I know – twice in one week. Strange times.

This is just to share a really interesting edition of Radio 4’s In Business which looks at how some simple ideas about cleanliness and hygiene could fundamentally change lives around the world – and how the techniques of business, marketing and communications in particular, are making them happen. Inspiring stuff. And shows just what communications can do – turning simple ideas into practical actions that make the world a better place.

What do you think of when you someone asks you about the country of Turkey? For most Europeans, the country is defined by the blue Mediterranean, summer holidays in Bodrum and one of the world’s leading cuisines. My first opinions of the country were shaped by a Channel 4 TV series back in the late 1990s by the archaeologist John Romer, who marvelled at the ancient civilization of Byzantium through the modern metropolis of Istanbul. It took me ten years to visit the city but it was definitely worth the wait – anyone who has gazed upon the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, two of the world’s most distinctive and well-known religious buildings can attest to the enduring marvels of the East.

In recent weeks, the media has shifted considerable focus on Turkey. David Cameron’s visit to the country this week (see below) highlights its strategically important role for Britain politically, economically and as part of the NATO alliance. This week’s Newsweek argues that the country is forging a ‘unique, centrist role in a divided world’. For some time, there has been a perceptible Turkish rapprochement with its neighbours in the Arab world. Turkey has also forged strong business links in the Caucasus and with fellow-Turkic language speakers in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Yet, for fifty or so years Turkish foreign policy has consistently oriented itself towards union with Europe.

Its politicians and economists have done the sums – it’s much more advantageous to be part of the world’s largest economic bloc than left on the sidelines particularly when the country’s main export markets are Germany, France, the UK and Italy. Strong links to much of Europe are solidified by a large and vibrant Turkish-minority in Germany, which has shaped the cultural and economic life of many of the country’s major cities.

Turkish accession to the EU would bring a number of key benefits for the trading bloc and for the inner dynamics of the Union. Most interesting of all, Turkish accession to the EU will effectively decide the future of the world’s most powerful trading bloc. With Turkish accession, the EU would look very different to how its original founders envisaged.

Whether Turkey joins the EU within the next 10 or 20 years, it is evident that the country has an enormous amount of positive things going for it including a favourable geographical location between East and West, a young and mobile workforce and a growing and diverse economy. Whilst images of Bodrum beaches may remain for some, Turkey is redefining Europe’s future. It may also come to define the futures of its near neighbours in the East at the same time.

The media has been spending a lot of time with the usual griping about a boring campaign. (Perhaps they should cool off with the Election Predictor) Candidates are too scripted, they say. Where is the colour? And then they got some with targetted leaks about the mutterings of the Labor Cabinet that were supposed to harm Prime Minister Gillard and make her appear hard and calculating, lacking heart. She fought back. In doing so we were told, she finally exposed the real Julia; tough, determined, passionate. It all looked very much like the old Julia Gillard to me.

Coalition leader, Tony Abbott has been frustrating the same scribes by doing his job equally as well as Ms Gillard is doing hers. That means always being ’on message’. Where is the passionate mad monk of old?, they chorus. The one who put his foot in it and embarrassed his colleagues with some ill chosen words. They are recalling his infamous comments that global warming was bunkum (I think he said, ‘crap’) and that he found his then role as Opposition spokesman for Aboriginal Affairs lacked excitement, amongst other gaffs. He is not saying any of that now, and it is supposed to be a negative. 

It seems very obvious to me why. Like the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott is a professional politician who has acheived his wildest dream to lead the Liberal Party. Afterall, he was the most unlikely choice, after two very different leaders and some better-favoured candidates. He now has his determined heart and mind set on another wild dream; to be Prime Minister – in the footsteps, bar a couple of skips, of his hero, former Liberal Prime Minister, John Howard. Why would he leave that to chance and let slip a few ill chosen words? Besides, my hunch is that Tony was a little bored and directionless when he made those earlier gaffs. His period after the election loss in 2007 was a very public time of career grief. It is not surprising he lacked direction and went into a fug, exciting though it was for political junkies. Not now though. His eye is on a prize.

