Speeches

Public Relations Without Borders

admin — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:46:10 -0400

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In a speech for the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management 2011 Annual General Meeting, hosted by the Portuguese Association for Corporate Communication (APCE) in May 2011, Ketchum Senior Counsel John Paluszek explains how public relations has now truly come into its own as a global profession.

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Public Relations Without Borders

By John Paluszek

Senior Counsel, Ketchum, and 2009-2011 Chair of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management

APCE & Global Alliance International Forum, “Communicating in Times of Crisis & Change”

Lisbon, Portugal

May 24, 2011

Good morning, colleagues, all.

On behalf of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, I must say it is very encouraging that the Portuguese Association for Corporate Communication (APCE) and the Global Alliance have joined forces to address the very vital subject of this Forum -- “Communicating in Times of Crisis & Change.”

You no doubt have read the subtext of the Forum program -- “How public relations and communication managers shape strategy, build trust and contribute to a global economic recovery.”

Throughout the day, expert speakers here will parse that overall subject in detail. So in my five minutes of fame here at the outset, I will focus on only one very important aspect of the subject – the concept of “global.”

I must start with a true confession: It was only a year ago -- in Stockholm, Istanbul, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Washington, D.C. -- that I was suggesting to audiences that “public relations is arguably a global profession.” In retrospect, that was a rather tentative statement.

Today, as we meet here in Lisbon, we can be bolder. Let’s strike the word “arguably.” Because our profession is now truly a global profession – in effect, “public relations without borders”.

That’s because it has been a year when public relations professionals around the world have addressed many new strategic communications challenges and opportunities – not a few of them related to the global economic situation. And, I’m happy to say, it’s also been a year of accelerating Global Alliance growth and progress, thanks to members like APCE and to our new GA partners.

Public Relations Three-dimensional Mission

We are all now engaged in a three-dimensional global mission:

The first dimension, of course, is internal – to raise the standards of our performance around the world through shared research, training and ethical application of public relations universals, even in greatly varied national societies.
The second dimension is to help our organizations and clients operate successfully and responsibly in the fast-evolving global network society.
And the third – analogous, and not adequately recognized -- is to advocate for public relations principles to be applied on the world stage where dialogue, negotiation, mutual understanding and cooperation can be advanced by multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, national governments and civil society. Surely, the “Arab Spring” has proven the power of public opinion today and, therefore, the great potential of public diplomacy and “soft power.”

Global Portfolio

Finally, we shouldn’t be surprised by the development of our global portfolio. International consultancies, multinational companies, multilateral nongovernmental organizations – and, in fact, nations --- have, for quite some time, been forging communication linkages across many borders.

Now, public relations professionals are addressing a bevy of related opportunities to prove that what we do is critical to organizational success as well as to international cooperation in the evolving digital, network society. Those opportunities range widely from professional application of the fast-evolving information technology to contributing to international economic collaboration through dialogue. The Global Alliance “Stockholm Accords” make that case admirably.

And so, on behalf of the Global Alliance, its member associations – and their 160,000 members around the world – I look forward to today’s Forum where we will share knowledge and experience in yet another advance for our global profession, that is, “Public Relations Without Borders.”

From Caps to Clicks: PR and the Power of Connection

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:39:44 -0400

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In a speech made before the International Public Relations Association 2010 Public Relations World Congress in Lima, Peru, Jon Higgins, Ketchum Senior Partner and CEO, International, discusses the new critical role of public relations in making connections between a client and all its stakeholdersin a world that is increasingly complex, varied, and always switched on.

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Jon Higgins

Senior Partner and CEO, International, Ketchum
+44-(0)77-9964-0302
jon.higgins@ketchum.com

International Public Relations Association 2010 Public Relations World Congress

Lima, Peru

June 1, 2010

Thank you all so much. It’s a thrill to be here in this great city, and in this great country. This is my first time in Peru. It’s a country that I’ve always wanted to visit. I’m very grateful for the chance to be here.

I’ve been especially struck by the friendliness of everyone I’ve met. There’s really a special feeling of warmth and of energy here. I love the vitality of Lima. And such a beautiful location, just a great setting, above the Pacific.

What a fabulous place to convene this year.

On the flight over from London, where I live, I was flipping through the in-flight movie selection. On offer was Precious, The Blind Side and Up In the Air. It occurred to me that this was a pretty fair summary of the current state of our worldwide economy. Despite all that . . . this is such an incredible time in the history of our industry.

I want to speak about that this morning. I want to speak about an industry that not all that long ago was sometimes seen as the party planners, or the place you went to get a company or a celebrity some “free publicity.” With maybe a T-shirt or a cap thrown in for good measure. I have a story! I’ll come back to it in a few minutes. . .

But that really was how many clients and the public – possibly even my parents – saw public relations.

Even many PR practitioners saw themselves that way.

No more.

Now, with a click, the world is there on the screen in front of you.

Now, we are a sophisticated, deeply creative, dynamic and – very digitized – profession. We are the creators of credible content. We’re often the spark that ignites – or puts the sizzle into a hot conversation. We defend and protect reputations on which the fortunes of global companies rise and fall. Today, we are either in the boardrooms where critical decisions are made, or we are, at the very least, consulted before those decisions are made.

With integrity, with intelligence, with drive, with inspiration, and with passion, we tell our clients’ stories to a world now linked at warp speed, in a 24/7, instantaneous news cycle.

For those of us who have been in this business for a while, have experienced its transformation, it is thrilling to be part of the arc of this historic change.

Now, speaking of history, if you will indulge me just briefly . . . like a lot of us, I travel a lot. And I love it. On many levels, it’s been a large part of my personal journey in this business.

Along with the globalization of our clients, of our industry and of my international agency, I’ve become global, too.

I love to learn about the many places I’ve been fortunate enough to visit. Not surprisingly, I’ve been doing a bit of reading about Peru.

I was fascinated to happen upon an account of the Chasqui. In the time of the Incas – the Peruvians in the audience no doubt know this – the Chasqui were young men who moved information throughout the empire. They did it on foot. They were runners. They were, in fact, among the most extraordinary runners who ever lived.

They covered the Incan road system, which was in itself incredible. It wove through the Andes, along the coasts, down mountain passes, over rope bridges. And they did it all with amazing stamina and amazing speed.

Five hundred years ago, the Chasqui could rival an Olympic athlete today. They ran in relays, each at full-speed for as much as ten miles at a time. They ran at heights as extreme as 17,000 feet.

The Chasqui might warn a general about an uprising. They moved official records throughout the empire. Whatever needed to be – communicated – they got it done.

Now they also somehow managed to get fish from the Pacific Coast, more than 200 miles away, to Incan royalty in Cuzco . . . fresh fish, 200 miles, in time for supper. Think about it. Same day, fresh fish, no ice back then, of course, from the Pacific into the mountains.

Apparently, there were rather severe consequences if the Chasquis didn’t get the fish there in time for dinner. That fish had to be fresh.

And, apparently, if even one original word in a message got left out once it reached its destination, well, the Chasqui were punished rather severely for that, too.

In our day and age, we share the passion . . . to get the job done and to communicate . . . with, hopefully anyway -- a rather different motivation.

We need to get our stories to their destination too.

And they need to be, well, not just fresh enough for dinner.

Everyone in this room knows that in our business same-day delivery often just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Now, we’re talking about a news cycle that never stops. That is measured in minutes. Or in less time than that.

Our stories, our words, our pictures, need to get out there faster than ever before.

The relays we run span the planet.

In this digital age, we are all linked, all the time, everywhere -- at the speed of an electron.

We communicate in a world in which virtually everyone can hear what everyone else has to say pretty much right away -- and then all the time -- forever.

With a click, anyone can get everything you or your client has ever done – or is accused of not doing -- from that electronic archive.

It’s all out there, information races down electronic highways in the blink of an eye.

We live -- in amazing times.

So amazing, in fact, that some of us are, I’m afraid, an endangered species. The outgoing marketing chief at Unilever -- Simon Clift – recently told the Financial Times that the rapid rise and influence of Facebook, Twitter and other social media is creating what he memorably called “a lost generation of marketers.” Clift made the very astute observation that our kids have grown up in this YouTube world, and too many brands are being managed by people who have had to play catch-up to learn it.

There’s also a little enterprise called Facebook you may have heard about. It’s already profoundly and permanently changed how we communicate with one another. But it’s just getting started.

Facebook recently unveiled its new social plug-ins known as “open graph.” What it does is nothing less than transform the entire Internet into one vast social network.

Facebook will now be able to seamlessly integrate into any other website or blog. For all of us – that means unimagined insight into where consumer heads, and hearts, are at.

Now I don’t want to ignore the fact that there are privacy issues.

When the Internet is more than ever a matrix of infinite touch points, how much consumer insight – is too much insight?

Is anything just not anyone’s business anymore? At least once you’ve put yourself out there?

Well, the trade-off, of course, is that if you put yourself out there, on Facebook, on Twitter, on you-name-it, the pleasure of connection comes with the potential problem of people who want to know about you, perhaps finding out more than you want them to know.

A balance will have to be struck. That will be an ongoing process. That will require standards. And integrity. And approaches we all adopt together, as an industry. To do what’s right.

At the same time – as Facebook goes, so goes Twitter. And Foursquare. And Yelp. The proverbial genie is out of the proverbial bottle. The personalization of the Web is here.

It’s not a new frontier. We’re already deep in the middle of the woods. Anyone looking at what’s going on through binoculars – is missing something big. Obviously.

Companies that haven’t already been hacking their way through the underbrush of digital PR for some time will be tripping over the tangle -- when too many others have already cleared a path.

And digital and word-of-mouth and “buzz” marketing and all the other new ways to communicate that were probably introduced or invented just a few days ago -- that’s not so much the future of our business – as the present.

More and more of us are deciding to just get that thing that the guy at work said worked so well. Or the little old lady next door.

Or that review you read on the Internet by some anonymous person who also bought that kind of camera. Or car. Or -- calliope. It’s all out there. If something exists, someone has an opinion about it and the means to tell the world about it.

Did you see the recent McKinsey report that further confirms what PR has been saying about itself for a long time, ever since Edward Bernays established the business nearly a hundred years ago?

The report concludes that fully half of all purchasing decisions are driven by a recommendation from a friend, or from a relative, or from another trusted source.

Consumers, in short, are being empowered as never before.

Social networking is a modern-day megaphone. That sound you hear all around you is all sorts of people, everywhere, shouting from the rooftops about how they feel about that new washing machine, or medicine, or tomato sauce.

Marketers are abandoning old media in droves. Do you sit there anymore and watch the commercial? Or do you fast-forward through it. It’s already an old question.

But beyond the strong returns from digital advertising, the smartest marketers know it’s also so important to get into the conversation. In order to earn the attention of everyone talking, and conversing, and shouting .

Companies can no longer just talk – or shout – about how special their product is.

The specialness of each and every consumer is now just as big a deal.

Because the fact is, privacy concerns are real. People – billions of people – also want to be profiled on the internet. They want their preferences to be known.

Products have to conform to the preferences of individual consumers.

We’re used to a universe of friends, family, and strangers who consider our posts and tweets about what kind of coffee we just drank – significant. Worth knowing about. Fun to know about.

And . . . we expect similar attentiveness from companies.

Anyone with a product to sell needs to be in that conversation. And the most creative marketers are finding ways to do it. Authentically, transparently, respectfully. Responsively. Interactively.

But continuously, too.

It sells products. It sells presidents.

In 2008 a guy name Barack Obama won the White House in large part because of a grass-roots, cyber movement.

That was a politics of listening. And then creating a dialogue.

We’re talking about profit. But profit – from listening. And then creating a dialogue.

At the speed of an electron.

Times of change – and of transformation.

Yes, “the era of mass is over, in some respects” – that’s what the Chairman of Magazine Journalism at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism said about the announcement that 77 year-old Newsweek magazine is up for sale.

Mass media may be in a death spiral, but spin – that old PR cliché -- is dead.

Transparency, on the other hand, is very much alive. Transparency, along with authenticity, are the twin coins of the realm.

Does a company have to reveal everything? Of course not. But a company more than ever has to continuously, consistently tell a story that’s real, and rich.

Our stories have to stay one step ahead of the stories that are already being told about our clients through so many channels, and from so many directions.

If a client has something to hide, well, just be assured that chances are, it will get out there.

Because the fact is, again, everything gets out there sooner or later.

Smoke and mirrors doesn’t cut it.

With so many mirrors out there, in fact, so many opinions claiming to reflect what a company is all about, the reality now is that:

A brand is – what a brand does.

Actions speak louder than words.

And reputation increasingly is brand.

Sure, what you do, what you sell, still matters.

But how you are perceived to do what you do, how you sell what you sell – that’s more important than ever before.

The story you tell – and sell – has never mattered more, now that so many more are able to tell their side of the story. Whether what they have to say is legitimate, or not.

Anyone, in Lima, in London, in Timbuktu -- in Tashkent, and more on that last city in a moment -- anyone is just a Google search away from anything a client, has ever done, or is alleged to have ever done.

Whether it happened five minutes ago – and definitely five hours ago -- let alone five years ago.

For public relations, for what we do, the moment has never been richer with challenge – and with possibility.

It is an extraordinary time to be in this business.

What hasn’t changed is that the heart of what we do remains -- connecting. In Japan, a connector – that is, someone who is well-networked, known by many, trusted by all – is said to have a “wide face.”

So, we – we with the wide faces -- we build relationships.

We connect clients to customers. And to all our clients’ important stakeholders.

As our client, Bill Margaritis from FedEx says, public relations is the only – the only – marketing discipline that manages the interplay between a client and all its stakeholders (government, the financial community, suppliers, employees and, yes, the customer).

That is the power – of PR.

You can’t completely control a client’s message. But what you can do, what you must do, is connect. In a matrix of possible connections that has never been so complex, varied, and always switched on.

In the wilderness of information in which we live, you must, as never before, be in the conversation.

The conversation being relayed all over the world.

All the time.

Now I don’t want to date myself too much here. But as I said, I’ve been very lucky in my career to have had something of a front row seat on the growth of our industry in the past quarter century.

I was born in a little town with just one stoplight. In Essex, Connecticut, in New England U.S.A. I may have dreamed when I was a kid of seeing the world, but I never could have imagined just how far this profession would take me. From little Essex, my one stoplight, one horse town, to – well, Peru. And so many other places where the need to tell a story effectively – clearly, concisely, compellingly – has never been greater.

We earn a brand’s reputation. We create and protect relationships.

Relationships are how we connect.

Amid the cross-currents of opinion moving through all the channels, we don’t break-in . . . we, increasingly, join in.

A recent New York Times piece pointed out how frequently Hollywood now relies more on PR to sell a movie than on big advertising campaigns. It’s more effective on every level. More cost-effective and more effective at filling seats.

At Disney, for example, there is a mandate for advertising and PR to coordinate. If the PR team for the company’s ABC unit can get an article about a TV show in TV Guide, the network will make sure not to buy advertising space for the same show in the same edition of the magazine.

Disney has even developed its own, proprietary computer program to help determine how revenue is generated from PR.

That piece in the Times cited the launch of a recent horror film. Paranormal Activity it was called. Not a single billboard was purchased for the film, as would have been routine just a year ago. Tens of millions of dollars were saved by not bothering with a national television campaign.

Instead Paramount relied entirely on PR to drum up interest, on blogs and in the traditional media. Now I’m not sure if anyone in this audience has seen Paranormal Activity. I must admit I haven’t been able to fit it into my schedule just yet.

But having said that . . . this movie, launched virtually without advertising, hasn’t done all that badly.

It cost $10,000 dollars to make. So far it’s earned – more than 100-million dollars. Notice that word: earned.

Increasingly, that really is what it’s all about for companies. Earned reputation, the viral spread, the credibility that is inherent when someone is writing or speaking favorably about you even though they’re not getting paid to do so.

Someone writing or speaking about you who is in the conversation.

In the flow of it.

It is a global conversation.

But if the needs of so many businesses are global, because they have expanded their business globally, they haven’t necessarily developed a global brand.

This is I think a very key point for all of us.

Mergers and acquisitions create global reach. Supply chains thread across the planet. Sales are global.

Reputation, on the other hand, still needs to be managed locally. And reputation, as I said earlier, increasingly is brand. It is who you are as a company to the customers who buy, or don’t buy, what you sell.

Your success as a company will rise or fall as much on the strength of your reputation as on the quality of what you sell.

Reputation must be managed, 24/7, with a global vision, in a global economy.

Any company that is not structured for global brand stewardship is putting itself at risk.

We live and work in a world in which everything communicates. Everything connects. Or disconnects -fails to connect.

In a world and in an economy and in a media environment in which a brand is what a brand does. And everyone is watching.

PR is reputation and reputation increasingly is brand as much as what a company sells . . . from Texas – to Tashkent.

Tashkent is the capitol of Uzbekistan. A couple of years ago, through an affiliate, Ketchum had the only PR consultancy there. That’s now expanded to five other companies, I believe. Which in itself says something about our industry.

I was walking to school with my girls just before my first trip to Uzbekistan. I asked them to guess which country Daddy was flying to.

It begins with a “u” I said.

“Yew Nork” my little one said right away.

Her nine-year-old sister then piped up, not unreasonably: “United States.”

Nope, said I, Uzbekistan.

Now, in Uzbekistan, it turns out, when it comes to PR in the 21^st-century . . . they’re not in it for the T-shirts, caps, or party planning either.

Now as I said earlier, I do love to learn about the places I go.

I learned that Uzbekistan is the world’s second-largest exporter of cotton.

I learned that it is one of only two double land-locked countries on the planet that is a country completely surrounded by other land-locked countries.

The second?

Begins with an L? . . .

That would be Liechtenstein.

Now, I also learned about the consumption of something called a – Lamborghini. This is a concoction in a martini glass. Which is set on fire. Then it is drunk through a straw.

This, then, is followed by the drinker being hit in the head with a baseball bat.

It’s a drink with a kick.

When the bats came out that explained why everyone with a Lamborghini in front of them when I walked into the bar . . . had been wearing a construction helmet.

Travel does broaden the mind.

But -- to get back to the subject at hand. . .

What public relations professionals talk about in Tashkent is what we are talking about right here. Connections – and the power of PR.

A man named Akmal Saidov is the Managing Director of our Affiliate there. He doesn’t offer caps and party planning.

He did tell me many clients first come to him thinking he will. Or some variation of it. Many still think PR amounts to putting up a bunch of banners.

But they quickly realize that what’s on offer is media relations – and social media. Akmal and I are Facebook friends. There is a bit of re-education on this front too, in a culture used to paying for press.

But Akmal told me his clients learn fast what’s really of value to them.

Relationships. Connections.

Just as we sometimes do, selling against advertising, Akmal asks a prospective client a simple question:

What do you believe more, an ad on TV or an article in the newspaper?

And then he talks about credibility.

And trust.

And I thought – in Tashkent, a million miles from London, from New York, from Lima – as professionals, we aren’t separated much at all, Akmal and me.

So, whether you’re here, in Lima, or in Tashkent, or anywhere else in public relations right now -- what needs to be done?

How do we tie it all together? What are the key things we need to do for our clients in the world we live in now so that what radiates out to the world as a brand – its reputation – connects.

Cuts through the noise. Breaks through.

Well – there’s nothing to it.

(A colleague of mine at Ketchum recently laid it out.)

Our clients need to be, and we need to help them become - nothing more or less than . . . globally scalable, locally relevant, fully integrated, multi-stakeholder, reality-based, real-time, issues-oriented, digitally engaging, creatively bold, socially responsible, results-delivering, on-budget, and precisely measured.

Nothing more. Nothing less. In the world we live in now.

Let me move through that cascade with a bit more focus.

Everything required of us as consultancies must enable the following for our clients:

To be globally scalable. For a client to be globally scalable they need to drive consistency in many countries. That means quality talent and high standards in many countries. That means common standards. Across borders. Across oceans. And across continents.

At the same time, companies need our help to be locally relevant. Clients need in fact hyper-local knowledge and insight. Provided by deep local relationships, and connections.

As consultancies, we need to listen in to the world, to the planet, on behalf of our clients. And we must have a 24/7 ear to the ground on main streets from Lima…to St. Petersburg, Russia, to St. Petersburg, Florida, and from Beijing, to Bogotá, and everywhere in between.

Globally scalable, locally relevant. That needs to be integrated.

And we need to encourage and help enable clients to be fully integrated. There must be integration within a company, discipline to discipline. It must be driven by a culture of collaboration, encouraged by our holistic management of corporate reputation. A company cannot manage just part of its reputation. As so many more consultancies are brought into the C-suite of companies, fuller integration enables more efficient, effective, more successful, and even happier, companies.

Companies that communicate well within their own four walls across disciplines tend to reflect that in the image they present to the marketplace. Companies that build a consistent message create a kind of connective tissue throughout their organization, are healthier, more harmonious. Our presence as communicators can and should encourage this.

Following on from that, this consistency of communication is also critical to ensure that clients are effective multi-stakeholders. The view needs to be a 360-degree view. Encompassing employees, investors, and policy makers.

Companies must also be for real. Reality-based. Again -- transparent. Communicative. Spin . . . is dead. In the world we live in now, in which a brand is what a brand does, that means an equal focus on everything it does -- 60-degree vigilance, as well as 360-degree communication. Across town and across the world.

And if companies must keep it real, they must also be aware that things happen in real-time. Everything happens fast. Real fast. Response times must reflect that. There’s no lag time. Companies must be provided the resources to respond with agility. To dive into news as it happens. It is necessary to become a part of the conversation as it is breaking out.

Being out ahead is really just being there in the first place. Positioning begins more before the fact than ever before. After is too late. That may seem obvious, but it didn’t used to be, necessarily, not too long ago. But then the news went 24/7. And then the news went digital.

Sometimes catch-up, of course, is inevitable. But if you’re catching up to a news cycle moving at warp speed, you need to be able to build on a compelling and persuasive story you have already been telling the world. It’s all breaking news now. The brand of 21st century news is in fact precisely that. Breaking news, all the time, however contrived that may be a lot of the time. That’s the way it is.

Which in turn contributes to how we must be issues-oriented. Because everything is now marketed through issues. Through that lens. The controversy lens, the breaking news lens. The public policy lens. Strong public affairs skills must be integrated into every campaign.

And every campaign, and everything we do, is, of course, digitized. We must ensure that our clients are digitally engaging.Search engines are the number one media. That’s where the action is, that’s where the eyeballs are. That is the filter. The first filter that opens eyes and ears to the conversations that are going to be listened to. Those are the conversations we must monitor – and fuel.

And we must do it in a way that is creatively bold. Clients need content that is a magnet. That breaks through. This requires from us creative risk taking. Educated, smart, but daring storytelling.

And we must tell a story that is socially responsible. Perhaps no aspect of reputation management right now is more capable of severely damaging a company than whether it is considered to be socially responsible.

That means responsible in how you make money, not just in how you spend it. That means real actions, genuine trustworthiness, woven into a company’s DNA. Action on behalf of the environment. The disadvantaged. Integrity in business life. Alliances with nonprofits.

And speaking of money, we are also in, as if anyone needs reminding, a very cost-conscious moment. Maybe a cost-conscious age, in fact. This may not change for a while. Companies must be on-budget. Everyone is under tremendous financial pressure. Which means, of course, those of us in this room too. That demands a commitment to fiscal responsibility. Discipline. Transparency. Creative boldness – in a financially conservative time.

Which leads to the last two in our list of nothing more – nothing less. One is basic . . . and one a bit more new to our industry.

