Embracing the spotlight: how to make an interview your own
With consumption of news at an all time high in Australia, there would be few in business that underestimate the importance of a positive interaction with the media. But at the same time, news organisations and journalists remain in the unenviable ranks of the most untrusted professions in the country, making those media interactions even more crucial when it comes to a maintaining a company’s good reputation. Some would say the media mistrust is simply a by-product of the age of social media and self-publishing, where false information is often weaponised as ‘fake news’, and opposing viewpoints are easily dismissed as political
Public speaking: worse than death or an opportunity to impress?
If asked to complete this sentence: “Public speaking is…” you might not be surprised to find that “worse than death” is a common response. For many it is the number one fear and a phobia – one by the name of glossophobia, actually – that ranks ahead of the fear of snakes or heights. What might surprise you however is to discover how many famous people, including politicians like Sir Winston Churchill or actors like Laurence Olivier and Nicole Kidman, hated public speaking. Fear of public speaking is not ideal for people in these positions but of course they had little choice
Herding cats: why project management communications need more thought
Putting together a big project is tricky enough — but pulling together a team of contractors who might not have worked together before? That is where the real challenge begins. Why it matters In project management, effective communications can make or break successful outcomes. Project teams are commonly a team of contractors from across the organisation as well as external agencies. The need to wrangle the entire project team can see communications become the core of operations. A common misconception is that the shared goal of completing the project means that all stakeholders are automatically on the same page when it comes to how
Your complete guide to a Circular Economy
You and I have changed the face of the Earth. For centuries humans have thrived in a throwaway economy, where the unquestioned mentality of we want, we take, we use and then we discard has been embedded into our expectations of everyday convenience. Once falling into the buzz word category, ‘circular economy’ has crept into our vocabulary, strategic plans and conversation as we become increasingly aware of our reliance on the world’s ecosystems in recent years. Our use of the world’s resources is linear in nature, where materials flow in a straight line – from extraction to design, manufacturing, consumption, and
Interviewing online: the future of recruitment?
Even in the most positive jobs market in memory, attending a job interview can be a daunting experience. You enter an unfamiliar environment, unclear about what you might be asked, who you’ll be facing or how long you might be there. You need to prepare for a grilling in case there’s little time between questions for reflection. It’s a high-stress environment, where every mistake or slip-up counts, with performance anxiety getting in the way of what you really have to offer. Is there a better way? Well, the pandemic suggests that might be the case. Reinventing the interview process Back in 2018, LinkedIn looked at
Branding for the rest of us: B2C vs B2B
Almost all the branding talks, books and experts cover business-to-consumer (B2C) branding. It’s sometimes difficult to look at the preferred examples from brands like Apple, Google, Hertz, Nike and the like – and work out how to apply the ideas and principles from a global consumer audience into a business-to-business (B2B) company. What makes B2C branding different? So, aside from the enormous budget, the scale of their advertising and access to the world’s leading design and advertising agencies – what makes B2C brands different from B2B brands? Branding is about an experience, and I would argue that what makes one brand different from the
Rebranding pitfalls and how to avoid them
Branding and rebranding is often thought of as a sale-driving or marketing objective. But it’s so much more than that. Branding is communication, and communication is about people. Rebrand inside out Creating a new logo and visual identity can attract attention and create interest but unless you have a clear reason why you’re rebranding, your brand won’t feel authentic or cohesive. For example, when someone around you changes abruptly without telling you why – it feels jarring, and can build distrust: “I thought I knew this brand! Now I’m not sure”. A new name alone is definitely not going to help Facebook fix its
Meeting the press – how to get the most from the media
There are few more stressful experiences than standing before a packed media scrum. Karen Brown Cannings Purple's National Director explains why prior preparation is the key to a successful media engagement. Think – breathe. Think – breathe. Think – breathe. Listen to the question. Listen carefully. Speak slowly. Speak clearly. Speak in complete sentences. Don’t say anything stupid! Cameras rolling…… Hot lights glowing, assertive journalists firing questions. The stakes are high. Your answers are on the record and will be the subject of intense and immediate scrutiny. You have a limited time to deliver critical information or a clear message and your efforts will be judged by your
Should design agencies be more transparent about their work?
