We at Finn Partners are Inspired by many things: A photo, a song, a news story, our clients - and each other. This blog is an opportunity to tell our story and to share our challenges, successes and motivations with you.

Top Three Media Trends to Watch

by Carol Edwards on Apr 2, 2013 in Public Relations, Tech Tuesdays

Since the start of 2013, we’ve seen more evidence of the massive transformation of the media landscape being kicked off over the last decade. Newsweek published its last print issue and is now available only online. Top journalists and editors at tier-one media outlets like Forbes and The Wall Street Journal have jumped ship to put their talents to work for marketing, consulting and PR firms. Vendor-driven content continues to reign supreme. So what’s next? I spoke with Sam Whitmore, former tech journalist and creator of SWMS (Sam Whitmore Media Survey), to find out more of what’s on the horizon this year.

“The number one change in media right now is events,” said Whitmore. Surprising? Maybe. A few years ago events were waning, becoming essentially venues for vendors to do little more than scope out the competition. In 2013, the comeback is not only evident, but even stronger than before. Publishers who were struggling to find alternative revenue streams in the highly competitive advertising climate need to differentiate their brands: enter events. Publishers are finding they can make a lot of money engaging brands to pony up for sponsorships, dinners and the like at industry events that bring together influencers and thought leaders, while lending their own cache to the events. Recent evidence: Bloomberg’s The Next Big Thing, Business Insider, and The New York Times’ Deal Book Conference are solid examples of the new event paradigm. How can PR pros leverage this shift? “Get to know the event content chiefs,” suggests Whitmore. Not only do they decide who gets on panels, they also bring the important editors to the table.

What else is new? Content remains BIG. Yet companies are still struggling to manage their content flows and get ahead of the rush to publish. “Clients aren’t as integrated on their end as they need to be,” commented Whitmore. While it’s clear content generation is more than just marketing’s new flavor of the day, brands need to do much more by becoming more integrated across their traditional marketing, corporate communications, PR, social media and sales channels. “It’s an evolutionary proccess, eventually staff will get more integrated.” Smart PR pros can serve as conduit to driving this change.

To round out the top three trends this year, Whitmore sees video playing a big role. Yes, it’s not new, but it’s a critical venue for reaching certain demographics . “A lot of millennials and GenY’ers don’t want to read anything. It’s ‘show me, don’t tell me,’” said Whitmore. The implications for PR? “There’s a lot of focus on video communications. If you look at PR, many people are really good with words, but may not have the visual acumen. You need both to succeed. It’s another challenge and opportunity for the industry,” concluded Whitmore.

All great insights to help PR pros navigate the media waters and help clients stay ahead of the communications curve. Thanks Sam!

Inbox 90

by Alexandra Kirsch on Apr 1, 2013 in Social Media

I spend a lot of time focusing on the number 0. Zero calorie sweeteners, 0% APR, and even Zero Dark Thirty.

As it relates to work, my focus on this particular numerical digit has been almost exclusively in reference to my e-mail inbox. At the end of each work day, I confront my inbox, doing my best to sort through the masses of unread messages, filing ones of importance, and tossing all others. Until recently, Inbox Zero was my end of day workplace ritual; Merlin Mann was my leader, and SaneBox my prayerbook of an app.

But who am I kidding? I’m far from a minimalist – my office alone might qualify me for A&E’s Hoarders. Fixating on the number zero has proven ineffective, which is why I’ve decided to invent a new trend in productivity. I’m calling it Inbox 90 (trademark pending).

The idea is that instead of trying to narrow your end-of-day focus to a small list of things, put productivity to the test by splitting your attention amongst 90 different things.

Drawing inspiration from the concept of multi-tasking in the workplace, coupled with the need to appear more productive and important, here are some of the need-to-know components of Inbox 90:

Overshare - If you have 90 e-mails, or 190 e-mails, the world should know about it. The more you share with your colleagues about the volume of e-mail you receive daily, in specific quantities, the more important you’ll appear. (I’ve already told 6 people about the 90 e-mails sitting in my inbox right now.)
Reply All – On a slow day that only produces a small volume of e-mail, make it your job to “reply-all” when the opportunity presents itself. Not only will you be filling your own inbox with responses from people who also choose to reply-all, but you’ll be helping them reach their 90 e-mail quota, too.
Calendar Invites – If you’re at 85 unread e-mails, and are just looking for 5 more e-mails to reach 90, send calendar invites for a series of 15-minute meetings to 5 people, and wait patiently for confirmation of their response. Have fun with it by inviting each of your five potential attendees to five completely different, completely worthless events.

