Lessons from Ad Land.

Making Music Work.

India Strides Ahead.

Praising the Saints.

Digital Comms 2010.

The Shifting Sands of Social Media.

New Dawn in Sweden.

ISSUE FOUR

SPRING ‘10

Colin Byrne

CEO, UK & Europe

I had a top night at the BritAwards in London recently, aspectacular evening of Kasabianon a flame-engulfed stage, LadyGaga with an armchair sizedhair-do, Cheryl Cole looking likea sexy spy and the wonderfulLily Allen flying onto the stageastride a silver rocket.Spectacular entertainment.

With music increasingly at the centre of everything from lifestyle to politicalmarketing, timely that our own popprincess and lifestyle guru Molly Hooper-Aldridge looks at how brands can makesweet music with their customers.And with PR increasingly moving to theforefront of the modern communicationsenvironment, timely also that our EuropeanStrategic Planning Director Matty Tonglooks at what PR can learn fromadvertising. We also bring you some moreauthoritative global PR voices, fromSweden, India and the Middle East.Finally, I had a humbling lesson in brandadvocacy a few days ago when theinfluential Holmes Report awarded us theBest Multinational PR Firm to Work For inEMEA accolade. Humbling because thisaward was not voted on by my PR agencyor in-house peers, but our own staff inconfidential feedback to the Report'sauthor, top global PR analyst Paul Holmes.Employees as brand ambassadors is not just a theory, and I am as proud of myEMEA team as they are to work forWeber Shandwick.

Matty Tong

European Strategic Planning Director

Ad agencies know brands are nothing tobe coy about. It’s many years since ‘brands’were just the province of soap powder, butmany business leaders are still guilty of talking about reputation or propositionwhen really they should be talking abouttheir brand. They could learn a thing ortwo from those soap powdermanufacturers. Brand onions, wheels, keys,and temples are easy to mock. But howmuch easier is it for a Marketing Servicesprofessional to do their job when thesethings are clearly defined?Often advertising agencies are deeplyinvolved in creating these brand structures.They are fortunate to be in this positionas it gives them an insight into andfamiliarity with the language, tone andpersonality of a brand that PR agenciesoften lack. We need to make a habit of asking for this information from our clientsand must be able to demonstrate thatwe understand their uses and be able tobring them to life and build on themthrough our work.And if we have clients that aren’t wellversed in this sort of thinking then wemust demonstrate our strategic worthby helping them construct their ownbrand models.Another subject close to the hearts of adagencies is that of the Target Audience.As a graduate trainee I was told, theplanner’s role was to act as the ‘voice of the consumer’ in the strategic and creativedevelopment process.I loved the idea of being the voice of reason, of reality, in trendy, sophisticatedad land. In order to understand theconsumer one had to be genuinelyinterested in contemporary culture, tohave some concept of what was goingon in popular soap operas, to occasionallyread tabloid newspapers. You also had to be able to make sense of data sources like TGI and Millward Brownand understand the ins and outs of theinfamous Link test. But above all we neverallowed the creative department to forgetthe existence of this unpredictable personcalled the consumer. In PR we aresometimes deflected by the importanceof journalists and bloggers and otheropinion leaders.They are of course central to what we do inPR. But whose opinion are we trying toinfluence with their help? Exactly.In advertising there is a strong emphasison the well-defined problem.Getting it right focuses the account team(and client) on identifying the appropriatesolution for the issue in hand rather thansimply the one you’d all prefer. You canget creative and think laterally in the sureknowledge that you know exactly whatyou’re trying to achieve.Whereas advertising agencies like to boileverything down to a beautiful soundbite or proposition in order to brief theirnumerous creative teams, PR really isn’tthat reductive. It’s about focussing on thecore story that you have to tell, one thatmay have multiple audiences, and evenmultiple messages. But it is the one thatwill address the main problem and blowit out of the water.Finally, advertising agencies are generallypretty comfortable with measurement.The main thing to learn here is thatmeasurement isn’t something thathappens at the end of the process.It’s crucial that it is agreed upfront withthe client exactly how success will bemeasured. In an ideal world if there isnothing suitable in place the client mightdecide to set up a bespoke measurementstudy to look at the contribution made byPR activity to agreed measures.However if the project’s objectives centrearound changing brand perceptions itmight make sense to look at existing datasources such as brand image measuresfrom the client’s own tracking study. Theimportant thing is to agree in advancewhat success will look like.Advertising is very good at certain things;particularly understanding how brandswork and what outstanding creativity lookslike. But PR shouldn’t feel too shabby incomparison. No specialism knows moreabout the power of storytelling than PR,more about how to engage with peoplein a way that will last and develop. It is forthis reason that our industry is arguablyat the forefront of exploiting theopportunities raised by the growth of social media. Advertising has lots tolearn from us.

The demise of advertising hasoften been predicted. Back inthe 90s when I was a gradtrainee at BMP DDB, we wereterrified of the managementconsultant, that PowerPoint-toting, grey-suited assassin.As a result we were all senton a mini-MBA course andtold to understand our clients’business a lot better. Verysensible advice. Advertisingseemed to weather thatparticular storm. Why?Because the good ones arevery good at what they do.And what exactly is that? Well it may raise a tittersomewhere in the audiencebut I would say that whatadvertising agencies still do well is to help build brands.

Advertising is very goodat certain things; particularlyunderstanding how brands work and what outstandingcreativity looks like. But PRshouldn’t feel too shabbyin comparison.