Our Perspective

Reflections on SXSW

From the desk of Patrick Ward…

This is the second consecutive year I have had a major client project at SXSW. Last year, I was sort of overwhelmed by the whole thing and got sucked into the vortex of parties, networking and discovery. Last year was also my first as a member of the Advisory Panel for SXSW Accelerator.

In the year between this year and last, I did one really smart thing: I reserved my hotel in March 2011 for March 2012. And I also thought hard about what I get out of SXSW and came to the realization that there are two distinctly different paths.

The first is personal. I love the music at SX. I love seeing old friends and chatting, even if it is more like screaming over house music at some party. I love Austin in general, especially the food. But I can't really justify spending my own money or certainly my clients' budgets to enjoy myself. If it's a happy coincidence, that's one thing, but I can't treat my Austin time as pure pleasure.

So, the other path is professional. There are a lot of interesting panels and the networking is good, but I have plenty of other resources for that. And trying to tackle all of SXSW is like trying to wrestle with Proteus: once you have a hold of it, it changes and you are cast off in a totally different direction. My personal philosophy on SXSW has become to do one thing and do it very well.  

This year, we focused on a panel for our client Smartling. We worked really hard to get Foursquare, Spotify and Zendesk as panelists and to get Christine Lagorio, the executive editor at Inc.com to participate. And we worked hard to ensure a filled room. It was very successful. We had a packed house, good social media traffic and satisfied participants. That's a win. And there is a whole team at 104 West that deserves credit.

In a maelstrom like SXSW, it's best, it seems to me, to pick your spots. I don't like those big hotel buffets because I always feel like I left something literally on the table. I used to feel the same about SXSW. If I wasn't trying to suck it all in, I was somehow losing. Now, I just focus and I think I'm more productive.

Patrick Ward’s Guide to SXSW

From the desk of Patrick Ward…

I’m about to leave on my annual trek to Austin for SXSW, which some think of as a geek spring break. Whether you’re a SXSW neophyte or you’ve been going for decades, here are my tips to help you navigate the excitement and chaos that embodies SXSW.

• Wear your walking shoes. If you have a car, just park it.
• Pick up your registration badge and SXSW bag and ditch the bag at your hotel room.  
• Create an agenda and identify which panels you want to see. For example, go to Startup Village and check out Smartling’s panel on Saturday, which also features Spotify, foursquare and Zendesk.
• Go to the happy hour events and skip the late night parties.
• Plan on eating breakfast and dinner, but skip lunch. A lot of great panels are scheduled during lunch and you don’t want to miss them. 
• Check out the Austin Food Carts blog for the best guide on food trucks.
• Crowds tend to congregate in hotel lobbies or hallways. This is the place to run into people and chat.
• Hit the Tradeshow block party to mingle with cool companies while enjoying free food and drink.

Hope these tips help you get the most out of SXSW. I’ll be tweeting from Austin so follow me on Twitter @patricknward. 

 

Social Media Guidelines - Friend or Foe?

From the desk of Elaine Schoch...

Late Friday afternoon The Washington Post released a social media policy to the staff at-large aimed at staffers’ use of “individual accounts on online social networks, when used for reporting and for personal use.” This isn’t the first time a business or news outlet has put out a social media policy, nor will it be the last.

With social media co-mingling our personal and professional worlds like never before, we have to be extremely mindful of our online behavior so it’s no surprise to see more businesses and news outlets do this. (The FCC is on its way to release rules and regulations for bloggers so this is yet another step in trying to manage transparency and credibility.) Although, it does concern me that news outlets particularly are not encouraging social channels more. The way The Washington Post’s memo reads it sounds more discouraging – i.e. don’t use social media channels or you might get in trouble. (It might also break a lot of stories such as ABC News reporter @TerryMoran tweeting about President Obama saying Kanya West was a “jack***” or ABC's Senior White House Correspondent @JakeTapper tweeting on Bill Clinton's departure to North Korea to help secure the release of two American journalists. Does this help or hurt the news outlet?)

Businesses – particularly news outlets – need to teach their employees how to use Twitter and other social channels. (Your employees are your best brand ambassadors!) For reporters, Twitter specifically can be an essential tool to build online brand recognition, position your news outlet as a leader by sharing breaking news, gather sources and information, not to mention a FREE way to drive traffic back to the website which helps with ad revenue. If I recall, this added revenue (albeit small) might help the struggling newspaper industry.  Just a thought...

