Earth Hour is a great example of how the open source campaign model can be used by communications practitioners to generate behavioural change (getting people to act). The Earth Hour brand is an open-source brand; the brand creators and owners have “let go” of their control of the brand. This is a huge leap of faith, but the upside is enormous; Earth Hour has influenced 1 billion people in just 4 years to hold their own events in cities around the world.

Andy Ridley, Executive Director, WWF and Co-Founder of Earth Hour, discussed his experience of co-creating and managing the public relations and marketing strategy, and annual activity for the award winning Earth Hour campaign, as well as the opportunities that open-source campaigns can offer communications practitioners. Andy’s key message is “be positive, fear doesn’t work” – an inspiring message for all professional communications practitioners.

Andy spoke at the official launch of Lung Hour on 1st September in Sydney (Lung Hour is an open source quit smoking campaign run by volunteer PR practitioners).

The 10 laws of great open source PR campaigns are:

1. Fear doesn’t work (apart from reaching the extremists). Simple, positive ideas are the best way to reach a mass market

2. You need friends and partners. Friends for brainstorming ideas, and partners to get traction, especially media and key influencers (in Andy’s case it was Fairfax and The City of Sydney)

3. You need to understand the economics of your industry/cause (logic), but a communications campaign should be created on a simple truth and a simple call to action that engages people’s emotions.

4. The campaign philosophy should be more “street party” than “street protest”

5. The lower the cost of involvement, the more people will engage

6. The campaign should empower people

7. An open source campaign means “the campaign” belongs to “the people”

8. Don’t worry, self policing works

9. Blogs and social media will drive opinion

10. The future is digital and mobile. Digital referring to the web and the global power of social media, and mobile for engagement activities like voting and giving (mobiles offer immediate and cheap interaction, via SMS voting for example, and use of the mobile carriers billing system, to take donations for example.

Scott Rhodie, VP Digital Media, Fleishman-Hillard Sydney

Rhodie started his communications career as a journalist for British tabloid The Sun, and has become a prominent character amongst Sydney’s social media scene and is one of the organisers of Digital Citizens, an organisation dedicated to sharing knowledge and discussion of social, political, ethical and professional issues related to new technologies and the social web.

Walter Jennings, general manager of Fleishman-Hillard Sydney, said the appointment better equips Fleishman-Hillard to respond to clients’ growing demands for digital and social media. “Fleishman-Hillard is very excited to welcome Scott Rhodie to this role,” Jennings said. “He is one of Australia’s most prominent and vocal netizens, and he has great perspectives on how to navigate in the digital world. Scott further strengthens our offering in Australia, as he joins an established global network of digital communicators.”

Rhodie joins a regional digital and social media team that includes such experts as Napoleon Biggs, who heads up Digital Integration across Asia Pacific for Fleishman-Hillard and is based in Hong Kong.
In his most recent position, Rhodie created the new digital and social media agency House Party within HotHouse. Previously, Rhodie worked as a senior account manager at Zing Public Relations, working on social media campaigns and online public relations for Lego, McDonald’s, Optus and Toshiba. Earlier in his career, Rhodie worked as a journalist in the U.K. for publications including The Sun and Scotland on Sunday.

Follow Scott Rhodie on Twitter @ScottRhodie

Internships can be a great introduction to the varied world of Public Relations, and often allow both the intern and the host organisation to see if they like each other. Whether the placement is in-house or agency, internships offer students an opportunity to work on interesting projects and meet new people. In this article, Deakin University student Chloe Partikas (pic, below) recounts her recent internship at the Sydney Opera House.

By Chloe Partikas

I recently interned at Sydney Opera House in the Public Relations department in a marketing communications role.

I worked under the direction of Claire Vince, the Senior Publicist. Claire is a former ballerina, who from the age of 16 danced with the Royal Ballet in London, then Portugal and Canada. The intense work ethic and discipline learnt through ballet has carried through to her PR career. Claire has now worked in the Arts in Australia for over a decade and is very inspirational. I found her effervescent personality and drive wonderfully infectious.

I assisted with the marketing and communications for Spring Dance, which is a dance festival that will occupy the Opera House for most of September and include performances by dancers from all over the world.

My main task was contributing to the creation of a viral campaign for the MyMutation competition – a choreographic competition open to any dance lovers. It is part of Spring Dance, and sponsored by Sony and YouTube. I learnt a great deal about the bureaucracy and approval processes involved in working with sponsors.

I never imagined I would spend so much time on facebook, twitter and blogs during my internship but alas – social media is where the eyeballs are and my skills were quite useful. I also, surprisingly, used my basic German language knowledge when looking through the top dance blogs in the world.

