Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
This past Wednesday, an epic event overtook the city of Seattle: the Seahawks Super Bowl victory parade. According to news reports, some 700,000 people flooded the downtown streets to go full Beast Mode and revel in the Seahawks’ win—the first Super Bowl victory in the history of the franchise. In a city of 634,535, this very well may have been the largest gathering in Seattle history.
The event was certainly momentous in every sense of the word. The Seattle City Council voted to name the day “Seattle Seahawks Day.” Gov. Jay Inslee declared 12:12 p.m. an observed “moment of loudness” across the entire state. Many businesses closed, some schools shut down and those that didn’t experienced unusually high absentee rates. Transportation routes and downtown establishments were completely overwhelmed by the tremendous influx of attendees.
Along with a couple of my colleagues, I personally took a few hours away from my desk to trek down to the parade route. And as I stood on the sidewalk, chock-full of screaming Seattleites donning blue and green, I was reminded of a fact that we often forget: the importance of taking the time to celebrate success. Many missed work that day, skipped school or trekked for miles, but each bystander made time to come and rejoice, along with the fellow 12th Man, in our—yes, our—Super Bowl win. This was our team, our city and our success—and little could stop anyone from celebrating it.
As PR pros, we enjoy investing our time into projects for our clients, and work hard and often to deliver results. In such a fast-paced setting, it can be easy to get swept up in the work, shifting immediately from one achievement into working toward another. But to be truly productive, we need motivation—and being recognized for our achievements is one of the greatest motivators we have in the workplace.
We’ve all heard that it is important to set goals—they give us something to work toward and create a sense of purpose that inspires us. However, there is little point in establishing goals unless you take the time to recognize when you’ve reached them. This recognition can be invaluable to promoting confidence and pride in our work—which translates into more meaningful, quality results.
Here at Communiqué, we certainly value taking the time to celebrate accomplishments among our colleagues and our clients—honoring these individual achievements helps ensure the success of our entire team. From pats on the back to team outings and parties, we think it’s tremendously important to stop every now and then to just enjoy a moment of celebration. We take great pride in delivering valuable results for our clients—and recognizing when we’ve done a good job just makes it that much more rewarding.
Oh, and GO HAWKS!
It is only February, yet 2014 is already proving to be an exciting year for Communiqué PR! Communiqué is now the official U.S.-based partner for Public Relations Network (PRN), a global network of public relations agencies dedicated to providing high-level consultancy and quality support for worldwide campaigns. PRN has a high-caliber network of partners in 25 countries outside of the U.S. that will surely be invaluable assets to our team.
Just as we will provide assistance to foreign firms developing U.S.-based campaigns, we will also receive support from agencies in the member countries, including Germany, Australia, Morocco, Venezuela and many more. This new access to partners around the world will be highly beneficial to our clients as we continue to tell their stories to not only a national audience, but a global one as well.
“Given the global nature of today’s marketplace, most of our clients are looking to reach audiences internationally, as well as in the U.S.,” said Jennifer Gehrt, co-founder and partner at Communiqué PR. “Membership in PRN makes it possible for us to extend our reach to critical markets around the world in a seamless and cost effective manner.”
Working globally is nothing new for Communiqué PR; however, this network of support will only strengthen our abilities to reach a broader range of outlets and secure more opportunities for our clients. Last year Communiqué collaborated with the German Public Relations firm, Sympra, also a member of PRN, in securing coverage for Siemens in the U.S. After having this collaborative experience and success with this global campaign, PRN will provide Communiqué PR with the chance to continue cultivating relationships with firms abroad.
“Communiqué PR’s experience in working with global campaigns and delivering successful results made it the natural choice when searching for a U.S.-based firm,” said Chairman of the Board of PRN, Veit Mathauer. “We look forward to the benefits they will bring to the network.”
As Communiqué PR will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2014, it seems appropriate that we take this exciting new step towards expanding our network. The market place has changed and expanded since we opened in 2004, but we continue to adapt and grow with it; and by doing so, offer the best possible service to our clients. We are excited to see the effects of this new partnership and the prospects it will bring.
