It’s also the source of a significant challenge; the one we call “international PR coordination”.  When I first started working in EMEA PR (agency-side, with a large IT company as my principal client), the approach was simple: if the client was an American firm, the US led on strategy, London was the gateway to Europe and therefore played middleman, and the European countries were satellites whose main role was implementation.  This hub-and-spoke model, it was posited, would ensure a coordinated approach to communications. Messages would radiate from the centre, and PR execution would be consistent across regions, with some room for adaptation and adding local colour.

It wasn’t long before the flaws in this system were revealed: content that was frankly, hard to adapt for the local market; the complexities of translation in multiple languages, when releases are almost always undergoing surgery until the last minute; the mad scramble to help spokespeople deliver news – accurately and compellingly – despite the fact they’d only seen the content the night before; and search engine optimisation for localised websites (don’t even get me started with the death of the headline). All the while, maintaining a very diplomatic approach to international colleagues being “coordinated”, whose needs were at times, in conflict with the overarching strategy.

Personally, I think there is a slightly misplaced belief that – because of the maturity of the US and UK media markets – PR best practice is the unique domain of English-speaking countries, and indeed, the west. It is not. Yes, we have some of the best talent in the business, so it’s only natural to think our two markets would lead the global industry…for now. But after attending a conference last week and listening to a speaker discuss the way emerging markets have leap-frogged the west in technology adoption (for example, mobile payments), I wondered how long we, in the western PR world, can hold on to these claims.

Best practice “at the fringes” will, I believe, shape the global PR industry for many years to come. These future best practices may be process-based (like the hub-and-spoke model, which still works to a large degree); but more likely, they will be enabled by technology. In the same way that the microsite or campaign landing page gave global PR teams somewhere to “point” people to, thus issuing a clear call to action, future PR best practices will be more automated and intelligent. For example – some day, someone will devise a tool that analyses hits to a campaign website, keywords used in comment boxes and general sentiment (in multiple languages), and generate an automated PR action plan based on these, and other metrics, on an on-demand basis. (Maybe someone has and I am sinfully unaware; please elucidate?)

Technology is a great equaliser, and we are already seeing this in the PR world. It is by no means something to fear: the traditional PR hubs will continue to thrive, but increasingly the way they approach best practice will leverage technology as well as process, to address cultural nuances. It’s in the best interest of our employers, clients, and increasingly, careers.

The first rule of journalism is to “inform and entertain” and this story has everything: a global event, a damning statistic, and a reason people should care. It plays on the subconscious expectation that everything associated with London2012 should ultimately benefit everyday Britain, an expectation carefully crafted by the backers of the bid (and undoubtedly, PR consultants) in the first place.

Therefore my initial reaction, like many others’, was one of anger. Then I wondered how those responsible could defend themselves. I found it – starting with paragraph 10 in the Daily Telegraph’s report:

“Ninety per cent of our licensees are British companies and those which aren’t UK companies all have UK offices, employing UK staff.

“All London 2012 products have their design, development and creative work done in the UK and as a result of winning these licenses, companies are employing more staff in the UK.”

It makes sense. As Locog explained, many products supplied and sold by British companies are made overseas. For whatever reason and unconnected to the upcoming Olympics, Britain is based on a knowledge economy. This country has not been a manufacturing power for some time. If what Locog is saying is true, there is a very good defence to the Telegraph’s story. Their response was completely omitted from the Daily Mail’s report.

That is journalism folks. “90 per cent of souvenirs made abroad” is much more entertaining than “90 per cent of London 2012 licensees are British companies”.

Locog should have been much more aggressive in their response to this story and stamped out the possibility of the issue arising again. What journalist in their right mind would refuse a phone call with Sebastian Coe to hear his side of the story? As the story was covered by only a small number of publications (it didn’t cause a global uproar), his response could even have been sold in as an exclusive to guarantee a big piece.

What actually happened? A reactive ‘statement’ from a ‘Locog spokesman’ buried beneath emotive, intricate examples of souvenirs produced abroad, such as “…Union Jack-emblazoned tea cups, crystalware, tea towels and even fluffy toys on sale were produced by foreign workers.”

Stamping this out with a proactive public relations offensive would have helped educate people on the reality of the situation. Instead, nothing was done, and four days later The Independent reported London 2012 tickets printed in Arkansas.

Locog, our new business chap’s name is Fraser, if you’re interested.

This was unchartered territory for Firefly  and for the industry as a whole. While we were confident that long-standing members of our network would support our latest campaign, questions remained as to how many industry people would want to engage. What’s more – how would other agencies feel about engaging with a rival firm?

