By Francis Moran
There is something startlingly disordered in the universe when I find myself on the same side of an issue as the Globe and Mail’s irrascible and generally annoying Christie Blatchford and, even worse, Kory Teneycke, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s spokesperson. And yet that is the quite foreign place in which I find myself today with regard to the unguarded comments by Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt that surfaced this week thanks to the sloppiness of Raitt’s communications director, whose inability to keep track of her belongings makes my teenagers look downright responsible.
This is not a political blog; if it was, I’d be rhapsodizing this morning about my old pal Darrell Dexter’s extraordinary victory in leading the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party to victory in yesterday’s general election in that province. But as a former political reporter in Halifax, let me take a moment to congratulate Darrell and his team for achieving something a generation or two of progressives in Nova Scotia despaired they’d ever see. It’s a whole new day in Nova Scotian politics.
No, this is a blog that concerns itself with technology and the marketing of technology. So how the heck does that intersect with Minister Raitt’s frank and open conversation that was inadvertently recorded and then released into the unwilling hands of a Halifax Chronicle Herald reporter? And, more to the point, how does this put me unexpectedly in the company of the likes of Blatchford and Teneycke?
Easy. Minister Raitt’s most controversial utterance was the word “sexy,” which is how she characterised the issue that the supply of medical radioistopes used in a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures is rapidly dwindling in this country thanks to a spill of radioactive heavy water that has shut down the reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, that provides the lion’s share of the world’s requirement for these most perishable of commodities. Any fair and reasonable reading of her comments — only a handful of words from more than five hours of an accidental recording have attracted any attention — would conclude that Raitt was not calling cancer or the isotope shortage sexy but, rather, stating it for what it was, an issue that was attracting a lot of media attention because it had the elements “radioactive” and “cancer” associated with it. This was Teneycke’s wholly reasonable take on the issue when I heard him interviewed on CBC yesterday morning.
The whole so-called “Raitt-gate” is a sorry symptom of how our media and politicians go for the cheap and easy when a more nuanced and sophisticated analysis is called for.
The Great Canadian Isotope Crisis of 2009 has its genesis in the very expensive failure of an imaginative and technologically advanced initiative launched by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, which operates the NRU reactor that is currently the main source for medical radioisotopes in Canada, and Ottawa’s MDS Nordion, which processes the raw isotopes into the compounds used by hospitals and clinics around the world to diagnose and treat a range of cancer, cardiac and other conditions. AECL practically invented the modern era of nuclear medicine and MDS Nordion, which was spun out of AECL in 1991, is still the world’s leader in the field.
Recognising that the aging and increasingly unreliable NRU was causing its customers to be uncomfortable about the security of supply of a perishable commodity that sees half its volume disappear in just hours or days through radioactive decay, MDS Nordion contracted with AECL to design and build a pair of reactors that would be the very first in the world exclusively devoted to the production of medical radioisotopes. Unfortunately, something went wrong on the way to full commissioning of the new reactors, dubbed MAPLE 1 and 2, and the project was essentially abandoned by MDS Nordion and mothballed by AECL.
Without the MAPLE reactors or some other new and reliable way of manufacturing radioisotopes, this crisis is merely the first of many — the second if you count the dustup in late 2007 and early 2008 that saw the Harper government fire the head of the Canada Nuclear Safety Commission because she was refusing to let AECL restart the NRU until a couple of CNSC requirements were met — that will inevitably become a permanent situation when the NRU becomes so old and unreliable that it must be decommissioned.
The real issue here, then, is how Canada is allowing its world-beating advantage in nuclear medicine slip away through turf wars and political hay-making. Rather than ask the tough questions about why MAPLE was abandoned and where the heck MDS Nordion is going to source its isotopes when NRU goes dark for good, the brains on both sides of the House of Commons and in the press galleries overlooking the House would rather focus on the simple. In short, they’d rather drive a minister to a tearful apology than figure out how to prevent Canada from losing one of the Avro Arrows of this age.