First, every business we support must be truly results delivering. Must show R-O-I. This is basic, it’s essential. Campaigns must be focused on business outcomes.

What’s changed to an extent loops back to what I said about being reality based, in real time. More than ever in our industry, the business outcomes we deliver for clients must be capable of being precisely measured. We are in a metrics-based world. We must bring to bear the most advanced measurement techniques.

Now everything I just took us through – both what our companies need to be and how we need to help our clients – is about connecting up to the worldwide conversation. You’re either in that conversation – or you’re, so to speak, out of it. If your point of view is not present, that makes you vulnerable to being, at best, ignored . . . and at worst, damaged, when a reputation is suddenly challenged.

The Power of PR is our unique ability to enable that connection. To manage it, to embolden it, to sustain it.

Even the fiscal discipline demanded of us is now shaped and driven by the larger, global conversation about corporate financial responsibility. Companies must be listening, and talking back.

Companies must be connected by the power of PR.

Connected, to seize all the opportunity out there . . . to build partnerships of unprecedented sweep, daring, and precision.

When we get it right, when we win, in Tashkent or anywhere else, that means a connection has been made.

That is the power of PR.

It takes skill, creativity, determination. It takes brains – and it takes heart. You have to talk a good game, write a good game, visualize a good game. And you have to listen. To just about everyone and to just about everything.

You have to be connected to the world and the people in it and what they are doing and what they need and want to do and what they dream of doing.

Our power lies in the relationships that PR uniquely creates and protects.

We build reputations that are sustained on what companies do for the common good.

The world is an amazing place. And what we do in it, shaping the conversation, informing the decisions that affect billions of people, is just an incredible thing to be part of.

Sometimes I know we all feel like we’re running awfully hard. It can be tough to catch your breath in this business today. Everything moves very fast.

But for a guy from a one stoplight town, it’s a pretty great thing to be part of.

And . . . it is a lot easier on the legs, and the lungs, than those 17,000 foot mountain passes.

Our way of moving messages around is a lot more fun too.

Which . . . takes me back to the 3rd paragraph of this discussion, when I mentioned a moment early in my career in which PR was considered a superfluous extra – a throw in.

It was 25 years ago, and the occasion was a joint pitch with an advertising agency. And it went on and on. Not unlike this speech you may be saying to yourself. Until finally, crammed onto the last line of the last slide along with, literally, a list of add-on’s and sweeteners, was PR.

I mean, public relations came after, literally, “T-shirts, caps and visors and other stuff.” Other stuff!

If ever I harbored a sneaking suspicion that to the ad guys – and to some unwitting client prospects – that PR was the poor relation to advertising – that was the moment that confirmed it for me. And, truth be told, I have been motivated by that chip on my shoulder ever since.

We’ve come a long way.

If you love people, if you love learning about them and what they do, what they think and behave, what they care about, and helping them communicate – and connect – public relations is a powerful, often inspiring profession.

And there’s never been a greater time to be in it.

I look forward to speaking more with all of you – connecting with you -- through the course of this congress.

Thanks very much for listening. Buena suerte!

Council of Public Relations Firms 2009 Critical Issues Forum

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:50:55 -0500

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In a speech as outgoing Chairman of the Council of Public Relations Firms at the organization's Critical Issues Forum conference in October 2009, Ketchum Senior Partner and CEO Ray Kotcher reflects on the major events of the two years of his chairmanship and the major challenges and opportunities for the Council in the years ahead.

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Council of Public Relations Firms 2009 Critical Issues Forum

Ray Kotcher

Senior Partner and CEO, Ketchum

Vanderbilt Suites

New York, N.Y.

October 28, 2009

Good evening, and thank you all for being here tonight. It’s great to see so many colleagues and friends come together as members of the Council of Public Relations Firms, an organization I am proud to have chaired for the past two years. For me, gatherings like this reinforce the importance of belonging to the Council.

I want to thank two very special guests for joining us tonight: Pattie Sellers from Fortune magazine and Ambassador Karen Hughes. Pattie is one of the best business journalists and thinkers working today. What she has done with the Most Powerful Woman Summit is remarkable.

Karen Hughes is currently the Global Vice Chair at Burson-Marsteller. During her career, she has served as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, where she oversaw three State Department bureaus, and prior to that assignment, she served as counselor to President George W. Bush.

I also want to thank our board of directors, for your passion, for this business and for your commitment to this organization. We had a great meeting today, and there are several important initiatives in the works for 2010.

And speaking of most powerful women, the Council will be in great hands with incoming Chair Margery Kraus, who is the CEO of APCO Worldwide and one of our industry’s brightest and most forceful advocates.

I would also like to thank Davis & Gilbert, and, in particular, Michael Lasky, for the support and assistance you and your firm provide. Not only is Davis & Gilbert always ready to provide advice and expertise, Michael is one of the best new member recruiters the Council has. Thanks, Michael, for the many ways you and Davis & Gilbert support the Council

Tonight I want to take a few minutes to make some general observations on the past two years of my chairmanship, from an industry perspective and about our now-11-year-old organization.

And what a two-year span it has been: An economic meltdown, the election of the first African American president in the U.S., and an ongoing global and digital revolution that continues to shape our industry’s future.

While it may not be the easiest time to run a business, if you had to choose a business to run, or to start, I think a public relations consultancy is a damn good choice.

However, as strong as I think the prospects are for the public relations industry, I do think we are at a crossroads. It is true that public relations is more valued than ever. But we also have to continue to work hard to make sure it stays that way.

“We are all media now.” That’s a popular expression that I’ve heard quite a few times this year. As provocative as that phrase is meant to be, there’s clearly some truth in it. We’re never going back to the way it used to be. With each innovation, each online revelation, each market or cultural gyration, when it comes to the digital, media, and global communications landscape, we must accept the rapid pace of change, continue to be flexible, and innovate in order to continue provide client value.

It makes what we do so very interesting. It also makes what we do that much more important to our clients. And it makes what we do that much more competitive for our agencies – because other disciplines want what we have.

Therefore, as an industry, we must protect and advance our unique value proposition. We must continue to clearly define and articulate our place in the new world order and get even better at measuring our contributions to our clients’ businesses.

The Council is going to have a role here, and I’m passionate about this opportunity. In fact, I believe so strongly in this organization’s influence, and responsibility to the industry, I’ve already committed to the Council’s board that I’ll spearhead an effort for the next year. We’re calling it the Gold Ring, and it will involve proprietary research as well as outreach to clients and other purchasers of public relations services.

As we all expected, 2009 has been a challenging year, especially when compared to the past several years of steady and robust growth.

We are hoping for the best in 2010. I, for one, am optimistic. The most recent Council survey indicated that most of you are cautiously optimistic as well.

Despite all the economic challenges of the past year, member retention at the Council was more than 90% this year -- which is where it usually is. I can’t think of a better testimonial to the relevance and strength of the organization than that.

I said at the outset that meetings like this one are great reminders of the value of membership. But it’s the stuff that gets done between the annual meetings that’s really important.

As a refresher, I want to make the point tonight that the Council has been beneficial to member firms by developing and promoting programs that adhere to this organization’s guiding principles. Those principles are . . .

To focus on best practices and standards
To demonstrate the value of public relations firms
To encourage and promote the highest ethical behavior
To help member firms meet the needs of the market
To encourage innovation
To commit to building and continuously redefining the market
To help expand the talent pool
And to promote and protect the common interests of member firms.

Outside these walls, we compete. Inside, we collaborate. And we collaborate quite well. The Council’s 10th anniversary Gives Back program, which many of your firms took part in, is a wonderful case in point. Member firms contributed their time and conducted workshops for nonprofits in six U.S. markets.

The results went way beyond what we expected. More than 30 member firms participated; close to 400 nonprofit organizations attended, and all six events were sellouts. It was a great demonstration of the Council’s ability to mobilize its members for a worthy cause, not to mention a convincing showcase for the strength of this industry’s digital know-how.

The Council always has an eye on the issues. Most recently we have provided our members guidance related to the new changes in the Federal Trade Commission Guides concerning the use of spokespeople and testimonials.

Again, thanks to our friends, and tonight’s sponsor, Davis & Gilbert, for developing these materials for the Council, and, as always providing us with exceptional counsel on important industry matters.

With Margery taking over as Chair, you can bet that issues management will be a top priority in 2010.

Ethics is an area that the Council takes very seriously. We continue to revise and update our statement of principles, most recently adding language about working with online influencers and the importance of transparency. This document, which every member is required to sign each year, helps distinguish the Council and its members and what we stand for, which is honest, ethical business practices that our employees can be proud of and our clients can depend on. Many of you have attended the Ethical Decision Making training sessions that we held over the past few years -- that training was developed and contributed by my firm, Ketchum, and Davis & Gilbert. There will be more of those sessions in the future.

Looking outward: The Council continues to build an impressive multichannel platform from which to share our news and opinions with a broader audience.

Firm Voice is now in its second year of publication, reaching thousands of readers every other week. It is a project that I developed and believe in strongly – an online publication dedicated solely to the PR agency world. Today, it is reaching not only agencies, but clients, media and students who want to learn about our business – it has a distribution of 60,000 and 5,000 – 7500 opens per issue.

I want to share with you a reader’s comment from earlier this month that I think says a lot about this publication. It’s from a CEO of a small marketing company about an article that focused on what clients were anticipating in 2010:

This article is fantastic. The information is invaluable. It would cost our company thousands of dollars to gather this insight. I forwarded your article to my entire team and set a strategic planning discussion for next week to ensure that our goals and objectives are aligned with the recommendations in this article. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this article. You are making a difference in the industry, one agency at a time.

Firm Voice has been a great source of visibility for the Council and its members. It really does shine a light on the exceptional work being done by our members, especially through the Best Practices articles, which are a mini “viral” phenomenon on their own.

Then there are the social media tools we use. You can find the Council on Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, Flickr -- Constantly spreading our messages, and showcasing the best that the public relations industry – and our members -- has to offer.

I want to conclude tonight by asking you to renew your commitment to this organization. You can do this, not just by writing a check (though that’s always appreciated) but also by giving your time and your firm’s resources as we continue to reach for greater heights. Our active members run successful firms, but they find time to serve on committees, participate in events and programs that are relevant for their firms, or lend creative resources, like Coyne PR and Imre – just to name two -- did this year.

Thanks to the Council’s staff as well. We appreciate your commitment to the industry.

It has been a pleasure serving as your Chair. Getting to know so many of you individually as well as the work of your firms has given me a great deal of confidence in our industry’s future as well as the Council’s future. I think we are just starting to hit our stride. Thank you.

Transparency, Collaboration and Public Service: Three Opportunities for Public Relations as a Global Profession

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:40:05 -0400

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In a speech at the Center for Global Public Relations at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, in February 2009, Ketchum Senior Counsel John Paluszek discusses how transparency, collaboration and public service represent three of the biggest opportunities for public relations.

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Transparency, Collaboration and Public Service: Three Opportunities for Public Relations as a Global Profession

John Paluszek

Senior Counsel, Ketchum

The Center for Global Public Relations, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Charlotte, N.C.

February 21, 2009

“Three connected opportunities...[for] the global public relations profession … are: transparency, collaboration and public service.”

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you, Dean, for that very kind introduction.

Here at the outset of what promises to be a very engaging day of discussion about global public relations, I’d like to offer just a bit of prologue – perhaps a context – for the galaxy of speakers, starting with Ambassador Ed Brynn, who will follow. I’m also hoping that after Ambassador Brynn and I offer our brief remarks, you will join us in a spirited dialogue about this fascinating and seminal subject.

But first, I must congratulate the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, for its wisdom in establishing the Center for Global Public Relations – and its extremely good fortune in luring my friend and colleague Dr. Dean Kruckeberg to serve as its executive director. Dean has probably traveled more miles internationally than some U.S. secretaries of state, on a mission almost as sweeping as theirs – the development of public relations education in countries around the world.

Dean has asked that today we examine the “challenges of 21st century global public relations.”

With just a bit of sleight of mind, I’m going to convert that word “challenges” to the word “opportunities.”

As you know, that’s something public relations professionals often accomplish.

So I have a short list of the fascinating, overarching opportunities – actually three such connected opportunities -- that come to mind when I contemplate the global public relations profession in this century. They are transparency, collaboration and public service, and I present them under the title “Public Relations: Global Profession.”

I chose that title because it’s much more direct, much snappier, than an alternative that I considered: “The Peripatetic Public Relations Professional: What I Saw and Heard in Russia, China, India, Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Italy and Switzerland.” Besides, I think that Dean has probably delivered that paper – or something like it – on many occasions.

(Incidentally, let’s not be distracted as to whether public relations meets the classic definition of a “profession.” After all, we do have a code of ethics; we’ve developed a vast body of knowledge -- although it’s so vast that it’s difficult to codify; we are certainly dedicated to research; and, with the fine work now being done at our colleges and universities on outcomes assessment, we’re moving gradually in the direction of an entry credential.)

(Too, there’s the dictionary definition of a profession – a definition that certainly supports my title – a profession is “a vocation or occupation requiring advanced education and training and involving intellectual skills.”)

So to the matters at hand: What are the outstanding opportunities for global public relations in the 21st century?

The first overarching opportunity for the public relations profession today is the growing demand for transparency in institutions of all kinds here and around the world.

I need not remind you of the vast transparency deficit that has plunged global society into economic distress. And we need not discuss “credit default swaps” or subprime mortgages to get to the heart of the transparency issue.

The core of transparency issue is its effect on public trust and confidence.

It’s encouraging to note that public relations professionals are already addressing this issue. Witness initiatives such as the Arthur Page Society’s Authentic Enterprise program and the Edelman Trust Barometer.

But to reduce this issue to its simplest terms, it may be helpful to consider the old Johnny Mercer song: “Ac-centuate the positive, and e-liminate the negative.” (I could sing a few bars, but it would probably clear the room.)

Of course, I’m not suggesting that an organization should make everything public. There is valuable proprietary information –- especially in the case of national security and intelligence information – that warrants protection. But public relations counsel should rank with legal counsel in helping management make the necessary distinctions.

In this connection, many years ago, Justice Louis Brandeis offered us a valuable piece of advice when he said, “Sunshine is the best disinfectant.”

And, to help us better appreciate the power of effective communications, playwright Tom Stoppard has written “If you get the right words in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”

Now some of you may be wondering why I haven’t given the “new information technology” – social media and social networking – equal ranking among the overarching current global public relations opportunities.

There’s a very simple answer: While I’m sure that its impact on our field will be substantial, I haven’t figured out what exactly that impact will be.

Yes, consumers and citizens are increasingly being empowered and dialogue is expanding in many directions. And it’s true that public relations departments and counseling firms are racing with advertising experts and others to add relevant expertise. Ketchum CEO Ray Kotcher once described this race as analogous to the early twentieth century Oklahoma land rush.

So I will just listen attentively to other speakers today to learn how the new information technology is likely to affect global public relations.

But my friends, all these things being said, “transparency” is largely our turf. How we handle it in the many organizations in which we toil may well define how public relations prospers in this century.

The second seminal opportunity public relations professionals can, and must, now address is the increasing need for collaboration at the many levels of society.

Some time ago, an American diplomat, Vernon Walters, offered this global aspiration: “Let us make the world so economically interdependent that war will go out of style”

OK, as we as all know, you have to be careful what you wish for – the current global economic crisis has spread like a virus around the world because we have, indeed, achieved a great degree of global interconnectedness in the financial world.

We should also consider the admonition of the great American philosopher Woody Allen, who has told us that “Yes, the lamb may lie down with the lion, but one of them is going to spend a sleepless night.”

But having said that, there’s no denying that we are all already connected globally on many levels, so we had better get this connectedness right. Capital flows, immigration, information technology, trade, health, poverty, security and regional conflicts all have significant fallouts far from their points of origin.

The opportunity here is for public relations professionals to bring their training and experience to the formation of collaborative, effective partnerships – win-win partnerships that contribute to mutual progress. As Harold Burson has so wisely observed, public relations has evolved to the point where today we often deliver counsel on policy/performance as well as communications per se.

And many years ago, Allan Center told us that as a profession public relations has as its fundamental mission in society . . . harmony.

Fortunately, we are well on our way in this mission. Public relations educators have been in the forefront – teaching abroad in places like Qatar and Slovenia, the old Soviet Union and the new China. And they’ve been publishing many relevant texts, such as Dr. Judy Van Slyke Turk’s co-authorship of a book on public relations in less-developed countries.

And our professional societies have been hard at it as well. The Institute for Public Relations has expanded its work internationally; The recent International Public Relations Association symposium in Beijing focused on IPRA’s latest Gold Paper, “Public Relations and Collaboration: The Role of Public Relations and Communications Supporting Collaboration in a Complex, Converging World.” And The Public Relations Society of America’s International Section sponsors conferences, some at United Nations headquarters, on compelling global communications issues, often reprising these subjects in the society’s Strategist and Tactics publications.

Also, many public relations professionals -- in companies, counseling firms and nonprofit organizations – have built impressive win-win partnerships in the area of corporate social responsibility. Think Wal-Mart and the Environmental Defense Fund.

But perhaps you know all that, so Dean has asked me to touch briefly on two enterprises with which you may not be so familiar. They are the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, and the Commission on Public Relations Education.

The Global Alliance for Public Relations is, in effect, PRSA times 63. In other words, it’s an eight-year-old cooperative of national and regional public relations professional societies in 63 countries spanning the world. Its aggregate membership, via its member societies, is about 160,000; these public relations professionals can attend any of the many member-society conferences around the world at member fees.

GA’s mantra is “One Profession, One Voice.” That’s meant as a call to service the profession around the world. So GA has coordinated a global protocol on ethics and is developing universal accreditation options. And it has produced a very valuable series of national profiles of how public relations is practiced in countries around the world – about 20 such “PR Landscapes.”

And GA, in collaboration with the U.S.-based Commission on Public Relations Education, has just launched a study of public relations curriculum standards among in countries around the world. For more on the GA, consult its Web site: www.globalpr.org.

The Commission on Public Relations, as many of you no doubt know, has for decades published recommendations on undergraduate and graduate public relations education. In that connection, you may well know of the Commission’s most recent study, called “The Professional Bond, Public Relations Education And The Practice.” We’re happy to report that the study’s executive summary is now available in translation in five languages – Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Arabian. You can check it out on the commission’s Web site at www.commpred.org.

As I mentioned a moment ago, GA and the Commission are collaborating on a three-phase global research program, managed by Dr. Elizabeth Toth at the University of Maryland, to identify public relations curriculum standards in many parts of the world. Elizabeth is renowned for her many initiatives in international public relations education.

We hope to publish the study, the result of Web site research as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis, this fall.

The third stimulating opportunity facing the public relations profession is that of expanded public service.

Yes, many public relations educators and practitioners have long been involved in pro bono efforts with nonprofit organizations at the local, and even the national, levels. And more such efforts certainly are encouraged.

But for a moment, let’s take public relations public service to the macro level and reflect on the opportunity that history has now given us to make a significant contribution on the world stage by helping the United States mount a truly effective “public diplomacy” program.

Ambassador Brynn and Bob Grupp may speak to this subject more authoritatively and at greater length, so I’ll be brief.

“Public diplomacy,” in essence, should also be our turf.

After all, where is it written that some of the most informed, experienced and articulate communications professionals in America should not play a role in the “global marketplace of ideas”?

Where is that stone tablet that says that well-prepared and motivated communicators – international public relations professionals – should not help in the vital development of America’s coming “soft power” initiatives?

Fortunately, there is good news here. The parade is forming to support a genuine, new, robust American “public diplomacy” capability -- and several public relations professionals and organizations are at, or near, the head of that parade.

One such organization is Business for Diplomatic Action. BDA -- composed of leaders from public relations, advertising, academia, government, think tanks and civil society – which is organizing a special task force to keep “public diplomacy” high on this administration’s agenda. Yes, even with all the complex, existential economic issues now facing the country and the world.

The BDA effort is somewhat analogous to the U.S.I.A.’s private sector advisory group Harold Burson chaired during the Reagan administration. Harold’s committee offered that administration counsel on people-to-people diplomacy based largely on a series of meetings we held with high-level Soviet communicators in Moscow and Washington. A few in this room today may remember “glasnost” and “perestroika.”

Now I will simply conclude by confessing to you that with such opportunities – such exciting prospects for applying public relations to the interconnected 21st-century world -- I do have one regret:

I wish I were starting in public relations all over again.

Thank you.

Transparency: The Lingua Franca of Communications in an Interconnected World

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:05:46 -0500

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Ketchum Senior Counsel John Paluszek explains how transparency has become the new order of the day in an increasingly interconnected world, in a commencement speech at the Unversity of Lugano in November 2008.

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Transparency: The Lingua Franca of Communications in an Interconnected World

John Paluszek, Senior Counsel, Ketchum

Commencement Address to Graduates, Executive Master of Science in Communications Management, University of Lugano

Lugano, Switzerland

Nov. 15, 2008

“May you live in interesting times”

“Let us make the world so economically-interdependent that war will go out of style.”

“If you get the right words in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”

Thank you, Nina, for that very kind introduction. And thank you, Executive Masters of Science in Communications Management, for allowing me to participate in your well-earned celebration today.

However, right here at the outset of my visit with you I have a confession to make.

I am so impressed with your program and your achievement – and have so much to share with you – that if I were allowed to deliver it all, we’d be here for several days.

Or at least, I would be here for several days -- no doubt standing alone, proclaiming to an empty hall.

So my confession is that I will simply offer, as it were, “topical sentences” on a number of selected subjects that I believe are relevant to transparency and to your continued progress in integrating communications into strategic management.

I’m sure that each of you can expand and round out these comments admirably.

In addressing the critical importance of transparency in our interconnected world, today and tomorrow, I offer you three trenchant aphorisms as pillars to support this theme:

“May you live in interesting times”

You will, of course, recognize that as the ancient Chinese maxim. We are now living in “interesting times” on steroids. And change on steroids. What opportunities that offers for strategic communications!

“Let us make the world so economically interdependent that war will go out of style.”

Shortly after the end of the Cold War, an American diplomat, Vernon Walters, offered this prayer-like aspiration without, of course, anticipating the unintended consequences – pro and con – that it might represent for policy makers and communicators alike.

“If you get the right words in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”

The brilliant playwright Tom Stoppard has graced us communicators with this bit of inspiration. To us, it is left to discern: What kind of words – what kind of transparency -- will nudge our organizations and the world a little – or a lot – in the right directions?

Let’s expand a bit on each of these maxims.

“May you live in interesting times.”

1. The evolving world order: A multi-polar global society.

I was recently taken by a comment in this regard by Jose Joffe, a renowned Atlanticist, now publisher-editor of the German weekly Die Zeit. He suggested that Europe and America might be different in their outlooks, yet together they make up The West. “The appropo metaphor”, Joffe wrote, is the Notre Dame cathedral: “common nave, two separate spires, one lofty building.”

On a much broader level -- the global level -- in just a few hours, leaders from the G20 group of nations will convene in Washington D.C. in the first of a series of meetings to discuss the current financial crisis – the global financial crisis – and ways to prevent it recurring.

As you know, the G20 group includes the G7 group of major industrial economies as well as key “developing” (quote/unquote) countries such as China, India and Brazil.

And later this month, the United Nations will establish what it is calling a High Level Task Force of Experts “to undertake a comprehensive review of the international financial system … to secure a more stable global economic order.”

There are, of course, many other seminal developments in the evolving interconnected world order involving trade, capital flows, immigration, health, poverty, security and conflict.

