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Survey on the International PR consultancy sector

Stephen — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:56:05 +0000

From the International Communications Consultancy Organisation.

The international public relations consultancy sector is holding its own despite the economic crisis: corporate and crisis communications are big business, marketers are shifting budgets to PR, and digital is a key component for growth in the coming year according to the 2010 World Report, published today by the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO).
2009 revenues for the broad majority of countries surveyed showed little to no variation over 2008. The most developed PR markets – the US and the UK – reported a drop of five percent in revenues on average.
Not all countries fared as well: Slovenia took the hardest hit, showing an annual decline of thirty percent in consultancy revenues, while Belgium and Russia saw a decline of nearly 15 percent and Slovakia 10 percent.
Crisis and corporate communications were the leading practice areas in terms of revenue generation for consultancies, being the most lucrative service in 17 and 12 countries respectively
Compared to other disciplines, PR fared well internationally when it comes to share of spend. 15 of the 24 countries surveyed reported an overall increase in the proportion of client budgets dedicated to PR, coming directly at the expense of other marketing services such as advertising.
ICCO’s members all agreed that digital was an important driver to growth in 2009, and the majority are expecting double digit growth in digital revenues this year.
The world economy is still under considerable pressure – and this will undoubtedly impact revenues for 2010 – but when asked for a general assessment of local market conditions, 12 countries expected to see an improvement this year with an additional eight predicting stable conditions.
The countries predicting growth expect it to be driven by: an increase in international business and foreign direct investment; demand for PR driven by the private sector looking to rebuild reputations damaged during the worst of the downturn; and a continued shift of budgets to PR from other marketing disciplines.
The report also identified four top challenges facing PR consultancies internationally
The ICCO 2010 World Report includes data from national PR trade associations in 24 countries spanning Europe, North and South America and Africa. Data was collected during March and April 2010 through a written questionnaire.
The full report and supporting data tables can also be downloaded from the ICCO website.

Social media isn’t that social

Stephen — Thu, 13 May 2010 11:54:40 +0000

Here’s the thing. Social media isn’t *that* social. It’s a little discussed fact but you won’t get those with vested interests (including myself) shouting this from the rooftops. Why? Well because for those with vested interests (as I said, including myself) it doesn’t make commercial sense to. Social media, we’ll have you believe, is all about openness, transparency, one-to-one, front and centre, horizontal communications. It’s the new way of the world, man. *sticks up Winston Churchill style peace sign*

In reality it’s not though. Social media is, by and large, a public version of yourself. Or, if you want to be really cynical, a public version of who you want to be which, again, I include myself in. It’s unlikely that most of us share our inner most thoughts as we tweet with people; some of which we briefly met once at a networking event in 2007 and others we don’t really know at all.

I often say the real conversations in social media go on behind closed doors. I can’t believe for one moment that you have thousands of PR people using social tools like Twitter (and yes I once counted them) who all just get along. There is a healthy rivalry in PR which is without doubt good for the industry. Thing is, it’s very rare that you actually see PR people calling each other out (in the UK at least, in the US they do). No matter what happens.

That’s why anonymous bloggers in the past such as Spin Bunny, Strumpette (who I once had an altercation with), …the world’s leading… and now sean376 on Twitter are needed. Blogs like these (and in sean376′s case Twitter profiles) are needed because the often hold a mirror up to people in social media and tell it how it really is.

So this blog post was inspired by a recent blog post written by Jed Hallam of agency Wolfstar which criticised another agency’s approach to blogger outreach. A telling sign in the blog post is that the agency name was left out but the client’s was not which is why I think Jed has received a load of flack in the comments over the incident.

Well, I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of it (all people involved on both sides are alright in my opinion) but having done something similar myself before and indeed been on the end of such criticism I can say that it’s often difficult sticking your head above the parapet and saying what you really think.

It’s the comments in the post that bother me. Some are bordering on hypocritical unless those that have commented have never ever criticised another agency either online or behind closed doors.

Ya’ see, social media isn’t *that* social.

Election fever – 69 UK political journalists you should follow on Twitter

Stephen — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:05:11 +0000

On the run up to the so called first digital election in the UK I thought it would be useful to keep up to speed with what the people behind the headlines are thinking and doing during this event. Below is a list (incomprehensive I think) of UK political journalists. If you know of any others to include let me know in the comments or via Twitter.

UPDATE: You can follow this list using the UK Political Journalist Twitter list I’ve created.

The Guardian and Observer

The Independent and Independent on Sunday

Simon Carr – http://twitter.com/simonsketch
Richard Osley – http://twitter.com/RichardOsley
Michael Savage – http://twitter.com/michaelsavage
Jane Merick – http://twitter.com/janemerrick23
John Rentoul – http://twitter.com/JohnRentoul

The Spectator

Alex Massie – http://twitter.com/alexmassie
Fraser Nelson – http://twitter.com/frasernels
Pete Hoskin – http://twitter.com/pete_hoskin

The New Statesman

Sophie Elmhirst – http://twitter.com/sophieelmhirst
Mehdi Hasan – http://twitter.com/ns_mehdihasan
James Macintyre – http://twitter.com/James_Macintyre
George Eaton – http://twitter.com/georgeeaton
Jon Bernstein – http://twitter.com/Jon_Bernstein

The Times

Ann Treneman – http://twitter.com/anntreneman
Sam Coates – http://twitter.com/SamCoatesTimes
Daniel Finkelstein – http://twitter.com/Dannythefink

