5 Trends Cecil The Lion Saga Can Teach Brands

Few stories this year have captured public attention more than the killing of Cecil the Lion, the iconic feline in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. The account of Cecil’s killing are now well known but the public outrage is worth examining from a corporate and brand perspective for the trends that emerge.

1. The context and nuance matter
Conservation issues and animal cruelty issues often don’t converge with such clarity to create such global outrage. We saw the uproar over the dog meat festival in China which is an animal cruelty issue. We see conservation activists deplore shark finning and commercial whaling. People care but these causes haven’t has as big an emotional connection because they occur in the high seas or the grasslands. In this case the lion killed wasn’t just an animal, he was Cecil. Cecil was a celebrity and the subject of an Oxford University tracking study who brought joy to people. The narrative here is Cecil was “murdered” and has become a martyr in the cause of prevention of animal cruelty and conservation.

Humanity has been robbed of an irreplaceable living creature. That is the strategic context this story appears and unlike shark finning, this story produces a sense of outrage that can now be leveraged into action for prevention of further acts because it is so indefensible. It’s become an epic tale of good and evil personified. Corporates and brands need to understand the details and nuances of any issue are now so unique that identifying any differentiators is crucial to adopting the correct tonality in a response.

2. A good story told well needs clear heroes and villains, names and faces
Who kills a celebrity lion for sport? A macho big game hunter in the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt or Ernest Hemmingway? No, Cecil was murdered by a dentist from Minnesota. These stark contrasts highlight the outrage and fuel the controversy. The story of Cecil and his killer Dr. Walter J. Palmer should be contrasted with that of Sabrina Corgatelli.

She’s the Idaho accountant actively defending big-game hunting who posted photos of herself in front of a freshly killed giraffe shot while on holiday in South Africa. Her actions may be equally outrageous but she’s dismissed her critics as “haters”. Perhaps she’s better prepared by assessing the previous reaction. But the animals she’s shot for sport are anonymous. There’s no personalization in her situation. Corporates need to be empathetic and sensitive to the underlying personal circumstances driving any issue.

3. Online vigilantism is now the norm
Protesters camped outside Dr. Walter J. Palmer’s Bloomington Minnesota office and posted signs at the entrance which read “Rot in Hell” and “We are Cecil”. The latter is a reference to the “We are Charlie” signs held in solidarity around the world for the 12 people shot dead following the terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Online activists published the dentist’s phone number and attacked him on his practice’s Facebook page. Comedians Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Kimmel used their respective celebrity to attack the dentist’s character and even his manhood. This is now a reality that all brands must face. There are no quick fixes when emotions run this high. Every story now references key themes from the last big global online outrage and builds on them.

4. Everyone in your ecosystem plays a role in shaping the narrative
Ever heard of Itai Dzamara? He’s the Zimbabwean human rights activist abducted by five armed men near his home March 9th who has not been heard from since. The government denies allegations of any involvement. Zimbabwe is a country that consistently scores low in global human rights and transparency indices. But the country was quick to charge the guide who lead the hunt and is demanding the extradition of Dr. Walter J. Palmer’s. Cecil’s death is providing Zimbabwe with a platform to present a different side of its itself—that of a caring country that acts quickly to deal with social issues of global significance. Three major US airlines this week announced they will ban shipment of all animal trophies. Other international airlines had previously banned the practice without fanfare. It’s vital for corporates and brands to understand that containment of issues now requires a much wider understanding of their stakeholders’ views on various issues.

5. Personal conduct impacts professional reputation more than ever
Dr. Walter J. Palmer is a private citizen and went big game hunting in a private capacity. But in every media and online reference his profession has been highlighted. His practice has been attacked in both the real and virtual worlds. Big game hunting once held a mystique in popular culture with such luminaries as writer Ernest Hemingway and President Teddy Roosevelt seen as archetypes of masculinity and bravery for their participation in hunts. Now it’s now seen as something shameful, cowardly and evil. Corporates and brands need to understand that private conduct plays a huge role in shaping public perceptions. What individuals now do in their private time is coming under greater scrutiny and affecting their professional reputations and brands. The killing of Cecil the Lion raised awareness of key conservation and animal cruelty issues sparking worldwide outrage. The trends this story reveals serve as a cautionary tale for corporates and brands.

Ray Rudowski is Regional Director of Crisis Planning & Training for Edelman Hong Kong.

Read More

EDELMAN TRENDING #FASHION 2015

As the various global fashion weeks fast approach and Google released details of its first ever fashion report based on search, our girl Jacqueline Young hit the streets of Hong Kong to investigate how fashionistas are really consuming information and what or who they are influenced by.

Read More

Emoji Musings from Edelman Millennial, Carol Yeung.

