More Ways to Engage on #SOTU
January 26, 2012

For additional opportunities to engage with senior administration officials post-State of the Union, you can tweet specific policy questions @WHChat (see below for office hours) or tweet your thoughts to Director of the Office of Public Engagement @JonCarson44. The OPE will post some of your responses on its blog in the coming days. Just another way to get involved in our digital democracy.

Visit www.whitehouse.gov/SOTU for the most up-to-date schedule.

Thursday, January 26th Office Hours Schedule

  • 3:00 p.m. Native American Issues: Kimberly Teehee, Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs
  • 4:00 p.m. Small Business Owners: Christine Koronides, Senior Advisor for Economic Policy, National Economic Council
  • 5:00 p.m. African Americans: Danielle Gray, Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
  • 6:00 p.m. Asian American Pacific Islanders: Chris Lu, Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary

Friday, January 27th Office Hours Schedule

  • 9:00 a.m:. Disability Issues: Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy
  • 10:00 a.m.: Rural Issues: Doug McKalip, Senior Policy Advisor for Rural Affairs
  • 11:00 a.m. Foreign Policy: Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting
  • 12:00 p.m. Education: Roberto Rodriguez, Special Assistant to the President for Education Policy
  • 1:00 p.m. Health: Jeanne Lambrew, Deputy Assistant to the President for Health Policy and Nick Papas, Assistant Press Secretary
  • 2:00 p.m. Energy: Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy & Climate Change and Dan Utech, Deputy Director for Energy Policy
  • 3:00 p.m. Consumer Protections: Brian Deese, Deputy Director National Economic Council
  • 4:00 pm The Economy: Jason Furman, Principal Deputy Director National Economic Council
  • 5:00 p.m. Job Opportunities: Portia Wu, Senior Policy Advisor for Mobility and Opportunity Policy
  • 6:00 p.m. Urban Issues: Racquel Russell, Special Assistant to the President for Mobility and Opportunity

Monday, January 30th

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A Blueprint for Digital Democracy
January 26, 2012

Tuesday night, MWW Group and our partner in MWW Entertainment, Kevin Liles were invited by the White House to take part in a post-State of the Union “tweet up” that enabled our Twitter followers to get their questions answered by senior administration officials. You can follow our coverage at @MWWGroup and @KevinLiles1.

This was just one example of how Tuesday night’s speech was more than just a blueprint for our nation’s future – it was a blueprint for the future of our democracy.

I’ve made the point in previous posts, but it bears repeating: digital tools are revolutionizing not just how citizens engage with their democracy, but how decision-makers and government can engage with constituencies. It’s a two-way dialogue, and never has that been as prominent as it was before, during, and after the President’s address.

This isn’t the first time – the administration is highly active on Facebook and Twitter, and I was just down in Washington a couple of weeks ago to do a tweet-up with Jon Bon Jovi on the importance of summer jobs for youth. But Tuesday night, the White House took these efforts to the next level, offering an enhanced viewing of the State of the Union on Whitehouse.gov that included graphics and highlighted statistics. Next Monday, President Obama will take part in a Google+ hangout. You can see other opportunities for engagement here.

This is a blueprint for how government officials and politicians can more effectively engage their constituents in the digital age. But it’s also a pertinent example for how executives and speechmakers of all stripes can activate their audience and reach new ones. If you’re a CEO, think about how you could offer enhanced viewing to engage consumers, investors, employees – all stakeholders – around important announcements and milestones.

Speeches will never go out of style, but smart social media strategies can make your words matter more.

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Raising Our Voices – and Rhetoric – for Gabby
January 23, 2012

Today Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords completed the “Congress on your Corner” event that was cut tragically short when a gunman opened fire on January 8, 2011.

Seeing her interacting with constituents who survived that fateful day, you can’t help but be amazed at the incredible progress Gabby has made in the face of such enormous odds.

But it’s a bittersweet moment – yesterday, Rep. Giffords announced on YouTube that should we be stepping down from Congress this week to continue her recovery and do what she believes is in the best interest of the people of Arizona.

She thanked her constituents for the opportunity to serve as their voice in Congress, a voice which has been effectively silenced. The gunman didn’t end Gabby’s life as he intended, but he did end her voice in Congress, and with it the voice of the Arizonans – Americans – who elected her.

This is a tragedy of its own merits. Gabby had a bright future in Congress, and while she may return to public life eventually, but we’ll never know how her absence will change the course of this country.

With Gabby’s voice gone – at least for now – from the U.S. Capitol, we must use our voices as Americans to ensure that the level of discourse in politics is befitting of her bravery and grace, and that we finish the work that she began.

