From the global financial crisis to the meteoric rise of social media, the past eight months have been a season of unprecedented change. As there are some signs that the crisis may be easing, it seems a good time to assess what happened. Over the course of a comprehensive and wide-ranging conversation, Porter Novelli’s CEO Gary Stockman and Global President and CFO Anthony Viceroy offer insights and analysis on how the agency managed to not only weather the turbulent times, but also find the inherent possibilities in the crisis and emerge stronger than ever.

In the final part of this interview series (read part one here, part two here and part three here), Stockman and Viceroy discuss the dramatic convergence of public relations, communications and marketing, and what they found most inspiring throughout the economic crisis.

From the global financial crisis to the meteoric rise of social media, the past eight months have been a season of unprecedented change. As there are some signs that the crisis may be easing, it seems a good time to assess what happened. Over the course of a comprehensive and wide-ranging conversation, Porter Novelli’s CEO Gary Stockman and President, Global Business Operations and CFO Anthony Viceroy offer insights and analysis on how the agency managed to not only weather the turbulent times, but also find the inherent possibilities in the crisis and emerge stronger than ever.

In part three of this four-part series (read part one here and part two here), Stockman and Viceroy focus on the needs of clients—how some needs have changed and others have intensified—and how some brands’ ability to connect with consumers during the crisis created tremendous opportunities.

So, shifting to a more external focus: What is the primary concern of clients during turbulent times?

GS: I think it really comes down to three words, “measurable results now.” And if you can achieve those results at a lower cost, that’s even better [laughs]. I think that’s the mantra these days. Every client’s business is getting the same level of scrutiny and feeling similar pressures to perform. It really is about who can help deliver tangible, measurable results and do it this quarter, next quarter and beyond.

Some would argue that would drive a mindset of safe bets and short passes. How do you address these very real client concerns while still inspiring confidence and bold action?

GS: It could indeed drive people to short passes and safe bets. But what I would prefer—and what I am seeing, actually—is people thinking more creatively and more innovatively about how you deliver measurable results now. Because, as we were talking about earlier, there are new weapons at our fingertips that did not exist during the last downturn—digital and social media and other approaches that we can use to reach and motivate stakeholders to take action. The question is, how do we leverage those weapons innovatively? If necessity is the mother of invention, I think turbulent times should be the mother of innovation in communications.

AV: The concern of clients today is no different than it was five years ago. It has just been magnified. Clients are looking for the greatest value—growing their brands in a cost-effective manner. Our clients are asking the same question that we have asked of ourselves—do you view this economic downturn as a crisis or as an opportunity? And many of them, like us, are viewing it as an opportunity. Of course budgets are tight, but they do understand that this is a golden opportunity to spend smartly in key areas that will help their brands gain market share. One day we are going to come out of this, and when we do, we will all need to ask, how much brand value and market share have we gained?

Is there a point where it is more prudent for a client to pull back and weather the storm?

GS: There are cases for which that’s the right recommendation; particularly when continuing to push a brand would actually weaken it or damage it. Some approaches and some campaign concepts that seemed terrific a year ago seem anachronistic now. I think there are luxury brands that have to be particularly careful about being out of touch in the way they communicate.

AV: And you have to look at the individual situation. What’s more important to you, market share or cash flow? Provided you are not in a cash flow situation, my personal belief is that you should always be trying to gain market share. And the time to do it is when opportunities present themselves. So, looking at your competitive landscape—when everyone else is zigging, maybe you should be zagging. Again, this is a true philosophical difference between what we believe here at Porter Novelli and other firms. We have not viewed this once as a crisis. We have really seen it as an opportunity to make strategic hires, to talk directly to our clients about what they need and explain to them what should be keeping them up at night. Not everyone is doing every single project with us, but I think this is really how you build relationships in this type of period. Clients really respect the fact that you’re putting their brand first.

It seems there needs to be real sensitivity to the zeitgeist, and there seem to be no easy answers to anything—it just requires a lot of thinking.

GS: It does require a lot of thinking and it requires sensitivity. Take Hyundai as an example, and look at their buyback guarantee. They created an opportunity from the downturn and as a result they have picked up tremendous market share. By not only offering a financial incentive—you lose your job, we buy the car back—but also demonstrating empathy and sensitivity, they came up with something that felt right to people.

