Connected Conversation

Measuring Public Relations

Boyd Neil — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:56:00 GMT

(Unfortunately a technical difficulty meant that this podcast was accidentally deleted. This is a repost.)

This week, Hill & Knowlton Canada's bi-weekly podcast -- Connected Conversation -- hasted by Boyd Neil features a discussion with Alan Chumley about trends in measuring the impact of corporate and marketing communications programs.

Alan recently joined Hill & Knowlton Canada's Toronto office as director of measurement. It is perhaps indicative of the extent to which measurement is on the minds of communications professionals that a leading Canadian consultancy has hired someone specifically to advance its thinking in this field.

In this podcast Alan talks how the analytic tools for measuring the impact of communications programs are getting better, and firms are beginning to realize that they can no longer get away with talking about public relations as simply a "soft art".

More about Alan, PR and measurement can be found here.

Comments, ideas, even disagreement, are always welcome.

Update: Alan's appointment notice can be found at Hillandknowlton.ca.

Whither Podcasting?

Boyd Neil — Wed, 23 May 2007 19:32:00 GMT

The fifth edition of Connected Conversation focuses on podcasting itself.

Host Boyd Neil talks with Brendan Hodgson, Hill & Knowlton's vice president of digital communications, about his views on the value -- if any -- of podcasting as a communications tool. Brendan is a podcasting agnostic who prefers to reserve his iPod for music. His preference is for the written word.

Personal reservations aside, however, Brendan agrees in this discussion that there is a place in the communications arsenal for podcasts -- a tool that is personal and verbal yet information rich.

Comments, ideas, even disagreement, are always welcome.

The Economist and GreenTech

Boyd Neil — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:30:00 GMT

Connected Conversation #4 features a short segment from Daniel Franklin, executive editor of the leading global business and current affairs magazine – The Economist – on the influence on business of the attention being paid globally to environmental issues. The interview is excerpted from a longer Webcast hosted by H&K last month in which Mr. Franklin discussed six global trends likely to have a significant impact on Canadian business.

This episode also highlights the release today of an H&K global survey which compares views of business and technology leaders in the U.S., U.K, China and Canada on a variety of energy and green technology issues.

Radical Transparency

Lisa Walker — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:34:00 GMT

The concept of radical transparency was raised in the April 2007 issue of Wired magazine in an article by Clive Thomson called The See-Through CEO. Thompson claims "Secrecy is dying. It's probably already dead."

Collin Douma, who writes a popular blog called Radical Trust and is a group creative director at a major advertising agency, used the concept at a Toronto social media event to challenge the value of, and values behind, the well-viewed bridezilla YouTube clip that turned out to be a set piece for a shampoo company.

In Connected Conversation #3, host Boyd Neil encourages Collin to say what he really thinks about corporate transparency in using social media as a marketing or corporate positioning tool.

The "Death of Shame": A Conversation with Kadi Kaljuste

Lisa Walker — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:50:00 GMT

In the second episode of Connected Conversation, Kadi Kaljuste, H&K Canada's head of marketing communications, explores the impact on marketing disciplines of a social trend called the "death of shame" or "Warholism". (Among less generous commentators - including Boyd Neil, Connected Conversation's host - it is thought of as pathological narcissism.)

The willingness of ordinary people to embarrass themselves on camera simply for 15 minutes of fame, for example, changes the concept of celebrity product endorsements or the ease with which person-in-the-street testimonials can be gathered.

Kadi defines the "death of shame" trend and looks at how it is factoring in to launch and re-launch programs.

Look forward to your comments and discussion.

Hill & Knowlton Canada's Inaugural Podcast

Boyd Neil — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 15:05:00 GMT

The inaugural episode of Hill & Knowlton Canada's bi-weekly podcast -- Connected Conversation -- hosted by Boyd Neil, features a discussion with Ilyse Smith, a senior vice president in H&K's Toronto office.

Having recently completed work on a pandemic communication manual for a large client, Ilyse talks about some of the principles underlying successful pandemic communication preparation . . . key among them remembering that the most important audiences in a pandemic for any organization will be its employees and customers. Providing information, direction -- and reassurance -- to these audiences should be a function of direct, un-intermediated communication: The media's attention, and their interest, will be elsewhere.

For organizations still putting together their pandemic communication plans, Ilyse suggests taking a look at the following websites:

World Health Organization communication guidelines for outbreaks . . . here
A good general resource from the Government of Canada. . . here
A useful business continuity planning toolkit . . . here
A perspective on pandemic communications by academic Peter Sandman . . . here
Guidelines from the Pan-America Health Organization, a division of WHO . . . here

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions for future podcast content.