LEWIS 360°

Ties are back at Davos and business looks the business

Interesting news from Davos, courtesy of the Beeb’s Tim Weber.

Apparently ties are resurgent at this year’s event. And I don’t think that’s a simple fashion tip from Tim – “ties will be big this year”. There’s a bigger story here.

In past years the tie has actually been banned from Davos. Perhaps that was because it was emblematic of a male-dominated Westernised approach to business and leadership. It was symbolic of many of the old orders and prejudices the event sought to overcome.

Or perhaps delegates lived in fear of seeing Bill Gates sporting something "wacky" on the final day of conference, like a middle-aged public sector lifer who “brightens up the office” with his Mickey Mouse tie each and every Friday since he got it from his wife Margaret for Christmas in ‘98.

I suspect it’s the former.

According to Tim, posting on Twitter, one delegate was overheard saying: "People are in formal business dress, they don't want to be seen by shareholders to be relaxing and taking it easy."

The return to ties tells us people are now getting very serious about the world we live in. Dress is becoming more sober and people are either hiding behind the veil of respectability, or dressing to impress, depending on their circumstances.

Lest we forget the first bite is with the eye, I’m put in mind of a scene from US sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm where the following conversation takes place between client and lawyer:

Client: "I'm a little puzzled. What's with the outfit you're in? Is it a Halloween party?"
Lawyer: “It's casual Friday."
Client: "Casual Friday…what does that mean?"
Lawyer: "It means we dress like we would at home."
Client: "But you're not at home."
Lawyer: "I know that sir; it's casual Friday."
Client: "I know; you told me that already. What do you do on casual Friday?"
Lawyer: "We come in, we do our work, but we dress casually."
Client: "I don't like it."
Lawyer: "It's just the one day of the week…"
Client: "I don't care if it's a half-day each week. I don't like it. I'm here to change my will. A lot of money is involved! It's very important to me! I want you to be on the cutting edge when you're handling my business!"
Lawyer: "I'm sorry ... please ... understand ..."
Client: "You look like a cowboy! You look like J.R.! You should be in Dallas, not L.A.! You should be sorry because you just lost my account. Go wrangle somebody else!"
Lawyer: "But sir, if you'll just come back on a Monday..."

Personal Information Promise - who's in, and most importantly, who's not?

This morning, EU Data Privacy Day don't you know, the ICO will announce which organisations have signed up to its new initiative - the Personal Information Promise.

The PIP is effectively a PR campaign - an attempt to restore public trust in the ability/willingness of public and private sector organisations to safeguard private information that they hold, by giving senior executives the chance to sign up to a 10-point commitment. Credibility beckons for those that sign up (and manage to keep their promise...), but what about for those that don't? It will certainly be interesting to see who is not on the list and, as I'm sure the media will inquire, why they haven't signed up.

As Toby Stevens of the Enterprise Privacy Group says in his blog in Computer Weekly, its a great initiative and the privacy world will be waiting to see who's signing up. 

Update - 10.20am

The ICO has just announced the list of signatories to the PIP. Quite a few big names from the private sector, from Acxiom to Vodafone, Experian to BT. However, only a handful of public sector bodies have signed up, and no central government departments. Make of that what you will. 

Make what happen?

We're too responsible to comment on the fact that the boat regularly pulling up at Millbank Pier is sponsored by RBS.

We definitely wouldn't make jokes about it, or even think about words like 'afloat', 'sink', or 'bail out'.

We're too serious for that. Shame on you for thinking otherwise.

What Nick Davies did next...

One of the criticisms I heard of Nick Davies 'Flat Earth News' during the dust-storm he kicked up last year, was that he made a cast iron case for falling standards in the media without using his experience and insight to offer practical solutions.

In truth, I would imagine that's because the time for solutions has long since passed. But perhaps Nick does have some high hopes for future generations after all. I was interested to receive an email from Nick last night telling me about his latest venture - a one day masterclass in association with David Leigh all about investigative journalism - that means finding actual news stories (possibly even without the use of a 'Fake Sheikh' outfit). It actually sounds great (do check it out)... I'm almost tempted myself.

Nick promises: "A masterclass for anyone who ever wanted to know how to bring down a government with a notebook. Two of Britain’s most experienced investigative reporters join forces to tell the tales and teach the tricks of their trade – for student journalists and veteran reporters; print and broadcast; local and national; media lawyers, teachers and academics..." (not PRs then? The course is a bargain £125 for the full day (or £25 for students) and even includes the promise of a skinful of free booze in the bar afterwards. Old school.