That’s a great example of something very traditional in its approach. It doesn’t have anything to do with digital or social media. Has there been a sea change in the perception of social media, where it is no longer regarded as a silver bullet or a magic trick as it was a year ago? Does it now require a much more strategic approach?

GS: Yes, I think that is a very good way of characterizing it. If there was a time when all that mattered was how you said it, today it matters more than ever what you say, whom you talk to and when you talk to them. It is not enough to use social media to spout nonsense; you have to have substance and good concepts and creativity.

AV: That’s why I view us as a client solution service. Because ultimately what we need to be thinking about is how to create sustainable value for clients and help them grow their brands and manage their brands more effectively. I think social media is another way to do exactly that, but next year there will be another medium. Porter Novelli has demonstrated that it is not about embracing one medium. It is about figuring out strategically which media will best serve clients’ needs and help them grow their brands.

My personal belief, and one that is really embedded in this organization, is that you have to be direct with clients. It’s not about selling to clients anymore. It’s about having direct talks of, “Here is what is going on; here is what you need to know.” Because clients know what they know—the real value to them today is the insight you give into what they don’t know.

Have there been any occasions where you have been surprised by the response or reaction of a client to the economic downturn?

AV: There have not been any negative surprises. We have picked up a lot of Fortune 100 company business from our competition by putting tremendous focus on our digital and social media capabilities, and on services that they felt made a difference. So again, an attitude of playing to win as opposed to playing not to lose really comes across when we are dealing with clients.

But are there types of clients who are particularly endangered by a turbulent global economy?

GS: I don’t think there is one category, but I think all clients need to look at the strategies and the messages that they have been using or are contemplating to make sure they are in line with the current zeitgeist and people’s sensitivities. I think empathy and understanding of what your target audience is going through are really vital during a down economy. And appearing insensitive and out of touch is a real danger if you are not paying attention.

AV: Truthfully in today’s news where everything is 24/7, you could argue that every client is vulnerable. You could see brand equity evaporate within seconds based on a negative story or something that gets on YouTube.

So do you think social media presents as many dangers as opportunities?

AV: Well, I think the benefits clearly outweigh any risks associated with it. But like any risk, it must be managed properly. Social media is here to stay; it is clearly being embraced by many and I would say it has been a great area of success for us. But it does get interesting sometimes [laughs]. Right now in corporate America, what we are seeing is the ability to try to understand how social media impacts brands and how to use it in a socially responsible way.

Conversely, what opportunities does a down economy present—for clients, as well as for the internal development of talent and strategy?

GS: A couple of things. One is that the economy can serve as a real catalyst for change. There’s a clarity and a focus that come from a downturn. You can’t afford to have things live in a gray area or to wait and see, so it prompts decisions to be made much more quickly and ambiguity to be resolved faster. In a lot of organizations, a downturn acts as a catalyst for changes that should already have been made. The second area is talent. During a downturn good talent can be more widely available, and smart companies will take advantage of this to add great people.

AV: The opportunities are endless. In an economic downturn, there is no better time to look at the organization from head to toe. If there ever is a time when people are going to get comfortable with change, it is in an economic downturn. Most people will not want to change when everything is going great. But in a downturn, they tend to expect and embrace change more quickly. So when you have a challenging economic environment, you have an opportunity to look and ask, Are we managing talent the right way? Do we have the right people? What further value should we be bringing to clients? How do we get great collaboration? How do we exploit the global footprint that we have? So when you start going down the list, you see many ways to think strategically, and you discover great opportunities for the company and its talent to do more.

Check back with PN.com next week for part four of this four-part series. Next week, Stockman and Viceroy discuss the dramatic convergence of public relations, communications and marketing, and what they found most inspiring throughout the economic crisis.

In 2009, “Interactive” has taken on more meaning than ever before. It’s no longer just a micro site – it’s an iPhone app.  It’s not just online – its offline and today we see the beginnings of what has been termed the “web-wide world”. 

Also, there’s no shortage of drama to spark discussion.  MJ’s death brought the interwebs to a grinding halt, United took one on the chin from a little-known musician, and Domino’s spiced up their online engagement after one of their “cooks” spiced up one of their pizzas with his own special ingredient and posted the video to YouTube.

And with that, we’re marching forward to SXSW Interactive 2010.  If the SXSW panel picker is any indication – 2010 is going to be even bigger and better.  When attendees filter into Austin, TX next March, there’s going to be 12 months of case studies, progress and social evolution to digest… and it’s going to be fun. 