Here are a few excerpts from the policy, which was NOT made available until Sunday. Transparency anyone? Thanks to Paidcontent.org for getting/listing the policy in its entirety.

“When using these networks, nothing we do must call into question the impartiality of our news judgment. We never abandon the guidelines that govern the separation of news from opinion, the importance of fact and objectivity, the appropriate use of language and tone, and other hallmarks of our brand of journalism.”

“What you do on social networks should be presumed to be publicly available to anyone, even if you have created a private account. It is possible to use privacy controls online to limit access to sensitive information. But such controls are only a deterrent, not an absolute insulator. Reality is simple: If you don’t want something to be found online, don’t put it there.”

“Post journalists must refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything – including photographs or video – that could be perceived as reflecting political racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism that could be used to tarnish our journalistic credibility.”

104 West has an app for that

From the desk of Elaine Schoch...

There are only three good ideas in the world, it’s just a matter of who gets to them first. In this case Brad Feld beat me to it (go figure). I had started writing this post regarding some of the teams favorite iPhone applications when I saw his post come through today doing the same. Oh well, I’ll still share...

Meredith recently asked me what my favorite iPhone applications were so she could start building her arsenal of apps. (She FINALLY made the switch from the BlackBerry to the iPhone – yeah!) I compiled my list for her but went a step further and asked the team what theirs were too. Clearly, the main apps the phone came with – email, maps, calendar, Safari, photos, clock, etc. - are some of our most used applications but here is a run down of some cool ones we really like.

Maps: While this is one of the basic apps that comes with the iPhone, we can’t tell you enough how many times it has gotten us places and saved us from being late.

Facebook: We all use it but don’t love it since its interface really isn’t that great. Hopefully the updated version being released will be better.

TweetDeck: This is a newer app and if you use TweetDeck on your desktop you’ll understand how helpful it is. It mirrors the TweetDeck columns so you’re never out of sync.

Twitterific: Why Patrick still likes this one is crazy, but he does... It used to be on my top five list until TweetDeck came out.

YellowPages: Yes, people still use them just not in their traditional form.

iTriage: Full disclosure, they’re a client but they can save your life (according to The New York Times). It helped Patrick get some quick information at a doctor's appointment last month.

At Bat Light: As a baseball fanatic, Patrick uses this app to keep up-to-speed on what’s going on in the world of baseball.

NYC Subway Map: One of our teams essential iPhone applications; we have a few clients in NYC that we regularly visit.

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and AP Mobile (Associated Press): Duh...

Shazam: Ben and I love this one! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve impressed my know-it-all music husband by rattling off the artists name of a song playing on XM.

OpenTable: This app has been a great help when traveling and making reservations ASAP. We also like Yelp for reviews.

Where: This is an awesome app that helps you locate things around you – restaurants, Starbucks, movie theaters/showings, cheap gas, etc.

Crazy Penguin Catapult and TowerBloxx: These are two of our favorite games by Digital Chocolate, another client. They are also two of the five games Digital Chocolate has produced that went to #1 on the iPhone. We all spend time playing these when there is time to kill or need a mental break.

Recorder: We use this for press briefings, meetings and I personally use it to record my little girl laughing. It helps to listen to when you’re having a bad day.

WeatherChannel: Unlike the weather app that came with the iPhone, this app has a lot more information and provides the forecasts a few days out.

AccuTerra by Intermap: These guys have a few maps (and more coming) that hikers and outdoor enthusiasts will love. Not only can you explore and view maps of national parks like Yosemite, but you can map your hikes in real-time, view elevations, add notes and pictures you took along the way. And then you can SHARE it with your friends. This is my new favorite app (I’ve had a sneak peek at at few maps coming out soon that I’ve been playing with this summer. As a client, we get some perks...) Check out their quick video.

What are some of your favorite apps??

What's behind door number one? two? three?

From the desk of Elaine Schoch...

The saying goes – one door closes and another door opens. Sometimes the door gets slammed in your face and you have to break it down to get to the next door but it’s all about opportunity and changing something that isn’t working to turn it in a different direction. I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of doors closing in the coming months given the current economic situation. Case in point, today ZiffDavis announced it will be discontinuing the print version of PCMag to focus on growing PCMag online and its network of websites now dubbed “PCMag Digital Network.” 