For a snapshot of just how important I am, take a look at the screenshot I captured from my computer last week.

Privacy vs. Healthcare

by Miriam Weber Miller on Mar 27, 2013 in Wellness Wednesdays

I’ve been writing a lot about how changes to our healthcare system via the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have come bundled with a mandate for personal responsibility in the wellness space. It’s a no brainer, really, given the following:

An insurance company’s job is to assess and manage risk among its subscribers, as its goal is to make money. For example, the 55 year-old with mild heart disease will pay more for the same amount of life insurance than, say, a 25 year old with no signs of heart disease
(Social impact notwithstanding) the ACA has eliminated the insurance company’s ability to do this in the healthcare space
This means that we will all ultimately pay more for health insurance products to offset the costs of those who will use the system more

This is our new reality.

Now consider the cost to every employer in America right now that is “doing the math” to try and figure out if their current insurance products meet the new standards, how much their premiums will likely increase, and deciding whether or not to comparison shop based on the state of the current offerings. Everyone is bracing for impact, the question remains – how hard will we land – individually and collectively?

In the midst of all of this, CVS Pharmacy announced a “voluntary” policy. Here’s the gist – have a physical, check your weight, your blood sugar and other particulars – and then provide us with that information. According to reports, employees don’t have to do it.

Except they do. Unless, of course, during this time of difficult recession, increased taxes and gas prices, and general economic uncertainty, they want to pay an extra $50/month for their healthcare. That’s $600/year.

Now, I’m not commenting on the policy itself. The company supports its position and detractors have vowed to litigate (no surprise there). However, I am thinking about the bigger picture – the loss of personal privacy relative to the greater good. For example, one report I read indicated that smokers would be required to enroll in addiction support programs (or pay the higher premium). What’s next? BMI ranges based on height? Blood sugar monitoring for employees with a history of diabetes in the family?

The law of unintended consequences is a “law” for a reason. In removing the actuarial function from the health insurance equation we have moved from “personal wellness” to “employee wellness.” In doing that we have stumble on a very significant unintended consequence.

5 Tips for Staying Safe in Cyber Space

by Margaret Hoerster on Mar 26, 2013 in Tech Tuesdays

Cyber crime is a hot button issue for the government, businesses and consumers alike. In fact, some experts estimate that it’s a $1 trillion problem, and many of our largest corporations and media entities have been hacked in the past few months.

How are the cyber criminals getting in? The BYOD (bring your own device) trend definitely isn’t helping. With at least 80 percent of employees using personal devices at work, BYOD is making it possible for cyber criminals to access critical company information with the touch of a button, not to mention the havoc they are wreaking in personal lives around the globe.

That leads us to mobile devices – the new playground for cyber criminals. Why? Because mobile devices have some unique constraints when it comes to security. Traditional security software loaded on mobile devices often requires a lot of processing and tends to noticeably slow performance, wear down the battery and use lots of bandwidth for updates.

So while the government and leading security companies work to mitigate cyber attacks, we thought we’d offer you some tips to keep yourself safe. Finn Partners in Chicago talked with the experts in the security lab at our client Nominum about ways to better protect our mobile devices, and we wanted to share them with you. Stay safe in cyber space!

1. Think hard about storing sensitive data on your phone – Cyber criminals follow the money and now they see huge opportunities in mobile. While there is a lot of security built into the entire mobile ecosystem, attackers are starting to find ways to break down the defenses. Better safe than sorry.

2. Stay away from no-name app stores. It’s easy for hackers to mimic popular apps or steal brand images to create apps that look appealing and legitimate. They lure people in with “free,” but their apps can be preloaded with malware designed to find and steal your personal information.

3. Beware of QR codes – Unless you know the origin of a QR code don’t scan it. Hackers are finding extremely clever ways to trick unsuspecting people into scanning a QR code. You will be automatically directed to the site and data can be exposed just by scanning the code, and in most cases you won’t even be aware of it.

4. Pay attention where you navigate. Because screen space is so precious on mobile devices most mobile browsers scroll the address bar off the screen to reveal more page content, in some cases this happens immediately after the page comes up. Get in the habit of looking at the address bar as soon as you navigate to a new page to be sure you’re going where you expect.