I was catching up on some industry-related reading recently, and came across myriad stories about branded content and how this critical strategy is blurring the lines among marketing services. One story in particular, “The Power of Content,” caught my eye, as it was published in a “branded content” special advertising section of Advertising Age paid for by the Council of Public Relations Firms.
The article addresses public relations’ role in the branded content space and references a spirited debate during the Council of Public Relations Firms’ annual Critical Issues Forum in October 2013 (I mentioned I was catching up, right?). The themed forum, “Content Frenzy!,” brought together experts in public relations, journalism and content strategy to discuss how and if public relations firms can stay ahead of the competition as marketers, ad agencies and publishers all strive to stake a claim on the content development and strategy space.
“Without question, the lines around the whole marketing-services mix have blurred,” said Chris Perry, president-digital, Weber Shandwick. “In the case of branded content, I’m not sure there are lines. This is the dawn of a new era for the way marketing communications is going to be done.”
For PR practitioners, whose stock in trade is storytelling and audience engagement, these blurred lines create more competition for agencies and ups the ante in terms of the quality of the content delivered on behalf of clients.
“The most important thing about this [content development] is that if you do it wrong, you create ineffective vanity publishing on behalf of your client,” said Christopher Graves, global CEO, Ogilvy Public Relations. “If you do it well, you create very powerful tools that will help propel your clients’ business and reputation ambitions. The real differentiator here is: ‘Is it effective content?’”
The debate continued as panelists discussed the practical elements involved in the development of branded content, and whether firms should create their own, hire an outside writer to produce content, or rent content from other sources. Each of these options has its distinct set of benefits and associated costs. For example, renting and licensing content written by known branded sources is a fairly painless and affordable option, allowing firms access to a plethora of stories relevant to their topics and the quality is assured as it’s already been used in major publications. Contrarily, building content internally requires a major commitment to talent and capital expenditures, but it also allows for more control over quality and delivery for timeliness.
Some panelists, including BuzzMachine founder and media critic Jeff Jarvis, wanted attendees to understand that as PR practitioners, the content we produce must not be disguised as traditional journalism. According to Jarvis, PR is about relationships, not creating content, and he advised that PR firms stay away from branded content. As told by Patrick Coffee at PRNewser, Jarvis emphasized that “journalism” isn’t about promoting the business interests of a client by dressing up an old strategy in a new suit.
While there are seemingly as many opinions on the subject as there are marketers, the one thing that everyone can agree on is that a strategy for producing authentic and effective branded content is critical for marketing services – especially PR, which needs to remain competitive. We are storytellers, after all, and the stories we share with target audiences must resonate in order to be effective. Fortunately, because we are storytellers, we may just have a bit of an advantaged
Check out the following links for more about “Content Frenzy!” and subsequent coverage of takeaways from the debate:
- Council of Public Relations Firms
- PRNewser’s “The Future of Content: Takeaways from the Council of PR Firms ‘Content Frenzy’ Event”
- O’Dwyer’s “CPRF Weighs Pros, Cons of Native Advertising”
What do you think about PR’s role in branded content? Please share your comments.
If you’ve been to a technology conference in the last few years then you’ve heard about our country’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education crisis. You’ve heard that our country’s future economy depends on training more students in these critical fields to prepare them for jobs in programming, engineering and more.
A lot of statistics get thrown around to illustrate the problem. Primarily, most communicators working on STEM position the issue as an economic one, and use data to show how the crisis affects the sustainability of growth for the tech and advanced manufacturing industries. If you need a primer, check out this helpful infographic from Microsoft. The most standout stat to me is that 80 percent of jobs in the next decade will require technology skills while, at this rate, just 16 percent of bachelor’s degrees in 2020 will specialize in STEM.
The problem is so pronounced that many companies and nonprofits have made STEM education the centerpiece of their corporate social responsibility and grant programs. Groups like Code.org, a learning website sponsored by the likes of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, is a great example. We had the pleasure to see its founder, Hadi Partovi, pitch the importance of Code.org at last year’s GeekWire Summit. You can see a video of his presentation here.
To put another exclamation point on the issue, just this week President Obama referenced the need for better STEM education in his State of the Union address.
The point is, STEM education is critically important to the tech industry, and many companies, industry leaders and nonprofits are all pushing in numerous ways to solve the problem. But even now, with the attention of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and President Obama, it can still be difficult to communicate the problem of STEM broadly.
