If you're fat, you should be told

Landed in Singapore this morning and as usual no clean shirts left so went shopping.  Wonderful staff and great service in this wonderful city.  I held up a purple shirt, asking the mature Chinese assistant if I could try it on.

"No Sir", she replied.  "Slim fit.  You too fat."   Albeit the Chinese are blunt, they are also unfailingly courteous when serving you, so the nuance of the sentiment got lost in the translation!

I wasn't offended.  She went on to show me shirts for fat people.

I've been doing a series of crisis workshops with communicators from the Chinese national and regional governments and organisations.  They are visiting London in groups to study media relations in the UK.  The visits are organised by the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster, London.  The visits have aroused interest and some of London's leading PR people are coming to meet them.  It's a brilliant dialogue and we're learning from each other.  What's clear is that what we intend our statements to convey in a crisis do not always cross cultures.

We sometimes see the Chinese statements as a little cold and lacking feeling.  The Chinese sometimes view ours as a little gushing and lacking hard facts and actions.  Certainly citizens in the Chinese world want a list of everything the government is doing in a crisis - how many troops are being sent, how many helicopters, how much food.  Then they judge whether the Government really cares.  

Our statements sometimes lead (rightly for Western consumption) on our care and concern for the victims and their relatives.    That's absolutely right, but we need to remember also to give as much detail as possible on what we're doing to alleviate the crisis or incident.  Even small things matter.

There's a feeling that given English is a common global language and social media is breaking down cultural barriers that we all understand each other now.  

My dialogue with the Chinese has made me rethink this.  How what we say is perceived in other cultures matters a lot in a crisis, and it's an area that needs further study.   We're continuing to explore it with more seminars with Chinese delegations later this month.  

Meanwhile it's a topic we're going to discuss at the Media Relations in the Digital Age conferences this week in Singapore and then Hong Kong.


(Posted from Singapore)

Train them and you might not have to fire them!

What is it about some employees who use social media at work?  Engaging brains doesn't seem to be part of the process.

We all know the story of the two Domino's Pizza employees in the US who made a mindbogglingly disgusting video in their store and posted it on You Tube.  A million people saw the video and Domino's reputation was badly damaged.  The incident cost the company millions of dollars in costs and lost sales and although by their own admission a little slow to react, they put into action a plan which delivered record profits later that year.   The two employees, of course, were fired.

In the UK,  supermarket shelf fillers did astonishing things with chicken breasts (you don't want to know).

Now, news in from the excellent CommCore (their President Andy Gilman saw J&J through the very serious Tylenol crisis).  In their monthly briefing, they highlight another employee gaffe in the USA. This time at a social media agency working for Chrysler.

Chrysler decided to spend millions of dollars on a campaign promoting the regeneration of Detroit, a city they are obviously closely associated with.  The people of Motor City have suffered badly in the recession, and Chrysler wanted to lift spirits.

In the midst of the campaign, an employee of the social media agency hired by Chrysler accidentally tweets on the Chrysler twitter account: "I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the motor city and yet no one here knows how to ******* drive."  The tweet causes great offence in Detroit (as if they haven't had enough knocks).  The employee thought he was tweeting on his own account.

Chrysler seem to have done a great job handling it.  They fire the agency, of course.  The agency fires the employee.

But what on earth was the employee of the social media agency thinking of when tweeting such a disrespectful message on any Twitter account?  He damages the reputation of the client who is paying his wages and hurts the people of the city they are trying to promote.   At best he is guilty of arrogance and gross disrespect.

Domino's learning from the You Tube incident was that you need to engage more with your employees and explain the boundaries required of their behaviour and the consequences of getting it wrong on social media.  There are sensible new rules about the use of cellphones in store or in uniform.  Domino's took it further and used the incident to deepen employee engagement, and certainly in London you can tell it from the great service you get.   Very few employees of any company come in to work wanting to do a bad job.