So we should not be surprised that Mr Abbott is as determined to follow the script as the equally ambitious, and on message, Julia Gillard. He is an Oxford educated scholar. He trained for the priesthood (enough said about personal discipline). He is a serious athelete who competes in marathons and bike rides that last for days. He knows what has to be done to win. So does the Prime Minister. And to do that they have to get to the swinging voters, not the rusted on, politically connected, voters who read the daily reports covering every aspect of the campaign. So not surprisingly, both camps are aiming their messages at the ‘non political junkies’. That is the large army of voters who have busy lives, inhabit the outer suburbs, don’t read opinion pages, don’t watch political debates and do not want anything but straightforward, ‘on message’ campaigns that they can dip into and out of at their will. 

Political campaigns are not for the initiated. If you want excitement, wait for question time. Or watch Australia play New Zealand in the Bledisloe Cup on Saturday night. Now, that is a contest.

I went to Aspen this past weekend to represent Hill & Knowlton and our clients at Fortune’s Brainstorm TECH. I went hoping to meet new people, learn more about our industry, and do right by the people who’d sent me (I also hoped to have a little time to relax with my husband, who tagged along.)

What I gained, far beyond expectation, was perspective. I emerged with a renewed sense of appreciation for how small the world is, how fulfilling personal connections are, and how much the success of any venture depends on deep collaboration……

For more, please read Jennifer’s full post here: Modified Mercalli.

By Sara Hiller (Tech Intern)

What I did not know before reading Gladwell was that on that fateful night there were actually two patriots (rebels if you are a Canadian) that set out to warn the about the British. While Revere went to the north someone by the name of William Dawes headed south. Both were from Boston but Revere was well known throughout the colony. Dawes on the other hand was not known outside of Boston. Only one small community along Dawes’s ride appeared to get the message, while Revere’s route turned out the majority of the patriots at Lexington.

The story, according to Gladwell, points to the importance of networks. Networks are the tipping point for the ideas that change attitudes, create trends and mobilize action.

Now Gladwell wrote The Tipping Point just before the anyone truly began to understand how the internet could be a useful marketing medium. So his theory took on messianic proportions when marketers realized that ideas could move at warp speed on the net. Networks are of critical value and those that have the credibility to tap into these networks are truly influential and this separates them from the ‘also rans’…… or Paul Revere from William Dawes.

I see this as PA and PR’s competitive advantage over our advertising colleagues because our work does not focus on mass audiences but individuals whose opinions others respect. Our relationship swith opinion leaders allow us to play a powerful marketing role in what Tim O’Reilly and Michael Tenant call ‘The Age Of Persuasion’ – we are a vital part of the dissemination of information.

Gladwell’s theory has been illustrated by various academic studies that show that members in coveted board positions often trace their appointments back to a few individuals who are key influencers in the business world . These people fit Gladwell’s definition of ‘connectors’-people who have an extraordinary ability to make friends and acquaintances. But influential people can also be information specialists (mavens) who acquire knowledge about the marketplace and share it with others, or salesmen who are charismatic and have a powerful ability to make others agree with them.

I don’t know about you but these three types of individuals sound a lot like the PR people I know! The challenge is to turn our networks into value for our clients, just like Revere did for the Patriots.

However, has he gone a step too far with the London Cycle Scheme that’s set to start later this week? The theory behind it is good. Providing an alternative, greener way to travel across the city is an excellent concept. I can even see a rank of docking stations from my office window in Soho Square so there’s an even greater reason to banish those little one to two mile black cab bookings for a client meeting that each add greenhouse gases to our already polluted skies.

It’s not for me though. I for one though won’t be using the scheme. A straw poll around the Energy & Industrials team at work suggests I’m not alone. Here are just some of the reasons why: 

• Free to use for the first half hour. Great. It’s not free though is it? And it’s complicated. First of all I should really become a member, then I need to pay an access fee, then I need to pay a hire fee. It looks like it’ll be cheaper, quicker and simpler to get on the tube. Particularly when the costs escalate rapidly after the “freebie” half hour.
• Whilst you can hire a bike, it seems that there’s no way of hiring a helmet to go with it. The Melbourne bike hire scheme was a flop because it’s illegal to ride a bike without a helmet and – like London – they weren’t provided. I used to cycle between Clapham and the office every day so can confidently say that London cycling takes a certain sense of determination and bravery. James Cracknell is currently fighting for his life following his bike accident last week, and arguably would have been killed on the spot if he hadn’t been wearing a helmet.
• If the bike gets stolen or damaged there’s a £300 fine that I’m hit with. No thanks.
• A number of the bikes have been produced in, and shipped from, Canada. So not supporting British industry, and failing on environmental standards too.
• Oh, and it’s also a bit of a monster of a machine apparently. 23 kilograms to be precise. That’s double the weight of a normal bike and doesn’t sound too easy to handle.