Honestly, it’s not a surprise that the print version of PCMag is closing. Even though ZiffDavis recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it cut the magazine back from bi-weekly to monthly earlier this year.  By  shifting the focus to hone in on the online version, ZiffDavis will be driving everything/everyone to one central “network”- PCMag Digital Network - which is a compilation of all of its online brands. ZiffDavis is building an interactive network where its readers can talk to reporters, each other, etc.  They are leveraging the inherent interactivity available from a web property to build a stronger brand. The print publication simply wasn’t allowing them to do that anymore. How many times did you stop at a newsstand and have a chat with the next guy who bought the same magazine you did?  The only way they can forge a tighter brand relationship with their audience is to put everything into a “digital network.”

Given the current economic climate, I anticipate seeing even more print publications going totally digital – or at least more digital – as they work to survive in this economy. But that doesn’t guarantee the door they think they’re opening won’t be slammed in their face. Even online publications have to shift focus – they have to engage their readers and encourage them to participate in the conversation. We’re already seeing this shift – media outlets rely on its readers to not only read the news but to share it, talk about it online and be a part of the story. They help to determine what the news really is. The online publications that really build a strong “network” and/or “community” will be the ones left standing.

For me, this really is a window into the growing importance of community or networks and their influence over the future of brands.  The halcyon days of brands offering a monologue with its customers or other stakeholders are over.  The reality of a modern brand relationship is that ownership has shifted or is shifting from the vendor to customer.  The power of conversation and dialog between and among a brand’s consumers has invited broader participation in and potentially fresh definitions of the brands themselves. That has significant implications across communications, customer relationship management and even product development.

A lot of companies are experimenting with this concept and now PCMag, a trailblazer in this Information Age, seems to be staking its future on it.  Smart move…

Truth Telling and PR

From the desk of Patrick Ward...

This past week Chuck Todd, the eminently brainy political director at NBC News, posited that McCain campaign was so far behind in the polls that there was a chance of a Bullworth moment.  The idea was that, with nothing more to lose, the campaign would suddenly, like Warren Beatty’s 1998 fictional politician, become bluntly honest and eschew the traditional political artifice.  In other words, stop the spin.

First, this is not a political position. I have no predictions on the election and if I did I would keep them to myself. This is Todd’s premise. But it seems odd to me that it takes a lost cause to invite truth into the process.  Many talk about PR as spin and the marriage between PR and political positioning is well known.  Hillary Clinton’s former chief strategist, Mark Penn, is the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, the world’s largest PR firm.  But I always bristle when someone refers to my profession as a spin doctor.  It seems diminishing.  It diminishes the value of what we do, as if we can just re-shape the truth into a more palatable form.  It diminishes the audience, either the press or some stakeholder, as if they can be duped that easily. And it diminishes the client, as if whatever blemish exists can be buffed away with cosmetics. 

We have a common phrase we employ when a client has a touchy issue. “What’s the truth.  Let’s start there.” Now, sometimes the response we get is not unlike the look a dog gives you when you hide his ball. You know the one: a slight turn of the head, ears perked up and eyes seemingly saying, “huh?”  But more often clients are relieved at the simplicity of the approach and happy they won’t have to architect some series of artificial talking points. 

In this election season, we get to see the high discipline of political campaigns’ communications efforts and people are exposed to a lot of ‘spin.’  It gives communications a bad rap.  So the prospect of a Bullworth moment might be very welcome.  It is troubling that many would consider that the exception and not the rule, however. 

Reigning Cats and Dogs

From the desk of Patrick Ward...

An old friend of mine who now runs a major PR agency used to opine that the difference between advertising and PR was like the difference between cats and dogs. The idea goes something like this:  advertising agencies have a certain independence. They tend, in a decidedly feline way, to eschew approval in favor of self-satisfaction. A certain ambivalence is construed as intelligence and nonchalance; go ahead pet me or don't pet me, it makes little difference to me. But if you want my affection, it will be on my terms...prrrrrr. 

