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Archive for the ‘Communicate’ Category

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Training day

In Communicate, Dubai, Journalism, Published journalism, Television on November 22, 2010 at 10:57 pm

As the region comes under more scrutiny from the world’s business media, specialists are coaching executives on facing the press

Originally published in Communicate, September 2007

Picture this: You’re the CEO of a large company and disaster strikes. Your business is in flames (perhaps literally), your stock is in freefall and the media is baying for blood – probably your blood.

You need someone who’s good in a crisis, who can single-handedly face the microphone-wielding jackals and save the day. The person you send out there needs to be a superhero of PR, the Jack Bauer of media managers. Alas, in many cases it’s you.

You’ve prepared for this moment. You’ve been trained as a press-pacifying ninja by catastrophe coaches and pandemonium professionals. You have, haven’t you?

Companies in the region are increasingly turning to media trainers to bring their executives up to scratch on how to handle the press both in times of crisis and during “peacetime.” With the eyes of the world on the Middle East – and when it comes to business news, Dubai especially – executives are more anxious about being ready to face the cameras.

Take the case of a March runway accident at Dubai International airport, in which passengers suffered minor injuries. “It made international news immediately,” says Caitlin West, managing consultant at UK-based crisis management specialist Regester Larkin, which recently opened an office in Dubai. Unexpected situations like this are precisely why companies need to be training their spokespeople.

YOU’RE BEING WATCHED
Media trainers come from a variety of different backgrounds. All promise to teach executives to better carry their companies’ key messages through good times and bad, and all agree that increased scrutiny on the region is good for business.

The backdrop for much of this uptick in demand for media training is last year’s Dubai Ports World debacle, according to Eithne Treanor, founder of Etreanor media consultancy. Like Regester Larkin, Etreanor recently set up shop in Dubai. “Some people I have talked to were amazed at the reaction in the US when all that happened, the fact that there were protests. … I think that’s why the people here are demanding media training,” Treanor says.

Although keeping one’s brand in the public eye is important, it’s the need to prepare for worst-case scenarios that drives many companies to seek external coaching.

Regester Larkin specializes in “issues and crisis management,” according to managing director Mike Regester. “If you wanted us to launch a new brand of butter in the Middle East, we wouldn’t do it,” he says. “We don’t do that stuff and other consultancies would be able to offer that. We’re absolutely focused on what we do.”

Chris Kinsville-Heyne, managing director of C3I Strategic Solutions, worked for the media wing of the British military before he went into media training. “I was primarily involved in getting the troops ready to face the media for Bosnia, the first Gulf War, Kosovo, East Timor, and the principle is exactly the same: you look at your key messages, you understand those, you understand how you can bridge from whatever question it is the media asks you to one of your key messages. The principle remains the same.”

This principle centers on anticipating rather than reacting to problems and turning questions to one’s advantage rather than trying to dodge awkward probes.

“I have a principle that is left over from Sandhurst [military academy],” says Kinsville-Heyne. “Train hard, fight easy. I train people for the hardest thing they can do, and in my experience that’s a live business breakfast interview. That’s the hardest thing you’re going to do. If you’re doing a print interview, it’s going to be easy in comparison.”

THE SOUND OF SILENCE
When the tough questions come, Kinsville-Heyne says “no comment” is not an option. “I’ve always maintained it with all my students,” he says. “If you ever turn round and say, ‘No comment,’ you might as well say, ‘Guess what, I’m ignorant – and stupid, too, because I’m missing an opportunity.’ You miss an opportunity to be able to engage in dialogue.”

Treanor says executives are often reluctant to admit they’ve gone through media training. “Media training in the corporate world is like going to your psychiatrist. You are a bit ashamed to say you have been to see him.”

