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The posting that generated the most response was in regard to the GCI Canada book club. We finished “The Long Tail” earlier in the year and we are now striding through “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. Friedman’s book has been out for a few years now and in fact maybe on its second or third update. It is very well written but what is most interesting is the conversation that it incites in our boardroom. During the most recent book club session there was rabid debate amongst GCIers as to whether brands were becoming less or more important as outsourcing grew and the types of activities being outsourced continued to expand. Some in the room that brands were irrelevant. Others insisted brands ruled and were more important than ever. It was interesting to bring the discussion into the realm of current events using the recent Menu Pet fFood example. Menu Foods is the outsourced manufacturer for several prominant pet food companies. Very few could have anticipated what befell Menu Foods and then thereby their own company brands. For all companies in the outsourcing chain whether at the beginning or the end, individual reputations are dependent on each member of the chain.

Since I haven’t made a post in two months maybe I could win the title of the world’s worst blogger. I hardly every win at anything so it could be something to aspire too. I could say that it is because I’m too busy but everyone is that. What I would say is that I find everyday to be a whirlwind and I am often astonished by how much time has gone by since I last looked up. I originally thought it has been a two weeks or so (admittedly unacceptable) since my last post but I was shocked to see it was actually two months. Fortunately the whirlwind has been a positive one of great assignments and exciting new business opportunities.

If anything illustrates the new global economy and the impact of technology on our everyday lves it is yesterday’s dramatic drop in world markets driven by stock tumbles in China The old saying when the “US sneezes the rest of the world gets a cold” now applies to other growing world economies as well The Wall St Journal is reporting today that part of the dramatic drop can also be attributed to technology glitches that hampered the calculation of Dow industrial averages Basically the system got overheated and couldn’t keep up. It should be an interesting day today to see if what any type of correction might look like and also likely more reporting and commentary regarding the technology failings

Last week GCI London launched its new site and its great! The URL is www.gciuk.com. Be sure to check out GM Mark Cater’s accompanying blog www.gciuk.com/gci-blog. It gives you a great sense of what’s going on PR-Wise across the pond.

For those of us who live in Toronto, we are likely familiar with Fashion Cares, the major fundraiser for the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT). Fashion Cares is an amazing event for a great cause. The evening is pure spectacle and great fun. This year, GCI is very proud to be one of the event’s sponsors. We believe in ACT’s work and are proud our time and talents can be applied to such a worthy cause.

This year, GCI introduced a social media component for the first time to Fashion Cares’ outreach. There is currently a contest running on Youtube (type in “Fashion Cares 2007″ and you will go right there). The “whyACTnow” winner will receive a makeover anda ticket to Fashion Cares regardless of where they live in Canada.The Youtube contest invites entrants to post a video as to why ACT’s work is important. Because ACT’s work is so important Erica Ehm, Adam Ruggiero of “DeGrassi”, and CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulus have posted videos of support to the ACT message.

Check it out!

GCI Academy is the company’s internal professional development program. There is a North American version as well as a Canadian one that we design and deliver to the team here.

For this week’s North American session the topic was “Trendspotting” delivered by Robyn Fried of our NY Consumer Team and she did a great job.

Robyn’s presentation highlighted some interesting observations. The speed of change continues to accelerate. New technologies have made it possible to analyze history (societal changes and cultural evolution) and sales in greater detail than ever before. And up for debate perhaps, that traditional consumer research has its limiitations. Robyn used a quote I loved by American auto inventor Henry Ford, “If I had asked consumers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”. We sometimes impose our own restrictions on what we believe to be possible.

Very few of us are actual trendmakers like Apple’s Steve Jobs who can see beyond conventions. This means being a “fast follower” is probably the best alternative for most of us. Plus, having the ability to differentiate between a fad like the pet rock and what seems to continue to be a trend such as tattoos.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to be a more effective blogger, meaning I would be making daily or multiple postings through the day on my many profound thoughts or observations. Since this is my first post of 2007 and it is February 4 obviously I am not doing so well! And, I have increasing respect for those that can continually make postings and even better, postings that are engaging and provocative. That’s the real skill. I can’t imagine anyone is particularly interested in what I had for breakfast. I’m barely interested.

But, you have my renewed commitment to being a better blogger in 2007.

Run. Don’t walk to buy The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. One of the benefits or miseries of working at GCI (depending on your perspective) is the GCI Book Club. Throughout the year the team reads business books and we discuss them as a group and hopefully the occasional passionate argument or knock ‘em, drag ‘em out fight will break out that means people are really engaged. The Long Tail has incited that type of reaction (no actual fights yet but I am hopeful).

No matter how you may feel about new media, The Long Tail is very well written by a very smart guy (editor of Wired). Anderson gives an extremely compelling overview of the disruption that has occurred in mass culture, through new media, the loss of traditional barriers to entry and the subsequent empowerment of individual creative types and microentrepreneurs.

A few weeks ago I participated on a CPRS panel on the topic of communications during mergers, crisis etc… Instead of going through the traditional “to do” list (ie. make sure media lists are updated, have home phone numbers etc..) I decided to engage the audience around the impact of new media and the five second news cycle in crisis management. There were a few nods, some glazed stares and some truly horrifed looks. During the question period one woman stood up and basically said “new media was all well and good but at the end of the day face to face contact was critical.” Because I wasn’t really sure what to say (wanting to be on the side of the angels) I nodded eagerly in agreement…but I wonder. A few days earlier, by chance, I happened to be part of a staff discussion on new media. Interestingly enough the group, dominated by young PR professionals, was divided on how important actual physical contact was. Some felt instant messaging was in fact better. I raised the same question with a friend of mine, an HR professional, who vehemently contended that being in the same physical space was critical for important discussions. She said, “Imagine how you would feel being emailed ‘you’re fired’.” Yup, that would be grim but I am not sure today’s 16 year old will feel the same in the future. She may just shrug and email her very best friend, who she has never actually met, for solice.

Last Friday was the annual GCI staff offsite under the theme “SHRED - Share, Rethink, Disrupt. It is no secret that the public relations industry and the marketing communications function are in disruption - traditional media is shrinking and becoming less relevant to certain audiences, the growth of the “five second media cycle” due to blogs, youtube and myspace among others, the subsequent war for talent. So the offsite day was meant to challenge staff and introduce them to voices, other than my own, that have a view of what is happening out there, how public relations consulting may be impacted and the bald-eyed view of the client world.
Stuart McDonald, the dynamic founder of Expedia.ca, had “disrupted” himself when he founded the online travel company. His new passion is the social media and he gave a great start to our sessions. Alison Gordon and MJ deCoteau of Rethink Breast Cancer chatted to the team about how they had “disrupted” traditional attitudes regarding fundraising and breast cancer education particularly targeting young women. Their “if men had breasts” PSAs are very funny but to the point.

We had breakout sessions brainstorming about how we were going to “Shred, Disrupt, Rethink” GCI over the coming months. And, there were some great ideas. More about those in future postings….

The final session of the day was a three-person client panel. The kick was that these generous with their time executives were not GCI clients but other agencies’ clients. This was purposeful on my part. GCI Canada has wonderful clients but I wanted the GCI team to hear from clients that could give them a different perspective and be very straight about what turns them on or drives them crazy about agencies and not being concerned about hurting anyone’s feelings. And, these executives gave straight talk answers that were more powerful than any Monday morning staff meeting I could have had.

It was a great day.