Which of these will influence the future of your organization? And, more relevant to your now-proven expertise, on which of these issues is your organization prepared to act and to communicate internally and/or externally?

(Parenthetically, it may be of interest that the Public Affairs Council in Washington next week will present a webinar entitled, “Transparency and Lobbying in the European Union.”)

2. Business in society/Society in business: The new partnerships.

Those of you who have followed the evolution of corporate social responsibility – also called sustainability, or the other designations for business in society – you know full well that Europe has been well ahead of North America in planning and implementing these vital commitments.

So it will probably come as little surprise to you that CSR/Sustainability has entered a new phase. Many business leaders are now convinced that there is a strong business case for such commitments. They see CSR moving from risk management to value creation.

But increasingly, they also understand that for transparency, credibility and operational results, it’s becoming necessary to partner with what once might have been thought of as “strange bedfellows.” – non-governmental-organizations and governments.

At a United Nations Global Compact meeting in New York last week I was impressed with reports from NGO organizations such as Oxfam International and The World Wildlife Federation that referred to many such partnerships around the world.

And in Beijing this week the International Public Relations Association is reflecting on it’s new IPRA Gold Paper entitled, “Public Relations and Collaboration: The Role of Public Relations and Communications Supporting Collaboration in a Complex, Converging World.” I commend it to your attention.

3. Digital Communications: Progress but not without cost.

Economists have traditionally called it “creative destruction.”

The New York Times, in a recent headline, called it “Mourning Old Media’s Destruction as Assisted by New Media.”

As well-prepared strategic communicators you know, of course, the effect that the new communications technology is having in speeding change in our society – and you no doubt know how to deal with the plethora of on-line communicators who might influence the future of your organization.

But on the flip side, the resulting reductions in editorial staff -- that is reporters, columnists and editors –as well as the shrinking “news hole” at newspapers and magazines will have some very disturbing consequences.

A speaker at the recent American Magazine Conference put it bluntly: If the great brands in journalism – the trusted news sources readers have relied on – were to vanish, then the Web alone would quickly become a “cesspool” of useless information.

The speaker: Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google.

4. A U-turn for the U.S.? The potential Obama effect.

“The modern [U.S.] presidency is as much a vehicle for communication as for decision-making, and the relevant audiences are global.”

That’s a quote from The New Yorker magazine on the eve of the U.S. presidential election. (Incidentally, the linkage of communication and decision-making in that quote sounds a very welcome note, wouldn’t you say?)

Now that the “euphoria” in many parts of America and the reported “worldwide jubilation” over the election of Senator Obama are beginning to abate, some sober reflection is taking root.

It’s now becoming clear that we must manage expectations, a subject we strategic communicators know something about.

President-elect Obama faces a formidable “to-do” list. In a nation that is deeply troubled financially and mired in recession, he must lead in stabilizing the economy while addressing issues that include tax policy, healthcare, energy, trade, deteriorating infrastructure and a collapsing auto industry.

Having said that, however, I nevertheless believe that future American foreign policy will reflect a new kind of American leadership – one that recognizes the evolving world order.

It will be a foreign policy that seeks increased cooperation with many countries, multilateral organizations and other institutions; addresses more humanitarian challenges around the world; and applies the public diplomacy and transparency that is inherent in the informational, educational and cultural exchanges administered by the once successful but now dormant U.S. Information Agency.

But it will take some time to reverse course on the U.S. foreign policy of the last eight years. Please be patient.

5. Strategic Communication/Public Relations: A global profession.

On behalf of the Public Relations Society of America and the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, I have traveled from home to five continents in recent years.

I have been astounded – and greatly encouraged –in how strategic communications and public relations is taking root around the world.

Yes, there are rightfully many adaptations of this fundamental concept depending on local political, economic and social traditions and conditions. But I can attest that even in places like China, Russia and a number of emerging economies these communications disciplines are being studied and applied in an impressive manner and degree.

One of the best resources for seeing how this is coming together is, of course, the Global Alliance. I suggest that if you have not recently done so, visit the GA Web site: www.globalalliancepr.org.

And as we congratulate all of the graduates today, added good wishes go to the four Global Alliance scholarship winners.

“Let us make the world so economically-interdependent that war will go out of style.”

We do have to be careful what we wish for, don’t we?

1. The global financial crisis mandates new global cooperation.

The current global financial crisis has stimulated, as perhaps nothing like it before, a willingness to coordinate policy and performance across oceans.

In the run-up to today’s financial summit in Washington, the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, sounded what may well be the coming global zeitgeist when he said:

“Given that the world has never been more interconnected, it is essential that we work together because we are all in this crisis together.”

At these and other such meetings there is now serious discussion of creating new multilateral institutions to reform or replace the global organizations established at Breton Woods in the aftermath of World War II – institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank.

And much of this discussion centers on the transparency that new financial regulations should require to re-build and retain investors’ trust.

The need for such transparency was recently articulated by the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He wrote:

“Because of the truly global nature of the over-the-counter derivatives market, we will need to work closely with other governments in other major markets… the cross-border impacts of the current market problems are obvious to all.”

2. Global issues are now begetting new international standards.

We all know, of course, about the arduous progress made in recent years to address global climate change – Kyoto, for example.

But new international standards are also developing on a number of other fronts as well.

For example, “a global approach to enhance [financial] market confidence” was recently announced jointly by the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. These boards stressed the need for “responding in a timely manner that improves transparency and provides greater global consistency in financial reporting.”

Similarly, the international NGOs Verite and CREA, are now facilitating a project to “build consensus around a universal set of standards for … competence in social auditors.”

Downstream a bit, expect new global standards or codes of conduct not only for greenhouse gases but also for water management.

3. The globalization good news: Higher standards of living, better quality of life.

It’s been said that globalization is like a wave … you either ride it or are drowned by it.

In essence, globalization is basically the inter-action among the peoples of the world. For thousands of years it has meant trade, travel and the exchange of goods, ideas and values.

In recent decades, this inter-action—this globalization – has helped many economies around the world develop from ”emerging” to “emerged” with a better life for millions of people.

But in this century we’re called on to address what some have termed “responsible” globalization – the attempt to prevent exploitation in all international transactions.

That will be an important part of the challenge for your generation of trained strategic communicators. I believe you are more than ready for it.

“If you get the right words in the right order, you can nudge the world a bit.”

Without elaboration – because I believe they need no elaboration – I present these “right words in the right order”:

1. “Every idea should be fully, frequently and fearlessly discussed [lest it] be held as dead dogma, not a living truth.” -- John Stuart Mill

2. “Information is the currency of democracy.” – Thomas Jefferson

3. “Its name is Public Opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God.” – Mark Twain

I will delay your commencement and celebration just a moment longer to conclude, as I started, with a confession:

I envy you.

With this commencement, you are most fortunate to be completing a significant phase of your professional development – a phase of your life-long learning – at a most propitious time. It is nothing less than a time when the world order is being transformed.

You are now equipped to participate in – and to help effect – that seismic change.

Congratulations to all and Godspeed!

Dancing Backward in High Heels: Communication Challenges for Rapidly-Developing Economies

admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:48:27 -0500

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In a speech before the International Public Relations Association 2008 World Congress in Beijing, Ketchum Senior Partner and CEO Ray Kotcher discusses how the rules of competition and communication are changing rapidly in a way that every company needs to pay attention to, if it is to stay around in today’s global marketplace.

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Ray Kotcher

Senior Partner and CEO, Ketchum

International Public Relations Association 2008 World Congress

Beijing

Nov. 14, 2008

Thank you very much for inviting me to speak today. I really value taking part in events like these – not because I get to share my ideas, but because I have a chance to listen to yours in the course of the conference. I’m particularly interested in hearing about the issues, challenges and opportunities that different companies face – whether it’s an American company trying to expand in China, or a Chinese company expanding abroad into Europe and North America. So, it is an honor to be here today as a speaker and as a proud sponsor of this important conference.

I’m lucky that in my position I get to travel a fair bit. It’s allowed me to see how trends develop from different angles, and one of those trends is what I’d like to discuss today. Globalization has been a long-discussed factor for international businesses and something that, as communicators, we’ve had to address in many forms over the last few years.

Globalization has created opportunities and challenges for businesses, governments, citizens and consumers alike. As a process of integration, globalization has made economic growth possible in parts of the world that have been desperate for positive change. And the increased sophistication of communication technologies allows people to understand the world beyond their own sphere. Yet, at the same time, many countries and societies are feeling growing pains because of the sheer extent, impact and velocity of change.

As much as we talk about globalization, I think we miss the forest for the trees. It helps to step back and re-examine just how globalization as a process is affecting us, particularly in how we communicate.

Of the challenges that globalization has wrought – and with which most are still grappling – is an increased amount of integration and competition among markets. The recent turmoil in the financial markets around the world is just one indication of how connected and interdependent the world has become. What started out as a problem for the U.S. economy has steadily spread to affect nearly every corner of the world.

But this is just one issue among many. Understanding how globalization continues to reshape our world is another important issue, much of which has to do with how we communicate and with whom we’re communicating.

From a business standpoint, integration has thrown open national boundaries. As the process gained speed in the late 1980s and the 1990s, Western companies looked east and south to the developing world for new opportunities – often in the form of lower-cost manufacturing and cheaper materials – and to develop new consumer markets.

Because of this, capital and management skills flowed from the West, and the speed of growth in a number of markets was greatly accelerated by their increased integration with the global economy.

Growth in places like China, Russia, Mexico and Brazil has been such that these once-developing states are now emerging competitors for the U.S. and other Western economies, and with one another.

According to a recent article in Time magazine by Harold Sirkin, a senior partner of The Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting company, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Russia and Turkey are home to the next wave of global challengers – the new brand names and innovators leading multiple markets in sales of goods and services.

The speed of their rise shouldn’t be underestimated. Remember that a decade ago the idea of an industry-leading technology company from South Korea wouldn’t have been taken seriously anywhere. But today, Samsung is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative companies.

Companies such as China’s Haier and Lenovo are quickly moving up the same path. They are already serious competition to their Western counterparts in the mainland and are taking on markets outside of Asia. It won’t be long before they are mounting serious challenges to their rivals in the markets of Europe and North America.

And the same thing is underway in a number of other emerging markets right now.

As the footprints of these new competitors grow, the rules of competition and communication are changing rapidly – in a way that every company needs to pay attention to if they are going to stay around for long.

The primary challenge for the emerging competitors will be adjusting to the expectations of how companies communicate outside their home markets. The learning curve these companies face will become increasingly steep as they expand past their national borders. Western markets have a different set of standards and biases that must be acknowledged and addressed to ensure success.

Some of you will remember Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, a dancing team and the darlings of Hollywood in the 1930s. Fred Astaire today is remembered as an actor, singer and choreographer – but most of all as one of the greatest dancers of his century.

Ginger Rogers is remembered mainly as Fred Astaire’s partner, not as a great dancer herself. But it should be pointed out that as great a dancer as Fred was, Ginger matched him step-for-step – and her steps were backward and in high heel shoes.

I think of this when I look at companies from emerging markets that are trying to break into North America or Europe. They face the same barriers to entry as any other company. But like Ginger, they will have to dance just as well as better-known companies. And they must do it backward in high heels. Or in the case of businesses, they must match the performance of their competitors in the context of an environment with long-held stereotypes and misperceptions.

Biases – whether they are a result of political or historical issues or just a product of a lack of familiarity with other countries and cultures – affect how consumers, policy makers and business leaders see companies from countries such as Mexico, China, Turkey and Russia, and how they make decisions regarding them.

For example, Russia – which we advise – is an easy target in the U.S. marketplace. American politicians face almost no risk in challenging and criticizing Russia and can play up their stance against the country to win political support. Ultimately, this affects not only the bilateral relations between governments, but also how consumers and businesses perceive Russian business opportunities.

A number of countries, including China, have been in this position before. Because of this, any company looking to the U.S., Canada or Western Europe must include this factor in its communication planning.

As we learned from CNOOC’s failed bid for Unocal and the controversy over Dubai Ports in the U.S., mindsets stuck in the past can affect businesses. But there are more subtle and recent examples.

Take TNK-BP, for instance. It is jointly owned by Russian and Western investors. For years the company operated without a hitch, but ultimately its two main investor groups found themselves at odds. This certainly isn’t the first time that financiers, investors and business owners have competed for control of an organization, and it happens as much in New York and London as it does anywhere else.

Yet many media reports of the disagreements played on stereotypes of the Russian investment environment. These news stories would have you believe that the Russian investors were attempting to pull a fast one on their foreign peers, and that they were using the system and possible government help to do so.

This story lasted for months, no doubt convincing audiences around the world that Russia had not established a fair market dynamic, or at the very least sowing seeds of doubt.

When ultimately the two sides came to an agreement without resorting to the courts, the story sank from the pages of international news to the back of the business section.

The story that challenged stereotypes got considerably less attention than the more exciting one that reinforced pre-existing notions and misperceptions.

This doesn’t mean that emerging competitors are facing an insurmountable challenge as they look to the West for growth, but it does mean that they have to be aware of the challenges they will have to overcome in a new market.

It’s also important to understand how some of these stereotypes are created. Often the lack of knowledge toward a country or region leads audiences to make broad generalizations.

For example, China’s manufacturing sector was painted with a broad brush as lacking quality controls and standards after problems over pet food, toothpaste and toy products were widely covered in the international press in 2007. This created a belief among consumers in North America and Europe that ALL Chinese products were potentially unsafe.

And unfortunately, no matter the number and range of high-quality and safe products that come out of China, any additional problems with the quality of the mainland’s goods will propel this perception.

This takes me to my next point – nothing is local anymore.

In addition to the way that media coverage sometimes reinforces stereotypes and misperceptions, the expanded speed and breadth of coverage also increases the amount of information that people look at.

This has created a compelling duality. On the one hand, the speed of communication and amount of information available can result in rapid change in how we see the world.

On the other hand, people have a tendency to bucket ideas in ways that we already understand. So, much of the new information that we have to deal with is collapsed into already existing molds.

When these two factors work together, new stereotypes can be created overnight, and once established, they are incredibly difficult to change.

Take the recent issue around tainted baby formula in China’s dairy product market. On its own, this was an issue that primarily affected Chinese consumers. Had something similar happened a few years ago, it would have been fairly insignificant to international audiences.

However, on the back of last year’s stories, this now has resonance well beyond China. It was interesting to see that in the midst of a very busy news cycle nearly every major paper in the U.S. covered the ongoing events with the melamine crisis in a significant way.

It didn’t impact America in a serious way, but news readers in the States were still interested. The issue of quality control in China had been linked to our personal interests because of problems widely reported last year, and the milk contamination story further reinforced attitudes and opinions.

What happened is that new attitudes and beliefs have been established. In the future, any stories tied to product quality and safety in China will find a ready international audience, and Chinese products will be put under a microscope.

This is an issue that ultimately ties to China’s GDP, because the country is an intrinsic part of the global manufacturing chain. Beliefs and attitudes drive our actions, and if consumers feel that they cannot trust Chinese-made goods, that will affect businesses in China.

A lot of what I’ve discussed already relates to how disparate audiences are now tied together more closely. As much as audiences are connected, they also are becoming more active. Digital technology has made it possible for nearly anyone to take part in stories as they develop.

This, coupled with the factors above, makes managing communication much more important. As journalists seek new sources of information – and as more people create their own widely available news and editorial content – the new communication model drives how the story is told as much as the underlying facts and figures.

One example that I am well-acquainted with is how Gazprom -- Russia’s natural gas company and one of the largest companies in the world, as well as a client of ours – discovered that who tells a story and how it is told can affect perceptions on a major scale. The event was the gas supply and pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine in the winter of 2006.

Here’s how the Russians viewed the situation: The West had for years insisted that Gazprom stop subsidizing energy sales to the former Soviet states. Ukraine had been paying less than a quarter of market prices for Russian gas, and Gazprom had been engaged in negotiations for the better part of a year with Ukraine, as well as with other former Soviet states. Gazprom was sensitive to raising the issue during Ukraine’s election crisis of 2005 and negotiated for 2006, when the existing supply contract expired.

Ukraine refused to pay anything close to market rates for its gas and left the negotiating table without a contract. With no contract, Gazprom stopped supplying Ukraine with gas for its own use. Western Europe gets a third of its gas from Russia, much of it through Ukrainian pipelines, so Ukraine siphoned gas intended for Europe and expected sympathy from the West after tapping into gas for which it refused to pay reasonable prices.

Gazprom, at the time, thought that the facts spoke for themselves. However, here’s the story as it played out in the media and as you may recall it:

Ukraine, less than a year after the election crisis now referred to as the Orange Revolution, was bullied by a petulant and energy-rich Russia. Russia was portrayed as using its gas as a political weapon to punish Ukraine and charged exorbitant fees for it.

We were told that poor Ukraine couldn’t pay, so Russia turned off the gas – in the middle of winter no less – and Ukrainians began to freeze, and Western Europe was threatened with the same until a solution was finally found, but, as the story goes, not until the Russian bear showed its claws and its true face.

The Russians were flabbergasted at how the world viewed the situation. What happened was that the Ukrainians spoke to the key global media, reached out early and often to European regulators, and played on existing fears and stereotypes of the Russian state to shape the story. Russia, on the other hand, did not assert its position, believing that the facts would speak for themselves.

This situation isn’t uncommon, and speaks to the need for communicators to make sure their voice is heard.

And that’s exactly what Gazprom did when Belarus defaulted on payments for gas supplies in 2007.

Under the terms of the contract signed with its Belarusian partner, Gazprom had delivered more than 10 billion cubic tons of natural gas by the summer of last year. When the Belarusian side began to miss its regular payments, Gazprom continued regular deliveries in good faith. Eventually, Belarus’s debts were over $450 million, and the situation needed to be fixed.

This time, in addition to working with Belarus, Gazprom’s spokespeople briefed journalists from the international media and members of the European Council, who were concerned about the security of natural gas supply that transited through Belarus to Western Europe. Gazprom explained its position, and the steps the company had taken to try to find a solution.

By communicating the issues to key influencers before the situation became critical, Gazprom was recognized for acting in a transparent manner. European officials understood what was taking place and did not see the disagreement as a threat to their energy security. Subsequently, media coverage of the tense negotiations between Gazprom and Belarus was balanced, and a number of outlets positively remarked on the company’s transparency. The Financial Times went so far as to issue an editorial commending Gazprom for its handling of the issue.

Ultimately, these efforts yielded positive results that lasted beyond the event itself by building credibility with Gazprom’s influencers abroad.

As communicators are actively engaging their stakeholders, they also must be vigilant in identifying potential risks. As technology has made communicating easier, individuals and groups have begun to use high-profile events to their own advantage.

Another case from China is instructive in this instance. The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing was a major event for the country, but also for companies looking to leverage the games to promote themselves.

The torch relay was supposed to be symbolic of the values that the Olympic Games stand for – sportsmanship, international cooperation, and excellence in performance. However, well before the relay began, professional communications anticipated advocacy groups across the globe would use the event to raise awareness for their respective issues.

Ketchum worked with Lenovo to prepare communications for the relay as a marketing opportunity, but we also prepared for potential issues management. Unfortunately, in a few cities the political dimension ultimately overshadowed the spirit of the torch relay. Instead of a positive news cycle, we were faced with downplaying the reputational risk associated with the relay.

In the end, planning and vigilance made all the difference and we were able to effectively manage the issue, while more than a few sponsors were caught unprepared.

I’d like to finish up today with some initial ideas about how we, as professional communicators, can begin to cope with these issues. The first thing that we need to do is realize that all the platitudes – like the world is flat, that we’re all connected, and that the Internet has sparked a communication revolution – are true.

The implications for communicators are. . .

That every organization and institution is going to have to deal with new rules and expectations for communication as the world becomes more competitive, and as they interact with new markets.
That as the world becomes more integrated, so, too, do the audiences that we must reach, and this broadens – and makes more complex – the range of attitudes and beliefs communicators must contend with.
Changes in the tools of communication make proactive and vigilant communication critical to success.

Let’s go back to the first implication: That every organization is going to have to deal with new rules and expectations for communication as the world becomes more competitive and as organizations interact with new markets.

Emerging markets are going to continue to develop, and their homegrown companies will raise competition on a global scale as they expand past national borders. These companies need to realize that in addition to the normal competitive barriers they will face, they also must contend with long-established beliefs that may hamper their growth. These can be overcome with a lot of work, but they cannot be ignored.

But just as emerging market companies should expect a tougher playing field when entering Western markets, Western companies need to take stock of how they approach emerging markets. Even a few years ago, a Western CEO could come to China with very little to say and hold a press conference with 50 rapt journalists, all of whom would write stories that looked very similar to the company’s press release.

Nowadays, executives have to make real news and be especially savvy about what they are bringing to China, or Russia, or wherever else. Reaching across all stakeholder groups, as well, is a vital element to any communication program – it’s no longer a matter of holding a press conference and meeting a minister or mayor.

Any organization seeking to expand its presence needs to approach each and every market expecting that it will be held to high standards, that these standards change from culture to culture, and that these standards entail certain biases that need to be considered.

The second implication: That as the world becomes more integrated, so, too, do the audiences that you must reach, and this broadens – and makes more complex – the range of attitudes and beliefs with which communicators must contend.

There used to be a clear delineation between audience segments based on gender, age, income level and geography. These distinct segments still matter – and in many ways targeting can be more effective than ever – but these groups also are increasingly connected. Companies everywhere need to understand that they are always speaking to a global audience, and that messages conveyed to one group will be heard by others.

Communication strategies must be approached from a holistic sense to ensure that all tactics and activities support the same goal. Planning and coordination are ever more important because of this.

And the final implication: Changes in the tools of communication make proactive and vigilant communication critical to success.

It’s no longer enough to assume that the facts will see the light of day. Every communicator must ensure that the point of view of the organization that they represent is articulated and heard. This means that organizations must be proactive with media outreach and often must go beyond the standard toolkit.

The strategy that we’ve found to be most effective can be summarized as “First Person, Third Party.” If you are the sole voice advocating your position, it is likely that you will be lost in the din of competing interests. However, if you can work to develop advocates that can act as third-party support, you greatly increase the likelihood that your perspective will be heard.

Moreover, it’s important to take your messages directly to the audiences that matter most. If your concern is what regulators in the U.S. think of your company or industry, don’t assume that a few well-placed advertisements or media pieces will make your case for you. Organizations need to be out there talking one-on-one with people to make their case.

For all the changes that globalization has brought about, and the new challenges that have appeared in communicating value and position, there are opportunities.

Certainly, the companies that learn to dance in step with new global markets will be the world’s leaders in sales of goods and services. And a key part of that will be having communicators who quickly learn to move to the beat of the new global communication landscape.

Thank you.

In a Facebook World, Face-to-Face Is Still Important

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:13:29 -0400

Short Description

David Drobis, Chairman Emeritus of Ketchum and former CEO of Ketchum, reflects on the course of his public relations career on the occasion of being selected the recipient of the 2008 Hall of Fame Award by the Arthur W. Page Society, a professional association composed of the chief communications officers of the world's largest corporations and CEOs of the world's largest public relations agencies.

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David Drobis

Chairman Emeritus, Ketchum

Arthur W. Page Society Hall of Fame Acceptance Speech

Chatham, Mass.

Sept. 22, 2008

Thank you, Maril, for that nice introduction. It reminded me of why I’ve always loved this profession—nearly every moment was challenging, stimulating and often great fun.