My internship included many firsts – my first media launch, my first dialogue of communication with a journalist about what I was working on and my first time accompanying an artist to a radio interview. Both small actions in regards to the big picture, but I admit to feeling excited!

I still get a smile on my face thinking about Hofesh Shechter (an Israeli born, UK based contemporary choreographer) wanting to play a Rage Against The Machine song on ABC Classic FM.

I feel so privileged to have been a part of the largest Arts organisation in Australia; learning from the PR and marketing team that includes some of the most sought after and enjoyable jobs in the country. The office atmosphere was energetic, and thrived on creativity, efficiency, communication and ideas.

This internship provided me with more proof that PR is for me – an industry where planning is a daily component because the team understands how important it is for the sustainability of the organisation, product or event.
Send us your intern story!

Editor’s note: Thanks for your story Chloe. Readers are welcome to submit their intern experiences. Please email copy and photos to glen@theprreport.com

Which leads nicely to this question: what’s the story with the Australian Journalists union accepting sponsorship from Exxon Mobil?

See the details on the Walkley/MEAA website here:
http://www.walkleyconference.com.au/supporters

Why is Exxon Mobil the GOLD Sponsor of the Australian Journalism conference? Given the recent public relations disasters by oil giant BP, and allegations of oil companies funding specific academics and conferences, (link to Clive Hamilton’s blog on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s commentary website, The Drum), is this the image the Australian Journalist’s peak body is after?

The conference has received plenty of advance editorial from some Australian Journalists; Caroline Overington, Editor of The Diary at The Australian, and Tim Burrowes, Editor of mUmBRELLA.

Background: The Walkley Foundation is the fundraising and awards arm of the MEAA (The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, a.k.a. the Australian Journalists Union).

Article from AFN (Aus Food News) by Josette Dunn, July 28, 2010
Article here: http://tinyurl.com/2dlavjz
Sainsbury’s Launches Online Diet Site

Sainsbury’s launched its brand new online diet club, http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/diets, for those who struggle to find the time to attend a regular slimming club, or who prefer to lose weight from home. The site is designed for success and whilst acknowledging the pitfalls of dieting, provides healthy eating solutions to help slimmers achieve their ultimate goal. Sainsbury’s Diets also offers an integrated exercise and toning plan to support members weight loss at no extra cost.The site can also be accessed via mobile phone, allowing members to use the service wherever they are. You can update your food diary on the go and access the handy calorie counter too, ideal for eating out.

There is also a diet and support forum, where users can discuss healthy living and food with their friends. To give extra motivation and support in achieving your weight loss goals, Sainsbury’s Diets also offers online support, allowing slimmers to find a diet buddy, swap recipes and ask advice from Sainsbury’s nutritionists and fitness experts.

There are three membership choices, allowing the freedom to choose a short term 12 week weight loss plan, a 26 week option or an annual fee to help those wanting to lose weight over a longer period of time. The great news too is that the longer slimmers sign up for, the more money they save:

* 12 weeks for the price of 8 £24 (instead of £36)
* 26 weeks for the price of 17 £51 (instead of £72)
* 52 weeks for the price of 33 £99 (instead of £156)

Option 1: Sainsbury’s Diets offers a Personalised Meal Plan, aimed at helping dieters make better food choices. It’s simple to follow and there are 8 online diet plans to choose from, depending on your personal objectives. All plans are calorie controlled for weight loss and have been tested by a team of nutritionists

* Health & Vitality Plan
* Vegetarian Plan
* Avoiding Gluten Plan
* Reduced Fat Plan
* Feel Fuller Plan
* GI Plan
* Healthy Heart Plan
* Higher Fibre Plan

Option 2: Also on offer is the facility to enter everything you eat in an easy-to-follow online Food Diary. With our healthy eating plans, there are no banned foods and realistic targets are set to help achieve your ultimate goal – and the diary is ideal for when slimmers want a day off the Meal Plan but still need to record what is being eaten.

The ‘Barcelona Declaration of Research Principles’ says Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs) do not measure the value of PR

The 2nd European Summit on Measurement, held in Barcelona, Spain in June 2010, organized by the Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) and the Institute for Public Relations. AMEC brought five global organisations together. The Global Alliance, IPR Measurement Commission, AMEC, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) met to discuss and agree a set of principles on measurement and evaluation.

The world’s experts in research and public relations measurement and evaluation came to Barcelona to agree a set of evaluation principles called ‘The Barcelona Declaration of Research Principles’.

‘The Barcelona Declaration of Research Principles’ was created by delegates from 33 countries, after the leaders of five global PR and measurement and evaluation bodies and 200 delegates voted overwhelmingly to adopt seven key principles. The 7 Principles are:

1. Importance of Goal Setting and Measurement: Goal-setting and measurement are fundamental aspects of any public relations program. Goals should be as quantitative as possible and address who, what, when and how much the PR program is intended to affect.
Measurement should take a holistic approach, including representative traditional and social media; changes in awareness among key stakeholders, comprehension, attitude, and behavior as applicable; and effect on business results.

