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EDELMAN
IN THE CONVERSATION AGE
PUBLICENGAGEMENTVOL.2
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EDELMAN
CONTENT
2
FOREWORD/FUTURE ECOLOGY: A NEW ERA OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT 3
IN AN ENGAGED WORLD, LISTENING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER 4
THE SEVEN BEHAVIOURS OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT 5
THE POWER OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT. THE AGE OF PERSONAL SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 6
WHY ITS TIME FOR THE AD AGENCIES TO ADMIT DEFEAT 8
EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY INTO BUSINESS AND BRAND: MAKING SENSE OF THE UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS 10
PUTTING CREATIVITY FIRST 12
ITS POLITICS, JIM, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT 14
SOUND BITE OR SOUND INSIGHT 16
DEMAND DRIVEN DIALOGUE: DESIGNING DEMAND IN THE IT WORLD 18
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IN A REGULATED ENVIRONMENT 20
LISTENING FOR RESULTS 22
EDELMAN TRUST BAROMETER 2010 23
ONE WORLD, ONE AGENCY: PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT MAKES YOU THINK 24
CONVICTION OR CONVENIENCE: IS NOW THE TIME FOR BUSINESS TO LEAD? 27
PR CONSULTANCY OF THE YEAR 2009
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
This is the second volume of Edelmans annual publication, Public Engagement in the
Conversation Age. It is a collection of thought pieces written by the UK team about the
communications challenges facing brands, corporates, politics and NGOs as well as our
own industry, as we evolve from Public Relations to Public Engagement.
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active citizenship, as calls or transparency intensiy and as
transparency itsel is urther empowered by the digital world.
Citizen politics now demands that governments and business
Act and Tell. Storytelling alone is just not good enough and
an evolved orm o communications is the obvious result.
Public Engagement is the codication o where we are today
a recognition o the new order that is emerging rom the
continued chaos. Public Engagement embraces the current
reality and aces the uture, sae in the knowledge that waves
o change will inevitably come again. The PR agency which
sits back and watches the chaos unold is the one which will
play no part in the uture ecology o communications. Which
is why we, at Edelman, continue to think, write and debate
these new truths and why we are re-shaping ourselves to
deliver in a world o cross-infuence. We do not have all the
answers. Nobody does. But, as these Public Engagementessays demonstrate, we will both stimulate and participate in
the conversation.
Robert Phillips
FUTURE ECOLOGY:
A NEW ERA OFPUBLICENGAGEMENT
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
This all has proound implications or the communications
world. In a parallel trend, corporate reputation and brand
marketing are converging at speed; we, the people, have
become media in our own right; and everyone rom citizen
to brand to corporation now has the ability to participate
in the conversation, anywhere and at any moment in time.
Opinion is becoming increasingly democratised and media
increasingly socialized. None o this should surprise us it is
the reality o the everyday.
Immediacy is everywhere. We no longer wait more than
minutes or our news, in a world where the story o an
earthquake breaks on Twitter beore it reaches the newswires.
Newspapers have become Viewspapers. The old rules o
audience cannot apply and the conventions o advertising are
understandably crumbling. The 30-second spot has become
the short-orm lm and it is all content or the conversationanyway.
This is not merely a tale o technology, however, nor is it
just about the internet. Technology has begat behavioural
change and introduced the new norms. Reorm is unlikely
to stop here. This is an unolding story o society and people
how we interact, what we prioritise and where we come
together in active coalitions. Recent Edelman Trust data (July
2009) ranked the interests o the employee and the customer
alongside those o the shareholder, while supply chain ethics,
Directors pay and responsible governance have suddenly
become genuine infuencing actors in purchasing decisions.Governments are increasingly held to account by a digitally-
PR is changing. Driven at pace by the democratizing power o digital and the
continued shit rom a shareholder to a stakeholder society, we are witnessing the
emergence o a new model o Public Engagement. Networks have replaced channels;
inuence has supplanted audience; shared interests are moving us beyond dogma;
and multilateral connection is the new dialogue. We are aced daily with a chaos o
news and views. The golden age o broadcast is fnally over.
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By listening with new intelligence, we can identiy the key
idea starters and ampliers. Idea Starters are the ones who
will spark the conversation. Ampliers can be anyone. They
are the ones who will continue the discussion and advance it
through their networks.
Listening can also impact a business beyond communications.
Starbucks (an Edelman client), or example, has created My
Starbucks Idea, a platorm or listening to, and co-creating
with, its customers that has yielded important suggestions
or improving the companys business. Ranging rom product
ideas to operational improvements, Starbucks commitment to
listening has driven results straight to its bottom line.
Similarly, by listening to its customers wherever they were
talking in this case, Twitter U.S. cable giant Comcast
improved its customer service and, according to its CEO,
changed the culture o the company, making it more
responsive and engaged.
The risks o ailing to listen are massive. In a world where
everyone is a publisher and compelling content always
manages to nd an audience, a crisis can appear rom
anywhere. Failing to listen can leave us ignorant and
impotent.
So i we commit ourselves to listening, how should we do it?
To be sure, some people will listen or a ew moments, then
make their excuses and drit away. But many will be (at best)
annoyed and the outcome will be unsatisactory or everyone.
Brilliant grandmothers the world over have made a clich out
o the notion that we were given two ears and one mouth or
a reason. But those who practice ham-handed attempts at
engagement behave as i they have a very large mouth and no
ears at all.
Successul engagement must begin with a realization that
might at rst be uncomortable: as communicators and
marketers, we no longer control the terms o engagement.
The decision to interact is necessarily one o mutual consent.
So beore we can engage, we need to take the time tounderstand the answers to several key questions:
Whomightbeinterestedintalkingwithus?
Whataretheyinterestedintalkingabout?
Whereandonwhattermswouldtheyliketoconnect?
Answering these questions ensures that when we do engage,
we will approach the conversation with content that is
relevant, timely and interesting.
Eective listening also provides a roadmap or deploying our
resources and ensuring that whatever approach we adopt is
practical and realistic by helping us prioritize the infuencers
we might want to engage.
Consider a moment we have all experienced. Standing at a party, chatting amiably
with a riend, an interloper arrives, interrupts our conversation, seizes control and
turns it in an unexpected and perhaps unwelcome direction. Too oten, this is the
approach that communicators and marketers label engagement.
EDELMAN
IN AN ENGAGED WORLD
LISTENING ISMOREIMPORTANT
THAN EVER
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Listening with new intelligence is a uniquely human skill.
Discerning sincerity, subtlety and emotion are all instinctive
human abilities that no machine or articial intelligence has
yet mastered in spite o the countless over-marketed claims
to the contrary.
Technology can and must provide assistance, but at its core,
listening is more art than science more a personal exercise
than a computational one.
The countless platorms or listening are useul or gathering
together elements o the conversation that are relevant. But
once gathered, real understanding only comes rom immersion
in the content and an in-depth understanding o the context.
And real success only comes rom a commitment to act on
what is learned.
Over the last ew years, social media and similar technological
changes have made the world more connected, interactive
and dynamic. In short, the world is a conversation.