It’s a tremendous honor to have been chosen to join the Arthur W. Page Society Hall of Fame. And as I look around and see so many friends, I feel doubly honored. My career in public relations—and much of my life—has been shaped by many of you.

I thank the Board of Trustees, and I’d also like to acknowledge the other members of the Hall of Fame. Many of them have been role models and sources of inspiration.

I also thank my family and especially my wife, Bobbi, whose spirit—with great wisdom and guidance—has been perched on my shoulder for more than 45 years, pushing and prodding to make sure I do the right thing. Love is the one constant that moves us ahead. Thank you, Bobbi.

Receiving this honor is thrilling and daunting. I’m no longer as immersed in public relations, so the past six weeks—since I learned I would receive this award—has seemed like an out-of-body experience. My life has moved into a much different sphere and gear. In fact, I’ve finally, after several years, learned to write “retired” without cringing on all kinds of forms. And last winter I even began telling people on ski lifts I lived in Florida, instead of New York.

When you’re told you’re getting this award and the magnitude of it sinks in, you start to reflect on all of the people and events that got you here. And then you think about giving this speech to many of you and you think about how you’re going to be meaningful.

I started by going to past speeches on the Page Web site and immediately read Steve Harris’s, in which he counsels not to read past speeches. Actually, I’d just like to read Steve’s remarks today because I liked everything he said last year; or Bill Nielsen’s of several years ago because he has such great perspective on the importance of public relations in the corporation; or Jim Murphy’s because of his passion for our profession and its importance in society.

Marilyn Laurie’s brought tears to my eyes when I heard it and again when I read it. Marilyn has great wisdom and humor and you see it in her marvelous anecdotes.

But I quickly realized I have to do my own thing. So, I gave a lot of thought to my career and our industry over the last four decades. And I landed on one prevailing theme: relationships.

Any success I’ve had I credit to the relationships I have with clients and colleagues and to relationships I’ve helped build for clients with their constituents.

A lot has changed about the ways relationships are started and maintained. Today, professionals meet and network through LinkedIn, Spoke and other Web sites. Whole public relations campaigns are conducted online.

Technology has been a great boon to our industry. But I think it’s worth noting that even in this Facebook world, face-to-face is still important.

As I talk today, I’ll first share with you some highlights of my career path and how I got here and then talk about some of the ways public relations has evolved through the years. And before I end, I’d like to share a few life lessons on successfully retiring.

My path to this podium and my career—like many of yours—was both serendipitous and the result of good planning. As an undergrad focused on a career in psychology, I took a test in my senior year to determine my strengths and interests. I scored in the bottom percentile in psychology. So my psych professor and adviser suggested I look at journalism or something called “public relations,” in which I scored in the top percentile.

After some investigation, public relations did sound interesting, so off I went to American University in Washington. And I loved it there—the professors, the internships, the case studies. It was where I learned my favorite definition of public relations. My favorite because it was so simple: “Do the right thing for all your constituencies and then make sure they know about it.” It was from a textbook co-authored by Scott Cutlip who, incidentally, was the third person to receive this award 21 years ago. I met Mr. Cutlip at our meeting in Santa Barbara several years ago. And it’s great to be in his company.

After AU and a few jobs in Washington, I went to a firm called Ketchum, MacLeod and Grove by answering an ad in Ad Age that said nothing about the job being in Pittsburgh. But I was eventually dazzled by the big skyscrapers and by being in the then-largest corporate headquarters city outside of New York. I was hired to work on the Scott Paper business, which Ketchum lost the day I arrived. Fortunately, I was too naïve to be concerned. It was my first lesson in the agency business.

Ketchum then put me on a group of industrial accounts, but I wasn’t real happy writing about widgets. So I lobbied to work in the corporate and consumer practices, where I handled the speaking schedule and eventually wrote speeches for legendary H.J. Heinz CEO Tony O’Reilly. I spent two weeks in Houston for the splashdown of Apollo 11 because our client Stouffer’s fed the astronauts returning from our first moon landing. I really liked being in public relations. It was so interesting and it was involving.

When Ketchum opened a San Francisco office in the early ‘70s, I asked to leave the hills of Pittsburgh for the more spectacular ones in San Francisco. I spent the next decade there as San Francisco evolved from its agricultural economy to the technology-powerhouse it is today.

In the early ‘80s Ketchum moved the public relations headquarters from Pittsburgh to New York and I didn’t want to miss that. So we gave up magnificent San Francisco for what I thought of as the “big time.” My daughter, Melissa, and son, Craig, still talk about the dinner during which they were told they were leaving California as one of the worst nights of their lives. Not surprisingly, both live in California today.

With hindsight, I think about how naïve we were, as well as how smart, to even think about planting the Ketchum flag in a city that already had a lot of big flags.

But, to me, the magnitude and intensity of New York were amazing. In San Francisco, there were two or three issues a week. In New York, there were two or three an hour. I loved New York because of the many world-class corporate clients it attracted. And because of the people, who were creative, smart and full of energy. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, our profession was also becoming a force around the world—Paris and Munich and São Paulo and Beijing. It was great to be a part of our business as it was flourishing and becoming more relevant.

My appreciation for the Arthur W. Page Society comes here. There are so many reasons my career and life benefited from our Society—starting with the relationships I have with so many of you, along with your spouses and partners. Some of you I know well—others, casually, through brief conversations at cocktail parties and meeting “breaks.”

In every face-to-face contact, you learn something. Certainly, I did.

Through the Society, I also developed a new appreciation for the power and importance of public relations in the corporation. I’ll admit I didn’t know much about Arthur Page when I became a member, but I did take the time to learn. And I had a few people, like Jack Koten, who took the time to teach me.

Page’s concept of public relations was much bigger and more thoughtful than some of our other founders. He put us at the management table.

Public relations is the fabric of the organization – not just a department. ”It pervades everything in the organization,” he said. “The whole company depends on it.” Arthur Page was so ahead of his time.

I often wonder what he would think about our profession today, the constant change both in our industry and around it. Media consumption has changed and become so fragmented. There are fewer mass-audience, shared events. Entertainment trumps news. Everything is converging onto one hand-held device. Online social networking is pervasive among young people and is migrating up the generations.

Other things have changed, too. Companies and brands are under much more immediate scrutiny and criticism. Trust is more elusive. Just look at our financial institutions, our media and the political environment. Blogging has created the new first draft of history, and it is sometimes a pretty sloppy first draft. Globalization is real as issues instantly jump across continents. You needed only to have watched the Olympics to see how much the world is shared. Or watch the value of the dollar in relation to other currencies to feel the impact of a global economy.

It has been terrific to be a part of that for the past twenty years. Public relations gave me that opportunity.

And speaking of currency, I believe all of this just heightens the importance of what we do. Now more than ever, real relationships are the currency of brand building and good corporate leadership.

If you’re building a brand, you know that the only brands people trust are the ones that actually deliver. Today in public relations, we do our best work when we help a brand to do the right thing and only then tell consumers about it. So, Scott Cutlip had it right all those years ago.

But today more than ever, it’s easier said than done. We have to invest in giving our people the tools to push back and effectively counsel management on what it means to do the right thing and actually change brand strategy and behavior. Because it's the right thing to do and because trying to “spin” it today only gets you on YouTube, with a drumbeat of e-mails that follow.

Investing in our people reminds me of one more issue that’s always been important to me, and that’s talent development and public relations education.

Don Wright covered it well in his Distinguished Service Award speech last year, but it’s always concerned me that we as a profession don’t do more to support the schools that are training public relations people—either by hiring their students or working with the schools to improve the curricula process so we want to hire their students.

This came home to me recently when I spoke to a group of graduate students at the USC Annenberg School. The students were smart and diverse.

They came from all over the world and had a wide range of interests. They were genuinely excited about public relations and for the right reasons. They see it as a way to change things, make them better.

And in addition to having engaging Facebook profiles, they also were very impressive-face-to-face. In fact, they shared this frustration about the companies that recruit on campus: Most industries, they say, seek out people who are trained in their professions—while our industry often ignores students trained in public relations.

Certainly, we need to attract people who have a diversity of skills beyond communication. But we also need to be careful about sending the message that just about anyone can do our jobs.

Back to the importance of relationships: If you’re building a corporate reputation or leading a company, you know that leadership has to earn the right to lead every day. And you can no longer define a company's boundaries by the number of its full-time employees.

By design now, a corporation extends to part-time employees, freelance consultants, outsourced departments, an entire global supply chain and a network of business partners. Relationships built on trust are the glue that can hold such an ever-changing network together.

And our discipline can play a larger role in building those relationships. It's literally a world of opportunity if we’re seen as the relationship experts.

So I’d suggest that while you’re helping brands and companies with their B-to-B, B-to-C and high-tech word-of-mouth marketing, I hope you won't forget to throw in a little F-to-F, or face-to-face relationship building. Because while a lot has changed, real relationship building is still the most important game in town.

Today’s environment, with its complexity, offers the greatest opportunity and challenges we’ve ever faced. Arthur Page, I know, would be very proud of how far we’ve come and the global scope of the communications process today.

Understanding this, I reflect on our profession with great pride and know we’re up to the task. We do good things in the world through our communications efforts, and the information we provide makes a lot of people’s lives better.

My career has been rewarding, filled with mostly good memories. The few that weren’t so good I either learned from or swept out of mind. So when it came time to walk away, it was relatively easy. Each of you will get there someday. And when you do, I hope you’ll remember the tips for “happy closure” I leave you with.

First: You will have a lot of free time—something I know most of you dream of today in your 24/7 world. Prepare for it mentally. Think about what you want to do and plan for gradual implementation. Among the best advice I got was not to make a lot of commitments in the beginning. You need time to adjust.

Second: If you can, retire gradually. I was fortunate because at Ketchum we had great depth of leadership and a good succession plan. I was chairman for two years after I was no longer CEO. Then I was part-time, then a consultant. I’m now “emeritus”—a title that comes in very handy for boards and when you’re named to the Hall of Fame after retiring.

Third: Walk away but don’t second-guess. I’m still very passionate about our profession, the firm I helped create and many of our corporate clients. But while I have the historical perspective, I don’t have the day-to-day to counsel effectively. Ray Kotcher and many of my other friends at Ketchum often reach out; they did particularly in the beginning. It is always appreciated, but it gets harder the further away you get.

Fourth: Keep involved in the profession. With our public relations experience, we have great understanding of how to make organizations work successfully. Nonprofits, particularly, appreciate this. And this is the time to give back. I am thrilled when other board members at American University or the Naples Philharmonic Center—many of whom are current or former CEOs—turn to me for the public relations implication of an issue. My hope is that more corporate boards will soon recognize the value of having our perspective in a board seat.

Fifth: Take up something new. I’m learning to play golf after avoiding it for years. It’s frustrating, challenging and takes a lot of that free time I now have.

Sixth: Get a dog. Mine is a Cavachon—that’s a designer dog. Her name is Truffles. It took me hours to find her on the Internet, another many hours to pick her up at a farm in Berryville, Virginia, and many, many more hours to train her and walk her.

And, finally: Have grandchildren. My son, Craig and daughter-in-law, Sarah, had triplets a year ago next month. It takes a lot of time to watch three infants learn to crawl and put a little ball in a little basket. But it is great fun and wonderful to see your child as a parent. I am so fortunate that I now have the time to enjoy the most important relationships of all.

That takes us back to the beginning. I owe it all to that senior year testing course that led me to a career in public relations and the great friends and relationships I made because of it.

Again, thanks to my family for supporting me in dozens of ways. Thanks to all my friends and client colleagues at Ketchum. And thanks to all of you for putting my name on the same list with so many people we all admire—and for listening to me this afternoon.

The Future of Public Relations: It’s A Big, Inviting World Out There!

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:07:15 -0400

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Ketchum Senior Counsel John Paluszek shares his perspectives on the future of public relations in an address to the Florida Public Relations Association at its annual conference in August 2008.

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A Valedictory and a Vision

John Paluszek

Senior Counsel, Ketchum

70th Annual Conference, Florida Public Relations Association

Kissimmee, Florida

Aug. 5, 2008

“Public relations is now arguably becoming a global profession.”

“F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he said that ‘there are no second acts in American lives.’ For those of us in public relations, ‘encore careers’ abound – in public service and in service to our profession.”

Jay, thank you so much for that very kind introduction.

It’s in stark contrast with another I once received when asked to speak to a small church group in my town. The group traditionally presented a small honorarium to its monthly speaker – $10.

Being a great philanthropist, I told the master of ceremonies that I would gladly forego the honorarium. Whereupon he introduced me to the audience by saying, “John has graciously declined to accept our honorarium -- so now we have $20 to get a really good speaker for next month.”

Before I plunge into my subject today, a brief prologue: First, I am truly delighted – yes, honored – to be invited to participate in marking 70 years of FPRA advancing the public relations profession. The invitation from Joe Curry, an old friend; the logistics arranged by Seana Mincy; and, now, sharing the podium with Jay, another long-time associate, will make this a memorable day for me.

I’m well aware of the outstanding services of FPRA and its foundation -- such as your professional development, accreditation and certification programs; and the scholarships and internships you provide for public relations students. And educators from FPRA-affiliated universities have impressed me with their work on several commissions and councils on which we have jointly served.

I must also thank you for rising so early in the morning to listen – and, I hope, to respond – to what will be a rather personal report from one who has been engaged in, and therefore benefited from, public relations for several decades.

You’ve no doubt noticed that I’ve added a subhead to the assigned topic: “A Valedictory and a Vision.” So let me briefly explain.

“Valedictory” because I may not pass this way again. Not just because I’m getting long in the tooth, but because you may not choose to invite me ever again. You see, I’m here today not to comfort you but mainly to challenge you. More on that shortly.

“Vision” because after many years in this business – and having traveled the globe on public-relations-related projects recently -- I believe I have something of a perspective to share on where public relations is heading. It’s just one man’s personal view; so I’d like to gather your reactions in the Q-and-A period as well as in the subsequent Counselor’s Network Breakout Session.

End of prologue.

The subject this morning is “The Future Of Public Relations.” OK, it’s a rather ambitious topic, one that generates many points of view. So perhaps we enter where angels fear to tread. Economists, on the other hand, are taught, at the outset of their professional preparation. . .

“Don’t predict. But if you must, do so often.” Yes, change is constant.

Still, “futurists” say that the safest way to project the future is just to start with the present and project how current societal trends are likely to play out over a given period of time.

So here are three macro trends – let’s call them drivers of public relations growth – that I believe have, over the last several years, brought public relations to its current level of importance in society:

1. Many more kinds of organizations are adopting public relations as integral to their success. In the “old days”, it was mainly large corporations who saw the value of public relations. Now add nonprofits ( foundations, charities, educational institutions, “causes”); governments and the military; the professions (medicine and law and others as well); the increasingly influential nongovernment organizations (NGOs) on the local, national, regional and international levels; and, yes, even the media, as media owners and journalists try to explain the tectonic changes taking place in that space (analysts now say that 2008 may be the worst year for newspapers since the Depression).

2. Public relations professionals are now delivering a plethora of communications services. To traditional services such a media relations, we’ve added many nuances in corporate relations – where we are addressing not only investor and employee communications but also the now-exploding demand for “corporate social responsibility.” Issues and crisis communications are virtual staples in our repertoires; so, too, are public affairs and government relations and research and polling. In marketing communications, we now counsel not only on cause-related marketing but even on product placements in entertainment vehicles as well as celebrity endorsements. And, of course, we are becoming experts in the new communications technology and social media.

But you know all that. Perhaps I can challenge you a bit by dwelling somewhat on what I believe is the third – and perhaps the most exciting -- growth driver for public relations now and in the future. And it is a seminal trend that may be of special interest to FPRA members especially because of geography:

3. It is that public relations is now arguably becoming a global profession. Last year, I had a wonderful gig at Marquette University in Milwaukee. It was an opportunity to develop and teach a six-week course to senior and graduate public relations students. During my stay, the Marquette faculty asked me to speak to Milwaukee community leaders on a topic that, I believe, says a great deal about public relations going global.

The topic was “The Peripatetic Public Relations Professional – What I Saw and Heard in China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany and Russia.”

Yes, public relations, in its many iterations, is thriving in all of those places – and many more. But don’t just take my word for it. Go to the Web site of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, www.globalpr.org, and you will see information relating to public relations professional societies in 63 nations with a combined membership of some 160,000.

Or visit the Web site of the Commission on Public Relations Education, www.commpred.org, where the commission’s recent recommendations on public relations curriculum are now available

not only in English but also in Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. The Commission and the Global Alliance are now examining the possibility of developing global curriculum standards.

Or visit the Web sites of companies, large and small – and public relations counseling firms large and small -- and learn how much of their revenue and profit is now being generated abroad. (Ketchum now has six offices in China and one of our major growth drivers in Hong Kong, illustrating the fast-developing field of international investor relations, is counseling on initial public offerings for Chinese companies. Who would have thought?)

Why is all this global change – and much more – happening in public relations?

Pardon the cliché (there’s often a nugget of truth in a cliché) but it is a whole new world out there. And it’s a world that more than ever needs effective communications – two way communications to build mutual understanding and cooperation on many levels for many purposes, large and small. And that’s our turf, folks!

I’m going to quickly present five macro global and international developments that will influence the future of global society, America’s stake in it – and, even closer to the bull’s-eye – public relations’ central role in this evolution.

But two quick caveats:

First, I’m not smart enough to suggest how these developments will affect you and your organizations. But I know that you, challenged to consider them, will figure that out.

Second, this will only be a shorthand checklist. Each development could generate a book, an academic study or a conference. In fact, they have, many times over. Perhaps we can examine some of these developments in a bit more depth later.

1. The seminal development, from which many of the others grow, is this: It may be painful to admit, but there is a new world order evolving and America must adjust accordingly. More to the point this morning, American organizations – the companies, nonprofits and other organizations we serve – must adjust accordingly.

About 20 years ago, a senior State Department officer wrote, “Let us make the world so economically-interdependent that war will go out of style.”

Thank heavens we seem to be well on that track, at least in the traditional sense of wars between nations. But we all know that you have to be careful what you wish for – “the unintended consequences syndrome.” We are now wrestling with resulting issues in trade, capital flows, immigration patterns and “outsourcing.”

2. And global issues – energy, environment, trade, “responsible globalization”, health and poverty among them – are also now U.S. domestic issues as well as global issues.

For a moment, take just one of those issues – energy – and the mind virtually boggles. Sure, we’re heading toward a new mix of energy sources. Boone Pickens is said to be investing $10 billion in wind farms. And some day we may retire the term “alternative energy” in favor of just . . . ”energy.” But for the next decade or two, our reliance on oil and gas will make us largely dependent on countries such as Venezuela, Russia and several Mideast producers.

Did you know that ExxonMobil ranks 14th in the world in proven reserves of barrels of oil equivalent – and that the 13 companies that outrank Exxon-Mobil all belong to governments -- some of those governments not always friendly to America?

3. New media: “Strike the phrase “new media” from your vocabulary,” my Ketchum colleague Barri Rafferty advises. “New media” and” old media” are converging into simply . . . ”media. The emerging intersection of the Internet and “media” means that what was offline is now online, what’s online gets printed and entirely new outlets such as Twitter and iPhone are making YouTube and MySpace seem old school.

(Thankfully, Joe Hice of the University of Florida will speak about this here tomorrow morning when he addresses how such media are “changing the face of public relations.”)

4. Partnering: “Strange Bedfellows” in Win-Win scenarios will proliferate. “Sovereign Funds” investing in U.S. equities. Companies cooperating with selected environmental NGOs on sustainability. American universities opening branches in what would once have been thought of as “exotic” countries. These are just a few examples of how even well-established institutions can no longer “go it alone” in a multidimensional world.

5. And, closest to “home,” the increasing demand for transparency, accountability and integrity from institutions and individuals is generating a new premium for ethical performance not only for our organizations but also for public relations professionals individually.

Think Scott McClellan vs. Jerry Ter Horst (President Ford’s press secretary who resigned over the pardon of Richard Nixon).

To illustrate how these trends are playing out, here are a few headlines “ripped from leading newspapers” (true confession: carefully clipped, mostly from The New York Times):

“Steelworkers Merge With British Union” (the first known global union)
“GE and Abu Dhabi Fund Form Financial Partnership”
“82% of Execs Say Climate Change Will Alter Their Business Models
“Cuba to Allow Thousands to Own Homes” (over time, nations change)
“Prominent Green Group To Help Buyout Firm”
“Universities Rush to Set Up Outposts Abroad”

My 40 minutes of fame here this morning are fast running out, but I must issue one more challenge to you before I get the hook.

It relates to the personal -- to each of us not only as public relations professionals, but also as citizens. What do all of these important changes mean to you and me individually?

I think the answer is that no matter where we are in our career cycle, there is now a pressing need – and justification -- for public relations people to be visible and active in the public discourse. And I mean beyond our duties to our employers.

After all, where is it written that some of the most informed, articulate and responsible professionals in America should not be heard and seen in the marketplace of ideas?

Where is that stone tablet that says “thou shall not, as a citizen, help influence public policy for the public good”?

There is a growing zeitgeist in this country – among young and old – to contribute to the common good, to advance the social agenda.

Many young people are making that commitment. So are a good number of retiring boomers.

And for those of us who are (be careful here, John) . . . “more senior,” I contend that F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he said ‘there are no second acts in America life.” For those of us in public relations, “encore careers” abound – in public service and in service to our profession.

There are many ways for us to do this, and I’m sure that many here this morning are already involved in such activities. Here are a few:

Get involved in education – at your local school board; but also in public relations education by lecturing and contributing financially to Florida’s excellent colleges and university programs in our field. FPRA certainly provides opportunities for the this.
Become involved in the certification of schools teaching public relations.
Write that occasional op-ed piece on a topic on which you are informed. Communications issues and policies, for instance.
Volunteer your talents for community advancement projects.
And, when the time comes to start that “encore career,” consider public service. There is no doubt in my mind that the next administration, Democrat or Republican, will value international two-way communication – and multilateralism instead of unilateralism -- more highly than our current administration. That could well mean the revitalization of the U.S. Information Agency, which was so effective in earlier decades.

You, no doubt, can add to that list, but let me offer a sidebar story to illustrate this last point: Two weeks ago, Charles Wick, who was director of U.S.I.A. during the Regan administration, died at age 90. In 1987, Wick asked an icon of our business, Harold Burson, to create a “ U.S.I.A. private-sector public relations advisory committee.” When this committee, consisting of about 15 of us was in place, Charlie and Harold instituted outreach to communicators in the Soviet Union and we had a “home-and-home” series of meeting in Moscow and Washington, D.C. It was the time of “glasnost” and “perestroika” in the U.S.S.R. and I believe that we contributed to that.

It was about the proudest activity I’ve ever had as a public relations professional.

Add all of this up – society’s growing need for what public relations professionals can contribute through their organizations and as individuals – and, personally, I come to one conclusion:

I wish I were starting all over again in public relations!

Thank you.

United Nations Global Compact U.S. Network Meeting: “Business and Human Rights”

admin — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:04:20 -0400

Short Description

In a capstone address before the United Nations Global Compact U.S. network at Harvard University Business School in April 2008, Ketchum Senior Counsel John Paluszek introduces a new report titled “Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice” that speaks to the "why,” the "what” and the "how” of human rights and business.

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John Paluszek

Senior Counsel, Ketchum

Capstone Address, United Nations Global Compact U.S. Network Meeting: “Business and Human Rights”

Harvard University School of Business, Cambridge, Mass.

