Transformation MENA Roundtable

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After the recent roundtable organised by TRACCS and The Holmes Report entitled ‘Transformation: The Communications Industry in the MENA Region today’, we catch up with Mohamed Al Ayed, President and CEO of TRACCS, to discuss the outcome of discussions and the conclusions drawn…

This roundtable was the first of its kind to occur in the UAE. When did it take place and where was it held?
The roundtable took place on May 29, 2014 at The Ritz-Carlton DIFC, Dubai.

Where did the concept of the roundtable originate?
The concept originated as a joint initiative between TRACCS, who are committed to investing in the development of the industry and exploring the direction it takes, and The Holmes Report, who has recognised the rapid growth and evolution of the industry in the MENA region in recent years. We thought the topic of ‘Transformation’ was very relevant, given a number of issues in the industry regarding the simultaneous fragmentation and integration of the media, the move from a service-driven to a strategy-driven approach, and the need to strike the right balance between respecting and reflecting local cultures and sensitivities as well as working in line with internationally accepted norms and tools.

How did the partnership with The Holmes Report come about?
TRACCS was the first and is still the only Middle East public relations company ranked among the top 250 public relations consultancies in the world on The Holmes Report Global Rankings, and we’ve been working with The Holmes Report for the past four years. We have been involved in a number of interesting projects with the Holmes Group over the years, most recently at the In2Summit 2014 in London in May, where I participated on a panel talking about “Tomorrow’s Talent”.

Who were the communications experts and senior executives involved in the roundtable?
The in-depth discussion was moderated by Paul Holmes, Founder of the Holmes Group, with the participation of Dr. Ahmed Bin Ali, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, and Official Spokesperson of Etisalat Group; Bassem Terkawi, Senior Director of Strategic Communications at TDIC; Erwin Bamps, Chief Operating Officer at Gulf Craft; and myself. The roundtable focused on key issues affecting the growth and sustainability of the public relations industry in the MENA region’s rapidly evolving business and cultural environment.

What key issues were focused on during the two-hour roundtable?
The two-hour roundtable covered a range of issues, including senior buy-in of PR in regional organisations, the need for measurement, meaningful engagement of stakeholders, the growing challenge of reporting in a fragmented and rapidly changing media environment, building and retaining talent, and ways in which a company’s geographical location in the Middle East furthers or hinders its global communications efforts.

What were some of the positive conclusions drawn from the roundtable regarding the communications industry?
One positive development highlighted was the universal acceptance that in-house PR departments and PR agencies no longer needed to prove their value to senior management, and that the function of PR was widely understood and increasingly taken seriously. Etisalat’s Dr. Ahmed Bin Ali emphasised that PR is “no longer an accessory to a business, it is a necessity that is paramount to creating the identity and vision of the organisation.” Bassem Terkawi from TDIC remarked that PR departments today are often approached for a “stamp of quality” and assurance of public approval for initiatives, in much the same way as legal departments are requested to review initiatives to protect the company from litigation.

What are the continuing drawbacks that the communications industry face in the region?
There was widespread agreement that more effective metrics to assess performance outcome and impact are needed, although there is weak will within the industry to introduce effective reporting parameters. Gulf Craft’s Erwin Bamps stated that the proliferation of media channels and opportunities for exposure meant that PR professionals find it harder to keep pace with client demands and prove the value of their work through multiple metrics. He added that companies are also finding it harder to analyse results. He underscored the importance of meaningful engagement as opposed to mass engagement. Paul Holmes backed his observations on the clear move from a “bombardment” form of communications to one that favored “creating connections”.

However, one of the major drawbacks is that measurement and reporting continues to be an issue, especially as more and more channels of communication gets utilised in the mix. Clients and PR professionals need to realise that ‘more’ does not always equate to ‘better’. You may be able to report and document a great deal of data, but if you are not utilising that data intelligently it serves no purpose.

Were suggestions made on how to assess performance outcomes and impact more effectively?
One of the suggestions, as discussed earlier, was to focus on quality rather than quantity. It’s about reaching out to the right set of influencers and gauging success on the right metrics. Actionable insights are much more important than reams of data.

How did the roundtable justify the claim that the PR industry has reached the ‘maturity’ phase in the transformation of the industry?
There are five critical phases in the transformation of any industry: realisation, understanding, growth, maturity and innovation.