People even more cynical than me may question the value of training people to be sous-chefs when the industry's only interested in burger flippers but it's vital the principals of quality journalism are not lost to society for the times when they can still make a genuine difference. Hopefully Nick's masterclass will be the first of many successful sessions.

Motorbike protest at Millbank

Whilst we all moan about the lack of sandwich shops to buy lunchtime treats, no one can deny that being based in Millbank Tower keeps us at the absolute cutting edge of media and political affairs.

Just by looking out of our window we are able to bring you up to the minute images of the motorbikers' protest against increasing charges that is happening right now outside the parliamentary offices. This is just the latest in a long line of news stories that our central location allows us to break. Don’t forget we were the first to see that whale floating down the Thames. I certainly know where I would like my Media Relations agency to be based!

Why the UK will be an Entrepreneur Country in 2009

It’s been said before, but I genuinely believe there's good reason why the greatest innovation always happens in a downturn. In good times people rarely rush to fix something that doesn’t appear to be broken.

That makes 2009 an exciting time for entrepreneurs able to service a need for change. And for that reason the timing of an event this week, entitled ‘Entrepreneur Country’, is very interesting. The event, which LEWIS PR is partnering with, is being organised by Julie Meyer, the founder of First Tuesday and now CEO of Ariadne Capital.

The event is taking place in London and brings to town a showcase of start-up talent who will be presenting their ideas to an audience of peers and industry experts. Keynote speakers will include Gerry Ford, founder of Caffe Nero, Roman Stanek, founder of Good Data, Sir Paul Judge, chairman of Schroder Income Growth Fund, Glen Manchester, founder and CEO of Thunderhead, Meyer herself and Ed Wray, founder of betting exchange Betfair.

For me, Betfair best sums up the point I made at the start of this post about the value of innovation.

Wind the clock back nine years and sports betting was a sometimes-shady business presided over by middle-aged men in sheepskin coats whose offices were smokey high street 'turf accountants'. The business was at best exclusive at worst corrupt and ailing.

However, the internet and Betfair more than any other company, rearchitected the entire sports betting industry, attracting new customers and bringing a reassuring degree of accountability and transparency to transactions.

Betfair's success was emblematic of the kind of fresh thinking and innovation needed to turn around the fortunes of any industry when it hits the rails. When business, economies and industries slow down change must be dramatic and decisive, not ponderous and piecemeal.

If you need to know just how divergent a tangent that could mean, consider Betfair isn't even a bookmaker, it's an exchange. They also offer casino games. The level of innovation required to elevate the industry to new levels of revenue generation was light years ahead of a new sheepskin coat, a greater variety of snacks behind the shop counter and a few fruit machines on the shop floor.

The kinds of internet businesses springing up couldn't have been more different to the old guard whose territory they were muscling in on - bright, young minds with a focus on cutting-edge technology. The kinds of connections they counted on were as much the broadband connections in homes up and down the country as those within stables and yards. Betfair, also Blue Square, broke up the hegemony of trackside and high street and made betting a more attractive hobby anybody could take part in from the comfort of their own home or office. This forced wholesales change at traditional bookies who had to prioritise their own web strategies and pretty soon the industry was a very different place. By 2005 the online gambling industry had grown from nothing to £660m in the UK alone. It is predicted to hit £1.6bn next year.

So what this tells us is that the businesses who take us out of this recession and who thrive on the other side will be the businesses able to do something different, not those who simply hunker down or make superficial changes.

That means where innovation is concerned the largest businesses, with the turning circle of the QE2 have more to do than smaller, more agile businesses.

PriceWaterhouse... Bloopers? Satyam scandal raises auditing questions

According to a recent news report in the Times Satyam investors are rather miffed at global accounting firm PwC for failing to detect corporate fraud to the tune of more than US$1 billion, over a period reported to be as long as 10 years.  In addition, questions are now being raised about the fees paid to PwC, which, according to a story in the Economic Times, were around twice that of those paid by Satyam's industry peers, such as Infosys.

With high profile case of corporate fraud and mismanagement seemingly on the rise (the Satyam case being referred to as India's Enron), the question begs, what role do auditors play, and, from the perspective of investors, what use? 

As an accounting company of considerable repute, having PwC listed as auditors must surely have provided Satyam investors with a degree of comfort that all things financial at the Indian IT giant were above board. The revelation that this is far from the case has massive potential to undermine PwC's brand value, in addition to drawing into question the role of auditors.

