Media in the media

At Parker Wayne and Kent we receive the FT daily email, and usually we give it an interested glance over before moving on to the working day. Not so today, and the coverage was so amazing that I just had to write about it. Of the many brilliant stories in the paper today none of them grab your attention like the news that 63 year old former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger is working with Spiderman creator Stan Lee on a new comic book character called ‘The Governator’. Based on the former movie stars 7 years in office the character will be the centre of a childrens TV series next year, in which the Governator will be pitted against Gangsters Imposters Racketeers Liars and Irredeemable Ex-Cons (or Girlie Men).
Whether or not this is a wonderful April Fools Day prank, the internet is currently blazing with super hero news – whether the new Wonder Woman costume or casting announcements for Christopher Nolan’s the Dark Knight Rises – and Schwarzenegger demonstrates that he still knows how to take the media by storm. Earlier in the week Arnie met Prime Minister David Cameron at the 1922 committee to advise on the current Libyan situation. Schwarzenegger endorsed Prime Minister Camerons’ leadership and applauded his action saying that the government were doing: “A great job on Libya, a great job for Britain in making it live within its means and a great job with policies to protect the environment."
Media in Libya has also been at the forefront of the FT today, as the first uncensored broadcast in 42 years was transmitted over the recently renamed Free Libya Radio Station. This event coincides with journalists launching free newspapers that are being seen as increasingly valuable tools for the opposition against Gaddafi’s forces.
In Turkey, however, the escalating controversy surrounding the arrests of several journalists has highlighted a more worrying attitude toward a free media. The European Union and US State department joined the rising criticism over this latest PR nightmare for the Turkish government, as their record for a free press continues to worsen.
This issue hits closer to home as James Murdoch is promoted to Deputy Chief Operations Officer and into the New York office of media giant News Corp. This move that has caused bafflement over at the FT as it comes at a time when News Corps highly publicised and controversial acquisition of BSkyB is at a final and delicate stage, not to mention the continuing controversy over the News of the World phone hacking scandal. The ever expanding control over the media exhibited by News Corp has caused grave concern and strong opposition from those who insist that the media in this country must exhibit plurality. The final decision from UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will be delivered after the parliamentary recess on April 26th.
Publicis have also announced plans for succession in which Jean Yves Naouri is taking over as Executive Chairman of Publicis Worldwide to become the successor of Maurice Levy. The agency has relied upon Naouris’ technological expertise to deal with companies like Microsoft and Google, and will now rely on him in this senior position to continue to push digital advertising into new innovative areas.
Googles’ recent announcement of a new social networking feature could bring a viral element to search advertising for the first time. As a fight back against Facebook – who overtook Google as the most visited site in the US last year – Google have created the +1 button. Similar to the Facebook ‘Like’ button users will be able to set personal preferences and appear in their friends search results, vastly increasing the potential benefits for marketers.
Digital marketing’s focus on social media has led to 96% of marketers planning to spend more of their budget on it according to a survey of members of the World Federation of Advertisers conducted by Millward Brown. Half of these are unsure of the returns however, and a further quarter even says payback is average or poor. The point here – as the FT highlights – is that those 96% of marketers are seeking consumer engagement, and yet simply having a social media presence doesn’t guarantee this. True engagement comes from using social media not as an end in and of itself, but as part of a broader marketing strategy. PepsiCo have set up a glass wall to monitor the social media on its product Gatorade. The screen shows every tweet, like, and mention, while being monitored by a team of five representatives each from a different part of the company, such as PR, customer service and branding. Gatorade Mission Control, as it is known, allows the company to understand “the heartbeat of the consumer.”
The news is increasingly dominated by stories about the way in which stories are told, and the varying methods by which those stories are reaching consumers. The FT focuses on these because the implications for business are enormous. A strong media presence is more important than ever, and – with huge PR companies having been the target of some bad PR themselves lately – it’s vital that companies are able to put their trust in an ethical practice that is able to deliver the ever-expanding and ever-more significant media needs of the modern business.