We can look at it along three dimensions: Corporates have gone beyond the stage of realisation of the value of PR and are using it intelligently and effectively. Governments in the region have also widely recognised the importance, value and power of communications that are done right. And finally, homegrown talent in the region is now looking at PR as a long-term career prospective and no longer as a stepping stone to something else. This is a defining change in the development of the industry as we will now see more talented and invested individuals join great local PR practitioners in this region. They understand the culture and the business and that can only be good news for the industry as a whole.

What conclusions were drawn regarding social media and its future in the region?
All participants agreed that social media has resulted in a fundamental change to the entire communications landscape in terms of speed, approach and results. Erwin Bamps highlighted the issue of brand ownership in the age of social media, stating that at no time has it been more starkly evident that “a company does not own a brand, a brand exists in the public domain”.

Social media proliferation is changing the skills required to succeed in the communications business today. You need to be present everywhere in a relevant manner and understand how to exist and interact with your audiences on multiple platforms intelligently. In today’s changing communications landscape, PR professionals have three choices – adapt, migrate or become obsolete.

Paul Holmes said that today a PR practitioner is “expected to do everything and that is changing the core nature of the business and the skills required to succeed in it.”

One of the main issues in the communications industry today is finding talent that has the right skill set to deliver what is required in today’s communications landscape. As the landscape and tools needed to function in it evolve, PR practitioners today need to have the ability and interest to constantly develop their own skills in order that they may continue to deliver results.

What specific observations were made about how being geographically headquartered in the Middle East affects a company’s global messaging and perception?
With regard to this, the participants made a number of interesting observations. Gulf Craft touched on how earlier prejudices against the “Made in the Middle East” tag has in recent years changed on the back of Dubai’s successful PR efforts – according to Bamps, today “if you are from the UAE, you are the guy that preaches innovation”. Bassem Terkawi said that for a company like TDIC being tasked with developing internationally recognised museums such as the Louvre and Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s position on a global stage has definitely helped accelerate communications, but has also put all efforts under intense global scrutiny. All the participants agreed that internationally there was a significant distinction between being a “Middle East” brand and a “UAE brand” and that an association with the UAE came with the expectation of surprising and over-delivering on all promises made.

What other initiatives are TRACCS undertaking to develop the communications industry in the region?
The ‘Transformation’ roundtable is one of several key initiatives being undertaken by TRACCS to develop the communications industry in the MENA region, following PR Forums organised by TRACCS in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Lebanon. Training and equipping Arab PR professionals with the tools they need to function in a globally competitive industry is one of our primary focus areas and also one of our biggest competitive advantages in a rapidly maturing industry.

We were recently awarded an In2Sabre Award for our Agency Employee Program ‘Driver’s Seat’ at the In2Summit 2014 held last month in London. We are committed to working closely with the educational sector over the next five years to train more local practitioners across the region, with the MENA-wide launch of our award-winning ‘Driver’s Seat’ program.

 

For further information, visit www.traccs.net 

Should the Malaysian Airlines PR team be forgiven?

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The PR team at Malaysia Airlines has been under serious fire for their mishandled response to the MH370 crisis. But we ask, can they be forgiven considering it’s a one-of-kind situation?

“YES” says Mara Carpencu, PR Consultant, Active Public Relations

MaraCarpencu1The situation was confusing for the investigators themselves… when crucial information is missing altogether, the communications team has little to go by

More than three months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, and we are still left only with guesses and suppositions as to what happened to the plane and the 239 passengers on board. Extensive search operations haven’t amounted to much and hope that the missing plane will be found is dimming. As the world followed the story breathlessly after the first news announcement on March 8, a wave of scrutiny hit Malaysia Airlines and their communications team for the way it handled the crisis. The airline’s reputation was undoubtedly put to the test as they received widespread criticism for their crisis communications strategy.

But in light of the peculiarities of the tragic event, is it fair for their PR team to take the heat? Or is the nature of the incident and the entire team involved part of the blame? To answer this as the latter, we must first look at who was heading the investigation from the very beginning. It’s important to note that the airline was not the only entity involved, but included the Ministry of Transport and other Malaysian government bodies, as well as aviation authorities. These entities collaborated during the search operations, including the communications protocols and addressing the media and the public. The investigation was painstaking from the onset and authorities lacked information themselves.