April 28, 2008

I’m acutely aware, as I’m sure you are, that we are winding down on a long day of compelling analysis of the challenge and opportunity human rights presents to business – and that we all await the closing address by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart. So I pledge to be brief and stay within my allotted 15 minutes.

My assignment, which I welcomed, is to introduce the newly published second volume of “Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice.” In doing so, I offer a very brief prologue:

It is a short excerpt from “The Saga of Milton Moskowitz.”

Milton Moskowitz, a colleague back in the early 1970s, (please do not tell me where you – or your parents – were in the early seventies) Milt had what we New Yorkers call with admiration the “chutzpah” – that is, nerve energized by conviction – to publish a journal called Business and Society.

Milt recognized, as few did, that seminal events of that time – among them, the first Earth Day, the establishment of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, the success of the Ralph Nader Public Citizen movement; and the passage of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — would lead, inevitably, to a positive and powerful response by progressive business leaders. Today, we call that response corporate social responsibility, corporate citizenship or sustainable development.

The only disagreement I had with Milt at the time was that he should have called his publication not Business and Society but rather, Business In Society, because business and society are not merely conjoined, but interwoven and interactive.

I suggest that, in its many dimensions, this symbiosis, business in society and its converse, is what we’ve been discussing today, and will be discussing, whenever we examine the human rights framework for business.

If you visit the Global Compact office in New York, you will see, in Ursula Wynhoven’s office, an Amnesty USA poster that proclaims, “Wherever business goes, human rights were there first.”

And that’s why “Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice” is so important. It is nothing less than a database of practical information – the "why”, the "what” and the "how” – of human rights and business.

It addresses the tough questions companies face: How much of this, and what part of this, is our problem? How much of it can we help solve? How great are the resources, and what kind of resources, should we apply? What does success look like?

You may already have scanned the book’s contents, so I’ll present only quick overview.

First, consider seven business reasons “why” business should be embedded in human rights. As presented by Kathryn Dovey and John Morrison in the “Opening Perspective,” they are as follows:

Gaining social license to operate, as well as legitimacy in the eyes of stakeholders
Managing legal and operational risk and reputation
Modeling due diligence and quality control
Motivating worker and management performance
Meeting shareholder expectations (and, I might add here, both among “socially responsible” and, increasingly, mainstream investors)
Codifying existing practice and its impact
Strategic positioning in the key markets of the future

And Dovey and Morrison tell us so much more:

That there is “an expansion of the business case from being predominantly prevention of human rights abuses (and the associated business risks) to the creation of [business] opportunity.”

That “It is as much about ‘social license to operate’ and maintaining a sustainable long-term business model . . . as it is about the benefits of empowering communities to articulate their rights.” Such an important point, because it goes to the very delicate balance that business faces in addressing, on one hand, the legal, ethical and moral obligation to investors and, on the other hand, society’s fast-expanding expectations and demands.

And, perhaps most significant, that “a moral dimension cuts across all these issues and speaks to the personal motivation and performance of key individuals within the corporate structure.”

That’s the “why” of “Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice.”

The “what” and the “how” in the volume are equally compelling and instructive.

Here we find the valuable “tools” for moving forward. – such as the Web sites listed for six generic, detailed cross-sector studies that provide guidance for developing human rights commitments. And, by contrast, it’s noted that there are a number of sector-specific initiatives, principles and codes – such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative – that can help businesses share relevant experiences.

But there is just not enough of such sharing. So Dovey and Morrison challenge us by concluding that “we need an exponential growth in the scope and quality of case histories from across all business sectors and all geographic locations. We hope that the accounts in this volume inspire you to share your own experience.”

Interestingly, there are already plans for a third volume of “Embedding,” the implication being that only a sustained commitment – not only to each program but also to sharing experience -- will make a difference. Because, as Martin Luther King cautioned, “All progress is precarious.”

Proposals for case studies should be sent to the Global Compact office.

The plea for more case histories is revisited in the excellent “Human Rights Framework” that we’ve been discussing today and which is reprinted in the “Embedding” volume. As a communications counselor, I was particularly struck by the fifth (of eight) steps in the Framework – Communications – which advises: “Integrate human rights into your internal and external communications where appropriate.”

That implies advocacy, perhaps even evangelism – not only sharing hymns with the choir, but delivering this gospel beyond, especially in the media, to prove that the evolving business model can, indeed, fulfill both traditional and emerging responsibilities.

Just how practical are the case studies in the new “Embedding” volume?

One answer is that each of the 20 cases addresses at least one of the “Human Rights Framework” elements. And the cases span a broad spectrum of business sectors – ranging from the extractive sector, retail/apparel and finance to chemical, automotive, and communications. Furthermore, the subject companies are headquartered in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America and Oceania.

And how is this for practical? The case studies address a wide range of issues including HIV/AIDS, nondiscrimination and diversity, malnutrition, human trafficking, indigenous communities, working conditions, resettlement of communities, and poverty.

You will also find helpful information on success factors and “boundaries,” and on strategies such as identifying potential human rights issues. In addition, benefiting from local intelligence; developing partnership relationships and third-party monitoring and evaluation; and, again, the importance of communication in enhancing transparency.

On that last point, communication, think of how human rights issues have enmeshed the corporate sponsors of the Beijing Olympics.

And you may have special interest in the several case histories on the relationship between core business practices and strategic philanthropy as illustrated by market development-cum-improved standard of living in developing countries.

I’m proud to say that our firm is one of the 20 case-history companies included in the new volume – in our case, due to the creative diligence of authors at New York University.

Even with all of this documentation, of course, there are still the “Doubting Thomases,” in both civil society and in business. To them we might cite the old Chinese proverb: “Those who say something is impossible should not stop those who are actually doing it.”

One final point – and it goes to the linkage of the Global Compact Principles with the U.N. Millennium Development Goals: Earlier this month, at its headquarters in New York, the U.N. held a two-day “Millennium Development Goals Debate” that examined whether, since we are now at the current MDG chronological midpoint, we can hope that the goals will be achieved.

As you might expect, both optimism and pessimism was expressed, depending on the MDG goal examined. But as we in business continue to address human rights, we might well bear in mind aspiring statements by two national leaders at the event.

The prime minister of Finland told us that MDG success will depend on progress in three key areas – security, development and human rights.

(Parenthetically, Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to the U.N. Assembly 10 days ago, was even more explicit when he said, “The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups, and for increasing security.”)

Back at the U.N. MDG event, the minister of foreign affairs of Mali articulated the goal of the MDGs and the U.N. – and, by inference, business In society – in these words: “Our goal should be to enable each inhabitant of this planet to live in dignity.”

Perhaps that sounds . . . impossible.

But then we have that old Chinese proverb, don’t we?

And “Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice” will surely help.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Remarks on the 20th Anniversary of Ketchum Estratégia

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:29:33 -0400

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Ketchum CEO and Senior Partner Ray Kotcher speaks on the challenges and opportunities of six major trends shaping today's media landscape, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Ketchum's Brazil office.

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Ray Kotcher, CEO and Senior Partner, Ketchum

Remarks on the 20th Anniversary of Ketchum Estratégia

São Paulo, Brazil

November 2007

I am honored to be here today for two reasons. First, because it is always a pleasure and a privilege to meet with Ketchum clients. Second, because what better time to meet with Ketchum Estratégia clients than as we are celebrating our 20th year of practicing public relations here in Brazil. Ketchum Estratégia is a strong and important member of the Ketchum network and we are proud of our success here and for the opportunity to partner with clients such as you who are here today. Thank you for that opportunity.

I’d like to use my time this afternoon to talk about some of the key trends and challenges in public relations, to discuss highlights of some recent research Ketchum has done, and then to briefly share a bit about Ketchum and our global network.

I will start out by stating something that most of you already are experiencing: The public relations industry is undergoing profound change. In fact, I believe that we’re at a tipping point, as many of the trends we are seeing will have a major impact on the way we practice PR.

To keep it brief, allow me to walk you through six major trends and the challenges and opportunities they present.

Trend number one: New media has changed the flow of mass communications. Public relations media strategies traditionally followed a fairly simple formula – professionals like all of us used television, radio or print media to send a company’s message en masse.

New media has begun to change that.

The reach of the Internet and the more recent explosive popularity of Web sites such as MySpace and YouTube have enabled consumers to communicate more broadly – not to mention, instantly – rather than just being communicated to. Millions of people are now communicating directly with companies, industries and government agencies. More importantly, they’re communicating directly with each other. Communication is no longer limited to major broadcasters and publishers conveying information to a passive audience. The audience is fully engaged. And any individual can easily send out his or her own messages to a mass audience, too.

What’s more, in our global world, communications is more global than ever before. This past June, YouTube announced the launch of in-language sites in France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the U.K. and Brazil. That’s powerful.

All of this means that businesses everywhere should understand that they must engage in two-way conversations with their consumers and constituents. The good news is that companies like yours no longer have to guess at what consumers want. Public relations is skilled at creating dialogue, and in the coming years, there will be more opportunity than ever before to develop public relations programs that truly connect consumers with your companies and your brands. And new media will be an important tool to help us do it.

In fact, the new-media trend is especially important here in Brazil. Ketchum conducts an annual survey of media usage in conjunction with the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center, and this year’s survey was expanded to include consumers in Brazil, Russia, India and China. Our data show that Brazilians are particularly attuned to the newer media channels such as blogs, search engines, mobile media, social networking sites and RSS feeds. The data also suggest that Brazilians consume media more frequently than their counterparts around the world and that they place a greater level of trust in the various media channels.

Yet consumers also continue to use traditional media, as well – newspapers, TV, radio. So they have more access to information than ever before.

Trend number two: Public relations has become a global business. Increasingly, corporations are positioning themselves as “global companies” – and they are, with employees and customers everywhere. And that moment has arrived for Brazil. With your rapidly growing manufacturing sector, traditionally strong agricultural base, trillion-dollar economy, booming Bovespa, strong Real, recently discovered Tupi oil field and the shrinking inequality among the “haves” and “have nots,” Brazil’s 180 million people and your institutions will be front and center on the world stage. You must be prepared to communicate globally, too.

The world has been evolving into an interconnected place for some time, and you or I probably could point to global public relations programs that took place prior to 2006. But the rate at which they are popping up today demonstrates that companies are realizing the great convergence of issues, challenges and opportunities. Public relations professionals are operating on a more global platform. Local impact is still important, but increasingly interests are shared across nations. Just some examples of assignments that our agency, Ketchum, handled this year: The global health initiatives of the World Economic Forum, Lenovo’s Olympic sponsorship, the worldwide launch of Nokia Siemens Networks, and ongoing work for the press office of the president of the Russian Federation, IBM, FedEx and Kodak.

Those are major, global engagements. But even on an everyday scale, Ketchum uses its network of PR professionals in more than 50 countries around the world to bring global perspectives to our clients. For you, that means that a Ketchum client in São Paulo who wants to make a statement that will have relevance for consumers or businesses in Dallas, Texas, can place just one phone call – or send one e-mail – to your contact here to gain access to our brightest PR professionals in the United States.

This leads to the third trend.

Trend number three: Corporate social responsibility and public relations are playing an increasingly critical role in addressing major issues around the world. Last summer, Ketchum partners from around the world met in Atlanta, Georgia, and were joined by the Director of Executive Education for the Center for Corporate Citizenship. The Center, which has more than 300 companies from around the world as its members, has compiled some interesting statistics. For one: Of the largest economies in the world, just 49 are countries; the other 51 are corporations. And the top 200 corporations around the globe have combined sales that are 18 times the size of the combined annual income of the world’s 1.2 billion people living in severe poverty. What’s more, membership in international NGOs has been growing around the world, and Latin America has seen some of the strongest growth. Such realities have put the onus on corporations – rather than solely on government – to help address some of the world’s problems.

Clearly, for public relations this isn’t just about making sure business is saying the right thing. It’s also about outlining initiatives with measurable results. Successful global companies will be those that recognize that corporate social responsibility is not optional and that it also can provide great business results.

According to the very reputable Institute for the Future, by the end of this decade, we can expect these headlines:

Bio-disaster – natural or human-made – lurks on the horizon.
Extreme meteorological and geological events continue to threaten human life.
China’s rapid growth redraws global economic, political maps. This goes for Russia, Brazil and India, too.
Mega cities leave giant ecological footprints as they sprawl across the developed and developing world.
Tech innovations spur even greater fervor and zeal and a deep personalization.

While the world will be facing challenges tomorrow, public relations – and therefore business leaders – can begin to help shape and, perhaps in some cases prevent them, today. And here in Brazil the opportunity appears to be even greater. In Ketchum’s media usage survey – which was conducted in early October of this year – consumers in Brazil express the same level of trust for corporations and their leaders as for NGOs.

That confirms a Ketchum survey conducted just a month or two earlier in which we asked Brazilian consumers about their perceptions and expectations of corporations and their CEOs. That survey found that consumers here have high standards for corporations in the areas of honesty, ethics, employee compensation and environmental leadership – and more importantly, it also found that consumers consider Brazilian companies to be more or less on target with those high standards.

Consumers here also value the role of the CEO; three-in-four Brazilians who are considered influencers -- those who drive opinions -- said that they would want to be CEO of a large corporation. By comparison, in the U.S., most people wouldn’t want the job.

That gives Brazilian corporations an advantage over other nations where trust in corporations and CEOs is lower. But it also ups the ante. Influencers, in particular, hold Brazilian corporations accountable for addressing social problems and other issues and, unlike average consumers, they don’t view CEOs as being “on target” in terms of honesty, ethics, caring and championing employees. For companies that act openly, honestly and ethically, there is a great opportunity to differentiate.

That brings me to the fourth trend.

Trend number four: Within the past two years, companies around the world – though particularly in the U.S. – have begun focusing heavily on employees and employee engagement. Too often, companies neglect dialogue with their own people -- employees who can act as ambassadors for the brand and the corporate reputation. A happy or unhappy employee inside a company can easily spread word of his or her admiration or problems outside of the company. For public relations, that means employees must be engaged in any programs we devise for the public. They must actively be involved in helping develop and advocate for the programs. That means they must understand your business objectives and initiatives and actively buy into them. Ketchum’s change-management group, Stromberg Consulting, helps companies deal with building internal brand ambassadors all the time. There are many fresh, innovative ways to engage employees and engagement is what helps with both recruitment and retention.

Trend number five builds on that, and it’s just one word: talent. Recruiting and retaining top talent is an issue that faces all businesses today, including public relations. The PR industry has matured to the point where we need a more diverse skill set than ever before, and this is happening at a time when the war for talent has become increasingly intense. I believe we must take a number of different tacks.

First: We must recruit new talent with diverse and different skill sets.

Second: We have to work at retaining the best and brightest public relations professionals in our respective organizations so as to continue to deliver the richest thinking possible to our companies or through our agencies to our clients – and we can do that through the employee engagement programs I talked about earlier, coupled with strong HR programs.

Third: We have to work at retaining the best and brightest within our broader industry and that means continually underscoring and supporting the broad efforts by our professional organizations that articulate why PR is critical to the future.

And, finally, fourth: If an employee has left both our company and industry, we need to consider whether there is another role for him or her -- perhaps as a business partner or influencer. In today’s world, it is definitely time to think differently about talent.

Having said that, I will add that I am optimistic about attracting people to our industry. This is an extraordinarily exciting time for public relations. It strikes me as the best of times. That leads to the sixth trend and the final one that I will talk about today.

Trend Number 6: PR is measurable. One of the world’s largest marketing organizations, Procter & Gamble -- and a valued client of Ketchum right here in Brazil -- is telling us that PR delivers the best bang for the buck on an ROI basis. Tie this in with the fact that P&G has realized it no longer owns its brands but that consumers do, and you quickly realize that public relations is the best tool to help companies help consumers manage the company’s products. Recall Trend number one – new media has changed the flow of communications. Yes, it all ties together.

This reminds me of another key finding of the Ketchum-USC media usage survey: the human channel – namely word-of-mouth – is critical in helping companies engage consumers. In all of the markets that we surveyed, consumers place a very high value on advice from family and friends, information received through social networking sites, blogs and so on. In Brazil, social networking sites trumped the other sources of word-of-mouth channels, with 68% of general consumers and 71% of influencers reporting that they rely on them. Some 58% of consumers and 59% of influencers use video sharing – underscoring YouTube’s decision to launch an in-language site here.

All of the trends I’ve talked about in the past few minutes underscore the ways that PR is becoming more challenging. But I could just as easily talk about all the ways that PR is rising to meet those changes and challenges. PR professionals are helping clients around the world make greater use of the Internet, engage their employees, and devise and report on social responsibility initiatives. And we are doing that for Ketchum clients – with word-of-mouth, employee engagement and other increasingly important capabilities, as well as ongoing training to make sure our entire network is updated and able to deploy for our clients the latest PR strategies and tools.

Finally, that brings me back to Ketchum Estratégia. As one of the top 10 agencies in Brazil, we’re continuing to build on our 20 years of expertise with the recent launch of Ketchum Interactive Communications – which helps our clients develop and execute online PR programs and other communications. And I’m proud to say that we are growing strong elsewhere in Latin America as well. Before I came to São Paulo, I visited Argentina – where Ketchum is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. We have been blessed with talented PR professionals in both offices and I know that they are committed to delivering terrific results for clients.

Again, thank you for your relationship with Ketchum Estratégia, for your friendship and for your interest in public relations.

Public Relations, the Global Profession

admin — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:29:38 -0500

Short Description

On Nov. 15, 2007, Ketchum Senior Counsel John Paluszek was the featured speaker at the 29 th annual Vernon C. Schranz Lectureship at Ball State University, where he addressed how public relations has arguably become a global profession because it functions in the public interest in virtually every part of the world.

Full Story

John Paluszek, Senior Counsel, Ketchum

The Vernon C. Schranz Lecture at Ball State University

Muncie, Indiana

November 15, 2007

Good evening, all. Thank you for coming together tonight for the 2007 Vernon C. Schranz Lecture. Actually, I hope that tonight we can make this the 2007 Vernon C. Schranz Dialogue a bit lateras you respond to my remarks.

I also hope that you’ll forgive another caveat here at the outset: You see, I intend to address my thoughts primarily to the students who are with us tonight. All others – faculty, administrators, civic leaders, families and friends – now that you are comfortably seated, you are, of course, invited to stay.

I’d like to engage primarily with the students because, frankly, I have so much I’d like to tell them about public relations. I can’t possibly cover it all in the next 30 minutes, so I hope we can have a lively exchange of ideas immediately afterward.

As you know, our topic tonight is “Public Relations, The Global Profession.” So here at the outset, let me offer the lead on this story. It is this: “Public relations, in its fullest, finest sense – developing and maintaining relationships – is arguably a global profession because it now functions in the public interest in virtually every part of our interconnected world.”

Before I try to support that lead, a short digression with a true confession: When Professor Pritchard first asked me what I might address tonight, I thought about offering this title:

“The Peripatetic Public Relations Professional: What I Saw and Heard in Russia, China, India, Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland.”

Although that has a certain rhythm, even some alliteration at the outset, I’m sure you’ll agree that it would have been difficult to fit it on the promotional poster.

And yet, it would have been relevant, because I have visited all of those places recently on behalf of the Public Relations Society of America, the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the United Nations Global Compact and my very patient and supportive employer, Ketchum.

I’ll return to the “Peripatetic Public Relations Professional” in a few moments. But first, I’d like to offer some necessary context. The context comes in two dimensions and it’s offered as an answer to the question, “How do we – meaning public relations professionals – fit into our fast-changing world?”

In the first dimension, we have to agree on what we mean by “public relations in its fullest, finest sense.”

James and Laura Grunig, the eminent public relations educators and authors, long ago articulated this better than I could. I’m sure that the public relations students with us tonight are familiar with the Grunigs’ concept of “Two Way Symmetrical Public Relations.”

In this articulation, “listening” to audiences – via substantial, ongoing research – feeds into an organization’s policy formation and performance, which is then subject to communication to target audiences. It’s two-way communication that helps build and maintain harmonious relationships. There is, indeed, symmetry here. And it illustrates how public relations can exist, and function at the interface of the organization and society.

Some would say that this is the “high-minded” description of public relations, but I disagree. Because “harmony,” as our mission, is scalable.

It can be pursued in the humble product news release seeking to promote, in the famous aphorism, a “commercial transaction between consulting adults.” And, at the other end of this spectrum, harmony is also the objective of the macro public relations commitment called “public diplomacy.”

In recent years, Karen Hughes in the U.S. State Department has been pursuing what has been called public diplomacy’s “mission impossible” – trying to offset the tremendous damage to our country’s reputation abroad due to foreign policy decisions.

In a parallel activity, and perhaps with greater potential for success, there are the efforts of public relations educators such as Ball State’s Mel Sharpe and Pritch Pritchard – as well as Dr. Judy Van Slyke of Virginia Commonwealth University and my Commission on Public Relations Education co-chair, Dr. Dean Kruckeberg of the University of Northern Iowa. These intrepid educators, to name only a few, have, for some time, been introducing public relations education – and the very concept of true public relations, at universities in regions as diverse as South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia..

To complete the first of the two dimensions of context, “public relations in its fullest, finest sense,“ a few words about the designation of public relations as aprofession. There is some controversy here.

Some would say that this is a stretch. They point out that we don’t have an entry credential such as that of law, medicine or accounting. This has driven the long-standing debate on whether public relations practitioners should be licensed. I believe, however, that the current emphasis on outcomes assessment at our colleges and universities may some day produce a consensus entry credential. Again, Professor Mel Sharpe has led the discussion of outcomes assessment for quite some time.

Moreover, I present to you the dictionary definition of a profession: “A vocation or occupation requiring advanced education and training and involving intellectual skills.”

And public relations can certainly demonstrate the three other standards for designation of a profession – an ethical code, ongoing social-science research and a body of knowledge – although the public relations body of knowledge is so broad, diverse and growing that it has defied codification.

Still, some will say, “but public relations practitioners are “advocates” – as if that was necessarily a pejorative. Doctors, lawyers and other professionals are advocates as well. The overriding criterion here is performing in the client’s (or patient’s) best interest as well as in the public interest, and within an ethical code.

The second contextual dimension relating to “how do public relations people fit into the world,” is a brief reflection on how the world is changing – the direction and velocity of such change, especially as it pertains to public relations.

I have to ask you students to trust me on this, but I believe that most folks here tonight over say, 40, will support much of what I’m about to tell you.

In the last two decades, the world has become so interconnected, and new international macro forces have become so powerful, that a fundamental reassessment of the status of our nation and our profession is critical.

In this regard, I’ll not even attempt to describe the importance, the impact, of the fast-evolving information technology which, in a sense, can link everyone around the world at any time. You students probably know more about that than I do; I’m not into Facebook, YouTube or MySpace. And I’m certainly not into Wikipedia.

Instead, a quick list of some of the other current – and future – global linkages:

Energy: Did you buy gasoline or heating oil this week? At what fast-escalating price? With our country importing about two-thirds of its needed crude oil, what happens in oil-producing countries – countries ranging from Iraq to Venezuela – affects us directly and viscerally. And did you know that about 80 percent of the world’s oil reserves are held by 13 foreign, government-owned companies – and that many of those governments are not friendly to the U.S.?

Environment: Surely a global issue. The United Nations, at its upcoming pan-national meeting in Bali, will attempt to build a consensus global commitment on addressing climate change. No easy task.

Immigration: Not just in this country, but the mass movements of people in many parts of the world seeking a better standard of living, more freedom or both.