So at its core, the imperative to become better listeners rests
on a simple, human truth: We cannot join a conversation
without listening to it rst.
Are you listening?
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
Marshall Manson
Director
Marshall is Edelmans EMEA Director o Digital
Strategy. He has a diverse background in
communications and lives in London.
The SevenBehaviours
o PublicEngagement1. LISTEN WITH NEW INTELLIGENCE
2. PARTICIPATE IN CONVERSATION:
REAL TIME/ALL THE TIME
3. SOCIALISE MEDIA RELATIONS
4. CREATE AND CO-CREATE CONTENT
5. CHAMPION OPEN ADVOCACY
6. BUILD ACTIVE PARTNERSHIPS FOR
COMMON GOOD
7. EMBRACE THE CHAOS
PublicEngagement:ADVANCING SHARED INTERESTS IN
A WORLD OF CROSS-INFLUENCE
LISTEN
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work they do. It is about establishing mutual respect in theworkplace or what people do and can be. But it goes beyond
this: to engender pride to work or a company not only drives
motivation and productivity but creates ambassadors or your
business who in turn help attract the best and the brightest to
your organisation.
The recently released MacLeod report Engaging or Success:
enhancing perormance through employee engagement,
commissioned by the UK Government, states that employee
engagement practices can actually help a company deal
with the impacts o recession and emerge stronger. It reveals
that employees are oten a source o knowledge and ideaswhich lead to operational eciencies and, by providing
employees with a platorm or sharing these ideas, a company
will establish trust and loyalty. These are two qualities
that it is critical or a company to oster, particularly when
there are dicult decisions to be made that impact the
workorce. Recent Trust Barometer data show that employees
and customers should rank as the CEOs most important
stakeholders when making business decisions (July 2009).
Yet employers still have work to do when it comes to meeting
these engagement requirements. The Trades Union Congress
surveyed 3,000 workers in 2008 and ound that almost one in
three (30%) elt that their organisation does not ully engage
We can hardly question the deep rooted eect that eventso recent times have had on us all and one thing is clear: i
business is to rebuild trust, this must begin with employees.
As employees, we want our employers to communicate
and engage us with greater transparency and authenticity.
Moreover, the licence to operate or business has changed,
our perspectives as individuals have changed, and, as a result,
we expect business to recognise its role in driving greater
socioeconomic development in a new era o what we call
mutual social responsibility.
So, i we expect a higher level o social and environmental
engagement rom employers as well as rom ourselves asindividuals, is there any merit in bringing these two things
together? And can business genuinely improve employee
perormance and motivation by harnessing a shared
responsibility or doing good?
In order to try to answer these questions we must rst look at
the evidence or prioritising eective employee engagement,
and then the case or creating eective engagement to drive
perormance what engages and motivates employees today?
Employee engagement strives to create an emotional
connection that an employee eels about the organisation
which infuences him or her to exert a greater eort in the
I dont like Mondays may have been a hit single or The Boomtown Rats in 1979, but
one cant help wonder i the sentiment reects the eelings o much o todays workorce
ollowing months o challenging business conditions and continued uncertainty.
EDELMAN
THE POWER OFEMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
THE AGE OFPERSONAL
SOCIALRESPONSIBILITY
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continuing education. Todays workorce, and particularly the
younger generation o workers, look or personal relevance
in the abric and meaning o their jobs. A sense o personal
responsibility or the state o the environment, the state o our
nances and retirement options, the state o our health and
education systems is increasing.
Business must move beyond these traditional models o
corporate responsibility to a more strategic and integrated
approach based on sustainability across social, economic
and environmental parameters. It must be driven rom the
core o the business and commitment must come rom the
top o the organisation. It must transorm the values o the
organisation into programmes that employees will be inspired
to participate and engage in and ultimately engender a sense
o pride and purpose in working or that organisation beyond
simply taking home a salary every day, week or month.
Perhaps in understanding our own personal role we can learnrom Sir Winston Churchill who said We Make a Living By
What We Get, We Make a Lie By What We Give.
them and less than hal (46%) o those questioned elt that
their employer deserves their loyalty.
Perhaps part o the reluctance to address this situation is due
to the act that meeting these aspirations seems so daunting.
It cant be ignored that, with ast changing technologies,the immediacy o communications, and the rise o Citizen
Journalism, many employers are cautious o committing to
open channels o communication and true dialogue with
employees. But, or those that do, the benets can be seen
well beyond loyalty and employee retention.
So, what should we be engaging employees with and how do
we motivate them? The result o the recent crisis has meant
that conventional rewards such as pay rises and bonuses are
either simply not there or perhaps, more importantly, as we
return to the point o our individual and collective need or
business to drive mutual responsibility, do not go ar enoughto drive loyalty. Sylvia Ann Hewitt, economist and member
o the World Economic Forum Council on the Gender Gap
and ounding president o the Center or Work-Lie Policy,
has published research which shows that high potential
employees are motivated by a desire to give back to their
communities and these employees are seeking out employers
that allow them to do so on the job.
Traditionally, companies have viewed employee engagement
in terms o corporate social / environmental responsibility
programmes, such as allowing employees time o work in
order to get involved in community initiatives, or encouraging
Pamela Fieldhouse
Managing Director
Pamela leads Edelmans corporate reputation team.
She has been passionate about understanding
how to infuence behaviour change since studying
psychology at university.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
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and uelling discussion, driving participation and enjoying the
momentum o sharing, while nailing publicity, ame and sales.
This is what PRs have always done, being agnostic in our
choices o channel but greedy in our desire to deliver.
The XFactor phenomenon shows how entertainment
and content can work beyond broadcast. It is all about
participation and even lack o control, as the productioncompany themselves load excerpts onto YouTube,
understanding that they need to play reely in the digital
space in order to command the control (and money) with
the phone voting when they do broadcast. They will make
20million on this series (Broadcast, 30/10/09) and are nailing
over 20 million viewers.
But Xactor aside, the entertainment industry is in trouble.
The loss o audience gures means advertising revenues are
smashed, so production budgets get slashed and the content
is diluted or programming gets cut completely. In September
2009, the government announced it would review legislation
around product placement allowing brands to become inte
This is an age where appointment to view is dead, where
viewers are in control and someone broadcasting rom their
ront room can reach a global audience. In the world o public
engagement, a brand, product or service can and must be a
media channel in its own right, in order to have ownership
and to start and keep the dialogue. This means authoring
content, embedding the message and/or the ethos within theactual content and not in the zappable space around it (and
that includes bumpers and sponsorships).
Exclusive content is the uel or engagement and the
opportunity to gain audience participation and traction. But
to get that engagement, you need experts. And they are
not 30 second ad creatives. And they are not media buyers.
They are the proessionals o the entertainment industry
production experts together with those (yes, people like
us!) that understand that the campaign does not live only by
the content itsel. Expertise that works on the distribution,
the conversation, amplication and exploitation online, in
media, on networks pulling eyeballs back to the content
When ad agencies are rebranding themselves as short orm content agencies and
media agencies are suddenly sprouting production arms, you know the jig is up.
