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Hey technical writer! How are you adding value?
2February 8, 2005 by Colin
Bombardier Aerospace, part of the global transportation concern, is considering a report recommending the outsourcing the technical publications and information unit to India- which means about 350 people may be losing their jobs. People like YOU – writers, editors, publication coordinators, clerks …
This is the new reality, folks. If you perform a routine task day in and day out, your job is likely at risk. And don’t trust management to level with you about possible outsourcing decisions. As the Globe tells us today, a Bombardier VP in customer support wouldn’t even admit the report existed until his staff confronted him with copies.
But look on the bright side. Experience has proven that, given an opportunity to balance demand and supply, the modern capitalist economy will arrive at an average wage for skills such as writing, research and phone babysitting higher than that currently being paid to Indians.
Unfortunately, that takes twenty to thirty years, and the average will still likely be lower than existing wages in North America and Europe.
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RIP, Bob McAdorey
1February 7, 2005 by Colin
Well, another local newscaster from my youth is dead. Bob McAdorey, a Southern Ontario broadcaster for nearly forty years, passed away this weekend.
Of course, I only I remember his later career as entertainment editor on Global News – with his giant [irish] afro, tweed jackets and outsized glasses.
But in the 1960s, working the afternoon drive time slot, McAdorey helped set the agenda for popular music in Toronto – meeting the Beatles and the Stones along the way.
“We kept it all clean up here. There was no payola as in the U.S. and we deliberately helped a lot of Canadians. It was personality radio. We were promoted like crazy back then. And the pressures were unbelievable. We dictated what records were going to go. And what kids would eat, drink.” (Toronto Star, r.r.)
Correction (17/02): I originally referred to Bob’s scottish afro.
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Send the nonverbal message that you are listening
2February 4, 2005 by Colin
I work in-house, so I’ve had many opportunities to hear pitches, proposals and presentations from erstwhile suppliers. The common theme? “Man, do we have the program/product/publication for you!” Sorry guys, you lost me at “Hello.”
What’s missing from their spiel? Personalization: how does your proposal relate to my needs? How are you going to solve my problem?. How can you help ME? Dana points to a WSJ article discussing “why ‘listen and learn’ is a consultant’s mantra“.
I’d ask the same of our in-house comms staff: are you listening to your clients? How have you moved THEIR yardsticks?
Maybe we all need 7 Tips for Effective Listening, from the Journal of the Institute of Internal Auditors.
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PR is necessary … discuss amongst yourselves
0February 3, 2005 by Colin
Like Tom Murphy, I recieved an email from Steven Phenix yesterday, touting a noble goal: spurring PR bloggers to build some online buzz for the positive aspects of public relations.
Unfortunately, this will be a long and difficult battle. We’re dealing with long-held perceptions of our profession, often confirmed with unpleasant experience. Evidence? Let me table a piece of evidence, which we can refer to as “Piece of Evidence #1″.
PRWEEK UK released the results of their latest salary study this week. The stats reveal that working conditions are improving for PROs in the UK.
What did the Times pull from the story? What’s their principal takeaway? Ummm: mingling is the key to good public relations:
“People who don�t know how to mingle won�t get on in the absolutely fabulous world of public relations. … more than 70 per cent of PR lovelies are out on business one night a week. Late nights play havoc with your skintone, so it�s not surprising that 20 per cent of employees find PR �very stressful�. “
Great. Sophie Wessex is not the role model for all public relations pros!
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Good speech vs. Bad speech
0February 3, 2005 by Colin
It’s three in the morning. Your office’s tiny little recycling bin is full of Coke and Red Bull cans, styrofoam coffee cups, and that bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper forced on you by the wonky drink machine on the third floor.
You’re pretty sure the landlord shuts the building’s HVAC off at 7pm – you can still smell that Dr. Pepper burp – and the flourescent lighting seems to be on some sort of irrational timer only reset by a switch forty yards away.
There are papers strewn about your office. Policy papers, spines snapped open, piled beside the HP printer. Multi-page memos folded and unfolded, underlined and highlighted, ripped at the staple thrown across the desk. Very important post-it notes with very important words piled up by the phone.