Add to this list international tourism, trade and commerce, disease and health issues, capital flows – and, tragically – terrorism and the threat of war. It becomes unarguable that multipolar cooperation, in place of the unipolar policies of earlier decades, is critically important today.

There are, of course, no “power ratings” for countries as there are in, say, sports. If there were, the U.S., apart from its military strength, would surely have had to “sacrifice points” to other countries which in recent decades have recovered from the ravages of World War II, the Cold War, misguided political ad economic systems and colonialism. Yes, our economy is the largest in the world, but it is increasingly tied to other national economies. And, yes, the values of our country’s founders still inspire people around the world, but we must live those values not simply pontificate about them.

But perhaps I digress. Back to the “Peripatetic Public Relations Professional And What He Heard and Saw” around the world:

Before I do “John as Marco Polo,” I’d like to offer the conclusion drawn from these travels, a conclusion that I hope will resonate with you students. It is that what I learned represents both a dramatic opportunity and a distinct challenge for you.

The opportunity is this: Because public relations is now being practiced all over the world – yes, it varies by political and economic systems as well as culture and traditions – your generation has an unprecedented opportunity to work in any number of other countries. Perhaps not immediately upon entering the field, but certainly eventually.

But on the flip side, there is the challenge: I saw many hundreds of young people studying public relations in these countries. They are your potential competitors for these opportunities abroad, and, for that matter, for jobs even here in the United States.

Well, what did I see and hear in these countries?

In St. Petersburg, Russia, with the Grunigs, I attended the 10th anniversary of the introduction of public relations higher education in that country. Students and faculty came to the celebration from as far away as Vladivostok, six time zones away! And they came by railroad, traveling several days.

In China, visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong with PRSA and Global Alliance colleagues, I visited six universities where hundreds of enthusiastic students were preparing for public relations careers, many hoping to work for China on the 2008 Olympics. And I was astounded to learn that one of the leading growth areas in public relations in China is investor relations -- counseling government-owned companies that are seeking listing on New York, London and other stock exchanges – listings that require much more transparency than those companies have ever had to provide.

In India, at the Global Alliance’s World Public Relations Festival, I heard speakers report on the success of win-win partnerships between companies and local officials. For example, Hindustan Lever has supported establishment of first-time entrepreneurs among women in hundreds of remote Indian villages.

In Argentina, I functioned as a preliminary examiner for the first PRSA university certification in South America. The institution is Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE) in Buenos Aires and it, too, is educating hundreds of public relations majors enthusiastic to enter our field.

Another Global Alliance World Festival, this one in Brasilia, provided surprising insights into the application of public relations to social causes. And there, the GA issued its seminal “Letter from Brazil” which proclaimed “That the practice of Public Relations is an instrument for the development of people and nations in the construction of just nations.”

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, I witnessed an energetic chapter of PRSA prospering even in a depressed economy. And, once again, a vibrant public relations student cadre was not only present but actively engaged.

In Great Britain, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations – “chartered” being a very prestigious designation in that it represents royal endorsement – provided an opportunity for an in-depth discussion of corporate social responsibility at CIPR’s annual research conference.

Rome, Italy, about this time last year, hosted a World Bank global conference on the bank’s commitment called “Communication For Development”. Several hundred communications experts from around the world examined which communication efforts work most effectively in delivering World Bank services in less developed countries around the world.

And finally, just this past July, I attended the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, where again, public-private partnerships advancing corporate social responsibility were discussed. The summit’s “Geneva Declaration,” endorsed by both Secretary Ban Ki Moon and Coca-Cola CEO E. Neville Isdell, states that “through responsible business practices a more sustainable and inclusive economy can be realized.”

Back home, it was rewarding to help the Commission on Public Relations Education begin to translate its recently-published report, “The Professional Bond, Public Relations Education and the Practice” into five languages – Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese.

I realize, of course, that this travelogue may well sound like an ego trip on steroids. Frankly, I have risked that because first, I don’t think anything will help me advance my career any further; and second – much more importantly – because I truly believe that you students can benefit greatly from a global perspective on our profession.

Having reported on all of these recent developments, I’d like to conclude with just a few comments on the future.

At a recent meeting of PRSA’s International Section in New York City, we heard a seminal presentation on the macro issues of the future facing society and, therefore, public relations professionals.

Delivered by Erik Petersen, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C., it’s called “The Seven Revolutions Initiative” and it forecasts projected trends through the year 2025. (You can get more details at the CSIS website – gsi.csis.org.)

The coming “revolutions” center on population growth, especially in the developing world; resource availability, especially water; technology; information; integration; conflict; and governance.

In his summation, Mr. Petersen asked: “Are we going to move to a better or more dangerous world?”

The answer, of course, is not solely in the hands of public relations professionals. But I believe it is fair – and critically important – to ask: “What can the public relations canon and portfolio, as they continue to evolve, contribute to a better society?”

I hope you agree that the answers to questions like that represent an exciting future for our profession. I, for one, feel that the future of public relations is so exciting that I wish I were starting all over again.

U.S “Propaganda” at Home and Abroad

admin — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:48:01 -0400

Short Description

On Aug. 9, 2007, Ketchum Senior Counsel John Paluszek shared his perspectives on the responsibility of the U.S. government to communicate ethically as part of a panel titled “U.S. ‘Propaganda’ at Home and Abroad: Competition and Conflict Among Government Officials, the News Media and Public Relations Professionals” at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention in Washington, D.C.

Full Story

John Paluszek, Senior Counsel, Ketchum

Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communications

Washington, D.C.

Aug. 9, 2007

I’d like to begin with a short prologue offering a few caveats:

What I’m about to say may seem offensive to some in our government, so please understand that these are completely my personal observations and do not, in any way, reflect the organizations with which I am associated (or, for that matter, some members of my family).
On the other hand, I readily acknowledge that it’s easy to be critical as an “outsider” without exposure to the many nuances of policy formation and its implementation.
I’ll offer these comments not as revelations but as reminders of some basic principles that should apply, and often do apply, not only in government communications but generally in the symbiotic field of journalism and public relations.
This subject is profound. In the time allowed, our comments will likely just skim its surface. We hope that you’ll extend the discussion in the Q&A period and, in fact, extend it further while you’re here in Washington and when you return home.
And, finally, I’m going to read these comments in the interest of saying, as precisely as possible, what’s on my mind.

The seminal question is, “How can our government communicate ethically and responsibly, especially with international audiences?”

I put it to you that this question has never been more important than it is today – even more important now than it was when the birth of the United States of America was announced some 250years ago with this proclamation:

“When in the course of human events . . . a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they [Americans] should declare the causes that impel them to the separation.”

In today’s multipolar world – need I cite international terrorism, immigration, regional poverty, transmittable diseases, the global environment, energy and natural resources, trade and capital flows? – the word “communicate” is clearly both multidirectional and multifunctional.

So, the U.S. Government – any government, for that matter, any institution – must (1) listen creatively to what is expected of it; (2) consider adjusting policy and performance to what it learns; and (3) then present its position, policy and action. It’s a circular, never-ending process based on, again, a “decent respect to the opinions of mankind.”

Of course, you recognize this as Grunigs’ “two-way symmetrical public relations.” Professor Fitzpatrick can examine that more effectively than I.

But in that connection, it’s interesting to also recall Harold Burson’s compact description of the evolution of public relations. To paraphrase, Mr. Burson reminds us that we have developed from “deliverers of the message” to, quite often, advisers on policy and performance.

My remaining “outsider” remarks, grouped in four interrelated areas, are offered, with respect, mainly to our colleagues in U.S. government communications whatever titles they may bear – communications director, press secretary, public information officer, or public affairs officer.

Parenthetically, I must say that Geneva and Dante have already admirably addressed the other half of this equation – journalists – so I’ll not go there. But if you are interested in more input on this half, I suggest Helen Thomas’s recent book, Watchdogs of Democracy? and the Bill Moyers program, Buying the War which is airing on PBS this week.

So, on to unsolicited advice to government communicators:

1. Let’s be real. You are an advocate.

That in itself is OK as long as you are also acting in the public interest.

There is no inherent contradiction between being an advocate and ethically serving the public interest. After all, doctors, lawyers and teachers are also advocates. Still, public relations people bear an ethical trifecta – we are responsible to an employer, to the journalists we work with and to the public interest.

U.S. government public relations pros work primarily for the American people and only secondarily for the current administration, no matter how they have won their appointments.

To be sure, “the public interest” and “the public right to know “are sometimes hard to parse, identify or balance. For example, this is how Abba Eban, the Israeli statesman and diplomat, once described the tension that exists between diplomacy and journalism:

“We find the conflict of interest in full momentum in the dialogue between the media and the diplomats. Diplomats are entitled to feel that they celebrate a higher social ideal than journalists: the right of peace is more important than the right to know. If the right to know is carried to excess and peace is threatened, what has been gained?”

A troubling challenge.

On another, but related, plane, when as a government communicator, in your heart of hearts you disagree with a policy that is in formation or being implemented, you must speak truth to power (that’s not just the job of journalists).

Want examples? General George Marshall and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. Cyrus Vance and President Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis. And, closer to home, Jerry terHorst, who resigned as President Gerald Ford’s press secretary, over Ford’s decision to pardon Richard Nixon.)

2. A second proposed dose of reality: Government policy and performance trump communications.

When he was Director of the United State Information Agency in the Kennedy Administration, Edward R. Murrow offered advice that still resonates. He said, “The skillful propagation of poor policy . . . merely intens[ifies] error.”

So Murrow, the journalist and government-communicator par excellence, always insisted that if he were to be invited to the “crash-landing,” he had to be invited to the take-off as well.

God bless Karen Hughes. She’s doing a lot of good, creative things in directing U.S. public diplomacy – many programs that the now all-but-invisible USIA conducted successfully for decades. These programs may very well help improve our international relationships in the long run.

But Sisiphus didn’t have a tougher assignment. Our foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, keeps rolling the boulder of international public opinion back downhill in many countries. So in the light of our current foreign entanglements, expectations of short-term progress in winning “hearts and minds” should be scaled back.

And here’s another concern: Last week, Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that China “has been using a new approach to expand its influence and global appeal. It’s an approach at which the United States once excelled. . . . Call it ‘soft power’ . . . a country’s ability to lead by example and get others to follow because they admire what you are.”

Ms. Rubin, summarizing the new book, Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power Is Transforming the World, by Joshua Kurlantzick, tells us of “Beijing’s increasing skill at using diplomacy, trade incentives, and cultural and educational exchanges . . . to build an image of a benign world leader.”

China and “Soft Power”!

3. Although counsel on “crisis communications” has been virtually talked to death, government communicators would do well to remember its basics.

We’re still experiencing the fallout from the tragic story of Corporal Pat Tillman. As recently as last week, top Army officers, testifying with Donald Rumsfeld before a congressional committee, had to admit that “we screwed up” in telling the world that Corporal Tillman was a victim of enemy fire. Similarly, the fictional account of Private Jessica Lynch’s experience early in the Iraq War still reverberates.

Torie Clarke, the widely-respected communications consultant, had the unenviable task of running the Department of Defense communications operation during much of the Iraq War. She titled the book detailing this saga Lipstick on a Pig. Her advice in a crisis: “Deliver the bad news yourself, and when you screw up, say so – fast.”

4. And that leads to the final suggestion on communicating responsibly and ethically – and I might add, effectively: Candor and emotion can be disarming.

We’re all human. We make mistakes. And we have emotions.

New York Times columnist Judith Warner tells us of the emotional speech given by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the recent Marine Corps annual dinner:

“It was as shock to see Defense Secretary Gates battling tears as he spoke about Major Douglas Zembiec . . . who was killed in May after requesting a second tour of duty in Iraq. . . .

“Chocking, pausing, visibly suffering and clearly fighting off an onslaught of unwelcome emotion . . . Gates seemed, for a moment, to tap into national sentiment. . . .”

Of course, I’m not suggesting that the daily outflow of government communications can often approach that degree of emotion. But I do wonder if our communications with international, as well as domestic, audiences can – some day, perhaps not until February 2009, if ever – convey a sentiment presented by John Kenneth Galbraith at the conclusion of the Vietnam War. This is what he said:

“When before has a great country stopped in the middle of a war, assessed the wisdom of its participation, decided it was wrong, asserted the judgment against all the chauvinistic tendencies aroused by armed conflict, dismissed from power those responsible, and brought its participation to an end?

“The answer is never. . . . The country corrected the error of its leaders on Vietnam. It was not a defeat but a triumph of good sense. Surely our critics abroad might take more note of this achievement. Does it not say anything for democracy?

And then, with prophetic admonition, Galbraith concluded:

“However, let us not make the presence of this remedial power a license for any more such mistakes.”

That was 1975.

This, of course, is now.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Planning an Effective PR Strategy

admin — Mon, 28 May 2007 17:12:34 -0400

Short Description

At a March 2007 Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) conference in London, Ketchum London CEO David Gallagher and Ketchum London Planning Director Ruth Yearley examined the core components of a PR strategy, the do's and don'ts of formulating a strategy, and how to select the best people for the strategy process.

Full Story

David Gallagher, Partner and CEO, Ketchum London
Ruth Yearley, Planning Director, Ketchum London

Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) “Perfecting PR Strategy” conference, London

March 19, 2007

David Gallagher: Of course when we were asked by the CIPR to speak here today we took this very seriously -- and what might you expect from a planner and a CEO?

Ruth wanted to do some research. And I wanted to listen to people.

Ruth Yearley: So what we decided to do was give ourselves a couple of weeks and research and listen for all the different definitions and approaches we could find on strategy and planning a strategy.

We listened to the Prime Minister’s question time and News 24 for briefings from the Oval Office. We listened hard to see what Ken had to say about his strategy for London. And David went off to the Davos World Economic Forum and I had a surf through the various planning Web sites.

DG: And we were surprised at how little talk there was of strategy or planning strategy. But not to despair, because in our research and listening period we did learn a lot about different approaches to strategy.

First of all was that Ruth's mum and dad were moving house. They told the family that because they were downsizing, their strategy was to move as little as possible and to get rid of as much as they could before they moved. So they had to eat everything in the freezer and cupboards, and all of the children had to reclaim their schoolbooks, teenage diaries and photos -- as these were unlikely to make the cut!

RY: So, so far so good.

Then came David's neighbors. Over a chat in the park playground, they told David that after having looked at the local schools, they realized they couldn't afford private education and decided to try to get their 4-year-old into the local church school. Their strategy, they decided, was going to be to develop as much of a presence at the local church as possible in order to secure the vicar’s approval. They had already started going to church regularly but were also going to help out at Sunday school and her husband was going to help the vicar with his accounts.

DG: Well, we seemed to be doing OK -- strategy seemed to be alive and well.

The next time their ears pricked up was at a work party we both attended. Ruth's female friend shared with Ruth the big news that she had a huge crush on one of the guys in the office. Well, as you know, in PR a man is something of a rarity, so this was not a big news day as far as Ruth was concerned, but she was used to feigning interest on occasions like this. However, her attention really was grabbed when the friend started describing her strategy for attracting the man -- she had decided that her strategy or approach was going to be to just make herself incredibly desirable. She knew that the guy was incredibly competitive, so she was going to make herself the prize!

RY: Meanwhile, at the same party, across the other side of the room, David was having the same conversation but with a different woman. Same guy in question, different woman! (See -- told you there weren't many eligible guys in PR!) What was interesting was that she explained to David that she had really thought about the best way to get her man and she had a clear approach. Having been in this situation many a time before, she knew what it was like to have a work crush and all the attendant interest that came with it from all the other people in the company. So on this occasion she was going to play it differently. Her strategy was going to be to play hard to get -- to do nothing! To make no effort, to show no interest and use her aloofness to reel him in.

DG: So what did we learn from this? Strategic thinking and planning is alive and well; and we all do it every day – instinctively.

RY: So what else did we learn about how to do it? Well, before they decided on their strategy, all the people we heard from had objectives. They knew what they wanted to attain and in what time frame. The also wanted information, they knew the size of the new house or the entry criteria for the school or the guy's predispositions.

And of course you would expect us to say that. We all have these when we plan PR strategy -- we spend a lot of time setting smart communications goals and researching the business situation, competitive context, target audience, etc.

But they also had two other things that perhaps we underestimate or disregard in the workplace where we would not in real life. They also had experience, they had moved house before or had a hopeless crush before; and intuition (or as we like to call it in business, insight), they had a feel for what was going to work for them in the situation.

DG: So we really have to share with you here our favorite definition of strategy that we did not get from Ruth's mum and dad or from the girls at work, but believe it or not, from the Strategic Planning Society: “Strategic Planning: Devising intellectual justifications for other people's gut feelings.”

And while that is perhaps rather a facetious perspective, we do think it makes a point. Very often, strategy and planning a strategy are seen as impenetrable and challenging, even a bit scary. However, as we have seen, left to our own devices, we can all come up with a workable approach to most problems without too much grief. Sometimes, though, we find it hard to justify it and unpick how we came up with it and why it is the right one.

RY: So rather than thinking about strategy as intellectual justification as the quote mentions, we like to think of strategy as an intellectual explanation that helps the whole team and everyone involved in any PR project understand what they are all setting out to achieve and how they will achieve it. It is the touchstone for the whole project and where you should always keep coming back to check that you are still on track and understand why you are doing what you are doing.

And that is why a PR program without an overarching and driving strategy is an ineffective PR program. Because without this focus, this strategic vision, the PR plan is open to being buffeted by events and short-term distractions. (How many of us have not been called up and had a helpful suggestion of a collaboration or a sponsorship that just happens to be the client’s favorite pastime?)

Having a strategy that is shared and understood by the whole team means that the knee jerk is eliminated and these ideas can be considered and judged properly (and then rejected!).

However, that is not to say that strategy is inflexible and cast in stone. Strategy is an organic entity. Strategy changes as events and context change, new information appears, events and circumstances change, and consultation and feedback are taken on board.

DG: So hopefully having established that strategic planning is not as difficult as it might seem and how important it is for an effective PR campaign to be firmly grounded in strategy, we would like to take you through some thoughts on how to actually plan a great strategy.

So first of all, the who. Who should be involved in planning the strategy? The simple answer is everyone, or at least as many people as possible. We hope by now that we have made the point that strategic planning is not an exclusive domain and everyone on the PR team, at whatever level, needs to understand the strategy in order to be able to do their job effectively and work hard for the brand product or service they are servicing.

Therefore, those people who are responsible for delivering those tactics and bringing the strategy to life, need to understand the wider context, the why. The most effective way to get them to understand and buy in to that is to get them involved in the generation of it in the first place. The more you can involve them in the planning and development of it, the better.

At Ketchum we are lucky enough to have a dedicated strategic planner, but obviously even with that dedicated role, resources are limited. With this need in mind, for strategic planning to be owned by all, we developed the Ketchum Planning Process. This is a system available to everyone in the agency and helps them get involved in planning strategy. The Ketchum Planning Process gives everyone the capability to think like a planner and provides tools and breaks strategic planning down into critical thinking exercises.

RY: If you think of the two key components of strategy being the combination of knowledge and insight, it becomes easy to see that these are something that everyone is capable of contributing to. While there may be specialists, research teams, analysts, etc., who source and gather the knowledge or the intelligence, everyone needs to be cognizant of it. Then of course everyone is able to bring to it their own point of view, their own perspective, their own unique insight, and so contribute to the strategy development.

It can be easy to confuse knowledge with insight. Don’t. Knowledge is data, facts, points of reference and information. Insight is a glimpse into the heart, soul or mind. You need them both, but you can’t replace one with the other.

DG: Strategy is always a choice. Of course there is a temptation when a brief comes in for the most senior player or the planner or the person who has worked in that area for longest to just go away, immerse themselves in the brief, have a little think, frame the strategy, and deliver it fait accompli to the wider team for them to brainstorm tactics and develop media approaches, etc.

Yet you would rarely take this unilateral approach when it comes to brainstorming on tactics. In fact, on those occasions there is a general acknowledgment that the more different people involved, even people who have no expertise in the subject area, the better. We know that great different ideas come by mixing it up, involving people sharing the task.

RY: The reason we have a different approach to developing strategy, to developing tactics, is that we want a lot of tactics, but there is an abiding idea that there is only one approach to strategy.

And that’s the important thing to remember – there is not one “correct” strategic approach – the skill and the joy is not in thinking of an approach but choosing the right approach.

The best strategy is the one that will most effectively meet the business and communications goals; the one that is the most salient in terms of possible messages, relevant to the defined target audience, and most timely in terms of tapping into a wider social context; and the one that will work hardest for the subject you are servicing.

That’s why you need to understand the business goals, have the competitive context, and have insights into the target audiences. Not just to inform the development of the strategy – but to make sure you pick the most effective strategy from among all those available to you.

DG: We are going to hear later from other speakers about methodologies for gathering information about target audiences, optimum media channels, etc. But you all need to remember that this information is not just a tool for creating a strategy, but also for selecting among strategies.

Then once you have selected your strategy, you need to keep it at the heart of the business of the everyday work. We all know that once the day-to-day work kicks in, strategy is often invisible and silent. It is present and stated at the outset as it sets the direction for the whole campaign, but after that it is manifested through the tactics and the outcomes.

So to make sure it is always there informing the team of what we are doing, we pin up the Ketchum strategy statement:

Ketchum will target (whom)
To help them understand and believe (what)
By informing them of (key messages)
Through (engaging what influencers, channels or media)
This will result in (desired outcome).

RY: So, that’s it from us. Just to finish off, our top 10 strategic planning takeaways:

Strategic Planning is alive and well – we all do it every day.
Experience and instinct are important strategic planning tools.
Involve as many interested parties as possible -- strategic planning is not an ivory tower.
Strategy is always a choice – knowledge helps you make the best choice.
Strategy is not rigid and constraining, it is empowering – it protects us from being distracted.
Strategy is often invisible and silent – but don’t forget it is there.
Strategy is an organic and dynamic construct – don’t let it fester.
Sometimes doing nothing is actually a strategy!
You’ll need a strategy to pick a strategy.
If you cannot articulate your strategy clearly and quickly, you probably don’t have one.

PRSA Chicago Leadership Reception Honoring Ray Kotcher

admin — Tue, 29 May 2007 11:41:31 -0400

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At a Dec. 13, 2006, event in which he was honored by the Chicago PRSA Chapter as a “PR legend,” Ketchum Senior Partner and CEO Ray Kotcher outlined seven major public relations headlines from 2006.

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Casino Club, Chicago

Remarks by Ray Kotcher, Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Ketchum

December 13, 2006

Thank you and good evening. I am very honored to be here today.

When Ron Culp and Bill Parks asked me to talk with you today, I jumped at the chance to address an audience of the public relations business leaders in Chicago. I also was flattered to be considered a PR legend. As I look around the room, there are many here tonight who certainly deserve this recognition well before I do. We all have in common one of my great passions – in addition to the Bears – and that, of course, is public relations – a profession and a business, for those of us on the agency side, that is undergoing profound change. I like to say we’re at a tipping point and I would like to use my time today to tell you why.

To keep it brief, allow me to walk you through seven headlines from 2006, as they tell the story well.

First, to put it plainly, in 2006, new media became a big deal. And with the advent of the new media, we in public relations have our best opportunity ever to produce content that is two-way and engenders conversations and dialogue – time-honored public relations skills. Even in declaring 2006 as the year new media became a big deal, I admit it sounds like very old news. But it wasn’t in January. As a matter of fact, it was only six months ago that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation bought MySpace for more than half a billion dollars and only two months ago that Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion. Why did these highly strategic companies buy these sites? Because they realize that user-generated content, two-way interaction, self expression, call it what you will, are the wave of the future. Personal media doesn’t just allow two-way interaction – they demand it – and this is the cornerstone of the new age of the creator. As the Institute for the Future puts it, this truly is a revolution without bystanders.

