Blogs

The SCIP annual conference in San Diego this month was my last field excursion for the spring (our baby is due to arrive May 9th) and, I confess, I was becoming more and more nervous that the downside risk of a poor turnout could make for a diminished return, not only, for Aurora’s investment as an sponsoring exhibitor, but for the CI community at large.

Having seen a steady arc of growth in recent years we’d been hoping to see a further growth in attendance rather than a reduction or pause for a reset with a smaller-than-expected 2008 meeting.

Likewise, there are a dozen reasons for that diminished turnout – West Coast venue, off-target-keynote cancelling at the last minute, the economy and the impact on travel budgets, etc. – all of which contributed.

But I would suggest something very interesting took place with fewer numbers in attendance. That is, the people who did turn out seemed to be of a more sophisticated variety than the usual mix and a more diverse array of interests as well.

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently. "

Coming up Wednesday 21 May 2008, beginning at 1:00 PM Eastern / 10:00 AM Pacific time, Aurora's Founder/CEO and Managing Director, Arik Johnson, will be host of Aurora's next live, free 75-minute webinar, featuring Jason Voiovich, Co-Founder & Principal of Ecra Creative Group, for a presentation and dialogue on Reputation Management.

Click this link to register now, as seating is limited.
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/477519841

Over the last 10 years, with the advent and growth of consumer-driven media and social networking, managing a consistent and effective corporate reputation has become harder than ever. And at no point has it been more important. The speed of information flow and the 24-hour news cycle means that issues that affect your company’s reputation – and your ability to leverage that reputation as a direct asset – can strike without warning at any time of the day or night.

Instead of trying to “control” your company’s reputation, and the thousands of interaction points that shape it over time, we must instead look at “guiding” reputation in a way that suits your long-term interests. We will explore the realities of reputation management as a non-linear, chaotic system, one in which pure predictability is a myth, but where proper guidance can alleviate stress and produce stunning results over the life of your business.

What you will learn:

• How to separate yourself from the thinking that reputation can be “controlled” and “dictated” – an ultimately self-defeating thought pattern that leads to micromanagement and poor results
• How to replace those old notions with a better model of reputation management – one that emphasizes core guiding principals and decentralized tactical deployment
• How to understand the applications and implications of non-linear mathematics to help us solve these problems
• How to organize and categorize the different stakeholders, issues, and personnel – both inside and outside of your organization – to maximum effect
• How, when, where, and why to integrate and leverage technology for efficiency, and how to avoid purchasing “vaporware”

This is your chance to hear from a leader in Corporate Reputation Management about what he suggests are the critical success factors in managing corporate reputation dynamics in the era of consumer generated media.

"A study of the map will indicate where critical situations exist or are apt to develop, and so indicate where the commander should be."

Coming up next week, Wednesday 30 April 2008, beginning at 1:00 PM Eastern / 10:00 AM Pacific time, Aurora's COO and Director of Research, Derek Johnson, will be host of Aurora's next live, free 75-minute webinar, featuring Jay Kurtz, Founder & President of KappaWest to provide participants with an understanding of Market and Competitive Mapping and related concepts and tools for use in segementation decision-making.

Click this link to register now, as seating is limited.
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/173809103

These tools have great value in Business Wargames and in other planning-related applications. They should be part of the toolbox of every CI professional as well as those of other professionals involved in areas such as market research, strategic planning and product marketing and management.

This is your chance to hear from the leader in Business Wargaming about what KappaWest suggests are the critical success factors in mapping your market and competitor activity and how they change over time.

After yesterday's firing ... er, "demotion" of Mark Penn, CEO of Burson-Marsteller and Hillary Clinton's chief campaign strategist (and, keynote speaker at next week's SCIP conference in San Diego), by the Clinton campaign, I thought it'd be fun to think over the lessons each of these figures offers us in business.

Mr. Penn finally succumbed for helping out with passage of a Colombian trade deal that threatened Clinton's credibility among blue collar voters in Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania (no pun intended). While this latest news makes his appearance next week at SCIP a somewhat juicier draw than it might otherwise have been without it, the subject of microtrends is something we all need to rethink. I also believe the stronger of the two microtrends so far - the Obama phenomenon - is more interesting than Clinton's equally historic run at the highest office in the land.

First, the New York Times offers some quick perspective on what Penn did right, wrong and otherwise that got him in hot water with, not only Hillary's campaign, but the Colombians as well:

The Colombian government hired the Burson-Marsteller firm last year under a $300,000 one-year contract to help secure passage of a bilateral trade treaty with the United States. Mrs. Clinton, like many Democrats, has opposed the deal, saying it is unfavorable to American workers. On Saturday, the Colombian government fired Mr. Penn’s firm, saying his efforts to distance himself from them were an insult.

There has been a long history of resentment toward Mr. Penn within the Clinton campaign because of the feeling that he was letting his business interests trump the interests of the campaign. People from the beginning have questioned why he had not recused himself from his role at Burson-Marsteller.

Although the end of the primary season is drawing near, campaign aides said Mr. Penn’s demotion would change the internal dynamics of the Clinton camp, with a more collegial atmosphere replacing the first-among-equals structure Mr. Penn created around himself.