B-M confident of Southeast Asian expansion

December 29th, 2010 / 9:10 am

Burson-Marsteller is expanding its footprint in Southeast Asia as the region is among the most dynamic worldwide, says its Asia-Pacific president and CEO Bob Pickard.

While Singapore is Burson-Marsteller’s biggest market, Indonesia and Malaysia are quickly catching up, he said. Burson-Marsteller also has affiliate partnerships in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. Pickard said the agency is currently looking at interesting opportunities in the Vietnam market, as well as strengthening its ties in Thailand.

Building a strong brand is vital in Southeast Asia as there is a tendency for the PR industry to become bland and commoditised, he said.

The agency believes it is well-positioned to target the Southeast Asian market through its focus on quality PR consulting, digital work and closer affiliate partnerships in the region.

Making Burson-Marsteller a premier brand in Southeast Asia is a priority because “that is what our clients want”, Pickard said in an interview last month.

He said Burson-Marsteller’s Malaysian office, which was launched in November, would be tapping into the demand for premium quality PR, evidenced in the “impatient restlessness of clients shifting from one agency to another”.

“Clients will try one PR firm and when they won’t deliver, they’ll switch. We see a lot of client money restlessly shifting from one agency to the next in this search for quality consulting that we’re trying to provide,” he said, adding that quality — not price — was where the opportunities lay.

Pickard explained that a Malaysian office was necessary due to heightened interest for multinational PR in the weeks following the announcement of its affiliate tie-up with Essence Communications in May.

He said that that the tie-up with Essence Communications would continue to focus on PR in the area of general publicity and consumer marketing communications. Burson-Marsteller Malaysia would then concentrate on servicing corporate accounts of Asian and international multinational corporations (MNCs) in the area of corporate communications, digital communications, financial communications.

He said affiliate partnerships were not an unusual arrangement, especially since both Burson-Marsteller and Essence Communications share the same parent company — WPP Group.

Recognising that “the most exciting digital work” is happening in Asia, Pickard said the company was sending Asian talent to around the world via transfers — “exporting Asian talent instead of the traditional imports of multinational money, ideas and people”.

“Asian customers who have a global story to tell want a face-to-face relationship in Asia but they want a team to push their agenda and ideas to a global network,” he said.

There is also “huge untapped potential” in digital PR consulting in Asia, said Pickard, citing figures from the Burson-Marsteller’s Asia-Pacific Social Media Study launched in October.

The study reviewed and analysed social media activity by 120 major companies across 12 markets in Asia-Pacific; Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

The companies surveyed comprise the top 10 companies per country as ranked in the 2009 Wall Street Journal Asia 200 Index.

“We found that less than half (40%) of Asian MNCs had a branded social media presence, compared to twice as many Western MNCs in a similar study. And 55% of that 40% were not using actively what they had established. Statistics show enormous consumption of video in Malaysia yet many companies were not sharing the life of their companies through digital means,” he said.

He said the agency was looking to make digital hires. Helmed by Burson-Marsteller director and market leader Joycelyn Lee, the Malaysian office currently has six staff, including Fleishman-Hillard Kuala Lumpur’s former corporate and finance account director Jida Zainal Azman and former digital strategist Kelvin Lim.

Pickard said from being based on “the artistry of face-to-face relationships”, the PR industry has evolved to include “the science of highly measurable evidence-based undertaking”.

“We have to know analytics, the content side of media in a way like never before. We need relationship connections not just between dozens of journalists but thousands of people.”

The agency practises talent transfers, where employees are posted overseas to be exposed to different cultures across different markets. Not only do employees benefit from the talent transfer experience but clients too appreciate the wider perspective, he said. Talent is about diversity, he said, adding that all the agency’s offices were interested in employing people of various nationalities.

“The PR firm that invests most massively into training and educating intellectual property will be the firm that bright young talents would want to work for.

And that’s the firm clients would wish to hire,” he said.

Categories: Asia
comments(0) Tags: bm, indonesia, malaysia, se asia, thailand, vietnam

NK provocation a chance to enhance Korea’s brand power

December 20th, 2010 / 6:33 pm

The North Korean surprise artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island will not influence Korea’s positive national brand image.

“Korean society was not deterred by the North Korean forces’ provocation, and neither was I, having arrived only seven days after the incident,” explained Bob Pickard, the President and CEO of leading communications consultancy Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.

Events like this used to have a significant impact on foreign investment. However, things unfolded quite differently this time in Korea. Pickard considered the successful hosting of the G-20 summit as one of the reasons. According to Pickard, foreigners now know Korea given its recent role as the host of the G-20 summit and they also view Korea as a developed country.

“Korea’s geopolitically unstable image was improved by intensive efforts before and after the G-20 summit,” said Pickard. The situation may have been different if the North Korea provocation had occurred before the G-20.

Pickard stressed that Korea should not settle for the status quo. “Korea should focus on making ‘positive contrast’ with North Korea as one of its key brand management strategies and communicate consistently,” said Pickard. He explained that issues should not be centered on negative content, such as North Korean provocations or damage to South Korea. Instead, the ‘positive contrast’ should emphasize the strong attributes of South Korea.