We were thrilled, therefore, when – slowly but surely – the hashtag began to populate our newsfeeds, gaining momentum as the day progressed. PR professionals of all levels and across a variety of sectors were getting in touch to tell us what they love about their jobs; from networking, to ideas, to “loads of free food”! In the process, we gained lots of new followers including future, potential recruits.

What struck us in particular, was the level of self-disclosure by the participants. One PR from a rival agency wrote that she loved her job for, “the total elation when your target picks up your story crafted with love, blood, sweat and tears and runs with it in a BIG way”; heartfelt words and a touching tribute to our profession. But would this individual have shared her personal motivations so openly had she met with a rival agency employee in person, at an industry networking event, for instance? The likelihood is that she wouldn’t – at least not during the initial encounter.

It’s prompted us to reflect on why people – and not just PRs – are happy to be so forthcoming over social media. In this case, the tweeter in question totally got the ‘just for fun’ spirit of our campaign and, happily, was one of many who did so.  It seems to speak for the online community: increasingly, social media offers a platform through which to communicate with like-minded individuals with few boundaries – competitive or otherwise.

The same can be said for the ways in which people interact with brands on social media channels such as Twitter. If the online interaction between Firefly and its peers from rival agencies was less inhibited than its offline equivalent, the same can be said for the online conversation between a brand and its audience.  In social media, the consumer is more likely to interact with – and therefore develop an experiential versus purely transactional relationship with – a brand.

Knowing how to channel this is important, and it is here that PR comes in. A good digital PR strategy will understand – and make use of – the relationship, encouraging the brand to listen to its audience. Just last week we saw a great example of a brand putting this into practise: on Wednesday, Grazia gave its readers a choice of two covers for its Big Fashion Issue, allowing the magazine to select which cover went to press via a web survey and an online Twitter poll with the hashtag #GraziaGoesLive.

It was a simple concept, but an effective one. By understanding the nuances of on-and-offline conversations, Grazia empowered its audience, encouraged opinion and – just like our Valentine’s campaign – didn’t take itself too seriously.

Clea served Firefly for almost 15 years. She started her Firefly career in London in 1998, before moving to Germany in 2001 to set up the Munich office. She has just celebrated ten years of successful trading out of Munich for Firefly.

Clea was a warm, energetic, nurturing and immensely fun colleague. She was also an exceptional PR operator who has done much for Firefly.  She will be hugely missed.

For those who would like more information or to leave comments, please visit www.fireflycomms.com/clea-herrmann

CLEA MARIA HERRMANN
2nd October 1968 – 15th February 2012

Clea Herrmann, Firefly Deutschland Country Manager, im Alter von 43 Jahren verstorben

Wir sind tief getroffen und erschüttert über den Verlust von Clea Herrmann, der Country Managerin des Deutschen Büros in München. Clea hinterlässt ihren Ehemann Hubert und ihren 4-jährigen Sohn Raphael.

 Fast 15 Jahre arbeitete sie für Firefly. Bereits 1986 begann Clea bei Firefly Communications im Londoner Headquarter und kam 2001 nach Deutschland, um das Münchener Büro aufzubauen. Im letzten Jahr feierte Firefly München sein 10-jähriges Bestehen. Diesen Erfolg verdanken wir vor allem Cleas Professionalität, Dynamik und Ausdauer.

 Cleas warmherziges, dynamisches und humorvolles Wesen wird uns sehr fehlen. Sie war eine außergewöhnliche Beraterin, die maßgeblich zum Erfolg von Firefly beigetragen hat. Wir werden sie unglaublich vermissen.

 Für mehr Informationen und um Beleidsbekundungen zu hinterlassen besuchen Sie bitte

www.fireflycomms.com/clea-herrmann

CLEA MARIA HERRMANN
2.Oktober 1968 – 15. Februar 2012

Interested? Get involved on Tuesday by tweeting #PRlovematch with why you LOVE being in PR, and Firefly will match you with you PR soulmate! Whether you’re a social butterfly, avid wordsmith or social media junkie, your personal cupids at Firefly and PR Moment will trawl through the answers to find your perfect match.

If you’re seeking a life partner, hot date, a new friend or simply a bit of Twitter fun, don’t miss out! Matchmaking will commence from 8am on Tuesday 14^th. In the meantime, feel free to tweet @therealprmoment or @Firefly_Comms with any questions, and get thinking about what it is you love about your job – the more crazy and heartfelt the better!

The rest of my day tends to be quite varied, as I regularly receive a range of tasks from different people. Some take a matter of minutes whereas others can be on my to-do list for a couple of weeks; they range from updating contact lists to larger-scale research projects. Aside from compiling the Firewire, my most frequent job is to scour the internet in search of media coverage on any of Firefly’s clients, which I either record in our database or compile in the form of a weekly newsround for the client.

