PR and marketing blogs are buzzing this week about the season premier of AMC’s “Mad Men” titled “Public Relations.”  While most pundits are focusing on the PR lesson the lead character, Don Draper, learned after a botched interview with Ad Age, the episode’s secondary story caught our attention as an interesting portrayal of the role of PR in building brand awareness and driving sales.

*SPOILER ALERT*

In the story line, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce agency client, Sugarberry Hams,has not experienced the bump in sales they expected as a result of the agency’s ad campaign and the junior account managers/creative directors are brainstorming ways to move the needle.  They devise a plan to manufacture a “PR stunt” using paid actors and greasing the palms of a Daily News reporter to cover the stunt in the paper.  The result – the stunt made the News, was picked up by other regional papers and the client was thrilled with the buzz, brand awareness and resulting sales.

Clearly, this is one, albeit, fictional example of the business and sales value of PR –something we often discuss with clients as we develop strategic communications programs that map to corporate business objectives.  Unfortunately, Mad Men’s portrayal of how PR works (“give the reporter a case of liquor to cover the story”) perpetuates the stereotype of PR professionals as flacks who use personal relationships and favors to land media attention for clients.  Let’s hope Mad Men continues to explore the role of communications as part of overall marketing programs. . . . maybe we’ll see a sassy new character join the show to head up a Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce PR division.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  July 29th, 2010

David Carr’s “The Media Equation” column this week took a hard look at the wikileaks communications crisis that continues to dominate headlines. At the heart of the matter is when and whether journalists have the right, responsibility or — in some cases — incentive to push out stories that serve a specific agenda. As Carr rightly observes, the role of journalists in not just reporting but also shaping our view of the news is as old as journalism itself. And no matter which end of the political spectrum you occupy, you probably think “the other side” plays a controlling and nefarious role in how the news is reported.

What’s enlightening about the wikileaks — besides their impact on how the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are perceived — is how they are reviving the somewhat dormant discussion about the role the Internet can and should play in disseminating information. Carr notes, that the Web “was supposed to bring accountability and real-time fact-checking to current events. But the velocity that is the medium’s chief feature is less a tool of efficacy than instigation, in part because both the current administration and mainstream media have developed a hair-trigger response after getting run over by stories that seemed to come out of nowhere.”

Putting aside the current political context, this is a beautiful illustration of all that we love and hate about Internet content distribution: on the one hand, it is immediate, widespread and, at least in its purest form, democratic. Anyone can post what they want, within reason, and share it as broadly as social networks and viral distribution will take their message. Think of the water-cooler topics you’re heard over the past few months. BP and financial reform are probably among them, but so are “leaked” audio of Mel Gibson’s psychotic rants, the latest episode of AutoTune the News, and the Treadmill Gangsta video.

On the other hand, Internet content can seem inherently untrustworthy — precisely because the lines are so blurred between bonafide journalists and journalist-provocateurs, as Carr calls them. And even bonafide journalists can have an opinion that bleeds into a political agenda. As companies struggle to control and influence the content they share with their customers, the challenge of credibility has never been more acute. Our clients increasingly rely on social networks, blogs and other outlets that can broadcast a message effectively, but the risk is that social networking can turn into a big game of cyber-telephone where the message starts out as one thing and gets garbled along the way.

We’re firm believers that advertising is about visibility; PR is about credibility. In the past, credibility largely came from the source: major news organizations were seen as more credible (and therefore more influential) than smaller, more niche publications. These days, credibility is in the eye of the beholder. So the challenge is making sure the audience hears a credible message, but also thinks the source is credible — a stay-at-home mom might be more likely to buy a new product if it’s evangelized on a “mommy blog”; a retired professional might buy the same product if she reads about it in the Wall Street Journal’s weekend edition.

Whether its a war strategy or a new product launch, credibility is crucial. Companies that can control the message and choose the medium, but take a chance when they put the message out into the ether. So it’s essential to make sure the messages themselves are credible enough that a “leak” wouldn’t create a crisis of confidence on the part of customers.

