Corporate Eye

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Archives for November 2009

Notes from a Disappointing Webinar

I can’t figure this one out.  I attended a webinar featuring a panel of people who ought to have been interesting, talking about a topic that ought to have been interesting.  I came away with nothing.

Couldn’t tell you what it was supposed to be about.  Can’t imagine what they thought they were communicating.  Have to wonder whether I’m just dense, or whether other attendees felt the same way.

Here are some observations prompted by the experience, along with some points of relevance for Careers and the corporate website:

1. The whole webinar concept was really popular for a while, but has somewhat petered out.  That may be because most of them were not very good.

Which is a reminder that executing well is the key to success.  Doing the “latest thing” has little value if you don’t do it well.  (Let’s think Twitter . . . )

2. Speaking of execution, presenters should never read out loud what is on the slides.  NEVER.  Doesn’t everyone know that by now?  (Actually this point isn’t really relevant, but I just had to say it.)

3. People with alluring resumes don’t necessarily make good panelists.  In fact they may be too charmed with themselves to bother about the audience.

Which is a reminder to focus on substance first, style second.  Ideally the two go together, but the order of priority is important.

4. If there’s a purpose for getting panelists together, you shouldn’t need to spend time on ice-breaker questions.  (“How many of you have . . . ?”)  Take off fast with crisp, specific questions that draw out the panel’s expertise!

Which is a reminder that the Careers home page should be sharp and engaging, not just a landscape of illustrated links.

5. Even if the audience is sitting at their desks, probably multi-tasking while you’re talking, they’ve bothered to show up, so they deserve the best show you can put on.  (By golly!)

Which is a reminder that every visitor to the Careers site should go away feeling they got something worthwhile.  Every single one.

6. Although it’s the right strategy to educate rather than sell in a webinar—you still need to provide some kind of value proposition.  Don’t expect the audience to search out their own meaning from an hour of random chat.

Which is a reminder to provide a clear message about the employer brand, not just an aura of implication.  There’s a lot of territory between “heavy-handed” and “terminally vague,” so find a good spot somewhere in the middle.

That’s a wrap!  Thanks for listening.

Recovery: Get Ready for the Wild Ride


Carousel

In many countries, cities, and industries, the “economic recovery”—with its inevitable hiring spree—may still seem like a distant notion.  But the fact that some things are hard to imagine is one of the reasons we are sometimes surprised.

So I was fascinated by a group of stories on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition recently.  Let’s start:

In Las Vegas. It’s a busy time at the soon-to-open CityCenter complex, where thousands of hospitality workers are being outfitted for their new positions.  Their jobs are among 12,000 created so far by CityCenter.  The lucky 12,000 were culled from 170,000 applicants—and that kind of hiring offensive must require a small army of people to locate, process, equip and orient the new employees.  To say nothing of an industrial-strength website.  Like everything developed by MGM, CityCenter Careers is a seduction in itself, so drop by—and don’t skip the intro.

From a recovery perspective, however . . . hold on for the whiplash.  Completion of CityCenter means 9,000 construction jobs are ending—and with new building projects still far between in most cities, it won’t be easy to absorb that capacity.  On the other hand:

To Poland! Eastern Europe has had a lot of experience already with economic rebuilding, which was not a simple matter after decades of Communist rule.  Poland is one of the happy stories there, however.  We learn that “Strong internal consumer spending has helped insulate the country from the worst effects of the global financial crisis. Poland remains the only country in Europe with positive growth in the second quarter this year.”

And then there’s huge, complicated . . .

China, where:  “The global recession threw some 20 million migrant laborers out of work.” Many of these workers had migrated from the populous and primarily rural interior of China to the coastal cities, where jobs have been more plentiful.  But now many of those unable to remain employed on the coast are going back to their inland homes.

Here’s the twist.  Some returning migrants are using their experience to open new businesses.  And some coastal companies are following incentives into the interior.  “All this has helped make labor a sellers market,” according to the report. Xiang Wenbo, who recently established an association of labor recruiters in Wanzhou, says “We’re now suffering shortages of workers here.  Even though we’re a big labor-exporting region, economic growth is speeding up and local firms need more new hires. Our fees for introducing employees to companies have gone up steeply.”