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Creating Opportunities for Youth, This Summer and Beyond
January 10, 2012

Last week, President Obama kicked off of Summer Jobs+, the administration’s partnership with the private sector with the goal of creating 250,000 employment opportunities by this summer for our nation’s youth.

I was there with fellow member of the White House Council for Community Solutions, musician Jon Bon Jovi, to do a tweet-up about the importance of connecting young people with mentorship, teaching soft and hard skills, and providing employment this summer and beyond.

A summer job means hope, future, respect, and better lives for the nearly 7 million young people who, right now in the United States, don’t attend school or have a job.  Several of these young people were on hand at the event to share their stories, and what they said was exactly in line with what Jon Bon Jovi and I heard on our listening tour this past summer. Young people want jobs…they want opportunity. They are optimistic, they want to be seen as the hope for the future, not a burden to be dealt with.  But they don’t often know how to find the programs and help they need, or they have a past that gets in the way of their future.

Think back on your own summer jobs when you were young  – whether it was mowing lawns, caring for neighbor’s children, interning in local government, or flipping burgers – those jobs taught us discipline, work ethic, time management, budgeting – life skills that made us better employees and in some cases, eventually, employers.

But the recession has driven youth unemployment up to unprecedented levels. Only 25 percent of teens were employed this summer.  Where are young people learning these important skills?

The answer is, they aren’t. And it’s a dangerous trend for the future prosperity of our country. A “disconnected” youth will make about $400,000 less than their working, educated peers over a lifetime, along with other implications.

There are things we can do to put all young people on the right track. It might be difficult to think about summer jobs in the middle of winter, but those of us who run our own companies should be thinking about it now and planning ahead. If all the small and medium businesses provided just one internship or opportunity to one disadvantaged youth this summer we could change millions of lives.

Why wait? Provide one or two opportunities this winter. Something to think about…

To learn more visit www.dol.gov/summerjobs.

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Kodak’s “Relevance” Moment
January 6, 2012

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reports that Eastman Kodak Co. is on the brink of filing for bankruptcy protection, after 131 years leading the camera industry. It’s a long fall for the iconic brand and industry giant who defined modern photography, at least for my generation, but whose industry has been completely revolutionized over the last few decades by smart phones, mobile apps like Instagram, and digital technology – a technology that has rendered film obsolete.

Kodak tried to innovate to survive, moving into inkjet printers and digital cameras, neither of which would prove too profitable. In fact, Kodak invented the first digital camera. But being the first does not always mean you’ll outlast. It’s a constant process of evolution. And it’s no longer enough to diversify your product line or rely on trust alone – Kodak had that in spades; a company must also build relevance, 24/7.

For example, MWW Group has worked with Nikon for more than a decade to help them matter more to younger audiences, some who may not have even developed film in their lives, and drive the conversation offline and online.  Nikon recognized long ago the need to build upon their trusted brand to create relevance in the marketplace.  These insights and changes have been an important factor in  the company’s recent successes.

Kodak is a cautionary tale, not just for the camera industry, but for all companies, companies like Google and Apple, who despite their current success, may one day face extinction. Kodak was in many ways the “Google of its day”… but inevitably, todays turn into tomorrows. Things change. And companies have to be ready and willing to change with them – not just add new products to the catalog. If you don’t matter…well, you go bankrupt.

Kodak can emerge from this moment a stronger, more relevant company, like GM and others before them.  But it’s a wakeup call for all companies who continue to cling to past business practices – the future belongs to those who are relevant to their core audiences…and to those who matter more than their competitors.

 

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Why Iowa Matters, More or Less
January 4, 2012

It was a long night for those of us who followed the results of the Iowa caucus until it was called for Mitt Romney…barely.

With the first Republican primaries in our rear view and most candidates and reporters on their way to New Hampshire, I’ve seen a lot of people asking, including even @cspan: Did Iowa matter?

And I would add another question to the mix: did it matter more? Not in terms of whether it will impact the eventual Republican nominee or if it mattered more than New Hampshire or South Carolina or any other state…but did it matter more than it did four years ago?

I think the answer depends on what you’re measuring… if you’re measuring who won or who lost, the jury is still out.

But if you’re measuring the impact it will have on the media environment, the answer is yes.

Four years ago, when I wanted the latest coverage of the primaries, I turned on cable news or browsed stories on CNN.com.

