On Wednesday we found ourselves at the epicentre of the maelstrom following the announcement by our client, Clinton Cards Group that it was expecting to go into administration.

Such situations are fluid and fast moving, and test any PR professional’s mettle. We had 11 minutes of calm from the moment the RNS (release to the stock exchange) was posted to the storm of media enquiries, the first which was predictably from the Today Programme.

From that point until the time that administrator Zolfo Cooper formally took over media enquiries in the afternoon, the Speed corporate team handled more than 80 media enquiries.

Every call was slightly different, many we could not help with – apologies to the dozens of local and regional journalists who were left disappointed by our polite refusal to break down information to local and regional level.

But it was at times like that, when media relations was at its most raw, that you appreciate the generally good natured relationship between journalists and PR consultants.

The majority of journalists, most of which I had been speaking with and met with on behalf of Clintons over the last few months, would start the enquiry with well-meant sympathy.

Several even mentioned how sorry they were that we would no longer be working for such a great corporate client; as is normal in administrations, the administrator is handling corporate media enquiries.

That general attitude, during an otherwise hectic day, made a difficult job considerably more straightforward.

Working in PR means that being in tune with the news (and hopefully one step ahead) is a key part of my job. When I first started out, this meant kicking my day off with a mass paper reading session while discussing the main headlines with my colleagues – usually alongside a large cup of coffee. Not so anymore. Now I need to be able to monitor the news constantly, and long before I even reach the office and get my hands on the papers. This often means getting out of bed a little earlier, which some would view as a complete tragedy! Lucky for me i’m an early bird and I’m okay with this – but what does this need for 24 hour news mean for news organisations and journalists?

I don’t think we stop and think about this very often – about where our news actually comes from, who puts it together for us, where do they have to go to do that? We just absorb it without really considering those things. The sad fact of journalists losing their lives in Syria seems to have really brought it to the forefront of our minds though, and has put a new value on the word ‘news’. Hopefully we will stop seeing it as something that is just there, and really start to appreciate what it means and what it stands for.

I’m going to get off of my soap box now, but I will be back next week to give you an update on the actual event which sparked all this thinking off…..

Here are a few snippets:

On 9 January, Netflix, the popular US TV and film streaming service launched in the UK, giving our client ANT Software, a digital TV specialist, the opportunity to air its opinion on the connected TV market.  Result: Five pieces of national newspaper coverage in January: Telegraph: Netflix launches in Britain, How Netflix and Lovefilm are reshaping movie rentals, Connected TVs will be the norm in 2015 and Blockbuster exclusive rentals target Lovefilm and Netflix.

On 18 January, we pitched a story about the opening of Associated Press’ new news bureau in North Korea – the first international news bureau of any agency in North Korea. The story was centred on the recent death of Kim Jong II, explaining how Associated Press writers and photojournalists can work in North Korea on a regular basis, documenting the people, places and politics Korea across all media platforms at a critical time in the country’s history. Executive editor, Kathleen Carroll appeared live on BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show, while other coverage was spread across the news hour slot on BBC World Service, Daily Mail, The Independent The Guardian and the BBC.

On 22 January, Phil Packer, founder of the British Inspiration Trust appeared on Sky News Sunrise. Phil talked about his 2012-mile walk this year and his vision to build a ‘centre of excellence’ for young people facing adversity. Sky News is broadcast to an average 1.5 million people.

On 23 January, Tesco Beauty’s Skin Wisdom Day was featured in a fashion and beauty article in the Daily Express designed to help Brits beat the January blues.

On 25 January, The European Commission outlined planned changes to EU data protection rules that included a ‘right to be forgotten’ clause. Jonathan Gale, CEO of NewVoiceMedia, talked about why Facebook and cloud computing companies are better positioned to adopt the legislation – BBC World News

On 27 January, John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of The Economist, was interviewed on CNN’s World Business Today programme. John spoke live on the issues discussed at Davos, and where the world’s economy now stands compared to at the previous World Economic Forum. CNN airs to 200 million-plus homes in 200 countries.

I’ve never run a session yet that hasn’t celebrated both the art and science of newsjacking, and the insight behind strong creation of a client’s own headlines. Well done to the team.

We’ve all come across those epic films (Bollywood is certainly filled with them), or episodes of Casualty, where such an illness is miraculously cured and cutting edge medical treatment is portrayed as the key to saving lives. In many cases it is, however, this article shows the flip side to the coin, an ugly truth that is often ignored: that our health system “errs” on the side of over-treatment, and that doctors are sometimes forced to act in ways that are not necessarily in the best interest of the patients they treat. The most harrowing thing of all is the argument that the doctors performing, what they refer to as “futile care” on patients, would not opt for the same procedures themselves if faced with the same situation.

The notion is this, modern medicine has its limits and when pushed to these in order to treat a grievously ill person, it is more often than not simply prolonging their death, not their life. Murray argues, it buys a misery that “we would not inflict on a terrorist”, which then begs the question: why does society still operate in pursuit of the everlasting life? And more importantly, why does our health system assist in doing this?