He explained that South Korea should build a ‘mind and smart thinking’ image to reflect sharp contrast with North Korea’s ‘muscle and brute force’ and promote an open image against the traditionally closed stance of North Korea. “Without even mentioning North Korea in the process, the ‘positive contrast’ is made by promoting the strong attributes of South Korea,” Pickard added.

“Three adjectives that describe Korea’s national brand image are: dynamic, passionate, and fast. Korea can succeed by employing different national branding strategies based on these images,” said Pickard.

Categories: publicity
comments(0) Tags: image, korea, media, PR

Nightmare journeys: do they teach us anything?

December 20th, 2010 / 5:00 am

Guest post by Christine Jones

I had probably my worst travel trip last week. It took 50 hours to get from Shanghai to Brisbane, Australia where I live. Yes, I was travelling by plane – though I forgive you for thinking I was on some kind of mission to get there by other means of transport. And no, there were no stopovers, hotels or beds involved. Just a catalogue of delays, missed connections and unhelpful airline staff at several airports along the way.

It’s a test of human nature when these unexpected incidents occur. Seeing how people react. Some get angry, some get upset, some just sit, some sigh with a kind of helpless resolve. We see it all the time on the news when airlines go on strike or get delayed due to bad weather. It’s just it usually doesn’t happen to me. So I started to think of my situation as an issues and crisis management case study. Yeah right, you say? But hey, I had to sit in three different airports for an aggregate total of 30 hours, excluding flying time, so I had to do something to stay sane.

So here’s what I observed:

First, communication is key. At all three airports – Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, no-one kept us informed so we had no idea what was going on. Even if the news was bad, or if they’d told us they were not sure what was happening, it would have been better than saying nothing. This is what people were grumbling about the most. This is the first rule of issues and crisis management – communicate quickly, regularly and accept responsibility. It builds credibility. Strike one to the airline.

Second, customer service is critical. Unhappy customers today equals no customers tomorrow. The airline did everything it could to minimise the cost of dealing with the situation. We were not given a hotel and had to sleep in chairs in a lounge for the night, we were not given anything to eat or drink until we got to the lounge (which took three hours), and no extra staff were made available to help us. This is the second rule of issues and crisis management – how do you want to be remembered after the crisis is over? Clearly for me and the scores of other disgruntled passengers, we won’t be flying with the airline in question again. They forgot about building or maintaining relationships. Strike two to the airline.

Third, focus on what you can control, not what you can’t. No matter how frustrated I was, getting angry was not going to help. Some passengers kept going up to the counter. They hovered, they complained, they kept asking the same question – what’s happening? Clearly this wasn’t going to make the slightest difference to anything other than their own blood pressure. Although they did get answers, mostly made-up by the staff to fob them off. I chose to sit with a few other passengers – ok we grumbled amongst ourselves – but we knew the situation was out of our hands. But, the airline kept promising things they couldn’t deliver. We will board shortly, we will be underway soon, we will help you. None of which was true. Third rule of issues and crisis management – stick to the facts and don’t make promises you will later regret. This builds trust. Strike three and out to the airline.

If you have a travel story – funny, frustrating or fabulous – send it to this blog. Or, email me as I’d love to know what happened to you and how you reacted.

Christine Jones is regional managing director at Burson-Marsteller in Asia Pacific and is based in Australia. Travel is one of the most rewarding parts of her professional and personal life. Her favourite airline is Singapore airlines; favourite public transport is the tram system in Basel, Switzerland and the London Underground ; and her worst trip (until this one) was on a public bus in Uganda which used bamboo shoots to keep the wheels on when the bolts flew off in an “incident”. Email your travel stories to Chrissy on christine.jones@bm.com

Categories: crisis communications, guest post
comments(2) Tags: crisis communications, travel

What the intern really thinks about your company

December 6th, 2010 / 10:59 am

Guest post by Zack Sandor-Kerr

Opinions about interns are about as many and diverse as the sweaty-palmed young-guns who clamour for available positions. As far as I have read, however, most of those opinions come from the top. From the decision makers who hire the interns.

I’m not one of those guys. I’m the intern. Well, former intern actually. Over the past 13 weeks, I have worked in Burson-Marsteller’s Sydney office. I’ll begin by saying my experience was exemplary: challenging, enriching, filled with teachable moments and opportunities to take initiative and flex my PR muscles. I received mentorship, respect and the trust from an impressive batch of PR pros.

Not all interns are so lucky.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about interns and internships. I’ve made a number of observations.

I suspect that everyone reading this has had a horrible intern experience. I empathize. Under-performers are out there. I also appreciate that interns represent a significant investment in your organization’s time, money, resources and sometimes, patience. I further understand that you don’t have the budget to pay them as much as they would like; or the time to hold their hands through every challenge.

I get it. There are a lot of dynamics around hiring us.

Employers are thinking about interns.

I can also tell you from my own experience that interns are thinking about their employers. Just as you consider whether you would hire us, we consider whether we would say yes.

So what does the intern really think about your company?

