The PR Industry: An Economic Bellwether?

By Vanessa Horwell

Happy days are here again. Or are they?

On June 29, WPP, the global behemoth marketing and communications firm reported a significant uptick in earnings and growth. WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell reported that “in the first quarter, branding and identity, healthcare and specialist communications (including direct, digital and interactive) continues to show relatively stronger growth at over 2.0%, followed by consumer insight at slightly over 2.0% and public relations and public affairs at 2.0%.” Congrats, WPP — that is great news for stakeholders, but what about the rest of the agency world?

Roughly six months ago, as the new decade broke, agencies started the year in a cautiously optimistic mindset. And they had reason to; the recession was over (almost), consumers were shaking out the cobwebs from their wallets, the White House promised to put some sort of chokehold on Wall Street, and firms were hiring again. We saw green shoots.

Today, however, that somewhat rosy picture has failed to materialize for a lot of the PR industry and its clients. It was like a mirage in the Gobi Desert. An illusion.

As PR agencies find themselves at the crossroads of sticking to old-school tactics versus the social-media-as-an-everything Goliath, reinventing their model — and really, trying to stay relevant to their clients, another major hurdle is facing them — companies say can no longer afford PR. Seriously.

Last year, as agencies battened down the hatches and prepared for the worst by shrinking fees (and costs), many assumed that when business improved, clients would go back to full billings and bigger retainers. In other words, a return to the glory days …

Those, too, have failed to materialize for many of the smaller and mid-sized agencies I’ve spoken with during the past week. In fact, the exact opposite seems to be happening. Their clients have been slashing, or worse, eliminating PR budgets much more aggressively than, say, at the end of 2008 and throughout 2009. To me, this seems so at odds with the general thinking that the worst has already happened (at least in the U.S.) and that as the economy improves, so will our businesses.

So perhaps business hasn’t really improved. And if that is the case, my question is this: If marketing and PR agencies have never been regarded as a litmus test for economic stability, should they start to be now?

What I have found — and this has been echoed by the dozen or so agency owners I have spoken with recently — is that for the companies trying to shore up their balance sheets and rebuild cash flow, PR is a totally expendable expense, not a business development tool, and an indicator of a still weak economic climate.

PR Agencies Are to Blame

This perception, of course, is a tragedy — and worse, of our own doing (hello, PR agencies, I am talking to you). Any service that we provide to a client must deliver value and result, regardless of the cost. And the result that companies are looking for is increasingly boiling down to one thing — a tangible return. This is how WPP’s Sorrell describes it:

“You do not retain valued clients by trying to retain them; you retain them by doing outstanding work. You do not make more money by trying to make more money; you make more money by doing outstanding work. You do not win creative awards by trying to win creative awards; you win them by doing outstanding work.”

I could not agree more. For PR agencies, generic talk about “creating awareness, brand-building and engagement is not enough. If we — and I am talking to PR practitioners here — don’t listen to the marketplace and adapt our actions to its needs, the slippery slope that many agencies already find themselves on is going to get a whole lot scarier.

Please don’t misunderstand the tone of this column. I am not a pessimist. I am, however, a realist, and the reality for PR agencies today is this: change or die.

It is as simple as that.

We need to make ourselves truly indispensable to our clients. We need to de-commoditize our offering. We need to understand what businesses need, not what PR can do. And we need to go above and beyond to deliver every single time. There is no room left for the status quo any more.

Are you an agency owner or do you work at a PR agency? I would love to hear your view about the current agency environment and “client climate.” Have you seen an increase in billings and revenues like WPP? Have you been asked to work on very small retainers, or has your agency done away with retainer billing altogether? And finally, do you see the current climate improving for your agency or getting worse? What will your agency be doing differently to stay in business?

Celebrating Barbara Zohlman Day, Every Day

Last week saw the start of a new era for the South Florida youth prevention organization, DFYIT.

After 10 years at the helm of DFYIT as Executive Director, Barbara Zohlman retired and the organization welcomed new exec. director Micah Robbins. Welcome Micah!

Barbara's mark on the organization and legacy within South Florida can be seen in the current generation of responsible young adults that are part of the DFYIT program -- more than 10,000 of them -- who have committed to live a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

In fact, more than 200,000 youth, their peers, family and local communities have been positively impacted by the many programs implemented by Barbara and DFYIT within the region's schools since the organization's inception in 1993.

The ThinkTank salutes Barbara for her dedication, passion and vision of nurturing generations of drug free youth in our town.

