Archive for the ‘Pure PR’ Category

I know plenty of great people at TelstraClear in NZ. Their comms team must be spinning in circles this morning after the CEO’s Christmas email to employees leaked to the media. Full of motivational beauties like:

“Oh yes, we lack the killer instinct – we are too tame, too lame, and too timid to call ourselves a challenger.

“A challenger winds their opposition, kicks them down to the ground, and then makes them bleed like something from a Quentin Tarantino movie and then finishes them off – fast.

“In comparison, we are like a Walt Disney Bambi character. We are not Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, we are more like Captain Feathersword in The Wiggles, all bluster and no action.”

And

Right now, we are on a trajectory to disaster … we are being out-marketed, out-smarted and out-gunned in the marketplace. We are too slow in reacting and we lack the killer instinct,” Freeth said in the message, first published by Australia’s Communications Day.

Freeth said their parent, Australia’s Telstra, was expecting the $14.8 million profit and that at some point in the next few weeks he would have to inform chief executive Sol Trujillo TelstraClear would not hit the target.

“Two weeks ago, Sol’s parting comments to me were he feeds those who feed themselves. Well, based on our current forecast, we will be anorexic and starving by the end of this financial year,” said Freeth.

There will be a few employees that this actually does motivate. But one of the key communications rules for any CEO is that when broadcasting, you are communicating to all employees. There is a fine line between straight-talk and inflamatory negativity. And, context is everything – did they forget Christmas all together?

Link to ‘We’re on track to disaster – enjoy Xmas’, says Freeth – 22 Dec 2006 – Business

Mike has some good thoughts on dealing with Industry Analysts. Also points to some other thoughts. Worth listening to.

Kerry continues to miss the point of effective messaging.

As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop [sic].

I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.

It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.

Translated this reads along the lines of:

1. I didn’t say what I really said!
2. If you misinterpreted what I really didn’t say, your problem I’m sorry,
3. Republicans continue to be worthless, uneducated slugs and what I meant to say is that if you don’t get a good education you could end-up like them,
4. It’s really a bugger when others report what you say.

How hard is it to say “I’m sorry”. As in, “I’m sorry for harping on about this but it’s such a great example of bad communications followed by bad messaging and irresponsible leadership”.

Less than two years after acquiring Butler Group, Datamonitor plans on buying Ovum. Four months ago Ovum bought Summit Strategies.

Alan Kelly went to ground for a year or so and is now back with what looks to be a terrific book on “Playmaking“. Looks like this seasons ‘must read’ for communicators.

You run plays. Plays are run on you. Every organization and every person runs plays to increase their relative competitive advantage in busy marketplaces. Some do it well. Some try to avoid it. Some do it directly. Some use surrogates. Some run one play at a time. Some run many simultaneously. Almost all do so on instinct but fewer with the support of stated objectives, policies and augmenting research.

You can read more on his site “The Playmakers Standard“. Or download the intro and sample chapter. I’ll post a review once I get my copy.