Boris has got a lot riding on this scheme. Yesterday marked two years to go until the start of the 2012 Olympics, and the roller coaster that is Boris’ popularity had him soaring this week. Some are saying that it’s a rise before a fall, and that failure of the Cycle Scheme could ultimately cost him his job. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but equally I hope that the teething problems above – and there must be many more – get sorted out quickly. Maybe then I’ll give it a try?

So ‘healthy social connections’ with relatives, friends,workmates or neighbours can improve our survival rates by 50% according to a study from Brigham Young University. (Let’s leave aside the fact that 50% seems pretty high and that I’m not sure I necessarily want to improve my survival rate by that much.)

This is not the first time we’ve heard about the positive impact of human interaction on health and it does all make sense. Life seems a little better when you’ve got people to talk to and people who listen to you. Surely this bodes well for the long-term impact of the Big Society – if it all works out and our positive interactions increase, then we’re all happier and living longer. (Let’s deal with the impact on the health budget later.)

Then there’s the whole issue of how the internet shapes our interactions. It’s already connected us and now we’re beginning to understand how these new interactions are evolving. We’ve heard about the emptiness of Facebook friendships and the loneliness created by social media but while online relationships may be no substitute for actual human contact, they can facilitate it, ultimately strengthening and expanding our human interaction.

Interestingly this study doesn’t take into account the quality of the relationship – grouping together the healthy and unhealthy interactions – so, in theory, the impact of the healthy relationships could be even greater. I’m pretty sure I’ve felt my life ebbing away during some ‘unhealthy interactions’.

To be slightly contradictory and go off on a tangent, here’s a book – The Man Who Planted Trees – that’s light on social interaction but just beautifully simple and inspirational and there’s even video content for those of you who prefer your action online.

• August 2- Tech@State: Mobile Money – This event will look at the “mobile frontier” and technology in relation to money and U.S. Foreign Policy. The event takes place at the George C. Marshall Center at the U.S. Department of State and will run from 8 am to 12:30 pm.
• August 5- Mashable U.S. Summer Tour in Washington D.C. – SummerMash will offer excellent networking opportunities and social media learning opportunities. The event will take place at the USA Today Headquarters from 7 to 10 pm.
• August 14- Power Twitter: How to Make Twitter Do More in Less Time – Not up to par on your Tweeting? This session will get you up to speed with the basics of Twitter including who to follow, what to Tweet, and how to organize your Twitter account. The event will be at the GWUL Community Conference Room from 10 am to 12 pm.

By Sara Hiller (Tech Intern)

As someone coming from a PA background I have always encouraged my marketing colleagues to focus on the business results of their assignments. Too often, marketing PR focuses on process. Superior execution of events and media coverage are pre-requisites to success. But if these activities don’t drive business results then our efforts are largely marginalized in the marketing mix. I don’t criticize us for our preoccupation on execution. Most of our clients measure us on the volume of ‘clippings’ we create and our success in getting our message out. We focus on performance objectives to which we are measured against.

And now digital is changing the way we measure success. There are all sorts of programs to track the point-of-sale impact of our performance. If content is king, constructing a compelling story with catchy messages on a platform that is visually appealing should be very much within the in-house capabilities of any serious PR company, this should hold for corporate as well as PA. That said, I’m not sure this will be sufficient to compete against an ad company in the marcomm space.

While PR ‘types’ profess they are experts at messaging, I am not convinced this is much of a competitive advantage. Ad companies have creative departments full of copy writers and visual artists whose business model allows them to ‘create’ programming without having to account for each billable hour at the end of the day. In fact if you look up ‘creative’ in the dictionary you will see that the noun is a marketing term referring to writing and visuals that form the content of an ad.

So where is our competitive advantage? The first rule of strategy is to never fight a war on your opponents’ territory. It strikes me that ‘creative’ is the domain of ad companies and at best PR shares the territory of content.

For some inspiration I thought it would be useful to do a little summer reading about the worries of the advertising industry. Terry O’Reilly and Mike Tenant, authors of Age Of Persuasion -a witty and thoroughly interesting book – note that the thread running through marketing is “the impact of technology – From Morse code to …..…broadcast to the internet. In their haste to seize each advance in technology marketers tend to embrace the short cuts and savings, but overlook the hidden costs; the distance added in-between the brand and its audience……The desire for transactions has displaced the need for relationships”.

