London: people watching for the strong-stomached

Crossing borders and learning about other cultures helps give you a link to the world by revealing similarities you might not have anticipated. However, the things that are much more fun to explore are the differences. My time in London has revealed to me just how alike large international cities are, regardless of where they reside on a map. London seemed to me a British New York which is crawling with people who always have an agenda and seem to never be getting anywhere on time. Aside from these interesting similarities, it was the differences in clothing and attitude which were much more entertaining to me. Being a native Austinite, I have lived my life in close proximity to very interesting and fascinating people; I must admit the people watching in London is equally as fabulous.

In regards to fashion, we all see those sad mothers in the States who try to dress like their teenage daughters, and we all know that the eighteen-year-old always wins. In a somewhat more horrifying manner, the older women here seem to follow the trends of the current day with no thought to the body-flattering factor. To watch a 65 year old woman in sheer tights with a barely bottom-skimming t-shirt is like slowing down to observe a car wreck; you are intrigued, disgusted and yet, you simply can not look away. The closer you get to Tottenham Court the more you will observe pierced, tattooed, army boot clad adolescents. While I went through my wear lots of black and listen to Led Zeppelin too early in the morning phase, never did I puncture holes in every available body part at such a young age. The clothing seems to reflect a less optimistic attitude toward life that seems to be much less apparent in the U.S. Perhaps there is a simple explanation like having a higher population of troubled teens with daddy issues.

Equally as disturbing and perhaps more enticing to watch is the blatant P.D.A. (public displays of affection) that occur in the parks, on the tube, and on the general street corner. A common stereotype of Americans is that we are more of a “prude” country than others; such as Brazil where women sport the thong bikinis on public beaches. It is impossible to take an afternoon stroll through the park without seeing a couple (and not always the young spring chickens) holding hands, sitting in uncomfortable proximity (like on top of one another) or playing tonsil hockey like there’s no tomorrow. The worst is when you are in a crowded tube and one such pair starts making out very near you and you are terrified if the train jolts and you engage in an accidental butt-graze that they might ask if you want to join in. I am all for affection and letting people know you are in love, but within reason. I’m not exactly sure what it is about our culture that keeps couples from practically fornicating in public but I’m definitely not complaining. The British have a long line of sexual misconducts since many women were married off more in the way of a business transaction than for love; thus leading to various lovers and acts of adultery. Even King Henry VIII was known to keep a young thing on the side from when his billionth wife turned cold or couldn’t produce a male heir. Perhaps this history of sexually devious behavior has shaped the U.K. attitude to make it much more open about physical acts of love.

While I do still believe that Austin gives a wide range of interesting characters to observe, I certainly have not been disappointed by what London has to offer. I look forward to making a return trip in the future to probe further into these interesting and somewhat disturbing cultural differences.

There are millions of different cultures in the world and one of the best ways to see them all interact is in an international sporting event. Like the World Cup, players from all over join at Wimbledon to represent their country on the tennis court. London hosts the Wimbledon tournament which creates a flood of international players, their families, fans and press. Every country routes for their own which creates a great feeling of unity among fans when their player does well and advances. An aritcle in the Telegraph online spoke about the well known player, Andy Murray who is now the British favorite to win.

What is interesting about the article is that it recognized Murray as a Scotsman but also quotes him saying how “‘It’s been a huge, huge wait for us and obviously the crowd would love to see a British player win”’. Mr. Murray’s official website gave some clarification, stating that he was born in Dunblane, Scotland but lives in London and is currently the British number one player.

Another culturally conflicting instance regarding Andy occured when he told the press that he wasn’t sure if he would be bowing to the Queen of England when she came to watch the tennis matches. He acknowledged that it should be a personal preference but ended up bowing to her during his match. It would be interesting to know if only British players were expected to bow to her Majesty or if all players, regardless of nationality were expected to do so as well. Furthermore, if Murray identifies himself as more of a Scot than a Brit he may feel it isn’t his duty. However, if he does identify himself more as a Brit (which seems to be the case in the Telegraph article) he may just feel pressured to play well in front of her.

In this day in age, multinational people are much more common in the world, and it is interesting to see how they cope with personal definition of themselves. London is home to a plethora of citizens from different nations, I would love to come back and explore the different areas of town which are home to those of Indian, Arab, Asian and so forth decent to see how they view themselves as British citizens and as products of another nation.

To see the article in the Telegraph visit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/andymurray/7865531/Wimbledon-2010-If-ever-Murray-is-destined-to-win-this-must-be-the-year.html

To learn more about Andy Murray visit his website: http://www.andymurray.com/#/about/

The Pay-wall question

With the economy taking a plunge all over the world, companies are scrambling to find new ways to generate revenue. It’s hard to find an international company these days that doesn’t have a presence on the internet, which is where many of them are turning to up their profits. The web was meant to be a platform for free exchange of information but this has come into question as many online sites are playing with the idea of putting up pay-walls. For example, the Times has turned to generating a registration and pay-wall system.

An article in the Guardian, written by Josh Halliday, explores what steps the Times are taking to assess the success of their pay-wall plan. The article reports that “users are being asked to register to access both sites [the Times and Sunday Times], but content is still free. Charging at £1 per day or £2 per week, is expected to begin shortly - possibly as early as next week”. That seems like a small price to pay to be able to access all the information on both websites. The issue that remains is generating enough of a loyal audience to ensure that the pay-wall is successful. Creating a loyal following is difficult but necessary to be confident in your audience’s continuing use of your service. The article quotes Tim Whitwell, assistant editor and head of online at the Times, saying, “‘we really have to start thinking about customer service and customer loyalty’”. The more personalized the TImes can make their online web site to cater to individual communities the more those customers will identify with the brand.

