The story of Brand Anarchy

The story of Brand Anarchy

Image by Vikki Chowney

Reviews and comment
What is Brand Anarchy?
Changing media
Life on the inside
Authentic communication
Planning and insight
Shift to participation
New skills
Acknowledgements

“This is a really good book for anyone
involved in journalism, marketing or
communications. Unlike so many books
on the subject, it is grounded in
common sense, properly analytical and
supports its propositions with
instructive case studies and anecdotes.”

“It’s also well written.”

“I agree with a lot of the thesis that
these guys have put together.”

“Anarchy obviously is just a word to try
to get a bit of attention, but actually, in
terms of the communicator and what it
means to have this phenomenal kind of
change sweeping through not just the
PR industry, but every industry in the
world, I think it is a really exciting time.”

Source: Flickr/jamescridland
http://wadds.co/RRXN8x

A brand is a connection between and organisation and its
audience. Brands are running scared because those
connections are multiplying beyond their control.

You Can Stick It
http://wadds.co/RRY37n

But brands have never had control of their reputation.
Perception of a brand has always rested on building a
relationship between brand and audience.

Source: Flickr/anniemole
http://wadds.co/RRYn68

Public relations is a catch-all term for the craft of
publicity, and the business of strategic communications

Source: Flickr/electricinca
http://wadds.co/RRYwXg

Communicators face two challenges: an adjustment to
media that cannot be controlled and organisational
structures that prevent decisions from being made quickly.

Daily and weekly deadlines are an anachronism of print.
Today a deadline is simply as soon as someone types their
opinion and hits publish.

Today’s business executives don’t just need to be
comfortable communicating in front of traditional media.
They need to be comfortable in front of the world.

Source: Flickr/NS Newsflash
http://wadds.co/RRYKxG

For now, a print source has authority over the Internet.
But it is changing fast. Broadsheet and tabloid print
audiences are declining by 10 per cent per annum.

Storyful
http://wadds.co/RRYXB5

The news business no longer resides with a small number
of newspaper publishers and TV channels.
Disintermediation makes it difficult to make money.

Our appetite for media is insatiable. UK consumers spend
more than seven hours per day consuming media. 20% of
this time is spent using more than one form of media.

Print maybe in trouble but video is booming. The Internet
disconnects content from a schedule, enables anyone to
share content at low cost, and makes TV social.

Huffington Post
http://wadds.co/RRYXB5

Anyone with a web browser and an Internet connection
can become a publisher, and sometimes enjoy more
success than a traditional publisher.

Sichuan Earthquake
Source: Flickr/pestanarui
http://wadds.co/PUx1J4

User generated content is not journalism. It has an
important role to play in newsgathering but lacks the
authority, neutrality and verification of traditional media.

Source: Wikipedia
http://wadds.co/RS0jMb

Every man should have a built-in crap detector operating
inside him – Ernest Hemmingway.

The reconstruction of traditional media is a work in
progress. Digital editions, pay walls, clubs, and advertising
are all attempts to build a viable business model.

Owning the audience channel is the big game to play for in
the media and technology industries. It’s where
Amazon, Apple and Google are focussing their efforts.

The media is no longer a brick wall between brands and
their audiences. Now you can go straight to the
people, onto their mobile phones, right into their kitchens.

The Asda Green Room
http://wadds.co/QBXPw3
Via Rachel Miller

The internet gives employers an opportunity to whip up
and maintain excitement but the people at the top need to
cede control.

Target Ovarian
http://wadds.co/QBY8a1
Via Rachel Miller

Original content can be orchestrated to entice comment
from employees, encourage sharing, and take on a life of
its own as part or a cohesive communication plan.

Greater Manchester Police
http://wadds.co/QBYtJT

Innovative brands are using social media to engage
employees in conversation and information sharing about
what’s going on at the top of the organisation.

Dean Royles, NHS
http://wadds.co/QBYM7v
Via Rachel Miller

Banning social media in the workplace is futile and has the
potential to backfire spectacularly. The separation
between personal and professional is blurring.

RBS
http://wadds.co/QBZ1zo
Via Rachel Miller

Brands that talk at staff rather than engage are bores.
Brands must first engage, and then actively encourage
participation by learning and listening.

DoubleClick Adplanner
http://wadds.co/RS0y9R

Media planners need to consider four types of media in a
bid to engage with their audience: bought, owned, earned
and social.

#EssexLion
http://wadds.co/RS1iff

Brands need to recognise that media has become a two-
way street. The audience play an active role in how a story
is communicated and develops.

