I believe…in Steve

By Nick Rappolt

I have to say I‘m a believer in Steve Ballmer, or to be more precise, his quote last year in the Washington Post, “there will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form." And that’s nine years from now! Here’s why I believe in Steve.

Only 5% of current PR spend is on digital (according to a research study by Citigate in 2008) but this could be due to poor consultancy from PR agencies on how it should strategically fit in to communications planning.

In my opinion, now is the perfect time for companies to start using more social media in PR campaigns. It should be forming the heart of what we do supported by more traditional forms of PR and media relations and not the other way round. This is flipping the current communications model that most PR agencies use and sell to clients on its head.

The basis I have for this is from looking at audience consumption and influence statistics. You just have to look at how you use the internet to know this is true…

While the global economy declines, more and more people are spending time entertaining themselves, meeting people and sharing experiences on the Internet – it’s the time for escapism. Proof of this can be found in recent research from Ofcom’s “The International Communications Market 2008” report which found that in a vulnerable economy consumers are least likely to cut back spending on broadband services.

(All slides courtesty of Morgan Stanley Economy and Internet Trends December 2008)

In the UK as its advertising suggests, the iPlayer has proved unmissable and one of the great successes of 2008. In January last year 11 million TV shows were downloaded or streamed on demand in the UK. Video on demand is growing rapidly with YouTube now having 344 million unique global visitors and Hulu (launched in 2007) already having 6.1 million viewers which is four times the US average.

Social networks now account for 16% of time people spend online and this category didn’t exist three years ago.

Most importantly and interesting for us PR people out there is the graph below. More people (according to the USC Annenberg School: Digital Future Report 2007 – University of Southern California, which is a communications school) view the internet as the most important source of information over traditional media and personal sources.

The relevancy of PR as a discipline is to create content to drive recommendation. Our aim as consultants should be to advise our clients on the best way to put relevant content and products online that can drive such recommendation. Recommendation leads to traffic and traffic leads to brand recognition and so you conclude purchase.

The conclusion to the Morgan Stanley Economy and Internet Trends December 2008 report offered two key closing thoughts the last of which I think perfectly sum up the opportunity for communications companies.

1. We are undergoing the greatest media transformation in history

   

2. Great creative sells great products. Great creative (in a new medium) for great products helps create great companies.

In my opinion the best thing (or scariest depending on how you look at it) about digital communications in depressing economic times, (and when an evening of snow in London has cost the economy £3.5bn in lost working hours) is that it’s location independent. It gives vast economies of scale in communications terms to clients. At a base level it’s globally cheaper to implement.

It’s time to believe in Steve.