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[post_date] => 2016-09-20 16:45:38
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[post_content] => A very short introduction to the importance of understanding and appreciating cultural differences when crafting a strategic, international PR campaign.
Perhaps the most dangerous moment is when you think you understand. In the West, I sometimes think, we focus too closely on words and their meaning, losing sight of the great range of non-verbal communications that also shape our patterns of contact.
In much of Asia, the nuance, timing, and context of an interaction can mean a great deal more than the actual words said. So, the Western businessman in a meeting with his Japanese counterparts may believe it is going much better than in reality it is, simply because his claims and arguments are being met with little or no resistance. He may hear phrases like “I agree this is important”, and “we will carefully consider your suggestion”, and believe that he is close to success. He is likely to be mistaken.
One of my first management responsibilities in my PR career was for the Tokyo office of an international PR company. A key member of our team there was an executive who would join our international clients at their meetings with their Japanese contacts, and make no contribution whatsoever. But after the meeting, he would sit down with the client and explain what had really happened during the meeting. This was often a startling experience for the businessmen concerned.
The difficulty for many foreigners in Asia is to understand that much of the verbal communications that may take place is formulaic and often not very informative. Corporate executives and government officials will say what they believe they are supposed and expected to say, given their position and responsibility. The Japanese talk about “tatemae” and “honne” as the two different forms of communication. A Japanese official in a formal meeting will communicate in the “tatemae” mode, essentially presenting a surface role. But in an informal environment, if he connects with you on a personal and emotional level, when he is able to reveal the real feelings and intentions beneath the “tatemae” surface, then that’s “honne”.
Effective public relations abroad, just as anywhere else, is not simply about editorial publicity; nor is it even the business of communications. It is about creating and managing relationships between the organisation and each of its key publics. Of course, effective communications, verbal and non-verbal, are vital. And getting the non-verbal right can be a major challenge, even with expert involvement.
Communications need to be framed within the context of an informed understanding of the cultural, religious, social and ethnic context of each community and public. The fact that a message may be coherent, well expressed and convincing, and that it has worked well in African market A, does not for one minute guarantee that it will work equally well in African market B.
One of my colleagues at Chelgate, in Asia, had a PR responsibility earlier in her career for a major international refugee resettlement programme. As part of this, a video was produced, encouraging Vietnamese boat people to return home and take up (aided) pig farming. A good and effective idea, but not one that went down at all well in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia where the pig sequences offended Moslem sensitivities. The result was that the videos were impounded, and guarantees had to be given that they would not be shown anywhere but in refugee camps.
One of the dangers of international PR firms and PR networks is that they are often more multi-local than multinational. In other words they will have capabilities in each market, but the executive working with the client may never have worked outside his home country. So, he or she may have little sense of the cultural variables from market to market. As a result, a request will go out to colleagues in each target market to handle the local aspect of an international assignment. But the “localising” will often be no more than translation, when what was actually needed was a strategy planned from the outset to reflect varying markets and cultures.
That is why at Chelgate we now have a house rule that any multinational assignment must be directed by someone with personal experience working in a multinational, multi-cultural environment. While working on major campaigns, some at the highest diplomatic and corporate levels, Chelgate has created an exemplary record for international communications. Though we remain discreet about our work for clients, we are always happy to speak, in general terms, with prospective clients about the worldwide experience and expertise that we have gained.
[post_title] => Business And Cultural Difference
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[post_date] => 2016-10-03 17:54:25
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[post_content] => We will help you to seize control of the PR narrative. Chelgate will ensure that you become primary source of trusted information about these issues. We will create a powerful flow of accurate, timely, informative information, comment and background for the global media, and for other key audiences – political, diplomatic, institutional (NGOs etc.), challenging and correcting false information.
One Month Emergency Programme:
Designed to challenge and begin to dismantle the hostile propaganda that’s directed at an individual or organisation.
Capacity Building:
Designed to shape international opinion and understanding well into the future.
One-to-One:
Arrange to travel to destination, and will remain there for a minimum of two weeks, working to put in place the vital structures and professional foundations for this programme.
Global Outreach:
Chelgate is fortunate to have powerful and extremely well-placed associates in New York and Washington with direct reach to the very highest levels of government and media. At an appropriate stage, we would also be happy to work with these associates to initiate additional initiatives geared to the U.S audience.
An Emergency Initiative:
An emergency initiative to counter hostile and false information and comment, and to shape international understanding about current developments.