It’s enough to make anyone weep.
(Full disclosure: MDS Nordion was a PR client of mine in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and again a few years ago when one of my assignments was to develop the never-implemented communications strategy for the official opening of the MAPLE reactors. I’m pretty sure I have not abrogated any non-disclosure obligations here as I confirmed that all the details in this post can be found in publicly available documents.)
By Francis Moran
The following raft of positive news for Ottawa companies was brought to my attention this morning by the irrepressible Andrew Arnott, vice president of commercial financial services with the Royal Bank of Canada’s technology banking group here in Ottawa, and BFF to technology entrepreneurs all over town. (The exclamation marks are his; the journalist in me prevents me from sharing Andrew’s natural exuberance.)
- Halogen Software marked it’s 26th consecutive quarter of YOY growth: May 20th/09!
- Protus hit 83% YOY growth!
- Bridgewater sales rose 64% YOY!
- Dragonwave numbers improve!
- March Networks expects 4th quarter revenue growth!
- Enablence raises $13.8MM US!
- Espial “revenue soars” in Q1!
Is this a harbinger that the good times are here again? Maybe, maybe not. But it certainly is, as Andrew points out, cause for celebration. Congratulations to each of the companies involved and thank you, Andrew, for putting it all together.
By Francis Moran
I was interviewed a few weeks back by the Ottawa Business Journal for a piece on marketing through a downturn. While a good bit of what I had to say did make it into the article, I thought it would be useful to expand on my thinking here. So, here are my 10 tips for marketing through a downturn.
1. Do as much marketing as you can afford
We’ve written a lot about the merit of maintaining your marketing spend through an economic downturn. There is still business to be written, markets to be taken and customers to be won. And a downturn, when many of your competitors may well be going quiet, often represents an unprecedented opportunity to grab a much larger share of voice.
2. Recalibrate your strategy and recast your budget strategically as opposed to simply cutting x% across the board
The OBJ reporter kept trying to get me to name the “one thing” that companies should do in response to a downturn. I resisted being so binary since a downturn represents doom to some but incredible opportunity to others. And even for those for whom it’s a challenge, an across-the-board response is rarely the right one.
At times like this, strategy becomes more valuable than ever. Know where you’re trying to go, the best way to get there, and how you’re going to know that you’ve arrived. Cut those marketing tactics that won’t help get you there and re-invest the money in the tactics that will.
3. Negotiate pricing
All the vectors you use to communicate to your marketplace are feeling the pinch right now. There is no better time to play hardball on pricing, or to negotiate added extras that usually cost a lot more. Most media outlets will cut their line rates or give you valuable extras like a free newsletter distribution, web conference, white paper distribution or even additional insertions. Trade show organizers may agree to a bigger booth space for the same price or throw in sponsorship opportunities or show guide advertising that in better times might cost you thousands more. Even if your supplier must hold the line on fundamentals, see if you can’t snag some of the valuable extras.
4. If you have channel or other partners, consider pooling budgets and activities to make your dollars go further
Can you share a trade show booth with partners? Can you initiate a co-op advertising program that sees you put up some of the cost while your channel partners put up the rest? Is the opposite available to you — are you a channel for an OEM with a co-op program?
5. Do not abandon measurement
If marketing is seen as the easiest thing for companies to cut during a downturn, then measurement is seen as the easiest thing for marketers to cut. After all, it doesn’t really contribute anything, right? Wrong. Harken back to tip No. 2: If you’re not measuring, you have no idea where you are or what got you there, you don’t know what’s working and what isn’t, and you simply can’t be strategic about your marketing spend. When times are good and there’s budget to spare, you might be able to afford to have some things work a little less effectively. When times are tough and every dollar must produce a result, you need to be measuring so you know which tactics are delivering and which ones aren’t.
6. Be transactional if there’s an immediate opportunity
As I’ve already noted, a downturn means different things for different companies. If there is good business that can be immediately secured, be highly transactional in going after it. Alter all your messaging to “Buy now,” and focus on tactics, like advertising and direct marketing, that communicate transactional messaging best.
