Archive for March, 2008
By Kyle Austin
By Kyle Austin
Well actually, Sarah Endline, founder and chief executive of Sweetriot, a small New York company that sells chocolate-covered cacao beans does. I was surfing through some of the Wall Street Journal’s blogs (not nearly as easy to find as the blogs on NewYorkTimes.com), when I came across the “Independent Street” blog and a post by Kelly Spors.
Spors post “How to Get Killer PR,” detailed five points to killer PR that she got from Endline, an entrepreneur that she’s run into on several occasions. Spors ran into Endline during a joint appearance on MSNBC’s “Your Business,” after interviewing her on a separate story on angel investing a few months beforehand. Spors decided it was more then a coincidence that their paths had crossed again and attributed their meetings to good PR. She decided to reconnect with Endline and get to the bottom of her PR secrets.
They are as follows:
1) Attend events. Many of her introductions with journalists are at trade shows and other events. Every January, for instance, Ms. Endline attends the Sundance Film Festival and hands out samples of her cacao beans and chats with celebrities, and often gets Sweetriot mentioned in celebrity-hounding zines.
2) Find compelling themes. Ms. Endline has identified two angles that reporters find intriguing about Sweetriot: its a fast-growth start-up with many entrepreneurial traits and marketing tactics and its unique product. She promotes those aspects when talking about the company and telling its story.
3) Take advantage of opportunities for publicity. Sweetriot applied for Fortune Small Business’s 2007 business-plan competition and ended up with a nice write up and big pic of herself.
4) Be accessible and open. Journalists often work on tight deadlines. So when one calls asking for an interview, call them back quickly. (I’ve never waited more than 30 minutes for Ms. Endline to return my call.) She happily talks about nearly any aspect of her business from fund-raising strategies to annual revenues and marketing tactics. Journalists love that.
5) Devote time. If you think PR will help your company, make time for it. It can’t be just something you try to squeeze into your free time between sales meetings. It takes time, persistence and strategy.
In knowing that these tips are designed for entrepreneurs starting out, who may or may not have an agency (a small one if they do), these are pretty good. Here’s a RaceTalk take on this advice:
1) Attend Events: Events and speaking appearances are crucial for networking and building the name of the spokesperson and brand. If entrepreneurs are attending an event they should take the step to ask the event coordinators for a media list. If they are paying to attend they will likely have access to this list. Reaching out to the media attending in advance may help in setting up a meeting with them.
2) Find Compelling Themes: Even when working with an agency the number one issue can be brainstorming to find compelling themes that resonate in sales and with the media. It is a very good idea to limit messaging to three or less themes or platforms. The idea is to hone those themes and hit on the same intriguing plot lines over and over again. At least until those themes have run their course.
3) Take advantage of opportunities for publicity: Building relationships with magazines goes far beyond engaging directly with reporters. Awards and magazine events are places to network with a vast group of the people that work at publications. In addition, awards from publications and industry associations are a great way to validate the business and the product.
4) Be accessible and open: She’s right on with this and it’s not a surprise that Spors says “journalists love this.” In consulting with our clients we sometimes have to address the misperception that they are doing a favor for the media by talking with them. This cannot be the thought process when dealing with the media. Yes, conversations with the media need to be strategic and planned but opportunities also have to be turned around quickly. It is imperative that entrepreneurs be flexible to the media’s schedule if they want to get their name in ink.
5) Devote Time: PR takes strategy, planning and effort to succeed, just like every other aspect of your business. This leads me into our additional point.
6) Contact a leading PR Agency: When it is time to take your company to the next level contact a leading PR agency (I’ve heard this agency isn’t bad). PR campaigns need to be strategically tied into all business goals and leveraged on all mediums. When done right, PR can have a significant affect on the businesses’ bottom line.
March 14th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
By Kyle Austin
It has been a fascinating week of scandal. Watching and reading (yes reading) the Spitzer story as it has played out, has been borderline addictive. Especially for those of us that are fascinated by the workings of the media. The fact that I noted “reading” is important here. Although it did break online, it was the “Old Gray Lady” that broke this story and then separated itself from the rest of the media covering it like Secretariat at the 73’ Belmont. They were the first to break another aspect of the story today by naming the prostitute who met with Spitzer in the now infamous Washington D.C. Hotel.