Sprout Social
sproutsocial.com

Social networks mean that organisations can have a far
more accurate and immediate barometer of customer
opinion about themselves and their activities.

Never Seconds
Source: JustGiving
http://wadds.co/MaI11b

Conversations are visible to anyone with a connection to
the Internet. You can’t stop conventional media picking up
on shared content.

Alastair Campbell
alastaircampbell.org

It’s no longer possible to control a media agenda. The
digitisation and speed of media has changed the game
forever – Alastair Campbell.

Organisation Market Competitors

The Business of Influence reframes influence flows around
an organisation. It brings a refreshing perspective to
organisational communication.

Wikileaks
Source: Flickr/acidpolly
http://wadds.co/NVQwhX

The Internet has laid bare the fact that transparency is the
only possible form of organisational communication. Ask
the US Government.

Model Name Type of Characteristics
Communication
Press agent / One-way Uses persuasion and manipulation to influence audiences
publicity communication to behave as the organisation desires.

Public information One-way Uses press releases and other one-way communication
model communication techniques to distribute organisational information. The
public relations practitioner is often referred to as the in-
house journalist.

Two-way Two-way Uses persuasion and manipulation to influence audiences
asymmetrical model communication to behave as the organisation desires. Does not use
(imbalanced) research to find out how stakeholders feel about the
organisation.
Two-way symmetrical Two-way Uses communication to negotiate with the public, resolve
model communication conflict and promote mutual understanding and respect
between the organisation and its stakeholders

James E. Grunig and Todd Hunt’s Four Models of Public
Relations are as relevant today as they were when they
were first published in 1984.

Cadbury Daily Milk
Source: Facebook

While social media allows organisations to engage with
their audiences, for now very few are actually doing so.
Organisations remain wedded to propaganda relations.

Source: Flickr/jameswest
http://wadds.co/RS2kYx

The majority of press releases (1.7 billion issued per year)
do not contain news. They are general purpose documents
used to satisfy multiple audiences.

David Carroll
Source: YouTube
http://wadds.co/NVP2El

Audiences are holding organisations to account by
brandjacking, and for now it places an organisation in a
difficult relationship with its audiences.

Source: YouTube
http://wadds.co/RSgLMd

Everyone working for a brand is a spokesperson. But that
always been the case. The difference now is that thanks to
the Internet everyone has an audience.

Nestle
Source: Facebook

A conversation that begins between a brand and a
consumer can escalate in minutes to involve thousands of
comments from around the world.

Twitter Search
Source: SproutSocial

Conversations about your organisation and its market are
almost certainly taking place on the social web right now.
Are you listening?

Deepwater Horizon
Source: Flickr
http://wadds.co/PmLLy4

During the Deepwater Horizon crisis BP had 50 people
working 24/7 to counter inaccurate information on the
social web – former CEO, Tony Hayward.

Source: Risk Issues and Crisis Management in Public Relations
1. Develop a positive attitude towards crisis management
2. Bring the organisation’s performance into line with public
expectation
3. Build credibility through a succession of responsible deeds
4. Be prepared to act on opportunities during a crisis
5. Appoint appropriate teams to act on opportunities during a
crisis
6. Catalogue potential crisis situations and devise policies for their
prevention
7. Put the plan in writing
8. Test, test and test again

Social media enables a crisis to be monitored at grass
roots before it breaks. Anyone can share or comment on a
crisis but proven management techniques hold up.

Google Analytics
http://wadds.co/RS2Plq

Tools are helping brands make sense of the massive
amounts of online data. Consumers are no longer defined
by demographics but their online history.

Kred Story
kred.com

Peer metrics are a shortcut to calculate an individual’s
influence in a social network. Organisations are starting to
use them to prioritise customer service responses.

Source: Flickr/bensutherland
http://wadds.co/RS6qQx

The judiciary’s attitude to social media is to treat it as any
other form of media. New legal definitions are a work in
progress. It’s booming business for lawyers.

Twitter Help Centre
http://wadds.co/RS6NdQ

Social networks have well established processes and deal
quickly with trademark infringements and cases of
deliberate misinformation.

Source: Flickr/sterlic
http://wadds.co/RSoGsR

Reputation is a sod of a thing to measure. The public
relations industry has become preoccupied with counting
outputs rather than linking investment to outcomes.

Admin Page
Facebook

But organisations have access to more insight than ever
before to assess the value of their reputation. Yet this
largely remains guess work.

Valid Metrics
amecorg.com

AVE was finally buried as a means of evaluation in June
2010 by AMEC as part of the Barcelona Principals. It has
subsequently developed the Valid Metrics Framework.

