Is failure good for PR students?

Feedback is a big thing in public relations (and other) education today – with students expecting to get informative comments and advice on any piece of work that is submitted.  This applies even when someone gets a top grade.

I have no problem with this, although finding the time to do this task justice as well as marking, meeting deadlines for external verification, preparing for on-going teaching, etc etc is a challenge – and never recognised in the payment process.

My approach is to prioritise feedback for those who do less well especially where they need to resit work or will benefit for subsequent assignments.  Such students generally welcome assistance in recognising where they can improve and what aspects weren’t to the standard required.

However, I have found some students are quite confrontational and unaccepting of the grades they are awarded and expect justification of the marking, rather than reflecting on their own performance or looking to learn and improve. 

They don’t agree that their work is flawed, even when it demonstrates dreadful use of language, muddled thinking, poor referencing, limited reading (etc etc) – all clearly marked on their work and on assessment/feedback sheets.  They cannot see their own faults and question those with experience who are assessing their work. 

This surprises me as someone who went through education when you simply were told a result and got on with retaking without detailed feedback.  You accepted criticism and dealt with it.

But is there now an expectation of getting a pass and so the onus is on the marker to demonstrate otherwise?   

What does this mean for PR students when they get into the real world?  Where their press releases are likely to be red-penned or binned?  When most pitches and job interviews end in failure as only one consultancy or individual can be successful?  Where clients and bosses are critical and up the ante every time you deliver a good result?

Sometimes I think I am the first person to tell undergraduates that their work isn’t good enough.  I’m told other markers give higher grades – as if that is a reason for me to accept sloppy use of English or poor evidence of thinking.  

Like Gordon Ramsey or other experts on television, I’m confronted with the inexperienced who clearly know better than I do.  Failing isn’t their fault.  Like wannabees in reality shows, they know they will be a star regardless of a lack of willingness to learn, let alone ability, talent or aptitude.

I’m not wishing failure on anyone – but in life, I’ve found rewards come when you are challenged to improve, someone says your work isn’t good enough, or you don’t succeed first time. 

Failure is necessary if we are ever to make breakthoughs – and self-criticism is a great skill to learn. 

In public relations, it is also a matter of reputation.  Mine, the student’s and that of PR itself.

revolve online: "blogging" the MIPAA magazine

We’ve just published a new A5-sized members’ magazine for the Motor Industry Public Affairs Association.  This replaces a traditional A4 newsletter format and aims to reflect a more professional status and standard of communications for MIPAA Limited.

To accompany the launch of Revolve in print format, I’ve uploaded the individual stories it contains into a social media format as revolve online.

Using a wordpress template enables links to be added to stories as well as comments.  I would also like it to start debate around topics of interest to members.  That hasn’t happened yet, although revolve online has had 150 hits after I announced its existence on Wednesday.  Members may be a little reluctant to publicly air their views, but I hope this will develop.

As well as being interactive, Revolve online will develop into a searchable archive as editions are added each quarter – which the downloadable pdf cannot do so easily.

Email and personal comment we’ve received on the print magazine shows it has been well received.  The plan is to have a revolving editorial team enabling younger members to use their talents in developing future editions.

We’ve also sold advertising with the new format, which seems to work well.  Our pioneer advertisers are three specialist automotive consultancies (Performance PR, PFPR Communications and Automotive PR).  Our rates will range from £300-£500 per full colour page to reach 500 automotive PR practitioners, plus media and other contacts.

At present, revolve online is in effect, an ezine rather than a source of regular news or opinion.  Contents echo the magazine structure – and categories reflect story-types and again assist future reference. 

I thought revolve online might be a useful way to show how a “blogging” approach can be used for a corporate purpose.  Let me know what you think?

Collecting good advertising

I’ve just signed up to the feed from adgoodness via the Geek in Disguise blog that I’ve been following since his visit here last week after I posted about blue monsters.   

That’s what I like about social media – following conversations and connections.  It feels like a pleasant form of collecting – without requiring shelf room as you would with other obsessive hobbies. 

Anyway, adgoodness has a mission to:

“showcase only the best advertising and design around the globe. But sometimes you have to show the very worst as well in order to know what great ads and designs are. This site is there to start a conversation, to inspire, to enjoy great work, or to just talk about what your views are.”

Frederick Samuel is German but has lived in Toronto, Canada for the last 11 years and is an art director/designer at TribalDDB.  So the blog gives a great insight into his creative thinking. 

In creating a useful resource on advertising, Frederick follows one of the golden rules of social media which is the abundance theory – co-operating, sharing and linking.  In showcasing the talents of others, he also gains by association.  For those, like myself, who are skeptical about the future of mainstream advertising – the site shows where talent can still create memorable imagery to enhance a brand.

Benefits of wilfing

As I predicted Wilfing has become a global meme – with Businessweek picking up on the term.  But no mention of Moneysupermarket.com the original source of the public relations activity behind “wilfing” (forgetting what you are searching for online).

This example reinforces the importance of owning a message rather than just putting it out there.  You have to connect to the momentum and ensure your name is linked to the remarkable meme.

The story broke in the UK on 10 April, and continues to be covered in blogs – which shows how a story gets life beyond the initial target of UK press coverage.

It has morphed with advice for businesses on how to benefit from employees spending time searching online.  Clickworkplace offers a search engine on a corporate site with 50% of the revenue subsequently generated going to the company.  It can also bring in RSS feeds and be tailored to the relevant industry.  So clickworkplace has connected to “wilfing” quite effectively. 