I was discussing the incident with the manager of one of Singapore's top restaurants recently.  He said that as soon as cell phones arrived many years ago they saw the potential problems and set immediate rules for staff.  No cellphone use on duty.  Cellphones are surrendered on arrival and locked up.  Employees are free to use the house phone for urgent personal issues.   His concern was primarily the privacy of his celebrity guests.  But his view is that the staff like it when they are clear about the boundaries and no-one wants to put their jobs or the future of the restaurant on the line.

Many financial institutions and other companies who process sensitive data ban cellphones on duty for security reasons - to avoid screens being photographed.

Companies need to have conversations with their staff about the use of cellphones at work and be clear about the boundaries and risks.    Some companies have discovered that the camera-enabled cellphone is as potentially deadly to their reputation as any prohibited weapon.

As Domino's have demonstrated, it can be done without finger-wagging and used as an opportunity to get staff on board.

_________________________

On another crisis topic, and as I am in Mumbai, a picture last night of the fully restored and magnificent Taj Hotel, the scene of a terrorist attack in 2008.   Lovely to see it very much back in business, but very visible tight security.

(Posted from Mumbai, India)

Not such a Weiner

At the Click 5.0 Digital Marketing Summit I raised the topic of the Anthony Weiner scandal in the United States.   With care, of course.  The issues the matter raises, if you will pardon the double entendre, are not suitable for polite conversation.

The scandal reminded me of a fundamental truth - that the core element of every reputation is trust.   (The recent Edelman Trust Barometer reinforces, with evidence, that trusted companies and organisations fare better in a storm).

And so it was with Congressman Weiner.

If you don't know the story, here it is in a nutshell.  Mr Weiner is a Democrat Congressman.  He's married.  His very beautiful wife is an adviser to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and she's expecting a baby.  He was planning to run for Mayor of New York, a huge political office. Mr Weiner is chatting to a young woman online.  He tweets directly to her an indecent picture of himself, or so he thinks.  But to his horror, he realises he's tweeted it to all his followers, and tries to get it back.  But it's out there, and it's a story.   He gives interviews, such as this one, in which he denies sending the picture

The problem is that he is not telling the truth.  And in an instant, he has changed the central focus of the story: from whether he sent an indecent picture of himself, at best a misjudgement, to whether he is a truthful person.  In other words, can he be trusted?   And as a legislator, that is a very important question for the American public.   It is about his core reputation.  Who votes for someone they don't trust?

As the days go on, Mr Weiner clings on to his version of events and to his seat in Congress.  He makes enemies of the media by berating them for daring to keep raising the subject (it's impossible to write this summary and avoid double entendre throughout, you will have to stay with me, please).

Of course, the inevitable happens and more evidence of chats online with other women and even more explicit pictures come to light.

Mr Weiner decides to hold a press conference in which he confesses to sending the picture and to other incidents, some before he was married and some after.  It is a humiliating and degrading spectacle.  Watch how he breaks down after he says the words "I haven't told the truth....".

By now, this major US story has become a global spectacle and the press conference is packed and the atmosphere frenzied.  It's carried on all the news networks.

Mr Weiner still tries to cling on to his seat, and when the controversy refuses to die down, he announces he is seeking treatment.  Given that the central issue in this story is that he has not been telling the truth, it is not clear what he is to be treated for.

There are multiple calls for his resignation, but then finally the President is asked in a press conference if he thinks Mr Weiner should resign and Mr Obama says if he were him, he would.  Mr Weiner resigns and gives another press conference (he appears by now to be addicted to press conferences).

Here is a good timeline  of the crisis for the Congressman (warning: contains image and material of an adult nature).

There has been much nonsense written about the quality of the PR advice Mr Weiner was given.

 Here is my summary.

1.  It's a fundamental rule when you are in trouble that you must be open and tell the truth.  That way, you might survive, and people might accept you've made a mistake but still trust you.

2.  If you don't tell the truth, you are entirely to blame for the consequences.  Not your advisers.

3.  Failure to tell the truth changes any issue to one of your integrity and that is potentially fatal to your reputation.

4.  Think very carefully about whether you should give a press conference if you are likely to be questioned about phone sex, your genitals, or people in the audience are likely to shout out insults of a sexual nature at you.   Keep your dignity.   Can you imagine preparing your client for questions about his underwear and what's underneath it?   It should make alarm bells ring very loudly.

