Tag Archive: fleishman-hillard


DC life was short but sweet…now for the second coming

Filed under: Life in the US, public affairs — Leave a comment
June 10, 2011

In case you’ve not noticed, it’s been a while since I posted here… Another dead ‘un in the great blogosphere graveyard. Fear not however, there is a second coming.  The reason for my silence is in Spring I left the Beltway and reentered the Brussels Bubble due to needs in our Brussels office. The other reason for the silence is a small bundle of joy (our third) that arrived recently and transatlantic relocation.

Given there is no distinction between private and professional in my world – my hobbies being mainly reading political biographies, political history and despairing at the state of Europe – you’ll find me back on the FH Brussels communal blog writing in the same vein. Given my struggle to maintain this blog in the last year or so, it seems only easier to just go back to the other one I founded years ago.

Here’s some recent posts from me to get you going:

http://publicaffairs2point0.eu/2011/04/14/a-tale-of-two-cities/

http://publicaffairs2point0.eu/2011/06/08/its-not-normal-that-europeans-go-looking-for-serious-debate-and-see-meps-cucumber/

http://publicaffairs2point0.eu/2011/06/09/time-to-throw-away-the-trusty-old-position-paper/

http://publicaffairs2point0.eu/2011/06/07/why-successful-public-affairs-should-be-a-bit-like-a-tom-cruise-film/

http://publicaffairs2point0.eu/2011/04/08/the-same-broom-for-the-last-twenty-years/

Come on over, the Bubble aint half bad.

James

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How not to get carried away with shiny new toys this Christmas

Filed under: public affairs — Leave a comment
December 22, 2010
Behold the iPad in All Its Glory
One shiny new toy I am completely carried away by.
Image via Wikipedia

An interesting blog post by Mathew Lowry on the European Commission’s fascination with all things social media over on the blogactiv platform, along with commentary from members of the Brussels bubble blogorati (Ron, Simon and Joe). The discussion centers around the need to ensure that the ‘shiny new toy’ of social media should not lead to the neglect of all other communications tools.

The commentary led me to think about feedback I’d received following a recent successful pitch to a new client. Apparently in comparison with our main competitor our new client liked the fact that we didn’t major on social media but that it was a full and integrated part of the campaign approached proposed, along with other stuff like  one on one meetings, events like policy luncheons, creation of newsletters, earned and paid media (both online and off) and third party mobilization. It made sense to include it in this case, but it didn’t suddenly make more traditional outreach redundant. Perhaps this surprised them, as compared with our competitors I’d humbly suggest we’ve made greater play in that market (Brussels) of our digital credentials.

Our approach I think reflects a learning that I and others have developed since we launched the Public Affairs 2.0. blog for Fleishman-Hillard in Brussels way back when. We’ve moved from talking about ‘digital public affairs’ to the use of ‘digital tools’ in public affairs. It’s a recognition that a natural attraction to shiny new toys leads to strategy being led by a predeliction to a certain tactic and not the other way around.

The way to surmount this tendency is of course to focus on the audience, the story you’re going to tell to move them and the making choices about the most effective channels to do so. (apologies, my audience centric rant again). Hopefully, the people we work with want someone who can help them understand the audience and of course the full range of tactical choices that they can use to reach them. At least I am hoping that’s why people turn to the kind of consultancy that I feel privileged to be a part of.

James

btw – Merry Christmas! I shall be seeking sun and warmth in Southern California so expect this blog to be even quieter than it normally is (or not, as I will have the dreaded-by-my-missus iPad).

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Two for Tuesday: colleagues worth reading

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November 9, 2010

Riding home on the Metro last night I whacked out the longest comment to a blog post I think I’ve ever written (thanks iPad!) You can check out my meanderings on the future of public affairs in the E.U. here. Not sure it was great netiquette, but in any case it probably goes to prove that what I was reading was interesting and thought provoking stuff. As such, I thought I’d share two FH colleagues that continue to make me think, reflect and move on through their blogs.

Steffen Moller is a digital strategist in our Brussels office. His insights on the challenges of bringing digital tools to a market so focused on policy and meeting policymakers is instructive. You can sometimes sense his frustration, but more often than not his untamed passion leaps from the screen. I know he’s making waves in our office there and doing some great things. More to come I can assure you. It’s also interesting to note that the challenge of bringing digital to Brussels is part of a larger play of helping clients understand the larger palette with which they have to paint to successfully achieve their PA objectives. Worth a read.

Metricsman, Don Bartholomew from FH Research in St. Louis, is a godsend for anyone seeking to think about the impact of what they do in the communications (including public affairs). I listened to Don in an internal FH webinar in the summer where he spoke eloquently about ROI in the context of social media. I was inspired. Much of what he has to say has relevance across the communications disciplines and outside of the digital realm. It strikes me however that much of the cutting edge thinking in our industry is being generated by folks with non-traditional PR backgrounds. The Don, as I think we should christen him, is the man the rest of us call when we want someone who lives measurement, rather than is simply able to talk about it.