But yesterday, despite the saturation of reporting from the mainstream media, I went directly for Twitter for the most recent updates and on-the-ground reporting from folks, including BuzzFeed’s @ZekeJMiller who just started the job. What Twitter offers isn’t cable news’ carefully packaged narratives, but off-the-cuff observations and knee-jerk analysis that really gave you the sense of what it’s like to really be in Iowa, media circus and all. It makes fun of the cable news hysteria.  And in 140 characters, there’s little room for partisan subtext and subtly – you know where they stand.

Another reason Iowa mattered more is because it was really the first glimpse we have into how election results will be reported. There’s still a hesitation to call an election too early…can’t shake 2000…but with Twitter you can see exactly who has the results when and who has them first.  Twitter is driving the cable news cycle, not the other way around.

But what I think is most significant…why Iowa matters most…is because it shows how far mainstream media has slipped in terms of relevance with ordinary Americans. Rick Santorum got the least coverage of all the candidates vying for the Republican nomination, yet he effectively tied the front runner. Just goes to show you that the only ones who will really decide the elections in 2012 will be the American people.

I predict that in four years, most folks will be getting, or at least complementing, their news with a Twitter feed or whatever comes after Twitter.  With Ben Smith moving to BuzzFeed, more candidates buying advertisements on Twitter…this is where it’s heading.

And I think that on balance, it’s a great thing for America. While we tend to tune into only cable news shows and read the papers that fit into and reinforce our worldview, I follow a lot of people on Twitter with whom I frequently and feverishly disagree. A variety of opinions, dissenting viewpoints, information without filter? Now, that’s democracy.

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Reflecting on 2011: The Year of Relevance
December 22, 2011

Slowing down just long enough to catch my breath and celebrate the New Year, I am thrilled to report that 2011 was our best year since our founding. And speaking of our founding, this year we celebrated 25 years of aiming high and delivering…not to mention our newfound independence. We added almost 100 new clients, received 5 Agency of the Year awards, quadrupled the size of our digital team (named PR Week’s Digital Team of the Year), and hired top talent across all of our practice areas…just to name a few of our proudest accomplishments.

While this past year will go down in MWW history as a year of extraordinary achievement and iconic client wins, 2011 will be also be remembered for our new rally cry, management focus and point of view, something we call “Matter More.” Matter More is all about making our clients relevant to their core stakeholders, to create an emotional bond between a brand and its consumers. In essence, it’s about making our clients “matter more” than their competitors. Relevance is at the heart of every strategy, every program, and every measurement MWW created for our clients in 2011 and with great success.

In 2012, in order to win the battle over their competition, brands and companies will have to do more than just matter – they will need to matter more. More than they mattered yesterday…more than the competition will matter tomorrow.

That Matter More philosophy is what sets MWW apart from the pack, and what will continue to drive our success for our clients in the New Year and beyond. And it’s reflected in the culture we build for our employees, where they can feel their work, aspirations, and talents truly matter more here at MWW.

What matters to our clients and employees matters to MWW. That’s why we strive to do more for our communities, our industry, and in some small way, our world. For example, this holiday season we are supporting the Ronald McDonald House, Center for Food Action, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, and Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign.

So with the New Year firmly in our sights, we wanted to thank everyone who has made this year such an extraordinary success. If you thought you saw great things from us in 2011, we have even more in store for 2012. Stay tuned…

And from the MWW Group family to yours…happy holidays!

 

Happy Holidays from MWW Group! from MWW Group on Vimeo.

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The Transformative Buying Power of Women
December 20, 2011

The most valuable consumer of 2011 has been the American woman. And it’s not the first win for the female shopper as Time’s in depth report shows….and it certainly won’t be the last. According to Time, Women accounted for 58% of online spending, and more than 80% of health care decisions made.

But what’s most revelatory and relevant to marketers is not that women are spending more, it’s that they’re earning more. In the United States, women influence more than half of the nation’s private wealth. In cities like New York, single, childless women in their twenties and thirties are earning more than their male counterparts. Nationwide, one-third of women make more than their husbands, for the first time…ever.

The reason? For one, women make up nearly half the workforce. But importantly, it comes down to the fact that a higher percentage of women in the workforce have college degrees than men. And so that influence is not only more empowered to spend but educated to spend wisely.

These changes have real implications on how brands and companies market to women. No longer are we living in the world where Mad Men’s Betty Draper purchases beer for her husband’s dinner party based on the display at the supermarket. Social media has expanding the buying experience long before and long after the point of sale, from product research to customer service. Women are more likely to share content online than men – and use those shared recommendations to impact purchasing decisions.