5. Be careful when you touch. Touch screens introduce some interesting challenges since there is no way to see a URL until you touch a picture or hyper link – and then sometimes the browser navigates you there immediately. Vigilance pays off – watch the address bar, or check the url if a screen pops up asking you whether you want to open the link in another page. It only takes a second and can prevent you from going to a malicious or unexpected destination.

The Role of PR in Creating a Different Future

by Anne Glauber on Mar 22, 2013 in Client News, Public Relations

Throughout my career at Finn Partners, I have had the opportunity to engage in projects addressing some of the most critical issues facing our world. Inter-religious conflict resolution and peace-building are just two of the areas in which I’ve seen firsthand how public relations can help advance positive social change.

As a co-founder with Dena Merriam of the Business Council for Peace (also known as BPeace), I worked to mobilize businesswomen to help women in conflict-ridden regions around the world – like Afghanistan and Rwanda – develop businesses. Our premise was that if women earned an income and had wage-earner status in their communities, they could play a greater role in post-conflict reconstruction. In 2004, I led a coalition of business leaders on a mission to Jerusalem to help bereaved Israeli and Palestinian parents work together with Israeli and Palestinian craftswomen to create the “Jerusalem Candle of Hope.” The candle became a symbol that bridged the two worlds of the Israelis and the Arabs, while at the same time generating revenues to women.

From of these experiences, and others, I know that reconciliation and tolerance among communities in conflict can be achieved. Our recent work to promote the results of a scientific study that explored the way conflict is portrayed in Israeli and Palestinian school textbooks has further reinforced my belief.

Accusations about the narratives in Israeli and Palestinian textbooks have played a prominent role in political debate and they have been an issue of worldwide concern, but it was not until the release of this study, conducted over several years by three academic scholars, that scientific evidence of these portrayals has been available. The scholars – award-winning professors from Yale, University of Tel Aviv and Bethlehem University – together represented the spirit of peace through this international collaboration.

The study generated a global response because, for the first time, it definitively addressed one of the longest-running controversies in the Middle East conflict about what’s in the school textbooks. Our efforts resulted in more than 160 original news articles generating a total of more than half a billion impressions. Within the first 72 hours after our announcement, the 50-page study was downloaded more than 8,000 times from all around the world.

Our media efforts helped open up extensive discussion and dialogue within the global community about the Israeli and Palestinian textbook content – and has created a window of possibility in which the idea of education reform in these communities could occur. From my years of work on the issue of coexistence, I know that this is a long process. The journey to reconciliation requires many, many steps. But my experience has also taught me that it is possible to create mutual understanding and acceptance among communities in conflict – and that public relations can play a powerful role.

Stand and…

by Miriam Weber Miller on Mar 20, 2013 in Wellness Wednesdays

It is so simple it would be silly if it were not making us all sick.

As a population we sit too much. We work at computers. Play electronic games. Talk to our friends virtually and at the end of the day – we veg out.

Lack of movement increases the risk of diabetes, blood clots and heart disease. It can also contribute to feelings of depression. Taken together the effects are devastating – an increase in chronic illness (admittedly for a variety of reasons) coupled with an increase in feelings of worthlessness and sadness. This equals more and more people who need to do more to help themselves and have less will than ever to do it with.

I’m not talking about significant exercise here, either. I am talking about the need to get up from your desk, your chair, your couch, every hour or so and walk around for five or ten minutes. This is not a commitment; it’s about declining to turn our whole selves over to the power of “E.”

Personal electronics are freeing. They allow us to take our favorite content – from books and periodicals, to games and music with us. They allow us to connect virtually via a choice of channels.

Anytime.

Anywhere.

Yet arguably, except for music and audio books, they keep us looking down and tethered to our seats. Gravity does the rest. I think it would be a great social experiment to have “National Stand Month.” Every one of us commits to following the general health recommendation – stand up and take a walk for 5 minutes every waking hour. Just do it.

I wonder how much better we would all feel.

2What 4-year Olds Can Teach Us About Tech PR

by Margaret Hoerster on Mar 19, 2013 in Tech Tuesdays

My kids teach me something new every day – little things like how to get marker off the walls, that our black Newfie looks good in pink bows, and that play-doh is one of the greatest inventions ever. But occasionally, I am amazed by what they teach me about the bigger things in life, and how they encourage me to look at my job in a whole new way.

