Morgan McLintic on PR

IM

Our use of Instant Messaging now seems to be maturing. It's much less used to chat and much more used for its intent - the swift communication of detail. This is a good thing from a management perspective. IM is a hard technology to oversee - and potentially a huge waste of time. It's easy to get into a conversation over IM which takes far longer than a simple catch up call. There will always be those who abuse communications tools like email and IM through extended personal use at work. Believe it or not, I've seen personal email account for about half of an individual's sent items. This person was great at PR, just lacked self-discipline. And IM is even more tempting than email.

One of the most powerful benefits of IM is its ability to show 'presence'. You can see who is online, at their desk - and so know whether you will get a swift response. As this presence gets integrated into VoIP and email systems, I think our ability to communicate will be greatly enhanced. At the moment, these packages are disparate - email, IM, VoIP, PIM - but during 2005/06 we'll see them becoming integrated into a communications flightdeck.

I think this will help agencies work much more closely with their clients. The concept of presence will show the client when we're available (and vice versa), so it will be simple to call, book in interviews, IM updates. Access and availability are so important to a client relationship. Once we have this communications flightdeck not just on the desktop but also in a portable device, then PR consultancy really will be 'on demand and in real time'.

Modes of communication

I had the good fortune yesterday of being upgraded on my transatlantic flight to Virgin's Upper Class (and very comfortable it is too). I was struck however that each person is given a letter from Richard Branson, commending them for their impeccable taste in having selected his premium service.

The letter of course was not personally signed (and there are machines to do that for us these days), but nor was it personally addressed. I was impressed at having received a letter, but with little effort it could have had much more impact. I've booked a seat, so it's easy to address it personally to me.

Then it struck me how few good, personal, business-oriented letters are sent now. In an age of email, where communication must provide immediate gratification, the letter seems rather pedestrian. Most of my 'snail mail' is misdirected, ill-conceived junk. But an individually-addressed and signed letter is one which I will undoubtedly open and read. The days of printing and stapling press releases to send to the media are behind us, but perhaps we overlook postal mail in our desire for glycemic communication.

I then wondered about the humble fax. A personal fax is a rarity indeed. Legislation has done much to prevent mass fax-outs of direct mail, so many of the faxes I now get are either legal documents which need signing or resumes. The arrival of a fax, though is a momentous thing. Most of us don't have fax machines in our offices. The main fax line is normally at reception, meaning the fax's arrival is trumpeted in with a personal call. Then often some kind soul, will hand deliver the fax reverently to your desk. The arrival of a fax is an event which punctuates one's day, and it gets read. Which is what communication is all about. Again, I think we may overlook what was once the work-horse of PR technology.

Richard asked for my feedback saying he'd read and respond himself. I think I'll send him a fax, it's more likely to get through.

Paul Charles

While in the UK recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Charles, director of communications at Eurostar. Paul is a man on the move. He was awarded PRWEEK's Communicator of the Year for 2004 and the campaign he and his team have been implementing, also won a Rail Business Award.

He's recently joined LEWIS as a Non-Executive Director, or member of our Advisory Board and I'm looking forward to working with him. He's a supremely talented communicator, as was amply demonstrated when we asked him to do a five minute piece to camera by way of introduction to the rest of the company. Five minutes, no hesitation, no repetition, eyes full screen center in just one take. I guess ten years at the BBC makes that second nature, but for us mere mortals it was impressive.

I see Eurostar has just announced WiFi access at Waterloo. Gare du Nord in Paris, France has had it for a while - certainly since September when I was last there. It's really the access on the train itself though that will be most useful. I may not want cell phones on planes, but WiFi on the Eurostar will be excellent for all those who need to stay connected.

Firefox - update

While Firefox may not handle Bookmark importing and exporting well, here's a great little app which does the job niceIy, imaginatively called Safari Bookmark Exporter - thanks to Joshua Ourisman for this tip.

No-one is safe from consolidation

The last two weeks have been momentous in terms of consolidation:

Oracle has bought Peoplesoft - for twice its original offer
Symantec is making a bid for Veritas - for a mere $13bn
Sprint is merging with Nextel - $35bn - this really is a biggie
Electronic Arts has bought a chunk of Ubisoft just today - currently deemed a hostile move

Even in our agency's sphere, Symantec has bought former-client Platform Logic and Cisco has snapped up NetSolve Inc (both part of the campaigns' strategies).

I was speaking to a security client last week about consolidation. With hardware giants like NetScreen being bought this year, and consolidation hitting both the software and telecoms sector, it seems no-one is safe. The big question is obviously - who's next?

Enterprise software firms must be wondering - rumors abound about BEA Systems ($3.54bn), E.piphany ($329.5m) and Siebel ($4.94bn). But CRM isn't the only area - what about Business Intelligence? Any of the leading players like Business Objects ($2.22bn), Cognos ($3.83bn) or Hyperion ($1.69bn) could be bought or the buyer. And by the way, you could buy all of these bar Siebel for the size of the Veritas deal, just to put it into context.

What does this mean for PR pros? Well, certainly working on these campaigns is a thrilling ride. But for agency's with a Veritas as the marquee client (in this case Edelman), it's a worrying time. My agency has always had a policy of not having more than 5% of revenues tied up in one client. Over-concentration on one client is a weakness. You can literally be loved-to-death by the client who sucks up the best talent, and then puts the agency in a precarious position if/when it decides to move on (sometimes for reasons beyond its control).