You’re working on a speech on short deadline, and past drafts are spilling out of the printer. A pile of annotated pages cover the floor around the recycling bin. Every executive, assistant, advisor and smart intern has chipped in with their comments and favourite phraseology – and they went home about seven hours ago.
Still, you’re in the zone. You’ve got some strong themes. You’ve got your speaker’s trust. You’re not tired. The ideas are popping, the words are flowing. Fatigue is only a flicker in your eyes, not a haze enveloping your thoughts.
Because you know what can happen at that point in the night: the trapeze act. Jumping from thought to thought, searching your brain for the easy transition. The speech becomes less of a work of art, and more of a compilation or synthesis.
Matthew Scully, a former Bush speechwriter, knows this is where speech writers can veer off the road:
“Another great challenge in State of the Union speeches comes around Page 10, when the entire thing can easily turn into a tedious grab bag of policy proposals. This is averted by skillful transitions. It was a point of pride that rarely have Bush speeches fallen back on artless devices like: “As we meet dangers abroad, so our work at home continues.”(NYT)
Another revealing commentary comes from Bush I’s chief speechwriter:
“State of the Union addresses often amount to not one but two speeches: the speech the president got stuck with, which sounds like a hodgepodge, and, somewhere inside it, the speech the president wanted to deliver, which sounds unified, authentic and complete.”
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Rest in peace, Dean Wormer
0February 3, 2005 by Colin
John Vernon has passed away. Come on, you know him: Dean Wormer.
- Dean Vernon Wormer: Well, well, well. Looks like somebody forgot there’s a rule against alcoholic beverages in fraternities on probation!
Otter: What a tool.
Dean Vernon Wormer: I didn’t get that, son, what was that?
Otter: Uh, I said, “What a shame that a few bad apples have to spoil a good time for everyone by breaking the rules.”
Dean Vernon Wormer: Put a sock in it, boy, or else you’ll be outta here like shit through a goose.
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NYT under the microscope
0February 2, 2005 by Colin
I guess we should have seen it coming. Now there’s a blog critiquing the editorial cartoons in the New York Times.
Granted, it’s authored by an instructor from the Parsons School, but it seems the vast majority of students would profit from basic instruction on simply how to find the op/ed page.
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Pricing strategies and compassion: why cut bereavement fares?
0February 2, 2005 by Colin
Given the storm buffetting the international airline industry, you’d think Air Canada would be taking advantage of every opportunity available to build goodwill and encourage customer loyalty – especially since the airline just emerged from bankruptcy protection and is competing against several strong domestic discount carriers.
According to CanWest news, they have eliminated their discounted fares for bereavement cases and emergency medical travel in North America. Why? I can understand the economic argument: those discounted fares are a remnant from the old airline industry pricing model, where limited seat supply and poor competition created a perfect environment for an airline to gouge short notice travellers. Airlines – at the risk of appearing heartless – had to recognize that these travellers didn’t fit into their normal customer segments and deserved exception from their oligarchic pricing schemes.
Today, pricing is driven by route-by-route competition among carriers, seasonal specials and web promotions. An Air Canada spokesperson has argued the discounts aren’t necessary any more as their pricing is much more competitive, especially on the web. In effect, competition has outstripped their old pricing strategies. (Vancouver Sun, behind a stupid subscriber wall)
Fine. The airline’s economic environment has changed. But why is WestJet, a discount carrier and strong competitor, continuing its bereavement discounts?
Because WestJet can look beyond its spreadsheets to see the customer at the counter. To see the human who needs help and compassion at a particularly stressful moment in their life. Who just wants a big faceless company to acknowledge their challenges and maybe offer some help.
And that extra moment of attention helps build lasting customer relationships.
A final point: Air Canada still offers these discounts on their international routes. Which gives the impression that their international customers are still paying extortionate prices, or are more favoured than their domestic customers.
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Stuck in a moment: when an interview goes bad
2January 30, 2005 by Colin
Have you ever been sitting in on an interview with a senior executive, and you can just feel the tone and direction of the conversation change? Your years of media relations, your gut feeling, just tell you that this isn’t going turn out well, despite the tasty mochachinos charged to your tab just fifteen minutes ago? You even covered the bagel and lox!