BlogHer reports that about 54% of women are engaged with blogs, and many use them as a first stop for product insights and reviews. To leverage this growing influence, MWW worked with our client Sara Lee to introduce Jimmy Dean to influential female bloggers by providing samples to and engaging more than 2,000 participants at BlogHer 2010, the preeminent conference for female bloggers. This activation resulted in more than 30 million impressions and 2,893 fans on Facebook in the days surrounding BlogHer. But more importantly, it engaged an entire network of influencers who could share their experiences and impressions of Jimmy Dean to a loyal and trusting audience.

Blog engagement not only taps into a built in network and credibility, it can help reach fragmented audiences through hyper-targeting. There are blogs focusing on everything from DIY and fashion to sites for pet lovers and foodies.

Bottom line, to matter more to women, brands need to understand what matters most to them: outstanding customer service at all points of contact, endorsements and recommendations from people they trust, corporate responsibility and better business practices, diversity and women leadership in the boardroom. Smart brands and companies will leverage the buying power of women to innovate better products, better buying experiences, and ultimately, the way business is done.

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The Bet Tweeted Round the World
December 14, 2011

Unless you watched the Republican debates in Iowa on Saturday, it’s likely that the only thing you’ve heard about them is that Mitt Romney bet Rick Perry $10,000 that the Texas governor had some of his facts wrong.

Whether you thought the bet was what Romney himself called “an outrageous number to answer an outrageous charge,” or what his opponents are painting as a tone-deaf comment during a time of high unemployment, one thing is for sure: the rapid response from the Democrats set a new standard for social media strategy in the 2012 campaign.

Before the debate was over, the Democratic National Committee had sent an email about the $10,000 bet to reporters and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee promoted the hashtag #What10kBuys (mortgage payments, tuition were just some of the more serious tweets). Within a half hour of the end of the debate, according to Twitter, the hashtag was the most popular not just in Iowa or the U.S., but around the world. And by Monday, the story was already framed, as the Romney camp struggled to retell it.

It’s just as I’ve been saying all along – one of the most important things that will matter in this Twitter election is speed. And there are many lessons for business here as well. You have to get to the story first before someone else tells that story for you.

In this ultra fast media environment, it’s no longer the gaffe itself that will make or break campaigns or sink candidates – it’s going to come down to who can tell that story first and make it relevant to the American voter.

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A Better MBA: Why Business Schools Should Teach PR
December 8, 2011

Yesterday, Bloomberg Businessweek ran a story announcing an important initiative spearheaded by the Public Relations Society of America and MWW Group to bring public relations into the fold at more top business schools.

This is an important effort that our industry should rally around. Every day public relations professionals help companies communicate their value to customers, investors, the media, and other stakeholders, navigating clients toward higher sales and greater brand awareness. Yet, as an industry we often don’t practice what we preach…we’re doing a poor job communicating the value of public relations to the C-suite that we serve.

Sure, business leaders understand benefit of public relations expertise when it gets them out of a crises, but communications experts should not only be brought to the table when it’s time to clean up.  Rather, public relations should be as intrinsic to a business strategy as the advertising budget, finances or the inventory, and it should be taught in MBA programs right up there with accounting and talent management.

Business schools have the opportunity and a responsibility to graduate well-rounded leaders, who have all the tools in their toolbox, including a core set of public relations skills. Yet, according to a recent survey conducted by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and Kelton Research, and funded by MWW Group, 98 percent of business leaders agree MBA programs aren’t doing enough to instruct future leaders on corporate communications and reputation management strategy.  As a result, business school academia is failing to prepare future business leaders for the modern reputational and communications challenges they will face.

PRSA is modeling its initiative based on a successful class developed by Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communications at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. PRSA’s model would offer a number of different formats that could be tailored by individual programs to fit the needs and the aspirations of their students.

The goal of the initiative is not to train business executives to do their own public relations. But by grounding future executives in the principles of reputation management, crisis control, and other critical actions, the C-suite will be able to build more productive relationships with the communications counsel they employ. (Read more about what the initiative is and what it isn’t from MWW Group’s Senior Vice President Joe Cohen.)

The need for these skills has never been greater. With social media driving the conversation, what used to be considered a small setback can now turn into a major PR disaster in a matter of minutes. Upper management should understand the function and value of strong public relations not only to mitigate crises that have already happened, but to prevent crises from unfolding in the future.

The MBA Initiative isn’t just a win for the public relations industry, it’s a win for all industry. At its core, this effort is about advancing better business practices that will benefit the bottom line, investors, and the overall economy. It’s about time the business community and the public relations industry got together to do more than communicate value – it’s time we created value together.

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