Are some design agencies living solely on the reputation of their past work, or are they who they say they are? If you go to any agency's website and view their portfolio, you will see a blast of their creativity with an array of their best, cutting-edge designs. We have to ask, how many of these are still their clients? At the end of the day, an agency's client list is a big part of choosing an agency for your business. We rarely see endorsements alongside work, so how do we know they had happy clients? After all, we can only take
Brand activism: The positives and pitfalls of taking a stance
Meaningful brand activism is no longer a nice-to-have, it is a must-have. The Year That Shall Not Be Named set this in stone as some brands were celebrated for making a difference while others floundered. One of the most pivotal events was the tragic death of George Floyd, a cataclysmic event that prompted weeks of protests and civil unrest across the United States. It started a long overdue conversation about police brutality and racial injustice around the world, including in Australia. It sparked discussions around dinner tables, on the floor of parliament, and in office lunchrooms. 2020 marked the end of staying silent. No comment
Who reads the news anyway? Actually, you should
There’s nothing like a social media slam to give business leaders a wake-up. It might be a cranky customer who has hopped on Facebook in the wee hours, adding angry-face emojis to their diatribe. It might be criticism of your staff on Twitter by an upset ‘egg’ with three followers and a disdain for punctuation. Something about the immediacy and human face of social media means that comment, and the scattered retweets or likes that follow, can cut to the heart of a business. But while social media monitoring is vital, if you are not also watching traditional media sources, you are seeing only a small part of the picture. Traditional media like newspapers, magazines, online
How to make your website more accessible
1 in 6 Australians have a disability. The figure, from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, means that approximately 4.4 million Aussies, or 18% of the population, benefit from accessible design and thinking. One area that is often overlooked is the accessibility of digital platforms, including websites. For people with auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical or visual needs, a badly designed website can be a real barrier to engaging with the world. To assist people with disabilities navigate websites, technologies such as screen readers to vocalise the text on each page are used, as well as speech recognition software that converts speech into text. This means
Why your stakeholder database is much more than it seems
It may look, smell, and walk like a database but your stakeholder database can be so much more than that. Here are some simple reasons why you should start looking at your database differently and appreciating it for what it really can be. It’s your record Well, of course – right? A database, by its very nature, is a record system. But it’s more than just a box-ticking exercise. It’s a permanent and evolving reference of every interaction you have had with your stakeholders. You’ll be forever grateful for the perfect database when it’s easy to track not only what you did and
Is email marketing dead?
Is it difficult to ‘do’ email marketing? No. Is it difficult to ‘do email marketing well’? No, but you need to put the fundamentals in place and stick with them. Don't set and forget There are myriad email service providers like Mailchimp, Active Campaign, Campaign Monitor and Send Grid that are intuitive and can have you on your way to sending your first email campaign within an hour. So often we see a set and forget, spray and pray, un-targeted email marketing approach that achieves little and is likely doing more damage for your brand than it is achieving your goals. And this is really
I don’t need a videographer; I’ve got a smartphone…
The technology that is packed into our phones is quite mind boggling. Even the camera on most phones is now of such quality that it can compete with some professional cameras. And if that’s the case, why would you need a videographer or a video camera? This comes down to what you are shooting and what you want your video to do. Where agencies add value At Cannings Purple, we position ourselves as a strategic communications provider – the operative word being strategic. Agencies can add value through their technical proficiency with professional video recording equipment. But most of the success of a video comes
Can you build brand equity from a crisis? Qantas did
In the deep and chilling midst of a crisis, we believe it is possible to still demonstrate to stakeholders your purpose and your values, and ultimately strengthen the equity of your brand. Qantas Flight 32 4 November 2010. Heading for Sydney, a Qantas Airbus A380 took off from Singapore’s Changi Airport with 469 passengers and crew on board. Just a few minutes after take-off, one of the aircraft’s Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines started blasting heavy, red-hot chunks of the engine through the wing, severely damaging critical control systems. Fortunately, two hours later, the aircraft made a successful emergency landing at Changi. Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce personally took control of the airline’s reputation in the aftermath. Dozens
Purple Conversations: Brigitte Colbert
Brigitte, Cannings Purple’s Investor Relations Associate Consultant, takes a break to tell us who she is when she's not working. In our ‘Purple Conversations’ series, you’ll find out about the Cannings Purple team – what led them to their careers; what they do in their spare time and even what they’re currently watching on Netflix. Meet Brigitte Coming to the role with a double degree in Professional Writing and Editing/Accounting, and a background in Geology and Earth Science, Brigitte has experience writing for the resource and financial sectors, as well as an extensive background working with local small business on market research, digital
The secret to a great speech
A lot of words have been written about writing and making speeches – probably far too many, but here are a few more. In fact, there are probably more secrets to giving great speeches, than Burgess, Maclean or Philby ever passed to the Soviets during the Cold War. Most have been developed by professional communicators based on years of experience, both practical and observed, and will contribute to the preparation and delivery of a good speech. Many are to do with how you perform on the stage, the development of the content and engaging with your audience, with technical tips such as
Could AI Generated Models Be The Future?
