The|Intangibles

Mobilizing Online

This statement may lack humility but I have argued long and often (without much effect I'm afraid) that NGOs and advocacy groups are more skilled at using social networks than most corporations which have many times the monetary and personnel resources. Penury apparently fosters ingenuity, flexibility, and speed I guess.

Anyway, there is a new book out called Mobilizing Generation 2.0 that according to danah boyd is a "how-to guide to help those who want to mobilize using the web, focusing on how organizers can leverage blogging, social network sites, photo/video sharing, mobile phones, wikis, maps and virtual worlds." boyd herself has an essay in the book about the online world as a form of "public space" (or as I have called it, again immodestly, a new' demos').

I'll take a look, as should any corporate communicator who may face angry citizens armed with participatory technologies. And which company can say it hasn't . . . or won't?

Random 'Tangible' Ideas

I am in Quebec City to present to a meeting of the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation on new directions in communications which, of course, means social media. It's a simple fact that with the exception of sustainability, other "directions" run a poor second when it comes to scope and depth of impact on managing reputation today.

I don't have a lot of time to post. Dinner at Cafe du Monde awaits. So here is ANOTHER list of useful links that, given my propensity to avoid such lists, you can take to mean the content is valuable. I have been saving some of them up for weeks:

• Financial Week has been publishing a series of articles on social media and corporate finance. The one on corporate blogging is basic but does suggest that the title of 'chief blogger is gaining some currency. Another in the series talks about info-arbitrage in cyber chatter . . .that concept alone making it worthwhile.
• In my ongoing consideration of the astroturf issue, I came across a six month old post by Jeremiah Owyang on flogs, astroturfing, and fake blogs which provides a great 'don't-go-there' summary of some nasty non-transparent escapades. And there is a similar list of "brands that got punk'd" over the past five years.
• And this from 'social media explorer' on the next generation of social media experts in which he points out that:

"(W)e’d better stay on top of our game because the fresh set of eyes of the next generation, the one that has grown up in the digital world, is about to hit the workforce with a level of aptitude far more anchored in this world than we are. In long-winded Jason Falls summary, let us not be like the generation of marketing folks ahead of us – the 50- to 60-year-olds who scoff at the idea of transparency and tell us to go play with our MySpace and let them show us how to market with their CBS Evening News spots and Redbook ads – because if we are, we’ll soon be made fun of just as much."

To quote almost anyone from The Wire . . . "true dat".

Sustainable Enterprises and Indigenous Peoples

As part of a series of breakfast sessions hosted by the communications consultancy for which I toil, I chaired a discussion today about building and enhancing organizational relationships with aboriginal communities. The speakers were Bernd Christmas who heads our aboriginal affairs practice and Clint Davis, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.

I began the meeting with an explanation for why building and enhancing organizational relationships with aboriginal communities is an issue of "sustainability" which seemed necessary given that we (in North America at least) tend to equate sustainability with ecological stewardship or as a panacea for global warming.

However, according to a study (requires an access pass) by the American Management Association called Creating a Sustainable Future the goal of sustainability is:

"Ensuring that whole systems remain healthy so that people -- as individuals, societies and organizations -- improve their overall chances of well-being."

In other words, sustainability is about more than environmental stewardship. It is about social and human renewal as well as mitigating the harmful social consequences, at home and globally, of development and short-sighted economic planning. The connection between this broader interpretation of sustainability and the situation faced by aboriginal communities in North America is self-evident.

There are at least four principles for creating a sustainable enterprise that also make sense for how companies can enhance their relationships with First Nations, Inuit or Metis peoples in North America. They must:

1. Create collaborative and dialog-based relationships with aboriginal communities
2. Focus attention on long-term prosperity and human rights rather than short-term margins
3. Take action on human rights, education and poverty alleviation locally and globally even if they are not related to a company's core business
4. Commit to the renewal of natural, manufactured and human resources locally and globally

As an aside, although still apropos, Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia were at the time (September 2007) the only four countries not to support the adoption by the United Nations of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Just this month Canada's House of Commons voted to endorse the declaration. That's a decent step towards improving the public policy environment for encouraging the sustainable enterprise. 

Crisis Communication in Any Language

An interesting and spirited discussion taking place at my colleague Brendan Hodgson's blog on whether communications can take place in Canada's two official languages -- English and French -- during a disaster, accident or highly time sensitive crisis. As Gerald Baron at CrisisBlogger points out: "The determining factor for speed used to be 'how soon will the news helicopters arrive?' Now it is 'how soon will someone with a cellphone and cell camera convey it to the news media?' Instant news is now instant news."

I am not sure on which side I come down on in the debate. The question I would ask is this: If the chief communicator responsible for managing communications during the crisis is a francophone and is more comfortable writing clear messaging in French, should the organization wait until it is translated into English?  Communication in a crisis is never perfect, usually more ad hoc than we would like, and frequently stalled by over-cautious executives and legal counsel. You just do your best. 

Part of the solution, though, is to have as much back-up data and messaging in a crisis dark site -- pre-translated if that is a requirement under federal government regulations -- so that at least some core messaging and information is vetted and translated and ready to go in the event of a serious incident.

Social Media Menu

I just know this graphic from David Armano at Logic + Emotion is going to make it into a lot of social media presentations as public relations people try to explain that you can't select social media options from a menu . . . one can't simply ask for a social media milkshake with a large viral fries.

Social Media Blahs

Thanks to Doug Walker at Webwalker for finding this . . .

| View | Upload your own

Reputation Recovery - Needs Work

Peter Kurer, the new president of UBS, is right when, in a Financial Times cover story, he says that :

“We shouldn't fool ourselves. “We can’t pretend that there has been no reputational damage. Experience says it goes away after two or three years.”