So?

The moral is that sudden growth in hiring can come about for a variety of reasons—and they are not necessarily predictable. Or even logical.  Above we have three flavors of surprise:

  • Did it make sense to go ahead with a megaventure like CityCenter during such gloomy times?  No telling yet.  But who knows what plans are afoot in the boardrooms of big companies at this moment.  And it’s not likely that executives will consult with HR before deciding to launch some improbably (yet labor-intensive) initiative.
  • Poland’s prosperity is in many respects the result of decisions made during the 1990s, now bearing fruit.  There are plenty of companies around the world where good ideas and patient planning are spring-loaded in the background–so a relatively slight trigger could produce explosive growth.
  • When labor demand exceeds supply all of a sudden, the cost of hiring goes up—whether in China, Manchester, or Chicago.  Planning ahead can help reduce this effect.

Big takeaway:  Be ready.


(Thanks to ishrona for the colorful carousel.)


Nikon, Twitter and Ashton Kutcher Launch New Social Media Marketing Campaign

ashton_kutcher_demi_mooreLet’s face it.  People love celebrities, and celebrities who have active Twitter accounts — those who truly use them to engage with their fans, can attract huge followings.

Ashton Kutcher is a celebrity from television, film, and of course, he’s married to Demi Moore.  He’s also a Twitter celebrity (check out his Twitter page here).  He tweets frequently and about all aspects of his life.  His followers love him for it, and he made no secret of his attempt to be the first Twitter user with 1 million followers.  Today, he has nearly 4 million followers.

That’s an audience that Nikon wants to connect with.

Ashton Kutcher has been appearing in Nikon television commercials for awhile now, so when Nikon had the idea to hold a video creation contest where people were asked to make 140-second commercials with its Nikon D5000 camera. what better way to drum up some hype for the promotion than involving Ashton Kutcher and his 4 million followers on Twitter?

Kutcher tweeted about the contest as did a few other celebrities Nikon added to the celebrity mix backing the promotion.  Ultimately, those  tweets about the Nikon promotion could be seen by a potential audience of their over 6.5 million combined followers — with just a single tweet by 4 celebrities.

I’ve actually witnessed celebrities working their magic and increasing their Twitter followers rapidly and in huge numbers.  I’ve witnessed celebrities drive widespread awareness via Twitter for charities and boost donations.  Brands like Nikon are recognizing that while celebrity endorsements on television commercials and in print ads might not be as effective as they were years ago, celebrity brand advocates who engage large numbers of consumers through Twitter just might be a goldmine.

What do you think?  Is the Nikon and Ashton Kutcher promotion the start of a new trend of celebrity endorsements of brands via Twitter?

Image: Flickr

Corporate Blogging? Make It Great, or Don’t Bother


Grand Canyon

Hard to believe it’s been over a year since I bookmarked this post on the Sitepoint blog:  15 Companies That Really Get Corporate Blogging.  But now that I’ve come across it again, the information is still interesting.  The author referred to a then-recent Forrester study that looked at 90 blogs from Fortune 500 companies, and found that “most corporate blogs are ‘dull, drab, and don’t stimulate discussion.’ Sadly, two-thirds hardly ever get any comments, 70% stick strictly to business topics, and worse 56% just republish press releases or already public news.”  I would imagine there has been a little improvement since then, but I doubt it’s much.

Anyway, I went looking for the report, found that it is paid content and the original post got its information from a Wall Street Journal article that is no longer available.  But I did find a newer—and freer—Forrester paper on corporate blogging, which you can get with a fairly painless registration.

Highlights:

“Only one in six consumers trust company blogs.”

“Like any other marketing channel, blogging can work. But it’s not about you; it’s about your customer.”

“Honest and transparent blogs will get noticed.”