Relationships eh? Well that’s something PR does know a lot about! Most marketing experience is based upon mass communications. But we influence by pitching the individual journalist, stakeholder or politician with our client’s message. Usually we pitch to people we know, often through shared work experience, values, politics or interests. We have relationships that are deep and trusted. And in the new age of persuasion one-to-one relationships, whether formed over the net or the old fashioned way, are usually much deeper than those advertisers enjoy with mass audiences.

Our networks are our most precious assets, each one of us has developed these networks over years of working together. If we were to give the entire list of our contacts to an ad agency, they couldn’t leverage it because they lack the trust to influence the people on the list. PR practitioners and bloggers have to wake up to this. As a lobbyist I have made a good living from providing access to my network to my clients.

There is a lesson here! PR professionals need to start taking relationships more seriously and position them as something of value. We need to think more about how we can effectively and ethically turn this to our advantage.

London indeed whole of the UK is buzzing about 2 yrs to go, hear what Andy Sutherden, Head of Sports at Hill & Knowlton London has to say on both old and new Olympic sponsors, the opportunities that the 2012 Games is creating for so many and what their lasting legacy will be .

The final day before the start of the summer parliamentary recess would be the perfect occasion to rehash and reannounce old initiatives – so is that what has happened, or am I being over-cynical?

Well, there are certainly some elements that we have heard before – for example a review of the role of Ofgem, and a drive to greater transparency in consumer energy billing have both been hinted at in recent months. That said, the additional level of detail and timelines announced today are both new and very welcome.

Both of the above will certainly generate coverage tomorrow, as will the genuinely new announcements, such as the initiative to identify additional CCS projects worthy of public sector investment.

And of course, all of the detail announced today contributes to creating a more stable environment for investment in the energy sector, stability which is desperately needed in both the newer and more ’traditional’ energy sectors at the moment.

The mixture of more detail on existing policy, together with some completely new initiatives, seems a good one. Too much of either would not be credible. Here’s hoping that future statements follow the start made today.

The final day before the start of the summer parliamentary recess would be the perfect occasion to rehash and reannounce old initiatives – so is that what has happened, or am I being over-cynical?

Well, there are certainly some elements that we have heard before – for example a review of the role of Ofgem, and a drive to greater transparency in consumer energy billing have both been hinted at in recent months. That said, the additional level of detail and timelines announced today are both new and very welcome.

Both of the above will certainly generate coverage tomorrow, as will the genuinely new announcements, such as the initiative to identify additional CCS projects worthy of public sector investment.

And of course, all of the detail announced today contributes to creating a more stable environment for investment in the energy sector, stability which is desperately needed in both the newer and more ’traditional’ energy sectors at the moment.

The mixture of more detail on existing policy, together with some completely new initiatives, seems a good one. Too much of either would not be credible. Here’s hoping that future statements follow the start made today.

Coaching my colleagues on their presentation skills recently I’ve been thinking a lot about good and bad narratives.

 And two more 80s remakes hitting the box office, Karate Kid and The A Team, brought this into perspective; in particular the relationship between content and delivery. C.C. Colton couldn’t possibly have imagined the negative impact of his aphorism ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’.

To be fair I’ve not seen either of these movies, but in my experience most remakes simply don’t work (and I’m being polite here). They are never as good as the original, in fact they don’t even come close. Usually they’re just a case of form over substance.

Of course that only annoys oldies like me, or younger retro fans. After all, for those who haven’t seen the previous movie isn’t ‘my’ remake ‘their’ original?

And yet I’m not against adapting stories. One of my favourite guilty pleasures is Cruel Intentions, the almost verbatim teen adaption of Dangerous Liaisons. It’s clever, witty, has a great cast and tells the story in its own compelling way. And that’s the clue.

A great story can be retold thousands of times, depending on how you tell it. Take Shakespeare, an inspiration to narrative makers the world over. I’ve seen everything from toe-tapping musicals to a gangster movie (Joe Macbeth) based on Will’s works. The quality may have varied, but I’ve found something in them all.

Where so many ‘take two’ blockbusters fall down is that they try to tell the same story in the same way. No amount of special effects can cover that up.

