Luminis Blog: Illuminating Communications

New video

Here's a product video I completed for Stratatech Corp. recently. It will be used not only at the company's trade show booth, but also will be embedded in its web site, linked to in prospecting e-mails and shown to prospects on an iPhone. Video is a powerful tool with multiple applications that virtually any company should take advantage of.

Always remember

Note: I wrote this piece for my children on the first anniversary of 9/11, that even though they have no memory of 9/11, they can remember, too.

One year ago today, as a bright, new day began in New York, American Airlines flight 11 struck the north tower of the World Trade Center.  It was first in a series of terrible events on September 11, 2001 that we still cannot fully understand.

Today, we come together as a country to say more strongly than ever: we will always remember.  As we remember, we'll undoubtedly take time to sort through our own experiences that day: what we saw and heard, how we felt and the impact that both have left on each of us.

But the greatest lesson of September 11 is that in difficult times, we can find our greatest strength in looking and acting outside of ourselves. That's why today we say, most especially, that we will always remember the heroes of September 11: those who died, those they left behind and those who responded to the call for help.  We observe the anniversary of September 11 this morning with a moment of silence for all of them.

We remember all those who died.  We hope our quiet pause can do them some measure of honor.  It cannot give them the full honor they deserve, but we must try.  No morning—on this day or any other—has enough silent moments to honor the sacrifice they made on September 11.

We remember all the families they left behind.  When we pause today, we will be reminded of the silence left in their lives by the events of September 11.  We hope that it has been filled with an understanding for the deep admiration we have for their courage in the face of profound tragedy.

We remember all those who responded to the call for help.  As we struggled on September 11 to understand the evil that caused what we saw, those who responded that day were—and still are—a strong, simple reminder of what is good.  The bravery and dedication they and others have shown in the days and months that followed still make us proud.

Today, we pause to remember the remarkable legacies of all those we honor, among them: sacrifice, courage and bravery.  We have and will continue to draw incredible strength from them.  We will always be grateful.  We will always remember.

Tech executives take dim view of Wisconsin economy; express optimism about its future, their companies

Here's our second-quarter Tech Leaders Survey report.  The survey is a project of the Wisconsin Technology Council, WisBusiness.com and the Luminis Group, Ltd.

Download Q2 Tech Leaders Survey Report

Taking a lesson from the failure

There is a lesson in John McCain's failure.  It does not explain the election's outcome entirely, of course.  Last night's result is owed largely to Mr. Obama's success on any number of fronts.  Nonetheless, there is a lesson for communicators, both political and otherwise, to learn from Mr. McCain's fumblings.  It is this: if you promise action, whether implicitly or explicitly, you had better provide it.

In late September, I wrote about Mr. McCain's apparent unwillingness to engage in the debate about a solution to our economic and financial crises, despite having taken the remarkable step on Sept. 24 of suspending his campaign to return to Washington and attend to the crises.

In the days that followed, Americans, particularly of Mr. McCain's own party, waited for the exercise of leadership that he had promised implicitly in his return to the nation's capital.  They were disappointed.  It did not come.

Yes, economic issues were played out this election on Mr. Obama's half of the field.  Yes, Mr. McCain would offer a series of proposals aimed at righting the country's economic ship.  But Mr. McCain provided little leadership, if any, when he went to Washington, after shining a bright light on his return and making a strong, implicit promise that leadership would be delivered by it. 

In the end, Mr. McCain succeeded through his trip to D.C. only at setting the bar higher for himself and exacerbating the failure that came through his ensuing inactivity.  Those few, suspended days at the end of September began the unraveling of whatever chance Mr. McCain had of victory last night.

This is a scenario that could have been prevented and need not be repeated.  When a promise or commitment has been made -- and it doesn't matter if it is made explicitly in words or implicitly through actions -- it must be fulfilled.

Publicly-traded companies should set reasonable expectations and then meet or beat them. An organization's brand must be supported by the operational capacity to deliver on its promise.  Any company must be ready to follow through on the commitments it makes to employees through internal communications.  The list could go on and on. 

What commitments has your organization made through its communications?  More importantly, are they being fulfilled?  Whatever the promise, your organization need not learn the lesson the hard way Mr. McCain did.