This is a huge win for the Times, especially after the McCain story fall out, and an even bigger win for the metro desk. A section that is crucial for the paper as it tries to remain relevant in New Yorkers’ eyes. The anatomy of this takedown by the New York Times metro desk is almost a better story then the scandal for those of us that follow the media and the New York Observer has done an outstanding job of portraying just how the Times broke this story. Yes HBO’s The Wire is finally over but who needs fictional journalistic drama when you have real life drama like this.
Here’s how it unfolded based upon the Observer’s reporting and the New York Times story today entitled “4 Arrests, Then 6 Days to a Resignation.” Most of it is taken directly from these stories by John Koblin of the New York Observer and Michael Powell and Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times. We pieced together their content into a timeline.
Thursday, March 6 at 11:00 am: A press release is e-mailed to reporters at the New York Times and all other outlets on Thursday morning, shortly after 11 o’clock reading: “Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Organizers and Managers of International Prostitution Ring.” It seems fairly dry and doesn’t mention any well known clients at first glance.
Thursday, March 6 in the afternoon: The Times’ William Rashbaum, a federal courts, terrorism and criminal justice reporter based in Brooklyn is tipped off that three lawyers from the corruption unit, including the boss of that division and an F.B.I. agent from one of the bureau’s public corruption squads, is working on the prostitution ring case. Within hours, Rashbaum is working with Metro Desk editor Joe Sexton and other Metro reporters and become convinced that a signifigant public figure is involved as a client of the prostitution ring.
Friday, March 7 at 9:00 am: Rashbaum, a reporter of the old school whose outgoing message refers telephone callers to a pager number, is holding a complaint detailing the arrest of four people associated with a prostitution ring; information in the documents told the story of a john in Room 871 at a hotel somewhere in Washington. He knew from the tip that Client 9, as the court documents called him, was a “New York official,” one source familiar with the investigation said. But which one? And what Washington hotel has a Room 871?
Friday, March 7 in the afternoon: Rashbaum and the investigative team that also included Sexton, Carolyn Ryan, metro political editor; Kevin Flynn, metro investigative editor; Matthew Purdy, investigative editor and Danny Hakim, Albany Bureau Chief have talked with numerous sources and are now sure that Client #9 is Governor Elliot Spitzer.
Friday, March 7 through Saturday March 8: Managing editor Jill Abramson stayed at the office late Friday and much of the weekend, and Mr. Sexton and Carolyn Ryan barely seemed to leave.
From the New York Observer:
“We were very much here,” said Ms. Abramson. “Very late. I talked to Joe all the time—all weekend.” On Sunday, Mr. Sexton, who only rarely makes appearances in the office over the weekend, was quietly shuffling small groups into the “crying rooms,” little conference rooms where reporters and editors go for privacy.”
Saturday, March 8: The New York Times sends a reporter to the governor’s apartment building, just south of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue, to see if Mr. Spitzer is meeting with senior staff members. That day, he took a long run in Central Park and, with his wife, walked his dogs. Sometime that day, a person familiar with the case says, the government informed Mr. Spitzer or his advisers that he had been identified as a client of a prostitution ring. Other aides to the governor say they are not sure that he was notified.
Sunday, March 9, around Noon: The Times sends an e-mail message to the governor’s communication’s director, Christine Anderson, requesting the governor’s travel records for the week of Feb. 11, 2008, specifically Feb. 11 through Feb. 15. The message also requested the names of all the hotels he stayed at, where he traveled, flight records and any available records of receipts billed to the state.Ms. Anderson peppered The Times with questions and alerted the governor’s staff that a story was apparently breaking. Ms. Anderson assumed that an article was being prepared related to a continuing investigation into efforts by Mr. Spitzer’s aides to discredit Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader (RT Take: Communications director was completely in the dark, wonder if security detail was?). Sunday, March 9 around 6 pm: Late that night the governor told his wife, Mr. Baum and his friend, Lloyd Constantine, an almost incomprehensible tale: He was a clinet of a high-priced prostitution ring; he had been caught on a federal wiretap; the Times had requested records for the date of an alleged tryst with a prostitute in Washington.
Sunday, March 9 around 7pm: No Spitzer story appeared on the Sunday “sked”—the lineup of stories sent out to the Metro staff to let them know what was in the hopper for Monday papers.
From the Observer:
“There was an extreme effort” to keep it quiet, said one person involved with the story.