1. Your intern has something to contribute, value to add, ideas to table.

I leapt at every opportunity to sit in on a brainstorm, strategy session, or client briefing. I listened to my colleagues’ client challenges and sent them articles that I thought would be of interest. I shared what I knew about SEO with the team when a new website was launched.

And a funny thing happened. I saw those brainstorm ideas, strategic insights, questions, observations, blog URLs and pointers trickling into client briefs, pitches, action plans and search results.

My colleagues trusted me with sitting in. They took a calculated risk by introducing me to the client. Their trust was repaid with a fresh perspective and stuff they could use.

When interns are given the time and space to shine, they are more likely to do so. Going into my internship, I knew that I would have to build media lists and make photocopies. I hoped it wasn’t all I would be asked to do. It wasn’t. My colleagues recognized that I had more to add than just warming a seat and filing. That recognition got the best out of me.

2. Your intern doesn’t expect a lot.

Your intern doesn’t (or perhaps shouldn’t) expect a gold star for every error-free keystroke. Your intern doesn’t (or shouldn’t) expect to be invited to every single meeting and high-level business strategy session.

Your intern doesn’t (or shouldn’t) expect the world from you; however there are a couple of things that are reasonable for the intern to expect:

To receive mentorship, guidance, direction, feedback. We are here to learn. Please give us that opportunity. We are hungry for knowledge, interested in new experiences and eager to meet new challenges. If we’re not being trained, briefed, or mentored, then how can you as an employer ever hope to get the best out of us?

To feel like a part of the team. We are around only for a short time, but we still want to feel involved. Employees may tend to view this transience as an excuse not to get to know the new face. Why both getting to know the intern when they’re going to be out the door in a few weeks time anyway? Employers will get more out of interns who are welcomed, valued, and respected. Encourage your employees to invite the intern out for lunch and out for drinks. Include them in relevant meetings and email threads.

To have a chance to prove himself or herself. We want to excel. We want to show you our best work. We want to impress you. As hard as we try, we can’t wow you with our photocopying and data entry skills. When my employer issued a professional challenge, I jumped to meet it. I was motivated. I was dedicated. I was enthusiastic. And I learned. A lot. I surprised my colleagues with my capabilities when I had the room to explore them. I surprised myself as well.

3. Your intern is making an investment in you and your company.

When a company hires an intern, it makes a significant commitment of resources: Training and onboarding, staff time, desk space, supplies, a stipend. Staff may be hesitant to hand over their precious client relationships or delicate client work. It’s an investment of time, energy and trust.

When an intern joins a company, he or she also takes a risk and makes an investment. Often it yields dividends, but it’s not always an easy step to take. Going into debt to cover rent while working for free is not appealing. That is an investment in a company.

There are a lot of busy consultancies out. Extremely busy. Budgets are tight, but boy wouldn’t it be nice to have another set of hands to help out? Cue the intern! There are a lot of workplaces seeking interns. Why should an intern choose yours?

4. Your intern believes his or her time is worth something.

I realize that I am walking into a minefield. I have read and heard various strong opinions about the matter of paying interns: I’ve been warned.

I am going to just say it: Interns should be paid. With money.

It doesn’t have to be much. We’re not doing it for the money. We want the experience. We want to prove ourselves. We want to build our networks and portfolios. We also want to eat more than Raman noodles and ketchup packets.

I understand the arguments opposed to paying interns. I don’t buy them. Yes, we get experience and access to tremendous opportunities; but you also get access to new ideas and fresh perspectives. Sometimes you get a dud, and your incredible mentorship and training program is wasted; but other times, you get an absolute star. A modest wage or stipend may be the only thing standing between you and the market’s top young talent. HR theory tells us if you invest the time in the recruitment process, you will see a return.

5. Your intern will talk about your company’s brand to his or her intern friends.

Eighty-two people graduated in my PR post-graduate class. As a group, we experienced about 75 workplaces on our internships. Some experiences were horrible. I’ve heard about them. Some were incredible. I know about those ones too.

If someone in this network tells me they were treated like crap on their internship, I will think long and hard before I apply for or accept a job with that organization. How a company treats its interns indicates, to me, how it will treat its new hires.

The thing about mistreated interns is that they don’t stay interns forever. They become competitors, stakeholders and decision makers. First impressions count for a lot.

The question is: how many bad first impressions can your brand withstand before it has a full-fledged bad reputation among young talent? Do you want your reputation to drive top people to your competitors?

Internships add value to the workplace experience. The mutually-beneficial arrangement offers new graduates opportunities to learn, grow their skills and apply their knowledge, while (hopefully) providing companies with inexpensive, driven and intelligent keeners who help get the job done.

My own internship experience was invaluable. It affirmed my career choice. It empowered my professional growth. It positioned me for entry into the workforce.

I think my company did a pretty good job.

Zack Sandor-Kerr is a public relations practitioner from Toronto, Canada. He has spent the last 13 weeks as in intern at Burson-Marsteller in Sydney. He returns from his travels in March, where he will begin his job search. Zack blogs on Pizza Friday.

Categories: guest post, talent
comments(3) Tags: b-m, interns, PR, talent