Last Thursday, PwC issued a statement saying that  "The audits were conducted by Price Waterhouse in accordance with applicable auditing standards and were supported by appropriate audit evidence." Well, if 'applicable auditing standards' are incapable of detecting billion dollar fraud over a period of almost 10 years, then, on behalf of investors the world over, I'd suggest those standards need to be reviewed... pronto.

With investigations ongoing, it will be interesting to see where the finger of blame comes to rest.

Grade Point Average: how important for entry-level PR candidates?

Recently, I participated in an ongoing Twitter discussion sharing advice to young PR professionals. A question came through asking the following: would you rather see a 4.0 or slightly lower GPA with more experience/activities?

My reply, in under 140 characters, of course: "need common sense & street smarts to be a crack PR pro, 4.0 GPA need not apply, they usually don't have either." As you may imagine, it ruffled a few feathers. (I also tweeted, "all the 'A' students wind up working 4 the 'C' students and the 'B' students end up working for the government" which was retweeted so guess people liked that).

Anyway, back to the ruffling of feathers and a few specific responses I received from a newly minted '07 college grad who majored in journalism and PR. Here's the Tweet stream, which started with my common sense Tweet:

Him (newly minted '07 grad): "I disagree re: GPA. I interviewed at one of the top PR agencies in NY. Lots of Ivy League and Public Ivy grads w/ high GPAs."

Me (not newly minted grad): "give me some1 w/ grt attitude, confident, creative, willing to take advice, do whatevr it takes. more impt than undergrad GPA."

Him (newly minted '07 grad): "people with those qualities often have high GPAs."

Me (not newly minted grad): "pls don't misconstrue my pt, when u get in a position to hire staff and build a team, you'll understand what i mean."

Him (newly minted '07 grad): "ok you're assuming I haven't hired people before."

This back and forth got me thinking what I look for in a millennial when he or she comes in to interview for an entry-level account servicing position. And, in order to become a crack PR professional, is a 4.0 GPA required? Let's take a look.

First and foremost, to get in the door to interview for an entry level account servicing role, we want to see a mix of communications related internships. The most desirable candidates will have interned in a few diverse environments - publishing house, broadcast TV newsroom, PR/advertising agency, and/or in-house marketing, to name a few. When I see these internships on the resume, that's my jump off point for the discussion to find out specifics, how you handled a professional environment, likes/dislikes, challenges, observations. The 'A' you received in Modern Art: 19th and 20th Centuries doesn't much interest me.

Once I hear about your internship experience, I'll want to learn about what attracted you to those opportunities and the process in which you landed the internship. In doing so, I'll get a small dose of your ability to sell, your drive, how you persisted. This is a great time to discuss your undergrad classes, mentors, professors etc. all of which may have been instrumental in driving your interest in the field. I want you to tell a story, to be genuine, to be passionate. If you're not, you probably don't want the job nor start a career in PR, even if you are a 4.0 student. Needless to say, the 'A' you received in the Philosophy of Human Experience doesn't much interest me.

Now that I'm comfortable (or not) with your interest and dedication to the field, I want to understand what makes you tick outside of the classroom. So, you organized a campus wide flag football league, wrote a weekly column for your college newspaper, and participated in the school's alumni event planning committee. Tell me about how you managed all these responsibilities and found time to be a college kid and socialize with peers. To me, this discussion should indicate your willingness to engage in outside extracurricular work activities to further your career, thus becoming more valuable to my agency. More importantly, I'll get a great sense of how you work within a team environment. The 'A' you received in the Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire doesn't much interest me (actually, yes it does, I love history, but I probably won't ask about it).

So, what matters more to me on a resume than a 4.0 GPA would be:
1.  Demonstration of an in-depth knowledge of my company and client base - try to relate your internship experience with what you know about the industry and my day-to-day client work. Get the name of a client, read the recent articles in which they appeared. Tell me what you thought of those articles. Take a chance. Don't come across as a know-it-all, but do make and effort to illustrate you've prepared properly.

2.  Mechanical perfection in the cover letter and resume presentation - this is your one shot to show you care. Attention to detail is critical in PR. If you're a 4.0 student but misspell my company name or have an extra period where it shouldn't be, that's a shame.

3.  Collegiate sports / campus organizations - I'm not saying you need to be a Heisman Trophy winner, but I'm a huge believer in the lifelong positive outcomes when participating in team sports. Team sports teach individuals physical/mental fitness, competitiveness, discipline, socialization, how to succeed within a group, how to react to feedback, listening skills, respect etc.