Why is that?
Similar to communicating around technology products or trends, communicating around STEM education often requires translating complex concepts, data or information into easily digestible articles. Just like it can be a challenge (albeit a fun one!) to tell a story about a new niche software product, it can be difficult to explain how a student’s success in AP Physics might impact our country’s future economy.
But this makes tech PR professionals the right voices to communicate the importance of STEM. It’s an issue that is relevant to our clients and therefore to our business, and it deals with topics that we work on almost every day.
At Communiqué PR, we see a number of organizations with footprints in the Seattle area focusing on STEM, such as Boeing, Microsoft, The Bezos Family Foundation, Google and many others. Washington STEM is one of the area’s leading nonprofits working on the issue. I’ve been impressed with the group’s ability to work with state policymakers and corporate citizens while making the issue accessible to the general public.
But while many large tech companies have put their stamp on the STEM Issue, Seattle’s smaller tech companies and startups rely on the same talent pool. They should also play a role in solving our STEM issue. Our local public radio station, KUOW, reported last year that more than 48,000 software engineers were employed in the Seattle metro area. In addition to mainstays in the Seattle market like Amazon and Microsoft, Silicon Valley companies like Google are growing their engineering presences in Seattle to take advantage of our city’s tech talent.
This is only going to increase competition for local talent and make it more important than ever for us to train the next generation of workers—especially as startups and small and midsize tech companies must compete more and more for talent with tech giants.
It’s been more than six years since the U.S. National Academies published its report on the STEM crisis, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” and launched the modern STEM movement. Two presidential administrations and countless corporate grant dollars later, it’s just as big of a problem today as it was then. And while some in the tech industry might be feeling STEM fatigue, it’s critical to continue to keep focusing on the issue—particularly for those growing and smaller tech companies who need smart new team members.
That’s why it’s crucial for tech communicators to keep telling the jobs story on STEM and to make sure all stakeholders—small and large tech companies, legislators and residents of cities buoyed by tech growth—understand its importance.
Credit: Microsoft Corporation, www.microsoft.com.
Steve Hooper seems to have the winning formula. We recently sat down with the CEO and co-founder of the newly opened Kigo Kitchen to discuss his strategy to establish the quick and casual restaurant as a place worth trying.
Hooper’s company is headquartered on Capitol Hill, but last year he was given the opportunity to test his Asian-style, fast and fresh restaurant concept on the Northeastern University campus in Boston. After the success seen in Boston, Hooper developed his concept into what is now known as Kigo Kitchen and targeted the Seattle business crowd in South Lake Union.
Given the menu offerings at Kigo Kitchen, Hooper’s brand marketing strategy is noteworthy—he is not using the word “healthy” to define his product. His reasoning is that “healthy” has a wide variety of definitions depending on a person’s perspective. As Hooper put it, “Some people consider going to McDonald’s one less time in a week [as healthy], whereas for some it is a kale salad with homemade granola.” He lets the customers define healthy as they choose. Nonetheless, because Kigo’s menu—developed by chef and nutritionist Heather Nucifora—includes lots of fresh veggies, it is unlikely that people will find the dishes to be unhealthy.
Initial marketing efforts were straightforward and focused on creating buzz and attention around the site of the new restaurant location. For example, rather than covering the windows during construction, Hooper opted to leave them uncovered, giving the public insight into the restaurant’s progress and driving excitement about its opening.
Next, Hooper leveraged connections at Amazon to spread the word about the restaurant to employees through its internal blog. Capitalizing on this large audience was a successful tactic—visit Kigo Kitchen for lunch during the workweek and you’ll see lines out the door and satisfied Amazon workers, among other customers, enjoying wok-fried lunch bowls.
Hooper is also using the power of social media to spread the word. The restaurant currently uses Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, each of which helps current and potential customers stay informed about Kigo Kitchen.
Behind the idea of Kigo Kitchen are two important, yet different, narratives worthy of sharing: an interesting business story and a culinary story.
The business story surrounds the genesis for Kigo and how Hooper came up with his vision for the restaurant. The idea for Kigo came to Hooper through a business class at Dartmouth. The culinary story surrounds Chef Heather Nucifora and how she developed a menu using fresh ingredients to produce Kigo’s fast yet high-quality Asian food.
