Sometimes a little creativity can make a big impact when communicating. I came across this latest Nike initiative through a colleague’s blog today. This is a solid, well-thought through idea that links back to brand values (I’m sure it’s also gone through the legal department at Nike also; I’d be nervous if it was in a highly litigious market like Korea or Ireland).
However, it was good reminder about how risk-based and creative communications activities can reap huge return for companies. Considering that most Korean companies are risk adverse, I wouldn’t be surprised if a multinational operating in Korea does something similar first.
Also, if anyone is brave enough, I’ve been dying to implement an underground campaign based on virtual graffiti but have yet to get it over the line in Europe or Korea to date. Any takers? Surely ‘ubiquitous’ Korea’s the place to do it. Or maybe it already has, and I’m sadly no longer with it!!!
I met a friend whose working on a global HR program / project for one of the major international chaebols here over the weekend. Like me he’s one of the few ‘foreigners’ who works in or with international Korean companies in Korea. He shared this article with me this morning.
To me, it brings up a constant theme which I have observed since my time in Korea. Korean companies talk alot about “going global” but less time acting like global companies.
How a company treats its employees and manages its employees fairly is one of the biggest factors driving the perception of social responsible companies in Korea and overseas. According to Edelman’s 8th annual Trust Barometer, which studies opinion leaders in markets throughout the world, including Korea, when respondents were asked, “When you think of the major global companies that you trust, which are the most important activities for a socially responsible company to engage in?” the most important factor was the same for all markets. That’s the same in Korea, China, North America or Europe – no difference! Treat your employees fairly and equally, and you increase your reputation as a responsible company.
If a company is perceived as a responsible company, it’ll retain and attract more and better employees. A 2003 survey of 800 MBA students from Stanford University showed that 97% of respondents were willing to forgo financial benefits (accept up to an average of 14% cut in expected income) to work for a company with a better reputation for corporate social responsibility and ethics.
How major Korean companies approach employee relations outside Korea is critical for their reputation and success. Unlike the article, I still believe Korean companies are international companies (not glorified exporters as the article suggests) but just need to factor in more international practice and behaviours to increase their success. My opinion: you’re a global company, act like one.
I came across an interview with my U.S. colleague Steve Rubel on Canadian TV discussing the question, “Should CEOs Blog?” It’s towards the end of the show here; if you have a spare hour by all means go ahead and watch the whole thing but Steve’s interview is from 46.40 if you fast forward and goes for 8 minutes.
The interview raises some important concerns about companies and CEOs beginning to dip their toes into the blogopshere but raises some good points about having dialogue with your customers. The point that sticks out to me is Steve’s advice that companies should think about “what [they] want back” from a blog. Simply: a blog is a conversation.
Message control has been paramount for Korean businesses; it’s intertwinned with business culture here. However, this is certainly something that Korean companies have faced up (or are still facing into) when dealing with international media: it’s very hard to control your message 100%; you have to be realistic and understand the channel you’re communicating in. This is no different when thinking about communications through the internet; you can shape and direct the conversation but you can’t control it.
I think there’s a lot of room for identifying the “passionates” within Korean organization and having them be the blogging advocates for the company; getting a CEO to blog openly and honestly is going to be challenging considering the structure and controls in place in Korean organizations. This seems like a good initial step for a Korean companies and it’s something our online team here would agree with and recommend.
I thought I’d piggy-back Steve’s post on how annual reports are an indispensible communications tool, and should be approached and developed with this lesson in mind.
The same applies for social or sustainability reporting. The GRI has gone as far as saying today that ”sustainability reporting is becoming a more utilised tool in maintaining and building brand – often a company’s most valuable asset.” This is on the back of reviewing the world’s top brands and how 43 of the top 100 global brands have issued such a report.
From a communications viewpoint, compiling a sustainability report itself not only offers an opportunity to engage a group of stakeholders during the process but it’s also an opportunity to reach out to a wide range of stakeholders. But if — and it’s a big if — it’s communicated effectively.
Simple things like publishing a smaller/summarised version for ‘less technical’ audiences, and producing a user-friendly and accessible report that it is easy to find on the website are simple steps that any company thinking about producing one must consider. There’s a huge time investment necessary to put together a social report, and businesses should try and get as much value out of them as possible.
I searched one Korean company who produces a GRI accredited report but it can only be accessed through the IR site. This is good for investors, but the company is missing out on a great opportunity to showcase their social responsibility (and build their brand) with a range of stakeholders who would rarely visit the IR site.
