Like the collapse of the twin towers and the deaths of JFK or Princess Diana before, the presidential election of Barack Obama will likely forever be preceded by the question, ‘Where were you when you heard…’.

This cataclysmic shift in American politics has dominated televisions, newspapers, radio and dinner table conversations for almost a week, and is not expected to ease for some time yet. While I could easily write a books worth of commentary about the election (and no doubt hundreds have already begun) for the sake of this post I wanted to stick to two points I found particularly interesting.

Firstly, while I do not wish to take away from the magnitude of the event, I find it somewhat ironic that Australians were (and are) so much more invested (some might say obsessed) in politics on the other side of the world than those in our own backyard.

And I don’t comment on this as an outsider, for I too made firm friends with my refresh button as I waited for the votes to be tallied (thankyou, Crikey). But had you asked me to stay home and watch Aunty cover Kevin 07’s ascent to power just last year, I may very well have laughed in your face and/or run screaming in the other direction.

While the importance of our leader on the world scale is undoubtable smaller, it would not seem too much to hope that Australians would be more interested in politics on our shores than off. And yet so many of us aren’t. Voter engagement clearly remains a serious stumbling block, particularly (and forgive the blatant generalisation) for the largely apathetic youth.

Secondly, the standard of rhetoric from both men on Election Day was nothing short of impressive, even for a hardened cynic like myself. Obama in particular displayed an eloquence and emotion largely absent in Australian politics. Whatever your leanings, I suspect most will agree that both KRudd and little Johnny Howard fall well short in the oratory stakes.

Whether you choose to give credit to the man himself for the delivery or his speech writers for such inspirational words, you’d be hard pressed not to be moved by the obvious passion and dedication.

For everybody’s sake, let’s just hope Obama’s policies can meet the expectations set by his prose.

- Jacqui Flint

November 12th, 2008  |  by Jacqueline Flint Published in Events, In the News, Publicity

As they say ‘The world is your oyster’ and what a pearl to be completing this internship during my last semester of University. Throughout my PR degree I had always been told that work experience would provide the opportunity to experiment and pursue a career that matched my academic and personal interests - and I’ve now had the chance to discover what this really means.

Excited to enter the PR world, I began searching for internship opportunities. I completed some initial placements, but had begun to wonder if I was on the right path. Now I’ve realised it wasn’t the path, but the place - a matter of finding the ‘right’ fit. Different places offer different experiences and through these experiences an intern can discover the right destination. It is in this placement I have been able to develop strong teamwork skills balanced with exercising individual responsibility. I have been encouraged, yet I have also been given the freedom to show my initiative.

‘Knowledge is power’ and an internship offers the chance to learn and discover different areas of the industry and what interests you most. It can also be the deciding factor that best predicts if this field is something you would really be interested in pursuing as a future career choice. You would never buy a car without a test drive, and likewise, wouldn’t know if a particular career was right for you until you took it for a ‘spin’.

I could even say that my eight weeks here have taught me more about the industry than my three-year course, because nothing is quite as good as the real thing, and practical experience is just that. Experiencing the industry is a necessity. Still completing my study, I would have never thought I would have gained experience with clients notorious for their success in Australia and even around the globe – but I have.

While growing up and always thinking of the future, I knew I wanted to be involved with the media, and working with people who are as passionate as I am, who care so much for their clients and are adamant about building and protecting an organisation’s long-term reputation has confirmed every aspiration I have set for myself. Without being too cliché, I am so grateful that this experience has made clear where I want to be. It’s a great feeling to know what goals you want to achieve. I’ve taken the car for the test drive and I would definitely consider closing the deal.

- Samantha Pascoe

October 22nd, 2008  |  by spascoe Published in Public Relations

It’s a very easy admission - I am by no means an IT early adopter. If it were a foot race, I would clearly be back of the pack. But that said, I am a proud and regular Facebook user, collecting friends like blisters at the 10-kilometre mark.

And I must admit, some of my Facebook friends sometimes hurt a bit. The whole experience makes me wonder at what point does the collecting of contacts become simply numbing?