I thought I’d take the opportunity to impart some of my 4-year old’s knowledge on to you, too. Just the other day, my daughter Maisie got a hold of my new Finn Partners post-it notes; I think we can all learn a little bit from the results.

Lesson #1: Tracing doesn’t always look the same as the original, and it shouldn’t. As hard as we try to copy where we’ve had success in the past, we shouldn’t be afraid to try new things. Technology is one of the fastest moving industries and we must keep up. Maisie’s drawing of the hand has some good qualities on its own – it doesn’t need to look like the one I would draw. Just like a press release I write for a client shouldn’t look just like the one I wrote a month before, and no one pitch should look the same as another.

Lesson #2: It might be unclear what kind of animal this is, but that’s the beauty of it. We all see things with a unique lens. Our individual experiences as technology consumers gives each of us a different perspective on the benefits of the technologies we represent. I use my mobile phone to distract my kids in restaurants, others use theirs to tweet about their service. When we can collaborate for our clients, bringing together our unique perspectives to achieve a common goal, we are providing them with a service they will grow to expect, and appreciate.

Lesson #3: Happy people draw happy faces. When we care about our clients and we are passionate about the difference their technologies are making in the world, when we care about each other and when this care genuinely comes through in our work, it makes everyone involved happy. Positive attitudes beget positive results. This inevitably leads to happy people with happy faces.

Lesson #4: A rainbow looks better with many colors (or in this case, lines because she only had a pen). In tech PR, it takes many layers to build a meaningful story. Your “red” layer might be the company message, orange the products that support the message, yellow are customer use cases, and so on. The most important thing? They work together to form a timely, relevant story.

Lesson #5: This might not look like my name to you, but it does to my 4-year old. And maybe it’s about time we all started thinking about words in a different way. Think twice before using the word “leader” or “disruptive” and write what you actually want to say. Is your client’s product important because it’s “leading?” No, it’s probably important because of what it can do – track a package, protect a computer network, or enable a text message. We must challenge ourselves, and our clients in the process, to use new words and ways of describing the most complicated products, services and technologies to make them relevant and understandable to all.

The Electronics of Healthcare

by Miriam Weber Miller on Mar 13, 2013 in Wellness Wednesdays

Can your phone keep you healthy? Many healthcare companies and providers are banking on it by spending significant resources on apps, social media sites and content designed to support health and wellness among consumers.

An infographic from Alliedhealthworld.com estimates that health-related app downloads roughly doubled in 2012 from 2011 to 247 million. That is a lot of downloads and, even more impressive, is the increase in downloads over a one year period.

So our smart phones have gotten healthier, but the bigger question is . . . will we?

Diet, exercise, monitoring, measuring, reminding, sharing, commiserating, consulting – the exploding community of apps gives us access to all of it. Still, we must remember that we have to do the work. Downloading the Weight Watchers app may make me feel like I’ve taken a step in the right direction, but I’ve got to use it, or it is bound to support next year’s statistic even if I can’t fit into my bathing suits this summer.

Self-directed sarcasm aside, there is no doubt that the use of “smart phone as health and wellness tool” is a valuable asset. Most of us don’t leave the room (let alone the house) without our phones, so these apps tend to travel with us wherever we go. For the chronically ill, who take frequent medication, spend significant time organizing and managing medical follow-up, and who’s health depends on day-in day-out compliance, the ability to set reminders, track appointments and vitals, among other things, smart phone apps may well prove invaluable.

It will be interesting to see the outcomes data that emerges over the next few years. Will the trend live up to its promise? Compliance is a critical issue for the chronically ill, and apps that help people manage their lives to keep from getting sicker could prove a huge asset to the healthcare industry.

FDA must think so. Last year they extended their review process to apps that make “medical claims.” The primary focus of this process will be to ensure that app providers can support what they claim an app can do (as related to medical outcomes). Yet, they might also seek after-market data collection to help determine the types of apps that support true results and therefore improve outcomes. Talk about an opportunity to bend the cost curve.

Electronics support most of us every day in multiple ways. Extending this support firmly into the health and wellness arena is just one more way of embedding them in our lives. I won’t argue the social impact of this process – that’s a book not a blog. Still, given our reality healthcare apps that are easy to adopt and well used, can truly be added to the positive side of this equation.

