Politics

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Be heard and not seen?

May 14, 2009 in BondBuzz, BondPR, Business, Marketing, Media, Podcast, Politics, Reputation, Responsibility, Social Media, Technology by Tom Burgess | No comments

I think podcasts are great, listen to what you want when you want, especially when you can’t effectively be doing anything else like travelling to work/meetings, exercising, walking the dog and so on. That’s got to be an hour or so a day for most people. It is not intrusive and often much more inspiring than listing to the radio. Ok, listening to Bruce Springsteen fires me up but there are so many great podcasts out there especially in our field of marketing/PR/communications. But companies/organisation/governments are still not sure where to start or some think it is a great idea, yes, but why? It was similar with blogging, companies thought they had a have blog but not sure why, now it has settled done a bit! So first, you need to work out who and what you want talk to, what message to you want to send, who do you want to influence.

So we thought we would help here, to get you started Bond-i has set up its new Bondcast service, driven by our very own Neville Hobson, who has got to be one of the most experienced podcasters on the planet, having presented a show called “For Immediate Release” for four years and also co-written the definitive book on Podcasting. Corporate podcasting should be an integral part of any organization’s PR mix, it’s a valuable medium for communicating your message to a targeted audience - whether that’s customers, prospective staff, media or other key influencers. So listen up, podcast your message……now, you may be heard and eventually seen by the people you want to influence.

Playing for Change

May 8, 2009 in BondBuzz, BondPR, Media, One World, Politics, Press for Peace, Responsibility by Tom Burgess | No comments

No matter who you are, no matter where you go in your life at some point you are going to need somebody to stand by you. We are one world. Here is a moving performance of street musicians around the world playing the classic “Stand By Me”, produced and coordinated by the organization Playing for Change: Peace Through Music. Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did, and may it inspire you. Listen here

Who knew that naming your dog could cause such a cultural divide?

February 3, 2009 in Marketing, Media, PR, Politics, Reputation, Responsibility by Helen Bannigan | No comments

We’ve had our beloved chocolate lab for 8 years now and I only just recently learned from a random Muslim cab driver in Paris that her name is highly offensive and insulting to Islam.

And that made me think about how much our choice of words matter.  Hidden meanings can communicate a message completely different from that which we wish to convey.  As a PR person, I ensure our client’s message is received in the way it was intended, and help to “translate” the words to diverse cultures outside of the client’s comfort zone.

And yet here I was, making a mess of naming our furry friend and insulting a number of my not-so-furry friends in the process.

I originally chose the name Aisha because I love the song by Algerian Rai artist, Khaled, called Aicha. I’ve always been attracted to Arabic culture, fascinated by the Islamic religion, and when living in Paris I fostered very close and dear friendships with some wonderful Muslim people.  Naming my dog Aisha was – in my mind -  a show of respect and honor, as our family pet is very much a revered part of the family.

When a Muslim friend of mine expressed her surprise, saying I shouldn’t name my dog Aisha because it’s a girl’s name, not a dog’s name.  I thought it’s just because it was a little silly, the equivalent of naming a dog Tom or Susan.

What I didn’t know was that it’s relatively unheard of for Muslims to even have a dog as a family pet.  Canines are considered not just unclean but downright vile and contaminated.  It is said that angels do not enter a house which contains a dog.  Calling someone “a dog”, while odd in Western culture, is amongst the worst insults you can give to someone (up there with throwing your shoes at someone’s head ).

Not only that, but Aisha was the favorite wife of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad’s, and referred to as the “Mother of all Believers”. Amongst the most prominent of Muhammad’s wives, Aisha became an educated spokesperson for the teachings of the Prophet and has been revered as a role model by millions of women.

 Had it not been for that lovely Parisian taxi driver, I never would have known how offensive my innocent act was perceived in the very culture I was intending to honor.

A useful reminder of stuff I already know (but apparently need to be reminded of!):

Know your audience. Know the cultural translation of the words you chose to use.

Words matter.

Ana aasif !

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President Two-Dot-Zero

November 10, 2008 in Fascinating Facts, Marketing, Media, Politics, Social Media, Technology by Shannon Wolfe | No comments

In a brief op-ed piece published on November 5, Robert Solé of France’s daily newspaper Le Monde qualified the election of Barack Obama as “The first worldwide good news since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989” (“La première bonne nouvelle planétaire depuis la chute du mur de Berlin en 1989”), and judging from the conversations I have had and the front covers of just about every magazine I have seen in my travels through France, the UK and Belgium since last Tuesday, it seems like that could indeed be true.

But perhaps the most fascinating thing for us to study about Mr. Obama’s victory is how extremely well he used new media to motivate his supporters, convince his skeptics, educate, inform, parry criticisms, and raise money.

His official campaign website was universally hailed as being a next-generation model of the genre.

From it, supporters could easily download logos, printable posters, signs, flyers, website buddy icons, computer desktop backgrounds, and more. And much has already been written about his campaign’s record-smashing fundraising: Obama collected donations from some 3.2 million individuals via the Internet.

But beyond providing campaign tools and gathering money, Barack Obama was also incredibly savvy about using social media. His campaign used text messages and e-mails to communicate directly with voters. He had profiles on Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. He Twittered. He published photos — including personal “behind the scenes” shots of his family on election night — to Flickr . His campaign’s YouTube channel has had more than 19.5 million views. He even placed virtual billboard advertisements in popular X-box Live games.

And it doesn’t seem like Obama intends to stop this sort of Internet-based communication now that he’s been elected. Check out http://change.gov/, which is, in its own words “Your source for the latest news, events, and announcements so that you can follow the setting up of the Obama Administration.”

Smart money is on President Obama having a game-changing, highly interactive website, live and operational on January 20, 2009.

How do you think President 2.0 might change our world and our activities?

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Keep to the left

November 9, 2008 in Fascinating Facts, Politics by Tom Burgess | 1 comment

obama-write-lhThe hopes and aspirations of the world are with US President Elect Barack Obama, what an inspirational victory speech delivered in  considerate and passionate manner. The significance of his election may have something to do with the the fact that that he is from an African American background, a sector of society that has been considered second class by some for so long.

But there is a reason for his success. He is left handed. Four out of the last six US presidents were left handed since 1974, that’s 66% against the national average of 10%, that is pretty significant. You can guess who one of the two right handers was but he wont be there much longer!

And surprise, surprise,  John McCain was also left handed, so the US would have had a left handed president either way.  By contrast only two British Prime Ministers have been left handed since 1945 and one of those was Winston Churchill. I am pleased to be in such great left handed company!