[post_title] => Taking Control of the PR Narrative
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[post_date] => 2016-09-20 16:44:07
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[post_content] => Chelgate is an award-winning provider of public relations and international government relations services in EU government affairs in Brussels and Strasbourg, placing great emphasis on working in close partnership with our clients. Chelgate's work with the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) was awarded the "Best in-house / Agency Collaboration award at the PRCA European Public Affairs Awards 2019.
From the types of chemicals companies are permitted to use to the structure of the market for digital services, the European Union now regulates a staggering number of businesses. Staying one step ahead of the legislative process in Brussels is, now more than ever, critical to the future of almost every company with interests on the continent.
Chelgate can offer a number of specialist services to companies whose interests may be affected by what happens in Brussels:
Political intelligence – often, those that get their arguments in first will emerge from any legislative round better off, especially in the EU where policy debates are complex and stakeholders may require help to understand the finer details of the work they are doing. In order to be able to provide this right at the start of the process, it is vital that companies are aware of developments in Europe. Chelgate’s Brussels office has its ear to the ground, and can offer an early warning system to companies that need to know what is happening as it happens, or even before it does so.
Twenty-five years’ experience in the European Parliament – over the last quarter of a century, our consultants have watched the European Parliament transform from a talking shop into one of the most powerful legislative bodies in the world. When it comes to the need for legislative change it is often the Parliament, not the Commission, to which companies should turn.
Engagement with the European Commission – the Commission can be the hardest nut to crack, and a strategic approach to all of its internal stakeholders is vital in shaping the legislative proposals that flow from it. Getting it wrong can lead companies to alienate the only EU Institution that can propose legislation. Our consultants have inside knowledge of how it works, and some have worked as its contractors, meaning we can structure engagement to make sure that companies do not make powerful enemies early on.
Coalition building – policy and legislative debates in Brussels often involve argument between opposing ‘advocacy coalitions’, loosely-organised groups of organisations with convergent interests. Building such a coalition is often the vital first step in an effective EU campaign, and Chelgate is well-positioned to devise and implement the strategies that create strong, winning coalitions.
Working with local government – a little-known institution of the EU, the Committee of the Regions is made up of representatives of local government from across the continent. Whilst the body plays only a consultative role in the legislative process, its members are in a position to aid the expansion of any business that works with local government, and engagement can hasten business development for such companies on the European market. Our work with local government in the United Kingdom, Cyprus and Romania puts Chelgate in a good position to help companies to engage in this way.
Our Brussels office is overseen and directed by Nick Wood-Dow, whose EU experience began in 1983 as a press officer to the European People’s Party, the largest political group in the European Parliament.
[post_title] => EU and International Government Relations
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[post_date] => 2016-09-20 16:41:08
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[post_content] => Chelgate has unique experience in managing international PR campaigns and assignments. With a headquarters in London, offices in Bucharest and Brussels, and a carefully-selected network of global associates, we are able to operate in almost every major market in the world.
EU PR
Working with these contacts, we offer our clients all the benefits of a co-ordinated international PR programme, with central billing and quality control, managed by people who truly understand the special requirements of international public relations.
Our experience in international campaigns
Chelgate has delivered major, tailored campaigns to multi-national corporations, individuals and governments across the world. All of Chelgate’s global programmes are overseen by Terence Fane-Saunders, Chairman and Chief Executive of Chelgate, who has a wealth of global experience spanning East Asia, West Africa, the United States, and Eastern Europe.
We have particular experience in the field of crisis and acute issue management (CAIM) on the global stage. As experts in relationship management, we help our clients to protect their businesses from attacks against their reputations, their vital relationships, and against threats to their relationships with their own, internal staff.
For most of our clients, we operate discretely: the client, not the PR firm, should be at the centre of every story that concerns them. Yet, in some instances, we do operate openly on behalf of our clients. Our expert knowledge of East Asian PR and journalistic practices qualified us for this assignment, and our ability to deploy rapidly meant that we were able to take the assignment on at less than one week’s notice.
How we deliver
We never “shoe horn” a client into a tied affiliate or subsidiary. In each market, we select and work with the professionals best suited to a client’s particular needs. In some markets this means working with a variety of specialist associates, reflecting the different needs of our clients.
Unlike tied or wholly-owned networks, we don’t have to recommend a particular office regardless of skill or specialisation. We recognise that a client needing government relations services may not be best served by a consumer PR specialist, while a financial relations programme may require a different firm again.
