1. How communication technologies have
changed consumer behaviour and the
implications for Agencies and Brands
Jon Wade
Head of Digital, APAC – Weber Shandwick

2. How communication technologies have
changed consumer behaviour and the
implications for Agencies and Brands
… OR how the Internet has
screwed with most things
in the comms business
Jon Wade
Head of Digital, APAC – Weber Shandwick

3. Why, why, why…
1) Why the Internet has changed the PR model
2) Why the Internet has changed the Marketing model
3) Why the Internet hasn’t diminished the role of offline
communications
4) Why the Internet means agency collaboration is more
important than ever
5) Why the Internet has provided brands a responsibility to
change too
6) Why can’t you remind me of what you’ve been talking
about for the past 45 minutes? (I will…)

4.
Why the Internet
has changed the
PR model

5. What’s the Internet
got to do with PR?

6. Let’s start with Traditional PR…what’s that
all about then? In 2 words…
BRAND
REPUTATION

7. The PR industry aims to increase
brand reputation through interactions
with influencers, promoting advocacy.
The advocates in turn propagate the
brand’s messages to their audiences.

8. Influencers are people with an
audience who can change their
audience’s opinion about something,
either positively or negatively.

9. If they change their
audience’s opinion of a
brand in a positive way –
we call them advocates.
If they change their
audience’s opinion of a
brand in a negative way –
they’re detractors.

10. They work for the government.
They work at a newspaper.
They work as physicians and advisers.
They are celebrities.

11. But why do brands
care about this stuff?

12. Net Promoter – Bain & Co
Q: “How likely are you to recommend this
brand to your friends and family?”
NPS = % Advocates - % Detractors
(0 – 10 scale; 0 – 6 Detractors; 7 – 8 Neutral; 9 – 10 Advocates
Reputation
Long-term
(NPS)
Profitability &
Growth

13. This relationship is
why PR exists.
It’s why Weber
Shandwick’s clients
have jobs.
…And it’s why I have a job.

14. And life before the Internet
was good in PR…
We got to hang out with journalists and
editors, government officials,
physicians and the occasional
celebrity…
…changing their opinions of
brands and having them do the
same with their audiences.

15. Our traditional PR model looked like
this…
Brand
Influencer
Influencer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
One - To - Few - To - Many
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer

16. And then the damn
Internet showed up …

17. The Internet gave an
audience to anyone
who wanted it.

18. Blog Platforms
Social
Networking
Video Services
Platforms
Live Streaming
RSS
Search Engines
Internet technologies provide would-be influencers a
ready-made online audience

19. In our digital world we need to
redefine our perception of
Influencers.
They are still people who can change the
opinions of their audience about something,
either positively or negatively and...
…they still work for the government.
…they still work at a newspaper.

20. But they are also David Liu, Weber
Shandwick’s China GM who has a blog with
16m page views per month…
…another example, Kevin “Too Fat”
Smith, actor/director who enjoys giving
airlines bad publicity
They are the geeky guy from the IT
department who knows a lot about SEO…
…in Japan, they are not even human!
Gachipin, a children’s TV character is the
most followed “person” on Twitter.
And in some cases they are members of the
public using brand’s trademarks in dubious
ways…

21. Our influencers have changed,
and instead of working with a handful of
influencers the PR industry now has to
work with MILLIONS of them…

22. And now our model looks like this…
Brand
Influencer
Influencer
Influencer
Cons-Infl
Influencer
Influencer
Cons-Infl
Influencer
Cons-Infl
Influencer
One - To - Many
Consumer
Influencer
Influencer
Influencer
Consumer
Influencer
Cons-Inf
Influencer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer

23. The Internet has created a
scale issue in PR.

24. Our millions of influencers
have created another
problem too.
MEDIA
FRAGMENATION

25. What’s that?
There’s only 24
hours in a day.

26. We haven’t consumed [much]
more media since the
Internet showed up.
But there’s [much] more
media to consume

27. So now in PR we have to work with
many more influencers…
…And, in general,
they’re not as influential
as they once were…
…And they’re different
to the types of
influencers we’re used to
dealing with.