7. If there isn’t an immediate opportunity, go long
It’s far more likely, however, that your customer’s buying cycle has stalled; it almost certainly has lengthened. So if your customers have hunkered down waiting for the storm to pass, there’s no point in blaring the hard sell at them or offering them discounts and other incentives to immediately do something they’re simply not going to. Does this mean you, too, should hunker down and draw the blinds until things blow over? No, it means your messaging should shift to support longer-term objectives such as awareness building, thought leadership and marketplace education. Tactics like media relations, trade shows and white papers that establish your authority and expertise are a better use of your resources if this is your reality.
8. In all communications, employ story telling that emphasizes how your product or service saves money or drives additional immediate revenue for your customers. Speak to the pain they’re feeling in a recession
Whatever the economic conditions, your marketing and communications messaging should be all about your customer, not you. You should always be speaking to the pain your customer feels that your product or service solves. In a recession, your customer’s pain is almost certainly all about revenue — making more of it or keeping more of it. Make sure you’re speaking to this.
9. Be overly attentive to your existing revenue base
“Love the one you’re with,” says the old song, and that’s never more relevant than in a downturn, when new customers are hardest to acquire. Your current customers are keeping you in business and it’s almost always cheaper to maintain and build business with existing customers than to find new ones. Lavish your existing customers with love, look for low-cost ways to improve the value you create for them, and communicate, communicate, communicate — let them know you love them.
10. Effective relationships never expire, so keep talking
Keep talking to everyone in your value chain, including suppliers, service providers, channels, influencers and, of course, customers and prospects. Even if they can’t use your services or you theirs just now, keeping those lines of communication open and full of useful information will serve you very well when the economy recovers.
By Francis Moran
I had the chance last Thursday to attend for the second time one of the best networking events I know, Montréal’s StartUpCamp. I tweeted the highlights of the company presentations, as did some others, and you can see them here.
Because it constitutes my main business-development strategy, I am a relentless networker and let me tell you, there are several things that sets this event apart from many others I attend.
First is the energy in the room, which derives perhaps from its staging at the terribly hip Société des arts technologiques, located at the very epicenter of arguably Canada’s hippest city, or maybe from the funky lighting, house music and well-patronized bar. Granted, the noise level is not the most conducive to meaningful conversation, but even this somewhat hearing-impaired old guy managed to get by okay.
Or maybe the energy is simply organic to StartUpCampMontréal itself. With more than 400 attendees, Thursday night’s crowd was a cross-pollinating mix of about 70 gurus (the term its organizers use to indicate the more experienced business and investment people who help the presenting companies hone their pitches), 250 entrepreneurs, 50 students and 30 others.
Second is the format, which is a bit of democamp-meets-dinner-speaker. Five companies, selected by a jury of gurus, each presents for five minutes followed by questions and answers. This, the fourth edition of StartUpCampMontréal, saw about 30 companies apply for one of the five slots. The company presentations are book-ended by a pair of short, lessons-learned-style keynote speeches from entrepreneurs who bring some from-the-trenches wisdom to the night.
Third, the organizers work hard to make this a thoroughly interactive networking event. Phil Telio and Vincent Guyaux of Embrase are the main hands behind StartUpCampMontréal, although they have attracted a lot of other helpers. From the perspective of this sponsor, they settled on a brilliant tactic to encourage attendees to connect with us: they gave us a stack of drink tickets and then pointed each of us out at the beginning of the event and encouraged attendees to come and cadge a free drink from us. I can tell you it started a lot of conversations for me.
One of the things that impressed me most at the previous StartUpCampMontréal, which we also sponsored, was the open and receptive nature of the audience. Maybe that, too, is a Montréal thing because at most other venues, I’m the guy nosing into a group of people with my hand out in friendly introduction; here, it was the other way around. Several people approached me simply to thank me for our sponsorship and three became solid business leads. One of those leads came up to me again at last week’s event and then insisted on introducing me around to everyone he knew there. It was phenomenal.