Disclosure: I have been involved with promoting DFYIT since 2005, and The ThinkTank works on various projects, pro-bono and otherwise, to help support DFYIT's mission of encouraging youth to live healthy and productive lives by being drug and alcohol free. It is a mission and cause we strongly believe in!

To find out more about how you can become involved, please visit http://www.dfyit.org/.

And as our final tribute, here is a copy of the press release we issued to commemorate Barbara's service to Miami Dade county and its citizens.

Miami-Dade County Honors DFYIT Executive Director for 45 Years of Service to Youth
June 17th named “Barbara Zohlman Day” in Recognition of Contributions to Local Community

MIAMI, FL – June 29, 2010 – At its annual board meeting last week, local youth drug prevention program DFYIT (Drug Free Youth in Town) celebrated its leadership as it welcomed two distinguished community members to its Board of Directors for the 2010-2011 school year and recognized the lifelong achievements of its outgoing Executive Director, Barbara Zohlman.

In honor of her contributions to youth in Miami-Dade County and with her retirement drawing near, representatives from the office of Mayor Carlos Alvarez presented Ms. Zohlman with a proclamation from the County, declaring June 17th “Barbara Zohlman Day.” The honor commemorates 45 years of service to the children of Dade County; Ms. Zohlman was the founder, Executive Director and creative visionary of the Miami Children’s Museum; served as Executive Director of DFYIT for the past 10 years; and worked for twelve years as a Miami-Dade County teacher, where she taught art to children with learning disabilities.

Along with recognizing Ms. Zohlman’s lifelong contributions to the youth of Miami-Dade County, the board meeting was also an opportunity to welcome new board members Mayor Scott J. Brook and DFYIT alumnus Jasmine Jas. Sworn in by the Honorable Steven Liefman, the new board members were chosen for their unwavering commitment to serving the South Florida community and their dedication to keeping South Florida’s youth drug and alcohol free. Their advocacy efforts on behalf of the organization will play a vital role in the advance of DFYIT’s mission.

To date, DFYIT has more than 70 clubs in Miami-Dade and Broward County public schools, where it teaches youth about the dangers of drugs and alcohol and encourages pro-social involvement in their peer groups and within the greater community. Part of DFYIT’s success and expansion can be attributed to the development of community activities that can provide leadership skills to participating children and teens - an enterprise that seems well reflected in the accomplishments of Mayor Brook and Ms. Jas.

“Through her dedication and vision, Ms. Zohlman has built a strong foundation upon which to grow this important organization. We’re very excited about DFYIT’s new direction and the talents that these new board members will bring to realizing our goal of making South Florida youth drug- and alcohol-free,” said Micah Robbins, the new incoming Executive Director of DFYIT.

DFYIT’s 2010/2011 board instillation includes:

Leslie Share – President
Ralph Gazitua- Past President
Bruce Hayden -Vice President
Sarah Fernandez-Vice President
William Roppolo- Vice President
Perry Thompson - Vice President
Elizabeth Marquardt- Treasurer
Miriam Soto- Secretary
DFYIT Founder - Marlene Josefsberg
Gerald Greenberg
Jill Shockett
Felipe Blanco
Edson Briggs
Anthony Morin
Evan Goldman
Ramon Rasco
Dr. Larry Feldman
Scott Mallet
Mayor Scott Brook
Jasmine Jas

For more information about DFYIT, please visit http://www.dfyit.org/ and www.sobesober.org, or contact Vanessa Horwell at 305.749.5342 x 232 or vanessa@thinktankpr.org.

# # #
About DFYIT
DFYIT (Drug Free Youth In Town) is a nationally recognized, community-based substance abuse prevention organization that focuses on and gives recognition to students who choose to live a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. With more than 70 DFYIT clubs in Miami-Dade County middle and senior high schools, DFYIT provides adolescents with social competency training, drug awareness counseling, conflict resolution skills, positive adult relationships, and pro-social involvement in their school and community. For more information on DFYIT, please visit their website at http://www.dfyit.org/.

On the Efficacy of Advocacy

The John Hopkins Listening Post Project recently issued a report on how organizations can increase the efficacy of their advocacy efforts in a time- and money-challenged era.

The full report can be found here, but here are some of the big takeaways:

• Understand your limitations. The report found that although nonprofits do engage in efforts to influence public policy, their impact tends to be diminished by lack of resources (no surprise there). Budget constraints, limited staff time to devote to the cause, and lack of expertise are the most common concerns.

• Tell your story. Nonprofits should be directly involved in advocacy efforts by leveraging real-world stories and experiences in the lobbying process.

• Reach out. Intermediary organizations should be utilized to engage members in mission-based advocacy and secure long-term funding streams.