I recently was re-united with a dear, dear friend from university – too many years ago to mention - and I was grateful to Google, Facebook and the many other Internet applications that made it possible for us to re-establish our genuine friendship despite being oceans apart.

But this was an exception. More often than not, I cringe when I get a friend request from someone whose name I don’t recognise or whose image does not jog my high school memories of drinking Jack Daniels in the pitch of night on the local golf course.

Are we supposed to have the time or the inclination for this kind of online intrigue? Without guilt, I click ‘delete’.

I guess my fundamental beef is not at all against social media, but its easy access seems to invite the transmission of vacant, meaningless messages.

This frequent experience reinforces for me the basic tenet of communication – particularly when it comes to PR, pitches and press releases. What is my message? Is it consequential? Would the recipient be interested?

It may be far simpler now to reach out and communicate, but shouldn’t it be something of substance for anyone to take notice?

And as for all those old friends who are resurfacing online, I don’t mind collecting them like old runners kept in the back of the closet that I simply can’t throw away because of the memories – no matter how many new pairs I get.

- Christine Gotz

October 8th, 2008  |  by Christine Gotz Published in Online, Public Relations

I went to a book reading/ Q & A session with author James Frey recently, which threw up some pretty interesting ideas on the media. Labelled by Time Magazine as ‘America’s Most Notorious Author’, Frey garnered international attention when it was revealed that his published memoir ‘A Million Little Pieces’ contained a number of factual inaccuracies.

An audience member asked Frey what he thought of the very public slamming he got in the US media. The interest was understandable given the nasty backlash he received - it’s not often someone can lay claim to the fact that they got trashed by Oprah. Then again, it’s not often you get someone like Frey, who simply commented that he ‘couldn’t give a f#$k’.

Frey went on to argue that he set out to write ‘a piece of art, a work of literature’ and as such shouldn’t be held to the same standards of factual accuracy as journalists or historians. A fascinating add-on was his comment (and I paraphrase) that the New York Times, which is so revered and regarded as the great purveyor of truth, printed many more lies about him than he ever did about himself.

The underlying premise was that the audience should (and does) expect journalists to stick to the facts, but authors should be afforded a more generous scope for creativity. Whether or not you agree with the latter statement, it was the former that most piqued my interest.

The fact is that most people inherently trust their chosen media sources and assume that what is written is correct. Don’t get me wrong, we may be sceptical when reading about Britney’s latest scandal or Brangelina’s septuplets in the trashy magazines, but I suspect we are somewhat less critical when reviewing the latest banking news in the Fin. While I am certainly not suggesting that the media has morphed into a bunch of bald-faced liars, I do believe that having ‘blind faith’ in the media can be dangerous.

In this day and age where information is so prevalent and accessible, I believe the onus has shifted from the publication to the public - it is our own responsibility to seek different viewpoints and make an informed decision. We can no longer stand up and defend the validity of our viewpoints by saying ‘but I read it in the paper, it must be true!’ Not that a pesky little thing like the truth has ever been known to get in the way of the dedicated soapbox crusader…

- Jacqui Flint

September 26th, 2008  |  by Jacqueline Flint Published in Events, In the News, Public Relations

Is it just me or does anyone else visibly shudder when they see an AWOL apostrophe or poor punctuation?

When I heard the president of the UK Spelling Society recently calling for us to adopt phonetic and SMS speech in everyday language, I did an involuntary body-pop of which Michael Jackson would have been proud.

Maybe he’s stirring the pot to get a reaction and generate publicity, maybe he’s just having a laugh, or maybe I’ve gone to sleep and woken up on April 1? Whatever. It worked.

“Let’s stop worrying if people sometimes spell you as u, your and you’re both as ur, and whose and who’s both as whos,” said Professor John Wells. “People should be able to use whichever spelling they prefer.

“Have we really nothing better to do with our lives than fret about the apostrophe?” he asks.

Well of course we do, but that’s not grounds for making poor grammar and incorrect spelling acceptable. I appreciate that language evolves and we must evolve with it, but surely there’s no need to dumb it down that much.

My personal opinion aside, poor spelling, punctuation and grammar reflect badly on a company, brand or individual. It demonstrates a lack of attention to detail, sloppiness, a lack of care…none of which are positive attributes however you dress them up.