If you get what I mean, we’re probably from the same generation - born and raised in the digital age and heavily reliant on social media. Emojis have become an integral part of everyday communications for millennials in Hong Kong. #smileyface!

The rise of emojis can be explained in 2-fold:

 

1. Spreading a little bit of love – emojis made it easier to convey emotions beyond words, especially positive ones. Research shows that emojis amplify positive emotions and mitigate negative ones. While emotions are mostly lost or misinterpreted in pure texts, emojis provide a universally understandable cue for the tone of the message and help to stem a positive emotional response from recipients. 

2. Visuals are the future language – as communications evolve, we need tools that can express ourselves and increase social intimacy in a quick and easy way. With vast amounts of information flooding in every millisecond, millennials prefer a quick and easy way to absorb information. Emojis serve the purpose by making content more visualized and digestible.

Still don’t get it? Check these out:

Chevy’s emoji release http://www.chevrolet.com/crack-the-emoji-code.html

Sony's up-and-coming Emoji Movie http://time.com/3967098/emoji-movie-sony-pictures-animation/

Read More

Adapt or perish - Hong Kong media urged to change after trust slumps to record low!

Is it time for a shake-up in Hong Kong’s long-established media industry? The question dominated a vibrant and sometimes fiery debate at the latest afterhours@edelman event on Tuesday night (July 7, 2015). 

The discussion took place against a backdrop of an industry in crisis. Between 2013 and 2014 trust in media plunged from 63% to 41%, according to Edelman’s Trust Barometer. Notably, people said they trusted media even less than they trusted the embattled Hong Kong government. 

Addressing the slump, speakers from the media industry — Shirley Yam, vice chairperson at Hong Kong Journalist Association; Wang Feng, editor in chief, Financial Times Chinese, Tom Grundy, founder, Hong Kong Free Press and Grace Leung senior lecturer, Chinese University Hong Kong – blamed threats to press freedom, the rise of self-censorship and polarized reporting. They said the true nature of Hong Kong’s media was revealed during Occupy Central, which saw most publications camped at extremes of the political spectrum with few remaining neutral. 

Driving the changes in media, they cited the increasing influence of China, changes in ownership and the erosion of editorial independence. Some of the speakers said these factors would ensure that Hong Kong media remains in a holding pattern for the foreseeable future. 

Others said change was already afoot with new media emerging with a mandate to uphold editorial independence and integrity. They cited the recently-launched Hong Kong Free Press – a crowd-funded, fiercely independent English-language website that promises straight-up factual reporting. 

Another start up in the works is Initium Media. It aims to deliver serious and professional reporting on Hong Kong finance, politics and current affairs in Chinese. It is rumored to be led by former bankers and lawyers with a mandate to bring better quality news to Hong Kong, and is actively seeking editorial, business and technology talent. 

But even as Hong Kong embraces media startups, the speakers noted how media in Hong Kong has been slow to adapt. Compared to the U.S. and Europe, Hong Kong still has a thriving print media market with limited commitment to digital transformation. 

China is light years ahead, according to Wang Feng from the FT Online (Chinese). For him, the future for media lies in the hands of companies such as Alibaba and Tencent, which are carving up existing media companies and bringing on board content teams. 

Wang Feng’s future for media is one of four future scenarios identified in a report from the Dutch Journalism Fund Nieman Lab. Other scenarios include independent communities and citizen journalists to a “Darwin” model of evolved and adaptable media – a hybrid of both traditional and startups where transparency and journalistic excellence rule. 

As a former journalist I’m all for the Darwin model. What about you? And to show that things might well be changing – another rumor to emerge from the afterhours@edelman, print giant Apple Daily is going all digital! 

For more on the Edelman Trust Barometer: http://www.edelman.com/2015-edelman-trust-barometer/

Hong Kong data: http://www.edelman.hk/sites/en/pages/insights.aspx 

By Chee-Sing Chan

#afterhours@edelman   Facebook  Twitter

Read More

Desperately seeking content…strategy

Until recently, content has a ‘nice to have’ added on top of a traditional marketing or communications campaign: The video of an event; an infographic with a press release. But in the last few months content has moved to the fore. It increasingly sits at the heart of major integrated campaigns. A case in point is Procter & Gamble’s current offering for the Sochi Winter Olympics. It leads with a two-minute YouTube clip, ‘Pick them back up’, that has been viewed over 11 million times. Content hubs are all the rage, with vodka brand Absolut the latest to unveil a content-rich website. It joins Coca Cola, General Electric, American Express, Intel, Cisco Systems and SAP, to name a few. But, as with every hyped trend, there’s been a backlash. One recent post describes content marketing as “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. A report says that advertisers are struggling with ROI on content marketing. Too many companies lack structured content organization and process. Not surprisingly, they find their content efforts costly and time consuming. Moreover, they struggle to deliver the quality and quantity of content that builds audience trust and loyalty – and ultimately delivers business results. This all seems a little unfair. Too many companies and brands have dived headlong into content without working out the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of what they are doing. Few have written editorial policy. Many have no idea whether to write a research report or produce animal video. It’s great to see companies and brands taking some bold steps in content. Rather than criticizing their efforts, we should be urging them to put in place the strategy necessary to succeed. By Arun Mahtani, Chief Content Officer, Asia Pacific