If any of the panels catch your eye, we would appreciate your vote at the panel picker! You can see the whole list of panels over at InternetGeekGirl.

From the global financial crisis to the meteoric rise of social media, the past eight months have been a season of unprecedented change. As there are some signs that the crisis may be easing, it seems a good time to assess what happened. Over the course of a comprehensive and wide-ranging conversation, Porter Novelli’s CEO Gary Stockman and President, Global Business Operations and CFO Anthony Viceroy offer insights and analysis on how the agency managed to not only weather the turbulent times, but also find the inherent possibilities in the crisis and emerge stronger than ever.

In part two of this four-part series (read part one here), Stockman and Viceroy reflect on the rise and power of social media—what Stockman refers to as “a profound shift in the communications landscape”—and how it is changing the content and context of external communications, empowering a creative meritocracy and changing the traditional internal learning model.

From the global financial crisis to the meteoric rise of social media, the past eight months have been a season of unprecedented change. As there are some signs that the crisis may be easing, it seems a good time to assess what happened. Over the course of a comprehensive and wide-ranging conversation, Porter Novelli’s CEO Gary Stockman and President, Global Business Operations and CFO Anthony Viceroy offer insights and analysis on how the agency managed to not only weather the turbulent times, but also find the inherent possibilities in the crisis and emerge stronger than ever.

In part one of this four-part series, Stockman and Viceroy reflect on their initial reactions to the early days of the global economic crisis, discuss its similarities and differences to past crises and offer perspective on Porter Novelli’s response.

Ours is an industry that is constantly changing, and people are always moving from challenge to challenge and from team to team in search of opportunities to learn and make an impact—exactly the kind of experience that has been so rewarding for me at PN.

As I prepare to move to my next challenge, I’m reflecting on the brilliant successes we’ve seen at PN over the past couple of years, as we have engaged in nothing less than listening, learning, empowering, innovating and activating change 24/7 to ensure our strategies, our tools, our clients and our staff are fully future-ready.

I am most proud of PN’s rise in the realm of social media marketing, and our successful efforts to modernize our own company culture, empowering all staffers and changing the way we think about old-school hierarchies—all to the benefit of our clients.

All of this really kicked off during the summer of 2008, when a young group of twenty-something PN staffers created Jack + Bill, the first pop-up agency in the PR industry. Jack + Bill was designed to inspire new thinking, creative solutions and entrepreneurship within the PN network; empower Millennial staffers within PN and the public relations industry; increase awareness of our innovative approach to digital communications and build capabilities to attract interesting new clients looking for innovation, creativity and new communications solutions. The initiative was a huge success on all fronts, and the Millennial team was lauded with PRWeek’s PR Innovation of the Year and the Iron SABRE as well as various other social media accolades.

Next up, PN was named a 2009 PRWeek Agency to Watch—and we have so been worth watching! We’re now partnering with cutting-edge digital startups (PN Digital Labs), taking on innovative new tools (Crimson Hexagon’s social media listening tool and Influencer Navigator) and harnessing trends in social media (Pepsi Trends Live, one of the largest corporate tweetup’s).

This year we strengthened our five-year relationship with SXSW Interactive festival by again facilitating huge growth in attendance, press and social media engagement, as well as hosting the “Social Media for Social Good” panel.

We went with PepsiCo to Internet Week New York, where we worked with the brand to seamlessly integrate online and offline activity, stimulate dialogue and raise brand awareness by hosting popular events featuring top digital influencers. We’ve also sponsored and provided pro-bono PR services for the Shorty Awards and Tweet to ReMIND. And we’ve been committed to learning and experimenting within our own offices, as evidenced by our agency-wide global tweetup “Inauguration Conversation.”

And if you are reading this blog, you know that in the spring of 2008, we launched the robust Intelligent Dialogue thought leadership program, building on the agency’s historic track record of providing insight into audiences, with a series of publications examining the most pressing and influential issues of the day, and dissecting how they are shaping our society and business. All of those reports are available here, including—hot off the presses—“The Future of News.”

The Intelligent Dialogue blog links today’s news with its implications for business and culture—and of course, all of this contributes to Porter Novelli’s goal of tracking consumers’ shifting conversations and finding ways to influence them to the benefit of the agency’s clients. I’ll be eagerly watching the Intelligent Dialogue program continue to thrive at PN, as new folks step in to guide its growth and bring new perspectives to the mix.

