The Thoughtful Thud Revisited

Industry collaboration the key to the “Big Ask”

Everyone is talking about social media measurement. AMEC today announces the start of the “doing” process with our “Big Ask” conference and consultation.

Creating global social media standards is one of the top four commitments of the Measurement Agenda 2020 initiative agreed at the European Summit on Measurement AMEC presented in Lisbon with the IPR. Already since Lisbon AMEC, the IPR and CPRF are talking. A group of us will get together also at the North American Summit in Philadelphia in under two weeks time.

Our “Big Ask” conference in London on Thursday 17 November will aim to do what it says on the can. We are inviting PR and media intelligence professionals to tell us what their “ask” would be in the set of global social media measurement standards we are all committed to developing.

What’s so encouraging, building on the collaboration promised by IPR and CPRF is the ready involvement of the CIPR, PRCA and PRSA to support the event.

When the industry comes together like this, even the biggest of “asks” is possible.

I saw the future today!

I was part of a small group today which judged the PRCA’s new Evaluation Category in their annual Awards Evaluation Category. So kudos to the PRCA for helping AMEC put programme measurement on the PR Agenda in the UK.

What was good to see was the high level of entry interest in the new category which was designed to show…..”That the PR team and its campaigns are making a significant contribution to the organisation.” Specifically the emphasis was on outcomes rather than outputs.

What I saw was great work. Period.  But what I wanted to see was more entries which started with clear and measurable objectives. Instead I found myself reflecting, "why do PR consultancies ignore best practice and insist on listing tactics, rather than objectives against which they expect to be judged by their client." It reminded me that the first of the Barcelona Principles emphasized the importance of goal setting and measurement.

In my experience, in PR consultancy and within AMEC, the most successful award-winning agencies get that reputation because they take it seriously. They have at least a dedicated person, usually a small team, who act as the final arbiter/litmus test/hard man and sign off on all consultancy award entries.  I remember working for a top 5 consultancy in New Year at the turn of the Millenium and thinking, "how can any one beat Ketchum. They had the formula. They had the insistence on great work.  Or, put another way, it clearly did not get entered.

What  organised Consultancy Awards Teams are looking for is:

-      Consistency in the consultancy entry approach;

-      There is a common language and lay-out in award entries from campaign to campaign, e.g. Objectives does not suddenly become Tactics in one entry! What was perhaps surprising to see, even from large consultancies, was that there was so much variation entry to entry.

-      An appreciation of what external judges look for.

One of the best entries we saw today was from a consultancy which unsurprisingly got the total attention of the judges. How? What they did was literally lay out the Objectives side by side with the Results. It was effective presentation which showed the judges at a glance how they had delivered against their programme promise/objective. It was that logical. That clear. And they deserved to be shortlisted.

What professionals in the UK can expect is for PRCA to run training sessions to show younger PR professionals how to write SMART objectives.  Professor Tom Watson, Professor of Public Relations, Bournemouth University, UK, laid down the ground rules at the European Summit presented by AMEC and the IPR in Lisbon this year. He said, simply but clearly: “You cannot underestimate the important of goal setting and objectives and of course it is linked to the Barcelona Principles.”

Based on today’s judging, AMEC will commit to develop- an international webinar “teach in” to share tips like this ahead of the Call for Entries for the AMEC Awards (Sept 19). 2012 is a big year for the AMEC Awards. If everyone gets behind it. 2012 is the year it goes truly international to show best practice. More about this soon with the Call for Entries due on September 19.

We can make global standards in social media measurement happen

There are a number of social media measurement initiatives running worldwide and that is exactly why AMEC has formed a Social Media Measurement Group.

Working together we can make global standards in social media measurement a reality. For its part, AMEC has committed to work in coalition with like-minded international groups, including PRSA, IPR, Council of PR Firms and others, to make global standards for social media measurement a reality.  Already good conversations have taken place.

Together...we need to bring greater consistency to social media measurement and cut through market place confusion.

Development of global standards for social media measurement was one of the key elements of the Measurement Agenda 2020 debate at the AMEC/IPR European Summit in Lisbon in June this year.

The new AMEC Group was launched today as an international fusion of talent from Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East. The group will be chaired by Richard Bagnall, Managing Director of Metrica(Gorkana Group).

Home based talent pool an eye opener

AMEC is launching a Knowledge Share platform for its members at the end of September. A key component of that is to find a part time Digital Content Manager.

We have been using an on-line recruitment site primarily specialising in mothers (but not exclusively) working from home. We want a candidate experienced in research; on-line content management and with good writing skills as a 'given'. Experience with the WordPress platform is a plus.

What the responses showed me is that there is an amazing talent pool waiting to be tapped of career women who want to be involved in commercial life again. All they ask is the right to be able to manage their family too, working from home. You could run a company with the experience that has already been offered to me – Business Manager; Researcher; Broadcast Journalist; Online News Editor; IT manager; Business Publishing; Educational Consultant. You name the skill and it is there.

We've had over 70 quality responses in a week. With it a sense we are about to welcome a real talent onto our team when we close applications in 2 weeks.

 

China and India the keys to unlock measurement success?