Monday, March 10 at 11:00 am: Mr. Sexton knew for sure that he was sitting on top of the biggest break in his tenure as editor of the section, but he’d left the third-floor newsroom to conduct a previously scheduled annual State of Metro meeting up in the executive offices, in a 15th-floor room with views across the Hudson, with his team, acting for all as if nothing were happening. Two sources who were present said Mr. Sexton seemed a little nervous and distracted. But he was on point. From the Observer: “Someone asked, if you break everything from the Web, don’t you take away something from the newspaper?” one staffer in attendance said. “Joe defended breaking news on the Web—he argued for its importance. In some ways, [the Spitzer article] was a perfect illustration of that point.” (RT Take: Very interesting look into breaking the story online. Joe Sexton makes the right decision in understanding the need to break the news on the medium that will make them the source of the story instantaneously. If they had gotten beat to the story at that point it would’ve been a colossal error.)
Monday, March 10 at 12:15 pm: The meeting lasted more than an hour, and it was shortly before 12:30 that Metro reporters who weren’t in the loop took note that something was happening. Mr. Sexton, Ms. Ryan, Mr. Flynn and Metro editor Jim Dao were making up for lost nail-chewing, pacing gravely in a third-floor hallway and “huddling up.”
Monday, March 10 at 1:00 pm: Meanwhile, assigning editors were already dispatching reporters and stringers to stake out Mr. Spitzer’s apartment, where the paper had sent a stringer, a photographer and a video unit—all before the story ran on the Web, and without any of them being told why they were there, according to a person who was present. Monday, March 10 at 1:55 pm: At a little before 2 p.m. Ms. Ryan, an immigrant from The Times’ sister paper The Boston Globe who took over the Metro section’s political coverage last April, was looking at a final draft of a piece filed by Danny Hakim. The story—headlined “Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring”—was sourced to an administration official. Ms. Ryan, satisfied with the story, shouted over a row of desks in the third-floor newsroom to Ms. Abramson, “Can we go with it?” Ms. Abramson, standing about 20 feet away, took a breath, nodded and shouted back, “O.K., hit it.” Monday, March 10 at 2:00 pm: The story hit on the New York Times Website around 2:00 p.m. ET, before Governor Spitzer was supposed to speak. The ensuing traffic to the Website knocked it down sporadically throughout the afternoon and knocked the Governor out of office by Thursday.
March 13th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
By Kyle Austin
Shira Ovide of the Wall Street Journal has some interesting quotes from New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson in her piece today on B4 of the Journal. Robinson’s remarks come from a presentation she delivered at the Bears Sterns media conference.
Robinson admitted publicly that they company may consider selling off its other businesses and assets and investments outside of the flagship paper. Her acknowledgement of this possibility seems to be a direct response to criticism from hedge funds (Harbinger Capital Partners and Firebrand Partners), which now control 19% of the New York Times Co. and have been suggesting this strategy from months. They want an increased focus on investing in Internet companies like About.com, to greatly increase digital revenue:
The dissident hedge funds have suggested the New York Times might be better off divesting its properties outside the company’s flagship brands. Noncore assets include the Boston Globe, regional papers in the Southeast and elsewhere, and a stake in the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
Robinson did admit however that the New York Times Company’s investment in the Boston Red Sox has been a good investment. The Times has a 17.5% stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Sox and 80% of New England Sports Network (NESN). “
We believe the Red Sox have performed very well as a team and as an investment,” she said.
Perhaps Robert Kraft and Wyc Grousbeck should expect calls?
Meanwhile, Jeff Jarvis is over at the Media Summit at the McGraw Hill building in New York and posted on this interesting panel discussion on what the New York Times should do:
Next, a panel with big, old media companies: Howell Raines, former editor of the New York Times, Julia Wallace of The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Jon Klein of CNN, Kinsey Wilson of USA Today, David Westin of ABC.
Asked about the Times, Raines says they need to decide whether to go head-to-head nationally with Murdoch and the Journal. I thought it was the other way around? Isn’t the national report the high ground? Raines says no. He points to the Washington Post’s contraction strategy, pulling back into inside the Beltway. He says that the Times may need to come up with a contraction as opposed to an expansion strategy. “Common sense tells you that when your stock was at $54 in the mid 90s and it’s now at, what, $18 and the son of an Alabama construction millionaire has bought 20 percent of your company… your stock price cannot sit there.”
