London 2012 and corporate sponsorship

 

   Whoops - I've just remembered we're not supposed to use the words 'London 2012'  except as an official sponsor of the games, which clearly I'm not.

I have to say I find this slightly ridiculous - both London and 2012 are commonly used words and together could refer to many different things.  And it's just one example of rather heavy handed support for the games' corporate sponsors (another is the #wedemandchange movement).  It also seems particularly odd given the background of amateur involvement and spirit of competitiveness at the centre of the games.

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PR Benefits?

 

I also wonder about the real value that the sponsors get from all this.  I can't say booking my tickets with a Visa card has made me any more likely to prefer this to Mastercard (and it's also annoyed many who had to take a new card for this particular purpose - and who will, I'm sure, promptly cut it up at the end of the games).

 

Similarly with McDonalds - though the value of the meals, even without the opportunity to 'go large', was considerably higher than the other outlets, and sort of made up for the mega queues.

 

While I'm on the subject - what planet is Panasonic on?  Having people wait 50 minutes for a very short 3D film of the opening ceremony interspersed with a dozen adverts for Panasonic, followed by an 'opportunity' to view their products, is NOT smart.  Coca-Cola does slightly better with their panel thing, but their estimates of the queue lengths are dismal.

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I thought Cisco did a lot better than any of these - their Games Face device is a lot of fun, and you even get emailed a picture after the event.  Absolutely not in-your-face advertising like Panasonic, but much more likely to leave you with a positive impression of the company.  And not as extreme as building a 115m high sculpture / tower, though this was fun and provided a great view over the stadium and rest of the park - so thanks Arcelor Mittal - but I'd have put my £16m somewhere else.

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Employee Benefits?

 

I suppose part of the benefits that sponsors are hoping to gain some from increased engagement of their employees.  This was certainly the argument put forward by BT, Sainsbury's and Kraft Foods in a session I saw called 'The Olympics as a Catalyst for People Involvement and Development' at the HR Directors Business Summit this year.

 

I, and I know a lot of other people, weren't convinced.  Wouldn't it just be a lot simpler, and certainly cheaper, to let staff take time off for Olympics events, perhaps have office parties / events linked to these, and otherwise work to increase motivation?

 

 

Other Benefits?

 

So if not these benefits what are the real reasons companies sponsor these events? Could it be anything to do with the opportunity for execs to get premium tickets for the most in-demand events perhaps?

 

Whatever the reasons, I'd like to see less sponsorship (and certainly less heavy handedness).  Of course, this would require a different model for running the games but perhaps that would be no bad thing - meaning no zil lanes for example.  That would require athletes to get themselves to events on time, just like the rest of us - and why shouldn't they have to do this?

 

One of the highlights of Danny Boyle's Opening Ceremony for me was the inclusion of the audience in the performance through the use of pixel tablets.  And I do love all the wizardry of the modern Olympics, but it'd be great to see a more broadly inclusive games - including letting everyone refer to the title of the games!

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: London, 2012, Olympic, games, corporate, sponsorship, PR, marketing, employee, engagement, inclusion

 

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HCI Recasts

 

   You can catch my recent HCI webcast again on Friday (30 July), or Monday or Tuesday next week (2-3 August).

(HCI executive members can view at any time).

 

Telling the European Employer Brand Story

Track: Talent Strategy in Europe
WEBCAST: Webcast Aired: Friday 25 June

We often hear about the need to continually attract, motivate and retain our employees. Many of us tie these issues to our employee brand and continually strive to become an employer of choice. But are we missing out on opportunities to utilize technology to improve our brand and solidify our place in the global market? Technologies that are already being utilized by your company can assist you in maintaining brand integrity and driving employee engagement.

This webcast will look at multiple technology platform that can work with your existing brand-- and provide big results at a small investment level. We'll look at corporate social networking as a tool to create "employee ambassadors" and see how creating relationship brands and leveraging the social web can promote grass roots brand engagement. We'll also examine best practices from companies who have leveraged their technology systems-- and find out what pitfalls to avoid.