Communications that get you to Cancun

The temperature has gotten steadily colder in Wisconsin.  This time of the year, many of us in the Upper Midwest begin to dream about warmer climates, while proclaiming to even our best friends that we wouldn't live anywhere else.  As we slide stoically towards another Wisconsin winter, we're reminded again -- though we're too proud to admit it -- that not all seasons are created equal.

So, in the interest of providing a brief mental escape (or a painful reminder), I've pulled an interesting story from my stack of clips.  It's from the Aug. 30 edition of The New York Times.  Tucked in the real estate section is a fascinating article about 35-year-old developer Alan Becker and his Nizuc resort near Cancun, Mexico, where it is 78 degrees today.

Mr. Becker bought the 28-acre site for his $180-million resort in 2005.  Soon after, he began to shop his vision for the resort to a half-dozen upscale hotel chains.  But the hotel chains, Mr. Becker told The Times, were thinking more about their own brand identities than what he believed to be the unique attributes of the site, once the Mexican presidential retreat.  His efforts failed.

It was then that Mr. Becker engaged a branding and communications firm to focus on building Nizuc's own unique brand.  Even before he hired an architect, Mr. Becker hired his communications consultants.  Together, they created not just the resort's graphic identify (a brand is much more than just a logo), but its "...soul and the feeling we wanted to create," Mr. Becker told The Times.  The brand platform on which Mr. Becker and his team settled for Nizuc, its identity and experience: "Mayan culture brought into the 21st century."

The outcome of their efforts was so successful that he soon struck Mayan gold in places where he couldn't have before.  Little other work to develop the resort had been done.  But using the brand platform as the cornerstone for all his communications, Mr. Becker was able to enlist a group of the world's best upscale hoteliers, architects and interior designers to help develop it. 

So why did Mr. Becker's experience come to top of the pile?  What's the point of this climatic taunting?  Businesses that get their positioning and the subsequent messaging right first -- and then stick with it -- are almost always more successful than those that don't.  Mr. Becker's experience is the most stark example of this principle in action that I've seen in some time.  His resort, which existed as a communciations platform before it was anything else, is scheduled to open in 2010. 

The principle is all the more important during the current economic and financial crisis.  The crisis has made the communications waters muddier than they've ever been; news of the crisis seems to be drowned out only by that from the presidential race.  Only one of these will disappear next Wednesday, so get your positioning and messaging right first.  Be thoughtful and deliberate, but not plodding.  Ensure that your work is informed by the appropriate research.

It will be 78 degrees in Cancun again tomorrow.  How's your communications program helping you to get there?

Today's lesson on Twitter

I'm a Twitter newbie. (You can find me here.)  I have to admit that I've struggled, like many new users do, to figure out how to use it best.  After a couple of weeks, I'm getting the hang of it.  I've found some of my colleagues in the corporate communications, public relations and investor relations fields to follow.  Some of them have found me and are following me, too.

One of the things I've noticed about Twitter is that tweets from what would appear to be a business user often veer, sometimes abruptly, to the personal.  I've observed users who send four or five straightforward business tweets and then follow them with one about weekend party plans or some such.

A more nuanced, but no less significant, problem for corporate tweeters is who is entrusted with exercising judgment about what to tweet.  This is not an unimportant point. I think it's fair to assume that when a company tweets about something, they are signaling that the tweet's subject is worth noting within the context of the business and its product or service.  An interaction I had earlier today will illustrate the point and reinforce the danger.

One of my initial "follows" is "SuccessComGroup," the Twitter for a New Jersey-based full-service communications agency.  This morning, it posted the following: Google tests "Mail Goggles" to prevent drunk e-mailing: http://tinyurl.com/3m22tb.

I replied: @SuccessComGroup Do we really want to use technology to save us from personal lessons that are most often best learned the hard way?

SuccessComGroup replied: @LuminisGroup Think not of the sender, but of the receiver. Drunk email are often difficult to interpret.

Please recall this is a tweet from a business that advises clients, like I do, on all manner of public communication.  Though they may have carved out a position in a niche market that I remain soberly unaware of, I have never in my professional life been called into a client to provide counsel on the intoxicated use of Outlook or Lotus Notes.

And so I replied: @SuccessComGroup Precisely - why people should learn not to send them. Isn't much of a problem in the corporate world, is it?