5.  The public on the whole are generous when you make a mistake, if you apologise and tell them what you are going to do to put it right.   That generosity evaporates when they realise they are not being told the truth.

The saga has been a gift to American comedians.  My favourite line was this from a comedian in New York (sadly I can't find the clip): "Have you seen the Weiner pictures.  Oh!....  Oh!.... (think of the way Joan Rivers says Oh!... to get the picture).  I want a man like that running my city."

Finally, Mr Weiner made some terrible mistakes and he has paid a heavy price.  But he eventually did the right thing.  His wife appears to be standing by him.  She is an extraordinarily generous and loving person.   I wish him well.


(Posted from Mumbai, India)

Quotable quotes from Click 5.0

There were so many great quotes at the Click 5.0 Summit in Dubai this week, I couldn't write them down quick enough.

Probably my favourite - "Twitter is not a strategy, it's a tactic" (When your client tells you he wants to be on Twitter, the first question is why?) - Meredith Tugan, Head of Digital, Action Global Communications Group, UAE (video from Meredith being posted later).

"Not everything can be responded to in 140 characters, sometimes it's better to pick up the phone"  - Ashish Panjabi, COO of Jacky's Electronics, UAE.  Ashish said that if a customer tweets they are unhappy, it's a good idea to talk to them if you can, not tweet back!  That way you can achieve excellent customer service.  Customer are often shocked you respond that quickly (that was a common theme at Click 5.0).

Another Ashish pearl: "Don't go around saying you're the best. Let your actions talk to the customer, and show them."

"Only 1 per cent of people in Iraq are online, but they may be the 1 per cent you want to reach" - Mike Evans, Head of Marketing, flydubai, UAE.  flydubai started 3 1/2 years ago with two aircraft and two routes.  Then they went shopping and bought another 50 planes.  (Do you think Boeing ever do Buy One Get One Free promotions?)  So they have a lot of routes now.  But they are a low cost airline and they keep every cost down and they want results from all their marketing spend.  flydubai is an amazing success story and an airline, like Emirates, to watch.

And finally a quote attributed to William Arthur Wood:

"Before you speak, listen.  Before you write, think.  Before you invest, investigate."

Don't miss Click 5.0 in Cairo, details to be announced soon.




(Posted from Mumbai, India).

PS: The Times of India reports today that a man from Kerala needed some cash to buy a drink - so he sold his wife for 250 GBP.  He's been arrested.   It doesn't say what happened to his poor wife, or whether he bought a drink before he was arrested.

Analyse your CEO

At Click 5.0, the Middle East's leading annual digital marketing event, the opening keynote was given by Yasser Al Kharobi from Saudi Arabia.  Yasser was a wise choice to open - he's a guru on social media in the MENA (Middle East &North Africa) region and has got the habit of pulling amazing statistics out that dispel your preconceptions.

This time he took on the big challenge people face, not just in MENA.  How do you persuade your CEO, who may be in the older age group and not a social media or even internet user, to invest in social media?

The best way to approach this, says Yasser, is to look carefully at your CEO's background to work out what is going to persuade him or her best.  In other words, analyse them!

Here's Yasser's CEO "types":

1.  Strong marketing background.  Welcomes new ideas. Charisma. Great leader.  You're on to a winner here.

2.  Financial background. May have previously been CFO.  Numbers driven.  Believes marketing is a support function and any new ideas must be driven by evidence of ROI.

3.  Background in logistics.  May have been COO or Head of IT.   Priority is financial and risk management.  Tough leader.  Wants IT department to lead digital activity.

4.  Company veteran.  Long server.  Came from lower ranks.  Can be quite insulated, especially to new ideas.   Historically driven and doesn't see need to change what is already working.

5.  Product driven.  Great products don't really need much marketing.  Relies on in house marketing and suspicious of external advice.