Beautiful, diverse and ready to show up in your next ad campaign, Generated.Photos holds a collection of more than two million human faces, free for download. Oh, and none of them are real. These faces have been generated by artificial intelligence. The site allows you to narrow your search of the massive database by “head pose”, “eye colour”, “hair length”, “emotion”, “sex” and “age”, to name a few. Generated.Photos says its faces could be useful for clients needing to jazz up promotional materials and promises clients they can “increase diversity” and “reduce bias” by including “many different ethnic backgrounds in your projects.” Generative adversarial
Walking the talk – overcoming tokenism in engagement
The accusation of tokenism in your engagement can stop a practitioner in their tracks. The reputational risks associated with tick-box engagement and the time and cost of getting it wrong, can have a real impact on your bottom line. Senior Consultant, Ethan Gallagher discusses the ways you can set yourself up for success and avoid a tokenistic engagement process. Let’s start at the beginning. Planning. A sure-fire way to get ahead of the game is to put a robust plan in place from the get-go. Make sure you take the time to understand the project in-front of you - what are the
How Spotify uses data to tell a story
Big data can feel scary. Data collection is seen as a giant absorbent sponge, soaking up any and all information from consumers. At least, that’s the sentiment shared by 70% of Australians. Yet without the power of data, life would not be the same. Take Spotify. The popular audio streaming and media service provider celebrates its data and uses it to tell stories about its subscribers. Spotify not only relies on data to make its user experience better, but it is also the source of its marketing campaigns that users find hilarious and relatable. Spotify Wrapped With more than 345 million users, Spotify annually causes a social media frenzy with its ‘Wrapped’ feature, a window into the listening habits of its users. Spotify provides subscribers with a detailed summary of their music history over the year, top artists, favourite genres,
From Typewriter to iPhone: Ray Jordan’s journey through journalism
If you don't already know who Ray Jordan is, he's one of Western Australia’s most highly-regarded corporate communicators and strategists, who, before moving to corporate communications, held executive positions in the media – including the role of Deputy Editor of The West Australian. Ray is also one of Australia’s most experienced wine journalists and has been writing about wine for nearly forty years, with his first articles published in the late 1970s. He is currently the Wine Editor for Seven West Media. Ray's first photo taken as a cadet journalist in February 1976 Given Ray's long-standing career in media and communications, I was keen
Purple Conversations: Cameron Wong
Cameron Wong is a key part of Cannings Purple’s digital team, helping clients choose the right tools and interpret data to hone their digital strategies. A self-confessed marketing nerd, Cameron has a background working for non-profits and sporting organisations in Western Australia and a leading global technology conference producer in London.
Why media intelligence is important, and how to make it work for you
For business, Media Intelligence can be an invaluable tool, especially when used the right way. Unlike the common perception, Media Intelligence is more than just a regurgitation of every time you or your brand is mentioned. In fact, there are five very important ways following your news can improve your business and client outcomes.
Introducing Skyline – A Targeted Commercial Property Content Platform
Cannings Purple’s Skyline platform has been developed to ensure property players can deliver their stories to the right audience at the right time.
The case to Automate
For many people automation is no more than a buzz word, and really, how many more of those can we handle? However, the benefits are irrefutable. Senior Digital Consultant, Cameron Wong, explains how marketing automation could benefit your business.
Safeguard your business against defamatory content on social media
The rapid evolution of social media and various other digital platforms means legislation is regularly playing catch up. Liability and ownership of defamatory content on social media is one such emerging area of law.
Make an impact: Presentation training with Ray Jordan
For many, the idea of stepping on to a stage or standing before a group of peers to make a presentation is nearly worse than death. Some might even believe it really is worse than death! And to heighten anxiety and frustration, seeing someone else standing there, seemingly relaxed and delivering with certainty and clarity to a completely captivated audience, just makes your own shortcomings so much more real. Where are their nerves? How is this person so calm, while I am struggling the get even the simplest sentence out? A duck in a pond Delivering a presentation or speech is a little like
The Conductor: Project managing the design studio
Have you ever watched a classical music concert and wondered why the orchestra needs a conductor? Surely the musicians can play without the person at the front? The truth is, the conductor holds everything together. The conductor is the only person who can hear the whole orchestra play. For example, the musician on the left can’t hear what’s being played on the right, so how will the musicians know when to come in and how loud to play? The creative It’s the same in the design studio. It is extremely ineffective for designers' to be constantly jumping from creative processes to analytical or
Purple Conversations: Annette Ellis
In between her very busy schedule, heading our organisation and its teams, Cannings Purple’s Managing Director, Annette Ellis takes a break to tell us who she is when she's not working. In our ‘Purple Conversations’ series, you’ll find out about the Cannings Purple team – what led them to their careers; what they do in their spare time and even what their favourite apps are. Meet Annette With more than 25 years experience in corporate communications, reputation management, crisis communications, change management and stakeholder relations, Annette is an accomplished corporate editor, speechwriter and a highly regarded coach in executive presentation skills. Annette gained her