 

Schedule

Recasts:

Friday, Jul 30 2010 12:00pm EDT

Monday, Aug 02 2010 4:00pm EDT

Monday, Aug 02 2010 8:00pm EDT

Tuesday, Aug 03 2010 12:00am EDT

Tuesday, Aug 03 2010 4:00am EDT

Tuesday, Aug 03 2010 8:00am EDT

 

View:Slides

 

Technorati Tags: HCI,Human Capital Institute,Europe,employer brand,technology,enterprise 2.0,social,business,webcast

 

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Human Capital Institute webinar today

 

   OK, time to start thinking about today’s webinar with the Human Capital Institute…

This is at 2.00pm BST (9.00 am ET) and you can still book here.

 

You’ll also find my guest blog post on employer branding, technology and enterprise 2.0 (linking back to last week’s conference in Boston) at HCI.org.

 

Technorati Tags: HCI,Human Capital Institute,Europe,employer brand,technology,enterprise 2.0,social,business,webcast

 

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Social branding

 

  One of the things I want to talk briefly about on tomorrow’s Employer Branding webcast is my idea of ‘social branding’.

I still need to do more thinking around this before tomorrow, but I’m going to suggest that as well as an EVP and employer brand, companies need to think about their ‘Social Value Proposition’ (SVP) and ‘social brand’.

Why?  Because more and more of what we do at work is about our relationships with other people.  It’s why I’ve included ‘people’ as a major element in my EVP model for so long, and why I’ve argued that people and relationships need to be a major focus of engagement surveys.

But it’s more than this.  It’s not just about how organisations treat their people.  It’s how people treat each other.  What’s our offer to our colleagues and others we work with?

And this is different to an EVP because it’s not about what’s done to us, it’s about what we do with each other.

And I suspect it’s going to be an increasingly important enabler for engagement as well as collaboration and productivity.

 

Of course, I realise this is probably just going to result in increased confusion.  Those who have come across social branding before will link it to either and ethical focus or the simple use of social media.  But hey, there’s nothing I can do about that.

 

What do you think?  Any ideas for the factors that should be included in a SVP?

Or is this idea just nuts (it’s probably not too late to take out the slide!).

 

 

Technorati Tags: social,employee,employer,employment,value proposition,offer,brand,HCI,webcast

 

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HCI Webcast: Telling the European Employer Brand Story

 

   Just a reminder that I’ll be presenting this inaugral webcast in HCI’s new European programme at 2.00pm BST (9.00am ET) tomorrow, Friday 25 June.

Telling the European Employer Brand Story

Track: Talent Strategy in Europe
WEBCAST: Webcast Airs: June 25, 2010

 

We often hear about the need to continually attract, motivate and retain our employees. Many of us tie these issues to our employee brand and continually strive to become an employer of choice. But are we missing out on opportunities to utilize technology to improve our brand and solidify our place in the global market? Technologies that are already being utilized by your company can assist you in maintaining brand integrity and driving employee engagement.

This webcast will look at multiple technology platform that can work with your existing brand-- and provide big results at a small investment level. We'll look at corporate social networking as a tool to create "employee ambassadors" and see how creating relationship brands and leveraging the social web can promote grass roots brand engagement. We'll also examine best practices from companies who have leveraged their technology systems-- and find out what pitfalls to avoid.

For our European audience, please join us at 2PM BST.

 

 

The webcast fits neatly with my current focus on HR 2.0 and I might even be mentioning Social Learning yet again!

 

Technorati Tags: HCI,Human Capital Institute summit,Employer Brand,Europe,UK,Technology,Social media,Web 2.0,Taleo,webcast,webinar

 

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Employer rating sites: why are they important to HR?

 

   I’m quoted in an an article in Personnel Today on employer rating sites such as Glassdoor.com.

"They are becoming increasingly important," says Jon Ingham, social media expert and executive consultant at consultancy Strategic HCM. "In particular the younger generation, who are more internet savvy, are used to using sites like TripAdvisor for personal things and they are increasingly using employer rating sites before they apply for a new opportunity or before they accept an offer."