That's probably about what it takes . . . but it depends on what you do, and how others see you. To start with, "goes away" is an imperfect way to describe what has to happen. And putting a time frame on reputation recovery (Ross suggests 3.5 years is closer to the norm) without having established the company's business renewal and communications plan is like trying to describe the length of piece of string.

Critical steps include creating internal stability, institutional investor tolerance (if not confidence) a clear business and market revitalization design and a communications strategy which incorporates employee and stakeholder trust building, evident commitment to responsible conduct and plans for use of effective digital strategies (including SEO?).

One wonders if UBS is starting on positive footing. It seems some investors including Luqman Arnold, UBS’s former president, don't think Mr. Kurer is the right man for the job given his background as the bank’s former general counsel. It might just take UBS a little longer.

 

Reminder: US Presidential Elections Matter

Despite what I accept in moments of weakness is the importance to Canada of the US presidential elections, like many Canadians I am getting more than a little bored by the incessant and microscopic analysis of the campaign. Most of the world recognizes that the US has an inflated sense of self-worth. The preoccupation with the minutiae of each step and misstep of the candidates and with the sometimes mind-numbing policy disputes just confirms for some of us that the nation suffers from a not-yet-pathological case of narcissism.

So, it is good to be reminded that whether we like it or not what happens in the US profoundly adjusts the texture and substance of our world. The latest of issue of Hill & Knowlton's online magazine Ampersand (disclosure . . . I am an executive with the consultancy) does just this. Three short related pieces from Canada, Europe and China answer the question Does the US Election Matter? Here is a directional excerpt from each:

Gordon Ritchie, chair of public affairs, H&K Canada and one of the principal architects of the Canada-US free trade agreement, on the posturing of the candidates on dumping NAFTA:

"The fundamental reality is that, even before NAFTA, the United States benefited enormously from its free trade arrangement with Canada. Americans would have nothing to gain and much to lose from putting the agreement at risk for short-term political gain. That would be stupid and none of the candidates is that."

Philippe Blanchard, head of public affairs for H&K EU on the downside of protectionism:

"With the emerging markets pressuring European industry, protectionist views may resonate in the coming years, and a modest uptick in US protectionism would provide just the political cover many EU politicians would like to support their own protectionist tendencies. Furthermore, Europe’s leadership on environmental issues will accommodate itself to a US president who favors the inclusion of environmental concerns in trade agreements."

James B. Heimowitz, president & CEO, H&K North Asia, with a remark that sheds some light on the Chinese reaction to protests over the Olympics:

"Beijing does not want the outside world involved in its domestic affairs. This simple sentence synthesizes so much. Its primary objective for the US Election is to see politicians who will respect this."

I guess some degree of national narcissism in the US is to be expected!

Astroturfing

I am ambivalent about the idea of corporate "front groups" or what is more pejoratively labeled 'astroturfing'. Misrepresentation of any sort is just too dangerous a communications or lobbying strategy when every citizen, employee or bureaucrat can be a whistleblower or journalist.

The issue was raised again last week when I came across a 'Front Groups Portal' wiki, a SourceWatch project of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD. . . a biased and uni-dimensional advocacy group -- with a url called prwatch.org -- which nevertheless keeps corporate communicators on their toes.) The purpose of the wiki is to expose groups which claim “to represent one agenda while in reality (serving) some other interest whose sponsorship is hidden or rarely mentioned -- typically, a corporate or government sponsor.”

As an aside, you got to hand it to the CMD. Using a wiki for the purpose of "exposing" makes a lot of sense. When it comes to advocating a point of view, for some campaigners, NGOs and watchdogs facts are less important than the way they can be used to serve ideology. (Look at the situation Barrick Gold finds itself in today.) Unedited and unsupervised wikis can encourage the primacy of 'doxa' rather than rational analysis. Innuendo and rumor become fair game.

But What About Astroturfing?

First principle here . . . There is nothing wrong with creating a coalition of like-minded companies to present a coherent, well-defended and honest point of view about a social or political issue. Business creates wealth and therefore has a right to attempt to influence policy. Governments are fallible when it comes to writing regulation. Partisan politics can distort effective public policy. And few advocacy groups are willing to admit their science is sometimes shaky; their motivation driven by ideology; their "proofs" less than rigorously questioned internally.

Spirited exchanges of ideas are essential to effective economics and democracy. Like labor, business leaders have a right to organize responsible support for, or opposition to, a trend, decision or policy: the pivotal word, of course being responsible. And responsible organizations shouldn't tolerate misrepresentation. Here are five ideas to avoid astroturfing, to remain real not fake.

Five Ideas for Creating Defensible Industry Coalitions

1. Be transparent. Always. Without having to be asked or told you are not being so.
2. Be honest. Don't name a group 'concerned citizens' when it is really a group of 'angry industry executives'.
3. Treat opposing viewpoints with respect. Nothing undermines bias or radicalism like valuing the contribution of the activist even if convictions differ.
4. Take the rhetoric out of the coalition's communications. The contrast between an opponent's overstatement and a reasonable presentation of fact will be recognized by the people whose opinions matter.
5. Defend the value in a democracy of the freedom of association . . . even for business leaders.

Corporate 'Flogging'

A lovely piece of satire on corporate hesitation about, and restraints on, blogging. Watch until the end for some interesting ideas on limiting archiving, sending posts automatically to "superior officers", and the facility of the superior officer to send an email to you with the subject line "Do you really want to post this?"