By Tom Curtin
Curtin&Co had the pleasure of Pauleen Lane, Vice Chair of the Infrastructure Planning Commission at our annual Christmas Lunch at Browns in London. She gave an excellent talk on the work of the IPC and its committment to transparency. I wish it well on a difficult journey.
But what is transparency? Already politicians are extremely uncomfortable with the Freedom of Information Act, especially when it comes out of their expenses. Does transparency mean that every scrap of information must be placed in the public domain? Every jotting, every notebook, every flipchart? This could lead to a bureaucratic nightmare and a bonanza for the manufacturers of scanning machines.
From my own experience in the nuclear industry some years ago, the sad truth is that there is no other way forward. I was a strong advocate at that time in making everything public. Invite in Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and anyone else who wishes to trawl over the files and the notebooks.
Sure there will be skeletons in the cupboard. The science will not always be perfect. There will be thoughts which one would rather not have public. So what? After a few headlines media will soon get bored and move onto something more interesting. And so will everyone else.
You cannot be a little transparent. And if you really want to be cynical about it, if you want to hide a needle, first build a haystack.
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Friday, 15 January 2010
In this week's PR Week, Danny Rogers' article "Even the Paragons of PR Can Drop the Ball" demonstrates how a good reputation is a fragile asset. A painstakingly constructed facet, it can take just one negative publicity event to destroy years of hard work. As Perrier found out to its cost in the early 1990s, a generally well-run company can be over-shadowed by a badly handled issue. In this case, the discovery of minute quantities of benzene culminated in the company being sold for a fraction of its value: It's value hinged on a reputation which had been irreparably damaged. The product still hasn't recovered its market position, despite millions of dollars being spent on re-branding by its new owners.
Speed of action is often key to keeping consumers on side. The main criticism of Eurostar from those passengers who were stranded over Christmas was that they had not been told what was happening: the staff appeared to have no idea. The only way to avoid this situation is preparation. If a company's staff is trained for a crisis to happen at any moment, then the response should be immediate and evident to all those involved: It is just a case of following procedures. However, it can be the difference between retaining your good reputation (and customer base) or losing it (and your customers) altogether.
Often we are blinkered by our belief in our own brand and we forget to consider how it looks to outsiders. Sometimes it is necessary to take a step back to see how your reputation could really be affected by a crisis - however minor it appears - and take some time out of busy schedules to ensure you are prepared to deal with it. After all, what are you left with without your reputation?
PR Week article:
http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/opinion/977224/Danny-Rogers-Even-paragons-PR-drop-ball/
Speed of action is often key to keeping consumers on side. The main criticism of Eurostar from those passengers who were stranded over Christmas was that they had not been told what was happening: the staff appeared to have no idea. The only way to avoid this situation is preparation. If a company's staff is trained for a crisis to happen at any moment, then the response should be immediate and evident to all those involved: It is just a case of following procedures. However, it can be the difference between retaining your good reputation (and customer base) or losing it (and your customers) altogether.
Often we are blinkered by our belief in our own brand and we forget to consider how it looks to outsiders. Sometimes it is necessary to take a step back to see how your reputation could really be affected by a crisis - however minor it appears - and take some time out of busy schedules to ensure you are prepared to deal with it. After all, what are you left with without your reputation?
PR Week article:
http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/opinion/977224/Danny-Rogers-Even-paragons-PR-drop-ball/
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Save The Local Newspaper
Local newspapers are a key method of connecting with communities but they are in as much danger as the village post office or pub. Recently Johnson Press publisher of a number of regional newspapers in the UK decided to charge for content online. Newspapers generally have been suffering falling circulations - the UK nationals are down nearly 20 per cent in a decade.
In a recent Guardian column, its columnist Roy Greenslade referred to a number of factors but only referred obliquely to the key factor: the decision made in the late 1990s to put content online for free.
This could be likened to wine producers saying that you can have as much free plonk as you like, but if you want it in a bottle, it is going to cost you substantially more.
Although newspapers may huff and puff and try to charge for content, the genie is well and truly out of the bottle. For example, the BBC has vowed it will never charge for content online, so why go any further for general news? Certainly some specialist papers like the FT and Wall Street Journal may get away with charging, but it will not work for most
Online advertising will never bring in the same money whether it be due to the conservatism of advertising agencies or a perceived general lack of effectiveness.
Newspapers are certainly ailing, but they are not dead. However, they certainly need to reinvent themselves...and quickly.
It would be a shame to lose this quintessential part of community life.
In a recent Guardian column, its columnist Roy Greenslade referred to a number of factors but only referred obliquely to the key factor: the decision made in the late 1990s to put content online for free.
This could be likened to wine producers saying that you can have as much free plonk as you like, but if you want it in a bottle, it is going to cost you substantially more.
Although newspapers may huff and puff and try to charge for content, the genie is well and truly out of the bottle. For example, the BBC has vowed it will never charge for content online, so why go any further for general news? Certainly some specialist papers like the FT and Wall Street Journal may get away with charging, but it will not work for most
Online advertising will never bring in the same money whether it be due to the conservatism of advertising agencies or a perceived general lack of effectiveness.
Newspapers are certainly ailing, but they are not dead. However, they certainly need to reinvent themselves...and quickly.
It would be a shame to lose this quintessential part of community life.
Friday, 4 December 2009
New Conservative Wind Proposals Welcomed
Curtin&Co are pleased to see that Conservative thinking on wind farms has moved positively towards embracing the need for this renewable source.
Greg Clark, the Tories spokesman on the issue of renewable energy, revealed in a speech last week at Oxford University that the old policy of being instinctively averse to the thought of on-shore wind farms has been reversed. This is a very welcome development and shows that all major political parties have recognised the very real need to diversify the energy production in the country.
With the almost inevitable delay in getting the next generation of nuclear power stations up and running we may come to rely on wind energy far more than we currently believe.
Greg Clark, the Tories spokesman on the issue of renewable energy, revealed in a speech last week at Oxford University that the old policy of being instinctively averse to the thought of on-shore wind farms has been reversed. This is a very welcome development and shows that all major political parties have recognised the very real need to diversify the energy production in the country.
With the almost inevitable delay in getting the next generation of nuclear power stations up and running we may come to rely on wind energy far more than we currently believe.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Welcome to our new blog
Curtin&Co are delighted to welcome you to our new blog. On this site we hope to provide an insight into the development and regeneration industries. We work on effective community consultation to have good, sound and ethical applications passed through local planning processes. We have a considerable experience in the planning sector, but also possess a unique political mix within the company.
Our political specialists have their fingers on the pulse of current national political positions. I (Antony Calvert) am a prospective parliamentary candidate for a key northern marginal seat for the Conservatives. Robert Evans is a former MEP who served the London region for the Labour party.
We have a number of other very specialised consultants from the world of planning, why not visit our website and check them out?
The company website is www.curtinandco.com.
I hope you find the articles on this blog useful and interesting. If you have any comments, please either respond to the article or email us at antonyc@curtinandco.com.
Our political specialists have their fingers on the pulse of current national political positions. I (Antony Calvert) am a prospective parliamentary candidate for a key northern marginal seat for the Conservatives. Robert Evans is a former MEP who served the London region for the Labour party.
We have a number of other very specialised consultants from the world of planning, why not visit our website and check them out?
The company website is www.curtinandco.com.
I hope you find the articles on this blog useful and interesting. If you have any comments, please either respond to the article or email us at antonyc@curtinandco.com.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)