So–what’s special about those 15 companies that “get it”?  The answer is absurdly simple:  They provide interesting/useful/meaningful content.   Or as Sitepoint put it—“informative, fascinating, and a joy to read even for people who aren’t die-hard fans of the company.”

I actually visited every one of the 15 companies, although not every one of their blogs, which would have added up to dozens.  I covered at least 20 blogs, though, and at each one, I applied a simple test:  “If I were thinking about a career at this company, would their blog(s) encourage me to apply?”  Here’s what I decided:

Yes, in almost every case.

At Southwest Airlines, I found “BlogSouthwest,” with some great Halloween posts extolling the fun quotient of that SWA-perfect holiday.  (I can testify—it’s all true.)  At Lenovo, I discovered a smart, wide-ranging blog called “Design Matters,” which I would probably subscribe to if I had any time left for more feeds.  BBC has a substantive blog called “The Editors,” offering a behind-the-scenes view of current events.  The “Fast Lane Blog” at GM looks like paradise for a techie auto junkie.  And it was oddly seductive to read the supposedly inner thoughts of Marriott’s apparently tireless CEO at “On the Move.” Even Quicken’s “What’s the Diff” was fairly charmful, with its mission of “exposing the gap between average and excellent.”

At a couple of companies, the blogs seemed perfunctory—lacking enthusiasm and/or substance.  A couple of others offered blogs so super-technical that I couldn’t make a connection (though they probably have appeal for their target audiences).  But on the whole, my cruise through this group of corporate blogs was more interesting than I expected.

And I’m sure there are many other good examples out there.  Plenty of bad ones too, though!  So I’ll close with another highlight from the Forrester paper:

“If your strategy is to create a blog about your company and its products, give it up.”

But if your strategy is to offer something of value to readers—information, ideas, insights, inside intel, or just plain fun–then it’s worth the effort.


(Thanks to Jason Rogers for sharing his trip to the Grand Canyon.)


Continental Airlines Teams up with Winstar Interactive to Display Third-Party Ads on Continental.com

We all know that airlines are struggling financially.  Apparently, charging passengers for baggage, taking away meals, and adding all kinds of fees isn’t enough even though fuel costs have fallen significantly from a year ago.  Still, those airline companies are feeling a pinch.  What to do … what to do?

Never fear!  Naturally, someone came up with a way to bring in some revenue.  Don’t worry, you won’t be charged for the oxygen you use while onboard.  Although, don’t rule it out.

Continental Airlines hopes to make some money by displaying third-party ads on its Web site.  The company is teaming up with Winstar Interactive to monetize its site through ads that will complement the site and feed into the travel/buying mode of Continental.com visitors. But what does this say about the Continental brand?

What say you?  Brilliant or pathetic?

What do you think of Continental.com’s strategy to sell ad space to third party advertisers?

I wonder what’s next.  Selling ad space on the inside and outside of airplanes like ads on subway trains and buses?  Or maybe flight attendants should wear uniforms covered in sponsors logos like NASCAR drivers?  Should I be charging for these ideas?

How do you think airlines should try to bring in additional revenue?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.  Don’t be afraid to think out of the box.  When they bait you like this, it’s hard to resist.

XBRL Gains Asset Management Support

I have children.  Do you have children? I have children.  Welcome to my Parents’ Anonymous meeting.  What, I wonder, is the most annoying trait of your child?

Oh be quiet! My children’s most annoying trait is their inept duplicity.  The way they try to be clever and get around to asking you a question in a way in which you’ll say “Yes” rather than “No”.

Sometimes I feel like taking my hand and, in that classic scene, sweeping the chess board clear of pieces and saying “Just spit it out will you, what do you want??”  Ah, the conflicting demands of society, intelligence and hormones!

In the convoluted and mixed up world of financial investments, the role of asset managers can sometimes appear to be as confused as such children.  Not through any fault of their own, but because they are similarly caught between several different priorities.

XBRL could help to solve that headache, and in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the Asset Managers Forum (AMF) has embraced the new technology for this very reason. [Read more…] about XBRL Gains Asset Management Support