Greentarget

Greentarget

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Challenge

Remember when PokémonGo was all the rage in the summer of 2016? Law firm Perkins Coie certainly does. By 2016, they’d long been a go-to law firm for innovative technology companies – including developers of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) like that used to catch virtual Pokémon.

So while they were enthusiastic about the mobile app’s success, they were also concerned about losing ground to new entrants clamoring for market share. They were the preeminent legal authorities on AR/VR – and wanted their reputation to reflect it.

But in a space flush with newfound buzz, making their voices heard would be no easy task.

Solution

To stake Perkins Coie’s claim as the premier legal advisor in the AR/VR space, Greentarget counseled the firm to conduct an annual survey of startup founders, investors and industry executives. Our research team developed the AR/VR Survey Report from start to finish: drawing on insights from qualitative interviews, drafting quantitative survey questions, collecting and analyzing the data and writing the report itself.   

And upon completion, Greentarget’s media relations team carefully crafted pitches about the survey tied to relevant news hooks. Since the release of the first survey aligned with the launch of PokémonGo, the team offered the survey data to reporters covering the rising popularity of the mobile app, resulting in interviews with leading publications like the Associated Press and Fortune.

Greentarget has now developed three more iterations of the report – one per year – with fresh themes and questions about emerging legal considerations, industry investment and outlook, applications across other sectors, and global AR/VR adoption.

Impact

  • Greentarget has secured more than 400 pieces of news coverage for the AR/VR report, in leading national publications like the Associated Press, Fortune, Forbes, Venture Beat and Fast Company. Reporters refer to survey data in news articles 12-18 months after the initial launch. Over the years, the report has helped the firm’s partners establish and maintain relationships with influential reporters, who now regularly turn to them for commentary.
  • Social media posts Greentarget drafted around the report have resulted in some of the firm’s highest engagement rates – over 9,500 impressions for each survey iteration.
  • Established the firm as an authority on the business issues facing industry stakeholders.
  • The survey report, media hits, bylined articles and infographics highlighting the findings are consistently used as marketing collateral for client pitches and industry events.

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Should we put out a statement? Apply this decision tree and find out 

We saw it last year in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. We saw it again after the storming of the U.S. Capitol in January, and again amid the Georgia voting-rights outcry. We’re seeing it now in the wake of the guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin.

It’s getting harder and harder for business leaders to remain silent or neutral when events trigger an emotional public response. But while speaking publicly on these issues will always carry risks, the outcome also presents an opportunity – if not an obligation – to communicate.

In these moments, being able to draw on well-defined organizational values – what you stand for, and how you demonstrate and encourage behavior that lives up to it – should make the process easier, the reception less controversial and the potential for blowback less likely. But not all organizations’ values are apparent enough to make this communication easier. Some aren’t apparent at all.

If your organization falls into either of the latter two categories, our counsel is to get busy defining your values, in writing, now. Whatever happened in Georgia, or the Chauvin trial, it’s clear this won’t be the last time you’ll need something to guide you in addressing sensitive social moments. It may not be the last time this month.

But in the meantime, we’re also here to tell you that, no matter where you are in defining your values, you can get to a sensible decision if you think it through.

Applying a decision tree

Imagine for a moment the decision tree you might apply to the Chauvin scenario. 

  • Will members of your constituency be impacted by this event? Very likely, given the impact and meaning of the event to Black and brown communities who are disproportionate victims of police violence; that said, in this and other scenarios, it may depend on how you define your constituency: Is it your employees? Your clients? The communities you work in and serve? All or some of the above?
  • Will you feel pressure from employees, clients, vendors or activists/other parties to take a position? This depends on your proximity to the event, but organizations of all types are experiencing this pressure more and more. If you’ve come this far and expect pressure to respond, then this is a no-brainer. You need to prepare a statement. 

But hold on. The decision tree doesn’t end there. Consider this:

  • Is this issue divisive, and/or is your statement likely to cause disagreement or division within your constituency? Put differently, will your constituency agree in its interpretation of the outcome as clearly right or clearly wrong? In the best of circumstances, unanimity is rare in a pluralistic society. It certainly seems impossible within our current hyperpartisan pluralism. So, the answer is likely a yes.

So do you prepare a statement? The decision is no longer quite so clear, complicated by the high likelihood that while you may satisfy one segment of your audience, you risk alienating another or creating divisions among segments – between say, those employees who would defund the police and others who support Blue Lives Matter.   

