Interbrand’s Chairman Rita Clifton believes that good branding is the only way of generating sustainable value.

I heard Clifton speak at my livery last night about the winners and losers of the international brand world. 

US brands account for 51 of the world’s leading top 100 brands, Germany for 11, France for eight and the UK for only four.

The most dramatic entry into this league has been Google. Clifton attributes its success to the consistency between external messages and internal culture. “It’s no longer possible to look nice on the outside and have an axe-murdering culture on the inside.”

Apple is another winner. Its design has brought humanity to technology. “You just want to lick their products!”
If you are a brand owner, you have to remember three key points: clarity (as to what you stand for), consistency and leadership (to rally people around brand values).

Yang-May and I believe that the interactive web has made it possible for the man/woman in the street to promote their personal brand online the same way celebrities and products do. Web 2.0 has levelled the playing ground. This is one of the main points we will be making this evening as part of our guest lecture at London Metropolitan University.

Is it for real or not?

Every time I discuss the interactive web with fellow communicators, one of the first questions on people’s mind is “how are we going to convince senior management of the importance of introducing social media”.

I had a great time last week talking to IABC Belgium about International Communications Strategy and the different case studies contained in the book.

My advice to Cheryl who asked me the famous question is to use the information and data available to make the business case for Web 2.0.

While in the West we are still desperately trying to measure the ROI of social media, China has been able to figure out a way to track online conversations and link them to purchase decisions.

According to CiC, the Chinese internet community supports the “most expansive and developed participation architecture in the world”.

The influence of user-generated content (blogs, discussions on bulletin boards, etc.) on the decisions of Chinese consumers has been estimated at 58% while it is less than 20% in the US. 

There are lessons to be learned for communicators.

For example, the same method could be used in internal communications to track employees’ interactions on online forums and assess their attitude towards different corporate initiatives.

I was watching the comedian Lee Evans over the weekend (I am a great fan and … we were born on the same day!).

He was saying how he always prepares tons of notes for his shows only to realise later that they don’t make sense.

I know how he feels…

No matter how often I give a presentation… the Germanic part of my upbringing  always forces me to spend hours at my desk rehearsing again and again…  

When I’ve had enough, I switch off and start thinking of my audience. I once heard that the secret of presenting is loving your audience.

I know it sounds corny…. But it works!

It’s not difficult to look forward to my audience this week.

On Thursday, I will be giving a presentation about International Communications Strategy for the Belgian chapter of IABC.

It was in Brussels that I joined IABC 12 years ago. I served on the local board for a long time. So I am really looking forward to seeing my former fellow board members Lyndon, Sam, Ilze and all the others.

I have started to discuss ICS’s main points on IABC Belgium’s Ning.

As usual, I was asked about the development of internet marketing in Asia. Part of my talk will be about the interactive web in China and how its communities are changing the relationship between people and brands.

You can read more about what Yang-May and I think of internet marketing at DMI online.

Diversity is no longer a pet project on the sidelines of corporate life.

A number of trends indicate that companies with a diverse workforce are likely to perform better in the years to come.

According to official data, the amount of mutual fund assets under management (AuM) is shifting from the Global North to emerging markets. AuM decreased by 10% in Europe in the past three years, while it increased by 37.6% in Brazil and Chile and by 19.2% in Asia including China, India  and Korea.

Multinationals from emerging economies are engaging more and more with businesses in Europe and the US. Companies with a diverse staff will find it easier to understand these new business partners. A diverse  workforce brings a mixture of experiences and resources that employers will be able to turn into a powerful competitive advantage when dealing with other parts of the world.

And let’s not forget that Generation Y is coming into the workforce and is looking for jobs that resonate with their values. Inclusion ranks high among them. Gen Y is used to being in contact with people from other cultures. Social networking and online games have turned their world into a digital orange.

Annette Verschuren, President and CEO of The Home Depot for Canada and Asia, believes that the business secret of the future will be about including and inspiring people who in the past we thought did not belong.

Bieneosa Ebite and I will be talking about Cross Cultural PR and Diversity at the CIPR in October. Bienosa is the managing director of Bright Star Public Relations and a founding member of the UK Black and Asian PR Networking Group, which aims to encourage diversity in the PR industry.

Click here to join us on 12 October.

My co-author Yang-May  and I look very happy in this picture.

Our book has been nominated for the Financial Times Goldman Sachs Awards!

I got the message the other week in San Francisco…first thing in the morning when I turned on my Blackberry. I was rushing …. I had to jump in the shower and almost forgot about it. But in the course of the day, the thought came back to my mind and began to sink in.

When Yang-May got the news, she remembered writing the book in her pyjamas early in the morning…

Awards and pyjamas are such a funny juxtaposition…

Yesterday, we gave a talk at the Institute of Directors together with Giles Colborne on Creating Value through Web 2.0 helped by panel chairman David Wootton.