One of the first rules in crisis communications is to be transparent and open with the public and share all the information available as soon as possible. In this particular case, the situation was confusing for the investigators themselves, who had many difficulties in pinning down the route of the aircraft after it disappeared from the radar, not to mention in locating a potential crash site. When crucial information is missing altogether, the communications team has little to go by.

A few days after the disappearance, Malaysia Airlines brought in a global PR agency, with experience in aviation crisis situations to lead the communications team. The team of seven experts came from the firm’s Singapore, London and New York offices to Kuala Lumpur and attempted to make the best of what was available to them – the information provided by the Malaysian authorities and investigators. The limited information was shared on multiple channels, including live press conferences and social media platforms. On the Malaysia Airlines website, the company posted press releases to help communicate with the public.

Malaysia Airlines’ Twitter account shared updates with the hashtags #MASalert and #MH370 to link Twitter users to their information about the flight, even creating a YouTube channel which they did not have before the flight incident, posting messages of sympathy and apologies from Malaysia Airlines and their dedication to help the victims’ families.

The public opinion and the loved ones of the missing will not be satisfied until the reason for the incident is discovered and the responsible parties are brought to justice. But crisis communications for air crash disasters are never easy, and in this case was made far more difficult due to the nature of the incident, the volume of people to account for and the limited information given to the PR team that could be made available to the public.

 

“NO” says Prem A. Ramachandran, Founder, White Water Public Relations

 PremRamachandran1It doesn’t matter if you are a small or a large agency. What actually matters is diagnosing the situation properly

Where is MH370? There are so many questions still unanswered, and as time goes by we don’t know if they ever will be. We boast of technological supremacy and state-of-the-art satellites, yet nothing has been able to trace the ill-fated aircraft.

However, the manner in which the whole situation was dealt with from a PR point of view was appalling. People were left guessing. The biggest blunder committed by the communications team was to not inform the people directly concerned with the situation. The families were shocked and struggling to get answers, yet had no immediate intimation from the authorities or the communications team.

There are some key areas – which although are seemingly basic requirements from a crisis communications team – that the Malaysian Airlines PR team failed to address, and as a result, contributed to the global criticism they face:

  1. They failed to provide a dedicated social media platform, separate from the company platform, which could provide regular updates specifically for the situation. This would have ensured that all the people who sought information had a single platform available.
  2. They did not dedicate a hotline specifically for family members of the passengers to call. They failed to acknowledge adequately that these were the people who needed support and consolation, yet the systems were not in place.
  3. Similarly to the above point, a dedicated hotline for the crisis communications team to respond to all the media queries was not enforced.
  4. Daily media briefings at a stipulated time by the dedicated company spokesperson on a web platform should have been instrumented, to allow the media to log in and ask questions, and ensure that the media/family member communication lines were separate but equally accessible.

Information trickled in quite slowly and very late in the initial phase. This is the litmus test for any PR firm or the in-house corporate communications department. Keeping quiet is one of the biggest mistakes in today’s day and age, as social media engines work overtime during such times and the whole scenario can take a totally different shift. Information today is flowing even faster than the ‘speed of thought’. So they cannot be forgiven for not managing and prioritising the expectations of the families associated with this tragedy with their responsibilities to the wider media.

It doesn’t matter if you are a small or a large agency. What actually matters is diagnosing the situation properly, and I believe that they failed to do so. The PR team of an airline should create holding statements for hypothetical scenarios and this should be properly brainstormed along with the top management and all the stakeholders. Otherwise it is just a booklet of hollow statements, which can always backfire if not properly articulated – as this case clearly demonstrates. The team should follow different case studies from across the world to understand and develop such a document to prepare for worst-case scenarios.