James

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I change city, the chemicals debate stays the same

Filed under: politics and policy — Leave a comment
October 14, 2010

Dazed and Confused is one film that I’ve never got my wife to watch. It lasted all of ten minutes the last time I put it in the DVD player. To be fair to the missus, the film does not have a huge amount to recommend it. Despite being stocked full of stars before they were famous (Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich and Dr. Green’s wife from ER to name but a few) my fondness is probably due to the fact it reminds me of my own care free years at High School. I had hair that was far too long and did far too many things that weren’t too smart in retrospect. It also has one great line from Matthew McConaughey character:

“That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.”

It strikes me that chemicals policy debates are pretty analogous. I’ve changed city, but the debate seems to have remained the same. The NGO  community is saying: hey there are lots of chemicals in consumer products, they are finding there way into you, our current regulatory system is not dealing with this and if it has data, industry isn’t sharing it. In essence, (chemophobia + inadequate regulatory regime) times by mistrust of industry = need for reform. If you want a take on what’s being discussed check out this blog. Industry comes back with facts about safety of individual products and a nod to the need to remain competitive. Alas, it didn’t work in Europe, and while the US political situation is different, my betting would be in the long term some kind of reform is coming down the tracks. With industry as far as I can see not proposing an alternative, it’s going to be all about keeping the cost of legislation under control and ensuring that it does give some business certainty; two areas where I think European industry would suggest REACH failed.

Happily, I am doing my bit to try and get industry to not remain dazed and confused and learn from the past. Next week, Fleishman-Hillard’s International Advisory Board member, Guenter Verheugen, former Vice President of the European Commission and one of two Commissioners to lead on REACH, will speak at a working breakfast at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in an effort to help industry think about what it can learn from European debates. You can find out more here.

James

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Partnership for a More Perfect Union?

Filed under: politics and policy — Leave a comment
August 13, 2010

Last year in Brussels our team looked at how Members of the European Parliament are using the internet to communicate with voters. Our company’s interest in this ticked a lot of boxes for me. Not least a passionate belief that we need to bring our elected members closer to citizens if our European project is to thrive for the next fifty years. As the results of our work came in, it was clear that in this as in much else our own Union is still in need of perfecting.

In the same vein, I’d recommend EP staffers to check out  the Partnership for a More Perfect Union website. F-H has been involved in helping the Congressional Management Foundation‘s efforts to promote greater understanding of how the internet can help Congress reach citizens.  It is a great resource for anyone thinking of how to help elected members anywhere figure out how to make the most of the web.

The Partnership for a More Perfect Union’s latest video is embedded above.

James

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Want to sell Twitter to politicians? Only Twadvocates need apply

Filed under: public affairs — Leave a comment
June 11, 2010

The use of Twitter both in D.C. and in Brussels by politicians is something that I have reflected on in the past.

As part of the F-H Brussels team we surveyed the use of Twitter by Members of the European Parliament on a number of occasions. Here in D.C., our colleague Mark Senak conducted his own widely reported upon survey of Congress.

There are, I am sure, a multitude of agencies seeking to advise politicians on their use of Twitter. Well it seems that Twitter wants a slice of that pie. And why not? It is advertising for its first employee in Washington D.C. focused on advising politicians on how to use Twitter (thanks to @eurotwittering for the tip).

My only question: engaging in social media activity by focusing on only one tool seems to me at least to be the wrong way to go about things. Will the folks a Twitter want to advise on how to use the full range of tools out there? Or will their employers preference for one particular tool cloud their best advice?

James

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Here I go…testing my own three circles doctrine

Filed under: public affairs — 1 Comment
June 9, 2010

So. A start has been made. This is my new blog. As opposed to the old one. I have finally plucked up the courage to sit down at my shining new iMac. I have posted. Before the comments come in (you know who you are) I have to admit to not being very good at managing expectations, or indeed working out how much is on my plate. It turns out that moving one’s life and that of one’s family is not quite the hop, skip and jump one may hope it to be. Things just take longer than one expects. Those things tend to come in multiples of multiples.

So to this blog. The idea is that I am here in Washington D.C. for the next 24 months and I want to both keep a record of my experiences over that period as well as share them with others. If you’re reading this, my first post, at present you’re counted in others. If you’re interested in coming back, I intend to write about the difference between the US and Europe in terms of public affairs, politics and policy and of course observe life in another country in general. All of this with due regard to my employer, Fleishman-Hillard and its client base.

Before leaving Brussels, I picked the theme for the blog, bought the domain name and set everything up. Alas, all I missed was time and of course content. What the hell am I going to write about in this first post I thought to myself? It was then that I saw those three circles in the theme supplied by the good folks at WordPress. It reminded me of the three circles diagram I created post a global public affairs meeting. You can see it here.

My thinking in Brussels was that to become more effective in achieving our goals we need to expand beyond an automatic reflex of going meeting people directly (i.e. government relations) and harness the full range of tactics available to communicate to our audience, policymakers (i.e. public affairs).  Now I’m in D.C. What I hope to learn is whether the D.C. system, with its lobbying registration rules and increased public connection with decision-makers is something we can learn from in Brussels? Or perhaps, God forbid, D.C. can learn something from Brussels?

Let’s see.

James

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