More than 10 years on what are the current implications of The Cluetrain Manifesto for corporate communications and public relations? Created for a lecture to post-graduate MA communications, public relations, marketing and business students at Leeds Metropolitan University.

1. CLUETRAIN AND BEYOND
Public Relations and New Media
Post-graduate MA | business | public relations | marketing | communications
STUART BRUCE
@stuartbruce

2. @stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

4. Stuart Bruce
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

5. PUBLIC RELATIONS
the future in 2013 and beyond…

6. @stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz Picture source: Wikipedia

7. “It is difficult, indeed
dangerous, to underestimate
the huge changes this
revolution will bring or the
power of developing
technologies to build and
destroy not just companies,
but whole countries.”
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

8. He wasn’t wrong
Rupert Murdoch
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz Arab Spring

9. @stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

10. THE CLUETRAIN
MANIFESTO
The End of Business As Usual
Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David
Weinberger

11. Published 1999 (in print 2000)
“a set of 95 theses organized and put forward as
a manifesto, or call to action, for all businesses operating
within what is suggested to be a newly-connected
marketplace. The ideas put forward within the manifesto
aim to examine the impact of the Internet on both markets
(consumers) and organizations. In addition, as both
consumers and organizations are able to utilize the
Internet and Intranets to establish a previously unavailable
level of communication both within and between these two
groups, the manifesto suggests that changes will be
required from organizations as they respond to the new
marketplace environment.”
Wikipedia (February, 2013)
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

12. 95 theses
1–6: Markets are Conversations
7: Hyperlinks Subvert Hierarchy
8–13: Connection between the new markets and
companies
14 – 25: Organizations entering the marketplace
26–40: Marketing and Organizational Response
41–52: Intranets and the impact to organization control
and structure
53–71: Connecting the Internet marketplace with
corporate Intranets
72–95: New Market Expectations
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

13. Summarised by the authors
“A powerful global conversation
has begun. Through the Internet,
people are discovering and
inventing new ways to share
relevant knowledge with blinding
speed. As a direct result, markets
are getting smarter—and getting
smarter faster than most
companies.”
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

14. Stuart’s summary
“How the internet actually is –
People talking to each other,
rather than what business
thinks it is – people buying”
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

15. Theses No 26 (out of 95)
“Public Relations does not
relate to the public.
Companies are deeply afraid
of their markets”
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

16. Definitions of public relations
“Public relations is about reputation - the result of what
you do, what you say and what others say about you.
Public relations is the discipline which looks after
reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and
support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the
planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain
goodwill and mutual understanding between an
organisation and its publics.”
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)
"Public relations is a management function which
tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures
and interest of an organization followed by executing a
program of action to earn public understanding and
acceptance.”
Edward Bernays
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

17. Definitions of public relations
“Public relations is about reputation - the result of what
you do, what you say and what others say about you.
Public relations is the discipline which looks after
reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and
support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the
planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain
goodwill and mutual understanding between an
organisation and its publics.”
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)
"Public relations is a management function which
tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures
and interest of an organization followed by executing a
program of action to earn public understanding and
acceptance.”
Edward Bernays
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

18. Definitions of public relations
“Public relations is about reputation - the result of what
you do, what you say and what others say about you.
Public relations is the discipline which looks after
reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and
support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the
planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain
goodwill and mutual understanding between an
organisation and its publics.”
Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)
"Public relations is a management function which
tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures
and interest of an organization followed by executing a
program of action to earn public understanding and
acceptance.”
Edward Bernays
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

19. “Learning to speak like
a human isn’t a parlour
trick.”
Cluetrain Manifesto, 20th Century
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

20. @stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

21. The Cluetrain Manifesto
asks the right
questions, but does it
provide the right
answers?
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

22. Is there a better way?
• Classic Cluetrain:
Allow every employee to blog or
use social media
• Cluetrain reality:
Many employees are using social
media personally, some of them
need to do it officially
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

23. IS THERE A FUTURE FOR
PR?

24. Alistair Campbell
Speed Communications launch of Brand Anarchy by Stephen Waddington and Steve Earl
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

25. Hugh MacLeod
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

26. Holmes Report: Global PR Summit 2012
A recent Forrester Research, presented at the Global PR
Summit in Miami in October 2012 says the PR agency of
the future will:
• Think less about channels
• Develop a holistic approach
• Integrate channels and services
• Help drive both brands and corporate reputation
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

27. Holmes Report: Global PR Summit 2012
During the Holmes Global PR Summit Marc Pritchard,
Global Marketing and Brand Building Officer for Proctor
and Gamble (P&G) invited PR companies to:
“take the leadership
role the discipline
deserves
in the Conversation
Age”
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

28. Is the public relations profession ready?
The Forrester Research shows that clients give low marks
to PR firms, when it comes to delivering big, strategic
ideas, solidly grounded in insights and foresights.
“Whether on the consumer
PR side, or on the corporate
one, it’s first of all about
understanding what’s in
people’s mind, where the
society goes”
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

29. Big trends for public relations in 2013…
Search Mobile
Video Influence
Data Content
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

30. Pedagogy: learning by doing
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

31. DAVOS 2013
World Communication Forum

32. World Communication Forum, Davos
• Old PR v New PR
• Global v. local
• Search
• Content
• Viral change
• Advocacy
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

33. Dr Leandro Herrero, Viral Change
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz

34. Dr Leandro Herrero, Viral Change
• Ambassadors are too passive, you want activists
@stuartbruce stuartbruce.biz