These are just a few of the many programs the Porter Novelli team has developed and implemented during my time with the agency. I am extremely proud to have been a part of them, and I look forward to seeing them continue to thrive and bring Intelligent Influence to clients across the globe. I’ll miss working with these innovative minds and energetic, committed people.

And that’s the old-school news anchors and reporters, the folks who for the most part are just trying to go about their jobs as they were taught in J-school or while working their way up the ranks. Celebrity bloggers, on the other hand, may lack the journalistic process and ethical guidelines of old-style media, but readers don’t seem to mind. They ride the roller coaster of publicity with glee, maintaining a love-hate relationship with their audience. Original celebrity blogger Perez Hilton may be imperfect, but people forgive him for it daily, lapping up his celebrity access and catty humor. His numbers can’t be denied.

Yes, times have changed. News is the new shopping—we crave it and consume it and share it like candy. We read it all day long, wherever we are. We no longer need a familiar face on our TV at 5 p.m., telling us the day’s news as we sit down to the dinner table. It’s just not the way we consume anymore. We’ve each become our own Tom Brokaw. We got the story hours ago, via mobile news feed over lunch, or between meetings, or on Twitter while sitting in traffic (a no-no!). If we waited until 5 p.m., we’d be riddled with impatience and unable to focus … right?

As we mourn the loss of Walter Cronkite, and we recognize the monumental impact the Father of TV News made on today’s media, his passing marks a milestone in many directions. While we feel lucky to have incredible access to people and news across the globe at any moment, unlike in the days of Cronkite, we can no longer just assume that what we read is the truth.

And with the skyrocketing rise of celebrity-stalker blogs and tabloid news sites, are we dumbing down our culture to an extent that no one wants to read hard news anymore? Can a thorough investigation or a political think piece survive in this market? Who will be qualified to write or produce them if our news organizations continue to fail?

These are just some of the questions we ask in Porter Novelli’s latest Intelligent Dialogue paper, “The Future of News.” It’s one of the most comprehensive and in-depth analyses to date of how social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and blogging are impacting the role and even the very definition of news in modern society. Take a look at our report and let us know your answer.

But in examining where we stand today, while Moore’s Law holds somewhat steady as tech wizards push boundaries with ideas like quantum computing, the Law of More has hit a wall of massive economic crisis. The sort of “more” we’re seeing now? More unemployment, more insecurity, more business going bust. Millions of people are adjusting to having less in their lives—some by choice, some by force. The Law of Less is the one we live by now, and it looks like it’ll determine our path for a while to come. Can we make it work to our advantage in the long term?

We surely don’t want people going short of food and vital resources for lack of money, or wasting their time and talents because they can’t find a job. But for a long time now we’ve been nervously watching cheap, overprocessed food lead to the obesity epidemic, and roads become increasingly choked with traffic, wasting vast amounts of time and fuel. While packing more and more into life felt like an obligation rather than a choice for many people, common sense was beginning to tell us that in a world fast approaching 7 billion people, we have to figure out ways of better managing our resources.

There’s certainly room for eating less, driving less and buying less stuff without diminishing our individual quality of life. But what happens to jobs and incomes if “less” becomes everybody’s new normal? Many of us have lived through downturns that forced a few months of “less” until we could ultimately resume our comfortable consumption. But how will you react when the adjustment isn’t temporary?

By comparison, the last few months have felt like a whole Imelda Marcos closet of shoes dropping day after day, and not just in the United States. It was pretty bad before September 15 (remember Bear Stearns and the subprime crisis?) but then Lehman and AIG and the rest of the last quarter of 2008 put a new spin on the notion of the fall season. Retail sales, production, jobs, bailouts, debt, Detroit, the economy, stock markets, international trade—everything seemed to be in free fall. For millions of people all over the world, the economic crisis has created a gnawing feeling of permanent anxiety, as if the world is falling apart.

Yet over the last few weeks that sense of falling has abated. To be sure jobs are still being lost, houses are still being repossessed, businesses are still struggling to make sales and the levels of debt and bailout defy the imagination. But stock markets are looking chipper, continuing a gradual rise that’s been going on for two months now. The price of oil is rising; the pace of job losses is falling. “Only” 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks failed the new stress tests,, which means they’ll “only” need $75 billion of extra funds to bolster their reserves.