6.  CEO with no power to make decisions.  Nervous and constantly seeking and needing approval of board or Chairman.

What are some of the views CEOs hold about social media?  It's a fad.  I am too old for this.  I have no idea what you are talking about.  We don't need it, we have a website.  We are B2B and too boring for social media!    Its an issue for the IT department, not me.  The printed media has always worked for us, why change?  Our customers don't use social media (common view in luxury upscale brands), the traditional media is what is important, we don't socially relate to our customers offline, why do it online? We have nothing to say!

Yasser's prescription is to study what will be persuasive for your type of CEO.  But never over promise. Don't try to make your CEO LIKE social media or go "wow".  It's not going to happen.  Give your CEO solid data.  Give examples of what your competitors are doing successfully especially if it is making them money.  Above all, offer to start small and show them what you can do.

And you could also show them the Old Spice campaign or even the sneezing panda on You Tube (over one hundred MILLION views!)

(Posted from Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

Possibilities of social media in the MENA region

Sangeetha Sridhar, who is a visionary content consultant at the Information Services Authority of Oman spoke recently at the Social Media Enterprise 2011 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  She talked with conviction about the possibilities of social media in the public realm.  She summaries here her central thoughts.

A Twitter Revolution?

Arriving in Dubai for the IIR Middle East Corporate Communications Conference 2011, I switched on the TV in the hotel room.  An Arabic channel was on, and I watched for a few minutes as it played a slide show of pictures of young people with sombre music in the background.  Pictures of young people smiling and relaxed changed into pictures of others in death - their bodies bloodstained and still.  It became clear this was a montage in memory of those who had given their lives in the uprising in Eqypt.  It was impossible not to be deeply moved by this simple broadcast.  
Dubai is a place in the Middle East where people come together for business, for conferences, and of course, for shopping.   Later that evening I met a man from Alexandria and asked him if he minded me talking to him about the events in Egypt.  "Quite the opposite", he replied, "so much has happened, and so many of our stories have not been told.  It's as if the story has moved on to another country, but in Eqypt, the story continues."

I told him I was struck by the fact these were all young people.  He told me that the majority of those who died were aged between 17 and 27.  And most had either just finished doing a degree or were about to start one.  All had two qualities, he said: an enquiring mind, and a desire for justice.  "Now, all their personal dreams have been ended, and their families nearly drowning with a sense of loss", he said with quiet passion.  "But for all of them, they did it not to be part of a group, or a fashionable cause, but because they believed in change.  They knew what they were doing had risks for them."

I've been to Dubai twice since the uprising began.   My first visit co-incided with the start of the uprising in Eqypt.   I discussed the crisis with a man from Bahrain.  By the time he got home, it had spread to his country.

All I spoke to were agreed that the world's media were trying their best to cover a story which was in fact many stories.   In every country the history and the motivation for the people to protest was different.  

They sensed nervousness in many countries, wondering who would be next.  Crack downs in Iran and China (including the blocking of sites like linked-in) was evidence of it.    Some countries started to announce economic improvements for citizens.  "What many of the leaders don't seem to understand", said a delegate, "is that these protests aren't about money.  They are about the lack of say people have in their own lives and destinies."  The King of Saudi Arabia, in the US for medical treatment, returned home.

All agreed that the sense that had been given that the protests in Eqypt had come out of nowhere was wrong.  They had been planned for some time.  And the authorities knew they were coming.  But they misjudged the strength of them.    Talk of it being a "Twitter Revolution" raised a wry smile.   "This misjudges the depth of what has happened, these revolutions are not happening because of Twitter", said one.  "They are happening because people have reached their limit.   Twitter has helped them organise, but the revolutions in Eastern Europe happened without Twitter.  It's been a tool, no more."   A tool that the authorities tried desperately to kill, afraid of its power.

Social media useage in the MENA region is extremely high and growing.  Authorities and companies have been reluctant to engage with it, fearing it is something they cannot control (a fear that is not so different in Europe and the US).   Now the message has come home that you must engage with it, or stand by and watch as events overtake you.

For Eqypt, the story is far from over.    Whether the sacrifice of so many young people will bring genuine lasting change is still not clear.  My friend from Alexandria reflected on what they had done.   "They are now part of the history of Egypt", he said.  "Their sacrifice can never be forgotten."  And with that, he disappeared into the lift.