[Please note, I didn’t call myself a social media expert!]

 

The discussion in the article is part a wider issue about who has control of an organisation’s employer brand.

This issue was nicely addressed by John Sullivan in an article last year (I particularly like Sullivan’s point on the power of bloggers!), and has been taken forward by Bill Boorman and the TRU unconferences as well as HRevolution in the debates about whether employer brands have been employee branded.

 

I’m still on the side of control.  And I don’t mean that organisations can control the (social media) conversation – I don’t think they can, or should.  I completely support Mervyn Dinnen’s reflections on ‘control’ as the subject of conversation at HRevolution:

“During one track I asked if we could just forget CONTROLLING social media and start EMBRACING social media! It’s my belief that if you try to control what people say, whether through a policy or strict guidelines, then you stifle the creativity and spontaneity that, I believe, are at the heart of social media.”

 

But I do think that by participating in these conversations, organisations can still control the general image of their brand.  I think this post at Social implications sums it up quite well:

“Think of it this way — all of your customers, readers, or whoever your target audience consists of are like this big conversational sea. It might be calm one day and you might hit rough waters the next. But either way, you’re always at the helm. You have the ability to steer or influence the image your company portrays.”

 

Also see: Employer brands debate at HRevolution 2010: Are your staff your best ambassadors?

And more of this at the HCI webcast in a couple of weeks time.

 

Photo credit: Bvld11

Technorati Tags: Employer rating,Glassdoor,employer brand,control,social media,HCI,webcast,HRevolution

 

 

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HCI webcast: Telling the European brand story

 

    I’m already involved with the Human Capital Institute in the US, delivering its Human Capital Strategist certification programme in the UK and Europe.

 

I’m now going to be presenting HCI’s first webcast focused specifically on the European market:

Telling the European Brand Story

Track: Talent Strategy in UK/Europe
WEBCAST: Webcast Airs: June 25, 2010 * New, updated date *

We often hear about the need to continually attract, motivate and retain our employees. Many of us tie these issues to our employee brand and continually strive to become an employer of choice. But are we missing out on opportunities to utilize technology to improve our brand and solidify our place in the global market? Technologies that are already being utilized by your company can assist you in maintaining brand integrity and driving employee engagement.

This webcast will look at multiple technology platform that can work with your existing brand-- and provide big results at a small investment level. We'll look at corporate social networking as a tool to create "employee ambassadors" and see how creating relationship brands and leveraging the social web can promote grass roots brand engagement. We'll also examine best practices from companies who have leveraged their technology systems-- and find out what pitfalls to avoid.

 

You can register for the webcast here.

 

Technorati Tags: Human Capital Institute,HCI,talent strategy,employer brand,technology,social networking,webcast,UK,Europe

 

 

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TRU London: Employer vs Employee Branding

 

    OK, so it’s day 1 of (TRU) London.  And I’m still waiting to co-lead a track on employer branding vs employee branding:

“Following on from the popular Recruiter Cast debate “Is the Employer Brand dead?”, this track looks at the issue of employer branding. How to stand out as an employer and how recruiters can use employer branding. Has employer branding is turning in to employee branding as a result of the social media explosion and the growth of the personal brand. Branding experts Nick Price, Michelle Fischer and Sarah White from the U.S. will be debating all the issues in this key area.”

 

I didn’t see, and have not been able to track down, the Recruiter Cast debate, but it seems to have been one that followed on from TRU London 1.  See Bill Boorman’s summary of his learnings:

“Employer brand no longer exists.

My thoughts on this after I had contemplated [Keith Robinson] @Siteadvisors question is that he is probably right. Social media opens access to all that is being said about an employer directly or indirectly, but most of what is being said is being said by the employees directly. (There are Facebook groups dedicated to this.) In my opinion, social media makes personal branding much bigger than corporate branding unless you are a giant in the Pepsi or Coke mode. Most of us aren’t. It’s key that you are listening to what your employees are saying about you. You can influence this by reacting appropriately, changing things and getting the right things said about you by the personal brands within your organisation. Employee engagement is key in this and has more to say about how attractive you are to potential recruits than the glossy websites.”