You cant rename a 30 second spot a viral, or seed an ad online, pretending its pure
content and then bump it onto TV and expect no one to notice. The very ethos o a
piece o entertainment that audiences sel select is that it is MADE to engage, to be
relevant, to provoke conversation not to sell, not to shout. It has to be entertaining
frst and commercial second to court and invite participation that way lies proper
loyalty rom the audience.
EDELMAN
WHY ITS
TIME FORTHE AD
AGENCIES TOADMIT DEFEAT
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that is priceless. The time or commercial selling and dubious
product claims are over audiences expect companies to
interact with authenticity and transparency. Companies
need engagement. Both will only achieve these i driven
by compelling content that courts, plays and engages with
credibility and proessionalism. As Peter Whitehead wrote in
the FT ...Web 2.0 is a world in which anyone can have a go
at generating content; Web 3.0 is where proessionals take
the lead in shaping that content. And those proessionals are
the production experts and the multichannel, multimedia
engagement experts. A new world, needing a new marketing
oer. Its all or the taking...
grated into existing TV shows. But we know rom the US
experience that this is a weak alternative, accepted rom a
position o nancial stress and where creative delivery is oten
compromised by commercial pressure, leaving neither partner
satised.
However, what the production company really wants is
brand relevant partnerships that can take their content and
build it online, instore, in media, via downloads and on new
infuencer platorms with new consumer experiences beyond
the TV screen and the money they will accept or access
and exploiting exclusive content is not that expensive. This
approach is way beyond product placement, bumpers or name
checks more intelligent, more integrated, more shared. And
it builds audience, loyalty and revenue or the brand and the
networks, and is a new model or working that can replace the
ad agency relationship.
A consumer brand recently paid 500k to sponsor a TVbroadcast lm but the deal allowed the lm to be released
in weekly 10 minute segments or 9 weeks, airing the entire
lm at 10 weeks. Ater only 2 weeks, the lm was nailing
an audience o 5 million. The online power o garnering
audiences beore a programme airs traditionally (or instead
o) is immense. Networks will kill or this. And brands enjoy
audiences that positively replace the centre breaks o old, and
add value to the consumer experience. The time has come
or corporations and brands to have the belie and vision to
make the leap and break out o the marketing silos o old
and embrace an opportunity that allows them to play on the
screens o their target infuencers in a way that is multi
platorm, multiexperience, driving loyalty and participation
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
Jackie Cooper
UK Creative Director
Jackie is Creative Director & Vice Chair and has
spent nearly 30 years in brand marketing. She
established the (already award winning) EdelmanContent oer to deliver a unique combination
o contacts and expertise in the entertainment,
production and digital space. Her passionate
belie is that stellar clients deserve world class
production and exploitation collateral.
David Fine
Director, Content
David Fine, Director o Content joined Jackie on
her quest to identiy and realize new opportunities
or brands to reach and motivate audiences in the
non-zappable space ater 15 years in consumer,
entertainment and endorsement PR.
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whatacompanysells
howitoperates
whoitis.
At its heart, sustainability is about meeting the needs o
the present without compromising the ability o uture
generations to meet their own needs.
Can a company really have a green product line i it doesnt
have a grip on employment practices in its supply chain? Is a
CEO a climate change hero because he tells the world his rm
osets its carbon emissions but does nothing at all to quantiythe impact and actually reduce them? Is a rm really ethical
i it donates millions to charity every year but continues to
develop products whose raw materials deplete the rainorests
at ever increasing rates?
Does that mean a CEO should abandon any attempt to
conduct his business in a more transparent, accountable and
responsible manner? Not at all. But it does mean that we
need to be very clear on what we mean when we talk about
sustainability, corporate social responsibility, or sustainable
development and their limitations and genuine opportunities
or systemic change.
Most laughed out loud at the time, but somehow the words
still resonate. And perhaps none more so than in an age when
we hear endless warnings o climate change and we try to
comprehend the abstract consequences o what action (or
inaction) today will mean over the next 40 years.
As businesss and brands grapple with their commitments to
sustainability, a survey by PwC o 140 chie executives o US-
based multinationals ound that 85% believed that sustainable
development would become increasingly important to their
business models. Despite this, a recent MIT Sloan Review and
Boston Consulting Group study highlighted a lack o under-standing o what sustainability is and a growing disconnect
between corporate sustainability concerns and actions. As a
result, many organisations perpetuate a supercial model o
corporate responsibility as some kind o salve to those they
think are paying attention. Increasingly, it backres. And a
new activist is born.
So what are we talking about when we say sustainability?
Sustainability, in so ar as it can be universally dened,
is measurable and eective strategy in execution at the
intersection o three domains:
I never thought I would fnd mysel recalling Donald Rumselds inamous words:
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known
unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we dont know. But there
are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we dont know.
EDELMAN
EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITYINTO BUSINESS AND BRAND
MAKING SENSEOF THE
UNKNOWNUNKNOWNS
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ii. Measurable outcomes or business, policy and
public that incorporate social, economic, environmental
and ethical equity and justice at local, domestic and
international levels or enterprises o all sizes and
ownership structures.
iv. Innovation: Thinking the unthinkable. Sustainability
is about deep, long term transormation. Let us notaccept anything less as corporate reputation becomes the
democratised brand.
v. Public Engagement as role model Systems cause
their own behaviour. The very substance and unction o
communication must evolve to make engagement more
sustainable and meaningul.
PwC says responsible leadership means integrating
ethical considerations into company decision-making, and
managing on the basis o personal integrity and widely-held
organisational values. And heres the crux the rules o the
game have changed since Milton Friedman wrote about thesocial responsibility o business. Social, environmental and
ethical issues are not so much tangential to the business
o business as undamental to it. This years Edelman
goodpurpose study ound that more than hal o consumers
(56%) believe the interests o society and the interests o
businesses should have equal weight in business decisions.
We dont quite know what governance models will shape
business o the uture, how convergence will shape
conversation and debate, what consumer habits and
expectations will drive product innovation or what the leaders
o tomorrow will learn in the hallowed halls o our greatlearning establishments. But engagement will be responsible
or the success or ailure o conversation and debate.
We must all develop what, author and psychologist, Daniel
Goleman, calls ecological intelligence. It is about our ability
to accept that we live in an innitely connected world with
nite resources. I we knew the hidden impacts o what we
buy, sell, or market, we could become shapers o a more
positive uture by making our decisions better align with
our values. We as communicators must make sense o and
mainstream this nascent ecological transparency or our
collective uture.
And that would make those unknown unknowns just that
little bit more amiliar.
We must exhibit what Lord Browne o Madingley called clear-
eyed realism at what can be achieved in the ace o the known
unknowns o climate change and world poverty. Coherence in
our areas will drive strategic change towards sustainability
domestic regulation, industry standards, capital markets
and consumer behaviour. Navigating this journey will requirecourageous leadership, clear measurement and the continuous
engagement o all stakeholders.