Thus, your decision needs to run through another critical filter:

  • Is the issue aligned with your organization’s mission? If it aligns with or impacts your mission, start writing.
  • Have you made such statements in the past? Have you taken actions to back those statements up? The authenticity and credibility of any statement issued to address a fraught moment will not be judged against the values that you claim to profess but by the values you demonstrate through your actions. Values reveal themselves in observable behavior. And an organization that claims to stand for diversity and inclusion, but which has done nothing to advance diversity and inclusion, needs to think carefully about how it participates in the conversation about diversity and inclusion or risk alienating its audience.  

All that said, it is quite possible that your mission is in no way related to the circumstances of this event. Whether you’re back in no-brainer territory depends on the final branch of this decision tree:

  • Is everyone in your organization clear about what it values?
    • If yes, does the recent event offend those values? If yes again, your decision to communicate is clear.
    • If no – or you’re not sure – does it present an opportunity to affirm your organizational values? To evolve them? Or to contribute to positive change through a statement followed by a change in behavior?

The need to define your organization’s values – today

As we’ve seen, sometimes the decision gets trickier the more you think about it – especially if you started thinking about it  for the first time the night before the verdict.

Remember that any statement that is not rooted in broadly recognized organizational values will be (correctly) judged to lack authenticity and credibility. Rather than contribute to the conversation, it will add to the noise. Under these circumstances, it would be better that you say nothing. As we’ve seen, the backlash against companies that offer weak statements regarding depredations of social justice can be fierce. 

This is the world we live in: Events that trigger strong emotions on a nationwide scale are coming at us with alarming frequency, and people are looking to business executives for leadership with an intensity that may make many executives uncomfortable. Our recommendation: If you haven’t applied thoughtful energy to defining what your organization values and how you will demonstrate and encourage behavior that expresses those values, this is the time for it. It has never been more necessary. 

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As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we asked some of our colleagues to reflect on some of the women who have paved the way for our careers today:

“I look forward to a time, in the not-so-distant future, when we no longer look forward to ‘firsts’ as milestones women have yet to achieve, but we look back on them as historic events that continue to teach and inspire.” – Dee Dee Myers, former White House Press Secretary; first woman to hold the position

I think of Vice President Kamala Harris. Yes, we must acknowledge that we have our first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president. It’s vital to recognize this moment in our history. But let’s not let the “first” diminish the work – significantly more work, in fact – that she did to earn this position. And I also think of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s answer to “When will there be enough?” – “When there are nine,” she said – and I know that women today remain the exception to the rule despite all the progress we have made.

I’d venture to guess (perhaps optimistically) that we’ve entered a decade where there will be a shift in how we refer to ourselves to the way our male counterparts do – as accomplished professionals, creators, human beings. Much of this shift is in our language – how we define ourselves, how we talk about each other – and how we support each other to ensure we’re not reinforcing systems that have kept certain groups of people down. The “firsts” are important, but let’s get to a place where counting seems ridiculous. Absurd. Or mundane. – Diana Dixon

“I believe that good journalism, good television, can make our world a better place.” – Christiane Amanpour, veteran journalist and correspondent for CNN

As a young woman working in PR, it is fundamentally important to believe that my work makes the world a better place. Creating authoritative content for our clients not only positions them as thoughtful leaders but introduces unique insights into our ever-changing world. It is empowering to work in a field that contributes significant ideas and engages the public each day. – Celia Dewyer

“Listen deeply to all kinds of audiences — through all kinds of media — so you bring a convincing, uniquely ‘outside’ perspective to the table. A broad understanding of public opinion and trends will bring authority to your advice. Then add big-picture analysis that helps put business decisions into a sound context.” – Marilyn Laurie, the first woman to become chief communications officer of a Fortune 10 company

There are two aspects of Marilyn’s quote that resonate with me: the deep listening and the unique point of view that comes with women gaining authority. Over the years, I’ve observed that women are particularly equipped with the deep empathy required to effectively listen to multiple audiences, synthesize and act on what they hear. While it has taken a long time, in the last decade more executive teams have recognized and propelled women into executive positions due in part to their innate abilities to effectively listen, gather, analyze and communicate in ways that improve decision-making. – Pam Munoz

“The profession of counsel on public relations is so new that all who are engaged in it, men as well as women, are pioneers. No traditions have grown against women’s participation in it, and women will share the responsibility of developing and shaping this new profession. It is so new that its ultimate possibilities for women lie in the future.” – Doris Fleischman, writer and lead publicist for one of the first PR firms in the 1930s

I am struck by the notion that a woman like Doris was able to advance in the newly founded industry of PR, uninhibited by social constructs. As we look to the future and reflect on the women who made this possible, I see women at the forefront, creating more industries in which they will thrive and creating inclusive environments along the way, similarly undeterred and inspired by those who came before them. – Abby Cohen

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  • Greentarget secured more than 40 media placements for RBC Global Asset Management’s Responsible Investing Survey in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Chief Investment Officer, Financial Times and The Globe and Mail.
  • The report was viewed over 5,500 times on the survey microsite.
  • Social media posts about the report garnered over 225,000 impressions.