Going through the process of developing a social report is something Korean companies are beginning to (and should) turn their attention to. Korean companies have a bit of catching up to do, however. The last time I trawled through the database, of the 2,173 sustainability and environmental reports meeting the GRI standards, only 37 were from Korean companies (two of these were overseas companies based in Korea also). That compared with, for example, 269 from Japan, 230 from the U.S., 138 from Australia, 78 from Germany and 74 from Finland.
Disclaimer: Hankook Tire is a client of Edelman in Seoul. However, that does not detract from the fact that this is a very cool piece of film!
What is interesting about this is that this is one of the comparatively few cases of a Korean company using international social media channels to promote the things it’s doing. There’s a lot of stuff happening in the online space in Korea – particularly on the Cyworld and Naver communities but, short of posting ads, I don’t see very much content on YouTube.
This particular piece of film was shot in July during a test for a drifting Porsche and later posted up onto YouTube, primarily to interest the drifting community. As can be seen from the comments, it has certainly reached its target audience and consequently raised the profile of brand. It’s a great example of how an item of content not necessarily created for promotional use can nevertheless be used to provide more context on what a company is doing behind the scenes.
Good communications is parsimonious in that it generates the maximum amount of use from resources at the lowest possible cost. Taking materials developed for internal use and review and using them for external communications via platforms such as YouTube is a great example of parsimony. Assuming, of course, that you don’t divulge trade secrets, the list of possible applications is almost endless – concept products, pop group rehearsals, product stress tests, trade show events – almost anything that is used for internal reporting purposes can be adapted for dissemination to an interested target audience. Think of the “bonus features” on the average movie DVD and the extent to which people – myself included- will watch footage of the production process shot on a hand-held video camera as a part of the whole movie experience.
Consumers and other stakeholders increasingly want to see the story behind the brand. The glitz and polish of classical advertising is giving way to grainy, home-made content that can be viewed online and shared between fellow enthusiasts. Korean companies typically spend enormous amounts of money on advertising to build brand awareness. Taking a parsimonious approach to communications has the potential to build awareness among important stakeholder groups without the heavy upfront expenditure required of a traditional advertising campaign.
And, if you’re interested, here are a couple more drifting Porsche videos. After all, there’s nothing wrong with shameless client promotion!
As we round off another season of earnings reports in Korea, I’ve found myself thinking about how few Korean companies really take advantage of of their statutory filings to position the company effectively to investors and market watchers.
Among the most egregious examples of poorly conceived communications in Korea is often the annual report. The annual report, to me, has three main functions:
It communicates to the market and to potential investors the financial strength of the company;
It reassures existing shareholders that they have made a wise investment; and
It provides an opportunity to put the numbers into the context of a business strategy
As a communicator, the third point is, to me, the most important. The numbers are backward looking, and as anyone who has ever bought an investment trust knows, past performance is not a guarantee of future performance (or something like that.)
The blurb at the front of the annual report can be – and indeed often is – mindless fluff, but unlike the financial statements, the blurb provides the company with an opportunity to explain not only where last year’s numbers came from but what the company is going to do to build on those numbers going forward.
I wrote a while ago on the top ten tips for Korean websites, and many of the tenets in that list hold equally true for Korean annual reports – especially when it comes to professional writing skills. However, rather than list out the same old things, I thought I ‘d offer the following “translation” of some of the more common phrases I find in Korean annual reports into the impressions they create in an international reader. Feel free to add to the list.
“We have overcome many crises and challenges.” Translation: We have not properly monitored the issues in the market
“Our strategy is to be a top three company.”Translation: We don’t really know what a strategy is, but we think we’d like to have one
“We are continuing toward our goal of being a company with world class standards.”Translation: We are not a company with world class standards
“We ask for your continued consideration and support.”Translation: We can’t think of another compelling reason why you might want to invest in our company.
“Our management philosophy is “Ethical management: best company.”Translation: Our Chairman is not currently in jail
“We are preparing for a new take off.” Translation: Our business has been flat for the last ten years
“We making a contribution to the competitiveness of the nation.”Translation: We are essentially a state owned company that puts national policy ahead of our responsibilities to our shareholders
Before I start getting flamed, let me be clear that I know Korean companies don’t mean this when they write those sentences. However, my point is that these kinds of homilies are viewed as suspect simply because they are homilies. The annual report is probably the most expensive single document that a company produces, both in terms of money and resources. If Korean companies spent just half of their usual design and printing expenditure on ensuring that the text was professionally compiled and presented the company in its best possible light, the document would be a significantly more valuable and effective tool for positioning the company among investors and other key stakeholders.
Posted by Keith Morrison 
Posted by Keith Morrison 
Posted by Keith Morrison 
