Stuff and Things

Console Wars Redux: where exactly is the war won?

e3Normally the format of this blog would be simple: take an existing news story or other item (in this case last week’s excitement around E3) and weave a handy lesson in PR or technology around it.

However, this year I quite frankly don’t know where to start. Was Microsoft’s launch and showing of the Xbox One (or XBone as the inevitable abbreviation seems to be turning out) a lesson in how attempting to adapt to the increased functionality of devices and attempting to take control of an entire user ecosystem needs to be balanced with a clear message and clear benefits to end-users at every step of the way? Or was it a sign of how brute force may be one way for organisations to claim ownership of their software? Was it a slightly worrying sign of just how some organisations see their customers? Or was it saying that you should really work out a naming convention for your products and stick with it?

Was Sony’s corresponding PlayStation 4 announcement and apparent PR victory as far as customer goodwill is concerned a lesson in how to read your customer base and know when to stick with what works? Was it a sign how relative success can easily switch between close competitors, within the space of a single hardware generation? Does it suggest that success in technology is won or lost before your product even hits the stores (or resellers)? And should we consider that a single, swiftly-made video can be a huge PR tool in the right hands?

Will Nintendo’s Wii U’s relatively slow year and slate of software for 2013 and 2014 demonstrate how standing your ground and planning for the long haul can make up for a poor first impression? Or will it show that when all’s said and done customers look to vendors for reassurance and that’s something they have to provide?

Is there also something to be said about the relative homogeneity of software, with relatively little to differentiate one product from another? After all we’ve been promised emotive experiences this generation, which is fair enough; provided the primary emotion you want to evoke can be summed up as RRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRGH. Does this point to an inevitable commoditisation of both software and hardware, with those products that can differentiate themselves standing out even more starkly?

Lastly, what is the potential for suggesting that there is a time and a place to upgrade, and you need to measure exactly when that is to get the best value for money. After all, if you’re like me this is always the best point in a console’s lifecycle: when everyone clears off to the next version and you can sit back and buy all the software you missed first time round on the cheap and pick up the last few gems being produced.  At least as a spectator, we’re seeing another round of always-entertaining system wars: although whether it ends up a classic like Spectrum vs. C64, Amiga vs. ST or Nintendo vs. Sega is still up in the air.

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Stop the corp-talk

JargonA couple of weeks ago I read an interesting article from Lucy Tobin at the Evening Standard, discussing the pitfalls of corporate talk. Though her view point essentially explained how ‘management slang’ is often used by corporations to conceal a negative picture, it is also true that including too much jargon within an announcement can put businesses at a disadvantage when trying to portray positive messages, too.

Most mornings, I scan through the pages of the Financial Times and The Times and feel as if making sense of some company quotes and news is like trying to decipher code penned by Leonardo Da Vinci himself. Plenty of companies appear to be ‘leveraging’, ‘strategising’ and ‘creating synergies’ in their business, but what do these words realistically mean in context to the message they are trying to convey; would businesses benefit from simplifying their message in order to make it easier to assimilate? The answer, unless they are trying to conceal something, is almost always going to be yes!

During my time in PR, I’ve witnessed a fair amount of ‘white collar rap’ which has often been met by sighs and, admittedly, the occasional expletive, from the media community. As PR professionals, our job is to achieve media recognition for our clients, which in turn helps to nurture their presence inside their industry.

The most successful way to do this is to make the lives of journalists as pleasant as possible; we understand they have little time to decipher complex language and turn it into compelling news stories during the course of their day. So by providing them with concise, factual and readable content that’s written in simple English, we can increase the likelihood of them using the information that is given to them. In addition to this, it will also ensure that what they do write and publish is factually correct and thus more clearly understood by the people reading it i.e. a client’s stakeholders!

Simplifying a corporate message so that it’s fully understood might sound like an easy task. But without correct guidance, even the most reputed companies can fall prey and miss that all important opportunity to gain recognition of a valuable announcement.

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4G auction failure – is it a blessing in disguise?

362112I have been reading about the recent 4G auction and why it is now being investigated by the National Audit Office, as it failed to raise the anticipated amount the Government expected, in fact 3.5 billion less than they thought. To me that is astonishing, especially as the Treasury’s forecast of £3.5bn from the auction was included in the Government finances in the autumn economy statement last December, which allowed it to claim that borrowing was falling.

We firstly need to ask why expectations were so out of line with the actual result. Well this could have been down to the fact that many of the mobile operators were unwilling to pay for what was offered to them, as the market is now just limited to the four major operators (Vodafone,3,02,EE) whilst in 2000 there were more than six bidders for the 3G auction.

That 3G spectrum was the only way for operators to provide consumers with the real opportunity to stream videos, use social media, share pictures, etc. It was a clear cut choice for operators in 2000 either join them or be left out, since many were unable to offer what was then high-speed mobile data on their existing network.