Editing hours of speaker videos from the European Summit on Measurement in Lisbon gave me a remarkable personal insight update into the challenges facing the PR industry to improve standards of programme measurement. I organised the event. I was there every day. But it is not until I went through every minute of every session in an editing suite these take outs became clear:

• The Barcelona Principles, giant step though we still believe it to be, needs constant underpinning. The Lisbon Measurement Agenda 2020 is designed to do that and take us forward in 4 identified ways.
• There are huge differences in the levels of programme measurement across the world. This is not stated as a criticism, but reality. For example, North America is perhaps more “together” than most markets and very different from South America. (Only this morning I received an email from a student in Argentina saying that despite the Barelona Principles, AVEs still rule). Europe varies depending on where you operate. Asia Pacific is wide open to change. Africa is work in progress but new entrants can change things.
• AMEC can continue to lead but only by partnering with willing partners, which we believe we are good at. These will include: IPR, PRSA, ICCO, Global Alliance and CPRF. Regionally, AMEC also gets great support in the UK from PRCA and CIPR.

For me the big opportunity is in the giant markets of India and China. Meenu Handa was a dignified and big picture thinking ambassador for both Microsoft and for India in Lisbon. We were thrilled to welcome her (thank you Aseem Sood for the idea which made it possible). She told it as she saw it:- India is ready for programme measurement change.

John Croll, CEO of Media Monitors, new Chair of the AMEC Asia Pacific Chapter, tells me that Asia Pacific, the second huge region we plan to tackle, is receptive to learning how to do things differently. More about a big initiative in the Region soon.....

The challenge, or I see it as the opportunity, is to bring on new partners in the Measurement Agenda 2020 mission with the PR associations in Asia.

So what’s my final lesson from the editing process? Don’t take anything for granted and forget what you have! AMEC has a terrific – but understated – success on our hands with Ruth Pestana’s Valid Metrics, developed after Barcelona and which PRSA has embraced. We need to do more to promote it.

PS: you can see over 20 video clips from the European Summit when AMEC launches its new Knowledge Share platform at the end of September.

 

A new look!

The Thoughtful Thud Revisited is just that. After a period of introspection about the value of social media sites I am signed up to, I want to make The Thoughtful Thud Revisited different. Posts will be different.  Shorter, for example most times. The intent will always be the same, to challenge and to engage.

 

Youth with no AVE baggage? Let's hope so.........

It could be a false dawn but the BA Hons PR students I talked to in a session on measurement at Bournemouth University genuinely had no interest in AVEs. Most, happily did not even know what the term meant!

They did, however, understand the importance of being able to know that a PR programme was working and wondered aloud why a standard measurement standard did not exist? It's an interesting point from a group of young talent with no axe to grind, just reflecting that to them, it seemed like a common sense solution.

It's late in the academic year. Only exams left. So for a big group of students to be still in the lecture theatre at 4.30pm on a Friday means either, courteousness to a fault, or some interest in the subject of measurement. I'll take the latter option! So probably would my co-presenters, Professor Tom Watson, of BU and Paul Mylrea, Head of Press and Media Relations at the BBC and a Visiting Fellow of the Media School at BU. Paul is also President of the CIPR. Good news is that Paul confirmed CIPR would be attending AMEC's 3rd European Summit on Measurement in Lisbon in just over 2 weeks time.

What a difference a year makes!

 

 

 

Three weeks from today, workshop speakers from around the world will be sharing their knowledge at the European Summit on Measurement with delegates from 28 countries.

This growing and international interest is what encourages everyone concerned with the quest for improved marketplace recognition of the value of communications programme measurement. It shows us that the Barcelona Principles, what we felt was an important, albeit baby step, at our Summit last year, was nothing of the kind. In fact the Principles has emerged as what I’d call our own industry lightening conductor, responsible for a steep upturn in interest in measurement and for underlining AMEC’s own leadership role.

When we go to Lisbon  we will be aiming to move PR measurement to the next level. For that to happen we are asking all PR professionals to take part in a short survey about their attitudes to programme measurement. Will you help us and take part in the survey.

Coming to Lisbon? http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CC4LB9Z6A

Not able to come? http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CC4GJ9WUD

Deadline is June 1.

Invitation to Google - share your newspaper vision with the industry?

Google doesn't lose often, so this Belgian ruling is both a first and a precedent for Google. It has lost its bid to overturn a Belgian ruling that blocked it from publishing links to local newspapers on its online news service.

 AMEC is the global voice of the media intelligence industry. We offer Google Europe the opportunity to join a workshop at our 3rd European Summit in Lisbon to share your philosophy to collaborate with publishers in finding “new ways for them to make money from online news.”

This is a serious invitation to a session where your voice will be fairly heard. Contact Barry Leggetter at barryleggetter@amecorg.com

 

Measurement on the move double time!

 

 

 

 

Whatever the precise reason, today’s news from AMEC  that the communications programme measurement sector has grown by 14% over the past year, has to be encouraging.

Why I say “whatever the precise reason” is because there are a number of potential contributing factors behind today’s news of double digit growth.

It could of course be simply a question of the economy. I would prefer to think that the growth is because PR programme measurement is now on the communications agenda as never before. I’d like to think that the Barcelona Principles initiative at the European Summit organised by AMEC and the Institute for Public Relations 12 months ago helped; it certainly has to be true that the step by PRWeek in very publicly banning the use of AVEs as a method of programme measurement in its 2011 PRWeek UK Awards focuses the PR professional’s mind.

The key to all this is to keep the foot on the accelerator pedal. There is a wind of change. Will the PR professionals of the future now in their final year in the Media School at Universities like Bournemouth, accept the baton of change?

The year on year results are reported in the International Business Monitor, a global study by AMEC.