And that’s where so many pitch narratives fall down, failing to achieve a more individual, compelling, and memorable way to take the audience on a journey. Adaptation, not imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

So with Tony spiked on the women’s vote, journalists are writing columns devoted to gender attitudes to Julia Gillard (that would be women, actually). It reached new lows today when our national broadsheet, ‘The Australian’, devoted space to discussion about the Prime Minister’s ear lobes and why women had not noticed, as the writer had, that they are ‘fleshy’. Perhaps because the notion is irrelevant.

Pitching to the women’s vote has been a concern to the (mostly) male campaign managers who direct the Party leaders as they go about wooing every vote they can squeeze from every man and woman. Women though, are special to the campaign boffins. Apparently we think more about our votes, which is always a tricky component when you are trying to win favour. Here’s a hint then to Liberal Party campaign planners who have not got with the program. It is 2010, not 1910 or even 1990. Despite this being the era of parenting, with ‘families’ sacred and revered, constantly pointing out that Julia Gillard is unmarried and childless is, well, embarrassing. It invites the ‘so what?’ factor. It is a turn off because most of us accept that lifestyles have become more complex than the current labels allow. Families don’t all look alike – even amongst Sydney’s elite haven, and Liberal heartland – the north shore. Most of us believe that just because Julia Gillard and her Liberal Party sister, (Tony’s deputy) Julie Bishop are not married and ‘deliberately barren’ as one Liberal Party Senator once spat, doesn’t mean they are not part of a family or anti children. His constant ‘dog whistling’ about fecundity may be why some women are upset with Tony. Every time he uses his own marital and parenting status to undermine Julia, he alienates a large chunk of voters who find it offensive and silly.

Perhaps the reason the Polls are showing that women like Julia might be because she is of our time. She is not just a Prime Minister for women, or red heads for that matter (her neat point). She is smart, she is determined, she doesn’t use her gender to underline her points, she doesn’t need a hand bag to do her job or meet the voters, she hasn’t been shrill about glass ceilings and overcoming sexism (which she undoubtably is still doing). Julia has just got on with doing her job well. Just like the rest of us. And another few trivial matters I think also work in her favour, which the earlobe obsessed writers might take note of: She does not exploit her ‘femaleness’. She is not the sexiest-looking woman in the room, nor the least attractive woman in the room. She has good hair days and bad hair days. She has some nice outfits, and some real shockers. She has achieved, yet clearly had some personal ups and downs. She doesn’t complain or get bogged down with the trivial. In short, she is like us.

The city sits 8,000 feet above sea level, and the views from the valley and the surrounding peaks are literally breath-taking. The pace is relaxed, and yet residents and visitors alike seem genuinely interested in exploration – the kind of exploration that exhausts you physically and mentally in a really good way.

I went to Aspen this past weekend to represent Hill & Knowlton and our clients at Fortune’s Brainstorm TECH. I went hoping to meet new people, learn more about our industry, and do right by the people who’d sent me. (I also hoped to have a little time to relax with my husband, who tagged along.)

What I gained, far beyond expectation, was perspective. I emerged with a renewed sense of appreciation for how small the world is, how fulfilling personal connections are, and how much the success of any venture depends on deep collaboration. 

Fortune’s line-up at this year’s event was impressive. It opened with heavyweight executives who have brokered some of the most significant mergers in the past year. It closed with two senior Administration officials who delivered appropriate calls to action for the global technology community.

Chief executives offered stand-out 1:1s characterized by personal experiences and thought-provoking predictions. High-profile deal makers and angel investors provided an interesting take on the investments worth making. All three days featured demos of new technologies and previews of companies that will matter in three years. There were compelling discussions featuring senior panelists, passionate moderators and enthusiastic attendees who were there to – well – brainstorm ideas to address the countless possibilities that face us in the near-term. Key observations can be found here on the Brainstorm blog site.

See? Exhausting in a good way. That’s what I’m talking about.

But to me, the real perspective came in the discoveries made in between these sessions. I had a wonderful chat with a Silicon Valley CMO and discovered that she knows my cousin from their shared tenure at IBM. Over dinner, I sat next to a CIO who lives near me in Marin County. I shook the hands of editors and executives whom I had either known only virtually or whom I had wanted to meet for some time. An account manager at Time Inc. remembered me from an event two years ago and asked about my children, whose ages she even recalled. Out of our daily context, I learned more about my clients as people, bumping into them in the streets of Aspen and meeting their spouses. Oh, and I also got to share a bike ride, a gondola ride and two quiet dinners with my husband.