What should the New York Times do? Lightning Round. Klein: “Stop writing about themselves.” Wallace: “Become that voice for the intellectuals of America on any platform.” Wilson: Long pause. Then he agrees with Howell — contraction. Westin: “It sounds right … that they’re in a middle ground that is not sustainable right now, neither fish nor fowl.” He says he doesn’t know whether the contracting is about local or a set of subjects of readers. Raines: “I think Julia’s idea of going for that elite, intellectual audience is a sound one.”
The future of the Times is certainly water cooler chatter around here these days and Wallace probably has the best point. In a discussion with colleagues the other day we noted that the New York Times can no longer think of itself as a newspaper but rather a media company. They need to drop the pedestal that they put the actual “print copy” on and understand that they must put equal wait in distributing across all channels.
In addition they need to embrace who they are as a paper rather then trying to lament that they are the “national paper of record.” The New York Times is a liberal, left wing publication that caters to an elite and highly educated audience. They need to embrace that message and echo it across all mediums.
More on the future of the New York Times in the next week.
March 12th, 2008
By Ben Haber
By Ben
Dallas Mavericks owner (and former ‘Dancing with the Stars’ participant) Mark Cuban has instituted a new policy of banning bloggers from the team’s locker room. According to an AP article, “the policy was put in place after Cuban decided to keep out a reporter for The Dallas Morning News whose primary job is writing for the newspaper’s sports blogs.”
As one can imagine, this decision has been met with complaints throughout the blogger community. TrueHoop, an ESPN blog, posted an email exchange it had with Cuban about his decision. Other bloggers have posted open letters to Cuban’ about his decision, such as this one where Los Angeles Times blogger Andrew Kamenetzky says the ban is a slap in the face.
Ironically, Cuban posted a response to the outrage in his own blog, BlogMaverick.com:
“Some out there will take this as my not “liking” blogs. Ridiculous. Its the exact opposite. What I don’t like is unequal access. I’m all for bloggers getting the same access as mainstream media when possible. Our interview room is open to bloggers. We take interview requests from bloggers. I’m a fan of getting as much coverage as possible for the Mavs. What I’m not a fan of is major media companies throwing their weight around thinking they should be treated differently.”
Cuban also manages to throw in his own opinion on blogging:
“Newspaper blogging is probably the worst marketing and branding move a newspaper can make. The barriers to entry for bloggers are non existent. There are no editorial standards. There are no accuracy standards. We bloggers can and do write whatever we damn well please. Historically newspapers have set some level of standards that they strived to adhere to. By taking on the branding, standard and posting habits of the blogosphere, newspapers have worked their way down to the least common demoninator of publishing in what appears to be an effort to troll for page views.”
While many are questioning whether this new policy was put in place just to ban one specific blogger from being in the locker room, Cuban has certainly created some chaos, and a distraction from his team’s recent drop in the standings.
March 12th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
Update 3.12.08: Zuckerberg and his advisors followed up with a good move yesterday. They made Mark available for an open Q&A by himself at a Facebook event at SXSW. As Jeff Jarvis mentioned, this is very smart.
By Kyle Austin
Before the New York Times dropped the bombshell on Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s involvement with a high-priced prostitution ring yesterday, the biggest news scandal and controversy of the week had come out of the SXSW conference. Of course I’m referring to the now infamous Sarah Lacy interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg; which some are calling the worst technology interview ever.
Lacy and Zuckerberg traded a noticbly awkward conversation that turned the crowd, the majority of which were developers, against them. It then turned the blogs against them in an epic proportion as the attendees kicked off a twitter and blog based assault on Lacy that spiraled through the blogosphere. However Kara Swisher, Michael Arrington and Owen Thomas (who miraculously all agree on something for once), have it right in noting that this isn’t Lacy’s fault. She shouldn’t even be in the spotlight here. The spotlight should have been on Zuckerberg and should now shine on his handlers and consultants for putting him in the situation to begin with.
Yes, SXSW is a great show and a great place for Facebook to be. But if Zuckerberg’s advisors were set on having him speak there they should have at least demanded a polished MC or moderator. Someone who has a good relationship with him but also has the ability to push Mark on his future plans for the company - David Kirkpatrick being my top choice. Facebook has leverage that most companies can only dream of, when agreeing to opportunities like this, because their media spotlight. This is a place where they could have used it to avoid a silly and foolish situation. If Zuckerberg himself was intent on making the appearance then he should have at least come prepared with news to break.
