Top >> Media__Media_Relations Opinion:  While the media moguls rearrange   their empires, consider this…. by Grant Common - Editor Grant has 30 years direct experience in public relations and communication in Australia and New Zealand - as well as directing and managing programs in the UK and USA. He has consulted to Governments, publicly listed companies, industry bodies, marketing organisations, multinationals and not-for-profit organisations. He is Managing Director of Sydney-based Network PR and as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (having completed the Company Directors Diploma examination) he is also one of the few PR practitioners to have the perspective of the company director. While Packer and Stokes position themselves to take best advantage of the Federal Government’s media reforms, let’s not forget that there are still viewers out there making their own minds up as to which of the television stations is the perceived industry leader. To this end, Australians have recently witnessed a neat piece of corporate ambush marketing - arguably the best since Qantas ambushed Ansett at the time of the Sydney Olympics. This latest episode has also demonstrated what any experienced PR operator knows - that the individual styles and attitudes of management can be directly reflected in the way their organisations present themselves - often to their detriment. I’m talking about the second Australian television network to air in 1956 (Seven), rather than the first channel to air (Nine), grabbing the limelight to celebrate the 50th anniversary of television in this country. Most Australians will have read through the media that Nine - for long so dominant - is allegedly struggling these days and that Seven, seemingly the perennial ‘second runner’ has been challenging for the lead. Seven, having hired many former Nine employees, and reportedly having achieved some key rating successes over recent times, is trying to give the impression it is on the ‘up’ and is the channel of the future.  Nine, with a host of top management changes and falling ratings has not only had its lead challenged, but been portrayed in the media as having somewhat of a bunker mentality. Branding is all about creating perceptions. And about taking opportunities - using every possible technique possible.  Most importantly in PR, if you want to be seen as the leader you have to do more than say you are (that’s advertising) - you have to start to behave and act like a leader (that’s PR).  Who really knows among all the media reports, gossip and innuendo what is fact and what is perception when it comes to Seven and Nine?  What we do know is that these two icons are in a bitter fight for the hearts and minds of Australians. That’s why Seven’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of television was very clever positioning with multi-level benefits. Seven’s key aim was clearly to reach the public with a television extravaganza, celebrating the last 50 years - partly of Seven, partly of television, partly of Australia.  What a way to portray Seven at the heart of Australia’s culture and history; and to showcase all its on-air presenters at the same time! But there were secondary benefits.  Seven chose to tie the live television to a glittering function which enabled it to present itself as a leader to a wide range of VIP’s and stakeholders that are important to its future. Imagine too how all this has played with Seven’s staff! But what about Nine? How did the once dominant force in Australian television let itself be gazumped by its upstart and pretentious rival? After all, Nine was the first channel - it had every right and reason to use this occasion.  Wasn’t this a great opportunity to bounce back at all those critics, to again take a leadership position and act as number one? Unfortunately in the long PR experience of this writer, once management get in the bunker they find it’s awfully difficult to see what really going on around them. The focus is often on cost cutting. They overlook opportunities and don’t understand that corporate reputation or brand equity has to carry on regardless.  All vision seems to disappear. Crickey.com, the daily newsletter read by thousands of influential Australians, gave an insight from one of its readers which if true, demonstrates this only too well. It claims that interim CEO of Nine, long-time television executive Sam Chisholm, who reportedly came to Nine to ‘sort it out’ and get rid of all the excesses, was the reason the channel missed the opportunity. Crikey.com’s correspondent reported: “When he arrived as interim CEO last year, one of the first things he did was decree that Nine didn't emphasise the fiftieth anniversary. “Program makers had been excited about making a mark given Nine's prominent role over the period. “Chisholm told them not to be ’f-------g stupid’. We don't want to emphasise - in this era of multiple digital platforms - that our medium is so old, was Sam's logic. “He then gave the assembled senior executives a lecture about how he - and only he - knew about the future and they were all troglodytes. “How ridiculous it was, he told them, to make a big deal of the anniversary. Didn't they have ANY strategic nous?!” Celebrating the 50th anniversary of television in Australia won’t ultimately determine the winner and loser in the battle between the two channels, as that is a continuing war. But wars are made up of a series of battles and Seven has reason to feel that it set up an ambush for Nine and it came off.  All credit to Seven’s management.  Less adventurous management would not have seen the difference between celebrating 50 years of a channel and celebrating 50 years of television. They saw a niche opportunity and took it. It must be acknowledged however that Seven had some good fortune along the way.  Although it was Chisholm who made the wrong call about any form of 50th celebration, the lead-up to the anniversary wasn’t helped by other Nine management acting very strangely.  The debacle involving Jessica Rowe, rumours regarding Jana Wendt, plus senior management enjoying the spectacle of an overseas polo tournament whilst costs were being slashed back home, left Nine looking anything but a leader. Isn’t it surprising that management that feel they are ‘winners’ and ‘leaders’ start to act like winners and leaders? And management that feels they are under threat retreat and look only at costs find themselves trapped into behaviour that simply reinforces this feeling.  Regrettably, what few realise is that the personal attitudes and behaviours are almost always reflected in the way the corporation or brand portrays itself and is perceived externally. In that light, it will be interesting to see how the two giants behave when the current media shake-up is over and they can once again concentrate on the viewers. Grant Common Editor - PR Influences Managing Director - Network PR

Network PR: PR Influences: Article : While the media moguls rearrange their empires consider this