Presentation by Bob Pickard, President and CEO of Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific, on communications challenges for Asian multinationals and the rise of digital storytelling

1. Digital Storytelling for Asian Multinationals
New Frontiers in PR
Bob Pickard | President & CEO | Asia-Pacific

2. Burson-Marsteller‟s Heritage
1953: Burson- 1964: First to organize 1978: First major firm 1993: First firm to 2005: Mark Penn appointed
Marsteller a formal employee to establish a install global email global CEO – strategic
established training program Healthcare Practice linking every office alliance with research firm
Penn, Schoen and Berland
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 1968: First firm to 1983: First firm to 1999: InfoDesk Knowledge
conduct crisis training conduct a satellite Management System
press conference accepted into Smithsonian’s
Permanent Collection of
1961: Established in 1974: Established in
Information Technology
Europe Asia-Pacific
1968: Outstanding Performance 1975: Outstanding Performance 1982: Extraordinary 1997: Marketing Consumer 2002: Crisis Communications
in Community Relations in Community Relations Accomplishment in Public Products 2007: Internal communications
Relations
1985: Excellence in Investor
Relations

3. Our Philosophy
ʻʻ
Our job as public relations
professionals is two-fold. It is to help
ʻʻ
our clients or employers fashion and
implement policies and actions that
accord with the public interest. And it
is to use communications to leverage
public opinion and attitudes to
motivate target audiences to specific
courses of action.
Harold Burson
Founder and Chairman

4. What We Do
We tell Asia‟s story. Across media.
Across channels. Across borders.
We drive tangible business outcomes.
And we embrace digital storytelling.
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

5. The Brand in the Story
Product placement is intrusive
– breaks the narrative flow

6. The Brand as the Story
Product placement is unobtrusive –
incorporated into the narrative flow

7. the story is the most important things
a company needs to tell its target audiences…
…so that those people will do and think
what we want them to
do or think
"We were not looking to make records or create them
and based our order on estimated requirement. The fact
that we did just that is an accident of history.”
Aditya Ghosh
President , IndiGo
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

8. The power of stories
 Strong stories rely on
business realities, not
„puffery‟
 The breakthrough effect
derives from more than just
plain facts IndiGo announces
records order of
180 Airbus A320s
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

9. Tapping into the unconscious mind
unconscious
thoughts, feelings, and desires
decisions
drive purchasing
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

10. Why this is important…
What impact will the cuts Has your workload increased
have on your editorial work? since the economic crisis
began?
* Source: Burson-Marsteller EMEA Media Survey 2010, among 115
senior journalists from top-tier media organizations in 27 countries.
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

11. The result…
Decreased journalism
QUALITY
Decreased journalism
QUANTITY
Decreased journalism
CREDIBILTY
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

12. …a disconnect between corporate messages and media coverage
Source: Burson-Marsteller Message Gap Study - http://slidesha.re/epFk5N
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

13. Blogger Gap: 69%
Source: Burson-Marsteller Message Gap Study - http://slidesha.re/epFk5N
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

14. Decreasing control over brand imagery
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

15. Reduced audience density
Which screen
commands the most
attention?
McKinsey Quarterly “Boosting returns on marketing
investment”, May 2005
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

16. Implications for Asia-Pacific

17. Asia is a major global force…
34 of the world‟s top 2000 companies
% are headquartered in Asia
Source: Forbes Global 2000 list (2009)
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

18. …but global sentiment is muted
Online Sentiment Around Asian
Corporate Brands
1%
3% 3%
Mixed
Positive
Neutral
93% Negative
Source: Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific
Based on a review of 492,838 mentions of prominent Asian brands in online forums
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

19. The Digital Opportunity for Asia
1960s The rise of Japan
1990s The rise of Korea
2000s The rise of China
2010s The rise of India

20. Corporate Use of Social Media in Asia Pacific
40
of companies in the WSJ Asian 200
are using social media for
corporate communications
%
24
of companies are using only a
single social media channel
%
55
of Asian corporate social
media channels are inactive
%
Source: Burson-Marsteller Asia Pacific Social Media Study - http://slidesha.re/fxPKK2 A missed opportunity…?
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

21. Digital Storytelling

22. Persuasion 1.0
Once PR-driven interactions
make people feel important
(„someone is listening to me‟),
then stories are sold as
conversations
“Make the other person
feel important and do it
sincerely.”
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

23. Persuasion 2.0
When people commit
themselves in public to
something, they have created a
new ‘image
template’ of themselves
People will do and say whatever
is necessary to conform with
their new public image
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

24. Where PR storytelling is growing
Entertainment media Social media

25. The digital consumer
% effectiveness of consumer touchpoints
Store/agent/dealer interactions 12%
26%
•Word of mouth 21% 43%
Consumer-driven marketing •Online research
•Offline and/or print reviews
28% 37%
Past experience 31%
10%
5%
39%
•Traditional advertising 26% 22%
Company-driven marketing •Direct marketing
•Sponsorship
•In-store product experience Initial Active Closure
•Salesperson contact consideration consideration
set
Source: McKinsey Quarterly
“The consumer decision-making journey” 2009 Vol. 3
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

26. Trusted channels
Source: TNS (2010)
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

27. A new integrated communications model
The goal is NOT to
channel content to
audiences, but
audiences
to content
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

28. Channeling audiences to content
Location- Keyword
based strategy
Hosted
Cloud content
communities
Social
Multimedia
communities
Content
streams
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

29. Modern means to build an image
#1 – Listen obsessively
#2 – Be authentic & transparent
#3 – Go peer-to-peer
#4 – Focus on the 1%
#5 – Be human
#6 – Build relationships
#7 – Commit for the long-term
#8 – Use storytelling

30. Listen obsessively
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

31. Be transparent
“When there exists a connection
between the endorser and the seller
of the advertised product that
materially affect the weight or
credibility of the endorsement (i.e.,
the connection is not reasonably
expected by the audience), such
connection must be fully disclosed.”
Federal Trade Commission: Guides Concerning the Use of
Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005
endorsementguidesfnnotice.pdf
Source: The Customer Collective Blog

32. Go peer-to-peer
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

33. Focus on the 1%
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

34. Be human
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

35. Build relationships
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

36. Use digital storytelling
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

37. Every company a media company?
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

38. Closing Thoughts

39. Everything that famously goes wrong
is now called a „PR disaster‟
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

40. Be prepared to apologize
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

41. Something to think about
BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC EVIDENCE-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

42. Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific
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