs, literal andfigurative, are changing and this is no timeto be playing the game with amateurs.

The story is told that when the British armysurrendered to the Americanrevolutionaries at Yorktown in 1781, itsband played a tune called “The Worldturned Upside Down.” Listen carefullyenough and you can hear the echoes ofthe fife and drums in the New AmericanRevolution now at hand. The economicworld is turning upside down and thepolitical world is not far behind.

Doing business with the Americangovernment is going to be harder in theyears ahead. More transparency is goingto be required and more scrutiny given.Given the seismic events of the last year,that is a natural consequence and not analtogether bad one. And it is surelysomething to take note of, because, likethe first American Revolution, this one islikely to spread round the globe as well.

It is a great paradox of modernAmerican politics: the onlyprofession officially recognisedand sanctioned by the U.S.Constitution has become amongthe most publicly vilified jobs inthe United States. Theprofession is lobbying.

Listen carefully enough and you can hear the echoes of the fife and drums in the New AmericanRevolution now at hand.

The Next American Revolution.

Jan-Dirk Kemming Director, Creative Planning, Germany

By contrast, advertising and directmarketing have built serious strategicplanning capabilities for over thirty years.How did this divergence between thedisciplines develop? Where are the currenttrends towards more PR planning comingfrom? Answering these questions will shedsome light on why planning is vital.

Strategic planning was adopted by directmarketers when they were exposed to adownward spiralling of profit margins inthe 1980s. It became apparent thatbusinesses dealing in tactical executioncould be easily commoditised. Meanwhilea boom in business consulting indicatedthat high-level strategic advice offeredmore substantial profit margins. This setthe scene for the advertising world toimprove the quality of its strategic adviceto clients.

In the client world there was a separationbetween PR and corporatecommunications on the one hand andadvertising and marketing communicationson the other. While the latter becameincreasingly data and consumer insightdriven, PR and corporate communicationsbecame more about media relationshipsand ‘gut instinct’. The current trend ofappointing a chief marketing officer meansthe two sides have been pushed closertogether, resulting in PR agencies havingto adapt.

Attitudes to measurement and evaluationalso varied widely. While the marketingdisciplines developed a more preciseunderstanding of their impact on abusiness, PR was poor at measuring thevalue it created. Public relationsdepartments are still too often cut-off frommarketing data and consumer research.This needs to change, as PR realises theimmense value that data offers as a basisfor robust strategic planning.

This is happening just as the way media isconsumed undergoes a fundamentaltransformation. Previously consumers werepassive receivers, now they are co-creatorsof messages and brands. As more powershifts to the consumer, good consumerinsight becomes a fundamental need forPR. Qualitative and quantitative researchand data interpretation are tools that willenrich PR. Ideas must resonate with thetarget groups and must have the ability totravel through word-of-mouth. Strategicmedia planning, which matches messageswith the relevant media consumption ofthe consumer, is invaluable when it comesto understanding the audience.

Yet, traditional PR has strengths that willprove useful in this new landscape. Theability to create, shape and tell stories,whether pitched to the media or infusedinto social networks, can provide thecompetitive edge. Stories have to berobust: panic-proof to avert further crises,conversation-generating to ensure they arere-told and adaptable to potential newdevelopments. In essence they have to beable to withstand challenges from anumber of angles.

Moreover, PR has a capacity to develop amore authentic voice for brands, deliveredvia real world events, sponsorship andbroadcasting. Contrary to advertising,which creates an artificial world, PR mustensure a story is made credible so that itcan survive contact with reality.

It is essential therefore to create amarriage between traditional PR strengthssuch as storytelling, with the tools ofstrategic insight and media planning.“Storyplanning” is the name I would like tosuggest for a new set of skills in PR. Publicrelations measures must rest on a solidnetwork of intelligence; otherwise thedanger is that campaigns will be irrelevant.

The following points for Storyplanning willensure PR is a valuable strategic channelof communication:

� Introducing a reliable briefingprocedure, with robust definitions ofobjectives and desired outcomes.

� Insisting on rigorous analysis of alldrivers relevant to a brand:understanding consumers, the companyand competitors, and consideringrelevant cultural, political and socio-economic contexts.

� Providing the setting to develop big,meaningful and truly compellingcommunication ideas.

� Providing a channel for outstandingcreative tactics to play out big ideas.

� Moving PR towards a greaterunderstanding of measurement beyondcounting clippings or circulation,focusing instead on relevance and valueof activities.

Storyplanning that places strategicanalysis at the heart of the campaigndevelopment process, promises to take PRback to its roots. Then the discipline mightonce again be regarded as providing avery sustainable and long-termperspective on communicationchallenges.

Historically public relations wasregarded as the communicationsdiscipline that provided themost long-term and sustainableperspective of all the disciplines.I believe that since then, a lackof strategic planning has had anadverse effect on how PR isregarded. More recently PR hasstarted to embrace theinstruments of strategic planningbut it has been slow in doing so.