SuccessComGroup replied: @LuminisGroup I imagine drunk emailing doesn't end well and is against corp policy. Nevertheless, interesting feature from Google.

I left it there.  But the question lingered: interesting to whom?  Personally interesting to the tweeter?  Absolutely.  Interesting to others on Twitter who happened to see the tweet?  Perhaps.  Interesting and, more importantly, germane to those like me who follow SuccessComGroup for good tweets about corporate communications and public relations?  Sadly, no.

These issues of germaneness, judgment and the sometimes blurry line between business and personal tweets are undoubtedly growing pains associated with a relatively new tool for corporate communicators.  Regardless of how the Twitter community sorts the issue out collectively, of what becomes the community standard, my best advice to my corporate clients will always be the same: don't mix business and personal tweeting.

Just like Google would like to help you not to mix cocktails and e-mails.

Communicating in difficult times

A lot is being said about how to manage corporate communications and investor relations during the economic crisis. A simple rule must underpin whatever tactics you employ in these turbulent times.

The fundamental principles of any corporate communications program should never change. Good times or bad, bull market or bear: transparency, honesty and communicating about how you're creating long-term value should always remain at the heart of your company's communications.

Will there be thorny, near-term issues that need addressing along the way? Of course. Will communication be more difficult during the crisis? Absolutely and for a variety of reasons that have to do both with your company and your audiences.

But the economy and our financial markets will recover. Those companies that have focused, as they always should, on transparency, honesty and communicating long-term value will be better positioned to reap the fruits of the recovery.

An open letter to Herky the Hawkeye

Dear Herky:

On Sept. 14, you published a full-page ad in the Cedar Rapids Gazette offering a $100 discount on the purchase of two season tickets for the upcoming basketball season.  (See it: Download Cole.pdf.) It is a terrific ad that features Iowa's sophomore forward Jarryd Cole fully extended for what must have been a monster dunk.  Cool.  It includes copy that tells of how Cole's dunk "...brought the Buckeyes to their knees and the sellout crowd...to their feet."  I wish I could have been there! 

But there's a problem: Jarryd wishes he could have been there, too.  It turns out that Jarryd tore his ACL before last year's Big Ten season got underway.  He didn't set foot on the court for the Ohio State game or any other Big Ten game for that matter.  He brought no one to their knees or feet. 

So someone on the athletic department's marketing staff must have made a mistake, one that we could move on from easily with a simple acknowledgement of the error.  But Herky, when the Gazette asked the athletic department's associate director, Rick Klatt, about the incongruity, here's what he said: "It's not a mistake. No.  It's an example of how the word 'slam-dunk' could be used in a sentence." (Cedar Rapids Gazette, Sept.15) 

Herky, you're killing me.  I took my degree in communications from Iowa and here is a fundamental tenet of public communication (of life, really): if you're guilty of fabrication, whether you intended it or it is a simple mistake, admit it, apologize and move on.  Don't compound the problem you've created for yourself.

Using Mr. Klatt's logic, there is nothing wrong with me declaring that the Hawkeyes are this football season's national champions.  That will ease the pain of this season a little.  After all, it's just an example of how the words "national champions" can be used in a sentence, so all will be well. 

But don't print those t-shirts yet, Herk.  You have to admit that's pretty thin.  Most importantly, it damages -- check that: destroys -- your credibility.  People will look askew at everything you say.  They'll no longer trust your word.

So Herky, let's do the right thing.  Let's do exactly what any smart business would do.  Let's admit we were wrong in the first place.  Let's apologize for the mistake and refocus on our top priority: being competitive on the court.

Best regards,
Rod

"Maverick, get in the fight!"

I promised myself that I would never write about politics in this blog.  I'm breaking that promise.  I'm going back on my word to myself because there is a great lesson in the campaign-suspension gymnastics of the past 36 hours.  The lesson is a simple one: if you're in a fight, particularly one that you've chosen to be in, keep fighting.  No timeouts.  No give-me-a-minutes. No mulligans.  Keep fighting.

A scene from Top Gun, the 1986 American cinematic classic, has run itself through my mind time after time during the past day and a half.  It's the scene in which Maverick (Tom Cruise) is sent back up to fly for the first time after his friend and co-pilot Goose is killed as he ejects from an F-14. Any American male now between the ages of 35 and 50 will remember the scene; for those who don't, I've embedded a copy of it below.