There’s an old saying: “If you don’t want anyone to know about it, don’t do it.” Companies would do well to follow that credo in the age of the journalist-provocateur.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  July 28th, 2010

My request was met with a moment of shocked silence yesterday at the Apple Store, when I said I was there to return my malfunctioning iPhone 4G.  Not only had my phone been dropping calls, but the screen was so ultrasensitive that if my hair brushed against it while I was on a call, random things happened, like the call going to speaker phone or ring tones sounding off.  Describing it as annoying was a gross understatement.  In any case, the Apple salesperson offered to have his tech people examine it to see if they could offer a fix.  He was also sure that the free rubber bumper Apple was offering would solve the dropped calls issue, I just had to wait until Apple could mail me the bumper, since none were in stock.  Once I had it and put it on my phone all would be well.  And I would still be the proud owner of the beautiful, sleek Apple iPhone 4 – that doesn’t work.

Like many people, I am shocked that Apple would deliver such a substandard product.  It is the third iPhone I have owned and it provided me with such an annoying user experience, I couldn’t wait to take it back.  I found Steve Jobs’explanation, that Smartphones aren’t perfect, all have similar problems, etc. to be  inadequate and arrogant.  I have been a longstanding Apple customer and have always been satisfied with my user experience – until now.  I find it difficult to believe Apple’s claim that only about half of one percent of iPhone 4 users are reporting antenna or reception issues to AppleCare.  If is true, perhaps it is becauseApple customers tend to be evangelical about Apple products and are willing to forgive a minor glitch like dropped calls and malfunctioning antennas.  Not me. When I spend $400 and change for a cell phone, I expect it to work.

So, yes, I was able to return my iPhone after declining treatment by Apple’s tech team and the offer of a rubber bumper that would be mailed to me because it was not in stock.  Despite Jobs’ pronouncements at last week’s press conference, I would not describe Apple’s actions around the iPhone issue as “proactive” and, as a customer, I don’t feel “loved” at all.  If you ask me, Apple delivered a bad product and then responded to the outcry in a very unenlightened way.  And it isn’t problems with the product that has tarnished their brand (at least in my eyes).  It is the way they reacted to it.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  July 23rd, 2010

LeBron James’ “The Decision” broadcast, which has been widely panned as a case study in how not to announce a major career move, is fascinating. This is far beyond a mere sports story — it’s a great lens through which to look at how big brands position themselves, understand their audiences and try to own the method of broadcast. In other words: classic “brand journalism.”

You might hate a guy for talking about himself in the third person, but you can’t fault him for trying to take control of the mode of communication through which his message — which is the same as his career — is broadcast. David Stern, the NBA commissioner, condemned The Decision, but there’s an underlying tension between players and management that is being played out here. Why shouldn’t a player be his own brand? And why shouldn’t a brand manager package and showcase his own messages? Isn’t that what we tell companies, product managers and marketing communications professionals to do every day?

Let’s be clear: the broadcast was tacky, over-produced and communicated the polar opposite of LeBron’s “nice guy” image — see ESPN’s viewer poll results:

(Source: ESPN Sports Nation)

(Source: SI.com)

But then again, what if that image isn’t the one he wants to own? What if, to achieve his strategic objectives (i.e., win a championship), he’s decided he needs to project a different image, one which might appeal to a broader audience? After all, according to Neilsen Net Ratings , nearly 10 million people tuned in last week for LeBron James’ “The Decision,” making it the third most-watched program on cable TV this year.

Quantity isn’t quality, but volume can equal influence. For a guy with a career lifespan of a couple of decades (if he’s lucky), maybe turning up the volume really is the best way to manage his own brand.

Your thoughts?

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  July 15th, 2010

Social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and FourSquare have forever changed the practice of corporate communications and public relations.  Savvy brand marketers now use these vehicles not only to promote products and services, but also to engage users, employees and partners in a two-way dialogue that will increase brand loyalty and, in some cases, aid with the innovation of new products and services.

For many, social media marketing is unchartered territory and options can be overwhelming to consider:

• Should I be on Facebook?
• How often should I Tweet?
• Would a CEO blog actually attract a following?
• How do I measure the investment?

These are just a few of the questions our clients ask us as they consider how to leverage social media as a new online marketing program.

To help share our insights, expertise, ideas and best practices, V2 has designed “The Briefing Room,” an online news and information portal featuring curated content on all things communications and PR-related.  In The Briefing Room, Version 2.0 will aggregate some of the best blogs, news stories and features on communications and PR best practices from around the Web.  Our goal is to make it easier for clients and V2 friends to find relevant information that will help them improve, expand and/or evaluate current communications trends and options.

