O’Conall Street

Across the island of Ireland there is one front page this morning, a picture of the dead family of seven, lost in a house fire in Omagh, Co Tyrone.The picture appears to have been taken at their baby’s christening. Not since the Stardust do I remember such a singularly tragic inferno. It’s a hollow call but for God’s sake check your fire alarm tonight.

There is another piece in today’s Newsletter which caught my eye. It’s a full page ad taken out on behalf Crossgar Auctions and Liquidations. I am told by big Stephen McGrath, a fellow Weber Shandwick consultant here in Belfast, that they had a similar ad in last week. It’s a strange thing for a private business to do. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the different trade unions positions, taking out bizarre adds which read a like a 60’s Paisley sermon is unlikely to change anything. It’s not particulalrly good PR either.

Also in today’s Irish News a long interview with Nigel Dodds. Last week I was in the company of twenty or so other business people at a Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce dinner. Ian Morrow, a senior staff member at the chamber and one of a rare breed of genuine polyglots in Belfast, organises these occasional dinners to facilitate debate between business and figures in public life. We enjoyed a lively and extremely constructive debate with Nigel Dodds, the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Investment. I have always recognised Dodd’s ability and to see him now able to dedicate himself to the furtherance of the Northern economy was heartening. He talked extensively about the challenges facing our small region and was very open minded about how we might effect a step change in economic terms over the next five years. He was lobbied hard on the issue of corporation tax and was strongly supportive of the need to archive a significant reduction from the British Government. He also addressed the skills challenges facing an every changing manufacturing and services centre.

The other week at the gigis I had a number of conversations with senior business figures about the past few months. Optimistic is the only word to describe them. To a woman, and man, they are up for the new North. They are increasingly crossing the border, building deal by deal, an island economy which threatens nobody. They are also looking to the Executive for leadership and vision. They want incentives to invest, to be encouraged to hire and to be able to profit from their own risk. That seems to be to be a fair deal. In a month when some of our traditional industries surrendered to global pressures knowing there is a new breed of manufacturing are service sector entrepreneurs in our small region determined to make a go of their businesses, right here right now, is an indication that after a lost generation the time has come to start trading.

John Simpson, the elder statesman of Northern economists was commenting just recently that our public sector although big is no bigger per-capita than Scotland’s. Whilst efficiencies are needed and their is certainly room for a reduction in the number of public servants North of the border, the real answer is to grow the private sector so the is becomes the genuine driver in this region, so we were better able to maintain the public services we hold so dear. I left the dinner pretty sure this is one thing Nigel Dodds and I can agree on.  

Finally BBC Spotlight last night reported on the killing of Paul Quinn in a cow shed on the border recently. The programme reported that their is strong local suspicion that republicans were involved in the murder. I don’t want to dwell on the who done it argument but focus on the need for communities to be free from control and intimidation. South Armagh is a beautiful place with fine people. It is also a place with a mixed reputation which last week’s killing will not help. People like the late John Fee worked tirelessly to change this and all those in government North and South must resolve to allow this proud community to rid itself of the shackles of the past.

Yesterday’s Observer was a particularly good read. Just as well because the Rugby was diabolical and the weather positively autumnal. Things did pick up in Belfast after dark though when Botanic Gardens was transformed into a fairy wonderland much to the entertainment of young and old alike - magic!

Back to the Observer. Good articles on the Obama campaign for the democratic nomination and an interesting interview with Ian Paisley Snr. The one that caught my eye for this blog was Nick Cohen’s column about censorship on the net. With Burma confronting us daily and news the authorities are shutting down the web to control information, one is reminded of Yahoo’s less than fantastic deal with the Chinese government last year. Must be careful what I say here though, because as the blond bombshell himself, Boris Johnston knows, you can get shut down in cyberspace for saying the wrong thing. So much for freedom of speech and information without borders for the London mayoral hopeful. More from Mr Cohen.