I think this would be a great opportunity for a PR company to jump in and help the Times online build a relationship with customers and for them to identify themselves with the journalists who write the stories they will read. If the Times can manage to create a deep and meaningful connection with its readers, customers will be more likely to submit to the once a week payment for online information.

To read the article please visit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jun/25/times-online-paywall-plans

Twitter Tracker for PR People

Social media has opened up a whole new platform for companies to communicate with target audiences and to encourage conversations among their consumers. The internet has been a great resource for public relations professionals, but it’s ability to be constantly updating and changing makes monitoring online messages difficult. Many companies now have teams dedicated to monitoring digital media and online content. For example, the BBC has a group of people whose sole purpose is to monitor user generated content. Although setting aside groups aides PR practitioners in managing their presence on the web, the amount of content being posted and the speed at which it is posted still poses problems.

An article in PRWeek, written by Peter Hay, talks about a new monitoring tool called Chatterscope which will help public relations teams monitor their brands’ sentiment on Twitter. According to the article, Chatterscope was created by Lewis PR and “provides users of Twitter with an aggregated result that determines whether the sentiment of their brand at that time is positive, neutral or negative”. The program will allow PR companies to keep track of their online reputation and will notify them if something changes. This would be especially helpful if someone tweeted a negative comment that generated a lot of attention because the company would be able to more quickly address the issue.

I think this tool could be useful to understanding consumers as well as in crisis management issues, or rather preventative crisis management. Like YouTube, people can post content such as parodies, false statements, etc. that may damage the reputation or positive reception of your company. If Chatterscope allows PR teams to see when something unfavorable is posted when it happens, the team can deal with the problem immediately before it gets more attention. According to the Chatterscope web page, “[Users of Chatterscope] can actively monitor Twitter and respond swiftly to events, without devoting your constant attention nor being deluged by general mentions”. With the constantly updating nature of the internet and the varying importance of comments, this tool sounds like it would be very beneficial to PR companies.

To view the article in PRWeek click here: http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/1012257/Twitter-sentiment-monitoring-tool-Chatterscope-launched-Lewis-PR/

To learn more about Chatterscope, visit their website: http://www.chatterscope.com/about/chatterscope/

BP: Barrels O' Problems

It’s no secret that there is a giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and that British Petroleum, among others involved, has taken a lot of heat on the issue. They have been all over the news and the stories that are popping up are hard to ignore, even if you are as weary as I am about the controversy. The truth is, this isn’t just an environmental problem, it is a PR problem as well. Along with less than reassuring statements made by BP and with Obama getting involved, there are now questions of ethics being dragged into the mix. To go along with the apparent lack of crisis management employees working on the case, there also seems to be a lack of ethics standardization.

An article in The Guardian informs us of the potential lie that BP told Congress about the extent to which oil is pouring into the ocean. Allegedly, there was a document that states that the oil spewing into the ocean could reach up to 100,000 barrels a day which “when the company handed the document to Congress, it was claiming the leak was only 5,000 barrels a day, and that at very worst the figure could rise to 60,000”. The document isn’t only disturbing in the sense that our environment is under a much higher threat than we thought, but that large companies with oodles of power are lying to the public to save face. Any good public relations company knows that when dealing with a crisis, or with the public in general (especially in regard to stake-holders), transparency is key.

People appreciate the truth, even and probably especially when it shows that big conglomerates are in the wrong. It reminds us that such powerful forces are run by actual people and not machines. When companies make huge mistakes and then proceed to point the finger or water-down the problem to remain in good light it doesn’t bode well for a positive public view. Public companies especially need to be aware of this as many of their key stake-holders are people who have stock in the company.

Global companies especially need to invest in transparency as more than one nation is generally involved. The article explains that while Hayward has taken much criticism on turning his back on the Gulf, “Hayward will spend more than half his time in the US and will continue to oversee the effort”. This, thankfully, is a step in the right direction. BP is recognizing, way too late, that its international status gives them more responsibilities and even greater need for transparency.

To read this article please click the following link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/20/gulf-oil-spill-bp-lying?CMP=AFCYAH

Measuring the Media

The field of public relations, although being more established as a profession in some countries than others, is still relatively young and has been working toward becoming a more established field worldwide. As PR becomes more involved in digital and social media, the struggle to measure how successful campaigns are that utilize this media increases. For example, it is easier for stores who use print ads to measure success by researching how much sales went up when advertisements were placed. Many companies and PR ethics associations (such as PRSA) are attempting to create a standardized way of measuring how successful public relations really is in relation to other factors that may affect sales or awareness.

An article in PR Week online informed the public that the first global way of measuring the value of PR was created at the European Summit. The article states that “goal setting and measurement are fundamental aspects of any PR programmes” which emphasizes the need for PR professionals to be able to ascertain the worth and value of their work. The role of public relations professionals is not only to create and preserve relationships but they also create campaigns that promote their clients and ensure that they are viewed in a positive light. The PR people may continue to have great working relationships with their clients but it is much harder to judge the relationship between the client and the client’s audience.

As I mentioned earlier, social media and it’s increasing use in the PR field make it that much more important to be able to measure how effectively it works. Another goal mentioned in the article says, “social media can and should be measured” which recognizes the growing use of media and the need to harness it. The internet is ever-changing and when it seems we have finally established a set of rules to govern it, it has already changed and those rules are suddenly obsolete. Public relations has been accused of being a field made up of people who are great at cultivating and preserving relationships, swaying people to get what they want and having a keen sense of human behavior which doesn’t give the field much credibility. If these conferences can reach a worldwide agreement on how to measure PR it would give the profession and its practitioners more clout among skeptics and potential clients alike.

To view this article please visit: http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/1010806/First-global-standard-proving-value-PR-created-European-Summit-Measurement/