Lingolook

The word of the week in my neck of the woods is coherence:

Dictionary.com gives the definition as:

Coherence (co·her·ence)
Pronunciation [koh-heer-uhns]
–noun
1. the act or state of cohering; cohesion.
2. logical interconnection; overall sense or understandability.
3. congruity; consistency.
4. Physics, Optics. (of waves) the state of being coherent.
5. Linguistics. the property of unity in a written text or a segment of spoken discourse that stems from the links among its underlying ideas and from the logical organization and development of its thematic content.

It’s the second and third definitions I’m interested in.

This week - in reality it happens every week - I stumbled across a number of incidences within my jurisdiction where people in positions that count (I’m talking VP marcoms worldwide, Head of Digital Marketing and the list goes on) have proved that while they are ultimately responsible for the web strategies and social initiatives of their respective companies, the day-to-day complexities and overwhelming commitments they have are asked to deal with means that their hands are tied.

In one case in particular, one of them wrote a lengthy blog article about the latest social technologies and then responded to a comment asking when his company - the world’s #1 pasta company - was to adopt social media with a friendly, “let it go”.

My question is why wouldn’t a company like that want to start using social media?

On the other side of the coin, my own little one-way run-in with Publicis just goes to show that many professionals and companies who market themselves as conversation catalysts (oxymoron intended) are simply not firing on all cylinders.

So why is this?

How is it possible that the message isn’t flowing through the corridors of power 1.0?

The answer I believe lies in coherency. If your company adopts an eco-friendly approach, you can’t do it with just the packaging and expect people to buy into it. Likewise that “please do not print this” message at the bottom of emails convinces no-one that you’re on a mission to save the planet.

Coherency means adopting it throughout the business, so that the company wholly adopts the attitude and its customers can feel it.

And with social media, it gets worse because whereas we instinctively know when we’re harming/saving the planet, it’s a damned site harder to know when we’re being truly social (meant as an effective approach to social media that brings ROi to the company and benefits to the customers), which makes it a lot easier to sell as for many (buyers and sellers), it’s snake oil.

I guess now that SM has started to go mainstream, it’ll be slowly diluted down and squeezed of every ounce of credibility. But just like HannanCustoms takes the common bicycle and does something incredible, there will always be a place in social media for true coherence.

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It’s not every day I choose to rat on a colleague. Nor is it a practice I’m particularly comfortable with, yet there’s something about the way this episode demonstrates how some agencies boast unrealistic claims of starting (or igniting) conversation with all its connotations of immediacy, transparency and honesty that just pissies me off.

Two days ago, I received a Google alert for the keywords “Acer Gemstone Blue”. There have been so many of these of late I’ll admit to no longer giving them more than a quick glance but this time rather than seeing a re-hash of my own writing, I saw the title “Ugly Aspirations”.

Click.

The site I’m now on is part of Publicis, a London-based agency which, by its own claims, is “Part of the 4th largest communication network, spanning 104 countries and all 5 continents” and whose mission is to …”Ignite Conversations with ideas so infectious that consumers adopt them as their own and pass them on”.

Even better, is this:
“Our Values: Lionhearted
We are fearless, proud and honest: we always do the right thing, for the greater good of our clients, brands and colleagues
We work with total openness and co-operation: we are all on the same side; we behave like friends.”

Wow! An agency I’d be proud to work with.

But back to the article.

Not a long one, but written to dismantle everything my colleagues and I put into the Acer Gemstone Blue launch campaign. That in itself is not a bad thing, I love constructive criticism and am always ready to learn.

But alas there’s nothing constructive about it. It’s just a low-handed attack on the work of a competitor (note their client list includes HP and their case study post proudly shows off their efforts.

OK. While I’m the first to welcome advice, I’m also not afraid of defending my work, which is what I did.

After two whole days, my comment is still “awaiting moderation”. So much for the immediacy and transparency of conversation.

You want to ignite a conversation? Then you’re starting a debate and you’d better invite the accused along or at least be prepared to hear him out.

You want to prove you know what Messrs. Chris Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger were getting at in their original masterpiece? Then you’d better be ready to stand by what you publish (which brings into question the very 1.0, command-and-control practice of moderation).

You want to sell your clients on Web 2.0 (conversations)? Then you’d better look it up before you attempt to score a few cheap points at someone else’s expense.

It’s not my business to police the web and name and shame those who breach my own self-appointed laws and standards but this is a blatant example of an agency that either a) doesn’t get it, or b) thinks it’s clever enough to get away with not honouring its own mission and values.

Either way that damages both their and my reputation.

Maybe I don’t want to work with them after all.

UPDATE: It’s now the end of July 2008 and my comment has yet to be approved. I think rather Ignite Conversations, Publicis does a pretty good job of dowsing them.

UPDATE 2: Two months have gone by and the comment is still unapproved. I wonder if Publicis has the balls to give a critique of the Aspire One…

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Don’t always take this route to express what’s going on my end but this is exception to the rule is truly worth it.

I can’t resist a song plug and this morning the very first thing I read on Twitter was a mention for “A Beautiful World” by Tim Myers from Meg Fowler.

What a beautiful song! The melody, the lyrics and most of all the vibes. They all align just right and make this my own personal candidate for the song that best represents what social media should be about.

Maybe it’s me going all soppy. Maybe I’m tired of fighting corporate resistance to the changes social media will inevitably force on them. Maybe if we could get 100 CEOs to listen, the transition would be just a little smoother…

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