Previously consumers were passive receivers, now theyare co-creators of messages and brands. As more powershifts to the consumer, good consumer insight becomesa fundamental need for PR.

The Art of Storyplanning.

Brendan May Managing Director, Planet 2050

So here’s a rough guide to avoiding thepitfalls of peaking too early when it comesto communicating green prowess.

1Do check that the environmentalmovement is as impressed by yourinitiative as you are. Spend (a lot of)

time listening to what the key barometersof opinion, like environmental NGOs,expect of your business, and adjust yourpractices accordingly, within reason ofcourse. Think about the people the mediawill call for a counter view when you launchyour big green campaign – and make surethey’ve heard about it from you first. It’llimprove the quality of what you’re trying todo, as well as giving you some much-needed independent endorsement whenyou go public. Sometimes, the best youcan hope for is neutrality, but aim for more.

2Don’t over-claim. Ever. If it’s a smallstep towards a bigger goal, say justthat – don’t give any room for

creating the impression you think you’vedone enough if you know you haven’t.Check that one part of your business isn’tin major conflict with the good work you’retalking about in your marketing campaign.

3Do involve your employees. They are your greatest advocates.Countless companies spend

resources telling the outside world howresponsible they are, without the peopleon the shop floor having a clue about thegood work going on. If you havethousands of employees, think about thenet effect of all those people chatting inthe pub about their job and what theircompany does. You can reach millionsthrough good employee engagement, aswell as motivating a workforce that expectsits bosses to be engaging on issues theyread about every day.

4Don’t be a one-hit wonder. One green campaign will have littlelasting influence on reputation if it

shrivels away, dies in a drawer and hasnothing to follow it. Building greencredentials can take years, and the bestcompanies become ever bolder in theirgoals, and louder in their communications.

5Do be authentic. There’s nothingthat raises eyebrows more in thiscynical sustainability world than a

corporate affairs suit with green ‘talkingpoints’ in his pocket. Authenticity is thekey. If there are challenges in going green,be honest about it. If you think too much isbeing asked of your company, say so andsay why, and explain the gains you thinkyou can achieve for sustainabledevelopment. Tell it like it is, not how youthink people want to hear it. There’snothing so refreshing as a transparent,accessible, honest business leader. Youmay even change the minds of people whodisagree with you. Marketing speak won’twork, so be yourself.

6Don’t forget the power of digital.Communications have moved online.Social media is the new currency.

Campaigners are using it effectively;companies should be too. Find compellingcontent that can mobilise onlinecommunities and get traction for yourgreen credentials. Ad spend and pressreleases are becoming less and lesseffective as the role of online search takesstories directly to individuals at the touchof a button. It’s very cost effective, too. So be a twitter, not a twit.

7Do measure success, and use it tosecure ever more leadershipmomentum behind sustainability.

Track perceptions of all your keyaudiences, be they customers, NGOstakeholders, investors, employees or thegeneral public. Successful green marketingreaches all of the above, and in doing so itincreases sales.

8Don’t be nervous. Not everyone isgoing to stand up and applaud you,and you’ll probably take some hits

from those who would rather your businessdidn’t exist at all. It’s all part of the roughand tumble of the environment movement.Don’t let one misleading attack put you off– after all, if you’ve done your homeworkyou know you’re right, don’t you?

9Do sit down with journalists andget to know them. Buildrelationships, don’t bombard them

with email proclamations you think they’llfind interesting - they often don’t. Takethem for a coffee (or something stronger ifyou like them), and chew the fat. You’ll findtheir copy a lot more balanced in yourfavour if they think you’re actually worthlistening to. Tell them things they haven’theard before. Invite them in to see forthemselves how good you are if they don’tbelieve you. Make friends, not ‘contacts’.

10Don’t give up. The work is tooimportant for quitters. Greenmarketing without designing the

politics in advance is like walking into agas factory whilst toying with a cigarettelighter. You may pull it off, but yourchances are low. Get it right, and therewards are huge. Above all, betransparent and authentic. If you need atraining course to be those things, thenignore tip number 10!

Published on climatechangecorp.com and in Ethical Corporation, January 2009.

There are few companies thesedays that don’t want to be partof the sustainability discussion.They can’t afford not to be atthe table. Increasingly,businesses are moving beyondsitting in the right conferencesand meeting the right NGOs to finding the courage to getout there and marketthemselves as green champions.In many ways that’s a positivedevelopment, but it can come ata heavy price.

The work is too important forquitters. Green marketing withoutdesigning the politics in advance islike walking into a gas factory whilsttoying with a cigarette lighter.

How to LookGood Green.

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Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relationsagency with offices in over 79 markets around the world.With a deep commitment to client service, creativity and collaboration, we harness the power of Advocates –engaging stakeholders in new and creative ways to buildbrands and reputation.

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