The Briefing Room is powered by HiveFire’s robust content curation platform, Curata (full-disclose: HiveFire is a fantastic V2 client).

Please check out “The Briefing Room” to see relevant coverage that was curated by the V2 team, discussing recent industry highlights and trends.  If you have any suggestions for “The Briefing Room” or our blog, feel free to leave comments on this blog post.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  July 14th, 2010

Have you ever heard of insulin chewing gum? What about a silent alarm clock or super strong concrete? Sure they may sound like futuristic inventions from the year 2050, but they are actually among the promising innovations we saw highlighted at last night’s MIT $100K Business Plan Contest finale.

Version 2.0 is a proud sponsor of the MIT $100K and our team was on site for both the VIP Reception and finale presentation. We not only got to connect with some of the area’s best and brightest entrepreneurs, but also had time to chat with The Boston Globe’s Scott Kirsner and our long time friend Bob Buderi, the founder and editor in chief of Xconomy (which just recently launched a new Detroit bureau).

The big winner of the night was C-Crete Technologies, a maker of a nanoengineered cement that reduces CO2 emissions and is stronger than any currently existing cement.  Aukera Therapeutics, a student startup that is developing a new drug to combat ALS, took home the $10,000 award for audience favorite. And new to the event this year was the Twitch Contest, which awarded $500 to couchange.org , which donates unused gift card balances to charities. The company donated its prize, along with a personal match from founder Jia Ji, to nonprofit DreamCorps. Even keynote speaker Paul Fireman, founder and Former CEO of Reebok, got in on the fun – donating $19,000 to the charity.

Congratulations to all of the finalists who competed for the coveted $100,000 prize: Solsource 3-in-1, Aukera Therapeutics, Lark Technologies, Preevo Insulin Chewing Gum, C-Crete Technologies and Kardo. As part of our sponsorship, all finalists will receive complimentary communications consulting workshops with Version 2.0.  From what we saw last night, we have a lot to look forward to working with them.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  May 13th, 2010

Once again, Version 2.0 and Atlas Venture have partnered to celebrate local innovation and entrepreneurship.  Thursday night the organizations will come together to fete Yankee Group CEO Emily Green and her new book, “ANYWHERE: How Global Connectivity is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business.”  The invitation-only cocktail event will feature local IT innovators Dr. Hamish Fraser from Partners in Health, Former CEO/founder of Maven Networks Hilmi Ozguc and David Rose, CEO of Vitality, Inc. 

In advance of the event, V2 co-founder Maura FitzGerald spent some time with Green to talk about “ANYWHERE.”  Following are excerpts from their conversation: 

V2:      What or where is Anywhere?

Green: ANYWHERE is Yankee Group’s vision for the emergence of ubiquitous connectivity: when a seamless, capacious, and intelligent network connects all of us and the things we care about. The book explains why this is happening — but more importantly, it exposes the tremendous changes still ahead in all our lives as it happens. I set out the vision, how and when it happens around the world, and what it’s doing for us as consumers, workers, and business leaders. That’s why the subtitle of the book is How Global Connectivity is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business.

 V2:      What prompted you to write a book about it?

Green: By any measure you could choose — the number of people touched, the geographical scope of the technologies, the total economic value added — this revolution in the expansion of the global network will be the largest technology change of our lifetimes, even bigger by far than the commercialization of the Internet.  Yet frankly most managers in the business world today don’t yet see the magnitude of those changes: how the network’s expanded reach will continue to ‘flatten’ the planet, how the growing richness of network experiences will create new appetites in us as consumers, how the network’s intelligence will shrink costs in companies and change the fundamental nature of our activities as businesses.

I wrote this book to educate businesses on how best to steer their initiatives, partnerships, product development, customer service and virtually every other aspect of a business in order to succeed in the Anywhere environment.

 V2:      How close are we now to Anywhere?  Can you predict a timeline for when we will get there globally?

Green:            Anywhere is not everywhere, but it will be soon. Yankee Group tracks where the Anywhere revolution is happening using its Anywhere Index, which shows the ratio of broadband connections per capita. Countries are considered to be Anywhere when they reach or exceed the Anywhere Tipping Point: one broadband connection per person.