Being creative in PR is not enough, you need to ensure that there is a stickiness between your idea and your company to benefit fully from word of mouth.  We can all think of great adverts where we can’t recall the brand involved – this is exactly the same when starting a conversation – how are people going to remember your involvement and not pass on the content without acknowledging the source?

Listen and learn

The Guardian has a series great speeches of the 20th century  which you can collect through the newspaper or access online.  Some have audio as well as transcripts.

Marvellous examples of rhetoric – and an opportunity for those in public relations who write speeches to critique what makes one truly memorable.   There’s also an article reflecting on the choice.  The series features: 

Winston Churchill, We shall fight on the beaches, June 4, 1940
John F Kennedy, Ask not what your country can do for you, January 20, 1961
Nelson Mandela, An ideal for which I am prepared to die, April 20, 1964
Harold Macmillan, No going back, February 3, 1960
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, March 4, 1933
Nikita Khrushchev, The cult of the individual, February 25, 1956
Emmeline Pankhurst, Freedom or death, November 3, 1913
Martin Luther King, Jr., I have a dream, August 28, 1963
Charles de Gaulle, The flame of French resistance, June 1940
Margaret Thatcher, The lady’s not for turning, October 10, 1980
Jawaharlal Nehru, A tryst with destiny, August 14, 1947
Virginia Woolf, A room of one’s own, 1928
Aneurin Bevan, We have to act up to different standards, December 5, 1956
Earl Spencer, The most hunted person of a modern age, September 6, 1997

Happy birthday to me

Today is my birthday and it has been a good one.  I try not to work (so much) on my birthday.  I used to work for a consultancy where you had your birthday as an extra day holiday, which I thought was a great idea.

I’ve checked emails and posted a couple of times, but otherwise spent time with my parents and had coffee with a friend.  Tonight, we’re going to have fish and chips from the van that comes to the village – that’s excitement in deepest Wiltshire.

Banking sucks

I keep my bank accounts in the black – so why should I pay for those who incur overdraft charges?  But why should those who do get into trouble be expected to pay for my current account?  The disingenuous public relations messages from the banks show they are hoping to please the masses like me, with their argument that ‘Free’ banking could end as overdraft charges challenged.

Let’s get this message straight – I do not benefit now from “free” banking.  The banks make money from our money - in terms of the time they take to clear cheques, transfer money or pay bills, and by investing our money yet not paying decent interest rates when we are in credit.

There should be reasonable charges that reflect the actual cost of sending a letter and so forth.  But, banks have taken the savings made by increased computerisation and kept it.  They transfer call centres to the lowest cost base and push us more and more to online banking, whilst maintaining a punitive cost for overdrafts and other “services”.

At the same time, they make it harder to open a bank account, treating us not like honest citizens but all as potential money launderers, terrorists and international criminals. 

They show contempt to customers and staff. 

If I am to pay for my current account, banks should remember this is my money and when I want it transferred do it immediately.  With computerised systems it does not take 5 days to go from my account to another and vice versa.  I should not have to ay £25 for the privilege of transferring my money immediately.

In terms of professional communications, the banks are bullies who use any attempt to threaten, lobby and wriggle their way out of acting responsibly.  Once upon a time, banks and their employees were trusted and deemed to be honorable members of society.  That is no longer true – they have destroyed their reputation by money grubbing activities.

It is about time they practised honest communications and a bit of respect.

D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y MAYBE?

Check out D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y - which is quite a neat idea and maybe every word (letter and/or number) should have its own website – or maybe a blog to express its personality.  

Of course, there is a slight problem here, if you could spell, you wouldn’t need the site to tell you how to spell definitely.  So the real trick might be to have URLs for all the other possible spellings - and then educate people. 

Also this is just a lecture, where it could be more dynamic with some tips on remembering the correct spelling.  Could be an interesting experiment for another common mis-spellings, or perhaps for a punctuation mark?

[Link source: Seth Godin]

Blogger supply and demand

I notice AutoblogGreen is ”looking for good bloggers” to join its team.  Automotive PR has introduced a ”guest blogger” page, whilst Simon Wakeman is looking for baby-sitters for his blog whilst he goes on holiday.

Bloggers are in demand – but is there sufficient supply? 

David Philips has published a new media slide show “Mountain or Monster“, which includes some fascinating data, including the fact that the ten most in demand jobs in 2010, did not exist in 2004. 

Richard Wray, Communications Editor at The Guardian, says that many experienced journalists are looking to independent blogging as a career move.  Indeed, social media offers an excellent opportunity for journalists able to establish trust and credibility.

Similarly, some companies already have blogging employees, but is this a skill set or a profession?  Isn’t it simply about being a communicator, using a particular set of new media tools?

I believe engaging in social media requires a skills set and attitude which is not exclusive and can be found in journalism, public relations, marketing, internal communications, engineers, designers, CEOs, and elsewhere. 

It may seem new now and so there are opportunities to use these skills, but undoubtedly they will become mainstream as young people (digital natives) who grow up using social media bring this capability to their jobs, whatever they may be.

So where does that leave public relations?  Being able to communicate will not be enough – so where do we add value?  What will be our jobs in 2010?

"Black cloud" car pollution message

 An unusual advertising approach from WWF as it conveyed a Visual Representation of Carbon Dioxide Emissions - with this “black cloud” photograph. 

 Apparently WWF used this image to promote one of the tips from its 20to20.org website (in Chinese and English).

Compared to the strengths of the “black cloud” image – supposed to represent one day’s emissions from a car, the website is dull, with no linkage to this story.

It is claimed the stunt led to an increase in volunteers and coverage in Chinese papers and international news stations.  The ad was designed by Ogilvy in China - and is a creative approach.  But as a stunt, it doesn’t seem to have been integrated or followed through at all.