Over the course of these three wonderful days, I was reminded that we all seek connection. We thrive when we can share ideas, validate and challenge each other, and learn from one another. We want to know that the work we do matters, and we want to find ways to stay inspired so that our work will continue to matter.

Bottom line, this trip reinforced for me the amazing power of playing in traffic. As communicators, we need to remove ourselves from our routines and familiar environments. We need to challenge ourselves more often to explore and discover. Because even if we don’t show up to an event like Brainstorm TECH with a specific agenda, we will definitely emerge with one.

Not to get all Freudian, but to understand bloggers, it is good to start with our motivations for blogging. There is such an amazing mountain range of blogs, yet there is a common thread. (Hint: it’s Passion.)

I asked this question at H&K’s recent Demystifying Digital client symposium. Two of my favorite star bloggers, Jory Des Jardins, founder of BlogHer (the largest network of women bloggers), and Mascha, founder BeautyGloss.nl (one of the top blogs in the Netherlands), shared their view.

I wake up and one of the first things I usually check is Facebook to see who has done what and when around the world in the past 7hrs while I’ve been sleeping. I have an eclectic mix of friends including my partner, close friends, family, ex-partners work colleagues and just a smattering of friends-of-friends. Then there are my fan pages… ok, the pages ‘I Like’ I think they are called now, which include such a mix of music, drag queens from Ru Paul’s famous ‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race’, shops, magazines (like ValenciaCity), restaurants, cool pages (like CoolHunter) and travel!…. I don’t have thousands of friends, just the people I actually know, or have met. I’m a bit fastidious about my security settings and only allow my friends and network (Hill & Knowlton of course) to view my updates and uploaded pictures.

Then I worry about tweeting…. OMG! What can I possibly say in 140 characters that will be of interest to my pitiful 97 followers who have read my 1,113 tweets… or increase my sad following? (The stress increases one hundred fold when tweeting on behalf of the agency!) In fact I cheat a little and link my personal Foursquare and Facebook accounts to my twitter account so that there is at least an update a day! Even if it is only suggesting where I am eating, drinking or working out! … are you still with me? Sound familiar?

Then there is my LinkedIn account (which again I have linked to the wider H&K LinkedIn network). Should I link to my twitter and Facebook accounts so that my 131 immediate connections linked to my network of 5,048 connections get updated as and when I eat or work out? But then I would have to be a tad more professional in my wording and try to use casual text speak a little less that is acceptable on Facebook. Would they be interested? I doubt it. And then there is Dopplr for tracking my travelling. Should I link this to Facebook and Twitter too or does my Worldmate account that I think I have linked to my LinkedIn account do that already!?

And here is where the sheer PANIC sets in (OK, panic might be a bit of an exaggeration). Why is something as simple as updating my social media pages, that is meant to be fun, informative or even creative becoming such an issue for me when deciding on what to post? It sometimes makes me feel like Worzel Gummidge (now I’m showing my age!) and the need to change my head, as Worzel did, in order to function appropriately at a given time! Sometimes I think I have too many accounts on social media networks that need updating but are not always appropriate to link so that the updates are all the same! If all my updates were exactly the same that would become just dull wouldn’t it? Updates that work on one social media platform can often fall flat on another. Where I have to be professional on one site, I risk becoming boring on another and where I want to be fun and frivolous becomes inappropriate back on the other. So why are we always trying to link all of these social networks when they all have different audiences and reasons for existence?

Almost all of us at H&K in London have had social media and digital training so that we can advise our clients on the issues of social media. (You should contact our business development team or Candace Kuss at H&K if you need advise on your own digital strategy). But integration of these platforms is becoming commonplace and so the risks that a particular post will occur in error has significantly increased should you not have clear policies, procedures or guidelines in place. Even personal ones such as boundaries regarding taste and decency are so important. Especially if you don’t remember what platforms you have linked and what you post to one audience on one won’t upset, alienate or just bore an audience on the other.

All this I think about on a Monday morning! Even before I have even considered what I should blog about and how often I should do that! It certainly can make your head spin!

As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I saw that my old client and employer, 42 Below vodka from New Zealand, had just launched their own type of Augmented Reality experience. It seems like the AR concept is still soup du jour for many in the marcomms fraternity around the world, with more than daily releases, some new, some not so. (Check out http://twitter.com/AugmentedAdvert if you’d like to drink from this gushing hose of digital development.)