Your spokesperson is being pushed into a difficult area – one he struggled through during your pre-interview:
“… you get the impression that you are addressing an elaborately wired security system. If the conversation edges toward areas in which he feels ill at ease or unwilling to commit himself, burglar alarms are triggered off, defensive reflexes rise around him like an invisible stockade, and you hear the distant baying of guard dogs…”
That’s from Kenneth Tynan’s 1978 New Yorker profile of Johnny Carson.
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Long socks and long faces: Election 2004
0January 28, 2005 by Colin
Apparently, the Dem’s loss on November 2 can be correlated with taking long hikes in the woods without the proper protection against deer ticks: long socks, long pants, long sleeved shirts and bug repellent. Just the sort of behaviour you’d expect from citified NorthEastern liberals (:-)
Two scientists have managed to turn rather mundane research into lyme disease occurrences into a nice little news bite:
“A map showing results from the last presidential election is “remarkably similar” to a map of the distribution of cases of Lyme disease, a brief article in the current Lancet (r.r.) medical journal points out.
The 19 “blue states” – those won by Senator John Kerry – account for 95 percent of the cases of Lyme disease reported in 2002, they wrote. The disease, caused by bacteria that are carried by deer ticks, is concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest.”
… [As one of the authors speculated]: “We do not believe, however, that tick-borne diseases are likely to be a major factor in the 2008 presidential election.”(NYTimes)
The lesson for public relations pros: be creative when looking for a news hook. Don’t get bogged down in the details of your story – there may be a more appealing angle just waiting to be communicated.
And hope to god your technical experts are open to the suggestion.
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VW, rogue ad directors, and litigation
0January 27, 2005 by Colin
And another brand-building tactic takes a punch to the kidneys. Brand managers, formerly pleased as punch to have committed consumers/customer evangelists tout their product and their brand in forum postings and home-cooked ads, are discovering that brand management requires better monitoring and more precise messaging in our new world of social networks and virals.
Just ask VW. The company’s marketing and executive teams have just spent a week weathering speculation about the corporate motives behind the “car bomber” ad currently coursing across the ‘net. Ongoing doubt about their role in the creation of the shocking short have prompted the “c-suite” to flip to tab “m” of the crisis communications plan – call in the lawyers (Guardian, r.r.).
Normally, lawyers only pop out of the backroom when serious regulatory action is about to be announced. Or when the entire executive team has been fired. In this case, VW obviously felt a stronger gesture was needed as part of their corporate communications mix.
It’s a smart move. Online, we all buzzed about VW’s relationship to the ad and its authors. Even claims of innocence and admissions of guilt did nothing to quiet the buzz.
What were Lee and Dan, the ostensible authors, thinking when they released this ad? Despite their attempts at positioning their ad as demonstrating the VW Polo is a “safe car” I have to think they must have been oblivious to the real and daily threat posed by car bombings in other more distant countries, like Iraq, Afghanistan, the Phillippines, Sri Lanka, Spain, Northern Ireland … Oh. They must just be run-of-the-mill gits.
I think ad-rag hit the nail on the head with their imagined interview last week:
adland: What’s next?
Dan: Cannes?This ad was produced in an attempt to turn heads at DDB London, VW’s AOR. Lee and Dan likely thought it would prompt quite a bit of talk at the agency water cooler/drinks cart.
But realistically – where was selling proposition? How did this ad actually intend to drive customers to VW dealerships? I’m not arguing that every ad or every tactic has to be practical and throroughly planned and managed – but how detached from reality do creatives have to be?
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Ronald McDonald: I’m lovin’ the new skate threads
0January 27, 2005 by Colin
Promo Magazine reports on comments made by Dean M. Barrett, the senior-VP global marketing for McDonald’s, at the Association of National Advertisers meeting yesterday.
“As for fashion, watch for Ronald McDonald to appear in a whole new wardrobe that includes everything from the looks of a snowboard dude to a business executive (still wearing those big red shoes, of course).
Along with his new duds, Ronald got a new title: CHO or “chief happiness officer.” There are new uniforms in Germany, Denmark and the U.K., as well as other apparel like hats and T-shirt designed around the “I’m lovin’ it” theme. A new line of branded-active wear will debut next year.”