Not Niall McLoughlin, regional head of corporate affairs at Standard Chartered Bank, who speaks openly about using media training. “Nowadays the potential for making an error, the potential for screwing up, is great,” he says. “If you’re better prepared to manage your reputation through effective communication rather than just shooting from the hip, then when you’re in a listed company it’s your responsibility to do that.” The bank uses Regester Larkin.

“People in this region still go on the defensive when they have no reason to go on the defensive,” says Treanor. “People are now realizing they need to be on the map. There is a bit of humility about people within publicly listed companies. They are beginning to realize that they have to get information to a lot more sources. But it is a big shift for the region.”

FOCUS POCUS
It’s important to go into an interview focused, says Standard Chartered’s McLoughlin. “In any one-on-one interview, you try to have your objectives of the interview, and the journalist has their objectives of the interview,” he says. “It’s trying to facilitate getting your messages across, what you want to deliver in the message. So you never go in there and let yourself be led. You try to articulate your messaging.”

The first eight seconds of the interview are crucial, says C3I’s Kinsville-Heyne. “People make up their minds about you very, very quickly. In three seconds people decide whether they like you or not; in five seconds they decide whether they trust you or not; in seven seconds they have decided whether you will lie to them or not. So essentially as a spokesperson you’ve got eight seconds. Being a good bloke and a good CEO doesn’t necessarily give you that skill.”

Choosing a media trainer can be tricky. Most PR companies offer coaching among their services, but Treanor, a former journalist, says those with a press background can do a better job, since they approach the issues from an outsider’s perspective.

Kinsville-Heyne takes the opposite approach. “I’m not a journalist and I always make sure I emphasize that. That’s probably one of my unique selling points. I’ve been a spokesman, I’ve sat in the chair that you’re going to sit in. I’ve done your job and I know exactly what it takes, how difficult it is to keep all those plates spinning.”

Whichever form of guidance you choose, there is one thing interview subjects should bear in mind, says Treanor: Journalists welcome people who are able to communicate well – but not too well. The trick is to be genuine, rather than slick. “There’s a danger that people can come across as too trained,” she says. “But that’s not what anyone in the media training business is trying to do. We’re not trying to show clients how not to deal with things or how to skirt around issues. We’re very much trying to show them how to engage, and by doing that, get their message across.”

So with the cameras aimed at you like snipers’ rifles, you might be calm, collected and ready for anything. You may think you really are the Jack Bauer of reputation management. But if you come across as a spin doctor, all that training could blow up in your face.

TIPS: You don’t say
Media trainers say there are simple rules to follow if you have to face the press. Make sure you don’t blow your 15 seconds of fame.

Prepare. Know the name of the journalist, the style of the program or publication, the interview format and the deadline. Know why the journalist wants the interview, and what angle the story will take.

Know your audience. Choose your words to suit it. Be valuable to the audience by stating your message clearly and with proof points.

Rehearse. Go over your key messages. Be enthusiastic about your company, service or product, but don’t try a blatant sales pitch.

Turn on your radar. Think of difficult questions and come up with responses ahead of time so you’re not caught off guard.

Don’t guess. If you don’t know the answer to a question, say so.

Don’t argue. But if the journalist makes factually incorrect statements, correct them.

For TV or radio, speak slowly and clearly. Don’t talk over people. Ignore background noise and distraction. On screen, don’t wear distracting clothes or jewelry, and keep your eyes steady.

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The state we’re in

In Communicate, Dubai, Marketing, Published journalism on November 22, 2010 at 10:53 pm

Communicate takes the pulse of regional creativity at the International Design Forum

Originally published in Communicate, July 2007

Last month at Communicate we trimmed our goatees, donned our post-ironic retro T-shirts and big glasses and slung our man-bags over our shoulders to head to Dubai’s first International Design Forum and check out the state of creativity in the region.
The event was hosted by conference organizer Moutamarat, a joint venture between Tatweer and Saudi Research and Publishing Company.

