I’ve just been to Switzerland for a client meeting. From the Bay of Islands. For a day and a half.
I learned two things and re-learned a third. The re-learning was that face time counts. Not only in the ‘new’ markets of Asia Pacific that we in New Zealand are so focused on learning to serve. But also with our traditional trading partners in Europe and North America.
You can do a lot with teleconferences and Skype, for sure. But when it comes to reinforcing old relationships and cementing new ones nothing can beat old-fashioned face-time. More…
Before waxing on about the world’s first Pavlova Western – New Zealander Mike Wallis’s soon-to-be-released-in-New Zealand movie Good For Nothing – let me first add a little credential building and context setting.
Like any good United States-born and bred urban outdoorsman, I’ve been appropriately conditioned and raised on the stuff legends are made of. I can recite the words verbatim to the themes of Daniel Boone and Davey Crocket. I’m even a sucker for a good (is there such a thing?) John Wayne movie. If Clint Eastwood is involved it’s a must. More…
Real plans to expand an oil refinery and an electricity network. Rumoured plans to lobby for a deepwater port to rival Auckland. And speculative plans to create a latter day Eldorado by realising potential for mineral extraction. From some vantage points across Northland the echoes of New Zealand’s ‘Think Big’ economic strategy of four decades ago can still be heard persistently, if faintly. Albeit with a distinctly private sector timbre. More…
Posted in business, community, corporate communication, crisis communication, economy, government, internal comms, issues management, media, politics, pressure groups, science and technology, trends
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As the long-running Ports of Auckland labour dispute becomes ever-more intractable, and escalates at a mesmerising pace, the myriad ‘points of view’ from an ever-expanding cast are increasingly difficult to keep a handle on.
Little wonder, then, that the New Zealand public, at first bemused by the 70s-style waterside confrontation, is becoming increasingly sceptical of both sides and generally brassed off. Words and phrases like “sort it out”, “childish”, “waste of space” and “bored” are becoming increasingly commonplace in the comment sections of blogs and online articles covering the topic. More…
Dealings with a call centre recently reminded me of the perils of putting young people at the receiving end of society’s problems and issues.
Call centres like to use young people. They’re cheap. They’re (mostly) quick. They’re technologically savvy. And, by and large, they don’t tend to take the problems of the world and load them onto their own shoulders.
And therein lies the rub. From a public relations perspective, is callow youth empathetic enough? More…
Another week, another apology. This time it was the turn of Telecom, with a swift U-turn over its try-hard ‘Abstain for the Game’ campaign. It, of course, followed hard on the heels of the adidas non-apology of the previous week for the ‘distraction’ caused by the furore over its apparel pricing.
Rugby World Cup madness has truly set in. What on earth was Telecom thinking? Why did it feel the need to go public with such a tacky little campaign? More…
Posted in PRos and PRats, apologies, brands, business, community, corporate communication, marcomms, reputation, sport, tofu PR, trends
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Good on Rebel Sport, Briscoes and Whakatane Sportsworld for taking a stance on the rugby jersey price issue. While adidas’ reaction to public outrage over the fleecing of Kiwi rugby fans has been little short of Kafka-esque to date (referring all local media enquiries to adidas HQ in Germany, who then promptly refer the calls to adidas in NZ), the emergence of a sympathetic stance among local retailers has been refreshing.
adidas’ initial reaction to the pricing criticism was typical of a large multinational for whom public relations is simply an ancillary publicity function bolted onto the marketing department. More…
Seriously, who writes this stuff? Earlier this month I received a letter from broadcaster Sky, telling me all about how it has added more channels, “worked hard” to secure the best programming, upgraded a sports channel to High Def and lots more blah, blah, blah.
The letter was on its way to the bin, already damned as a gratuitous piece of marketing puff, before a small alarm bell rang in my mind and I snatched the missive from its trajectory of doom.
Sure enough. There it was. More…
I’ve taken part in, and eavesdropped on, several wonderful discussions recently about whether Aussie PM Julia Gillard is a nasty person because she didn’t show much emotion about the Queensland floods in front of the cameras, and whether Queensland premier Anna Bligh’s tearful moment at a press conference cemented her position as Australia’s Communicator-in-Chief.
Particularly memorable was a discussion in the Twitter feed of Aussie journalism maven Julie Posetti. More…