Dave McClure who sat through what he refers to as a “train wreck” has a few hints for Facebook PR Director Brandee Barker, as she continues to run the Facebook PR train (Facebook is currently looking for a VP of communications):
1) Find an interviewer who lets him talk about tech, and how he’s changing the world with it.
2) Find an interviewer who’s ALSO a geek, and can at least relate to him on that level.
McClure has a point and someone like a Kirkpatrick or a John Batelle would be better suited to get Zuckerberg to talk and more importantly sound interesting. Zuckerberg is extremely intelligent and brilliant with computer programming. Maybe the closest thing to Bill Gates as Kirkpatrick himself noted last year:
I have gotten to know him a bit in recent months. He is the closest thing to Bill Gates I’ve seen since the original. Not only does he have natural gifts for programming, leadership, and marketing - traits that served Gates well in Microsoft’s first couple decades. He also, like his industry predecessor, seems mostly driven by a conviction that what he is doing will make the world a better place.
The problem is, the rest of us never get to see it.
Facebook did bring in Bill Clinton’s former speech coach last year to help in Zuckerberg’s public appearances, but there doesn’t appear to be much improvement there when he’s put in new environments with less experienced interviewers. Zuckerberg, for the most part, still comes across as shy and stiff in these environments and his appearances (when not comical like this one) have become slightly less entertaining then watching paint dry.
One would hope that moving forward Facebook understands the importance of matching Zuckerberg with likeminded interviewers or they turn to leveraging Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s new second in command for speaking appearances.
March 11th, 2008
By George Snell
By George
It’s no secret that the Boston Globe does a mediocre job of covering technology innovation in Massachusetts. The newspaper often spends more time covering California companies or the big national technology brands (like Google and Microsoft) than exploring the incredible innovations happening right in its own backyard.
The reason seems to be that the Globe doesn’t believe the technology happening here has enough consumer value. We’re constantly getting push back from Globe reporters not interested in striking firsts happening here: like the creation of the first real DNA microscope, the invention of the portable CT scanner (being used by the NFL and being featured on TV’s “ER”) or protecting our mounting amount of digital data from disaster – be it dynamic, virtual or physical.
It’s true that a lot of the emerging companies in the Bay State are business-to-business, but we think the Globe needs to spend less time covering the video gaming industry and more time on what’s happening here.
One notable exception, however, is reporter Carolyn Johnson. She has been a refreshing addition to the business pages and appears to have a real passion for writing about next-generation technologies. And the great thing about Carolyn is that she gets technology and is able to translate complicated technologies to a mainstream audience.
I was impressed with her piece in yesterday’s Idea section on – of all things – boredom. Carolyn explores the idea that boredom is necessary to spark innovation and that our modern obsession with filling every moment with micro-entertainment might not be good for us. Take this passage:
“But are we too busy twirling through the songs on our iPods — while checking e-mail, while changing lanes on the highway — to consider whether we are giving up a good thing? We are most human when we feel dull. Lolling around in a state of restlessness is one of life’s greatest luxuries — one not available to creatures that spend all their time pursuing mere survival. To be bored is to stop reacting to the external world, and to explore the internal one. It is in these times of reflection that people often discover something new, whether it is an epiphany about a relationship or a new theory about the way the universe works.”
It’s a fascinating read and an example of how Carolyn gets beyond the obvious and explores the philosophy and trends behind where we are going as a society.
It also makes you want to put down your mobile device – at least for a couple of hours every day (or until it rings).
March 10th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
By Kyle Austin
One month ago Racepoint Group proudly announced the addition of a world 2.0 focus at the agency. The new focus will be part of a corporate practice designed for corporations, countries and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to establish on- and offline dialogues and communities to promote their agendas. World 2.0 is aimed to assist clients communicate more effectively in the context of the defining issues of the 21st century such as poverty, education, health, economic development and the environment. We recently had the unique chance to sit down with BusinessWeek’s Steve Hamm, a senior writer for BusinessWeek and author of Bangalore Tiger: How Indian Upstart Wipro is Rewriting the Rules of Global Competition, to discuss his views on globalization, outsourcing and how technology is changing the world of business. Hamm is thought leader in the area and closely follows how companies, countries and careers are being transformed by globalization on his Bangalore Tigers blog for BusinessWeek Online.