The big issue with many of these AR concepts is that they are served to a user sitting in front of a laptop or PC, often miles from a point of purchase, or at the very least a not so small number of clicks. The thing I really like about this 42 Below activation is that it takes this technology right to the point of decision, and about ten steps from a place where a transaction can take place.

Some of you might be asking yourselves why I’m even writing about this digi-kiosk in the first place. I believe this is an example of earned media. Bottle stores are message dense environments where brands uses colour and size of signage to grab attention and make a sale. The channel owner, the store, will charge a brand for floorspace and promotion either in cash or rebates.

By bringing this fancy piece of kit to the floor, 42 Below articulates a different kind of value proposition, one that sells their products and gives customer a point of discussion to mention the store and increase the amount of traffic. At some point when the market floods with these things, earned will transition back to paid, but for now, i reckon it’s a winner.

As the obituaries point out, his behaviour went well beyond the type of clowning around or tantrums that are sufficient to label an athlete a “character” in these days of robotic professionalism. The BBC describes his “violent temper, drunkenness, gambling and [recreational] drug-taking”.

However, his popularity was not in doubt. In 1982 he was runner up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year competition. A current star of the sport, Ronnie O’Sullivan, said Higgins was one of the inspirations behind him getting into snooker as a boy.

He was charged with disciplinary breaches almost 50 times by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Among his offences were head-butting a referee and making a death threat against a fellow player.

It’s difficult to see how a sports governing body or federation can deal with such an individual. On the one hand they have to keep some kind of control over their sport; on the other, they don’t want to ban or drive away one of their most valuable assets.

Football clubs and some other professional sports are all too aware of the temptations on offer to suddenly wealthy and famous young men. Good coaches act as mentors and may have a parental-type role but at some point the athletes have to take responsibility for their own actions, particularly away from sports competition.

Governing bodies, further removed from the daily lives of the athletes, have limited options. They will probably be criticised for being too lenient, too stringent, or for exploiting players, thus exacerbating the problem. Of course, their jurisdiction is also restricted to what goes on in and around their sport.

In my view, two broad principles apply for governing bodies. Firstly, they should ensure that the demands they make of young athletes do not amount to exploitation. Secondly, there must be support to encourage rehabilitation after an offence has been committed.

Unfortunately, even fair rules and well-intentioned administrators won’t always be enough to prevent maverick individuals from self-destructing and in the end it may not be the governing body that pays the price.

The main victim of Alex Higgins’ behaviour was the man himself.

The focal point each year is a major thought leader that Frank brings in to speak about major issues of the day. In the past we have heard from former Canadian premiers, and prime ministers, former US presidents, and even Wayne Gretzky! This year’s guest was former US Vice President, Al Gore. The speaker’s comments are off the record so I cannot share with you what Mr. Gore said. I was intrigued though at the obvious differences in style between Mr. Gore and last year’s guest former president George W. Bush.

Mr. Gore is obviously a very intelligent man, with an enormous array of accomplishments. In addition to being vice president to Bill Clinton – he is an author, an academy award winner and currently, the chairman of the hottest company in the world, Apple Inc. While Mr. Gore was very complimentary about Canada, I was struck with how much more key messaged he was than George W.Bush, at last year’s event.

While last year Mr. Bush was open, honest, transparent and self-effacing, Mr. Gore was controlled, cautious and safe. I learned very little from Mr. Gore that I had not read in the media, while with Mr. Bush I felt I had gained some deep insights into why he acted the way he did on some key issues. It was also obvious that while Mr. Gore might be more ‘learned’, Mr. Bush was the superior politician, and for me it was easy to see why he defeated Mr. Gore in their presidential election. Last year, Bush regaled us with a number of stories about what it was like to make the transition from president to a guy that walked his dog Barney and picked up after him like everyone else!

It was a privilege to meet and talk to both men and a testament to Frank’s enormous network that he was able to convince leaders of this caliber to speak. The whole experience reminded me once again of how important it was from a business standpoint to maintain my networks. Leaders from virtually every single industry in Canada and a number from the US were there. Each one had their own challenges to overcome and opportunities to exploit. There was much there to engage a public relations and public affairs advisor! I hope I am invited back next year for more networking and insights with some of the world’s most interesting leaders.