And this will have a transormational impact on the role and
responsibility o communications.
Robert Phillips has said elsewhere that the PR industry stands
at the threshold o achieving what it has always aspired
to. Through the elevation o strategic insight and content
expertise, we need to adopt a systems thinking approach to
communication that starts with a undamental re-evaluation
o the structures and behaviours inherent in the discipline.
The new model o Public Engagement (PE) can clariy and
ampliy the most important and ar reaching conversations
that business, government and citizenship need to engage
in to make sustainability mainstream. This model o PE or
Sustainability has ve dimensions:
i. Mutual responsibility & accountability a better
alignment with business, civil and national objectives and
values, communicated with integrity and honesty.
ii. Platorms or shared conversations they are
happening everywhere, all o the time. PE can become the
network in a world o abundant cross infuence.
Anne Augustine
Head o Sustainability
Anne joined Edelman in November 2009 to
spearhead its Sustainability practice. She was
previously EMEA director o corporate sustainability
or a global IT services business. Anne thinks John
Peel Day should be a national holiday.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
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including The Science o Sexy, an online lm eaturing Dita
Von Teese discovering the ormula or sexy. This was then
seeded online via partnerships with various sites and bloggers
such as Perez Hilton. The on-going social media outreach,
print, radio, TV editorial coverage and experiential campaign
saw brand collateral disseminated to infuencers online
and ofine to drive real brand awareness and engagement.
Dita appeared on TV and radio as well as print and
magazine interviews and the viral became the most viewed
entertainment lm on YouTube in the UK. The results spoke or
themselves. With no traditional advertising, the product had
sold out as it hit the shelves.
Look at the Bring Back Wispa campaign that relied on
Facebook, Bebo, MySpace and You Tube and a social media
outreach campaign to galvanise support. The activity wasbacked by a heavy-weight press, TV and radio editorial
campaign to encourage infuencers including journalists, DJs
and TV presenters to back the campaign. 14,000 Facebook
ans and a photocall with Rula Lenska sparked a two year
campaign culminating in the recent, and more traditional, TV
advertising campaign For The Love o Wispa eaturing a cast
o hundreds o real people. The re-launch via social media and
editorial activity boosted Cadburys sales by 5%.
Measuring these sorts o campaigns is getting more
sophisticated. Edelman is already creating a series
o sophisticated algorithms, such as TweetLevel, and
So, based on where we are now, whether agency or client,
imagine the next integrated agency planning meeting. The
brand challenge or 2010 is set rom above: nd the next
creative idea thats going to propel the brand to No 1 in the
category... see sales rises o 25% and make it the nations
avourite. However, here lies the dichotomy. With the channels
oten already selected, the constraints to creating that big idea
are already in place. A case o tail wagging dog that restricts
creativity and the opportunity to capitalise on what is now a
complex network o cross infuencers much o this through
social media. But thats what were trying to do... around
that table, come up with the killer idea and get the target
demographic to buy.
Some o the most recent marketing successes started online
through social media, in partnership with print, radio andTV editorial coverage, and then called on advertising at
the tail end o the campaign simply as a refection o the
views o those who started the conversations. In other cases,
advertising has been ignored all together and the brand still
managed sell-out activities. So why do brands still insist on
shouting at people via the old model when were now in an
age o conversation and engagement?
The award-winning Wonderbra campaign to launch Dita
Von Teeses limited edition range is an excellent example
o breaking traditional boundaries in a world o public
engagement. JCPR created a unique integrated campaign,
Its a tough job as a brand or marketing manager. The ast pace o change in the
communications world is clearly outstripping the marketing model o years gone
by the one that maniests in a prescriptive, traditional ATL and BTL split. Yet thereis little room or manoeuvre or marketing teams. Where online conversations shape
brands, and with communication as much rom the bottom up as it is top down, new
approaches, strategies and skills are required. However, as long as brand managers
are still accountable to the old ROI marketing measures and channel planning models,
the reedom to create genuinely innovative solutions that drive positive brand
engagement via the new world order are a long way o.
EDELMAN
PUTTING
CREATIVITYFIRST
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ideas... ree yourselves rom the shackles o prescriptive
marketing models and media buying agency channel plans.
Let your creative agencies (and not just the ad team) lead the
way here and throw the gauntlet down to them. You might be
surprised.
Forget the money at the idea stage much creativity
and idea development is constrained by talk o money at the
brainstorm stage, and also the ght between the agencies or
their slice o the pie. Start with the position o the skys the
limit it will pay dividends and will enable you to assess true
value or money when youve developed the concept.
Marketing is not an exact science predicting a success
is virtually impossible. Whatever happened to gut eeling and
risk? Who would have thought that the meerkats or conused.
com would build a brand prole and position the comparison
site at the top o the nations mind? Ater all, we are all
consumers. The best marketers instinctively know when
something will work. And its based on their instinct. The new
world order o public engagement requires marketers to be
brave, so take the leap o aith it might just work!
measurement tools to go head-to-head with the traditional
advertising measurement models used by media buying
agencies. With a ast-moving communication climate and this
complex network o cross-infuence, the challenge is now to
keep up with these rapid changes and measure accordingly.
And ast they are. According to new insights, teenagersapparently reject advertising, particularly digital, as well
as sites such as Twitter (Morgan Stanleys How Teenagers
Consume Media Report). Research rom AdWeekMedia and
Harris Interactive back this up and show that 46% o US net
users ignore banner ads. Its clear thereore that resh thinking
is required to reach the brands key demographic especially
when it comes to creating online momentum.
Furthermore, with AVE alling rapidly, marketing budgets
being cut and consumer behaviour changing when it comes
to how they receive inormation, the time is right or the bold
and adventurous marketing teams to harness the opportunity.
So or all those brand and marketing managers wanting to
make a real dierence, and be known or creating that one
memorable campaign... whats the advice or the advent o
Brand Bravery?
Talk about channels in a dierent way the new era
o public engagement relies on a complex web o infuencers.
Challenge agencies to see i they truly understand how to
layer a campaign eectively to create bottom up dialogue and
conversation.
Explore and encourage creativity use your agencies
eectively and eciently and regularly develop creative
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
Emma Nicholson
Director
Emma heads up the Leisure & Liestyle team in
Edelmans consumer division, JCPR. She has been
creating consumer campaigns or leading UK and
international mcg, retail and service brands or the
past 15 years.
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John Prescott tweeted at the time: It will be the son,
daughter, uncle, mother and riend wot will win it in 2010.
Endorsements rom ordinary people NOT media barons.
It will be the endorsement o these ordinary people (peers
with a small p), who are shaping and infuencing the
debate through niche networks, that political parties will
increasingly seek. Party leaders are already beginning to
recognise the infuence o sites such as Mumsnet (http://www.mumsnet.com), a parenting orum that attracts over
800,000 unique users. Both David Cameron and Gordon
Brown elded questions on the site in 2009.