Many of the questions we were asked dealt with the ROI of social media for small and medium-sized businesses. We used our blogs to provide examples for some of the answers.

I have been blogging on XCulture for over two years. It has been a fascinating journey. One that has taken me in many unexpected directions. The part I enjoyed most has been floating ideas for our book and observing the reactions of my readers.

Click here  to download our IOD presentation.

Is the UN a good communicator?

I emerged from my horrible cold on Saturday to hold a Q&A session for my colleague Toni Muzi’s students at New York University.

And I got a very interesting question.

I am always puzzled whenever someone asks me about the communication practices of multilaterals. I have worked in the convoluted world of international institutions. I still do work for some of them. And the truth is… I enjoy it.

How can it be?

The process is often lengthy and the outcome less than certain. You are confronted with mammoth challenges like changing the image of an unpopular minority in a country torn apart by centuries-old hatred.

You are working against ingrained attitudes and formidable enemies. But you have to start somewhere. It is the historic potential of the outcomes that fascinates me.

I know the work of international institutions is consensus-driven… with all the problems it entails. I know the result is often not ideal.

But having nations taking to each other is far better than the lack of communication.

Anything is better than latent conflict.

“You don’t choose to take up writing; writing chooses you.”

This is what British novelist of Ukrainian origin Marina Lewycka believes and I tend to agree with her.

Every time I would try to do something that did not involve writing, I would hear this voice in my head scolding me and reminding me of why I am here. Almost as if the purpose of my life were to report on everything I experience and what I believe in. For whom? As part of what? It is a mystery to me.

The future of written text is another mystery.

I gave a presentation at a conference in Paris last week and some of the questions I got were around this topic. Will text survive? Or will it be replaced by video and sound? For somebody who can hardly take pictures with her Blackberry (luckily I have colleagues who are better than me at operating a camera…); this is a truly frightening thought.

I was reflecting on this horrifying prospect during my train ride back from Paris, when I stumbled into the news of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer closing down after 146 years for lack of ad revenues and being replaced by a slimmed-down online version.

According to Deloitte, one out of every 10 print publications will have to reduce their frequency, go online or close down in 2009.

How will the post-print world look like?

Companies can’t be seen doing corporate events any more and print media is losing ground every day.

So how do you reach out and communicate in the current climate when everybody’s urge is to hide?

The answer is social networks.

According to a recent study by Nielsen, 2/3 of the world’s internet population visit a social network or blogging site.

‘Member Communities’ has overtaken personal Email and has become the 4th most popular online sector after search, portals and PC software applications.

Orkut is without any doubt the story within the story.

This social network was created by a Google employee, Orkut Büyükkökten, in 2004.

Students in Brazil started to send out invitations to see if they could make Orkut more popular in their country than in its native US. By September 2005, half of Brazil’s online population had visited Orkut and the figure has now gone up to 70%. Facebook is only visited by 2% of Brazil’ s netizens.

On Friday, I will be talking about other exciting social media stories from emerging economies during my presentation at the STC France Annual Conference in Paris.

February has always been special to me.

Because of my birthday and Chinese New Year.

I went to a Chinese New Year dinner over the weekend and I will be going to another one tonight… provided I can make it to central London.

It has been snowing since last night…the heaviest snow fall in 20 years apparently.

London looks pretty… a whole new experience…a dream made of cotton…

Nevertheless, I can’t wait to leave for Florida on Wednesday.

I am attending IABC’s Leadership Institute in Orlando.

My colleague Natasha, the editor of IABC’s CW magazine, and I are giving a presentation on the use of knowledge sharing as a tool for growing the membership of an association.

We have collected case studies from a number of IABC chapters. We will talk about linking social networking to a chapter’s knowledge base. We will also share our experience with commissioning articles and working with authors.

You have to be very creative these days to get through to members.

Research by Forrester shows that the most trusted information source is “Email from people you know” (77%) and not “print newspapers” (46%) or “email from a company or brand” (28%).
“Company blogs” are scoring even lower (16%)…

Every time I enter the Moscow metro something tells me I’m home.

Fascinating… the kind of messages our mind broadcasts. It must be the fact that Prague has the same kind of subway.

I was in the Russian capital on Tuesday and, to my great delight, the moment I entered the metro, my system started telling me “You’re home, Silvia. We are taking care of you. The trains and stations must be familiar to you.”

So, I could switch off and dedicate myself to my favourite occupation while I travel: deciphering people’s thoughts.

I stood there looking at the faces of the passengers on the train imagining their hopes and tribulations.

It was my third time in Moscow. I love the food and I love the warmth of the people.

I was delighted to visit the board of IABC Russia. It is a great team. They are organising a great conference in February on communication practices in the BRIC countries.

I took the metro back at night and… the feeling was there again: the lure of the Moscow metro.

Photos: thanks to Elena Vasiltsova