By 2009, only South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong had achieved Anywhere status, but the trend is picking up speed. By 2015, we believe 32 countries will be Anywhere. People in these regions expect to connect with people, work and services from anywhere. Broadband connectivity is as common as electricity and just as unremarkable. The most important day-to-day information and experiences are available on demand.

Today 30 countries, including the U.S., Australia, Switzerland, the U.K., Taiwan and Estonia, are categorized as Transforming, with one broadband connection for every three people. Daily information and experiences are a mix of the digital and traditional. Network connectivity is frequently available but not universal, and locations with fixed connections–such as the home or the office–become the center of connected society.

V2:      How is Anywhere changing individual behavior?

Green: Consumers increasingly expect to be able access content, society and commerce at any time from anywhere. Bank of America (a firm whose Anywhere activities are a case study in the book) discovered after launching their first mobile banking solution that its customers were far more ready for anywhere banking than the bank was, and they were even teaching their family members how to transfer funds by mobile phone. Yankee Group’s substantial on-going consumer surveys show that growing numbers of us want most of the electronics we intend to buy – picture frames, e-readers, cameras – to be connected.

This emerging expectation, of the network just being there, regardless of where we are and what device we have access to, creates some tall orders for companies who serve us. Remember when it was just operate a storefront? And then the Internet meant that as businesses, we needed to be open 24/7? Now the ante’s being upped again. Businesses need to reach this new breed of consumers not just anytime, but on any device, and in ways that make sense on those platforms. The businesses that do that, win the Anywhere Consumer.

V2:      What is the potential for the Anywhere enterprise?  What can CEOs and managers do to accelerate Anywhere within their organizations?

Green: Why does the bigger picture of Anywhere connectivity matter to enterprises? The main responsibility IT leaders have is to help their organization deploy technology to increase revenues and reduce costs. The emergence of the Anywhere Network is the most powerful tool we have to do that job. Some examples:

Connectivity is cheaper than people: When information can be gathered in real-time from the point of creation and conveyed elsewhere instantly, enterprises can reduce labor in gathering that information manually, and eliminate delay in activities throughout the business. With the ease of adding WiFi networks and the falling cost of active RFID tags, M2M deployments can recover their costs in half the normal IT payback period through increased equipment utilization, lowered waste, and increased worker productivity.

Connectivity allows businesses to flex. When computing demand varies seasonally – through a surge in ecommerce around the holidays or a summer slowdown in manufacturing, for example – why not allow its cost to float with that demand for it, by eliminating investment in fixed capital IT and moving to cloud-based solutions that tie the size of operational expense directly to changes in revenue? That’s increasing the enterprise’s leverage of its capital expense budget, using cash as efficiently as possible, to say nothing of the reduced impact on the planet’s energy resources.

Connectivity empowers employees. When workers are enthusiastic adopters of consumer technology, why not let them bring the technology they relish to work, and recapture lost productivity away from their desks by providing them with access to corporate apps and data through their own smartphones and laptops? Not only can productivity rise but so can workplace satisfaction.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  April 7th, 2010

The title of this panel discussion, which will be held on Day One of the Interactive World’s hottest, hippest and most happening conference, pretty much sums up the culture of South by Southwest. Originally produced as a music and film festival 24 years ago,  the newest track, the SXSW Interactive Festival, has become one of the “must attend” events in the digital world and has provided a backdrop for some of the biggest technology launches of this decade (think Twitter).

Since this is my first SXSW, I feel a pressing need to attend this panel discussion with Ed Hunsinger  and Web celeb Violet Blue so that I can rest-assured I am mixing and mingling in the coolest manner possible.  One pre-panel tidbit I picked up from Chris Brogan’s blog this morning is that business cards are totally not cool — we all know how to find each other on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Good to know. . . that will making my packing tonight one small bit easier.

Follow us on Twitter @V2comms for live updates  from Austin and please feel free to comment on how to tackle the panels, parties and exhibits if you are a seasoned SXSW-er!

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  March 11th, 2010

Last week’s New York Times included an article about advertisements for Zappos, the online shoe seller. The story was interesting not because it was about shoes, which we do of course love, but because it was about culture. Specifically, the article noted that a big reason that the ad agency, Mullen , won the account was because they’d bothered to travel to Henderson, Nevada, Zappos’s call center HQ, to get a deep understanding of how Zappos customer service reps really worked.