Sky News

Miranda Richardson – http://twitter.com/mirandasky
Adam Boulton – http://twitter.com/adamboulton
Ruth Barnett – http://twitter.com/RuthBarnett

Other

Sunny Hundal – http://twitter.com/sunny_hundal (Pickled Politics)
Jonathan Walker – http://twitter.com/jonwalker121 (Birmingham Post and Mail)
David Singleton – http://twitter.com/david_singleton (PR Week)
David Hughes – http://twitter.com/DavidHughesPA (Press Association)
David Maddox – http://twitter.com/DavidPBMaddox (The Scotsman)
Tomos Livingstone – http://twitter.com/TomosL (Western Mail)
Matt Chorley – http://twitter.com/MattChorley (Western Morning News)
Torcuil Crichton – http://twitter.com/Torcuil (Daily Record)
David Stringer – http://twitter.com/David_Stringer (Associated Press)
Nigel Nelson – http://twitter.com/NigelNelson (Sunday People)
Paul Waugh – http://twitter.com/paulwaugh (London Evening Standard)
Kirsty Walker – http://twitter.com/kirstywalker1 (Daily Mail)

Interesting campaign by McCann Erickson, Israel

Stephen — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 22:35:56 +0000

Hat tip

48 percent of journalists are using Twitter

Stephen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:09:52 +0000

The 2nd piece of research from Middleberg Communications and the Society for New Communications Research titled, “Media in the Wired World” (pdf). Key points include:

Nearly 70 percent of journalists are using social networking sites, a 28% increase since the 2008 study
48 percent are using Twitter or other microblogging sites and tools, a 25% increase since 2008
66 percent are using blogs
48 percent are using online video
25 percent are using podcasts
More than 90 percent of journalists agree that new media and communications tools and technologies are enhancing journalism to some extent

Only US journalists surveyed for this I believe. If you are of the UK persuasion check out the most comprehensive Twitter list of UK journalists.

Corporate Blogging – a dying fad?

Stephen — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:36:41 +0000

I’ve just returned from the Communication on Top conference held in Davos, Switzerland and what a great conference it was too with lots of insightful and thought-provoking presentations from communication professionals from around the world. I had a fantastic time and made some new friends along the way. It was also great to share a lift to the airport with keynoter Paul Holmes of the Holmes Report and Sabre Awards. A cracking guy.

Here’s my presentation for anyone that’s interested.

Corporate Blogging A Dying Fad

View more presentations from Stephen Davies.

The view from my hotel room

YouTube: the channel of choice for C-level execs

Stephen — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:07:13 +0000

Something bad happened to your company? Scandal occurring? Negative press from the traditional media outlets? Reputation damage? There’s always YouTube.

YouTube is becoming the communication channel of choice among senior executives during a time of crisis. CEOs, presidents and other important senior staff are using YouTube to go direct to their stakeholders while cutting out the (often negative) traditional media in the process.

The latest example is Toyota Motor Sales President & COO, Jim Lentz (see below) who is using YouTube to communicate with customers regarding the recent news of the the sticking pedals.

But Mr Lentz is not the first as you will see below.

Toyota Motor Sales President & COO, Jim Lentz

Founder and CEO of jetBlue Airways, David Neeleman. (No longer CEO)

After jetBlue customers suffered terrible conditions and waiting times at JFK Airport which was subsequently documented in the press, Neeleman used YouTube to make a public apology and to outline what the company intended to do.

President of Domino’s, Patrick Doyle

Basically: Two Domino’s Pizza staff uploaded a video to YouTube of themselves doing disgusting things to the fast food chain’s food. The video spread like wildfire and negative press ensued which caused president of Domino’s, Patrick Doyle, to upload his own video to YouTube to alert customers and other interested parties on the company’s reaction to the video and the steps it had taken.

CEO of Mattel, Bob Eckert

Mattel had to recall over 1 million Chinese-made toys because of potential hazards from parts of the toys which were colored using lead-based paint. It was found that the amount of lead in the paint exceeded US government limits. Bob Eckert looked to quash worries by posting this YouTube clip.

Notice one thing? They’re all American. Having spoke with many UK (and European) PR execs over the years about deploying such tactics I’ve found that the majority of PR people don’t think it would work as well in their respective countries. Personally, I think it depends.

An Inconvenient PR Truth – time to end PR pollution

Stephen — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:16:36 +0000

www.inconvenientprtruth.com

1.7 billion irrelevant press release emails estimated to be received in total each year by UK and US Journalists alone

78% of press release emails are received by Recipients to whom they are irrelevant

55% of Recipients have taken action to block a sender of news

Disclosure: RealWire is a client and I was involved in this campaign

I too have Social Media sweats

Stephen — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:02:34 +0000

Tom Murphy, Irish guy who does PR for Microsoft in the States and one of the first people I met through social media*, nails it with his latest blog post.

I think I am having Social Media sweats. There are just so many articles, posts, rants and links. Now don’t get me wrong it’s great that people are sharing their views, and opinions and, in a very small number of cases even their experiences.

But really… there are only so many Social Media Top 10s, 10 things to avoid, 10 brands that…. you know… enough already.

* It was called ‘blogging’ at the time

Communication On Top – Davos, Switzerland 8 – 9 Feb

Stephen — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:37:12 +0000

Catch me and a host of other professional communicators speaking at the Communication on Top conference in Davos on the 8 and 9 February. Very much looking forward to presenting and also viewing the other presentations outlined in the programme.