Day Two Syndrome

It's the point in time to which everyone looks forward. The big launch. The unveiling. Go day. Teams are pumped. Buzz is spreading online. E-mails are flying, There's a palpable energy in the air, built on a mix of adrenaline and caffeine.

And then comes day two.

If you're like many executives, your go-to-market plan is brilliantly sketched out through the first 24 hours of launch (or for lucky ones, the first week or month). But move beyond that initial, euphoric entry of your "baby" into the world, and detailed plans likely encounter a steep decline.

We know your pain. Having launched seemingly every manner of product, service or concept over the past couple of decades, getting teams excited about day two is incredibly difficult. They want to bask in their new-found glory, trying to make is last while getting a well-deserved breather. [Multiply this by a factor of 10 if you happened to have launched at an industry convention in Las Vegas!]

At McDougall Travers Collins, we're on day two ourselves. Even with some of the best minds in the business, we're not immune to these issues either (although we keep hoping for the discovery of the day two vaccine, available for convenient dosing at your local Walgreens).

So what can you do? Build at least a basic post-launch structure, and then set the expectation of how your teams will need to execute against it. Speak to the launch as not a singular day, but as a series of interconnected events. Implement a rewards system beginning on day two for continued incentive. Rotate out staff who are burning the midnight oil, giving them some much-needed R&R.

Most importantly, acknowledge the common day two slump, and ask your team to work together to overcome it. They circled the wagons to get your idea off the ground, and keeping them engaged and excited sets apart a manager from a true business leader.

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Do you have a day two tip or insight? Share it here.

PR & Marcom Industry Veterans Launch
McDougall Travers Collins
New Firm Offers Senior-Level Reputation Counsel to Businesses Worldwide

ROCHESTER and BUFFALO, N.Y., September 22, 2011 — Public relations and communications executive Mike McDougall today announced he is partnering with Buffalo, N.Y.-based marketing communications agency Travers Collins to form a new firm. McDougall Travers Collins (MTC) focuses on domestic and international businesses that require senior-level strategic counsel and execution to restore, protect and enhance their brands.

McDougall Travers Collins is headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., and will closely collaborate with Travers Collins, which has grown to 40 people since its founding in 1995.

“Over the past several years, Bob Travers, Bill Collins and I have discussed joining forces when the time was right,” said McDougall, MTC’s managing partner. “After spending nearly a decade in corporate leadership roles, it became increasingly clear that there’s a growing need for deeply experienced reputation counsel – peers who have walked in the shoes of our clients.”

McDougall was most recently the global vice president of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs for eye health giant Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, helping steer the organization through a highly tumultuous period. From 2003 to 2007, he served as worldwide public relations director and worldwide market development director for Eastman Kodak Company’s consumer digital business, driving a renewed appreciation for the company’s consumer electronics portfolio and underlying technologies. Earlier in his career, he advised more than 50 entrepreneurial ventures, mid-sized businesses and Fortune 100 enterprises while holding leadership roles at Buck & Pulleyn, Inc. and Giles Communications.

“In today’s high-pressure, high-return business environment, there’s no substitute for experienced leadership,” noted Collins, principal of Travers Collins. “Adding Mike’s expertise in global affairs as well as multiple business-to-business and consumer industries complements the senior team we’ve cultivated in our Buffalo office. This collaboration is a win for our current and future clients across the region and around the world.”

The firm’s reputation-related services include public relations, social/digital media development, employee communications, advertising, marketing communications, investor relations and corporate philanthropy management. It will operate under the McDougall Travers Collins brand from its Rochester operations, while the Buffalo office will retain the Travers Collins brand. Supplementing their in-house expertise, both firms have direct access to an extensive network of agency partners across six continents. For additional information, visit www.McDougallTC.com.

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Headquartered at the Larkin at Exchange Building, Travers Collins (www.traverscollins.com) is one of Buffalo-Niagara's largest locally owned and operated marketing communications firms, employing a staff of 40. Travers Collins has expertise in advertising, public relations, investor relations and digital strategies. Founded in 1995, the firm is a member of one of the leading networks of advertising agencies, the Transworld Advertising Agency Network (TAAN).

Scars slow to heal...

The New York Downtown Marriott had just reopened its doors. It was May 2002, and I was in lower Manhattan for a meeting at the hotel. Arriving early, I checked in then showed my key to the elevator attendant -- security was still tighter than normal. Stepping off on a high floor and glancing out the window, I was left without words.

