By Laura Newman

I am embarrassed to say that I watched “Out of Africa” for the first time just a few days ago. There’s no doubt I have a soft spot in my heart for Africa—I’ve spent close to a combined three months in Uganda and Kenya, I was in South Africa  for the World Cup two weeks ago (it’s Ayoba time!), and I’ve even visited the Nairobi farm of Karen Blixen, the author of “Out of Africa.” But I’d never gotten around to actually watch Meryl Streep fall in love with Robert Redford in the film.

When I finally curled up on the couch to watch it in my London flat last Monday, I was swept away by the beautiful scenery and passionate romance. But I was also encapsulated by another aspect of the movie—the importance of storytelling.

Read More »

By Mike Wellman

Sometimes you see something, and you just have to share it.  When I caught this movie trailer earlier today thanks to my favorite geek-friendly blog, Techland, that’s what I had to do. That’s also what this movie is all about—how the power of social networking and viral growth led to the meteoric rise of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg as a major media player.  It seems to me like it may be a “must-see” for corporate communicators this fall.

Communicators, I have to be honest and say that I really just wanted you to see this and don’t have much to add in terms of commentary beyond surprise that Justin Timberlake has a film career (did you know he was in Shrek the Third?) and mild interest in how many “likes” the trailer will get on Facebook.  It’ll be interesting to see if the movie will have the same sort of pull that the network itself did and if the PR team at Sony can harness those same emotional triggers to promote the film.  That brings me to our diversion for today:

If you were on Sony’s PR team for The Social Network, how would you promote it?

Public Affairs, You Confuse Me.

Calling all communicators in the business of Public Affairs—what makes you stand out from the rest of your peers in Communications?

• Do you have key legislators and lobbyists on your BBM contacts?
• Are you the sole owner of CSR and community relations initiatives?
• Are you the policy guru, spotting nefarious legislation and getting your company ahead the messaging curve?
• Do you spend countless hours grooming your CEO and other executives for government testimony?

Read no further if you have an answer and wouldn’t mind sharing it with me. Continue on if you think I’m a confused Millennial. Read More »

Customer loyalty is a burning issue for a lot of companies. Marketers know that if you become a “customer for life,” you are worth your weight in gold (and if you’re a lifelong customer at The Cheesecake Factory, just imagine your potential worth!).

So, what makes you loyal to a company?  What makes you want to continue to do business with some companies over and over again, but to “drop others like 3rd period French” and never return?

As it turns out, there’s a single answer to that question when it comes to your service interactions.  Our sister program, CCC (the Customer Contact Council—just like CEC, except for heads of Customer Service) has released the definitive study on the drivers of loyalty in the service environment. The secrets are featured in this month’s Harvard Business Review—you can download the article for free—but I’ll give you a sneak peek a the answer. It’s easy.

No, seriously.  Easy.

Read More »

Rule #1 (supposedly) for writing a blog is to include links: lots, the more the merrier.  I’d never really questioned this; hyperlinks are a part of Web reading, so it makes sense to use them when you’re writing for the Web.  Furthermore, search engines reward being linked to (although less now than ten years ago), so links are a polite acknowledgement of ideas that inspire you (not to mention a subtle ask for reciprocal links).

But I’ve had an epiphany over the last two weeks, brought on by one of the few remaining sources of Web deprivation: travel, in particular, airplane travel.  (Yes, some carriers offer in-flight broadband, but not my last few flights.)  This prompted me to do something that has become almost nostalgic: break open a book.  In this case, it was Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows, which, as far as I’m concerned, is a must-read for any communicator.

Read More »

I can’t last an hour in a mall.  I’ve never really “shopped” without a mission to fill a specific (perceived) hole among my material goods.  And the only coupon I can ever remember using was an online discount at last Sunday’s golf course.  I’m oddly proud of all of those facts, and so it pains me to report that Groupon may be the most perfect example of everything CEC has uncovered about succeeding in today’s networked environment.

I assume most are familiar with Groupon’s mechanics: subscribers receive a daily e-mail offering a discount at a local retailer, restaurant, or service provider.  The site shows a minimum number of purchase commitments required by the merchant and a running tally of how many have been made.  Once the minimum threshold is reached, the deal “tips” and the transactions are processed (98% of deals tip).  Merchants acquire new customers, subscribers get a discount, and Groupon takes a cut off the deal.

I never got the appeal as a consumer, but as an observer of business trends, I’m paying much closer attention to Groupon now based on its alignment with CEC’s most recent best practices.

Read More »

By Rebecca Canan

I love social media, I really do.  BUT sometimes I think about certain sites and wonder, “WHY in the world do people (read: me) do this??? It’s so creepy!”  Now, I say this a little tongue-in-cheek, but it’s shocking how much people are willing to sacrifice in terms of privacy for a little dose of pleasure.  You can see exactly what “friends” are doing via their Facebook wall, photo albums, and Twitter updates.  It’s a treasure trove for marketers and communicators because of all the personal insights it gives about stakeholders’ lives.  It’s also a jackpot for every stalker/burglar/psycho ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend out there trying to track down someone’s whereabouts (!).  It’s just plain creepy if you think about it.  I mean, is there no limit to the amount of information people are willing to share?  I recently read an article in the NYTimes about people posting photos of their food each time before they sat down to eat it.  Really???

So, with that said, here is my list of the Top 3 Creepiest Social Networking Tools.  Drumroll please…

#1: Foursquare

Foursquare is a mobile application that enables you to “check in” to a place when you’re there.  It then lets friends know where you are, tracks the history of where you’ve been, and sees who you’ve been with. Read More »

Q: Why do we communicators crave true benchmarking data?

A. Lots of reasons!

• To understand how we compare to our peers
• To get a sense of trends facing our function
• To see where peers outsource activities to a vendor
• To understand what new activities we should be taking on
• To make a confident case to company leadership for more resources or different allocation (as Mike recently said—it can help us make the case for a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T!”)
• To plan for 2011 (yikes—it’s coming way too fast!)

Read More »

By Mike Wellman

If not, maybe he or she should.  For the uninitiated, World Cup fever is here once again, and superfans around the world are getting up at the crack of dawn to watch their favorite teams compete on an international stage.  Even in the United States, where Major League Soccer is only 17 years old, conversations around Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, and Robert Green at the water cooler have become ubiquitous.  With all of this passion and chatter in the workplace when one’s team scores a goal, it’s worthwhile for CEOs—and their Comms teams—to ask themselves, “How can we ignite that same sort of support for the company’s goals?”

Read More »

Still in need of vacation plans? Come to DC!

Summer can be a corporate communicator’s worst nightmare. Naturally, employees are less engaged in their 9-5 during the summer months. We’ve all got:

• family vacations to enjoy (endure);
• baseball games to watch (have you seen this kid Strasburg?!);
• barbecues to host;
• and, for we DC folk, jazz in the sculpture garden to sweat through.

This month is especially challenging for you, corporate communicators. Beyond the typical noise and distraction, you’re competing with the most watched event on the planet—the World Cup. Look to your right and left. Your colleagues who suddenly have earphones on in the morning are not listening to soothing, motivating Enya. They’re likely plugged into ESPN360.com or Univision to follow the action. Basically, no one is listening to you.

So take a break, right? Let people have fun for a few months, and reboot your engagement efforts when the sun starts to set earlier, the kids are back in school, and Q4 madness is in full swing?

Wrong. (I humbly suggest.) Read More »