I write this having recently attended my first PR outing – a PRCA briefing about ‘understanding search’ and ‘search optimisation’. The key message from the briefing seemed to be that good content and good PR are the most important factors behind search optimisation; as regardless of how many pages link into your website, if the website is dull, people will not be interested.

As far as my learnings up to this point, I feel I have developed certain skills, such as organisation, due to regularly managing a long to-do-list and generally keeping it under control. Similarly, I have brushed up on my writing skills, which had been greatly under used since my graduation last summer. I am currently about halfway through the Firefly internship and I look forward to seeing how my role develops over the next month-and-a-half.

NHS

Firefly serves as lead PR counsel for NHS Shared Business Services (SBS), a joint venture between the Department of Health and IT services leader, Steria. Firefly was also the communications engine that enabled proactively-driven NHS SBS coverage in publications like The Times, Daily Mail, Independent and SkyNews.com; as well as relevant comments in wider stories about NHS transformation.

Through education, news generation and proactive briefings, we were able to engage with media who sought credible points of view about shared services as a driver of cost efficiencies and increased productivity – in public sector healthcare and other industries.

Mark served Firefly for over 23 years, joining the fledgling company after just nine months of trading. He was instrumental in guiding, shaping and building the business.

Mark was a great businessman, an excellent PR operator and dedicated dad. He will be missed by many.

For those who would like more information or to leave comments, please visit www.fireflycomms.com/markmellor.

Mark Mellor 16.9.1962 – 28.1.2012

But sometimes the most powerful PR stories are the ones that, to some extent, are unfortunately out of the PR person or team’s control.  The Twitter storm that erupted on Tuesday afternoon over LA Fitness was a perfect example of a story that seemed to suddenly become the responsibility of the public relations or social media team.

Starting off as a reader letter in The Guardian, the Twitterati picked up on the story when a member of the public contacted the LA Fitness UK Twitter feed, asking for them to comment on the case.

For anyone who missed the Twitter storm around this case, at the centre of it was a married couple from Billericay who were trying to cancel their LA Fitness contract after six years of membership. Their case was compelling for a combination of reasons: the need for cancellation was due to pregnancy, redundancy and a home move 12 miles away; and yet they were being held to a two-year notice period.  The Guardian took over negotiation on the couple’s behalf, but even after thorough investigation of rights, was only able to negotiate the required notice period down to six months (incidentally, the length of many board director notice periods, to put this in context).

A Guardian reader tweeted @LAFitnessTips on Tuesday afternoon, asking for them to comment on the story. In my view, it seemed to be the coldly corporate @LAFitnessTips tweet, which was – to paraphrase – “we do not comment on individual cases”, that started the thunderstorm.  (Incidentally, this seemed entirely incongruous in light of the “We’ll get there together – in the gym, in life and online” that is LAFitness’ 140-character Twitter biog.  What a lovely brand personality… that was not in this case, practiced).  Incidentally, the offending tweet has since been removed, in a careful erase of social media history, to be replaced with a series of well-messaged, carefully-worded tweets.

The power of the Twitterari, which in this case included Caitlin Moran and her 180,000+ followers, soon turned the case around.  The same day, LA Fitness withdrew all charges and all contractual obligations on the couple.  This is the power of social media in practice.  But sadly, the way in which this was done left the brand rather more workout-weary than post-exercise exhilarated.

Looking forward, my advice to LA Fitness is that to succeed in the social space, the customer services team must be properly integrated with other core channels, and the front line (and boy, must it have felt that way on Tuesday!) must have the correct support and training for successful issues management.

So, McDonalds, LA Fitness, even Tom Watson’s intern have all been the source of Twitter backlash this week. What’s next and what will we continue to learn along the way?

Any brand who hasn’t set up a Facebook page but is thinking of doing so, needs to be ok and prepared with the fact that you will get negative comments as well as good ones. Rob’s (from Age UK) key piece of advice is to keep it real and experiment. Using Facebook as a source of instant feedback, Rob questions his Facebook community as opposed to forcing messages at them. My only niggle with instant feedback in an open forum is that there is risk of backlash – this may be my overly-cautious side talking here!

Laura from British Gas has taken a different approach, to, in her words, “manage the moaning”. She has disabled comments on the wall and uses an app called ‘Talk to Us’, to give the company a much more controlled approach to complaints.

A refreshing point to hear is that both Age UK and British Gas understand that people need to vent. Their stance is that at least people are telling them what’s wrong, giving them an opportunity to learn or address the issue.

So what’s the best approach here? Plan, plan and plan some more. James Whatley at Ogilvy said that you must plan for the worst before thinking of setting up a page. For a brand’s reputation, the emphasis needs to be on how you manage issues as opposed to the issues you face.