• Educate, educate, educate. Foundations and their boards need to understand how advocacy can help achieve the organization’s mission; policy communities need to be educated about the impact of existing lobbying laws on nonprofit advocacy.

Have a question about your organization’s advocacy efforts? Leave us a comment – we’ll be happy to help.

Can entrepreneurship be taught?

Can entrepreneurship be taught?

That’s the question posed in a recent You’re the Boss blog entry from the New York Times. The blog post mentions one organization in particular, Bizdom U, which operates on the mantra that not only can entrepreneurship be taught; it should be taught. And not just within the walls of the university – but in our public school systems and in our communities, so that we can nurture and mentor the next generation of innovators.

NFTE (The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) is a similar organization dedicated to providing entrepreneurship education and opportunities to our nation’s youth. Founded on the belief that entrepreneurship education can transform lives, NFTE focuses specifically on bringing its programming to students from low-income communities.

The proof is in the pudding – on average, NFTE youth score higher on math and reading comprehension tests, are more engaged in their schools and communities, and are more likely to pursue higher education.

Youth entrepreneurship education programs like Bizdom U and NFTE are proving that entrepreneurship education can indeed be taught – and that the benefits to the individual and to society are well worth the investment.

Interested in learning more about the programs mentioned above? Want to get your business or organization involved? Leave us a message!

What is Social Entrepreneurship, Anyway?

Wikipedia defines a social entrepreneur as someone who “recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.”

The PBS New Heroes series, which highlights the stories of twelve social entrepreneurs from various parts of the globe, also makes an important distinction regarding social entrepreneurship: unlike traditional business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs “primarily seek to generate ‘social value’ rather than profits.” And, unlike many non-profit organizations, their work is targeted “not only towards immediate, small-scale effects, but sweeping, long-term change.”

A recent article from the ever-pioneering Stanford Social Innovation Review also offers an interesting introduction to social entrepreneurship. Along with highlighting real world examples of ‘social businesses,’ the article also offers up substantive food for thought regarding the role business ought to play in addressing societal issues and the distinction between social entrepreneurship, nonprofit management, and philanthropy.

Innovating for the Common Good

Some examples of social entrepreneurship ventures include:

• KickStart International – Revitalizes impoverished communities by promoting sustainable economic growth and employment creation.

• Barefoot College - Provides basic services and solutions to problems in rural communities, in the areas of solar energy, water, education, health care, rural handicrafts, people’s action, communication, women’s empowerment and wasteland development.

• Grameen Foundation - Uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people.

Interested in learning more about social entrepreneurship, or perhaps starting up your own social venture? Here are a few resources to get you started:

• Ashoka.org – A global organization that identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs, engages communities of entrepreneur and creates the infrastructure needed to develop social partnerships with lasting social and financial value.

• Social Edge - A program of the Skoll Foundation, this global online community helps social entrepreneurs connect to network, learn, inspire, and share resources.

• Social Venture Network – Ideas, resources, conferences and events geared toward nurturing social entrepreneurship around the world.
  

And please feel free to contact us at The ThinkTank if you have any social entrepreneurship ideas or challenges you would like to discuss.

Accountability and Impact: How Does Your Nonprofit Measure Up?

As donor dollars become more competitive and funding opportunities fewer and farther between, nonprofit organizations face increased pressure to demonstrate accountability and impact to their shareholders.

But how should an organization go about demonstrating accountability? And how do you measure impact when your modus operandus involves a more complex theory of change?

In a recent article from the Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge series, Dr. Alnoor Ebrahim discusses the two conversations that every nonprofit organization should be aware of when mapping out strategies for demonstrating success.

In the end, argues Ebrahim, what matters most is developing a set of metrics that reflect and support your mission, goals and objectives, rather than trying to conform to some universal, one-size-fits-all-NPOs standard for measuring social impact.

So, how does your organization measure up?

Hands on Miami Volunteer Open House

Here at The ThinkTank, there's a special place in our hearts for Hands on Miami.

The only organization of its kind in Miami, Hands on Miami recruits and organizes volunteers and matches them with important projects that provide companionship to the elderly, build low-income housing, restore the natural environment, tutor at-risk children, read to children in shelters, and even care for homeless pets.

If you live in Miami and are looking for ways to give back to the community, this organization is a great place to start. Just in time for summer, Hands on Miami is holding a Volunteer Appreciation/Open House Event on Saturday, June 12 at their brand-spankin' new office in the Wynwood Design District.

If you're interested in attending, you can find out more by clicking here.