Interestingly enough, when asked to rate the qualities employers find most important in a candidate, the 2007 Job Outlook Survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), GPA was ranked number 17 of the top 20. Here are the top five most important skills to us employers - I agree completely:

1. Communications skills

2. Honesty / integrity

3. Interpersonal skills / relating to others

4. Motivation / initiative / toughness

5. Strong work ethic

I'm not here to completely dismiss the "4.0 GPA." I'm just here to provide a bit of real world insight into what I believe are the most important qualities in a potential entry-level PR candidate. So, if you're confident you hold these qualities and can clearly demonstrate them through past experience, you'll be well positioned not only in securing an entry-level account PR position, but succeeding in that role. Oh, and if you graduated with a 4.0, I suppose that's pretty cool as well.

More Newspaper Woes

The newspaper famous for, "All the News That's Fit to Print," may need to consider a new motto after reading Michael Hirschorn's thought provoking piece in The Atlantic, "End Times." How about, "All the News and Fluff That's Unfit, Aggregated from Many Outlets, and Less In-Depth, But Hey, That's How You're Consuming Media These Days.com"

To sum it up, Hirschorn offers a scenario where "old media" brands such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, could cease to exist in print form sooner than we think. He writes:

Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital. Most of these scenarios assume a gradual crossing-over, almost like the migration of dunes, as behaviors change, paradigms shift, and the digital future heaves fully into view. The thinking goes that the existing brands—The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal—will be the ones making that transition, challenged but still dominant as sources of original reporting.

But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May?

So what would a post-print Times (and other dailies, presumably) look like?

nytimes.com would begin to resemble a bigger, better, and less partisan version of the Huffington Post which, until someone smarter or more deep-pocketed comes along, is the prototype for the future of journalism: a healthy dose of aggregation, a wide range of contributors, and a growing offering of original reporting. This combination has allowed the HuffPo to digest the news that matters most to its readers at minimal cost, while it focuses resources in the highest-impact areas. What the HuffPo does not have, at least not yet, is a roster of contributors who can set agendas, conduct in-depth investigations, or break high-level news. But the post-print Times still would.

Good for The Times, they're nearly there and well positioned for Hirschorn's future. For example, they've assembled an arsenal of over 60 blogs, already aggregate tech news from popular outlets like GigaOm, ReadWriteWeb, and IDG, and most importantly (a point Hirschorn did not raise), deliver content in various formats from video to podcasts to slide shows to Times reporters using Twitter to share news tips.

One of The Times' other media properties (at least for now before they sell it) is the Boston Globe, the LEWIS Boston local daily. As the print paper gets thinner and thinner so too does the subscriber base, unfortunately. However, like The Times, the Globe does a fine job engaging readers online and delivering content through the Boston.com portal. 

Although, here's a head scratcher on the Globe's part and the exact reason why local daily papers are bleeding red (aside from the obvious ad meltdown) - making horrible business decisions by sending its all purpose tech reporter to cover CES news this week. It makes little sense for the paper to send a Hiawatha Bray to Vegas to cover general consumer tech, let alone from a local readership angle. The people who read Bray will have already received their morning CES tech fix news from a host of other blogs, and interacting and commenting through Twitter and FriendFeed. The biggest news of Thursday was Palm's Pre. Go to read Bray several hours after today's announcement and there's nothing. Perhaps the Globe will have something in the Friday paper but by that time - who cares, we're already on to the next big thing.

Ultimately, Hirschorn's vision of paper-less papers could come even sooner if management continues to throw money away, like in the Globe example above.

[UPDATE: Because I feel so passionately about this issue, I picked up this morning's Globe Business section to read today, yesterday's CES news. But all I found was an AP story, "TV stations will broadcast to mobile devices." I didn't read it.

If the Globe has a tech reporter on site at CES, why aren't they reporting on the local New England innovations on display!? Or, maybe even an article on the local innovators who chose to sit out this year's affair? Or, how about local reaction from area VCs like Jeff Bussgang and Dan Nova or MIT professor Howard Anderson on the show's biggest news thus far, the Palm Pre? Alas, as of 2:00pm ET all we have is brief based on a press release from iRobot and news about Staples' latest new lineup of shredders. Again, from a press release. Hopefully tomorrow's paper will have some coverage. Oh wait, it's Saturday and I'm out of town..]

Make a date...

...with the LEWIS 2009 Calendar. This year we have produced a humorous but topical Calendar based on twelve famous PR faux-pas from around the world, from politicians caught in compromising positions to controversial celebrity kisses! The idea is based around the premise that despite the doom and gloom of the credit crunch, things could be worse.

Remember to download it onto your desktop to keep you up-to-date (!) and amused throughout 2009.