After months of unremitting bad news, some brighter reports have peeked through the gloom; 4.8 million American workers left their jobs (voluntarily or otherwise) in February but a surprisingly robust 4.3 million were hired; housing markets in hard-hit places such as California, Nevada and Florida are seeing buyers stepping in to buy foreclosed properties.

It would certainly be great if the worst of the crisis were over now and people could stop worrying about their jobs and their health care and education. However, it would also be a great shame if we all got too cocky too quickly and missed the opportunity to make the sort of “reboot” changes that seemed so urgent back in the Great Fall of 2008. And anyway, what we’re actually seeing is not so much an upturn as a slowdown in the downturn: Things are getting less worse than they were. Too much optimism might be as damaging as too much gloom.

Although I’m a marketer through and through, for half a second I was taken aback that a Presidential campaign was up for some of our industry’s most prestigious awards, let alone winning them. But the truth is, this isn’t the first time marketing has been in play at the highest levels of American politics.

Just a few months after 9/11, the still-early-days Bush administration decided it needed a strategy to refurbish Brand America abroad. What a task that turned out to be! In less than six years, the role of undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs chewed up and spat out three accomplished, high-powered women: Charlotte Beers, Margaret D. Tutwiler and Karen P. Hughes. The last Bush nominee in the post was James K. Glassman, who started in June 2008 and saw the job through to Obama’s Inauguration.

What was the net result of all this expertise? Sadly, it was a steady decline in America’s global image, according to a Pew Global Attitudes Project report for the years 2001 to 2008.

What a contrast with the efforts of David Plouffe, President Obama’s top campaign strategist and the winner of those distinguished awards at Cannes. His man won the Presidency not only in the United States, but also in unofficial global opinion polls around the world (not surprisingly, the Pew report graph ticks up for late 2008). The Cannes Titanium Grand Prix “celebrates work that causes the industry to stop in its tracks and reconsider the way forward.” The Integrated Grand Prix goes to an innovative campaign that has successfully and creatively incorporated multiple mediums—such as TV, press and the Web.

One could argue that the “product” Bush’s Brand America campaign was charged with was much bigger and tougher to market; though it started with a lot of global goodwill after 9/11, it soon had to contend with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On the other hand, getting the United States to elect a young, little-known intellectual African-American whose middle name is Hussein was no easy feat.

But what really interests me, as a marketer, is the difference between the two approaches, and what that means for my profession and its clients.

The Brand America task had all the hallmarks of a big old-style marketing case: a huge brand with lots of legacy; a top-down communication strategy (think: “educating consumers”); big budgets and big names. Yet the campaign reaped no real understanding or buy-in from its most important clients: users of new media.

The Obama election campaign read like a challenger assignment: a fresh new brand; an interactive, collaborative approach to communication; deep buy-in and involvement from the top to the grassroots; and smart integration of new media and old media.

New media boosters have championed the Obama campaign’s digital smarts, and David Plouffe himself has pointed to the importance of a state-of-the-art Internet platform and successful management of the technology. At Cannes, he also played up the traditional aspects of the campaign, describing it all as a historic marriage between digital technology and grassroots campaigning. He rated TV advertising as a key part of the campaign as well—though the team flipped that tradition on its head too, putting $3 million toward a single half-hour spot.

One of the most intriguing parts of the case history though is the Obama campaign’s focus on specific places and voters. As Plouffe tells it, they deliberately sacrificed reach for target. Remember, the margin of victory in raw numbers wasn’t huge: Obama won 53 percent of the popular vote against McCain’s 46 percent, but thanks to smart targeting the Obama victory in the electoral college was far bigger: 365 vs. 173.

And not everything that contributed to the Obama victory was masterminded by the Obama campaign itself. Cannes jury president David Droga called the campaign’s leaders curators as much as creators: They created the framework and allowed others to contribute.

What stands out for me is the importance of grassroots. The Obama campaign really figured out how to connect with people and get them actively working for the same purpose. Now the Obama team aims to keep that grassroots momentum going with Organizing for America. OFA is working to leverage the enormous group of e-mail volunteers amassed during the Presidential campaign into a giant grassroots policy movement.

This approach certainly worked for the race up to The Big One on November 4, 2008. I know I’m not the only one eager to see whether it will translate into something sustained and substantial over the long haul. If I were a gambler, I’d put my money on grassroots as the rising star of New Marketing.