3. The continuing decline o two Party Politics. The
new world o public engagement will see yet another
nail hammered into the con o the traditional two party
system. While back in the 1950s, 95% o votes cast went
to one o the two main political parties, by the last general
election in 2005, they were only receiving 69% o the vote
today that number is only in the mid 60s. This decline is
set to continue with the demoncratising power o the weband the rise o single issue groups. People no longer see
themselves as a lone voice protesting about a particular
issue but rather part o a group who are no longer catered
or by the traditional two-party model and whose shared
interests can be advanced through the power o the web.
The rise o resident associations, o extreme groups at
local government level or UKIP at a European level, are
maniestations o the changing nature o the Party system.
4. A Maniesto or the people by the people. While Tony
Blairs Big Conversation initiative was widely criticised as
Here are our trends or what this new era o communications
means or political parties and, as we look ahead to 2010,
uture general election campaigns:
1. The rise o the ultra micro-group. All three main
political parties employ the Mosiac marketing system
which divides Britain into 155 types o individual, 67
dierent households and 15 other groups as a way o
targeting dierent voter types (remember Mondeo Man
and Worcester Woman). However, the rise o social
media, which creates both small and large online activist
communities - usually based around just one single issue,
that dont conorm to traditional demographics - means
that political parties will have to rethink how they target
the voter.
Brockley Central (http://brockleycentral.blogspot.com/)
run by an Edelman colleague is one example o an online
network that demonstrates these shits. The site appeals
to a wide cross-section o voters who are not necessarily
connected by demographics, but by local communityissues. Parties who oer a one size ts all model, and dont
take account o these networks o infuence, will simply not
survive in the new world o public engagement.
2. It wont be the Sun wot won it. While people will
debate whether it was The Suns endorsement that won
the 1992 General Election or the Conservative Party,
the continuing decline o traditional media and the
rise o online networks and infuencers mean that print
newspapers endorsement will no longer be the holy
grail or any political party. As that sage o the internet
The new world o public engagement in which we have witnessed an explosion in
new networks o inuence; the emergence o new inuencers and niche online
orums (such as ConservativeHome, Guido Fawkes); the continuing decline o
traditional media; and a move away rom a top down approach to communication
to a world where anybody can be an inuencer via their blog, Facebook or Twitter
account, has proound implications or the main UK political parties and our political
system as a whole.
EDELMAN
ITS POLITICS, JIM
BUT NOTASWE KNOW IT
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The MPs expenses were a painul example o this new era o
transparency and accountability but this is just the beginning.
Soon, the public sector will be orced to reveal the detail and
value o its contracts and another bout o soul searching will
begin and questions will be asked about how the body politic
can regain trust.
The new Speaker and some enlightened thinkers rom
both sides o the House o Commons have begun to talk
about how Parliament and the wider political system needs
to change. However, none has yet grasped, or perhaps
even ully understood, the magnitude o how society is
changing, brought on by the rise o new technology, the
empowerment o the citizen and the thirst or transparency
and accountability.
Alex Bigg
Managing Director
Alex is Managing Director o Edelmans award
winning Public Aairs practice.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
nothing more than an election gimmick, the collapse o top
down communications, the ragmentation o the media, the
empowerment o the voter via the web (digital democracy)
and the rise o consumer politics mean that any Party that
adopts a strategy that sees an election maniesto emerge
rom on high and expects it to excite and engage the
voter is surely a strategy doomed to ailure. Empowered
citizens will expect, i not demand, an ability to help shape
and infuence the content o any maniesto. While political
parties will no longer be able to count on the reach o
traditional media to communicate their policies, they will
need to use the principles o public engagement to reach
out and engage the voter.
So there you have it. Four trends or what the changing
communications landscape means or political parties and any
uture General Election campaigns. However, its not just the
parties who will have to adapt, change and embrace this new
reality i they are to survive and prosper. The political systemitsel will also need to change or ace a crisis o condence
more traumatic than the recent expenses scandal.
Its a new world in which transparency and accountability
are central. The democratising power o digital means that
citizens will no longer tolerate advice being kept secret or
decisions being taken behind closed doors. Indeed, one only
needs to look at the increasing demands or independent
inquiries across a broad range o issues and incidents to
gauge the mood o an increasingly sceptical public when it
comes to believing what they are told by Government.
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welltrainedtheyknowhowtousesmallgestures,voice
intonation and pauses or maximum eect
wellrehearsedtheyneverleaveanythingtochanceand
have well prepared answers or dicult questions
charismaticonthewholetheyprojectpersonality
engagingtheydeliveraspeechthataudiencesfeel
drawn to listen to
speakingwithfewnotesveryfewaredistractedby
shufing o their notes
usingfew,ifany,visualaidsyoullseeveryfew
PowerPoint slides!
In a controlled proession like ours, the basic rules o
presentation and communication still apply. However, the
industry oten alls into the trap o relying on presenting large
volumes o data and slides without thinking about audience
engagement this can do a disservice to the doctors that we
work with and become a barrier to open debate. As impressive
as it might be, the data will not always speak or itsel it
must be supported by clear messages, suitable platorms and
compelling delivery to meet the companys objectives.
It is incumbent upon us, as medical education proessionals
and communicators, to develop more engaging programmesand think more insightully about how we truly engage with
our audiences. Should it be a traditional passive style or
In the world o medical communications, we are constantly
on our guard to ensure that we work within strict guidelines,
do not make unsubstantiated statements, ensure that the data
support our arguments and operate with ull transparency with
our clients and the doctors and other health-care proessionals
that we work with. It seems unair at times that we cannot spe-
culate on the data too ar, we cannot criticise competing drugs
because they havent delivered on all o their endpoints when
ours have ater all i our politicians can, why shouldnt we?
Well, obviously, there are big dierences between political
rhetoric and scientic accuracy. Medical communicationsproessionals aim to prove their points through evidence;
politicians, more oten than not (particularly on the Today
programme!), tend to beat down an opposing view based
on who can shout the loudest and or the longest without
giving in to anothers perspective. In medical communications
this should not happen; sure, there are disagreements about
study design, data interpretation and statistical validity but
the majority o scientists and clinicians generally have an
appreciation or what the data reveal and o their limitations.
Nonetheless, can we learn anything rom the political speech
meisters? On the whole, the notable speech makers haveseveral attributes that can be applied more thoroughly in
medical communications; more oten than not they are:
I am oten struck by just how close to the wind some high-profle political speakers can
sometimes sail. It seems rather unair that our political masters or those who would aspire
to be so can make what appear to be rash statements and claims based on little more than
the ailure o another group o politicians to deliver on a maniesto promise and the act that
the speakers party would somehow do it better with little substantiation o how.
EDELMAN
SOUND
BITEORSOUNDINSIGHT
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Now what I am not suggesting based on my comparison with
politicians is that we dumb down medical communications
to a ew sound bites clearly key messages need to be
communicated around the therapeutic value o a drug, but
sound bites should never replace real insight about the benets
o the drug, its place in clinical practice and the dierence
it could make to patients. Broadening our world view toengaging with audiences beyond our immediate community
o physicians also provides an opportunity or pharmaceutical
companies to demonstrate a responsible attitude towards
patient education and a commitment to engage.