The analogy extends: PR people are in constant and dire need of approval and will work inexhaustibly for it.  Like the family canine who rushes his owner as he walks through the door, PR people are always looking for what more they can do, perhaps to their detriment as clients assess their value.  If you throw that ball, I'll go get it and bring it back here and pant and urge you to do it all over again.  The cat, all the while, perched on the window sill in the afternoon sun, watches the whole episode with disdain. This past week's chapter of the Emmy-winning advertising drama, Mad Men, suggests the condition is nearly 50 years strong. While on a work sojourn to sunny LA (which must have a been a real oasis in 1961) an advertising executive is stranded at his hotel and phones his prospective client to inquire "Is there any chance we could meet here? I don't have a car and can't get a taxi to take me to Pasadena.  Great. We can meet by the pool."  A PR guy would have hitchhiked.

I don't mean to indict our sister profession.  But as times look to be toughening and clients begin to make budgetary choices, an examination of value propositions seems warranted.  Last week, someone, perhaps irresponsibly depending on your perspective, leaked an internal presentation between the general partnership at Sequoia Capital and its portfolio companies which appraised the economic environment.  The admonitions were aplenty and dire.  The basic message: there is a terrible and unavoidable storm on the horizon and you had better conserve cash and hunker down. 

In these downturns - and I have been through three in my professional life: 1988, 1992 and 2001-2 - a convenient target is marketing overall, including both advertising and PR. That conclusion always seemed facile to me: after all, if you are trying to preserve sales revenue, why would you slow down its engine?  But, that is the reality.  So, as we venture into an economic climate whose severity ranges from bad to really bad, and companies examine which costs are unessential, the cats and dogs get nervous.  And unfortunately, the cuts tend to be with hatchets, and not scalpels, so the nervousness is justified.

I think you can see where this is going: predictably, I'd make the case for the dog.  But, my reasons are both tradition and nontraditional. Traditionally, PR is good value for money, to borrow a phrase from my British friends.  The cost of a traditional PR media effort that has even mediocre results can return a 'CPM' (now before we get in a lather, I know it's not a perfect analogy, but it's what I got) of somewhere around 40 cents.  And that's pretty conservative.  That is only the pure media ROI and doesn't include non-media efforts like speaking engagements or strategic counsel.  But we should also look at the non-traditional advantages.  PR is essentially the ability to sway opinions.  (Some might suggest it's more pedestrian than that; I'm not sure the pedestrian assessment isn't an undervaluation, as much as mine may be an overvaluation, but it's my blog.) And there is an opinion that this economic crisis is very much the result of emotion and opinion.  Now I am not downplaying the reality of the credit crisis or the housing slide, but markets are very often driven by emotion.  How else would you account for 1000 point swings in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in a matter of minutes?

Will credit be harder to acquire in the next two quarters? Yes.  Will companies suffer? Yes. Will consumers slow spending? Yes.  But is it rational that a company's market capitalization is less than the cash on its balance sheet?  Could be, but that seems upside down intuitively. How do you explain that in an ad?  Both presidential campaigns believe that there is economic growth is the shiny metal object called Clean Technology.  I know of a company that is creating clean engines that will power whole fleets of delivery trucks and another that is making a new generation of batteries that will extend electric power for boats and small engine vehicles well beyond today's standards. Does anyone think that we can transform a nation's love affair with gasoline-powered toys in a series of 30-second spots?

When the era of the keyword presented itself not long ago, a host of search engine optimization agencies heralded the demise of PR; and I wrote in this space not long ago about another effort by other 'new media' pundits to impart PR has become irrelevant.  Those media are effective but are best used in a simpler context.  And the solutions offered by others instead of PR simply don't scale.  The complexity of the communications effort needed to justify expenses on goods and services in the coming months will not lend itself to marketing's blunter instruments and even if they did, the cost of making them successful is incongruent with the belt-tightening we are all facing.

So, you need the dog.  Cats are sublime, even luxurious.  Dogs are utilitarian. A cat rubs against your shin, ostensibly in a sign of affection, but truly for his own benefit.  A dog gets your slippers or your newspaper.  A cat is mysterious.  A dog is obvious.  A cat is finicky.  A dog is compliant.  And when was the last time you heard of someone getting a cat to protect their home...or their business? 

There are hard choices in the offing and prudence is going to be a budgetary watchword.  Clients will need to discern their best course of action.  But I offer one simple question as they assess their most sensible and productive expenditures: who is man's best friend?