E-tailers are reeling from a scrawnier than expected holiday sales season, dotcoms continue to drown in droves and online publications are ringing in the New Year with pink slips (RedHerring.com
just purged its staff a second time, having ingested more talent than it could handle). But this ain't necessarily a signal for hopeful PR technophobes that Internet hype is on the out. On the contrary,
mastery of the medium is still critical to survival - particularly in a Darwinian communications environment in which traditional descriptors such as "PR, advertising and marketing" no longer accurately
compartmentalize "that thing we do." PR NEWS caught up with Don Middleberg, a consummate member of the digerati, to discuss his new book, Winning PR in the Wired World (McGraw-Hill).
PRN: In your book, you use the term "intrapreneurs" to describe in-house executives who are moving their companies into the wired (and wireless) world. How often do these folks have
"PR" in their job titles?
Middleberg: Very rarely. The intrapreneurs - as in the people who are initiators or evangelists in leading what we call the "big fat dumb company" onto the digital stage - are typically
marketing people. But what they do early on is pull together a core team of three or four people [who will help implement change]. And in almost every case, they get someone within the internal PR group
to be part of that team. So while PR people do not tend to initiate the transition, they are part of the process from the beginning and are critical to the success or failure.
PRN: Should PR managers be initiating the shift to digital communication inside corporations - particularly in the absence of other leadership?
Middleberg: I think they should. You have some people who really get it, like Jon Iwata, who is the head PR guy at IBM. He's very savvy and has helped change IBM's positioning from a chip
company to a services company to a services company that knows the Internet. You do find cases where PR people play that role, but you also need a very strong personality to pull that off.
PRN: Which agencies - aside from yours - are considered the leaders in Web communication strategy?
Middleberg: The big agencies - including Burson-Marsteller and Ketchum - have been very candid in saying that they missed [the technology boat]. This has allowed a second generation of
leadership to emerge. People like Andy Cunningham, Pam Alexander, Ed Niehaus and Larry Weber fall in that group. There are half a dozen agencies that were struggling five or six years ago, but saw this
opportunity and jumped in while the big agencies were still asleep.
PRN: Is online PR really that different from traditional PR?
Middleberg: I've been in the business for over 25 years and this is as different as day is to night. It is not something that an agency can claim to have an expertise in and fake. Frankly in
the whole country, there aren't more than a half dozen firms that are really good at it.
PRN: Maybe in the PR space. But then there's also a fair amount of competition from management consultants and other communications shops in fields like direct marketing and
advertising.
Middleberg: Yes, but what's good for the goose is also good for the gander. The consultants are moving into the PR space as much as we are moving into theirs. Take Organic, which is just
hanging on right now, but a little less than a year ago, they established an internal PR outfit. You also have major firms like Andersen establishing reputation management practices. Conversely, at
Middleberg, we have a seven person consulting arm, where we do best practices studies, image analysis and competitive analysis. So we do work that's not too dissimilar from interactive agencies. We also
have Middleberg 1.2.1, which is an online marketing firm that competes with the ad agencies.
PRN: So it's a natural assumption then that the prototype "agency" of the future won't necessarily be an ad shop or PR firm or direct marketing house, per se?
Middleberg: Exactly. The handcuffs are off. I don't think there is any limit now to the type of consulting services business that a PR firm can legitimately enter. We have every right to call
ourselves consultants. We have every right to do hands-on direct marketing. And we can do it because of the digital space. The world of the Net is based on content, not image. That's why the ad
agencies are having such a difficult time now, and why so many PR agencies are flourishing.
PRN: What do you imagine the agency of 2003 will look like? I think it's interesting that the number of incubators and venture capitalists buying or launching PR firms is on the rise.
Will that trend continue now that economy is starting to tank?
Middleberg: That's really asking whether or not incubators will survive. And like everything and anything that's going on with the economy now, a large number will fail. But I don't see any
reason why an incubator can't buy a PR firm. I mean, an incubator has a base of clients who need PR, so it comes with a built-in client list. The problem comes - and this is what Organic found out -
when you're a client and you're not a member of the incubator. Where is the loyalty of the PR people going to go? It's gotta go to the incubator clients first. Which puts outside clients at the bottom
of the totem pole.
PRN: In your book, you describe the consummate "e-communicator" as a professional who wears a lot of different hats: rainmaker, lawyer, technologist, journalist, financial navigator,
positioning strategist and marketer, to name a few. Where do today's e-communicators obtain the skills and expertise they need to fulfill all of these roles? Can you learn all that stuff in school?
Middleberg: You can now in certain schools. Boston University and Columbia are getting it. Within the past year or two, they've really begun to incorporate digital communications into their
mass communications or journalism programs. But we're only talking about a couple of courses. The way a young person would [become indoctrinated in digital communication] also is to read a lot - and to
do it. It's like a language you need to practice. And the only way to do that at this point is work for agency that specializes in this field, or to work in technology company like, say, Oracle or
Intel.
PRN: How did you learn the ropes?
Middleberg: I'll give you a quote from David Ogilvy. He said the secret to his success was having people around him who were smarter than he was. That's absolutely been the case with me. I
had to come from traditional corporate PR background because there was no Internet to speak of seven or eight years ago. But I've brought in a handful of people who've been instrumental to my
education.
Doug Middleberg
Don Middleberg is chairman and CEO of Middleberg Euro, a digital PR firm with offices in New York, San Francisco and Boston. 212/888-6610. Tragic Flaws
Oh, the communications challenges plaguing traditional enterprises ("big fat dumb companies," in Middleberg parlance). Among the worst:
Siloism. Because many Internet business initiatives cut across several product areas, creating a coordinated communications strategy can be sticky.
Speaking to new audiences. Many larger businesses are now packaging services and products targeted to Internet start-ups and emerging businesses, which creates a love/hate dichotomy for the
traditional brands.
The "I don't handle that" syndrome. Roles in traditional communication departments are specialized and focused, presenting an obstacle to integrated offline/online PR and marketing.
Speed. Layers of approval and going before "news release boards" can slow the announcement of news significantly.
CEO as spokesperson. One CEO representing several areas of business does not guarantee all Internet business initiatives will get top attention in the media.
Source: Winning PR in the Wired World: Powerful Communications Strategies for the Noisy Digital Space, by Don Middleberg (McGraw-Hill).
Coming next week in PR NEWS: Middleberg muses on Web PR strategy, digital bootcamp and the wireless workplace of the not-so-distant future. Plus, don't miss the skinny on dot-competitive
intelligence resources and the do's and don'ts of online relationship building.