Sitting in the British Airways lounge in Phoenix airport waiting for my 10 hour flight back the UK, I thought I'd attempt to wrap up the events of the last 48 hours. This afternoon was pretty much a discussion session around some of the issues raised during the morning - things like how to get better integration, deciding the right internal structures, collaborating and sharing knowledge, etc.
I'm not quite sure how it happened (conspiracy I think) but I got tasked with trying to identify a single measurement social media standard for Hill & Knowlton - so if you have any ideas or pointers, please let me know.
Yesterday morning, we heard WPP's David Muir give a keynote on the new marketing environment. He told us that PR is the "killer app" in the new world of social media.
Paul Gillin encouraged us to get small and niche and drop the broadcast approach. He said: "I don't know any other industry that considers 98% waste to be success."
David Meerman Scott then suggested that we unlearn the old rule of PR (begging for coverage) and start focusing on the new rules (publish your own).
Finally Hill & Knowlton's global CEO Paul Taaffe challenged us to define what needs to change inside our agency in order to fulfil the growth opportunity that digital will continue to provide.
In the afternoon we heard from a few of our own people. I took to the podium with a couple of colleagues. We announced our revised set of global social media guidelines to the assembled group, and set the scene for some of the blogging-related case studies that were to follow.
Claudia Husemann then brought us back down to earth with a bang, reminding us that even though the landspace may have changed, clients still want the same thing they always did: communication that moves audiences in support of business objectives.
Melissa Robinson rekindled our faith in our 'traditional' colleagues, explaining that it isn't good enough to treat digital communications as an add-on channel. PR practitioners who don't get (or don't want to get) digital need to suspend their agendas and integrate it from the start, because that what clients need and expect.
Brendan Hodgson brought the day to a close, showing us how social media has turned the crisis lifecycle on its head (not to mention inside out).
With that, we all retired to the tranquility of the Firesky Resort (in my case, via Macy's to pick up a couple of cute outfits for my daughter). Before dinner, Paul presented the award to the winners of the digital mavens RFP contest - a team of bright young things from the San Francisco office.
Today, we said goodbye to the mavens and hunkered down to hear from our colleagues running digital campaigns across the world. We had presentations from Australia, Belgium, China, Finland, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, Norway, Spain, the UK and the US (and some others I may have missed).
All that remains is for me to thank our worldwide head of digital, Julie Atherton, and her team for both inviting me and creating a packed yet stimulating agenda.
Until next year...
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