The following is our Q & A:
RaceTalk: Your book The Bangalore Tiger published in 2006 looked at the Indian company Wipro, one of the most accomplished tech services providers in the world, and how it changed global competition. At the time Indian companies like Wipro took advantage of the internet and created lower labor rates. They snuck up on American corporations and then made sophisticated services and focused on their human resources to counter American corporations’ efforts to catch up. What is the global marketplace look like to you now, two years later, as America looks at a recession and others globally look at the potential to follow into a global recession?
SH: Since my book was published in October of 2006, the top Indian tech services outfits have globalized even more, setting up operations in Latin America and Eastern Europe in addition to India and China. Because of the rise of the rupee, they have even been building or expanding global service delivery centers in the United States. They are now truly globally distributed organizations, though they’re still India-centric. I expect that if the US goes into a long and deep recession, the whole world will be affected profoundly–since over-consumption by Americans is one of the chief drivers of demand for goods and services produced globally. For the IT services industry, it will be a mixed bag. Large corporations in the US and other developed countries will cut back on their adoption of cutting-edge technologies, but they’ll want to cut costs–so off-shoring of routine software programming and back office tasks will continue or even accelerate.
RaceTalk: Do you get the impression that American corporations have adopted their practices to become more global, innovative and employee centric to counter what corporations in India and other global destinations have accomplished?
SH: It’s more than an impression. Tech services outfits in the West such as IBM, Accenture, and Capgemini have been globalizing aggressively in new ways–doing work at the places in the world where they find the right combination of talent and costs. In addition, top companies such as GE, Cisco, and Unilever are tapping talent around the world and adapting the way they operate so they can succeed in emerging markets. There’s a lot of talk about innovation, and, clearly, some companies take it seriously, but I think it’s just window dressing in most places. Ditto with employees. During economic boom times, talented people are needed, so they’re respected. When economies slow, employees have less value and aren’t treated so well. Only a few companies are enlightened in the way they treat employees in good times and bad. Also, the decline of unions in America has devalued the work of all Americans.
RaceTalk: Due to globalization and interconnectedness of our world, spawned by technology, it seems that corporations are shifting from a product-centric mentality to one driven by corporate responsibility and are increasingly engaging with a diverse set of stakeholders - employees, communities, shareholders, customers and governments. Do you see many companies taking this position or is it a small group of early adopters?
SH: This is an excessively rosy picture, unfortunately. I think only the most enlightened companies see things this way. Most executives are driven by ambition, greed, and fear. It’s true that many companies are talking more about safeguarding the environment, but, in most cases, its defensive (oil and energy companies) or nothing more than an attempt to attach their brands to values that consumers are showing interest in, such as environmental preservation and economic opportunity for poor people.
RaceTalk: What do you see on the horizon for social responsibility and social entrepreneurship? How can companies do a better job of engaging with communities and the countries in which they operate to be more socially responsible?
SH: There’s a lot of interest in social issues right now. I think the realization that global warming is real is the main cause. It woke people up. Katrina sensitized people to poverty. Also, the fact that the US has caused the deaths of so many people in the Middle East may have awakened people here to our interconnectedness and responsibility for what happens to others. I hope that the combination of CSR and philanthropy focused on social entrepreneurship, together with the emergence of successful social entrepreneurship models, will give rise to a new form of capitalism (call it social capitalism, maybe) which can actually move the needle on some of the world’s social problems. There’s an opportunity. It seems to me that the experiments that combine entrepreneurship, innovative business ideas, and partnerships with government and traditional charities are the ones that will have the greatest impact.
RaceTalk: Was really interested in your January 29th blog post on “The Art of Build Global Culture,” which looked at how HP and Manpower have become HR leaders in building their cultures globally. I was intrigued by their ideas of initiating a tightly linked global culture while also allowing flexibility to adjust to local business conditions. Do you think their approach is the right one and do you think other corporations will follow suit? Have you heard from other companies that are taking this approach?
SH: I think it’s a smart approach. HR leaders do share ideas, so I expect this idea to get a fair hearing. IBM does this now.
RaceTalk: You recently reviewed “Creating a World without Poverty,” by Noble Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus for BusinessWeek. In your review you talk about his new concept of “social business.” You define it as:
They’re (social businesses) supposed to be smoothly managed, efficient, and profitable. But in their case, profits are invested back into operations rather than being returned to investors or shareholders. So it’s a form of capitalism that does not reward the capitalist in the traditional way.
Yunus’ example of this is Grameen Danone, which sells fortified yogurt for pennies a serving to malnourished children in Bangladesh. However, you point out that they are still turning around a 1% annual dividend for the company. Do you think that true social businesses with 0% dividends will take off in the next decade?