Second, 2006 is the year that saw the globalization of the public relations business. The world has been evolving into an interconnected place for some time, and while you could point to global public relations programs that took place before this year, the rate at which they are popping up today tells us that companies are realizing the great convergence of issues, challenges and opportunities. As a result, we in public relations are operating on a more global platform. Just three examples of assignments we handled this year emphatically make this point: the Global Health Initiative for the World Economic Forum, the launch of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and the Russian presidency of the G8. It doesn’t get more global than that. Today we live in an incredibly interconnected world. Everything spills into everything else. And this leads to the next headline of 2006.

Third, 2006 continued to underscore the immense volatility that exists and the critical role corporate social responsibility and public relations play. Last spring, I gave the commencement address to graduating seniors at Boston University’s College of Communication. I advised the graduates to “Join the Conversation.” Today I urge you to join it as well. Don’t be isolated within your particular company or firm but broaden your world and make a difference. Successful global companies will be those that recognize that corporate social responsibility is not optional. It is an essential driver of business success also referred to as purpose-driven organization. And in that spirit, I highly recommend the recent Michael Porter article in the Harvard Business Review on corporate social responsibility. Again, according to the Institute for the Future, by the end of this decade, we can expect these headlines:

Biodisaster – natural or human-made – lurks on the horizon.
Extreme meteorological and geological events continue to threaten human life.
China’s rapid growth redraws global economic, political maps.
Megacities leave giant ecological footprints as they sprawl across the developed and developing world.
Tech innovations spur even greater fervor and zeal and a deep personalization.

While we will be facing challenges tomorrow, we can begin to help shape and, perhaps in some cases, prevent them today.

Which prompts headline number four. In terms of any one audience group, 2006 was the year of the employee, or the year of employee engagement. The employee is the ambassador for the brand and for corporate reputation. Too often companies neglect their own people. Employees today must be engaged in the programs you devise. They must be actively involved in helping develop and cheerlead for the programs. Which means they must understand your objectives and initiatives and actively buy into them. Our change management group, Stromberg Consulting, helps clients deal with building internal brand ambassadors all the time. There are many fresh and innovative ways to engage your employees. Being open with employees, communicating swiftly, is what gets them engaged, and engagement is what helps with both recruitment and retention.

So to build on headline four, let’s look at the fifth headline, just one word, which strikes fear in any manager today – talent. The fifth headline faces all businesses today, not just public relations – recruiting and retaining top talent. But let’s focus on how and why this impacts public relations. Frankly, our industry has matured to the point where we need a more diverse skill set than ever before and this at a time when the war for talent has become increasingly intense. The flight of key talent to fresh challenges, the attraction of different geographies and the lure of a new industry often cause the best and brightest to leave a company. Perhaps today, it is unrealistic to think we will hold onto them. But we certainly want to! Regardless, I believe we must consider a few different options. Option one – we have to work at retaining the best and brightest public relations professionals within our own company first – and we do that through the employee-engagement program I talked about earlier coupled with strong HR programs and remembering we are all a part of HR. Option two – we have to work at retaining the best and brightest within our industry, continually underscoring why this industry is critical to the future. And finally, option three – if they have left both our company and our industry, we need to consider whether there is another role for them perhaps as a business partner or influencer. In today’s world, in which competitors band together in joint ventures, it definitely is time to think about talent differently. Having said that, I must admit I’m somewhat optimistic about attracting people to our industry. This is an extraordinarily exciting time for our particular industry. It strikes me it’s the best of times.

Headline six – PR is measurable. One of the largest marketing organizations, Procter & Gamble, is telling us in PR that we deliver the best bang for the buck on a return-on-investment basis. Tie this in with the fact that P&G has realized they no longer own their brands – consumers do – and you realize quickly that public relations is the best tool to help companies help consumers manage the company’s products. See headline one – new media became a big deal. Yes, it all ties together.

Which actually reminds me of the media study Ketchum just completed with the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center. We termed it “Media Myths and Realities.” The main finding really shows that all media matter. For example, one of the findings indicated that nearly half of all women and 39% of all men rely on word of mouth from family and friends when gathering information to make a decision. Another showed that social networking sites like YouTube are used by 19.4% of women and 14.8% of men. And another found that nearly three-in-four consumers rely on their local TV news while nearly 70% depend on their local newspaper. Traditional media still remains very much in the mix.

And then there are influencers – those people who shape consumer views about what we purchase and how we think about products and services. They use media, traditional and new, at much higher levels than the typical consumer and thus serve as the public’s editors and multimedia “minders.” That makes this an extraordinarily exciting time for our particular industry.

Which brings me to my final headline from 2006. Our collective work has extraordinary relevance today. Here are just a few examples of projects Ketchum was involved in during 2006. In addition to working with the World Economic Forum and the Russian presidency of the G8, we supported an investor relations program for China Construction Bank following its historic IPO. We helped the Louisiana Recovery Authority start rebuilding New Orleans and, to show our commitment to that city, we brought our partner group to New Orleans a couple of weeks ago and donated more than 200 hours to help build houses in that city’s devastated Ninth Ward. We helped corporations rebrand themselves, including right here in Chicago where we helped Federated rebrand Marshall Field’s as Macy’s. But this headline isn’t about Ketchum. It underscores the bright future of the public relations industry. An industry growing in both size and stature. I’m glad to be in it with each of you.

And perhaps that is the best place to end. As Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” I look forward to moving boldly into 2007 with a clear vision for our industry and working together to Join the Conversation that’s taking place in the world today.

Thank you.

Association of Management Consulting Firms Annual Meeting

admin — Tue, 29 May 2007 11:39:39 -0400

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At the 2006 annual meeting of the Association of Management Consulting Firms at the Harvard Club in New York City, Ketchum Senior Partner and CEO Ray Kotcher shared five lessons for helping companies address major change.

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The Harvard Club, New York City

Ray Kotcher

Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Ketchum

Dec. 7, 2006

Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be with you today. I must say, I keep getting feelings of déjà vu. Your annual meeting’s theme is “Reinventing the firm and maintaining excellence in an era of dramatic change.” One of our major industry associations, the Council of PR Firms, held a half-day seminar last month that paralleled that theme as we in public relations seek to achieve engagement in today’s far more fragmented media world.

Both of our sectors are undergoing dramatic growth and change.

Let’s take a look at my world for a moment, the world of public relations and the media. This world has become one in which today’s process is participatory in nature. It no longer is about top-down broadcasting of messages but bottom-up network effect and community dynamics – it is a dialogue, a conversation. And it is not as much about technology.

Yes, this change is enabled by technology but it is more about the dynamics of the media and the interaction of the traditional media and the new media and the alchemy of that interaction. It also is about social dynamics – today the ability of PR to manage perceptions and behavior has never been more powerful.

It really does fulfill the destiny that one of our industry’s forefathers, Edward Bernays, saw for PR so many years ago: The importance and power of communication in the management of social interaction and behaviors – the engineering of consent as he called it. And with the advent of the new media, we in public relations have our best opportunity ever to produce content that is two-way and engenders conversations and dialogue – time-honored public relations skills.

As Paul Saffo, the director of the Institute for the Future, says in Newsweek about the intersection of content creation and the new media’s two-way dialogue: “Loading photos on Flickr or videos on YouTube is creation . . . as is adding an entry to Wikipedia – just as the time clock symbolized a worker-centric economy and the credit card represented consumers, the computer mouse is the symbol of the new creators – personal media are very different from television with its one way message: Shut up and watch, then buy what you see. On the Web, one must always be clicking, selecting and browsing. Personal media don’t just allow two-way interaction – they demand it – and this is the cornerstone of the new age of the creator. This is truly a revolution without bystanders.”

So, just as you as consultants are trying to make sense of all that is happening in your sectors today so that you might better guide your clients through this kaleidoscope change, we in PR face a similar consulting challenge. In my brief remarks today, I would like to offer some counsel around communication, the type of counsel we at Ketchum well might give to one of your firms dealing with dramatic growth and change.

So let me offer five lessons that invariably apply in situations where a client is going through dramatic change, especially as it relates to major growth. Here are the five:

Lesson one: Recognize that the change you’re experiencing is the ticket to your success. And, if you agree with that, you might also agree on the opposite – that those consultancies that fail to change will fail to succeed.
Lesson Two: Swiftly embrace the growth and change within your consultancies.
Lesson Three: Understand what the forces of change and growth mean to your organization and its future.
Lesson Four: Think creatively in how you will communicate to your internal community about this period of growth and change.
Lesson Five: Join the conversation; ready yourself to face the challenges – good and bad – of tomorrow.
Five rather simple thoughts – recognizing, embracing, understanding, communicating and joining – now here is the detail.

Lesson one: Recognize that the change you’re experiencing is the ticket to your success. And, if you agree with that, you might also agree on the opposite – that those consultancies that fail to change will fail to succeed. You can take small steady steps or great long leaps and strides in dealing with this change – but you must move forward to set the stage for the other lessons.

Thomas Friedman, the New York Times “Foreign Affairs” columnist and author of The World Is Flat, coined the word “glocalization” to describe how outward a national or local or corporate culture is – how open it is to foreign ideas and influences. The other aspect of this is how “inward” the culture is – how strong its sense of identity is and how well its members collaborate with one another.

So I ask you to ready yourself for communicating change – are you and your firm’s colleagues truly a team? Is collaboration a given? Is everyone ready to tackle this new period of growth and change with a unified spirit? And you must acknowledge that this period, just like the one when times are really difficult, will affect everyone in your organization in some way, and not always beneficially.

Here’s what many of us in the public relations sector have decided – and it very well may apply to you. We must be versatile and flexible. And we must become as flexible externally as we are internally. What do I mean? I mean that we must organize ourselves to meet complicated clients’ needs with internal specialist skills.

At the same time, we must be able to work quickly and seamlessly with a host of other external agencies and consultancies and freelancers and internal staff. We at Ketchum work with agencies from within Omnicom – our parent company – as well as with those from other disciplines – such as yours – and even other public relations agencies. We are bent on showing how this “sleeping with the enemy” approach adds extra value from such cooperation and not mere tolerance.

We’ve gotten positive feedback from our clients by adopting this approach because they see us acting in this way rather than just talking about it – it demonstrates that we will do whatever it takes to help them meet their goals. While not a point today, just a reminder, actions do speak louder than words. So remember even if you aren’t saying something out loud, it may be what you are doing that is getting the attention.

So, as you recognize the change you are going through, remember it pays rich rewards to emphasize Collaboration, community and credibility – and to ensure it encompasses your employees as well as your clients and others.

Lesson Two: Move swiftly to embrace this recognition of growth and change within your consultancies. We have an offering at Ketchum for our clients’ new chief executive officers, and we are seeing more turnover in top management than ever before. It’s called “The First 100 Days.” Some of you may have similar offerings for new corporate leaders. Our mission in any such assignment is – through communication – to ensure that a new CEO gets a quick start in influencing key stakeholders inside and outside the organization, setting the stage for continued success.

Consider that you’re the master of your firm’s ship – and many of you are just that. As CEO – or as adviser to the chief – you should recognize that you have an enormous impact on your team’s psychology. And you also should understand that in today’s fast-changing business landscape, speed is both an expectation and a demand. So you must quickly communicate what this growth and change environment means to the entire organization.

Here are some of the internal challenges you must address:

Leveraging new technologies
Building significant depth of talent
Executing new business strategies, in particular, collaboration
Developing high-impact strategies for your brand
Evolving models for relationships with each other, your clients, your profession, etc.

What we advise is that you adopt a clear positioning so that everyone knows what the CEO – or in your case, the consultancy – stands for. We recommend a communication platform for taking that positioning out to your internal and external communities. We urge that you establish early priorities for dealing with growth and change – and that you also set a more detailed communication and leadership plan to take you through the post-100-day period.

You might hold a workshop where your leaders articulate their core beliefs and views about the firm’s direction, challenges and opportunities in this new era. We at Ketchum promote a “message-mapping” approach that dozens of our clients rely on for really grappling with the nub of a new organizational change. It often can take nearly a day to really capture the core message of the particular challenge, what we call the home base – and then also agreeing on the key elements or points in the next layer away from the central home base and the outlying proof points that back up the inner circles.

But being clear on your message is what helps the organization to begin to embrace change. It also helps the leadership of the firm to speak from the same page. First, the CEO comes out with clear communication around embracing change, and then the leadership follows. Remember, in the end, all communication is local. The CEO influences everyone from afar, but the local managers and direct supervisors are the ones who pull it through.

Lesson Three: And, frankly, I could have led with this one. You must really try to understand what the forces of change and growth mean to your organization and its future. As I mentioned at the beginning, we in public relations and media communication in general are in the midst of a profound change in our business.

Consumers today are in control of their communications – whether it embraces traditional media like newspapers and local TV, or new media like social-networking sites, blogs, and mobile media, or what’s most likely, a solid mix of those various media – the alchemy of that interaction.

But it’s not time for us to wring hands. The origins of public relations were in boom times and the boom of the time was a medium called newspapers. We’re in another boom time and the boom in our era is wired people, social networking, that kind of coactivity.

Consider this: In a media study Ketchum just completed with the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center, nearly half of all women and 39% of all men rely on word of mouth from family and friends when gathering information to make a decision. Social networking sites are used by 19.4% of women and 14.8% of men. And influencers – those people who shape consumer views about what we purchase and how we think about products and services – use media, traditional and new, at much higher levels than the typical consumer and thus serve as the public’s editors and multimedia “minders.”

That makes this an extraordinary exciting time for our particular industry. It strikes me it’s the best of times. One of the largest marketing organizations, Procter & Gamble is telling us in PR that we deliver the best bang for the buck on an ROI basis. Our firm and agencies such as ours are growing by double digits and, I would say, one of the reasons we are is that companies like P&G realize they no longer own their brands. Consumers do and public relations is the best tool to help companies help consumers manage the company products.

That details some of our realizations. What are yours? You must find them – and I’m sure you have many. Does everyone in your organization understand them?

Which brings me to Lesson Four: Think creatively in how you will communicate to your internal community in particular about this period of growth and change. Our change-management group, Stromberg Consulting, tackles these types of assignments for clients all the time. It has discarded the old term “internal communication” for a much broader descriptor: “employee engagement.”

Employee engagement entails much, much more. Employees today must be engaged in the programs you devise for dealing with growth and change. They must be ambassadors for it. They must be actively involved in helping develop and cheerlead for the programs. Which means they must understand your objectives and initiatives and actively buy into them.

You could establish what’s known as a wiki to help you and your employees work together. A wiki is the ability of a group or entire organization to define or articulate something – let’s say it’s your growth plan or your dealing-with-change plan – together online with each having the ability to make a suggestion to the document.

IBM adopted a wiki when it allowed its employees to establish a company policy for handling employee blogs. There’s nothing more satisfying, frankly, than knowing you had a part in setting goals or a plan, and that your organization considers your contributions vitally important to its success.

So, if your organization is scattered widely, perhaps between continents, a wiki might be beneficial to you.

Or perhaps you should launch an internal Web log, or blog, that would serve a similar purpose of engaging employees. Your managing partner or some other leader might establish an internal online blog that explores various issues confronting the firm, and employees can offer their views and suggestions online to each posting by the executive. Yes, it’s a bit like the anonymous suggestion box, but it’s much more engaging for employees – from the support staff to the IT team to the senior consultants themselves. And it isn’t anonymous at all – it requires employees to claim who they are and what they think.

There are many fresh and innovative ways today to engage your employees and your external constituencies, and this engagement is two-way and can prove invaluable. Be sure, however, to be transparent in your dealings with your organization and clients. And I assure you, what disgruntled employees can do today in our digital age to illuminate their frustrations with their organizations is frightening. But don’t allow the interaction to scare you, being open with employees, communicating swiftly, is what gets them engaged.

So on that note, let me give you Lesson Five. I gave the commencement address this past summer to graduating seniors at Boston University’s College of Communication. For many of us, it’s been quite a while since we attended our own college commencement. I found this commencement truly an exhilarating experience – and I hope I was just as energetic and eager to begin my career then as many of today’s graduates seemed to be.

I advised the graduates to “Join the Conversation” – which, for them, is a planetary conversation that is integrating people with people as never before and building dynamic new communities powered by fresh technologies.

You and your colleagues have your own conversation. And I urge you to join others and not to be isolated within your particular firm but to broaden your world – to make a difference. And in that spirit I highly recommend the Michael Porter article in the current Harvard Business Review on corporate social responsibility.

Lesson Five incorporates that message. But there’s a much bigger message to convey, which I said to those fledgling communicators at Boston University. I told them that while today may be a period of opportunity and personal growth, the outlook ahead suggests some very daunting challenges for us all. According to the very reputable Institute for the Future, by the end of this decade, we can expect these headlines:

Biodisaster – natural or human made – lurks on the horizon.
Extreme meteorological and geological events continue to threaten human life.
China’s rapid growth redraws global economic, political maps.
Megacities leave giant ecological footprints as they sprawl across the developed and developing world.
Tech innovations spur even greater fervor and zeal and a deep personalization.

I have no doubt that as management consultants hearing those challenges, you undoubtedly see opportunity for you and your firms to help clients deal with these gigantic issues. For that’s the real lesson of today. While you may face challenges today coping with what the forces of major growth and change mean for your own firms, you recognize there will be far different and perhaps “darker” challenges to face tomorrow. And hopefully as you face those challenges, you will remember the five lessons of communicating change.

As Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” When you begin communicating change to your employees, remember this motto. Show employees that you recognize, embrace and understand change, that you are willing to communicate about it with a clear vision and that you are asking them to Join the Conversation.

Journey to the West: How Chinese Companies Can Successfully Engage With Stakeholders and the Media in the U.S. and Europe

admin — Tue, 29 May 2007 11:38:23 -0400

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At a June 22, 2006, award ceremony for the China International Public Relations Association, Ketchum CEO Ray Kotcher discussed trends, issues and opportunities for Chinese businesses in working with Western companies.

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China International Public Relations Association (CIPRA) Golden Awards Ceremony

Ray Kotcher

Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Ketchum

June 22, 2006

Thank you – shay, shay for that very warm introduction. CIPRA members, fellow public relations practitioners, dignitaries, guests, friends – it is a pleasure and an honor for me to be with you today.

First, let me offer my congratulations to CIPRA on your 15th anniversary. You have accomplished a great deal in your first 15 years, and I know the future will hold many more achievements as public relations continues to expand in China.

We at Ketchum also are celebrating an anniversary – our 10th year of partnership with Ketchum Newscan and its multi-city network in Greater China. We are so pleased with our association with Ketchum Newscan, its 180 professionals and, of course, its founders – Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Chu and President Betty Lo – and rejoice at the prospects for strong future growth in Greater China.

A giant shay-shay to Kenneth and Betty for their vision and commitment.

Today, I want to focus on the immense opportunities for Chinese companies now and in the future as you venture to foreign markets such as Europe and the U.S.A.

As you all know, for more than two decades, there has been tremendous attention on opportunities for Western companies venturing into China. Indeed, in 2004, the most recent year for such data, foreign direct investment poured into China at a record level, with more than $153 billion in new agreements, up by one-third over 2003. With that much interest and attention has come much advice and counsel about how these companies should conduct business in China.

Indeed, just look at the industry of consultants and advisory firms that emerged as Western companies began eyeing the vast Chinese consumer market. In fact, Ketchum was one of them, recognizing the potential early and linking with Kenneth and Betty’s public relations organization to help our clients as they ventured east.

Today, however I want to offer some suggestions to you and your companies as you proceed on your “Journey to the West.” Undoubtedly, many of you already are heeding or considering some of the counsel I am about to suggest and the importance of following, what I call, the “Communication Rules of the Road to the West.” This humble advice represents what others and I have learned after more than 25 years of working with clients to help them realize their communication objectives in the U.S. and elsewhere.

I will share some general concepts and words of advice about the West, relay some information about how business is conducted there and, finally, provide you with six lessons learned from watching the actions of and resulting reactions to the companies that came before you.

Let’s first assume that you and your companies already have taken some necessary steps as you enter or eye Western markets. You’ve identified significant business opportunities. You have smart business plans and strong, focused leadership. And while your companies were relatively slow to invest in the West before 2000, with your country’s “Go Global” policy encouraging Chinese businesses to build leading global brands, you are now moving quickly to expand into overseas markets -- with some notable early successes beyond Yao Ming.

Take Latin America, for instance. According to a recent report from the U.S.-based consultancy Global Insight, Chinese investment in Latin America reached a cumulative $8.3 billion in 2004, an increase of 79 percent from 2003. And from January to November 2004, Latin America represented half of China’s overseas investments.

In contrast, while the European Community is China’s biggest trading partner in goods and services, Europe is falling behind the world’s other regions in attracting China’s foreign direct investments. A survey of China’s top 50 companies showed that the U.S., Russia and other parts of Asia are more desirable places to invest than Europe, which Chinese managers view as too fragmented, bureaucratic and slow-growing.1

Still, China is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Europe. In 2004, for instance, Chinese companies put $129 million in foreign direct investments into Germany, $128 million into Spain and $108 million into the U.K., just to name three countries there.2

But wherever your companies or clients are investing abroad, a strong communication plan helps you turn opportunity into reality. In addition, remember that just as relationships – quanxi – are vitally important in Greater China, relationships are important in the West with all your stakeholders – from consumers, vendors and partners to the media, government officials and others who can influence your products and services. While developing close and personal relationships is not perhaps as critical in the West as it is in China, it’s still important.

Let me give you a brief situation analysis of how I believe U.S., European and other Western marketplaces view China and its companies. It’s a mixed picture. While there’s significant admiration for the thriving Chinese economy, and a strong desire for China – dubbed “China Inc.” in the West – to market its products and services in the West, considerable fear exists that Chinese products and services will hurt homegrown rivals. In particular, that you will flood our markets with cheap goods of a lesser quality. As U.S. economics columnist Robert Samuelson sees it: “We cannot decide whether China is a threat or an opportunity.”3

Everything you do needs to tip the scale toward opportunity.

And to do that adequately will require you to spend quite a bit of time in the country or countries you are doing business in. You should learn from colleagues there and gain invaluable first-hand experiences. Learn what shopping is like there. Go to a supermarket if you’re selling grocery or related products. Visit a shopping mall if you’re selling clothes or consumer electronic products. And also visit those cities and regions on which you are focusing particular attention. Some of your companies and brands – Tsingtao, Haier and SVA – are excellent examples of organizations that are taking the time to understand the U.S. market in order to succeed in it.

Another key to our market is that it is getting more culturally diverse all the time and each region has its own cultural idiosyncrasies. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the U.S. is a homogeneous market, just as some Western companies erroneously used to treat China as one homogeneous market.

Here in China you have 1.3 billion people. In the U.S. we have just under 300 million. Obviously, not as large a population as yours, but still a very large and, to my previous point, a highly diverse one.

The Hispanic, or Latino, population alone in the U.S. increased by 58 percent from 1990 to 2000, underscoring our country’s changing diversity.4 Hispanics now represent 14 percent of the population, up from 9 percent in 1990.5 And in some major urban areas, that percentage is much, much higher. The Asian population in the U.S. jumped by nearly 50 percent from 1990 to 2000 and now stands at 11.9 million, including more than 2.7 million Americans of Chinese descent.