On an absolute tangent. Always hunting for cool T-shirt sources. New Belfast one has just emergered. www.teeandtoast.com is great. ‘Conker Your Enemy’ above a good example of their quirky creativity.

The future of Northern Rock and its brand hangs in the balance this  morning following a 30% loss of value and a run on the bank triggered by the Bank of England’s decision to act in it’s capacity as ‘lender of last resort’ following the bank’s concerns about its trading position.

Looking at it from a reputation management and public relations perspective this is a classic crisis communications scenario which brought me right back to a symposium which CIPR in Northern Ireland held with Michael Register, a partner at the boutique London based crisis agency Register Larkin, last month. Michael is a great trainer and connects immediately with practitioners not matter how inexperienced with his charm and anecdotes. His approach to crisis management is the traditional one; be honest, be proactive and do what you say you are going to do. I remember when as special adviser to the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland during the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak we recommended the same approach. It took a little while for the system (the civil service) to agree, as they had spent a very long time during direct rule working on a need to know basis only, but once we set up a series of communications channels to reach the major audiences and activated them with the right messages things began to shift in our favour. In a crisis you make your own luck and I was reminded of this by the impressive Mr Register.

Northern Rock had it hard this week. When the story broke on Thursday focus immediately was on the Bank on England bailout. Northern Rock’s share of voice was minimal and what messages they were communicating were reactive and focused on circumstances surrounding the bail out. Once trading opened on Friday the bank’s shares dropped 30% and it issued a profits warning. Next, customers, fearing for their savings, started to withdraw their money forming queues outside branches across the country. The media was in overdrive. This was a business story that had become a city story and was now their very favourite thing, a human interest story. Sooner of later the political correspondents would be in on the action. This came on Friday evening when the Chancellor began to comment. You would need an army of PROs (which I am sure they do not have) just to mange this media and customer questions but that wasn’t their only problem. At the end of the day there is no point having loads people in place if a; the systems to manage them are not good, and b; if the messages they are communicating are not robust and consistent. From this remove I would have worries about a and b.

 Staff do need reassured at times like this and the young Northern Rock Chief Executive did move on Friday to reassure them their jobs were safe. The Financial Services Authority also put its reputation on the line to reassure customers it believed this was a well run bank. Great, the bank was moving to reassure the markets, government and its staff. All very important audiences, but what about the poor old customer?. In a crisis you want people to back you up but at the end of the day the proof of the pudding is in the eating and when I went this morning to the bank’s website looking for some more info all I could find was a statement. This is a little worrying. 

I do hope they are getting some help in and quick. PLCs understandibly look to the market and put all their efforts into managing that relationship sometimes at the expense of the customer and a times of crisis this shows through. Reviewing the press coverage, Northern Rock’s own statements and the response of customers, this appears to have been the case on this occasion. The next few days will be an opportunity for the bank, if it survives, to begin rebuilding customer confidence and communications will play a big part in that.

I mentioned last week that Weber Shandwick was adopting the new tag line ‘Advocacy Starts Here’.  Below is an article which appears in the current edition of Business Eye and which I have adapted from work by colleagues in the US. Its a good introduction to advocacy. Hope you enjoy.

Public Relations and Public Affairs in Ireland are evolving. Weber Shandwick has led the way in the development of new communications techniques for its many clients globally. Now as one of the few major companies with strong offices in Dublin and Belfast, Northern Ireland MD, Conall McDevitt, offers an insight into the future of Public Relations and Public Affairs in Ireland.
It’s a story as old as innovation itself: Change is evolutionary, not revolutionary at first.

The first cars went where horses did, only quicker. The first word processors did what typewriters did, only easier. And the first wave of digital communications technology did what print and broadcast media had already done - share information - only faster and farther.

At first, in other words, new technologies usually enhance the performance of existing tasks  no small feat, but not a revolutionary one, either. The real revolution comes when people use the new technologies, not to improve existing tasks, but to create new possibilities.