The auction structure for the 3G bidding deliberately pushed operators’ bids up and the Treasury happily pocketed £22 billion. But the industry suffered as a result of this and left many operators with huge debts.

Will the 4G scenario turn out the same? We are still in the early stages of seeing how 4G networks will develop and the UK’s mobile network infrastructure will no doubt need building on again just like it did for 3G in order for 4G to run smoothly.

In today’s market 4G isn’t the only offering available to consumers.  With Wi-Fi hotspots and 3G, consumers now have more choices to be connected.  Besides this, the market for mobile data services is now well-established, and the major four operators are now in an exclusive club which only argues to entertain an audience, and keep Ofcom from treading on their toes.

The very fact that the major operators got the 4G spectrum cheaper than the Treasury would have wanted them to, should actually come as good news for operators and hopefully consumers. Lower spectrum costs will mean that mobile data services should eventually be offered more effortlessly and at a cheaper cost.

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Mental note – Change and fresh ideas are good

In technology PR it can be easy sometimes to get caught up in established trends and set ways of thinking, especially when particularly hot topics like mobile payments or cloud computing are getting regular coverage in national newspapers. However, it is important to remember that trends are temporary and that today’s headlines are tomorrow’s fish and chip paper (or hamster bedding, whatever you prefer).  Even the most ground-breaking technologies give way to other contenders waiting in line. While it is important to follow the news agenda, we also need to offer fresh ideas and position clients with unique insights into what’s happening around us.

As most of us know, trying to come up with a new angle is especially important when speaking with the media, especially given the average journalist receives hundreds of e-mails a day.  Are you saying anything different than the competition and the other hoi polloi? What is interesting about the story that isn’t common knowledge? What dangers lurk around the corner that could send the average IT manager or CEO running to the hills? Even a mind-numbingly technical story can sometimes have a jewel of innovation hidden amongst the detail.

Keeping a fresh outlook is not just important from a best practice perspective, insights from our daily life can be useful reference points when creating content for clients. Why did retail technology get us excited or frustrated when out grabbing some bread and eggs at the weekend? How satisfied are we with public Wi-Fi coverage and having to choose between 5 million hotspots to read an e-mail? All these ideas have a bearing on how technology markets develop and are important points to keep in mind even when communicating messages to business audiences.

The joy of our work (apart from getting to eat in fancy restaurants, which is a perk) is that the world we respond to is constantly shifting technology and what holds today may not be true tomorrow. As such, we should be open to innovative ways of thinking wherever they come from. At the end of the day this is in all our interests: the pioneer of the next big thing could be one of your clients. I mean, IBM started off making clocks and now make supercomputers. Think about it.

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Fergus-GONE

It seems fitting, writing a Spark blog on the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson from Manchester United. After all, as the only member of the Spark team to actually come from Manchester I am of course a proud supporter of Stockport County. However, when the longest-serving and most-successful manager in history leaves your eighth team it’s worth pausing to reflect on what we could learn from this.

I’ve gone over how organisations shouldn’t see the departure of a charismatic figurehead as spelling the end of all things before. Indeed, in this case it’s clear that Manchester United had plenty of fame and success before Ferguson and doubtless will again afterwards: it’s not like he’s even the club’s first iconic Scottish manager. Yet for nearly three decades Ferguson has been very much the face and voice of Manchester United: players, staff and owners have been and gone but Ferguson as the spokesperson has remained.

From a PR perspective, this consistency in spokesperson and voice is certainly something to strive for. While not always possible, there is a lot to be said for having consistent, core personnel who are ready and able to be the public face of the organisation at all times. It makes it easier to provide a consistent message. It allows the spokesperson to build relationships that then help the business directly and indirectly. And it focuses attention, allowing those workers who are maybe less comfortable or confident to focus attention on their core jobs. Admittedly this isn’t always possible: eventually everyone will retire, spokespeople may move on and sometimes a subject will be so technical that it needs a specialist to discuss in depth. Yet in general, a business should have a core of faces that it presents to the public and ensure that it never has to thrust anyone into the limelight unprepared.

Similarly, it’s easy to overlook that Ferguson didn’t get instant results: there was a long period of building and refining before the club became the “don’t win anything with kids” colossus that it is today. Likewise, PR should not be focused solely on instant results. Instead building relationships and ensuring that a message is settled and consistent will provide much greater benefits in the long term. Of course, hiring a PR agency to help with this process can often be a bonus and there are a number of highly recommended agencies available: there may even be a link on this very page.

In the meantime we can steel ourselves for a wave of tributes and speculation over the eventual successor. Although doubtless my suggestion of Jim Gannon won’t be considered, more fool them.

 

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