But it's also a challenge for the client. Realistically, does a client which represents 30% of an agency's revenue get independent advice? Or do they just get what they want? I recently spoke to one leading tech vendor who is afraid to re-pitch his business since he knows it will lead to job losses at the agency. He's not happy but doesn't want to inflict that on a partner he's worked with for so long. So he's enduring the marriage through fear of the pain of divorce.

To reach equilibrium, I expect this augurs further consolidation in the PR industry. Godzilla has to fight King Kong or it's not an even match. I'm not sure that's good for the quality of the PR though - far from an ideas factory, such large agencies can become press release factories. They attract the wrong kind of staff - ones who want to join because the company is big, and therefore it must be safe and offer a solid career. Question is, is it big enough? Guess we'll have to ask the guys at Veritas.

Firefox

I'm a big fan of Open Source development, and so have closely followed the launch of Firefox 1.0. As a Mac user, I've already been saved from the security loopholes inherent in Internet Explorer, but the ability to add Extensions and new Themes to Firefox appeals. I particularly like FoxyTunes, bringing iTunes management to the browser window.

Since Safari already uses the Mozilla engine, I thought it would be easy to switch to Firefox. But there doesn't seem to be a wizard to move Safari bookmarks to Firefox. And, Safari doesn't allow you to export bookmarks either, so I'm caught in a limbo between browsers until one of the Open Source community smiles on a hapless Mac user. (Did I say how much of a fan I am of Open Source development?)

On waiting for a decision

December is always a busy time in agencyworld. Clients want plans for 2005, and prospects want to get their new agency on board ready for the New Year. Even on Thursday this week I had a call from a company wanting to complete its selection process this side of Christmas.

So, it's always a run for the line towards the holidays. And we pitch and pitch, in order to get the year off to a good start. But then comes that magic moment, when all the pitches are done. And that's when the waiting starts.

Now I am not good at waiting. Patience may be a virtue, but it's one in which I'm sadly lacking. Abraham Lincoln reputedly said, "Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." Nowhere is this more true than in new business.

We recently did a pitch for an emerging firm, in which we pulled out all the stops. We're down to the last two. References are being taken, which I'm sure will go well for both firms. I enjoy the end-game of a selection process, trying to imagine what the criteria are and how we fared. Thinking what else I can do to shape the outcome - response opps, extra information, extra meetings.

But I hate the sense of anticipation. Every time the phone rings - it could be them. Every email which pops up from them could put an end to the anguish. My nails are bitten down to the elbow, but still they play a straight bat. It's sometimes hard to concentrate when in this 'love-sick' state.

And so I'm looking forward to next week, when decisions will be made. Win, lose or draw, I just want to know. I love the anticipation but it's also one of the worst parts of the job.

Edison advises us to hustle while we wait, but once you've hustled (and stopped at hassled) - what can you do? Just wait I guess.

Person of the Year

I see that tomorrow's edition of Time magazine will announce that President G. W. Bush is Person of the Year.

For sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon-hat leadership style and  for persuading a majority of voters that he deserved to be in the White House for  another four years, George W. Bush is TIME's 2004 Person of the Year

He won it in 2000 as well, as did his father in 1990. Interesting to note that Joseph Stalin won it in 1939 and 1943, and Adolf Hitler won in 1938.

Festive fun

Check out our festive ecard:

http://www.lewispr.com/santa/us

He's attracting quite a lot of attention at the moment. I even had one former client forward it back onto me. And she'd been sent it by her current agency. Another client even asked me if I was the model - cheeky.

Unsolicited job offers

A colleague of mine recently received an unsolicited job offer through the mail. Then the next day, she received another. Both offered senior positions in reputable agencies, without the need for interview. I can't help wondering whether practices like this aren't one of the root causes of churn in our industry.

The dynamics of a PR firm are fairly simple. You need to balance the number of clients you have, with the number of staff to serve them. Too few clients and you don't make a profit. Too many clients and your team is overstretched. Neither is sustainable for long.

Staff churn is a concern for all clients and all agency principals. As the economy lifts, there is an imbalance - a shortage of highly skilled PR pros. Six months ago, that shortage was at the Account Executive level. During the downturn, few agencies were recruiting, so staff with 1-3 years' experience were thin on the ground. As the market lifted, these were the easiest positions to create - so there was intense competition for junior staff. Now that has extended up to the Account Manager/Account Supervisor level.

Clearly some agencies are already feeling the pain. But resorting to mass mailing job offers smacks of desperation. And it's fundamentally short-sighted, since churn in a competitor, will create churn for other agencies, which feeds the cycle. PR pros are not units of resource to be bought in through direct mail of offers. That shows a level of disrespect I find hard to credit. And ultimately, though it's easy to turn someone's head with a flattering (if unlooked for) offer, I'm not sure it's the key to a long term career.

I know all's fair in love, war and business. But ethics must come in to play. And treating staff like this is poor practice. I can't help noticing that it's the same agencies which were so swift to make layoffs in the downturn, that have already resorted to this desperate measure.

As a PR pro though, I know that's how reputations are made. And we all know how important that is.