Read More

“Trust, the Marketing Mix and Communicating for Business Success”

The world of communications has changed

The communications landscape has seen a sea change, resulting an environment rife with new, interactive channels and increased connectivity and speed. In the past year, the media industry in Hong Kong and around the globe has felt the aftershocks. Social media use has exploded, and new hybrid media sites are popping up independently and as versions of old newspaper empires. Traditional media giants such as Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal have cut staff in ‘non-essential’ reporting groups.  Accordingly, the PR and communications industry has also shifted, with two stalwart giants, Publicis Groupe and Omnicom announcing their merger last year.

In this context, there is a need for businesses to adapt the way they communicate. Many companies in Hong Kong are asking: “how do we get more ‘likes’ on Facebook?” But what they should be asking is: “how can we harness the power of this new environment to drive business and create value for stakeholders?”

In other words, it’s not enough to get in the game just to play. To be a successful communicator; it takes strategic thinking and a creative use of a mix of marketing and PR channels and stakeholder engagement.

What about reputation?

Before diving into strategy, it is important to take a step back and look at the context of not only the media environment, but general sentiment. There is much talk of reputation, but Edelman distinguishes this concept from Trust. Where reputation is the sum of all your past activities, Trust is the current perception and belief of what you will do in the future. At Edelman, Trust forms the basis of all of our consulting activities, and we invest in understanding it. For the past 14 years, Edelman and its research subsidiary Edelman Berland have conducted a global survey on the subject. Called the Edelman Trust Barometer, the research gages the level of Trust the public has in the institutions of business, government, NGOs and media.  

In 2013, the Hong Kong results of the Trust Barometer brought to light a gap in Trust between institutional leaders and the institutions themselves. People in Hong Kong trusted leaders much less, specifically those in government and business. This year, we’ve seen a further erosion of trust in in the institutions themselves. Hong Kong is no longer a ‘trusting’ nation.

The good news is that communications can offer companies a way to rebuild lost Trust.

A strategic mix of channels and tools

As consultants, we work with businesses of all shapes of sizes. We also have the luxury of operating as a 3^rd party observer, providing us with a mostly objective view of the companies that hire us. Business leaders vary in personality and management style, but one common trait is passion for their work. This is generally a positive, but sometimes leads to a schema of thinking where tactics precede strategy for communications. This can be fatal when dealing with a milieu of fast-changing and instantaneous media.

Because of this, we encourage our clients to see media as partners not solely an outlet and to think about a mix of channels across marketing, advertising, public relations and digital. If approached correctly, PR can work as a kind of smart bomb, accelerating trending stories or instigating clever memes with born-digital players such as BuzzFeed. Realizing the power of search, too, can change the way we interact and act. Thinking about and messaging in terms of key words and content visualization assists to craft more impactful hybrid campaigns. Strategic planning and execution that includes media outreach, search engine optimization and hyperlinking creates a situation where positive messages can be amplified through channels effectively and trust can be built.

  

How: ‘Show up Differently’

Edelman’s mantra for this year is ‘Show up Differently.’ Showing up differently is a business imperative if a company is to garner both the attention, trust and loyalty of its target stakeholders.

Consumer products powerhouse Unilever* showed up differently this past November when it launched Unilever Project Sunlight. It inspires all consumers to live more sustainably through the universal and beautifully captured stories of expectant parents around the globe. Based on the insight that having a child is a life moment where people reconsider their role in the world and their behaviors, Project Sunlight in its first week received more than 30 million views and sparked more than 40,000 conversations on Unilever's social media channels.

In a world of data and algorithms, Unilever and many others are cutting through the clutter with simple, good storytelling and the human, emotional element of relating to one another. At Edelman, we believe strongly that in order for our clients to achieve their business objectives and connect with their target stakeholders, both they and we have to do as Unilever did and "show up differently." This means, among many things, connecting in genuine and authentic ways with employees, customers and all types of people. It is not about being a slave to data, big or small, but rather it's about leveraging data to guide, not dictate, a way forward.

There is a real opportunity for Hong Kong businesses to seize competitive advantage today by showing up differently, thinking differently and putting communications at the heart of everything that they do.

By Andrew Kirk, Managing Director, Edelman Hong Kong & Taiwan

Read More