While participants tossed around predictably unpredictable ideas, such as enigmatic Dutch product designer Marcel Wanders’s vases modeled by sneezing through a 3D scanner, much of the talk on the stage and on the sidelines was about the state of design and creativity in the region. And it wasn’t all favorable.

Sheikh Majed Al Sabah, the man behind Alef magazine and the ultra-trendy Villa Moda stores, bemoans the lack of visible talent in the Gulf. Much of this lies in the way designers are perceived, he says. “Not every Arab likes to be seen as a designer or an architect,” he tells Communicate, “because they think this job is not a macho job, is not a job that brings money.”

“There are a lot of graphic designers everywhere,” he says. “Mostly in the northern part of the Middle East, Lebanon, Jordan. You see a lot of talented people coming from that part of the world as graphic designers. Yet there are many more talented people in this part of the world. But because they come from the Gulf, many of them are shy to say they want to become graphic designers.”

Rodney Fitch, CEO of design company Fitch, says the forum highlighted that fact that most regional creativity is “architecture-driven.” Local press coverage of the forum, he says, “has nothing to speak of about all those other parts of design which are of such importance, whether it’s communication design, television design, film, fashion, interior or industrial. All it speaks of is the five tallest buildings in the world. I think that’s a great shame, and I think that’s a sign of a needed maturity in the market here.”

Timid new world
The most controversial speaker at the forum agreed that the Middle East’s design industry needs to grow up. Oliviero Toscani is the photographer behind United Colors of Benetton’s divisive ads, which have included a white baby suckling from a black woman’s breast and a Christ-like figure dying of AIDS in a hospital bed. His work, he says, has never been displayed in Dubai. “Everything is so tacky, golden, unlikeable,” he told the forum. “I have never been in a place so anti-design as this place.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the forum, he elaborates that the problems with design in the region stem from politics and passiveness. “No one’s got the courage to tell the truth,” he says. “No one’s got the courage to talk about politics and design, politics and architecture, politics and taste and politics and creativity. Nobody.”

In advertising, he says, “There is a monoculture that is going through everything. Everyone does the same thing. Everybody is trying to attract consensus, and looking for consensus attracts mediocrity. There is not enough personality, not enough courage.”

He says local architecture, in particular, is over-indulgent. “Nobody has the courage to say this is ridiculous. Las Vegas or Disneyland, even they’re not like this. … Creativity and taste are like salt or sugar. You have to be careful not to put too much or too little salt in what you cook. If you add too much salt, it doesn’t taste good. … So creativity is something to be put in the right dose. [Here] it is overdone. And I think being rich didn’t help.”

First steps
The cynicism lingering in the air was tempered by some of the idealism voiced on stage. When asked what changes he’d like to see in the region, one young local designer told his audience, “I had a vision of a street where I could walk and there would be people making frescoes and playing instruments. But there’s nothing like that here now.”

And the presence of design-heavy magazines such as Brown Book and newly-launched Desert Fish showed there is young creativity out there.

“Look at Alef,” says Al Sabah. “Look at Brown Book, look at Canvas. There are lots of improvements coming, you know: typography, graphics, layout, creativity. You look at the other titles and they are horrible. So there is a lot of improvement happening. At least it’s a start.”

And Fitch agrees regional creativity is now starting to move in the right direction. “Historically you’d have to look very hard to find a wide embrace for design here,” he says. “You’d be hard pushed to find good advertising, good copywriting, good packaging, good industrial design. It’s not hard to find any number of world-class buildings, but there aren’t those other manifestations of design. … I think joining those dots begins with a meeting of the minds like this forum. It begins to focus people’s minds and create priorities.”

“It’s an alarm,” says Al Sabah. “Just to make everyone wake up and say there should be a [regional] influence on design.”

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“Want that one!”