 

Bill then went on to do a further post, Employee Branded?, and a guest post on Mike VanDervort’s The Human Race Horses blog,  The Employer Brand Is Dead?

“ I again outlined my view that employer brand was now employee brand and that the issue  was that the employer brand was set by the employees and what they were saying on Facebook and other social media. Keith added his view that employee brand was much bigger than this and was the D.N.A. of the whole organisation from the board down.”

 

Gareth Jones then posted on his blog, Inside my Head: ‘Real time’ engagement – the employer brand dilemma…

“Social media does without doubt have a potentially huge effect on the employer brand but I don’t think we will see it turn into the “employee brand” as Bill suggests.  Nor will it become a ‘new role for HR’ as it’s already in the HR mix, and has been for many years.”

 

Gareth seems to accept that corporate / product brands have become ‘customer branded’, but doesn’t accept the case for employees:

“So will social media shift the balance of ‘brand power’ to the employee in a similar way to customers?  Well, as much as I would like to think so, I dont think it will because the customer and employee relationship are fundamentally different in two key ways:

1. Choice - If I take exception to the way Coke delivers the ‘customer experience’, there is always Pepsi.  Or some other brand pretender. Either way, I still get my cola fix. I can even buy a different brand everyday without impunity.  But I can’t do the same with employers.  Even the most talented and sought after can’t afford more than one or two ‘mistakes’ on their CV before the prejudice and hypocrisy of the recruiters cause them to start muttering about capability and poor judgement.
2. Bad can be good – some people want a house to be perfect when they buy it, others are happy to buy a wreck – simply because they see the potential in it.  As an employer crown slips, even if it falls far, it will eventually become a ‘turnaround’ situation or something similar and a different set of equally talented individuals will queue up to join.  However, if Tesco starts serving up putrid meats at the deli counter I’m hardly likely to keep on buying it on the basis that I can see an opportunity to make it better!”

 

Right, well I’m guessing that we probably won’t end up discussing any of this in the session today, even if it does take place, but if we do, what are my ideas?

 

Well, I agree with Gareth that there is a difference between the corporate / product and the employer brand.  But for different reasons.  To me, the key point is that employees talk to each other – and this means the environment is more complex, emergent, subjective, and less controllable, than the consumer one.

Now OK, the consumer environment has changed too, largely as a result of social media, which is why I think we’ve got to ‘customer branded’.  But in most sectors ,customers still don’t talk as much or as easily as employees.

So  what does this mean about ‘employee branded’?

 

This is how I think employer branding works (although obviously a more mechanical description than it really is):

 

Running through this from left to right:

• You need to start with a clear focus, a good idea of what the organisation is about (mission / vision / BHAG / strategy – or values / mojo etc – which provides the basis for Keith’s DNA)
• You need to ensure that this is translated into an employer value proposition (EVP).  This EVP needs to be developed to fit your employees, but it’s even more important that it supports your BHAG / mojo (which of course, should also be informed by, and developed through discussion with, your employees).  The EVP should also influence your employees ie you’ll recruit people who appreciate the offer that you’ll provide.
• You then need to deliver this EVP (or a tailored version of it) to each employee.  This is the difficult bit.  Firstly because the delivery is done by your line managers which you can’t completely control.  And also because delivery is down to your employees’ judgement about what has been delivered, ie its a relative rather than an absolute quality.
• It’s the result of the delivery of this EVP which provides the basis for your employer brand (with some ability to accentuate the positives and the direction you’re travelling in).

 

So how much of this do you control?

• BHAG / mojo: yes
• EVP: yes (although clearly you need to listen to your employees and seek to meet their needs)
• Delivery: not totally, but yes, to a large extent (even with social media)
• Employer brand: because of the above, largely, yes.

 

Net result - employer branding has still got my vote.

 

 

Technorati Tags: TRU London,unconference,employer branding

 

 

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