I would rather eat at Bob’s Burgers than Bobs Burgers any day of the week. If a company can be so sloppy as to get something as basic as its name wrong, then it doesn’t bode well for other areas of the business.

A colleague of mine was recently asked to sign a community petition on a subject he feels strongly about, but the preamble to the petition was so badly punctuated and hard to read that he lost the will to live mid-way through. Are we all in such a rush that we can’t pause for breath? Punctuate for heaven’s sake! In this case, it could mean the difference between getting those community signatures.

OK, so I know I’m being pedantic, but I’m not alone. The fact that Lynne Truss’ pro-punctuation bible ‘Eats, Shoots & Leaves’ sold more than three million copies worldwide and topped the New York Times’ Bestseller list is testament to that. There are millions of people shuddering (or in extreme cases body-popping) with me.

Professor Wells’ argument is also flawed in that it doesn’t take different accents into consideration. Approximately 341 million people speak English as a native language and a further 267 million speak it as a second language in more than 104 countries. Quite how we’re supposed to adopt a uniform phonetic language is anyone’s guess.

On the bright side, having walked past the same laksa house for the past few weeks and shuddering at the lack of apostrophe in its name, I was heartened this morning to see that somebody had placed a strategic chopstick where the apostrophe ought to be.

Top marks for effort. I know where I’ll be eating lunch today.

- Carolyn Gallagher

September 17th, 2008  |  by Carolyn Gallagher Published in Publicity

I have a few favourite blogs that I check from time to time, one of these being social network strategist Laurel Papworth’s. I checked Laurel’s blog just yesterday, and was immediately drawn to a recent post showing images of Uluru, plastered with advertising boards. An hour later I opened the Sydney Morning Herald to page three, and there in front of me was a news article … based on Laurel’s post.

This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed ‘news’ being drawn from online content. The interactive nature of the online medium means reader interest and opinion can be more easily gauged, resulting in the increasing frequency of ‘news’ being sourced online.

Anyone who’s viewed the ‘Christian the Lion’ footage (which to date has received around 40,000,000 views world-wide on youtube alone) would have also watched the 30-year old story become a news hit. Following uncontrollable sharing of the footage and undeniable public interest, it suddenly became ‘news’ and has been picked up by talk shows, news programs and newspapers around the world. Most recently, Sony Pictures have started negotiations to turn the story into a movie.

Then there’s ‘Trent from Punchbowl’ – an interview with a foul-mouthed, drug addicted ‘low-life’ found at Punchbowl train station. Various versions of ‘Trent from Punchy’ received more than 1,400,000 views on youtube – that’s 82 times more people than the population of Punchbowl. Various forums, an official website, youtube posts, responses and online discussions led Trent to appear in the Daily Telegraph online. The news angle - is Trent real, bloggers are divided.

In today’s changing media landscape, there is no doubt online information sharing is impacting on what we see and hear in more traditional news mediums – not to mention how long it lasts. Online news stories on the Hungry Jacks Stacker generated hundreds of online responses over two days, and meant a story that should have lasted a day, stuck around for a week. And by the way, the story first appeared in blogs several days earlier.

The value of online cannot be discounted as it continues to grow as a source of entertainment, interest, and news – even for journalists.

- Kara Jecks

September 10th, 2008  |  by Kara Jecks Published in In the News, Online, Public Relations

A tiny blurb in the Daily Telegraph a few weeks ago confirmed that the urban myth ‘six degrees of separation’ is almost statistically spot on. Microsoft analysts determined that 6.6 relationships linked every person on this planet.

I am actually linked to more than 30 million people, but not through an individual, but an animal. His name is Christian. Have you met my lion friend?

I have watched the YouTube video about a dozen times and told at least twice that many people. Everyone I know has done the same. Everyone one I know has reacted the same. The collective experience of the YouTube community seems to heighten our emotional response.

I wonder if this is what Marshall McLuhan imagined when he proclaimed ‘the medium is the message’ way back in 1964?

