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May 29, 2006
Watts Wacker is my new hero
Wacker's book, "The 500 Year Delta," was one of the more popular books of the go-go 90's, and I fully expected upon arrival at last week's PRSA Counselors Academy Spring Conference to listen to a too-cool-for-school new-ager tell us how smart he was.
Boy, was I wrong...
Instead, Watts came to the conference early, sat in on numerous sessions, took the time to talk (and listen!) to several other sessions, and then spent an all-too-quick hour sharing his thoughts on the key factors that comprise the "Zeitgeist," which for those of you like me who don't speak German, loosely translates into "the spirit of our time."
It wasn't just what he was delivering -- it was the method with which he delivered it. Here's a guy who has truly found his calling -- observing everything, reading anything he can, taking every opportunity to learn, and then translating it into useful advice. I came away thoroughly inspired.
While I can't give his talk justice, I'll do my best to summarize Wacker's six key ingredients of a Zeitgeist:
1. Social Agenda -- points to the emerging trend toward self-selecting social organisms both online and offline. Hence the tsunami that is Myspace and the renewed interest in socially-oriented hobbies like scrapbooking.
2. Governance Models -- exploring the idea of a post-American geopolitical future -- one where America is no longer the only economic superpower (can anyone say China?)
3. Agenda in the Arts -- the resurrection of beauty in the arts. No more elephant dung as artwork.
4. Dominant Science -- life sciences in all of their forms emerges and surpasses physics as the primary science discipline of the day
5. Economics -- this one's out of my league, but it has to do with the role of intellectual property in driving wealth
6. Technology -- the fusion of silicon and carbon -- yes, folks, thinking robots.
A person would do well to pay attention to these six aspects of the Zeitgeist, and be reasonably conversant in them to successfully meet the challenges ahead. If you get a chance to hear Wacker in person, by all means invest the time. At minimum, buy his recent book, "Deviant's Advantage." Hope you'll be inspired too.
Posted by Matt Kucharski at 8:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 15, 2006
PR Insensitivity
Microsoft technical evangelist and blogger Robert Scoble has very publicly told the world about his reflections and relationship with his mother who recently suffered a debilitating stroke. If you’re a reader, you know what he and his family have gone through over the past weeks. So you’ll pardon Scoble if he takes swings at the public relations industry’s cluelessness over blogs and, moreover, people.
Scoble receives pitches on a regular basis from PR folk, and recently he has had to stop accepting the usual swag heaped upon him from the industry. But as his mother became ill, PR people continued to send him pitches, and he lashed out at their insensitivity.
Good show, Robert. If we’re not reading the blog, we don’t understand what you do, what you’re passionate about or what is happening in your life. To pitch you – or anyone else in the blog world or mainstream media – without an inkling of what goes on in your day is disrespectful and makes us look like dolts.
We in the public relations industry would be well-served to read Scoble’s post and realize that, though the demands of our clients can sometimes be overwhelming, we need to stay on top of targeted bloggers, the media – and our game.
Posted by Rich Sharp at 2:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 10, 2006
Your annual meeting re-mixed -- oh, the horrors!
Re-mixing (taking an existing ad or video and rearranging/shaping the content) is a hot pasttime. Here's PS260's re-mix of the trailer for the movie The Shining, as a feel-good movie.
I'm sure we'll soon see a remix of an annual meeting or major product launch as a comedy or horror story. Be afraid.
Posted by Bob Brin at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 2, 2006
Think Global, Survey Local...
I was reminded of the value of having local partner offices when our team began administration of a world-wide brand perception survey for one of our clients. Our Research Practice often uses NetReflector -- a Web-based survey tool that is administered via email -- and we planned on using that to issue our survey to North America, several countries in Europe and several countries in Asia. NetReflector has the capability to translate into several languages, so it would seem to be a no-brainer.
Not so much...
Upon consulting with our Worldcom Public Relations Group partners, we learned that just because you have the technology to do it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. In talking with our partners at HPR in Korea and AZ Worldcom Japan in Tokyo, we found that sending a Web-based survey to existing customers -- especially those in a B2B setting, is not recommended. When I pressed further, questioning why this wouldn't work given the technology savvy of buyers in those markets, both said it wasn't the technology at all that was the problem.
It was the culture.
You see, in many countries in Asia, the act of sending an impersonal e-mail and Web-based survey to a customer who you deem to be important is tantamount to giving your spouse an e-card on your anniversary. The customer will feel unimportant and underappreciated -- precisely opposite of what we intended.
So, here we are now, taking that Web-based survey and converting it into a hard copy -- to be delivered along with a personal letter from the country manager -- to each customer in Asia. We'll do manual translations, and we'll tally the results by hand.
And we'll have a better outcome because of it...
Posted by Matt Kucharski at 8:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