In Advertising, Communicate, Dubai, Marketing, Published journalism on November 22, 2010 at 10:51 pm

When marketing to kids takes off in the Middle East, parents won’t hear the end of it

First published in Communicate, June 2007

Real kids are never as sweet as the ones in adverts. When they want something they can be nagging, pestering, whining brats until they get it. And savvy marketers know how to tap into this pester power to sell products to pre-teens. The more spoiled the kid, the better for the advertiser.

Gaurav Sinha, who owns Think, a UAE magazine marketed to teenagers, says that, as consumers, children are unique. “Which adult do you know,” he asks, “who would pester another person to make a purchase on their behalf the way kids do?”

Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson, list seven types of pester in their 2006 book Chew on This: From the pleading pester, when kids repeat words like “please” and “Mom,” through the tantrums of the demonstrative pester, to the pity pester, where the child emphasizes how heartbroken and humiliated he will be without the purchase. Advertisers who know their audience know how to make kids nag until their parents crack.

Supermarkets, for example, have long cashed in on the manipulative efforts of children. The displays at checkouts usually have sweets and treats at children’s eye level, and within reach of tiny, grasping hands.

In a tacit acknowledgement of this, Spinneys supermarket recently introduced special check-out lines at some of its stores. “We’ve kept one aisle which is specifically for those parents who want to ensure their kids don’t end up picking up something inappropriate,” says a Spinneys spokesperson. “At point of sale it is mainly low value, impulse lines that are displayed. At this particular checkout there is more of the health range. There are some cereal bars, and mostly stuff that is not bad in a health-related way.”

In the Middle East overall, though, children are yet to be exploited with the ruthless efficiency shown in the West, claims Moneer Barakat, creative director at Memac Ogilvy. “Funnily enough, marketers here don’t play on pester power. Marketing to kids here is very limited. The use of pester power is still a bit naïve. And it’s not being used widely enough. If we are not using it enough, it will not be sophisticated.”

But the market is ripe for the picking, says Barakat. “Kids in this region, they grow up very spoiled,” he says. “Every whim and every wish is catered for. So the power they have over parents is amazing. It’s much more than when you compare it to the West, where there is a sense of discipline. There’s pester power too, of course, but there is a certain discipline. Here, the kid has a lot of power. The kid can command.”

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
And pester power does not just apply to products specifically for children. Take buying a television, says Sinha: “They will influence you from going with the cheapest one to maybe something which meets their values, that’s maybe the same as the one the guy next door has. It helps to maintain the whole ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ philosophy. They play an important role.”

Marketing to pre-teens is often frowned upon, though. In the UK, the Committee for Advertising Practice, the industry’s self-regulatory body, issued guidelines that ban the advertising of any food or drink to under-16s except fresh fruit and vegetables. This currently applies only to television, but will be extended to the Internet, newspapers, billboards and cinema on July 1.

The UAE, however, has no such restrictions. A statement from the GCC Advertisers Association says: “Currently, the GCCAA has not worked on enforcing global advertising standards with regards to advertising to children. Most of the big multinationals follow internal standards in line with industry guidelines. However, there is no collective effort at a regional level.”

Questions about marketing to children tend to raise an icy and defensive response, like the eventual reply from Kellogg’s to questions about their youth marketing strategies: “As a responsible company, Kellogg’s ensures that our messages to children will accurately portray our products in a way that is in keeping with their ability to understand our intent and using language that is appropriate for this audience.”

The reason for the mind-numbingly corporate response, says Moneer Barakat, is that when you use pester power, “somehow the tune of the campaign becomes a bit politically incorrect, because you’re using the kid to manipulate the situation.”

But there is a place for these strategies in the Gulf, he maintains. “The market is experimenting with new ways of putting across a message,” says Barakat. “Brands are becoming very brave, very lateral, very fresh in their thinking. So when an agency handling a brand focuses a full campaign on pester power, gets the kid to initiate the request for the brand, once everyone sees it works, everyone will follow.”

Until then, kids in ads will remain sickly sweet. And the real ones will continue to pester, whether they’ve been told to or not.