We already have one superb client from Montréal, Xsilva Systems, whose suite of Mac-based retail tools is winning with high-concept retailers in both the bricks-and-mortar and online economies. It’s a city I’m always happy to spend time in, and not just for the incomparable smoked meat at Schwartz’s. Judging from what I saw Thursday, it’s fertile ground for us.
What about StartUpCampOttawa?
As a final note, I don’t know why Ottawa doesn’t have a similar event. We have camps galore, and an active and inter-networked start-up community. Next week’s Founders and Funders dinner is also a pretty good way for entrepreneurs and investors to come together, albeit a whole lot less structured than StartUpCamp. If there are others in Ottawa interested in exploring how we can bring this event here, I’d be delighted to hook up with you. And Phil Telio, the main organizer of Montréal’s event, has repeatedly expressed to me his interest in also helping make it happen here.
By Francis Moran
Yesterday morning’s excellent Social Media Breakfast Ottawa got me thinking again about a recurring conversation I have been having about the nature of citizenship. Presenter Mark Kuznicki is an organizing force behind ChangeCamp, which will appear in Ottawa for the first time on May 16, and a consultant who helps forge open, creative communities whose purpose aligns with his personal social mission, “to reinvigorate community resilience and adaptation in response to accelerating global change.” It was an uplifting and thought-provoking session that left me in exactly the opposite state of mind from last month’s breakfast.
ChangeCamp is about “re-imagining government and citizenship in the age of participation,” and Kuznicki bemoaned a devaluing of the concept of citizenship that limits our participation to occasionally voting for our governments and regularly complaining about the quality of the services we receive from them.
In a comment after his presentation, I suggested to Kuznicki that it’s even worse than that. Citizenship has been reduced to a client-service model, I said, where the governed look only to receive the services they individually require and to pay the least amount possible for them, and to pay nothing at all, if they can help it, for services other people receive.
A parsimonious business ethic has invaded the relationship between governments and the governed that has many of us clamouring for the lowest possible level of investment into public services. On a local level, this ethic reached its pinnacle during the most recent mayoral race in Ottawa, where the winning candidate’s platform was the single-note promise that he wouldn’t raise municipal taxes. (That he was unable to even remotely keep his promise speaks eloquently of his woefully inadequate grasp of the realities of government.)
In several recent conversations, I have allowed myself to get a little heated when someone else argues that this city would be better off if the mayor had his way and investments in public services were whittled down to the bare minimum. Not only is this bad for the citizens who rely on those services, it is also bad for the very business and economic well being of the city that these misguided cheapskates, uh, business people, would insist they’re trying to promote. A robust public infrastructure that includes excellent public transit, public housing, public funding of arts and cultural activities — the list goes on and on — is exactly the kind of environment that attracts the entrepreneurial and creative talent that Ottawa likes to think it welcomes. In other words, not only is the right thing to do, it’s a bloody good investment.
More to the point, however, it’s part of our obligation as citizens. I am not a client of the City of Ottawa, or the Province of Ontario, or of Canada, or of the world for that matter. I am a citizen, dammit, and that places on me an obligation to do more than merely exercise my electoral franchise and complain when things don’t go how I’d like them to. It obliges me to invest both my human and fiscal capital into creating a public infrastructure in which all our citizens can thrive.
I suggested to Kuznicki that the client-service model, the minimal-investment model, is a right-wing construct and he objected that notions of right and left are antiquated and that the kind of open government he promotes is as much a threat to the left as to the right. My experience, however, is that I never hear progressive lefties argue against robust investments in public infrastructure; I only hear that from the more conservatively minded. And I don’t think Kuznicki’s open government philosophy really challenges either the left or the right; engaged participation can come from all points on the spectrum. It challenges a closed, silo-like approach where governments build and protect service-delivery establishments that reduce citizens to the business-school role of clients.