Challenge

As responsible investing continues to gain traction among investors, one big question remains: What is its material impact on the risk and return outcomes of investment portfolios?

RBC Global Asset Management (GAM), an established leader in responsible investing, firmly believes not only that institutional advisors can realize better long-term performance with environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors integrated into their investment processes – but that active managers who understand ESG will have a competitive advantage.

RBC GAM’s leadership thus saw this continued uncertainty as an opportunity to both elevate its brand and help educate its institutional audience.

Solution

Greentarget and RBC GAM conducted a survey of institutional asset owners, financial advisors and pension consultants to research the current state of responsible investing. The survey results would educate industry stakeholders, empowering them to make more informed decisions about integrating ESG into their investment processes

To that end, RBC GAM’s marketing team worked with its vice president of corporate governance and responsible investing as well as several senior portfolio managers to craft the survey questions. Nearly 800 financial industry professionals from the U.S., Europe and Asia participated, and their responses revealed a compelling divergence of views about the value of ESG on investment performance.

Greentarget and RBC GAM’s subject matter experts analyzed the results. Greentarget’s content team edited the survey report and a blog post series that highlighted specific topics from the survey.

From there, Greentarget’s media relations team went to work promoting the report through earned media.

Impact

Greentarget’s media relations team secured over 40 pieces of news coverage and 131 million impressions on the survey results. Placements included top-tier business publications like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Financial Times.

The survey report itself was viewed more than 5,500 times on the company’s microsite, which was built exclusively for the survey launch. Meanwhile, RBC GAM’s global responsible investment website, microsite and ESG videos were viewed by over 3,500 people during the campaign.

Paid and organic LinkedIn and Twitter posts garnered over 225,000 impressions and over 2,000 click-throughs.

As a result of Greentarget and RBC GAM’s joint efforts, the survey report and promotional campaign won the Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil Award in the B2B Integrated Communications category.

More importantly, the institutional investor audience now sees RBC GAM as an even stronger thought leader in the rapidly growing responsible investing space. 

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By Amanda Go

As a Northeastern University sophomore in pre-pandemic life, I – like many other college students – was naturally brimming with questions of “What if?” What if I study abroad next semester? What if I secure an internship across the country? What if I stay in Boston the whole year, looking to grasp that still-elusive notion of “independence”?

When COVID-19 hit in March, it felt like the pandemic had stolen all my plans. I moved from my city apartment back to my hometown in suburban Connecticut, and over the subsequent months of stay-at-home orders, online classes and a canceled summer study abroad and internship, those questions of “What if?” dwindled.

Looking toward the fall, my potential opportunities seemed to further decline. Rather than doing the internship that typically comprises half a Northeastern academic year, I prepared to enroll in more online classes – until a last-minute search in my school’s career database yielded a job posting that piqued my interest.

By July, that posting turned into reality when I began my virtual public relations internship with Greentarget. Over the next six months, I learned that living and working remotely from my hometown did not diminish possibility or opportunity – that, with the right company culture and mindset, I could pursue “what ifs” as great and ambitious during a pandemic as any time prior.

Navigating a Virtual PR Internship During a Pandemic

The first days of my internship largely consisted of learning about Greentarget and the PR industry, meeting my colleagues via Microsoft Teams and completing practice assignments. Despite taking numerous PR classes in college, I realized PR in the classroom was vastly different than in practice. After initially struggling to grasp the practical uses of a media list or even remember everyone’s names, I quickly became nervous. After reading complex legal news (a definite first) to familiarize myself with topics pertinent to GT’s client base, I felt under-qualified.

Though my confidence surely increased over time, to say it was constant after those first few days, or perhaps even those first few months, would be a stretch. I made multiple mistakes, from overlooking an email and taking another intern’s assignment, to missing articles on a coverage summary, to using the wrong “your” in a pitch. Working alone in my house, states away from my colleagues – and thus unable to quickly resolve these issues in person – it was easy for me to catastrophize each one.