At the sign of the first Soviet MiG, Maverick, still smarting from the loss of his friend, will not engage the enemy.  The pilots of the other U.S. F-14s in what has become a full-blown aerial dogfight exhort Maverick to "...get in the fight!"It is only after Maverick, cupping the dog tags of his dead friend, calls on the fallen Goose to "...talk to me..." that he reengages and, ultimately, becomes the day's hero.

With all due respect, Sen. McCain: get in the fight.  Reengage. 

We are counting on you, like Maverick's squadron-mates were depending on him.  Yes, there are serious economic problems that need to be addressed.  But we need you to keep after it, to stay with the fight.  The MiGs continue to come.  Rejoin the dogfight.

Phelps great, but no "authentic" hero

After Michael Phelps on Saturday in Beijing won his eighth gold medal of these Olympics, we are in the throes of his annointment as the next authentic American hero.  He is not.

Great, yes.  The greatest, perhaps.  An authentic hero, no.

The question is begged: what business does a corporate communications and branding blogger have weighing in on the coronation of Mr. Phelps as cultural icon?  The answer is that "authenticity" has become the silver-bullet marketing and communications MO of the day.  (See my recent post on authenticity here.)  As a result, anyone -- communications practionner or not -- who values the truly authentic has a stake in policing what is being sold as it. 

Mr. Phelps' performance last week was once-in-a-generation remarkable.  He is an incredibly gifted athlete with an engaging personality and a demonstrated love for his mother and sisters.  But he is not an authentic hero.  His is not an authentic story.  Some of my fellow practionners disagree.

Cultural heroes of the kind Mr. Phelps is being made are said to selflessly represent the values of their culture.  It is a stretch to believe that a professional athlete earning an estimated $5 million a year in endorsements is selflessly representing anything.  This, of course, does not include the $1-million bonus he'll receive from Speedo for his eight-medal performance last week.  And if you can somehow make the leap that Mr. Phelps is, in the main, motivated by altruism, than our cultural definition of selflessness has taken another hit.

In the age of the Corporate Olympics, it is really possible to have authentic, selfless heroes?  Thankfully, yes: my heroes this Olympics are the members of the women's eight rowing team.  My heroes earned the first U.S. gold medal in their event in 24 years by beating a Romanian team striving for its fourth straight Olympic gold medal.  Michael Lee of the Washington Post on Monday reported the team's success and recalled how the team's coxswain, Mary Whipple, invited her teammates over to her house before they left for Beijing.  His report continues:

"The highlight of the evening came when they watched in awe a video of the 1984 women's eight, which came from behind to defeat the favored Romanians in Lake Casitas, Calif. It was the first Olympic gold for the U.S. women's rowing team....  [Fast forward] Halfway through [this Olympic's] race [in Beijing], Whipple provided the final, rousing push when she shouted at her crew: 'This is for the 1984 girls. We've got to do them proud.'"

There will be no $1-million bonuses paid to any of the gold-medal rowing women, let alone Olympic training that was subsidized by multi-million-dollar endorsement packages.  Mr. Lee's report highlights the close relationship of Ms. Whipple and one of her teammates, who worked together in the same boat for 10 years. The reward for Ms. Whipple's teammate of 10 years, Anna Cummins, at the end of these Olympics: retirement from rowing (at the age of 28) to start a small business with her husband and raise a family.  Could Ms. Cummins be persuaded to come back to the team to fight for another gold?  Mr. Lee's reports:

"Cummins said nothing could convince her to come back and make another run for a medal in 2012. 'I'm going to cheer the rest of these girls on,' she said with a laugh. 'I'm married. I'm going to go have kids and cheer.'"

There's an authentic, selfless hero.  There's an authentic story.

So as the Olympics work their way through this week and into their close next Sunday, a real measure of Mr. Phelps' authenticity presents itself.  Will he stay in Beijing this week until the end of the Olympics to participate in the closing ceremonies with his teammates from the women's eight rowing crew, whose medals are as gold as his, or will he be off to collect the $1-million check waiting for him in his North Baltimore mailbox?