History is repeating itself. We’re heading back to the Two-
Way Street – Eric Goldman. The public relations industry
faces dramatic upheaval in a bid to modernise.

Google+
plus.google.com

Search marketing is part of that change. Search is giving
way to social networks as a means of discovery.

Northumberland CC
Source: Facebook

As the fragmentation of media continues
apace, organisations are creating their own media

Heinz
We Are Social

Savvy organisations are starting to harness the
conversations taking place about them, and their
markets, and develop their own communities.

Source: Flickr/cmakin
http://wadds.co/RS7e85

Shifting from traditional forms of corporate
communication to social forms of communication requires
a change in language and style.

Lissted
lissted.com

The public relations industry is locked into a workflow that
has its origins in the 1950s. If the industry is to have a
future that must change.

Participation based on two-way communication between a
brand and an audience is the future of organisational
communication.

Inconvenient PR Truth
inconvenientprtruth.com

Yet distributing irrelevant content and calling journalists to
ask did you get my press release arethe industry’s primary
activity – Andrew Smith.

CIPR CPD Dashboard
http://wadds.co/RSmv8F

The modern practitioner needs to understand media and
networks, how brands develop their own forms of media
and content, and develop communities online.

Northumberland Social
http://northumberlandsocial.co.uk

1. Branded media – curate or generate content and share it
directly with an audience as a means of engagement.

@wadds Twitter
http://twitter.com/wadds

2. Engagement and conversation – develop personal
networks, and engage with your peers, competitors and
markets online – in an appropriate tone of voice.

Source: Flickr/Kris Hoet
http://wadds.co/TjR56d

3. Speed – deadlines no longer exist. Everyone needs to be
able to engage in a real time conversation online and
offline.

Google Keyword Tool
http://wadds.co/RSmIc8

4. Planning – use tools to understand an online audience
and what influences its motivation.

Bit.ly Dashboard
http://bit.ly

5. Monitoring – the clipping book is dead. Organisations
need real time data to respond and adapt programmes.

@ASOS Twitter
http://twitter.com/asos

6. Integration – social media democratises
communication. Functional departments must work
together because the audience expects it.

Valid Metrics
amecorg.com

7. Measurement – AVEs are dead. Investigate modern
measurement frameworks that connect investment with
outcomes.

8. Technology –a willingness to try-out new
platforms, products and services is critical to anyone
wanting to stay ahead.

Finally, manage your web footprint. It will increase your
connections and access to opportunities. It will make you
more lucky – Antony Mayfield.

Acknowledgements
Mark Adams (@cluetrainee); Richard Bagnall (@richardbagnall); Richard Bailey
(@behindthespin); Charles Bell (@thistoomustpass); Rob Brown (@robbrown); Dominic
Burch (@dom_asdapr); Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret); Lisa Carden; Michael Chaplin
(michaelchaplin2); Neil Chapman (@najchapman); Margaret Clow (@executivetyping); David
Cushman (@davidcushman); Greg Dyke; Cliff Ettridge (@cliffettridge); Russell Goldsmith
(@russgoldsmith); Andrew Grill (@andrewgrill); James E. Grunig; Dan Howe (@danhowe);
Neville Hobson (@jangles); Dan Ilett (@danielilett); Francis Ingham (@prcaingham); Peter
Kirwan (@petekirwan); Howard Kosky (@howardkosky); Quentin Langley (@brandjack);
Barry Leggetter (@barryleggetter); Antony Mayfield (@amayfield); Rachel Miller
(@rach_miller); Adam Parker (@adparker); David G. H. Phillips (@davidghphillips); Michael
Regester; Howard Rheingold (@hrheingold); Phillip Sheldrake (@Sheldrake); Jonathan
Simnett (@westfour); Andrew Bruce Smith (@andismit); Jeremy Thompson
@jeremycthompson; Mike Walsh; Sally Whittle (@swhittle); Will Whitehorn; Daryl Willcox
(@darylwillcox); Ross Wigham (@rosswigham); Heather Yaxley (@greenbanana); and Philip
Young (@mediations).

About the authors
Steve Earl (@mynameisearl) and Stephen Waddington
(@wadds) worked together since the popular rise of the
Internet and the dawn of digital media.

They’ve helped brands such as the Associated
Press, Cisco, The Economist, IBM, Tesco and Virgin Media to
manage their reputations. Their views are formed from 20
years spent working in one of the most competitive media
and public relations environments in the world.

Steve Earl
mynameisearl.eu
@mynameisearl

Stephen Waddington
wadds.co.uk
@wadds

The story of Brand Anarchy

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