We have to acknowledge that medical communications
is something o a conservative discipline, but perhaps the
time has come to move orward condently and invest in
opportunities that provide clients with the most important
return on their investment in a medical communications
programme a high prole or their brand through genuine
engagement with their target audiences and, importantly,with a broader audience than they might be used to. Now that
would be a real innovation or medical communications.
should we be looking or opportunities to open up discussion?
Perhaps we should even get perspectives rom other groups
that we might not normally reach. Our audiences might
traditionally be a closed group o proessionals, but the
principles o public engagement apply to them as much
as any other group something that can sometimes be
overlooked in order just to continue the churn o data.
At BioScience Communications Edelmans specialist
medical communications group we believe that the
principles o public engagement that we apply across the
Edelman business to audiences o all types do also apply
ully to doctors and scientists in health-care. The value o
true engagement with our audiences can be impactul or
pharmaceutical companies, such as:
prolingtheorganisationswillingnesstoopenup
ndings or discussion and critique
demonstratingopennessandtransparency
seedingdebatethatcanprovidevaluablecustomerinsights
potentiallyexposingthedatatoawideraudience
through ongoing debate
These might seem very obvious points to make, but in order
to increase the levels o transparency in the communication
o medical data, engaging with, and listening to, audiences
is critical. Ultimately this will begin to increase the levels o
trust in the pharmaceutical industry the reputation o which
has suered in the wake o a number o poorly managed drug
ailures and issues around clinical trials in recent years much
o which has been due to lack o debate and the apparent lacko willingness rom the industry to engage in discussion.
David Noble
Managing Director
David is Managing Director o BioScience
Communications Edelmans specialist medical
communications group. David has two children
who ensure that his debating and infuencing skills
are tested [email protected]
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
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The growing impact that the internet and the current economic climate are having
on the attitudes and behaviours o all users o modern technology is not in doubt. In
maturing markets, where products are becoming more commoditised, customer groups
are ragmenting into communities which share common values and idea. For those o us
selling technology it means traditional sales techniques are insufcient, because these
groups are emboldened to demand more rom vendors.
priorities and interests. This can be conducted even beore a
product exists, or can be used to help a company entering a
new market to understand how it can marry its oering with
the needs o the market. This process should be seen as a wayto rene traditional marketing techniques. By giving greater
access to inormation, the internet enables companies to be
more precise in their assessment o and engagement with key
infuencers the individuals who crucially will help to make
marketing events more enticing to customers and prospects.
The Demand Driven Dialogue model ollows our stages,
which are split into two parts. Phase one (Stages One and
Two) is about designing demand or a product or service.
Phase two (Stages Three and Four) is about driving demand.
PHASE ONE DESIGNING DEMAND
Stage One Understand the Conversation and Identiy
the Inuencers: Others have written elsewhere about the
importance o listening with new intelligence in a world o
cross-infuence. Identiying the most important conversations
and who is having them, where, is a critical starting point or
companies because (even though some IT companies still
believe it) most customers do not spend their entire time
talking about their products.
Stage two Engage the Inuencers and Build the
Conversation: Infuencers range rom producers o content
to commentators and sharers, as well as watchers, who simply
want to understand what is being said. The key group at the
The ultimate goal or boardrooms across the IT sector does
not change the chie executive still has to prove two things
to shareholders. Firstly, how the company can sell more to
existing companies and secondly how the company cancredibly convince new customers to buy their products.
But given the landscape, there are two deeper questions that
the chie executive must answer:
1) How do I talk dierently to existing customers in mature
markets to sell more?
2) How do I talk credibly to a prospect who does not know me?
For the technology industry it means communicators can
act as powerul catalyst or change, because vendors must
nd new ways to engage and compelling storytelling is
the tool to achieve this goal. Edelman has developed theconcept o Public Engagement, which at its highest level,
advances shared interests in a world o cross-infuence. In
the enterprise IT market, this can be specically ocused on
helping companies to design a conversation that will appeal
to stakeholders and, more importantly, drive demand or
products/services.
This is what we call Demand Driven Dialogue.
At its heart, this process is about helping companies to
better understand the genuine interests o their audiences by
engaging with those people to build a clear picture o their
EDELMAN
DEMAND DRIVEN DIALOGUE:
DESIGNINGDEMAND INTHE IT WORLD
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iv) Act: be seen to respond to eedback that is received, such
as adapting product roadmaps or adding unctionality
Stage our Go to Market and embrace the chaos:
Armed with the knowledge o the key infuencers and
condent o the demand in the market, all that is let is to
announce the product or service to the wider market. In acomplex world o multiple stakeholders and networks, this is
not always as simple as it sounds. Throughout the market roll
out, on-going interaction with the infuencers and constant
re-evaluation are needed but above all, a commitment to
participate in the conversation.
With a willingness to participate in dialogue, companies can
open doors to engage dierently more meaningully with
their customers and infuencers, resulting in excitement,
brand loyalty and resh demand rom unexpected quarters.
It reallyis good to talk.
heart o any debate are the curators and they perorm a vital
role. Oten they have no allegiance to one vendor, and are
prepared to manage content as an amateur pastime, purely
because they are passionate about a subject or product.
Companies must participate in the conversations in real
time and all the time. By engaging these individuals in
dialogue, and then working with them to have conversationswith a wider network o infuencers, it is easy to quickly
reach an understanding o the on-going debates and more
importantly how your company can t into these discussions.
PHASE TWO DRIVING DEMAND
Stage Three Test and Evaluate: Once a company is
condent o its story it needs to be tested in the market
place. Targeting a smaller sub-set o prospects and existing
customers, a company can engage these infuencers to co-
create products and services. This is a consultative process
and should be seen as an ideal opportunity to test proo-o-
concepts so that suppliers can create a strong picture o the
eatures and unctions their customers really need. Based on
our experience there are some key principles to remember:
i) Be brave: do not duck controversy and learn to embrace
the chaos
ii) Be rank (and transparent): transparency and open
dialogue must be the deault - eg a bank should be upront
about why it is handing out bonuses
iii) Listen and participate: but do not expect the discussion
to be all about you
Cairbre Sugrue
Managing Director
Cairbre is Managing Director o the UKs Technology
practice and is an unashamed champion o all
things IT. Particularly pleasing to him is the growing
acknowledgement (and some envy) among his
non-techie colleagues that there is nowhere more
exciting than the tech industry today.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
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The pharmaceutical industry may wonder i this is necessarily
a problem; ater all, companies know their own treatments and
disease areas so surely they know what they need to
communicate? This no longer holds true; it is not acceptableto just tell the world what we think it wants to hear. I we
dont know what people want, we cannot respond to, or deliver
against it. Pharmaceutical companies can produce great
medicines that appeal through their unctional benets to expert
consultants and early adopters but without understanding and
engaging with the broader group o end-users, there is every
chance the brand wont ever reach its ull potential. And in an
industry with a limited window o opportunity to recoup the
substantial investment in getting brands to market and, more
importantly, maximise the number o patients reaping the
medical rewards, the stakes are considerable.
