Archive for May, 2009
Great article (A Stress Test for Good Intentions) about company CR or CSR (call it what you want!) commitments during these tough economic times. The big question that has been asked and written about over the past 12 to 18 months is what will happen to company’s sustainability and corporate responsibility initiatives? Will all the company advocates fade away? After all, the money spent on CR could come in handy when budgets are stripped.
My sense has been that companies have slowed down their CSR march but have not wiped the slate clean. The Economist article says that budgets have indeed been reduced but the mainstays of the programs are being kept. Additionally, cuts were mostly made to corporate philanthropy budgets. For example, they cite Citigroup’s charitable foundation which went from making $90m in grants last year to $63m this year. The article says that bankers “argue that scrapping such activities altogether would be extremely damaging to their reputations and profits—or, at least, what’s left of them.” Corporate advocacy for CR programs clearly remains strong and that’s good news. When the ashes are all cleared, we will be able to see who the true CR advocates are and I believe there will be plenty still standing. CSR is embedded in company strategy and values these days.
Another reason that CR will continue to be on CEO agendas is that consumers find corporate responsibility important and akin to their values and purchase decision-making. Plus no one should overlook a company’s CSR activities as a talent magnet for the best and brightest.
The Economist wraps up its piece on Corporate CR advocacy with the following insightful commentary:
“There is one other important reason for thinking that companies will maintain their commitments to sustainability through the downturn and beyond: the need to restore confidence in business. The financial crisis was triggered by a bout of corporate social irresponsibility on a massive scale that has tarnished the reputations of even the bluest of blue-chip companies. Now corporate leaders have a chance to show that they are not just motivated by short-termism after all.”
Tags: Advocacy, Citigroup, corporate responsibility, CR, CSR, Economist, reputation
How often can a senior executive say his or her biggest ally in the company is the CEO? Well, frankly, I don’t know what the average senior executive says, but I do know that the chief communications officer (CCO) can proudly make the claim.
We conducted our second annual study among CCOs at the world’s largest companies with Spencer Stuart and KRC Research - The Rising CCO II - and found that the CCO’s #1 organizational ally in both North America and Europe is the CEO. Investor Relations is a distant #2 (a predictable ranking given how closely corp comms and IR have had to work together in the tough economic climate).
Our survey asked about top organizational allies and rivals (respondents could choose just one department for each). As communications professionals, we were quite relieved that only 1 person in our sample said his or her biggest rival is the CEO. Worldwide, Marketing is the CCO’s stickiest thorn (as we saw last year) but in North America Human Resources is nearly tied with Marketing.
Why the admiration from the corner office? As our study partner George Jamison, who leads Spencer Stuart’s Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Practice, says, “When many organizations endure critical times, CEOs are increasingly looking to the CCO for their strategic crisis communications and ability to quickly react to a variety of scenarios.”
And Weber Shandwick’s Chief Reputation Strategist Leslie Gaines-Ross adds: “CEOs and boards are under tremendous pressure to navigate through the stormy seas of the current economic tsunami. Like never before, CEOs are depending on CCOs for crisis and issues counsel to steady their company reputations and calm stakeholders. CEOs who do not communicate using traditional and social media do so at their own peril.”
We’ll see when we do the same study next year if the love continues to flourish. But for now, if you’re going to have an advocate in your company, may it be the CEO!
Big shout out to Chris Brogan, Justin Levy and all the folks here at Inbound Marketing Summit in Dallas. Just finished my presentation on how Advocacy and Badvocacy are impacting marketing, and the various apple carts that are being upset in the process. For those who can’t make it, you can watch the proceedings live here or join us at the Boston event late September. Here’s my deck, BTW — would love your feedback…
IMS09 Dallas: Advocacy, Badvocacy & Upsetting Apple Carts
Imagine my delight when I picked up Friday’s Wall Street Journal and on the front page was an article about people going after those unwarranted auto-warranty calls. The calls go like this, “This is the second notice that the factory warranty on your vehicle is about to expire.” I regularly receive these calls on my cell phone and I eventually became so annoyed that I called them back a few times. However, the company only had voice mail and I could not reach anyone. I left a voice mail telling them to take me off their list and please not to call me again. Of course they did. The reason I had reached my limit and turned into a “badvocate” was that I received one of those calls while in Beijing last summer. The call came in the middle of the night and I thought that something terrible had happened at home. After the infuriating call, I had trouble falling back asleep and my jet lag was prolonged.
The article described how an individual began an Internet crusade by leaving music recordings on the company’s voicemail and how an entire posse of angry badvocates or are they rightful advocates? soon overloaded the phone lines at the company in question. Eventually the online mob took down the company’s voice mail system and it started to get too personal. Some people stalked outside the owner’s home (who said his company was not involved) and wanted to take pictures of employees leaving the premises. Although I did not join this online swarm attack with elevator music, songs and rants, I understood how ordinary citizens might want to retaliate. What could be worse than an online army of enraged advocates turned badvocates.
Tags: advocates, Badvocates, Mob, Online, Swarm
Advocates sometimes appear in the places where you would least expect them.
The latest viral video making the rounds on the Internet in China documents the spellbinding sidewalk art of a one-legged man in the city of Wuhan. But there’s a twist: he’s a beggar.
It’s not uncommon to see people begging on the street in big cities around the world. In China, many beggars use chalk to write their story on the sidewalk, hoping it will persuade passersby to philanthropic acts. But this man wields the chalk to paint masterpieces on the pavement, which is made all the more impressive by the fact that he does it all on one leg.
You can watch him recreate the Mona Lisa below (01:44). As you will see, he also draws quite a crowd. Having only been online for nine days, the video has already generated 1,159,646 views and 16,894 comments!
Click here to watch the video.
What does begging have to do with Advocacy? Nothing. But the attention this man has gained – from the sidewalk to the city to the Internet – is nothing to be scoffed at yet. Perhaps it’s his creativity, perhaps it’s his talent, or perhaps there’s a compelling story shining through it all. How did this man become crippled? How did such a wonderful artist become a beggar? And where did he learn to draw like that? He also scratches nearly perfect Chinese characters (00:52) into the concrete and writes in English (12:32).
The sidewalk. Advocacy starts here.
Weber Shandwick recently published The Good Book of Badvocacy, the first in a series of Thought Leadership “mini-books.” As you might have guessed, The Good Book is all about badvocacy. Take a look and let us know what you think!