Is our reaction so visceral because we are participating in a global groundswell? Would I have taken such possession of Christian if I could not have shared him with everyone in my office in an instant? Probably not.

If I had seen him on TV, I would have almost certainly forgotten about it by the next day. And a photo in a newspaper, may only rate a mention if I was sitting beside a friend at the time.

In any case, it has taken an animal set wild in our vast Internet neighbourhood to remind me that most of us enjoy sharing a bit of happy human emotion – at least with 6.6 people.

- Christine Gotz

September 3rd, 2008  |  by Christine Gotz Published in In the News, Online, Public Relations

The plight of baby humpback whale Colin, stranded in a Sydney waterway, captured the heart of the Australian public last week and generated a media frenzy - print, TV, radio, online, blogs and more. Within days you could even visit a special Colin website featuring musical youtube tributes, a petition to PM Kevin Rudd and (because we simply can’t escape commercialism) a range of Colin 08 merchandise.

The story split public opinion. Before long, lines were being drawn in the sand (or perhaps more fittingly, the sea). Were you a tie-dye wearing, bleeding heart hippie wanting to waste tax payers money on pointless rescue attempts? Or were you a greed-driven, cold-hearted cynic choosing economic rationalism over the survival of an innocent creature?

Regardless of my own personal ambivalence towards ‘poor Colin’, I found the saga fascinating. The more I read, the more I realised just how much a dash of subjectivity can change a story. Over the course of a week, Colin went from being (with all due respect) just a whale, to a symbol for pro-euthanasia, bureaucratic ineptitude, economic rationalism and even national pride.

Unfortunately despite everyone from politicians to animal rights groups to the Average Joe putting in their two cents, the passion of the people could not keep Colin alive.

But it sure did sell a lot of papers.

- Jacqui Flint

August 27th, 2008  |  by Jacqueline Flint Published in In the News

Came away very impressed with Sandy Olsen, the Director of Corporate Communications at Carnival Australia who spoke at a recent IABC lunch in Sydney.

Sandy took up this newly created position at the world’s number one cruise operator in March 2007 with three weeks of the Dianne Brimble inquest to run.

She also had to contend with the unfortunate death of a 31 year-old Sydneysider who died during a cruise he had won as part of a Radio 2GB competition. Then came some of NZ’s worst storms that led to 1,200 cruise passengers on the Pacific Star being off-loaded in Vanuatu and flown home.

Hardly what you would call ‘smooth sailing’ for the start of a new job, hey?

Yet surprisingly, Sandy claims she “has the best job, in the best company.”

As she said, adversity creates opportunities for change and Carnival had little alternative but to learn its lessons if it was to re-build its business.

Such was the damage to the reputation of P&O as a result of the tragic death of Mrs Brimble, it had no choice but to look at every aspect of its business.  It was, according to Sandy, a very painful, uncomfortable and challenging process but led to many fundamental positive changes.

The real problem was the business had failed to keep pace with acceptable community standards.

Since changes have been made, Carnival has doubled the passenger capacity of its fleet, achieved double-digit growth, maintained its 50 per cent repeat passenger record and provided cruises to more than half a million passengers.

Interestingly, 70 per cent of those passengers are now couples or families, with the average passenger aged in their mid-40s.

And the lessons have been learned – Carnival no longer conducts ‘schoolies cruises’, any passenger under the age of 21 must be accompanied by an adult and the number of under 18 year olds are limited.

There is greater emphasis on child minding facilities as more and more multi-generational family groups now sail together.  And while the barman remains, there is also a barista on board, and with its new comprehensive wine list (39), passengers are encouraged to drink according to quality, not quantity.

P&O now leads the world in passenger safety and security.  It has introduced 500 CCTVs on board the Pacific Dawn, with each passenger now receiving a video along with their ticket to remind them of their responsibilities as a passenger at sea.

It is amazing what a committed board, CEO and corporate communications team can do to transform a business that must have come close to sinking after a proud history of 75 years.

It is just another example how when a crisis strikes, it’s about how a company responds which determines if that business will die, survive or, in some cases, thrive.

- Gordon Coulter

August 26th, 2008  |  by Gordon Coulter Published in Crisis Communications, Events