SH: I think traditional foundations and corporations, through their CSR programs, will put some of their money into social businesses. I don’t think they’ll expect financial dividends. This will be a major source of capital for social businesses, and should help the model take hold globally. The question is how big will it get? I don’t see a lot of joint ventures coming in the Grameen Danone model. It’s too complex–mixing profit and CSR. More likely, companies will focus efforts on coming up with products and business models that work in emerging markets–in hopes that those markets will grow up to become mainstream, highly-profitable markets over time.
RaceTalk: In a recent Q&A you did with Paul Hermelin, CEO of Capgemini, he discussed the prowess of a global delivery model for outsourcing. Do you believe this is the most effective outsourcing model?
SH: Yes. I think it’s the only model that will work for large tech services companies. To be competitive, they need the lower costs that off-shoring provides.
RaceTalk: Finally, Lenovo made a big splash at Davos by declaring they were a multinational corporation without a Headquarters. As you pointed out this doesn’t mean they are lacking in social awareness, as they have been one of the leaders in corporate social responsibility in Singapore and Hong Kong. What do you think of this philosophy and will more corporations take to this idea of “world sourcing” without declaring an official home base?
SH: I think most companies will continue to identify primarily with one country, where they’ll have their main headquarters and pay most of their taxes. They may add symbolic second or third headquarters, like Cisco has in Bangalore, for internal and external marketing purposes. A few will go the Lenovo route, mainly new companies that are globally distributed from the start. Among large companies, Lenovo is a special case. It truly is a mix, with major innovation and operations centers in China, the US, and Japan, and sales offices in 160 countries. Because of Lenovo’s desire to emerge as a global brand, it’s important to shed the image of being a Chinese company–with all the negatives that entails right now.
RaceTalk: Thanks for your time Steve and look forward to chatting again soon.
March 7th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
UPDATE: Chrish Roush has pointed out that PR Week outed Jack Flack as Paul Pendergrass last October. Boy that’s a letdown. Anyways, it’s still a great read. Read Paul’s interview excerpt with PR Week on Talking Biz News here.
By Kyle Austin
I think I have a new top-ten favorite blog. The author goes by the name of “Flack.” Jack Flack. Jack Flack is the alias of the PR flack behind the Conde Nast’s Portfolio Business Spin Blog. A must read for any public relations executive that casts an eye at landing exposure in the business press. He recently got my attention for noting the problems with Steve Ballmer’s public statement on formally or informally speaking to Yahoo!, in Steve Ballmer is Perfect.
In which he applauds Kenneth Li of Reuters for taking Ballmer to task on his past tensed quote:
Commenting on the status of his company’s march on Yahoo, Ballmer said:” There’s been a range of dialogue and there’s a range of alternatives being considered. I think it’s best for me not to get into the detail.” Li rightly then pondered: “Is that a real past tense, or could that dialogue still be taking place?”
What else has this Flack guy done recently?
- He nailed the failure of the PR strategy around Starbuck’s publicity stunt.
- He rightly praised Chrysler President Jim Press (Who sounds like he should be his made-up antagonist on the blog).
- He caught on to Hollywood publicity efforts going highly corporate.
So who is this Jack Flack?
Is he based on the character from “Cloak and Dagger?”
Chris Roush at Talking Biz News knows who he is and is offering a free year of Portfolio to whoever unmasks the mysterious Mr. Flack:
The thing is, “Jack” is hiding his face behind a newspaper on the blog, much like “Home Improvement” neighbor Wilson W. Wilson Jr., who appeared over the top of the fence separating his yard with Tim Allen’s. So, we don’t know what his face looks like. And “Jack Flack” is obviously not his name.“So, here’s my offer: The first person to post a comment to this item that correctly identifies Jack Flack— and I am aware of “Jack’s” true identity — will receive a one-year subscription to Conde Nast Portfolio.”
Urban Dictionary thinks they know who he is:
“Jack Flack is a the father figure who appears from the mist to save the lost. Jack Flack is a legend who wears a black leather sport coat, appears from nowhere and vanishes once he has restored confidence to the scared and doubtful hero. He is a modern day saint.”
Note to Urban - I think you may have confused this with Joe Black.
Anyways, you can be assured Mr. Flack that I’ll be reading and when it comes time to unmask you, don’t be surprised if I’m the one behind it.