2. Measuring the Effect on Outcomes is Preferred to Measuring Outputs: Outcomes include shifts in awareness, comprehension, attitude and behavior related to purchase, donations, brand equity, corporate reputation, employee engagement, public policy, investment decisions, and other shifts in stakeholders regarding a company, NGO, government or entity, as well as the stakeholder’s own beliefs and behaviors. Practices for measuring the effect on outcomes should be tailored to the business objectives of the PR activities. Quantitative measures such as benchmark and tracking surveys, are often preferable. However, qualitative methods can be well suited or used to supplement quantitative measures. Standard best practices in survey research including sample design, question wording and order, and statistical analysis should be applied in total transparency.

3. The Effect on Business Results Can and Should Be Measured Where Possible: To measure business results from consumer or brand marketing, models that determine the effects of the quantity and quality of PR outputs on sales or other business metrics, while accounting for other variables, are a preferred choice. Related points are: (a) Clients are creating demand for market mix models to evaluate the effect on consumer marketing. (b)The PR industry needs to understand the value and implications of market mix models for accurate evaluation of consumer marketing PR, in contrast to other measurement approaches (c) The PR industry needs to develop PR measures that can provide reliable input into market mix models (d) Survey research can also be used to isolate the change in purchasing, purchase preference or attitude shift resulting from exposure to PR initiatives.

4. Media Measurement Requires Quantity and Quality: Overall clip counts and general impressions are usually meaningless. Instead, media measurement, whether in traditional or online channels, should account for: impressions among the stakeholder or audience, quality of the media coverage, and the premise that quality can be negative, positive or neutral.

5. AVEs are not the Value of Public Relations: Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs) do not measure the value of public relations and do not inform future activity; they measure the cost of media space and are rejected as a concept to value public relations. Where a comparison has to be made between the cost of space from earned versus paid media, validated metrics should be used, stated for what they are, and reflect: negotiated advertising rates relevant to the client, as available; quality of the coverage (including negative results); and physical space of the coverage, and the portion of the coverage that is relevant. Multipliers intended to reflect a greater media cost for earned versus paid media should never be applied unless proven to exist in the specific case.

6. Social Media Can and Should be Measured: Social media measurement is a discipline, not a tool; but there is no “single metric”. Organizations need clearly defined goals and outcomes for social media. Media content analysis should be supplemented by web and search analytics, sales and CRM data, survey data and other methods. Evaluating quality and quantity is critical, just as it is with conventional media. Measurement must focus on “conversation” and “communities” not just “coverage”. Understanding reach and influence is important, but existing sources are not accessible, transparent or consistent enough to be reliable; experimentation and testing are key to success.

7. Transparency and Replicability are Paramount to Sound Measurement: PR measurement should be done in a manner that is transparent and replicable for all steps in the process, including specifying: Media Measurement (source of the content –print, broadcast, internet, consumer generated media- along with criteria used for collection, and analysis methodology –for example, whether human or automated, tone scale, reach to target, content analysis parameters-) and Surveys (methodology –sampling frame and size, margin of error, probability or non-probability-, questions –all should be released as asked-, and statical methodology –how specific metrics are calculated-)

“We see this as a major step forward. What will happen next is that the five organisations involved in the Debate will work with us in a process of consultation”, said Barry Leggetter, Executive Director of AMEC.

David Rockland, Partner/CEO of Ketchum Pleon Change and Global Research and Chairman of AMEC’s US Agency Research Leaders Group, said: “We want to be able to remember the Barcelona Summit as a powerful moment in time in the history of public relations when we acknowledged the need to replace outdated programme measurement models. We are delighted that as an industry we have taken a first and very significant step forward in developing standards and professionalizing how we approach the measurement of public relations”.
—-
Article by Elisenda Estanyol, Lecturer at the Open University of Catalonia (Barcelona‐Spain)
eestanyol@uoc.edu

Rudd’s demise traced to The Australian’s focus on mining row 26/7/2010

Public Affairs consultant Michael Gillies Smith (pic right) says the demise of Prime Minister Rudd was driven by the key journalists and Editors at The Australian.

Kevin Rudd’s shock demise as Labor leader and Prime Minister can be traced to a relentless front page focus by The Australian newspaper on the mining tax row, analysis of the nation’s key print media shows.