28. In fact, PR post-Internet now has
these models as well…
ATL
SNS
Brand
Marketing
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Brand
BTL
Micro-blogging
Marketing
Consumer

29. To excel post-Internet PR agencies need
to use techniques that traditionally have
been the expertise of marketing
agencies.
Going direct to consumer…
Talking to millions…
Here’s an example from Weber
Shandwick in Malaysia

30. Route Video on
YouTube
Facebook Hub
• Over 1,000 entrants on first
day of registration
• Route video still being viewed
Blog Posts
and has over 12,000 views
• Community was still active on
Facebook long after campaign
finished and now migrated to
later Marathon communities
Q&A, Runner of the Week,
Twitter & FB
Training Clinics, Photos of runs
Synched
Media Coverage

31. However, if PR agencies need to think
and act like Marketing agencies then
it is also the case that…
…Marketing Agencies
now have to think and act like
PR Agencies.

32. Here’s an example of a
Marketing Agency thinking
like a PR agency in China…

33. B2C China Case Study Example
Johnnie Walker 'Yulu' or 'Words of a Journey’ Campaign
Ogilvy Beijing & Y&R Shanghai
Source: http://www.campaignasia.com/Article/244429,johnnie-walker-launches-12-
film-brand-campaign-featuring-chinese-pioneers.aspx

34. Brand Line:
“Keep Walking”
Idea:
Tell the stories of 12 Chinese pioneers from
different walks of life - real estate
businessman, artist, fashion designer and
blogger - against the backdrop of modern
China

35. Launch Event
Sina Weibo
TV Spot
Douban Page
Tudou Channel
HanHan - KOL
Sina Blog

36. Why is this happening?

37. Why the Internet has
changed the Marketing
model

38. The Internet has allowed
people to test the validity of a
brand’s claims in marketing.
Within a couple of clicks of Baidu /
Google you can find out whether this
washing powder really does get your
whites whiter.

39. The Internet allows people to find out the
“truth” before they buy the product…
…because a few vocal people
(mavens) who have bought it
already will tell them whether it’s
any good.
…read this book if
you want to find out
more about this

40. And brands have been found
wanting…
The Internet has taken the
SPIN out of marketing
The Internet has caused people to be
skeptical of marketing messages because
they can find out the “truth” online…

41. And so people don’t trust
Media & Advertising like
they used to…
They’ve turned to recommendations
from people they trust like their
families…
They’ve turned to
recommendations from their
friends and colleagues within
their social graph

42. They’ve turned to strangers
with a reputation for telling the
truth…crediblebrand
advocates.

43. And as a result, the
Internet has taken
the marketing
agency’s
toys away.

44. Creating ADVOCACY amongst
influencers is the single most
important skill in marketing
today…
So marketing agencies are getting into the PR
game – they’re developing advocacy
models in their campaigns like the Johnnie
Walker example we saw earlier.

45. But if that is true then the
Internet has broken the media
agency model too…
Why?

46. Because true consumer
Advocacy cannot be
bought…
…it has to be earned!

47. However, agencies working exclusively
in the earned space don’t have it all
their own way...
Campaigns that rely solely on earned
media often struggle to obtain the reach
required to really kick them off…
If we want large volumes of consumers
to engage and drive advocacy through
WOM, they need to be made aware of the
campaign in the first place.

48. The Internet is littered with the
remnants of social media campaigns that
failed to achieve “critical mass”
This I believe is the most common
mistake we see in online advocacy
development campaigns today
The reason: MEDIA
FRAGMENATION & SCALE
ISSUES (again)

49. In fact, the most successful
advocacy-based campaigns in the
world today…
…WOULD NOT HAVE
WORKED…
…without leveraging earned
and paid media.
Have a look at this.
…pay special attention to the paid media
that made this campaign such a success.

50. This campaign has had so many attempted
copies but none have really worked because
the brands and agencies involved missed the
fundamental spark of genius that kicked
this campaign off…
…the classified ad
buys.