During my early months, I sent multiple emails and Teams messages – whether frantically apologizing for a barely late assignment or warily asking for help with a complicated research project – that I now look back on with a sort of comical nostalgia. Turns out that while I thought I’d be met with hostility or annoyance, I was consistently met with openness and reassurance. I soon saw that despite working virtually, I was surrounded by teammates, from fellow interns to senior executives, who wanted to support me and see me succeed, who encouraged asking even the smallest and silliest questions and who viewed errors with patience and understanding and as opportunities to learn. Thankfully, I can now reflect on all my little mistakes and laugh, knowing they were (contrary to my beliefs at the time) not the end of the world.

It’s only a slight exaggeration to say I understood the inclusive and caring nature of Greentarget’s culture before understanding the full uses of a media list. Through weekly staff meetings that often incorporated discussions about favorite restaurants, albums or places traveled; intern meetings that allowed my voice to be heard; and one-on-ones with teammates who never hesitated to offer project help or to just chat, I was constantly surprised at how connected I felt to my colleagues. GT even made the effort to host virtual events like escape rooms, meditation and yoga, a bartending class and even a concert from G. Love. I realized that contributing to a company that valued its employees was far more important than whether I was working virtually or in person – and that a strong culture not only could transcend this distance but was crucial to making remote work enjoyable and fulfilling.

Embracing the Unexpected

Over the following months, largely due to the immense support around me, I cultivated an unyielding attitude of positivity and tenacity that allowed big “what ifs” to resurface. What if I secure this byline in Bloomberg? What if I place this quote in Law360? Gradually, I saw myself make fewer mistakes, complete assignments with more poise and efficiency and answer more questions than I asked in the interns’ group chat. One month I was fangirling over my first response from a New York Times reporter (literally, as if from the Queen herself), and a few months later I was presenting my own PR plan addressing corporate responses to racism. As interns before me left and others joined, I realized I’d become a resource to new team members, contributing to the cycle of support that threads through GT.

Put simply, my first full-time internship was not what I expected. I didn’t expect to coordinate and sit in on interviews with CNBC reporters while drinking a green tea from the café I’ve loved since middle school. I didn’t expect to draft press releases for clients while sitting at a desk that was once covered in AP exam and SAT prep books. Above all, I didn’t expect a virtual internship during a global pandemic to be so impactful.

Through working full time while managing the trials and tribulations of living at home – shared workspaces with four family members, video meetings with my barking dog and especially the hurricane that took out our Wi-Fi for days and knocked a tree onto my car (got to love New England weather) – I learned how to not only welcome uncertainty but thrive in it. I learned that when things don’t go according to plan, and they never do, adaptability is a must. Prior to this internship, I always imagined experiences like the quintessential study abroad as the greatest catalysts for growth in college – but as I near the end of my time with GT, I see that living and working remotely from my hometown, a place I’ve known for 20 years, has, ironically enough, made me grow more than ever.

This January, I’ll return to Boston for classes after 10 months of living at home and six months of a pandemic internship. Although I soon may begin to feel the first inklings of normalcy, I’ll always carry with me what I’ve learned through my virtual experience with GT – from small bits of knowledge like using Ctrl+K to insert a link to the bold truths that big things can happen from anywhere, learning can happen from anywhere and connections and mentorships can flourish from anywhere. The only prerequisites are a proper community of support (in person or virtual) and an adaptable mindset.

Last year, I believed the pandemic was robbing me of opportunity. Today, I realize it gave me one: an unforgettable first full-time internship that otherwise may not have crossed my path.

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Companies across the country are investing in data and how to harness it, yet some continue to struggle with using that data to tell their story. That means they’re missing the opportunity to create transparency within their organization and, most notably, the chance to exercise their authority through the contextual awareness their data can bring.

In this episode, host Aaron Schoenherr and Narrative Science President Nick Beil discuss going beyond the dashboard and into data, the relationship between transparency and authority and data overload in the age of COVID.

Episode Highlights

1:17 – Nick provides his background and introduces his company, Narrative Science. 

2:32 – Nick discusses if hard data or the stories behind those numbers carries more authority. 

4:10 – An in-depth example of how contextual data is more powerful than data on its own, particularly within the COVID-19 pandemic.

8:09 – Analysis of how busy executives prefer to receive their data.

10:25 – Aaron and Nick discuss the relationship between transparency and authority, and the role trust plays.

14:00 – Nick gives examples of industries that are ahead of the curve with their data strategy and highlights which industries are lagging.  

16:55 – Nick provides insight into how he gets organizations that are behind the curve to reconsider their data strategy.

19:02 – Discussion about potential data overload amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

20:50 – Aaron and Nick discuss organizations and leaders who have demonstrated true authority during the pandemic.

Subscribe to Authority Figures on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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