PR, marcomms, recruitment and all the bits in between

Love them or hate them?

A new survey by Marketing magazine proves what a complex bunch we British are, and how difficult successful marketing can be. Tesco, British Airways, the Sun and Manchester United were voted both the least popular and most loved brands in their respective categories – so although the Sun came away as the least popular newspaper, it was also the most popular daily tabloid. Maybe it’s our British cynicism and ‘love to hate’ nature, or maybe we do really love these brands but just hate being bombarded by their constant PR and marketing. Either way, they must be doing something right – you can’t win them all.

Is your job under threat from technology?

A few weeks ago we heard that experts were working on creating a robot that can learn, think and talk. The ‘iCub’ can crawl, see and hear and the next step is to teach it English. Now we’re reading about a new restaurant in Germany that has replaced its waiters with technology. Diners use touch-screen computers on their tables to place their orders, which are then transported to them via a rail system. With all this new technology being developed, it seems that it has already replaced the need for staff in the case of the German restaurant. Could we see many a job being phased out in years to come because of progressions in science? Maybe so, but I think we’re safe for a while yet. Until they make a robot that can give a friendly smile, smooth over problems with awkward clients and dream up clever new ideas, the PR and marketing world will just have to carry on employing people like us!

PR fleeing

What would you do if you were faced with this situation? You’re the PR for British Airways. There’s a press briefing about the chaos at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 in which the director of operations refuses to take questions. Subsequently you are faced with a barrage of journalists after some answers. If you opted for “run away” you chose the same option as Richard Goodfellow, the PR for BA, who recently shut the door on the many journalists on his case. PR guru Max Clifford’s advice (in a nutshell) was: never run away, use common sense and keep journalists on side as you’ll need them in the future. What would he have said? “It’s difficult to help you. We haven’t got any answers, we haven’t a clue what is going on. We have to make sure we take care of everyone. We have a worldwide reputation, we will get it right.” He’s not called a guru for nothing!

Grasping the nettle

A while back we mentioned Lord Bell - it’s nice to see that he is not resting on his substantial laurels, but is still up for a challenge. According to the Guardian, his lordship (or at least his firm) was invited to take on the former Soviet republic of Belarus as a client with a brief to improve its international image. Given that the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has described the country as an “outpost of tyranny” and human rights groups have accused its president, Lukashenko, of presiding over an imitation Soviet regime with secret police, fraudulent elections, and jailed opponents this could be quite an interesting task. However certain challenges seem to be even beyond the talents of Lord Bell. A recent approach by Zimbabwe was apparently greeted with a definite, “thanks, but no thanks.”

Pharma PR

Speaking of PR Week, the august publication has been dealing out a kicking to the PR arms of the pharmaceutical industry in its latest leader column. The criticism comes in wake of negative publicity around Seroxat and the declaration by Procter & Gamble spokesman Mark Chakravarty that, “There is a high suspicion of the pharma industry.” The industry’s long-standing image problems are well known despite its history of containing and, in some cases, eradicating some extremely unpleasant diseases and conditions. And part of the reason for them may be the continuing shortage of high quality specialist communicators that we have covered in past issues. Until the sector can find ways of attracting more of the right calibre people or of feeding them into the career development pipeline, expect image issues to run and run.

Armageddon – part 3

OK, we promise to stop going on about this soon before you all get bored, but someone has to save the PR industry, so it might as well be us. This week we’re glad to see one of the sector’s great and good, Lord Bell, rallying to the cause in PR Week. As he puts it, “Share prices are low, meaning acquisitions are unlikely…But anyone who reads share prices as an indication of how well business is doing is a fool. They are a reflection of market sentiment rather than figures. The market has the jitters but PR is performing very well.” Thank you Lord Bell and thanks as well to WPP’s chief executive, who has gone on record as saying that, “I can’t recall a time when PR has been as strong. Now if we can just get John Humphries and the rest of the Today programme team to follow suit……

Diversity

Colin Byrne of Weber Shandwick put the cat amongst the pigeons recently by questioning in a PR Week opinion piece why the PR sector still doesn’t reflect the diversity of British society. And if his analysis is right, the industry may be missing out on a significant pool of talent it can ill afford to ignore. As one of the experts in this field, Abbas Jaffer, head of diversity at investment bank Morgan Stanley, puts it, “No organisation can be complacent about the nature of top talent because the old perception of key people being white, middle class males is being swept away. Brains don’t have a colour and ability is distributed right across the ethnic spectrum.” As in the banking industry, part of the problem may be a failure in communicating to potential new entrants right across the board that PR can provide realistic career options for anyone with talent and application and is not the closed shop it may at first appear. And if a sector that earns its way by communicating can’t do that effectively, you’re left wondering just which one can.

Armageddon – part 2

Avid readers will remember our rant about how the media seems to be delighting in the prospect of economic downturn, despite the fact that many sectors (including PR) seem to be holding up quite nicely so far. A few weeks ago the FT carried a lovely big headline telling us that no less a luminary than Mervyn King thinks we’re all going to hell in a hand basket (they didn’t actually use that term, but you get the picture). The accompanying newspiece featured the words ‘bleak’ and ‘pessimistic’ repeatedly as well as the uplifting ‘economy likely to come close to a halt’ before admitting in paragraph nine that Mr King’s was not actually predicting a recession after all. This compares quite nicely with a feature in the US magazine, Advertising Age, headlined ‘PR had a good run but agencies expect growth to slow’. The writer flirts with the idea of a negative story but you can immediately tell that his heart just isn’t in it and before you know it he’s flagging up that, despite the US being the home of the credit crunch, the PR industry there might even grow a bit faster this year than it did in 2007 and follows up with a string of upbeat quotes. Here at Hanson, we’d be the last to stick our heads in the sand if things really are turning down dramatically, but we can’t help feeling that the best way to get a recession is to talk yourself into one and vice-versa.

Work in PR and live forever

Alright that’s a slight exaggeration, but, if figures released by the Office of National Statistics are to be believed, it does look as if you are working in the right profession if you want to live to a ripe old age. According to the figures, men in their late 20s and working in routine jobs such as bus driving, labouring or behind a bar, are five times more likely to die as those in the professions and in managerial roles. All this fits in neatly with the results of the famous ‘Whitehall’ survey carried out a while back by Sir Michael Marmot of University College Hospital. This study linked longevity to social status, reasoning that senior managers and directors are the most protected from stress (and its damaging effects) because they pass on to someone further down the food chain. Whatever you are engaged in, life expectancy in the UK is now apparently at its highest level ever. Boys born in this country can expect to live to an average of 76.9 years and girls to 81.3 years. Which does seem a bit unfair to your (male) author.

Freelance update

The government seems intent on making life as difficult as possible for the self-employed, what with IR35 and the recent crackdown on many of the ‘umbrella’ companies and the possible effects of this on the small army of freelancers working in PR. 2007 saw a small victory for the forces of resistance in the seemingly interminable Arctic Systems case where HMRC failed in its bid to stop husband and wife limited companies from sharing dividends to maximise tax savings. However celebrations are likely to be short-lived. Exchequer Secretary, Angela Eagle, has now stated that she is looking to “bring forward proposals for changes to legislation”, which will take away this right. The campaign to push freelancers onto permanent payrolls goes on.