Another statistic also illuminates America’s diversity. Some 336 languages are spoken – or signed – in the U.S.6 And which language is the third largest language in the U.S.? It’s Chinese, mostly of the Cantonese variety. More than two million Americans speak some variety of Chinese, with Mandarin becoming increasingly more prevalent. As for religions, there are some 2,000 different religious denominations in the U.S.7 Then there are the number of local, county, state and federal governmental units in the U.S., which number in the thousands. While China has 2,000 counties, for instance, the U.S. has 3,141.8

Reflecting this heterogeneous marketplace, there is a learning curve for overseas companies in the U.S. Some consultants contend overseas companies should take 18 months to get acquainted with the particular marketplace and seeking business contacts. Consider the Australian software company that tried to launch a business in Denver. By the time the owners figured out the market 12 to 18 months later, their business failed as competition zoomed right past them.9 Let me reinforce, had the company done its research first, it might be thriving today.

So to get you on your way, here are a few insights about how we Americans behave in a business context, including our values and ways we like to forge business relationships. These insights, by the way – which I generally concur with – are from a U.K. brochure, “Marketing in the USA,” issued by the government in the U.K. to help exporters avoid some of the pitfalls that have beset some of their counterparts when doing business in the U.S.10

Generally, it maintains Americans:

Communicate feelings freely; we are verbal, straightforward, assertive and optimistic.
Are more action-oriented, and favor a can-do, anything-is-possible attitude, making us more interested in doing deals than spending an inordinate amount of time building relationships, although we do recognize that you can’t ignore critical relationships, particularly with the decision maker.
We frequently speak in questions, seeking opinions on a wide range of issues and matters. We tend to be more literal, digesting facts at face value.
We are insular, with less of an understanding of world events or geographies than our counterparts in Europe, for example. Less than 10 percent of Americans have passports. Indeed, Americans seem to be turning more nationalistic, which could trigger issues with overseas companies.
We tend to gather our information more from TV and, increasingly, the Internet, rather than from newspapers.

Here are some insights specifically about U.S. business practices, again with which I generally concur.

American businesspeople tend to share marketing and commercial information freely.
Perhaps because our culture is relatively young compared to yours, we do not have the sense of the long time horizons that you do. We tend to emphasize action now, debate later – so the pace of transactions is faster. We really do believe that “time is money."
Related to that, we expect results . . . fast. We expect a bottom-line impact and work hard to deliver against those expectations.
We assume that others have done their homework and are prepared.
And we have a growing number of women in the corporate boardroom and among top management. For instance, women are the CEOs of eBay, Xerox and Avon to name a few.

For a brief time, let’s consider the headlines when you don’t follow some of the basic Rules of the Road to the West.

These examples are a few years old but I draw upon them because they illuminate the missteps of some Japanese companies that, not all that long ago, were building their businesses in the United States and were viewed in much the same way that Chinese companies are today.

When Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing was sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for failing to address hundreds of alleged instances of sexual harassment at its plant central Illinois, the company paid employees to picket the Commission’s regional headquarters in Chicago. The employees had a choice: Picket or spend the day at a sexual-harassment workshop. Two thousand chose to picket. The effect: Mitsubishi created an image of defiance, intimidation and opposition to problem-solving. Not to mention the very negative national publicity around the protest that repeated the allegations of harassment.11

Then there were the visible PR miscues by Bridgestone Corp., the Japanese tiremaker that publicly denied product problems and customer complaints before it eventually recalled 6.5 million potentially defective tires in 2000. Bridgestone tried to deflect blame to drivers for their driving habits and to its tire customer, Ford. Also, Bridgestone’s CEO failed to make public appearances to apologize.12 Eventually, its PR efforts improved considerably, but the initial blunders took their toll.

And then there’s Sony. It has incurred its share of marketing and PR blunders in the U.S. by assuming that the U.S. market would accept certain consumer electronic products like the Sony MiniDisc in the portable audio market and Betamax recorder in the VCR market as readily as did Japanese consumers. Sony sold only 500,000 of its MiniDiscs in the U.S. in the first five years, compared to Japan’s sales of 5 million units in one year alone. And, in the VCR market, American consumers chose the longer-playing VHS format over the technically superior Betamax.13

These three examples all happen to involve Japanese companies and as I mentioned earlier, are each a few years old.

I want to make a quick aside here. What has been depicted as a potential Chinese “buying spree” in the States often is compared to the short-lived spurt of ill-fated overseas direct investments by Japan in the late 1980s. But three big differences exist. First, China’s resources are even bigger than Japan’s.

Second, China’s investments aren’t simply marquee names – they appear to be much more strategic. Finally, and this is where you must come in to counter what I envision, China is likely to face much more intense opposition every step of the way.

Now since the three Japanese companies blundered with their PR, they have learned invaluable lessons about doing business in the U.S. As a result, the communication and marketing blunders aren’t nearly as prevalent. The Japanese, undoubtedly, absorbed valuable insights about the U.S. that now help them market their products and services with a real understanding of what American stakeholders expect of foreign marketers. Just look at Toyota – in the U.S. it’s beating up on our own auto giants.

Other companies from countries like Korea and elsewhere have learned and are learning the same lessons as the Japanese. What lessons? Here are a few of them:

Lesson One: Communications must not simply be a situational response to events such as, say, a merger or acquisition – tell your story early and often. I think CNOOC, one of your leading oil companies, learned this lesson during its efforts last year to acquire Unocal, a large U.S. energy company that ended up marrying Chevron Corp. I believe that CNOOC had a good deal, had hired good consultants and advisers, and had made very clear that every American job would stay after a combination with Unocal.

But, the Unocal acquisition talks came at a very sensitive time in the U.S., with Americans increasingly concerned about “foreign” takeovers of U.S. companies. Those concerns are tied into America’s homeland security and safety concerns.

And, CNOOC, I think, just hadn’t done the best job developing relationships – in advance of its U.S. acquisition bid – with the media, business and political influencers, and other stakeholders. As a result, many Americans wanted to know who this Chinese “upstart” was. Meanwhile, opponents of the acquisition kept up a high-visibility campaign, polishing and honing their message to a constant and consistent warning against it.

As a result, Americans just didn’t favor such a merger, and they didn’t grasp that CNOOC, even though listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was nothing like the common American stereotype of a giant Chinese monopoly. The lesson here, I think, is that you should introduce yourself to a market you’re considering entering well before you actually make your move in that market. Let prospective investors and the general public know who you are, what you do and what your track record is. Develop relationships with influencers, including the media, who you could perhaps tap should problems arise – as they did with Unocal.

On the other hand, Lenovo Group, assisted by politically and marketing-savvy IBM, took a longer view in promoting Lenovo’s purchase of IBM’s personal computer business in December 2004. They practiced solid stakeholder relations and followed best practices in communications as well as employing a very smart transition plan from IBM to Lenovo. I’m sure that acquisition will serve as a fine communication case study someday of how to do it right in the U.S.

Tell your story early and often, be consistent, and consider all your stakeholders in maintaining this transparent relationship. This is a tougher time than it has been for overseas companies in the U.S. as Americans, perhaps because of growing anti-American feelings abroad and the fear that that creates, are becoming more xenophobic, or nationalistic.

Lesson Two: Transparency, indeed, is key. Be transparent about your U.S. operations, including adherence to the increasingly strict accountancy rules in the U.S. Some stories have emerged recently that Asian companies are listing their shares on the Hong Kong exchange and avoiding the New York Stock Exchange because of our tough and still relatively new Sarbanes-Oxley federal disclosure regulations.

My advice to you is that you always adhere to U.S. accounting rules and regulations, regardless of where your stock is traded because, over the long run, it will add to your success. You no doubt have followed the recent stories of American companies that did not follow these guidelines. Ultimately, they were punished and, in the meantime, they have caused both American consumers and investors to be a bit more wary of business overall.

Lesson Three: As the old saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Simply substitute “America” and “Americans” for “Rome” and “Romans.” What do I mean? Well, too often foreign companies enter the U. S. market and don’t take advantage of relationship-building opportunities. They seem to believe that they know best and do things their way. That attitude can backfire. One foreign company seeking to buy a U.S. manufacturer, for instance, had an opportunity to talk with the governor of the state where the manufacturer was based. But officials of the foreign company didn’t think they were ready to talk to the official so they didn’t meet with him. He ultimately backed another buyer that won the business.

The lesson here: It takes time to court relationships and, in the U.S., court them in an open and transparent way. In the process you will gain valuable allies from important influencers. That includes practicing smart government relations locally, in the states and regions you will operate in, and nationally. So relationships matter.

Lesson Four: Understand what differentiates successful overseas companies in the U.S. and the critical role played by corporate social responsibility in our market. Take the time to touch the local community in a real and meaningful way.

Just as many of your companies doing business within China are becoming concerned and involved citizens and being recognized as such by the Guangming Daily, American companies strive to be good corporate citizens, as well. For instance, FedEx employs a strong corporate social responsibility ethic, helping food banks and other urban organizations provide goods and services to those Americans in need, among other community projects.

Chinese companies should strive to become valuable members of the communities in the West that they touch. You should find ways to contribute to those communities in ways other than economic.

Throughout small-town America where overseas companies now operate – many of these companies are strong corporate citizens. In St. Marys, Ohio, for instance, where a Japanese company operates a plant, the company has helped the local schools and also built a beautiful brick clock tower and gazebo in the city’s park, among other initiatives.14

Lesson Five: Engage the media early and often. Develop relationships with key media reporters and editors. Encourage your CEO and top officials to engage in a dialogue with U.S. media and gain –and then sustain – visibility. Hold get-acquainted sessions with journalists and let them get to know you – what you stand for and the scope of your operations. Develop “thought leadership” opportunities for the CEO and others. Again, be transparent and open with the media.

And today you also must factor into the equation the rapidly emerging social or personalized media – the Internet, blogs, mobile marketing, podcasts, Web sites and other new channels -- that allow people to individualize their media preferences. In the U.S., a powerful nexus has developed where traditional media and social media meet. And these personalized media are growing in popularity and power. A very fresh statistic is the most revealing: Web media is the number-one channel for information and news while Americans are in the workplace and number two when they are home.

Given the Chinese government’s censorship restrictions on the Internet – which, of course, the immensely popular Google search engine ran up against – the American public and the media, in particular, are skeptical of Chinese businesses to a degree. You will have to be aware of this.

Certainly you should be prepared for an endless number of questions that you will have about dealing with the U.S. media. Can you pitch an American journalist the same way as in China? What is the best angle to cover in the U.S.? How do you find out who covers what? How do you apply new media – blogs, mobile marketing and podcasts – in the U.S.? What magazines and trade publications are perfect outlets for our story? These are important questions to think through.

Lesson Six: Identify key influencers who can help consumers better understand your products and how they differ from competitors. Even identify detractors and seek ways to soften their misgivings. Directly engage the consumer if you’re marketing products in the U.S. Launch events like shop openings, product launches, and product sampling events. In other words, think through who can help you be successful and who might stand in your way. Plot a strategy for both of these groups.

These influencers also include investors. Since today’s financial markets are fluid, 24/7 and global, you must be able to manage the financial and investor-relations communications should your companies or government entities seek to acquire and then combine with a publicly traded enterprise in the West. You should work to understand various types of investors – including the socially active, the long-term, those who seek quarter-to-quarter growth, and others. Understanding these investor communities can be vital to your success.

What I have been suggesting to you is that while Chinese companies have huge opportunities in the U.S. and Europe, those markets are huge themselves. Indeed, the U.S. market is one of the most challenging places to do business today. To be successful, you need to know how society, business and communication work. You need to learn the “rules of the road.”

Still, the opportunity exists in the West for every Chinese company to position itself as the exemplar of the new China. Global. Transparent. Cooperative. And focused on the new bottom line – the line that captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring an organization’s success – socially responsive actions and behaviors AND economics.

Again, thank you – shay, shay – for inviting me today. Now I would be glad to answer any of your questions.

Citations available upon request.

Join the Conversation

admin — Tue, 29 May 2007 11:36:55 -0400

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In a May 14, 2006, commencement address to the Boston University College of Communication class of 2006, Ketchum CEO Ray Kotcher explains how new technologies are engendering new global dialogues and opportunities.

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Commencement Address

Boston University College of Communication

Ray Kotcher

Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Ketchum

May 14, 2006

Members of the Class of 2006, as well as proud families – moms in particular on this Mother’s Day – Dean Schulz, faculty, ladies and gentlemen. I have been looking forward to joining you today as we come together to recognize and celebrate one of our society’s great milestones – a moment to be proud – the day you receive your diplomas and graduate.

It was twenty-three years ago that I received my master’s degree from the College of Communication. In 1983, there was no such thing as an iPod to drown out the commencement speaker. The personal device of choice, the Sony Walkman, had been introduced just a few years earlier.ⁱ And we certainly didn’t have cell phones to let our family and friends know just where we were sitting.

In 1983 – though an early version of the Internet was in limited use by the government and universities and cable television was just getting off the ground – in those days we received our daily headlines from newspapers, three broadcast television networks, and radio. Yet the headlines of 1983 presaged those of today.

Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq – and, of course, today he still thinks he is. U.S. forces invaded Grenada, and now we may be deciding to do the same in Iran. Hurricane Alicia left 17 dead in southern Texas – today we continue to sort through the destruction of Katrina.

The U.S. Supreme Court declared many local abortion restrictions unconstitutional – now the High Court may move to reinterpret past decisions on this emotional social issue.

And then there was Michael Jackson. In 1983 he ran away with the Grammy awards, and now he has run away to Bahrain. In some ways nothing has changed. But in other ways everything has changed – profoundly.

Now, I have a request. I want you graduates to consider what I have to say to you this afternoon not as a commencement address. Rather, think of my remarks – and I’ll keep them brief – as an e-mail, written just to you.

An e-mail written to you – an emerging communicator.

And as with most personal notes that are written to mark milestones in our great and privileged society– setting off for college; yes, graduating from college; that first job; committing to that someone special; the first child – this e-mail offers advice, encouragement, warnings about and hope for your future.

Don’t hit delete just yet!

Because most important, this e-mail urges you to join in today’s conversation – a planetary conversation that is integrating people with people as never before. This conversation is building dynamic new communities. It’s a global dialogue powered by new technologies. We have moved from a time in which news, information and entertainment were designed for mass consumption and delivered from central, agenda-setting organizations to a time in which INDIVIDUALS now can set the agenda, develop highly-targeted, specific content and CREATE a conversation.

And, let me assure you, this is transformational. Every bit as profound as fire, the wheel, the alphabet, the printing press or this country’s agricultural and industrial revolutions.

And I urge you to join the conversation because your chosen field – communications, in whatever form it takes – and the years you have spent here at the College of Communication – enables you not only to create compelling conversations but to build and drive them in fresh, relevant and important directions. And with this ability to influence the global dialogue comes great responsibility. The conversation and your voice in it – the powerful voice of the trained communicator – can truly alter the world.

Indeed, members of your class already are joining in this conversation. Whether it’s in journalism, photography, film, broadcasting, public relations, advertising, or new media – your classmates already have made a mark in their field.

Consider Brandon Bodow, Jillian Kerlin and Ashleigh Ditonto in film. They partnered with Professor Garland Waller to produce a documentary that reveals the horrors of child abuse and the devastating custody battles that children endure. The documentary is nearing completion. Congratulations to them.ⁱⁱ

In public relations, Ashley Cheng already has made a mark. She’s the first-place recipient of the 2006 Public Relations Student Society of America award as the nation’s outstanding PR student. In addition to serving as chair of the BU chapter of the student society, Ashley has applied her public relations skills on behalf of the American Cancer Society All University Relay for Life and last year helped raise over one thousand dollars for that organization. Ashley, welcome to public relations.ⁱⁱⁱ

In photojournalism, Alana Marcu won second place in the pictorial category of the very prestigious National Press Photographers Association Northern Short Course competition for her photo of Moscow’s Red Square. Alana was the only student photographer and non-professional to receive an award in the contest. You can see the photograph on the COM Web site. Congratulations, Alana.^iv

They have joined and are being heard in the conversation.

Do you text-message? Do you use your cell phone to send photos or video? Do you blog? Do you wiki? Have you produced a podcast or posted a video or film on the Web? Have you contributed a written piece to a citizen journalist Web site?

What these technology advances have done is empower people at a time when traditional media have become diffuse. They have spurred a deep personalization where each of us can create content and similarly obtain the information we want and bypass the rest. We now can sort and sift through the mountain of information that bombards us and gather what interests us.

We’re doing just that . . . now. The audiences of widely read blogs, such as Boing Boing, Gawker and Engadget, rival the size of the audiences of the online versions of major newspapers.^v

Each day 200 million Google searches are conducted and half aren’t in the English language.^vi

There are two billion cell phone subscribers in the world today.^vii

And who knows, you may meet your significant other online. Twelve percent of American newlyweds met online last year.^viii

And while I don’t want to overburden this e-mail with statistics, have you, like the estimated 20 million people around the world, played and worked in the cyberworlds created by Entropia or Second Life?

Second Life is an online society where you can explore, or socialize, or buy goods and services or even build, rent and sell real estate -- using your credit card! Earlier this month, BusinessWeek reported on this 3D world and estimates in the article put the size of this virtual economy at $1.5 BILLION – that’s in real U.S. dollars – and growing.^ix

Today even religion is becoming “opt in.” International prayer groups – Christians, Jews, Muslims and others – meet online at predetermined times to pray together.^x

As trained communicators you have received a special gift – the ability to create and send content that will resonate powerfully in this new world.

Just visit TV.OneWorld.net, a Web site where video journalists and filmmakers can submit their work on subjects such as human rights, the environment and sustainable development.^xiOr go to OhMyNews.com where more than 41,000 citizen journalists post their articles.^xii

Relish the idea of joining the conversation. Today’s media are participatory – integrating people with people to build community. Gone are the days of command and control. And this new networked world requires a new generation of communication leaders and leadership.

Apply what you’ve learned at COM and in your life so far. Already, one-in-five college-age students has traveled abroad in the past three years. More than one-in-three of you speaks at least two languages. And your generation truly wants to help build this global community.^xiii

And a survey that you and your COM classmates designed and fielded reinforced that. After the east-Asian tsunami hit, according to your survey, your age group gave five times the average amount of the oldest adults.^xiv

We’ve had a rash of catastrophes, most the work of Mother Nature, in the past year. Young communicators in TV, print, photography, film, public relations, advertising and online have helped humanize the pain and suffering – and the ripple effects they spawned – to a world largely unaffected by them.

Long after many people forgot about the explosive impact of these tragedies, brilliant and courageous communicators kept those images alive through exceptional documentaries, broadcast and print news stories, photographs, public relations campaigns, advertisements and blogs that often touch us more deeply than the initial devastating images.

Communicators such as Don Van Natta Jr., Helen Ubinas, Justin Lane and Sacha Pfeiffer (MET ‘94). They’re Boston University grads who got their degrees in just the last decade or so and who already have won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished journalism.

Justin Lane, for instance, a 1995 BU graduate, is the New York bureau chief for the European Pressphoto Agency. He won the Pulitzer in 2002 for breaking news photography for his freelance contributions to The New York Times’ coverage of the September 11 attacks. A year later, he traveled to Iraq to document cultural looting, the crisis facing Iraqi women and the uncovering of mass graves. His photographs from Iraq garnered two gallery shows in New York and appearances in numerous newspapers, magazines and books.

Then there’s Chris McKee, also Class of 1995 (CAS). He made an award-winning documentary that has opened up the little-known world of Mongolian nomads to the rest of the world. And Tyler Hicks – class of 1992 – named by American Photo magazine as one of the 25 most important photographers, in large part because of his compelling images from war-torn places like Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

And Michael Williams. He was at COM when I was here. This Academy Award-winning producer is a pioneer in delivering some of the most original content to be seen in theaters and on television. He won an Oscar in 2004 for producing The Fog of War, a film that delivered a riveting look at former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara and his controversial role in the Vietnam War.

That same year, Michael won an Emmy as the executive producer of the barrier-breaking, pop culture sensation, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. His roster of other powerful films and TV shows clearly illustrates how he has joined the conversation.

So what will be your contribution?

The broader world that you enter as communicators promises some very tough times ahead . . . by the end of this DECADE, according to the very reputable Institute for the Future. Let me give you their headlines:

Biodisaster – natural or human made – lurks on the horizon
Extreme meteorological and geological events continue to threaten human life
China’s rapid growth redraws global economic, political maps
Megacities leave giant ecological footprints as they sprawl across the developed and developing world
Tech innovations spur even greater fervor and zeal and a deep personalization

Most are troublesome headlines. But the last one – in particular the part about personalization – is where you as communicators come in and can make a real difference.

But, as I cautioned earlier, be careful how you use the power of communication. You have an obligation to employ it wisely and responsibly – whether your particular instrument is a laptop, a digital camera, a microphone, a press release, an advertisement or a blog.

So, this e-mail to you is just about finished. Yet I can’t close without giving you some personal advice – about what I have gleaned in my career and life since those impossibly cold mornings walking to class at 640 Comm Ave.

Here goes.

ENGAGE YOUR CURIOSITY. Be indefatigable in ferreting out the answers to questions that will inform a world, assist a client, uncover an injustice, right a wrong.

NEVER FORGET YOUR INTEGRITY AND CREDIBILITY. Character takes a lifetime to build – it represents the sum of all of your actions. And now, more than ever, it can be destroyed in a moment. So please define your individual values and decide where the line is that you will not cross. Always communicate within the boundaries of those values.

I owe the late Professor Al Sullivan here at COM for a life-changing educational experience in a class about values and ethics in public relations. No, that is not an oxymoron. He took apart our value systems and reassembled them through wide-ranging readings from philosophy, science and religion. He taught us about the responsibility we have to one another.

DEVELOP YOUR VOICE. You’re a skilled communicator. Always strive to improve and develop your communication skills and apply them atop a deep understanding of all that has preceded you. Combine that with your personal experiences and what is important to you. And be willing to listen and to be taught because learning NEVER ends.

FOSTER YOUR CREATIVITY. Oh, how the world, especially the business world, seeks creative and innovative thinkers who can communicate their imaginative and inventive ideas. First, of course, you must continuously improve your mastery of the craft so that you can express what’s in your mind’s eye. But I also have come to believe that creativity is borne out of disciplined and systematic observation of what is going on around you. And then the ability to take what may seem to be two unrelated observations and put them together in such a way that the result is a fresh and exciting new way of seeing things.

All of these characteristics are important, indeed critical, because what you take with you to each job or assignment or project is YOU – your principles, your experience, your creativity and your voice.

Also take with you PASSION. If you’re not passionate, then – for heaven’s sake – consider doing something else. Life truly is too short to be less-than-enthusiastic about what you do. Live what you love!

Finally, please carry forward the spirit of Boston University and all that this place has aspired to teach you:

Determine to embrace your passions in service to the common good.
Be open to fresh ideas and nurture global sensitivities.
Pursue a lifelong devotion to freedom, the rights of others and justice.
And nurture the highest standards of mutual respect and integrity.

Well, you are joining quite the conversation – a global dialogue in this new, networked world. You can have a strong voice. The potential to shape the conversation and the world of the future lies in your hands . . . and minds.

And I want to hear how it goes for you. Please respond to this e-mail – one of the 60 billion sent in the world every 24 hours^xv – whether you respond today, tomorrow, next year . . . whenever. My e-mail is ray.kotcher@ketchum.com. Tell me how you are contributing to the conversation. Know that I will read your e-mail and even answer. And from one alum to another, again, congratulations and the best of luck.

Citations available upon request.