Gillies Smith Public Affairs (www.gilliessmith.com) is surveying the front page leads of Australia’s most influential newspapers, The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Telegraph, The Age and the Herald Sun. These leads not only shape the thoughts, feelings and knowledge of millions of readers, they shape the nation’s daily news, the public agenda and events. The authors of these leads are, arguably, Australia’s most influential journalists. Gillies Smith is surveying these leads to find out (a) who is writing the most leads and, therefore, who are Australia’s most influential journalists and (b) what are the top issues and what effect is this front page coverage having on the political, policy and social landscape. The results for June are:

Journo of the Month: June
1. Dennis Shanahan, The Australian political editor: 14 leads
2. Phillip Coorey, Sydney Morning Herald chief political correspondent: 6 leads
3. Matthew Franklin, The Australian chief political correspondent: 5 leads
4. Andrew Clennell, Daily Telegraph state political editor: 5 leads
5. Michelle Grattan, The Age political editor/Sean Nicholls, Sydney Morning Herald: 4 leads.

Issue of the Month: June
1. Mining tax row: 20 leads (led by The Australian with 16 of the 20)
2. Sport/errant sport identities: 17 leads (led by the Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph with 15 of the 17)
3. “Social decay”: (stories contributing to a picture of increasing, unchecked violence and lawlessness, unsafe streets and roads, a crumbling justice and sentencing system): 14 leads (led by the Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph with 12 of the 14).

“The Australian ran 12 front page leads on the mining row in 13 days,” said Michael Gillies Smith, director of Gillies Smith Public Affairs. “Such a run of Page 1 leads on just one issue is rare. By comparison, The Age and the SMH each ran just one front page lead on the issue during this time. The Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph ran no front page leads on the mining tax row in June.

“The Australian’s front page coverage stoked the mining industry’s stand, fuelled the Opposition and parliament question time and armed TV, radio and print journalists across the country with a barrage of questions. It became a frenzy. Such was the heat – media and political – generated by The Australian and Dennis Shanahan that by Saturday June 12 the story, in The Australian, had become mining row/Rudd leadership. By Monday June 14 it had morphed into Rudd leadership/mining row.

“The Australian’s coverage generated its own front page news. By Saturday June 19, Dennis Shanahan splashed on Page 1 that Rudd may be dumped within days if he did not resolve the mining row. Few believed it would happen. Labor was ahead in the polls 52-48 and Rudd was still in his first term. But that’s exactly what happened. Four days later, on June 23, Gillard, backed by an enthusiastic majority of Labor MPs who were fed up with Rudd’s autocratic style, showed Rudd her fangs. It was no contest. Rudd, virtually friendless, was powerless. He didn’t even contest the leadership ballot. Overnight, Australia’s political landscape changed. Rudd the PM was now a backbencher and Australia had a new PM, Gillard.

“The Australian, led by Dennis Shanahan, was highly influential in Rudd’s demise. The message here for politicians is: Beware The Australian and Dennis Shanahan, especially if you’re going to pick a fight with big business.

“Rudd is responsible for his own downfall. But The Australian speeded it up.”

Timeline: The Australian’s front page focus on the mining tax row in June
June 2-9: The Australian leads with the mining tax row for seven consecutive editions from June 2 to 9
June 11-16: After just one day’s break, The Australian leads with the mining tax row for five consecutive editions from June 11 to 16
June 12: The Australian’s front page series morphs into mining row/Rudd leadership
June 14: The Australian’s front page series becomes Rudd leadership/mining row. The Daily Telegraph joins in, saying on its front page that ALP powerbrokers are ready to back Gillard as leader
June 19: The Australian breaks the news that Rudd is just days from being dumped unless he solves the row with the mining industry
June 23, AM: The Sydney Morning Herald breaks the news that Rudd has been asking MPs if they still support him as leader
June 23, PM: Gillard tells Rudd ‘game on’
June 24: Rudd surrenders. Labor Party endorses Gillard as leader and Prime Minister.

Other issues arising from the June survey
• Bank fees/alleged rip offs are making a comeback as a front page issue, particularly with the state-based broadsheets, The Age and the SMH.

The bigger picture
“There is a news market for a national daily left-of-centre broadsheet in competition with The Australian. The state-based broadsheets are under pressure/obliged to cover State Government issues such as problems and concerns with major projects, infrastructure and services. For example, The Age, in June, ran a number of Page 1 leads on the Brumby Government’s $2 billion ‘food bowl’ irrigation project, local population pressures on state planning, urban growth and services, and Brumby’s planned anti corruption commission. The Australian, being a national paper, is not under this pressure/obligation. There is something of a left-of-centre vacuum at the national daily broadsheet level.

PR Conf_GalaDinner_flyer PR Gala Dinner in Sydney.

You can attend the dinner separately to the conference; tickets for the dinner are $165 per person.