March 6th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
By Kyle Austin
Michael Arrington and Nick Denton don’t like each other. Neither do their competing blogs (TechCrunch and Gawker) in the technology space. There’s no mincing words and there’s no mutual respect. Lloyd Grove recently interviewed Arrington for a feature on him in Conde Nast’s Portfolio.
In which, the two had this exchange:
L.G.: I ran into Nick Denton [the owner of Gawker Media, parent company of the Silicon Valley blog Valleywag.com] last night. What do you think of him?M.A.: I think he’s a total dick.
L.G.: Would you care to elaborate?
M.A.: I think he’s amoral. I don’t think he has any sense of right and wrong, and he’ll do anything he can to make money and have a successful blog. So I just don’t associate with him.
Now former USA Today technology buff and current Portfolio columnist Kevin Maney is weighing in on their dispute which has escalated in recent days: “
A war has broken out between two of the most popular tech blogs. On one side is Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, which takes itself quite seriously. On the other: the insouciant Valleywag, which is the tech industry’s equivalent of something that might be a cross between the National Enquirer and Hollywood Reporter.”
The battle escalated on Monday with Arrington posting a story entitled “When Will We Have our First Valleywag Suicide,” after he read the story in the New York Times by Bob Tedeschi that outlined how Paul Tilley, a DDB ad executive, may have been drive to commit suicide after being personally disparaged in advertising industry blogs. In his post Arrington notes:
“So how long will it be before Valleywag drives someone in our community to suicide? My fear is that it isn’t a matter of if it will happen, but when. Valleywag and Nick Denton, though, will likely look forward to the event, and the great traffic growth that will surely follow. There’s a market for this kind of content, obviously. And nothing can stop it except significant changes to our libel and defamation laws. That isn’t something I support. But the valley was a much nicer place to live and work before the days of Valleywag.”
He also hits on another point. Everyone is a fan of Valleywag until it hits them in the pocket by hurting their business or perhaps more seriously by hurting their personal life. Just ask Jimmy Wales. Sex and dirty gossip creates clicks and drives advertisers, so the Valleywag isn’t going anywhere. Yes, it can still be a lot of fun to check out and we can all take a gentle ribbing now and again, I know I did. But one wonders how far Nick Denton, Gawker and Valleywag will go?
March 4th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
By Kyle Austin
Los Angeles is newly becoming a technology hot spot. Led by the digital entertainment revolution, it has become one of the next big markets lauded by venture capitalists eyeing the next JibJab or Flux. I’m starting to wonder when they are going to launch the Silicon Hills Insider?
Laura Holson has the latest chapter in the digital entertainment industry’s attempt to bridge the gap between The Valley and The Hills in today’s New York Times.
According the Laura:
“On Monday, the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent shop, will announce that it is teaming up with the Silicon Valley venture capital firms Accel Partners and Venrock to invest in digital media start-up companies based in Southern California.”
Dan Primack at the peHUB actually had some general musings about a potential William Sonoma and Accel Partners seed-stage digital media/entertainment fund last week.
The interesting part of Laura’s story is that she highlights AT&T’s role in the fund, that hadn’t been previously noted.
AT&T will be a limited partner and according to Laura and is specifically interested in investing in mobile technologies that will assist their overall mobile strategy:
“AT&T is not looking exclusively for content; the likes of CBS, ESPN and NBC already provide much of that for cellphones. Instead, it is hoping to invest in technologies that will make it easier to run ads on cellphones, as well as to nurture social networks like Facebook and MySpace, online hits that have migrated to hand-held devices. AT&T has spread money around Hollywood before — it invested in the film producer Media Rights Capital — but those investments were largely passive.”
Laura reports that the fund will be in the tens of millions of dollars, but Dan at peHUB believes it to be as high as $50 million dollars. This would price it as a good deal smaller then rival Creative Artists Agency (CAA) venture fund with Draper Fisher Jurvetson that is believed to be around $150 million-$200 million.
AT&T’s investment into the Los Angeles technology scene makes perfect sense as it aims to take advantage of the entertainment advantage the iPhone has given it over the rest of the mobile market. It also has a strong hold on the IPTV market in the US, which it could address through this investment as well. It has already invested in technologies on that front including Akimbo, a white label video service provider and ChoiceStream, a personalization provider.
Disclosure: ChoiceStream is a client of the Racepoint Group
March 3rd, 2008
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