Seattle Met and Puget Sound Business Journal both wrote articles focusing on these stories prior to Kigo’s opening.
With two successful locations, what does the future hold for Kigo Kitchen? Hooper hopes to expand his current market even further in two ways. First, he would like to create catering and delivery options for customers without sacrificing or compromising Kigo’s quality and attention to freshness. He would also like to expand Kigo Kitchen by opening more locations in the greater Seattle area. He acknowledged that with each neighborhood in Seattle, and with each city outside of Seattle, Kigo will need to market to slightly different audiences.
Thanks to the enticing graphics created by Creature and the edgy architecture executed by Graham Baba Architects, Hooper is confident that markets outside of the corporate world will also be interested in trying his restaurant. We are excited to see what the future holds for Kigo Kitchen and think discerning diners in and around Seattle will be, too.
Seahawks mania is at an all-time high in Seattle. The city is plastered with the iconic 12th man flags and not a moment goes by when there isn’t something on TV, radio or online about the team’s march to the Super Bowl. And of course, the big story that everyone is talking about is Richard Sherman’s famous post-game interview with Erin Andrews. Much has already been written about the interview so I won’t re-hash what happened. If you missed the interview and the fallout that ensued, you can go here and here for a recap.
Yes he’s brash, but trash talking is part of the game and we would be naïve to think that what Sherman said is the worst that’s been uttered on the field. Although we are big Seahawks fans in the Communiqué PR office, the point of this post is not to defend what he said because we agree that it was unsportsmanlike and slightly tarnished Sunday’s big win. But, I do believe that the heat of the moment and adrenaline can make even the smartest person say not-so-smart things.
As PR practitioners, we’ve all had our own cringe-worthy experiences with spokespeople who have gone off message or said something they shouldn’t have in an interview. Unlike Sherman, the one advantage they had was a PR pro at their side to help them navigate the situation. The events surrounding Sherman’s interview are a reminder of the key actions individuals or companies should take when faced with a PR maelstrom, no matter how big or small:
– Act quickly. Sometimes it takes stepping back from the situation to fully realize the impact, but don’t wait too long. Social media lit up immediately after the interview and within hours, Sherman published an op-ed explaining the background behind his rant.
– Be honest. Be transparent and provide as much information and background as possible. It turns out that Sherman was mic’d up during the game, and the claims he made in his op-ed and subsequent interviews were later substantiated when NFL released the audio.
– Own your actions. Controversies almost always leave victims in their wake and it’s important to own up to your actions. In this case, Sherman apologized to the subject of his rant as well as to his Seattle Seahawks teammates for taking the attention away from the game.
Despite the controversy, look what‘s happened:
– The story dominated social media and the airwaves, with all of the major morning shows, news broadcasts and news outlets still talking days later about the interview and its fallout.
– He landed the cover of Sports Illustrated.
– Within 24 hours of the interview, his Twitter followers more than doubled, growing from 268,000 to 567,000. He’s now closing in on nearly 700,000 followers.
– Sherman jerseys are now among the top 10 best-selling jerseys in the league and he is the only defensive player in the top 10.
– I’m not an advocate of “any PR is good PR,” but Sherman is top of mind, which could prove to be very lucrative for product endorsement deals. As the Los Angeles Times’ David Horsey points out, “Sherman is the most talked-about player and the most sought-after interview subject in the days before the big game. Soon, he will be sought after by commercial sponsors who will make him very rich.” On the same day of his post-game rant, Nike and Beats by Dre released new ads featuring Sherman. Coincidence? Maybe, but as a marketer, you couldn’t ask for better timing.
Like so many others before him who have endured their share of controversy, the public’s memory is short and soon this will be overshadowed by the next big Super Bowl story, like the looming threat of snow and sub-zero weather on game day.
Since the interview on Jan. 19, Richard Sherman has proven that he’s an adept communicator and if we can offer one tip it’s this: move on from this controversy. While interviewers may want to fixate on his rant, he can take control of the interviews and use this platform to articulate other, more positive messages. On a tactical level, we might suggest using the tried-and-true ATM method: address the question, then transition to your message.
GO SEAHAWKS!