51. So the Internet has made it
imperative for paid and earned
media to work together.
But has it caused offline
communications to become less
important?
As a digital advocate, I would
argue that offline is as important as
it ever was.

52. Why the Internet hasn’t
diminished the importance of
offline communications

53. Despite all this Internet-
induced mayhem, the Internet
hasn’t diminished the
importance of offline
communication…
Why?

54. 1) Most highly influential sources are
influential in the real and virtual
worlds – we need to be interacting
with them in both to maximise
advocacy.
2) Online hype is increasingly
covered offline and offline stories
create most online conversations.

55. To illustrate the points: Most
significant online influencers are
influential offline too…
Writers
Business People
Pop Stars
Politicians
Actors / Actresses
News
Organisations

56. But there are not so many significant
online-only influencers…
There are some – but I can
only think of a handful
For some reason, Perez Hilton &
Julian Assange always spring to
my mind!

57. And talking of Whistle Blowers…
#superinjunction is generating
front-page offline headlines in the
UK right now on the back of online
revelations…
Whilst a recent paper by
HP’s research division
found that 70% of trending
topic on Twitter originated
from traditional news
sources

58. Online & Offline integration in
campaigns is an imperative in
our digital world.
At Weber Shandwick we
call that Inline
communications.

59. Why the Internet means agency
collaboration is more important
than ever

60. The Reality:
The Internet has blurred the
traditional agency discipline lines…

61. PR Agencies have to act like Marketing
Agencies
Marketing Agencies have to act
like PR Agencies
Media Agencies can’t buy consumer advocacy
but you struggle to launch a successful online
advocacy development campaign without paid
media
Digital Agencies need to offer offline capabilities
and Offline Agencies need to bring digital
capabilities to the table

62. It’s a bit of a mess.
It’s really confusing
for clients.
And it hurts margins because it’s
inefficient to constantly re-invent
yourself and win business against ever
more numerous competitors.

63. At Weber Shandwick…
…we have a programme of active collaboration
amongst our sister agencies to find better ways
of working together to get the most successful
campaigns away for our clients.
But it is not just agencies that need to
better integrate in the post-Internet
world…

64. Why the Internet has
provided brands a
responsibility to change too

65. Example US Client
PR
Marketing
• Despite great strides there is
still little or no co-ordination
ATL
WS
between client departments
Agency
• • &
Social Media Strategy Agencies act as liaison points
Campaign Management
• Marketing communications
strategy
• Crisis and Issues • No editorial / governance board / BTL concepting
• ATL
Management
• Online Community established
Groupon
• Media buying
• Digital display production
Service
• Tactical rather than strategic
Management & Customer Boutique
Boutique
• Social Monitoring & approach to social
Response
• Online sales promotion
• Social Platform & Video Sales
• Tactical online campaigns
Production

66. Southwest Airlines
Brand
Interview with Christie McNeil –
Spokesperson for Southwest
PR
Marketing
Airllines (6:43)
Emerging
Media Team http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr1Wi9YnYEk
+ Social
Agency
Customer
Sales
Service
Initially started with a 2 person
team, growing to a 7 person
emerging media teams.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paula-berg/revolutionizing-corporate_b_603183.html

67. Why can’t you remind me of
what you’ve been talking about
for the past 45 minutes?

68. Because of the Internet:
PR Agencies have to act more like Marketing Agencies.
Marketing Agencies have to act more like PR Agencies.
Media Agencies can’t buy true consumer advocacy but you struggle
to launch a successful online advocacy development campaign
without paid media.
Digital Agencies need to offer offline capabilities and
Traditional Offline Agencies need to bring digital
capabilities to the table.
Collaboration between different agency
disciplines is more vital than ever to truly deliver
client value.
Brands have a responsibility to change too, breaking
down long established silos to embrace
communications post-Internet.

69. Thanks for listening.
Jon Wade
Head of Digital, APAC – Weber Shandwick
+852 9789 8973
@digital_apac
jwade@webershandwick.com