Much Ado About Mobile

by Kari Brownsberger on Mar 12, 2013 in Tech Tuesdays

We are fresh off of the heels of Mobile World Congress, the largest mobile conference in the world. Now that our team is back in their respective hometowns, fully recovered from jet lag and a tapas binge, we are reflecting on trends coming out of the show that we expect to impact the mobile industry in the coming months and beyond.

Devices aren’t necessarily king

Going into Mobile World Congress, much of the conversation and media buzz centers around “What will the coolest/newest/most innovative new device be?” And while device manufacturers were loud and proud at the show – Samsung’s booth seemed to span a full city block – much of the innovation showcased at the event was not around specific devices but around larger movements that will impact devices. For example, major tech giants are dipping into the industry standard LTE-Advanced movement. As Matt Kreiger, Associate Partner at FP Israel noted, “I heard a lot of noise about this at the show – especially from established players like Qualcomm, but also from Intel, which is a new arrival on the LTE chipset scene.” Innovation is also taking place in the operating system arena, as Firefox was arguably the most disruptive player at the event with their announcement of 17 operators backing their Firefox OS initiative. Similarly, Ubuntu saw awareness around their Ubuntu for Android solution, which offers a full desktop experience just by plugging your integrated smartphone into an HDMI display.

“Mobile” will only continue to permeate everyday life

Why does the mobile industry draw 70,000 professionals (and counting) to Barcelona every year? Because what we define as “mobile” only continues to grow and evolve with new products, capabilities, and innovations. The “internet of things” movement was more visible than ever before with the Connected City exhibit, and everything from home appliances to cars to bikes is now considered a “mobile device.” The proliferation of what we consider mobile could lead to some interesting changes for Mobile World Congress and other industry events. Ty Sheppard, Associate Partner at Finn Partners San Francisco may have said it best with “mobile is touching so many different industries, it could someday be almost pointless to try to unite them under one roof.”

The only constant is change

This year’s Mobile World Congress marked changes for not just the industry but also the show itself. A venue change physically signified the growth of the mobile industry, as GSMA moved the event to the Fira Gran Via, twice the size of the former exhibition space. More space meant more booths on a more elaborate scale. “I’ve worked on MWC planning for four years, but I was still surprised by the sheer size of the venue and the number of companies that participated from all corners of the world,” said Ellie Hanson, Senior Associate at Finn Partners Israel.

So, how does a company looking to break through in the mobile space make an impact at Mobile World Congress – or really any industry event? The key isn’t necessarily just big budgets. “Have at least one of the following in abundance: news, theatrics or budgets” said Ty.

And with the last word, Christine Bock, Mobile Practice Leader at Finn Partners, added, ”And the moral of the story is, mobile is affecting everyone, and virtually every industry — and we are ecstatic to be right in the middle of the action!”

3“Appy” International Women’s Day

by Alicia Young on Mar 8, 2013 in Public Relations

Want to hear a secret? I’m in contention for Working Mother of the Year. Criteria I’ve met this week alone: accidentally let my baby fall on her head; missed kindergarten registration; and, left my laptop at home. Check. Check. Check! It’s inevitable; I’m winning.

Here’s another secret. There is no prize for working moms. Rather, there is great satisfaction – some might even call it glory – in finding ways to enjoy career success and fulfillment at home. In fact, today is a holiday that celebrates – in part – just how far women have come in doing just that. So to all of us ladies, most especially my amazing colleagues at Finn Partners: Happy International Women’s Day (#IWD2013, #womensday).

Today, thousands of events will be held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. Leading the way are companies like Google, who famously update their Google Doodle. This year’s is truly creative.

Another reason I’m celebrating this year’s IWD? Technology. A field where I’ve spent a large part of my career and a sector that more and more women are dominating, technology is equipping working women better than generations before. In fact, here is my third secret: mobile apps have changed my life. I can’t think of a world without them. I don’t know how working mothers ever survived without them. I shop Diapers.com – plus Wag.com and Soap.com – in a cab on my way to meetings. I use Zillow to look for new homes. I get great kids clothes and toys via Target and Amazon apps. I use them to pay for my Starbucks coffee (yes, I go there a lot), book a restaurant on Open Table, and then distract my daughter at said restaurant (thanks Disney Jr.). Apps give me back my most valuable commodity – time. Time to be a Mom. Time to be a PR executive. Now that I think about it, an award would be pretty useless.

Time has changed a lot of things in the 100 years since the first International Women’s Day. Wishing a happy IWD to all readers; here’s to the next century of success.