Glass House

It's A Communications Problem

FrankShaw — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:29:07 GMT

Sitting through a brainstorm session at the Fortune event, this one focused on the challenge of energy/global warming. Great group discussion that talked on almost all aspects of what it will take to solve one of the biggest problems the world faces -- how to change the way we produce/distribute/use energy on a global basis.

As you might expect for a conference in the Valley with a bunch of VCs and entrepreneurs and engineers, there was a ton of energy (pun intended) on the technology fixes to the issue, ranging from better storage to better monitoring/measurement to smarter ways of just flat out producing the energy.

Of course, I offered a different take on things: what we have is a communications challenge. There is zero doubt that the technology exists to solve, in really short order, all the physical problems we face. What is less clear is that there is any will to do two other things:

1. Establish a coherent national energy policy (without which the problem gets much harder to solve).

2. Launch a communications effort that re-frames the issue in a way that galvanizes people to action.

The second point is not easy as well -- but is essential. Right now, the debate is all too often framed as us v. them, or win/lose. Either drill offshore or pay more for oil, either suffer through conservation (it's just a virtue, you know), or drill for oil, etc. The challenge is to frame the discussion in terms of national security, or (if you look at it as a U.S. problem first) as a new exercise in american ingenuity. And, to make it simple, clear, actionable.

IMHO, the first problem to solve is the communications one -- get that nailed and the policy and technology will rapidly follow.

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Signs of A Poorly Reported Story

FrankShaw — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:05:31 GMT

Here's a clue that you are reading a trend story that is poorly reported: a bunch of PR folks are cited, and it's not a story about PR. Case in point: today's WSJ has a story about the inflation effect and eating lunch at the office. Okay, I'll bite...people are now eating lunch at the office and saving money. Let's review: 1,229 words. Six lunch eaters quoted:

PR person from Atlanta
Rep from restaurant/hospitality company
PR person from SF
Financial consultant
PR person from Dallas
Telecom company rep

So, my assumption is that the diminishing appetite of my brethren and sistren in the industry is truly representative of budget conscious eaters across the United States. PR people! Eat up! The economy (and trend stories everywhere) are depending on you!

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The New Yorker Saves Print Journalism

FrankShaw — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:54:03 GMT

All this coverage about the Obama New Yorker cover really shows the impact of weekly magazines on our national discourse.

So much for print journalism being dead, eh?

Written, of course, with the same sense of sentiment the New Yorker was striving for with its cover, I think.

Plus, I also agree with Bill Maher -- LIGHTEN UP everyone!

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Global Communications Conflicts

FrankShaw — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:24:53 GMT

Over on his blog, James Fallows has been providing good perspective about the Olympics in China, and in particular some of the communications challenges, both communications in the country and the impact the communications flow from the rest of the world in and China out is having. It's super interesting. Blogs and online communications qre playing a big part in the communications flow both ways, with some unpredictable results.

Today in the Journal, a look at some advertising controversy. In this case, a global ad agency (TBWA) was doing ads for Adidas while also doing some pro bono work for Amnesty International. To say the two campaigns were in conflict is a bit of an understatement, and is now causing a high degree of pain for management. But some perspective:

As the ad industry has consolidated, global agency networks increasingly take on work for competing accounts. In Europe, WPP Group PLC's Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide agency works on antismoking campaigns for the Cancer Research UK charity and does marketing for British American Tobacco PLC, one of the world's largest cigarette companies. It also creates ads for energy giant BP PLC and environmental group WWF, which wants to cut oil use.

"It is an unavoidable consequence of being a global network with lots and lots of clients," said an Ogilvy spokesman, Kevin Whitlock. "These kind of tensions happen in any large company."

That tension is real, but the real story is this: we are now living in a world where people living in China are participating in the conversation in a much more direct way than ever before. As the article notes:

Word of the human-rights campaign is now spreading through China, and TBWA and Amnesty International are disavowing the ads.

The stir comes at a delicate time for TBWA, which could face a backlash in China and was already competing for renewed business from Visa Inc., a major sponsor of the Games. It also makes TBWA the latest international marketer to run afoul of China's complex political and social landscape.

Chinese bloggers, spurred by a report in state-run media of the Amnesty campaign last week, are now calling for a boycott of all TBWA ads, among other measures.

What certainly appears to be happening is that the state-run media is a bit unprepared for the way the Chinese blogosphere is picking up and amplifying its stories. I would bet that the last thing the official communications folks want is a ton of focus on an ad campaign, but that's what they now have. This intersection between the mainstream media and the blogs in the US was really the reason I started this blog. :) Both the bloggers and the Chinese media are going to be seeking balance for the next several years.

Oh, and to top it all off (and to showcase the hypocrisy of the agency awards process) -- Amnesty spiked the campaign because it wasn't on message, but allowed the agency to run it once so it could be submitted for awards, one of which it won. My prediction is this is going to end up being the most expensive award TBWA ever submitted.

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One Word For Anyone Who Is Paying Attention To Jascon Calcanis:

FrankShaw — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:33:21 GMT

Baaaah.

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