Public relations caught the first wave, the adoption of new technology to spread information. We showed how it no longer makes sense to send a message to the many to persuade the few. But that first wave, sharing information with more segmented audiences, is cresting. A new one, a fundamental transformation of communication from information to advocacy, is rising.

For the first time, individuals looking for news, information and cues are relying less on institutions and more on each other. The technology may accelerate, but the human scale transforms. And personal interaction is a place where values and responsibility matter more. Three drivers show why:

First, the news media aren’t dictating the “news” anymore. Instead of merely accepting what’s presented on traditional media from conventional sources, people increasingly are turning to each other for information and validation. Top US market researchers used a simple Google search on the world’s 20 largest brands to prove the point: Less than 20 percent of search results were linked to the companies themselves. About half were related to experts, the media and other sources. The remaining and growing 26 percent came from consumer generated sources such as blogs and product reviews, which are playing an increasing role in what the public learns and thinks about current affairs.

As individuals take control, they’re demanding more, which brings us to the second driver: “Pull” now trumps “push.” Amid information overload, pushing messages is not enough. We need to pull people toward the ideas we want to convey in a true exchange. What’s required is engagement. Individuals the world over are increasingly striving to fulfill higher needs, if not more actively shape their own futures. As consumers, they’re looking for deeper total experiences delivered by companies that share their values. And values are something only personal engagement can convey.

The need for personal engagement helps explain our third driver: the law of the few. Initial forecasts said the new media would produce isolation, not interaction. As it turns out, people may not have as many close acquaintances, but they have multiple “core ties” to others they turn to and confide in. In this networked society, individuals don’t take their cues from centralised, institutionalised experts. They come from influencers, connectors, bloggers, activists and simply anyone willing to stand on top of a soapbox to voice their opinion, virtually or otherwise, anywhere in the world.

As the game changes, the public relations profession on this island must too. Rather than pushing information for our clients, we need to engage individuals as advocates. In its strongest form, advocacy forges emotional bonds and higher levels of involvement — active, vocal, proud, informed, experiential.

Public relations’ new mission must be to move people faster to this highest form of loyalty advocacy and at Weber Shandwick, we’ve adopted this goal as our own. We are researching how best to mobilise advocates early on in the decision process. We are investing in new ways to sustain and build advocates as the core foundation of any client’s ongoing marketing communications programme.

The world’s strongest brands already have grasped this potential. The opportunity now exists for companies on this island to do so too. The first technological wave, the acceleration of information, has crested. The second, the use of information to transform individuals into advocates, is rising. Our choice and that for any company or organisation selling a product or service in Ireland is simple: We can catch it, or it can crash over us. That is, of course, no choice at all. It’s a necessity and, more important, an opportunity to lead. That’s why advocacy must start here.

Football (gaelic), football (soccer) and more football (rugby). That’s what weekends are all about and the front page of Saturday’s Irish Times sports supplement is dedicated exclusively to our three magnificent codes. Now tell me another country in the world where you get such choice.

ManU are off the play City at the Temple of Doom today. Cork and Meath go head to head in the first All Ireland semifinal and it looks like the French rugby authorities are takings seriously the criminal assault on Brian O’Driscoll. I wont be seeing him in Belfast on Friday against Italy but at least he will be fit for the second game at the World Cup.

Doing BBC Radio Ulster’s, Seven Day’s programme at lunchtime. Topics include the Mattel recall, Aer Lingus, Elvis and the problems with underage drinking. A good read of the papers in order now. In PR terms Mattel seem to have done the right thing and well. Bigger issue is the quality of product coming out of China and other developing countries. Are we reaching an ethical tipping point in the west? Time will tell but I suspect low prices will outweigh ethical concerns for some time to come.  

My predictions: Man U by a goal. Meath (just about) and Ireland to take Italy even without Brian.