There are some other observations about McDonald’s shift in strategy, from marketing products and menus to entertaining the consumer through partnerships in music, sports, fashion and entertainment.
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I want to say one word to you – just one word: China
1January 26, 2005 by Colin
Here’s some food for thought out of the giant gab-fest at Davos:
“Not everyone is convinced that China will make the transition to the knowledge-economy, particularly given India’s head start, but if China is successful in building global brands Western companies may be forced to design their products with that market in mind.
“As the Chinese consumer pool grows, China will increasingly set international standards,” said Matthew Anderson, chief executive of Ogilvy PR for the Asia-Pacific region, the biggest public relations company in China.” (IHT)
As BusinessWeek noted last week, the retail wars have begun. American and European companies are adapting their products and marketing to meet the demands of the Chinese market.
But how will the global marketing and public relations environment adapt once China’s economic growth allows it to look outward and begin to flex its economic muscle in international markets other than natural resources, clothing and electronics?
The “China Price” represents a generational shift in international economic influence. How are you planning for your business to prosper 2, 10, 15 years from today?
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We want it more – honest!
0January 26, 2005 by Colin
London is jockeying for position in the race for the 2012 Olympics, and some bid leaders suspect their cause may be harmed by an apparent lack of enthusiasm among Britons for the exercise. Apparently, the current slogans “Make Britain Proud” and “Back the Bid” aren’t hitting all the necessary emotional buttons.
A group of London ad execs have knocked their heads together to come up with a slogan to convince the Olympic bid committee, visiting next month, that London is committed to hosting the Games. It’s a real winner: “We want it more.”
The participating ad agencies will be negotiating with their clients to feature the slogan on strategic billboards in areas to be visited by the bid committee.
Oh, to think of the old days, when prospective host cities could show they wanted it more with simple gestures: envelopes full of travellers cheques, comped holidays, and free grad school for bid committee relatives.
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Testify! When lawyers subpoena lawyers
0January 21, 2005 by Colin
Have you ever watched testimony on CPAC or CSPAN and wondered “what is that witness thinking right now?”
Warren Kinsella’s testifying before the Gomery Commission on the Government of Canada sponsorship program, and he’s been looking forward to it all week. Just read this excerpt from his blog:
Today I finally get to tell our side of the story – I hope. I fully expect the capable barrister Neil Finkelstein will be working overtime to stop me from saying anything remotely positive about what Messrs. Chretien, Dingwall and Kinsella did in the 1994 and 1995 period. But, again, that will prove my central criticism of this judicial circus, won’t it? And, as y’all know, it won’t stop your buddy Warren from saying what he has to say – in the corridor to the media afterwards, or on this little web site.
During the course of the day, I will be posting – or attempting to – pithy Gomery Pyle Commission updates that will be time-stamped. And, to emphasize the above-noted circus theme, my guys have put together a little aural and visual tableau. We will also, hopefully, be running digitized feeds of me giving sworn testimony.Of course, being a politics junky and eager for any tips on communicating under stressful situations, I’m watching Warren on CPAC. Oh! What a rejoinder! Beautiful stonewalling! He’s turning the lead counsel’s question back at him! Magnificent!
Canuckflack
… Colin McKay has some thoughts about design, data, management, government and oddities … written in Canada!
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Blood Stains from the slaine Monks of Lindisfarne in the Viking attack of 793AD. Folios 191v and 192r of the Lindisfarne Gospels - written and illuminated by the Anglo-Saxon Bishop Eadfrith in 698AD.
Liber generationis Jesu Christi
“Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race, nor was it thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made. Behold, the church of St. Cuthbert spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments; a place more venerable than all in Britain is given as a prey to pagan peoples.”
Alcuin, Letter to Ethelred, King of Northumbria
Images: British Library
I had a Brooks Brothers 15 1/2 - 35 shirt and we used its front pocket to determine when the Pilot design was “pocket sized” - Joel Jewitt, discussing the invention of the Palm Pilot
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130408043926-7298-early-employees-joel-jewitt-palm
Before I discovered the Internet
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