We’ve had this article in mind during our travels this week to a warm, pre-spring Ann Arbor, Michigan. Here, we’ve been meeting with our clients at the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise and the Zell Lurie Institute, both of which are part of the Ross School of Business (though the Erb Institute is also part of the School of Natural Resources and Environment).

Our objective here is to help our clients set their communications strategies for the next 6-12 months. And in the process, we’ve been reminded of how different the operating environment at the university is to an average tech company’s. Here, we see a highly matrixed environment in which one person might play a role within several schools within the university, and a culture in which intellectual curiosity is not just tolerated, it is expected of everyone. Budgets might require different processes and levels of sign-off.

Recognizing our clients’ unique cultural character requires us to shift our thinking, too. As parts of the business school, our U-Mich clients are no strangers to PowerPoint, but we find that a more creative approach to the ways in which we gather and deliver information is often welcome. Collaborative brainstorms are the norm here, and everyone’s opinion is up for discussion. It’s not top-down vs. bottom-up, but rather a complex matrix of decision making that keeps things moving ahead here.

And we’ve learned a lot. In just 24 hours in Ann Arbor, we’ve met with a self-described “oldster” member of the faculty who is a thought leader in “adaptive organizational change,” a concept that opened our minds to an entirely new way to think about how businesses will operate in the future. And we’ve spoken with MBA students who spend 20 hours a week — in addition to their paid and school work — organizing the NetImpact conference, which they hope will include community service elements and locally-sourced food by involving chefs who got their start at Chez Panisse, great-grandma of the localvore movement.

Adapting our approach to our clients’ needs is not a new concept, but being on the ground with them, whether in the UK, the Midwest or inside Boston’s 495 belt, we’re always inspired by what we see and learn. We’ll be coming home with fresh eyes and new ideas, and, for this trip at least, not a hint of jet lag.

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  March 11th, 2010

Afternoon tea at the National Portrait Gallery. Client meetings at a “football” club stadium. Racing to catch black cabs in the rain in The City. In a mere five days, Version 2.0 took London by storm with a a series of strategy sessions, new business pitches and networking meetings that has us crisscrossing the town from Heathrow to Shoreditch.

With Microgen, who is based in The City (London’s financial district), we talked about the ongoing pressures that their clients, including financial services companies, face, and the regulatory changes in that part of the world that have prompted other countries’ oversight agencies to take a closer look at their own strategies. A session to discuss how Microgen’s technology is supporting its clients as they work to achieve competitive advantage through better management of data and business processes included participants from Speed Communications, Microgen’s UK agency.

Speed joined us again for a lively brainstorming session with The InvisibleHand, a unique shopping service that was launched as part of the Forward Internet Group’s portfolio of companies. We generated new pitch ideas that are now serving as the map for our outreach strategy over the next several weeks.

We also spent some time with VBrick, a US-based client that is looking to turn up the volume on its UK presence, and Exony, a former V2 client that is revisiting its approach to PR. The conversation with VBrick took us all the way out to Reading and the grounds of the Reading Football Club , which is British English for “soccer.” Avoiding traffic on the M4 on the way back into town, our driver raced through the back streets around the airport and into London, where we made it to our Exony meeting only a few minutes behind schedule — which was a minor miracle, according to our client!

Our packed schedule left little time for sightseeing, but we managed to see the inside of some excellent restaurants and bars when we met with a London-based journalist with the Telegraph, and a former client contact who is now helping the Royal Bank of Scotland with its communications strategy. Based on the headlines we watched last week about RBS’s challenges, we think she has her work cut out for her — and is doing a bang-up job, as they say in Old Blightly.

And since we knew you’d ask: we didn’t manage a glimpse of the Royal Family but we did mange drive-bys of Buckingham Palace that coincided with the procession of the Queen’s Guard — a magnificent procession of white and black horses and shiny carriages.

After five days of back-to-back meetings, we’re fully recovered from the jet lag and energized by all the great ideas and innovative companies we’ve had a chance to talk with. Suffice to say our love affair with London has only just begun…

Tweet This Post          No Comments »  |  March 3rd, 2010