Although months had passed, the scars of that fateful morning had not. Now, 10 years after the attack, I'm publishing these images for the first time.

When Brands Collide: Personal vs. Corporate

The following originally appeared as a June 2011 Management POV column in PR News.

@ScottMonty is an unlikely Twitter handle for Ford Motor Company’s leading presence on the site. “I knew that I had the ability to leverage my personal brand on behalf of the company,” said Monty, Ford’s global digital and multimedia communications manager in a recent Fortune story discussing his move to the automaker in 2008. Thousands of existing, personal online fans followed him to Ford.

But when Monty eventually leaves Ford, will his fans pick-up and travel with him? Possibly so. This is just one dilemma of the increasingly complex intersection between personal and organizational brands.

Not Just Online

Today’s unsettled personal-organizational brand relationships are not just confined to the digital world. Cast your eye toward the recent challenges at Kodak with its chief marketing officer – a bigger-than-life communicator who focused on advancing the company’s brand, but in time concentrated more on his own persona.

After leading the company into a number of semi-high profile ventures such as reality TV appearances and strolls down Hollywood red carpets, he left the photography giant this summer. It’s no coincidence that his departure “to pursue personal projects” came just a few days after his much-publicized business book hit shelves, and weeks after his promotional efforts became more self-focused than Kodak-focused.

But for every negative story, there are also tales of positive personal brand usage to advance organization agendas and vice versa. A small non-profit suddenly gets massive exposure after an employee performs a heroic act. Or a multinational company starts an ambassador program, pumping resources into star employees to encourage them to broadly share their experiences.

So how do the organization and the individual achieve symbiosis in this new environment?

• Establish guidelines and expectations for shared branding. These may exist as part of formal policy or as an informal agreement, depending on your governance culture. Be as explicit as possible as to what is encouraged and what is not acceptable, leaving some “gray” to account for unexpected opportunities.

• Train and coach. Policy or informal agreement means little without active coaching. Have regular discussions with individuals and groups about what’s working well, and where challenges are arising with personal brands. Don’t limit this to your organization – look to competitors and outside your industry to see how others are succeeding or failing.
  
  
• Tap existing influencers. Influencers have always existed in organizations, well before the advent of social media. Go “old school” and work with these colleagues who likely have been honing their personal brands for years. While this technique could have national or international benefits in some cases, don’t forget the hyper-local approach. Some personal brands can be more effective in a small sphere – for instance, at a particular office or plant location.
  
  
• Address the problem children. Ignoring a company-personal brand conflict won’t make it disappear. I’m reminded of a local market TV station where a top reporter blends questionable, highly subjective content with occasional news blurbs via Twitter. In effect, the reporter has become the story, growing a base of followers greater than the station itself. By not actively addressing her behavior, the reputation of the station – and its news team as a whole – is at risk.
  
  
• Reward success. If the organization-personal brand relationship is intended to be mutually beneficial, both parties should be clear in their expectation of benefits. For the organization contributing resources, are the personal brands of its employees or volunteers driving awareness, sales or other desirable metrics? For the contributing individuals, are they benefiting through increased responsibility, exposure, or even compensation?
  
  
• Have a plan for when things go wrong. What happens if a “branded” employee is arrested for a serious crime then continues to unofficially represent the company? What if the company faces corruption charges, sullying the reputation of everyone associated with it? Both the organization and its employees need to prepare themselves for unexpected change or disruption.
  

Know Your “Off Ramp”

“We need our brand to be consistent, and our organization to be seen as stable in the community,” says a development director at a major non-profit service group. “It’s a challenge to determine if elevating the profiles of individual team members will ultimately help or hurt that, since we know that over time some people will come and go.”

The challenge of shared organizational-personal branding is not a new one, but it’s taking on a new dynamic in today’s semi-unstructured digital environment. This is especially true when a company and employee choose to part ways.

It’s essential to ascertain how both parties wish to communicate a departure to fans and followers, especially in digital media channels. Is there a formal desire to ‘transfer’ fans to the organization? If so, to whom? Will the employee continue to be an unofficial ambassador, or should ties be severed completely?

Ask these questions at the onset of the program – as with any communications venture, never engage without having an exit strategy in hand. In some cases, you may choose to refrain from entering at all.

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 Mike McDougall will address how to co-manage corporate and personal brands during Ragan's "Communicating Your Company Story" conference on October 4 at Southwest Airlines' headquarters in Dallas.