But how is the new world o democratised inormation
relevant to health audiences specically? There is a palpable
sentiment in the industry that doctors do not participate in the
new world o online communication. Not only is this not true,
it is no longer relevant; the key opinion leaders with whom
the industry is used to having contact are only one o many
infuencers which it now needs to engage with, including
rank and le physicians, regulators, governmental payers,
advocacy groups and, o course, patients.
These questions make it tempting to excuse heavily regulated
sectors rom the new world order. It doesnt apply to us
was the essence o the health industrys early response to
the ascent o bloggers, tweeters and other social networkersover the last ew years and, on rst glance, it seems easy
to agree. As well as the restrictions set by governments
and independent regulators to control communications
by healthcare companies about their treatments, external
communication is restricted even urther by the industry
itsel, both in terms o internal legal and regulatory experts
and competitor companies keen to use the stifing regulatory
environment to remove any advantage.
All o which can lead to the perception o an industry which
is out o touch and unwilling to listen to its end users. But
we would suggest that the problem is not so much that the
pharmaceutical industry is unwilling to listen, rather that due
to regulation it is wary o truly engaging. The pharmaceutical
industry has always been a big advocate o listening to the
marketplace; however, it can be over-reliant on listening to
sources, such as traditional market research, which relies
on one-way expressions o opinion in a highly controlled
environment. Market research can be valuable or providing
a snapshot o opinion at one moment in time, but it cannot
meaningully engage with stakeholders in a two way dialogue
and, without this, one is not really listening, but rather under-
taking a process designed to deliver what one wants to hear.
I we accept the hypothesis that we now live in a world o democratised cross
inuence where public engagement should be the mantra or meaningul
communications, where does this leave highly regulated environments? How can
companies meaningully engage with their publics without incurring the wrath o
industry watchdogs?
EDELMAN
PUBLIC
ENGAGEMENTIN A REGULATEDENVIRONMENT
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pharmaceutical industry to truly engage with its stakeholders
in respectul ongoing relationships which will help companies
to tell a story that is heard, believed and has resonance with
the communities they want to reach. Public engagement in
a regulated industry isnt the challenge it rst appears to be;
i the industry is prepared to look orward and understand
this new environment, the opportunities ar outweigh the
disadvantages o engaging.
This brings us back to where we started. How can the
pharmaceutical industry realistically hope to engage with its
publics, such as patients, in the ace o the strict regulatory
landscape? The answer partially lies in a undamental
rethink o what constitutes successul messaging. In todays
environment, separate messages or separate audiences do
not work; peer-to-peer communication leaves companies that
continue to do this looking manipulative and untrustworthy.
All types o stakeholders have the potential to be opinion
ormers or brands and they will seek validation rom a
wide range o sources beore the inormation provided by
companies is validated.
In todays world, the role o public engagement is to be the
acilitator and creator o a central narrative, joining the pieces
together to ensure the company and stakeholder can engage
in a meaningul way which is mutually benecial and builds
trust and ultimately equity or the brands and company. This
can be done without broad communication about brands;
indeed, the days o being entirely reliant on careully worded
brand key messages are over.
It is o course ne or companies to convey their point o view,
but it should be aligned to what the market and individualstakeholders want, and should always be transparent. Brand
building still exists but the context in which it occurs has
changed; rst we must understand environments and then
interact with them to convey our point o view and orward a
mutually advantageous proposition to advance shared interests.
External communication will always be curtailed or the
pharmaceutical industry to a certain extent and this is
necessary, but it does not mean the industry cannot listen to,
and participate in, the conversation. It is our job to help the
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
Steven Spurr
Managing Director
Steve is Managing Director, Health. He read
economics at the LSE and it was here that he
became ascinated with the concept o perect
inormation and how it infuences every choice and
decision in our lives.
Ross Williams
Associate Director Editorial
Ross leads a new editorial oer in Health, created
to provide dedicated editorial counsel, guidance
and content development or Edelmans Health
clients.
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what actions companies are taking to show they are good global
citizens or employers o choice.
Public engagement is about advancing shared interests. This
requires us to nd new ways o observing and measuring those
interests. It is imperative that, as an industry, we evolve the way
that we listen to conversations and measure the impact o our
communications so that they properly refect the new world
order. The age o top down, command and control messaging
is over and the decline o advertising overthrows AVE-centric
measurements. There is still space or activity tracking, media
coverage or direct response but we need to go urther to
understand with greater reach and nesse the outcomes
and impact that those programmes have on all stakeholders.
Results-based measurement requires asking hard questions.
Have we moved the needle on how people think, speak and
act about the company, brand or issue? In the age o public
engagement, no one person has all the answers.
Surrounded by this cacophony o sounds, voices and messages,
how we can properly tune into what is being said, where and
by whom? Listening with new intelligence means ocusing our
attention on three things:
whatpeoplethink
whatpeoplesay
whatpeopledo
Some o the tools we need to use are tried and tested, while
others are evolving to refect the ast-paced changes to the new
ecology o media and infuencers:
What Do They Think? Use primary research to understand
peoples awareness, interest, attitudes and ideas. We need to
engage infuencers and customers on topics o their interest
not just ours.
What Do They Say? Go to where the dialogue is happening
online and ofine. Be in the conversation to listen and
understand, as well as talk. Use media monitoring tools andRSS eeds to cost-eectively capture conversations across
channels and networks, rom print and trade press to social
media such as blogs, twitter and orums. Another route is to
tap into new research tools like hosted online communities.
These are recruited communities o brand acionados who
help companies like Procter & Gamble or Unilever to co-
create new products, or provide eedback on brand actions or
communications.
What Do They Do? Be a people watcher and a trend
watcher. Observe what consumers are spending their money
on, what their media or entertainment viewing habits are and
where they are going or inormation. For business, observe
As Marshall Manson wrote at the start o this publication, in an evolving world o
cross-inuence, listening is more important than ever. Genuine, compelling and
transparent engagement can drive brand awareness, customer loyalty and, ultimately,
sales. Our listening, however, can be easily subsumed by the constant barrage o
messages received. In todays world, we need to listen to more stakeholders more
oten than ever not just tune in to one voice. There is a whole echo chamber o
inuencers around our brands, businesses, issues and communications to consider,such as the media, NGOs, policy makers, opinion elites, employees and consumers,
all o whom have strong opinions.
EDELMAN
LISTENING FOR
RESULTS
Laurence Evans
President, StrategyOne
Originally rom New Zealand, Laurence has lived in
5 countries and worked in 23 countries in 27 years
while staying married to Rochelle. He has licenses
to drive on both let and right hand sides o the
road so now he drives down the middle.
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EdelmanTrustBarometer
2010Anannualglobalreviewof
the state of trust in Business,
Government and Media.