Not only are doctors afraid of the legal implications they could face if they don’t carry out what is asked of them, there often lies financial incentives for carrying out treatments above and beyond what is necessary. Most shockingly of all is the story from the article of “Jack”, who wished to never be put on a life support machine again following the discomfort he felt the last time he had been. His wishes had been documented and his doctor knew them well, yet when he suffered a stroke and was admitted to A&E, “Jack’s worst nightmare” came true.

Though the mistake was soon rectified, this story simply highlights the key drivers underpinning medicine as a whole – length of life. This seems appropriate in almost every other area of medicine, but a distinction needs to be made when it comes to terminal illness.

I’m not going as far as to campaign for euthanasia, a very separate contentious issue that has several challenges it needs to overcome before it seems a viable option. However, I am advocating the right to a “peaceful death” in the case of a terminal illness. In this day and age, is that too much to ask?

The question isn’t necessarily if  O2 is going to fix this? It will no doubt resolve the issue in the next 12-24hrs, but it’s more about how it communicates the steps it’s taking to the people like Matt who broke the news, or influencers like Ewan MacLeod (Editor and Founder of Mobile Industry Review) who has been tweeting about it since the story broke.

If it were me, i’d make sure that i bring these guys in to everything being done to fix this problem, have an open conversation with them about how this happened in the first place and the company’s next steps. People like Matt and Ewan have a huge audience, specifically in the mobile industry and by talking with them, it can help spread the word of action far quicker. They both write for widely read news sites, but perhaps just as important is the fact that they’re both extremely active across a number of social media channels, be it to cross-publish stories, or to simply deliver thought.

Just my thoughts, but needless to say i’ll be keeping an eye on this.

UPDATE:

As what usually happens with these things, first the news is broken by a digital news site (in this case The Next Web), the community and industry influencers then test and verify what’s happening, then the national journalists start investigating (around 3hrs since it broke). At this point, it’s just a matter of when a national will run with the story. Around the same time, broadcast journalists put their reports together and then the issue comes to the consumer from a number of different channels and O2 will have a whole lot more explaining to do…

As far as i’ve seen there has been little or no update from O2 aside from the slightly varied message of “we’re looking in to it” tweeted around three times a minute. If it had been able to bring those who initially broke the story in to what it’s been doing to fix the situation, it would have several platforms to communicate to the industry as a whole – which would have undoubtedly filtered through in to any stories national newspaper journalists would be writing.

Update 2:

O2 has now published a Q&A blog post to help answer some of the questions customers might have about what’s been written.

http://blog.o2.co.uk/home/2012/01/o2-mobile-numbers-and-web-browsing.html

Last night at a Speed sales event we heard Alistair Campbell (@campbellclaret), Will Whitehorn (@willthewisp)and Stephen Waddington (@wadds) talk about the end of spin and the need for a more authentic style of communication in the future.

The main take away from Campbell was routed in why strategic communications is the only type of communications that counts. Having cited the infamous bad handling of the BP Oil disaster as a total failure of strategic communications, Campbell went onto explain why Bill Clinton was the best strategic communicator he has ever met.

Recalling a telephone call between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair on the decommissioning of soviet weapons on the same day the Starr Report revealed the Monica Lewinsky affair, Campbell was impressed by Clinton’s focus on the task at hand.

Years and a Campbell and Clinton interview later, how Clinton weathered the Lewinsky scandal was revealed:

“Bill’s objective was survival. He defined his strategy to focus on things that only he could make a difference to. And his tactics – to make sure the American public knew what he was doing. It seems simple. But, your strategy is the cornerstone of survival in a crisis,” said Campbell.

Speed clients Darcy Willson-Rymer (@KingofCardz), CEO for Clinton Cards and Russell Buckley (@russellbuckley), CMO at Eagle Eye, joined the speakers for a panel Q&A, hosted by Steve Earl.

Here are a few other snippets from the evening:

• Don’t forget that you need to communicate with the public, not the media. It is your relationship with the public that matters.

• The 24 hour news cycle will get worse. The mobile will do to the PC what the PC did to mainframe. And, this will press the fast-forward button on news cycles.
• Your reputation belongs to customers, employees and the public. The job of the CEO is to understand what is going on and participating in online communities is just an extension of that. Sometimes you start the conversation, sometimes you are involved and sometimes you shut up.

• For communication directors who are restricted by the fact their operational business hasn’t adapted to the ‘always on’ nature of today’s media, acknowledge problems quickly and explain that the resolution will take time.

• And, if you want to take the micky out of David Cameron, take a look at www.mydavidcameron.com.

In a world where you will never have complete control over your brand’s reputation, don’t just focus on what everyone else is saying about you, focus on what you can change – your organisation.

You have control over your own PR strategy and it is this strategy that can save you in a crisis.