 

The importance of a professional online image

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Oliver Doran, Managing Director and Photographer at photosolutions.me, offers his thoughts on why the significance of a professional portrait picture has never been greater…

First impressions are critical in the digital age; consumer and recruitment choices can be made in seconds based on your image

When I meet a client for a consultation, we talk about personality images and the various destination(s) of the final images – what emotion do you want to convey, and where is it going to be placed? Every profession is different, but on a basic level, ‘professional looking’ is a must. A creative person might want to project a more ‘fun and energetic’ image, whereas a business owner may want something more ‘confident and approachable’ – the simple fact remains that a professional photographer will be able to achieve whatever you like while maintaining a corporate edge. When taking company headshots for a team, the art is to reflect individual personality combined with a sense of consistency and brand identity for all staff members. Consistency is key.

Investing in professional imaging counts. First impressions are critical in the digital age; consumer and recruitment choices can be made in seconds based on your image – be it from Linkedin, the company website, company documentation or other social media. So you must question whether a photo from your personal social media accounts (eg. Facebook) is appropriate when putting together a professional online profile, even if it appears suitable to you.

If you care about your own brand appearance, the logical conclusion is you must care about what you do for a living. Both consumers and employers want to put a face to a name and are very likely to make decisions accordingly, as it’s the first step to building a new relationship. Headshots humanise a pitch and initiate a human connection, and the right image is the starting point for the reader to ‘carry on reading’. After all, in a market place, people buy from people, sell to people and employ people.

From a technical point of view there are two types of portraits – the straight headshot and environmental portrait. Environmental portraits include your work environment within the photo, and the headshot is purely head and shoulders photographed in a studio environment with a simple white, or grey background. Both have their advantages. The choice of different lighting techniques and posing are massively important in reflecting different messages and making flattering, professional photos.

The photography you use is synonymous to your individual image as well as your company’s image, and is a marketing investment that will represent your level of professionalism. A brand needs a well-designed logo, and the human face of a company also needs the same image strength. A serious company would never consider delegating the logo design to anyone other than a graphic artist, and in my opinion, it’s less detrimental to have no photo than a poorly taken one.

Don’t let your first impression be your last!

 

Oliver Doran is Managing Director and Photographer at photosolutions.me. Follow him on Twitter @Photosol or visit www.photosolutions.me

Associate Account Director, Reem Maroun

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Name: Reem Maroun
Age: 32
From: Jordan
Current job title:  Associate Account Director, Insignia PR

When did you arrive in the UAE?
I arrived in Dubai two and a half years ago in December – when the weather was deceptively beautiful.

Where did you work prior?
I was working as a marketing freelancer before joining Insignia PR; my clients included Bourn Hall Clinic, TVM Capital and Raymond Sport.

What were your first impressions of the media industry in the Middle East?
I worked closely with media in Jordan prior to moving to Dubai and I enjoy the sector. The majority of people in the industry are friendly; you stay close to the city pulse and hear about exciting openings, launches, etc.

Have these impressions changed much?
No, it’s still an exciting, hip industry to be working in.

Tell us about your new role…
I’ve joined Insignia PR as Associate Account Director and am very excited to be looking after destination resorts and working in the Luxury Travel sector, especially as Insignia Worldwide has been dedicated to the field for the last 10 years.

What challenges do you face?
The misconception that the editorial material we share with media representatives should be paid for. We are often told that our press release will not run unless we purchase advertising space.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
Making a difference in the direction and perception of PR in the region. The team at Insignia PR pride themselves on fostering personal relationships with writers, and I am part of a dynamic group that keeps up-to-date with the demands and industry trends.

What’s the most exciting thing to happen so far?
Working on the launches of the Salalah Rotana Resort and Alila Jabal Akhdar – two highly anticipated openings in the Middle East.

What do you think of the quality of media publications in the region?
They are getting better all the time, and I’m excited by all the new and upcoming publications that are appearing.

What sets you apart from other PR professionals?
Having lived in and visited many countries, plus being bilingual, I find it both easy and enjoyable to connect with new people from different backgrounds and nationalities.

Work calls via landline, mobile or both?
Both. The landline is more comfortable if I’m chatting to an Arab journalist, because we like to take our time on the phone and I get to know a lot about them, their families, children and so on.

What’s your most overused saying?
“Nip it in the bud”

Five things you can’t live without?
Family, chocolate, visits back home to Jordan, a book (I’m always reading something) and my brown leather jacket.

If you weren’t a PR, what would you be?
I’d probably go back to the world of regional politics. I was privileged to have worked in the Advance Royal Protocol team for His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein in the Royal Hashemite Court.