Ananalysisoftheimplications
for leadership in addressing
the big issues of our time
10yearsoftrends,published
inJanuary2010
www.edelman.co.uk/
trustbarometer
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o the peer, the employee and the customer has conrmed
the shit rom a shareholder to stakeholder society, there are
just certain parts that advertising and other old disciplines
cannot reach. The urgent need to Act andTell demands a
mix o policy and communications skills; digital outreach
and content development; a new kind o intelligence and
insight altogether. Communications rms today must be able
to embrace the regulatory, government, employee and NGO
agendas with equal and balanced aptitude. It is no longer a
simple issue o customers, consumers and consumption (i it
ever was). This, undamentally, is where the current ad agency
model alls woeully short.
Third, because the myths o advertising have been
exposed by this enorced new age o austerity. What
started as an inquisition over total cost has thankully evolved
into a more rigorous questioning o the role o advertising
itsel. Sure, this is not un-connected with Point 1 above
but some o the mythology around agency supremacy
has been properly laid bare. The One Agency Solution will
indeed emerge in the next ve years but it will be content,
conversation and infuence-led and not by those insistent on
producing a 30-second lm at any cost and simply calling
themselves the agency. Right must start with Insight,
Planning and Strategy and no one discipline or agency,
properly constructed, holds the monopoly here.
What started as a re-alignment o spend in dicult times has
inadvertently accompanied a undamental shit in the wider
agency landscape. The convergent agency is the necessary
reality now. It is, at heart, a maniestation o the one world
o cross-infuence which we all inhabit. As we emerge into a
post-crisis world, we would do well to heed our own advice to
clients and re-consider where we stand in our own industry
landscape.
Why?
First, because the digital revolution has drivenproound and permanent behavioural change. O course,
we all know this. The new ecology sees a hard re-alignment o
interests and a ar less stable (and less easily identiable) set
o infuencers. Old agency models (including advertising, DM,
Media and others) historically relied on this stability to both
target audiences and sell to clients. We can no longer be in
the audiencebusiness; we all have to learn instead to ride the
ripples, waves and occasional tsunami oinfuence.
Second, because only an evolved orm o PR can
deliver against corporate andbrand needs across
this new sphere o inuence. In a hyper-connected world
where citizen activists and/or NGOs can hold both businesses
and governments to account and where the continued rise
Twelve months ago, a number o us argued that this would be a good recession
or PR. Advertising monies seemed set to migrate towards the more engaging and
relevant o the two disciplines. Marketers began to realise that, to borrow rom Lord
Levers amous phrase, a lot more than hal their monies was simply being wasted
in a world o continuous partial attention, where social media had entered the
mainstream.
EDELMAN
ONE WORLD & ONE AGENCY
PUBLICENGAGEMENTMAKES YOU
THINK
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mess. Too much was taken or granted; not enough questions
asked. We sleepwalked into disaster. Real reorm has to start
here and now i we are to evolve with the new ecology o
infuence and interests. PR rms have to re-consider their own
structure and purpose, to re-congure as vocierous leaders
and champions or what we are calling Public Engagement.
This will require adding new skills and changing working
practices, or sure. We must do this with speed and with relish.
The alternative is to sit tight, pretend the moment will pass
and behave like smug dinosaurs at the centre o a rapidly
changing ecology. And we all know what happened to them.
Fourth, no client should aord the luxury o multiple
agency partners. In one world o cross-infuence, why
on earth are clients paying or ve (advertising, PR, Media,
CRM, Digital) agencies, ve teams, ve programmes etc?
Holistic working is nothing more than a buzzword refection
o companies trying to stitch together their own silos and
inecient corporate structures. We should be giving clients
best advice. And the best advice is that reorm needs to startrom within the client organisation as well as rom within the
agency itsel. It is not merely a question o reducing spend;
it is about nding eciencies and building uture-acing
communications teams that are multi-skilled, not expensively
and silo/ discipline/ audience ocussed. Planners and
Creatives are available to all. Production is easily outsourced
and can be more competitively partnered and priced. The ad
industry has hidden behind a certain mythology or years. We
know we can all create and co-create content. So, the model
is already there in the making.
The symbolism o the global nancial crisis should not be lost
on the Communications sector. Living on the luxury o Wants
Not Needs was one o the reasons we all ended up in this
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
Robert Phillips
UK CEO
Robert is the UK CEO o Edelman. He is also the co-
author o Citizen Renaissance (2008) and a requent
contributor and columnist on issues acing the
communications, corporate and brand worlds.
Listenwithnew
intelligence
Participatein
theconversation
:
realtime/all
thetime
Socialisemediarelations
Champion
open
advocacy
Embracethechaos
Build active
partnerships for
common good
Createandco-createcontent
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Consultancy of The Year 2009
If youd like to have a chat, please contact
Jodi McLaren for New Business: [email protected]
Rebecca Hall for Talent: [email protected]
+44 (0)20 3047 2000
www.edelman.co.uk
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Want to join the family?
Daniel J Edelman Inc. is the worlds largest independent PR agency
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27
CONVICTION OR CONVENIENCE:
IS NOW THETIME FORBUSINESS
TO LEAD?
is how we interpret the data and work with clients to address
the most urgent issues o our times. Can PR really change its
traditional mandate and, wearing the new clothes o Public
Engagement, step into the historical domain o management
consultants and accountants engaging, modeling and
planning, rather than just broadcasting and storytelling?
In an evolved orm o Public Relations, my personal belie
is that we can step orward and lead. But we must acquire
new skills; and our own industry leaders must work with the
Mayelds and the Abberleys to conront change. Together,
we can shape a new business and communications ecology
which, to paraphrase Danones CEO Franck Riboud, should
serve as both a social and an economic project. Prot can be
maximized and used in active partnership or common good -
as we embrace Schamas monstrous moment and step into amore powerul and exciting uture.
Robert Phillips
As 2009 came to a close, Simon Schama described the year as
the most grisly, powerul, monstrous moment in the history
o capitalism. During the course o 2009, Charlie Mayeld,
Chairman o John Lewis, called or new models o business
ownership, while economist Noreena Hertz argued that
business can supplant government and enjoy a mandate to lead
in the post-crisis age. Aviva Investors UK CEO Paul Abberley,
speaking at the UN, urged Global Stock Exchanges to take real
action on Corporate Responsibility: his rallying cry to promote a
global listing environment that requires companies to consider
how responsible and sustainable their business model is, and
encourages them to put a orward-thinking sustainability
strategy to the vote at their AGMs. The FTs Stean Stern
meanwhile asked poignantly whether companies are speaking
such language out o conviction or convenience?
Almost orty years since Milton Friedman published that
article in the New York Times Magazine arguing that
the social responsibility o business is to maximize prot
communications industry leaders must today ask questions
o ourselves. Are we advising clients out o conviction or
convenience? Do we have a responsibility to lead, or should
we merely serve as collaborators in compliance culture? Are
there cynics among us who are monetizing this moment o
responsibility, or should we be transormative and uture-
shaping? Is this even our place?
Edelman Trust and goodpurposeTM surveys reinorce the
pre-eminence o the stakeholder society and the centrality o
Mutual Social Responsibility to business. The real challenge
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT VOL.2
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