Our experience of international markets means that we have a good understanding of the special needs of overseas firms wishing to do business in the UK and Europe, and today we are managing multinational communications programmes in Europe for both American and Asian companies.
Cultural differences
When protecting reputations across the globe, we use a global strategy to ensure consistency and high quality service across our international operations. But we also recognise that each market is different, and that some require a unique approach.
Cultural practices differ from country to country, region to region. Appreciating these is vital. It affects the messages we deploy, the ways in which we release those messages, and more. Key cultural differences can be predictable – a message’s meaning might be lost in translation, for instance. Or they can be impossible to predict to an outsider: take the attention given to numerology in some Indian film titles, or the sensitivity of some in China to the giving of clocks as gifts.
These differences might affect the entire approach we take to breaking a story in the global press. The changing role of Japan’s press clubs, or the editorial policies of many African news outlets, for example, are often only partly-understood by PR firms with a global profile, but only limited local knowledge.
Because of our experience in operating across Europe, we are also well-placed to assist non-European firms taking their first steps in Europe. We have a deep understanding of the complex political and economic structures in Europe, as well as of the complex social differences between major European markets.
Brussels and Bucharest
For more information about our office in Bucharest, Romania, please
click here. For more information about our office and work in Brussels, please
click here.
[post_title] => International PR Campaigns
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[post_content] => An overview of the importance of the Bribery Act of 2010 for public relations.
The backhanding background
When the stakes are high and honesty puts you out of the game, it is no wonder that temptation and pragmatism can combine to erode the high standards by which UK business has traditionally been done.
The playing field is hopefully being leveled by international agreement, led by initiatives of the United Nations, the USA and the OECD. The UK, for its part, passed the Bribery Act 2010.
Why, when, in the hundred years prior to 2010, there has been just one prosecution in the UK over foreign corruption, which failed, is new legislation needed? The answer appears to be: to send a message near and far that corrupt practices will not be tolerated under any circumstances, and in any jurisdiction. If the supply side is effectively discouraged, and matched throughout the world, the aim is to frustrate the demand side: the hands held out asking for payment for favours or access. It’s a big ambition, and few would expect the end of baksheesh in Egypt, for example.
Even so, it would be foolish to suppose that British organisations would never, now or in future, find themselves greasing a palm or otherwise lubricating the progress of an important piece of business where such inducements were expected.
A new onus on businesses
The Bribery Act of 2010 introduced various new offences to the statute books. As of the second half of 2011, it has therefore been a criminal offence to bribe another person, to accept a bribe, to bribe a foreign official and, in select circumstances (and importantly for organisations as opposed to individuals), to fail to prevent bribery.
What is not contemplated is any serious scrutiny of corporate hospitality on a modest scale, as a normal activity intended to promote good relations and better understanding with suppliers and clients. The test is intention. However, there are notable reasons to be cautious. What is done on behalf of an organisation by an ‘associated person’, e.g. a contractor, a consultant, an agent, a representative, or any other intermediary preserves any liability.
Crucially, adequate procedures need to be in place to prevent bribery – showing top level commitment, a zero tolerance approach, assessment of the risk, due diligence on associates, defined limits on the value of gifts and hospitality, records of what is accepted or rejected, internal whistle blowing procedures, communication and training in the policy, the procedures to be monitored, reviewed and evaluated, and diligent accounting.
It is an onerous new responsibility
A new threat to reputation!
At worst there is the prospect of a ten year jail term or an unlimited fine for individuals, and such a fine for their companies. There is a defense of duress, where loss of life, limb or liberty are at stake. And there are aggravating circumstances.
But in one very important sense, the damage to a business can be very much greater than the legal repercussions of not abiding by the Bribery Act – and this is the damage to reputation.
Any investigation into corruption will become very public very quickly. It will be highly disruptive, as all connections with clients and suppliers will be checked exhaustively. Relationships between an organisation and its whole network cannot survive intact where the clients and suppliers are contacted or perhaps descended upon by the authorities and all communications examined.
So, a policy is an absolute requirement. It will need to be prepared or checked by lawyers for compliance. But beyond that, it should be contributed to and reviewed by external public relations professionals who specialise in acute issue and crisis management, regulatory affairs, and government relations.
This is where Chelgate comes in. Our work is about managing reputations and relationships. One of our specialisms is the capacity to contain crises and manage acute issues, which is why 24/7 access to Chelgate is exclusively written into the management liability policies of three of the UK’s major added-value insurers.
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