Banking and Finance is dead. Long live Digital
Posted Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 6:21pm in Business, Media, Technology | 5 Comments
As reported in the Guardian and FT (via Wadds) the minister for communications, technology and broadcast, Stephen Carter, is planning to prepare a report called Digital Britain which, according to the FT, will help reboot the UK’s battered economy from the credit crunch.
Backed by business secretary, Peter Mandelson, the Digital Britain report will address how to fund public-service broadcasting, super fast broadband and at its core an ambition to accelerate the rate of growth, and cement the UK’s position as a world leader in the knowledge and learning economy.
I’m sure funding won’t be a problem. A couple of billion here, a couple of billion there.
Now that the City has pretty much had its day is this the dawning of a new kind of era in Britain? According to the Telegraph, Mandelson’s plan is to introduce a new economic framework that relies less on the financial services industry and can take advantage of globalisation and the doubling in size of the future global economy.
In my opinion Britain is one of the best countries to be placed as a digital hub of innovation. Here’s why:
Size - The UK is a small but densely populated island. Building new technical infrastructure to harness innovation would be less of an issue compared with much larger countries. Super fast broadband would be relatively cheap to implement. (Relative to the money that we the taxpayer have had to pull out to bail out the greedy bankers)
Wealth - Although only a small island (which always punches above its weight, mind you) the UK is still one of the richest countries with the fifth biggest economy in the world (according to the Economist).
People - The UK’s economy is already service based with circa 70% of GDP generated by the service sector. Making the transition (if there is one to make) should be relatively smooth.
Western - This sounds terrible but being a Western country and due to our education the UK is *supposedly* one of the most intelligent - although you wouldn’t think it talking to some of the people I once knew.
Multicultural - No other country in the world welcomes other nationalities like the UK. No other capital city has as much ethnic and religious diversity as London. As the world becomes even smaller (as we know it is) this diversification will only stand the UK in good stead of being the innovation and technical powerhouse of the world.
Okay okay, hype and patriotism aside, I still think I make good case. Ten years from now we’ll look back at what went on in the financial markets with contempt, disgust and embarrassment.
And if we don’t then, well, we have learnt nothing.
“Only graduates from a top university need apply”
Posted Monday, October 20, 2008 at 11:56pm in PR General | 18 Comments
Question: What century are we living in? Oh yeah, the 21st one. My goodness … we might be living in the 21st century but as the title of this blog post suggests some PR agencies still have a dinosaur approach when it comes to recruiting graduates.
Personally I’d like to think that the British career system is based on meritocracy where one is judged by his or her actions and not by a piece of paper with a particular emblem printed on it. To suggest that graduates from a middle-of-the-road university or, God forbid, a lower ranking one are not good enough to work in top-flight PR then you seriously need to stop drinking that Cognac at the Old Boys Club.
If there’s ever a case of elitism in PR in this century this is it. And it’s the biggest pile of excrement I’ve ever heard in my life. It needs to stop.
Riddle me this: Who would you rather have applying to your agency? A graduate from a top university who “heard PR was good” so wants to give it a try. Or a graduate from a lower ranking university who had given up their free time to gain real experience while in study; studied the industry inside and out so they are certain that it is the career path they want to take and, perhaps most importantly, has something that no university can teach: drive and ambition?
It’s a no brainer.
I could be wrong but I don’t see this going on in the States or indeed Canada. Come to think of it, anywhere else in the world. But it’s typical of Ye Olde England with old fashioned values and old fashioned people to boot.
But, hey, I could be wrong. Maybe there is a logical explanation why graduates from a top university are naturally better at PR.
Oh btw. My name is Stephen Davies and I used to blog here some time ago. 
CIPR social media guidelines - consultation 2008
Posted Thursday, October 2, 2008 at 11:09am in PR General | 1 Comment
Back in 2007 the CIPR released its social media guidelines to its members and the wider PR community following a consultation request in late 2006. As some of us know, the rate of change in the online world is rapid and we’re still in the midst of defining ‘best practice’ with a lot of online tools, tactics and communication methods. What was deemed appropriate in early 2007 may not be now. With this in mind, it’s important that regulatory bodies like the CIPR continually update their documents of guidance.
From the CIPR consultation page: “Social media is an evolving - and frequently contentious - area of PR practice, the profile of which continues to grow. The CIPR issued guidance to our Members and the wider PR community on how social media should be handled in February 2007.
“A paper reviewing the CIPR social media guidelines was issued for comment to members of the Professional Practices Committee in September. The Professional Practices Committee has agreed that the following paper should now go out to Members and the wider PR community, inviting views. It looks at social media tools such as blogs, wikis and podcasts, and changes in legislation that affect social media”
The consultation asks two questions:
Do you believe this document covers the issues highlighted in sufficient depth?
Do you believe there are other important issues which should be addressed (and if so, what are they)?
But states:
“Equally, general views would be welcome.”
The deadline for the responses is November 1st so in around one month’s time. The new guidelines will be issued later this year. I’m submitting my thoughts, let me know if you are too.