Herald Sun 24 April, 2010
A Melbourne family is fighting the Afghanistan war - through advertising. That's right. Galloping heroes, cuddly babies, billboards, press, TV and radio commercials, the whole armoury of a modern advertising campaign, without a shot being fired.
The ads are the idea of the US Army's Lt Col Allen McCormick, chief of information operations in eastern Afghanistan. He figured that if you want to create peace, people must first know what peace looks like and understand why what the Taliban are doing is wrong.
45 per cent of the population is under 15, so they have never known what a normal world - where nobody blows you up, summarily shoots you or terrorises you - looks like. McCormick, a Proctor & Gamble marketer back in civvy street, decided to try the kind of advertising that had never been seen in the country before. But who could do it?
Advertising agencies are thin on the ground there, but one stood out. Lapis was given the job, as a core player in Afghanistan's nascent media. It's part of the Moby Group, the local phenomenon owned by a Melbourne family.
Now this is a great story in itself. The Mohseni family were well settled here when, in 2002, they decided they had to help their newly-emerging homeland. But they were not ordinary returnees, they were very smart business people.
Saad Mohseni was an investment banker, Zaid a lawyer, and Jahid an administrator. Then there was their sister, Wajma, a marketer. (It just so happens she's also my daughter's best friend, which is how come I'm so familiar with this story.) They determined to save Afghanistan not through hand-outs but through business, specifically the media which had been destroyed by the Taliban.
Within months they created the country's most popular radio station - when music had been banned for five years, but 45 per cent of the population is under 15. Their mixture of Indian and Iranian film music and selective Western pop was snapped up.
In 2004 they opened Tolo TV, the nation's first independent TV station. They had to produce their own programs including a hugely successful daily soap opera, news, current affairs, even a comedy show that lampoons their self-important politicians.
They had to develop an Afghan music industry, with a studio and record company, and produce countless video clips. They set up a film company that has also been involved in international movies like The Kite Runner.
Most famously they created Afghan Star, a TV series based on Australian Star. Thousands of young hopeful singers paraded before judges and were gonged out, just like here. But they also had to learn not to make a fuss or come back later with guns for revenge, if they were told how bad they were.
The final contest of four runners-up was a nail-biter watched by all Afghanistan (including Taliban). It was filmed as a documentary which won major prizes at the Sundance Movie Festival.
The Mohsenis continue to grow in influence - and wealth - though they are constantly at loggerheads with the government and parliament, who hate them nearly as much as the Taliban do. Hopefully the advertising campaign and the closer ties with the US military will give them some muscular friends.
As for Wajma, she is the Moby Group's Marketing Director, but recently moved her operations to the group's huge Dubai offices. We heaved a sigh of relief at this - for years we worried about her, a high-profile target for enemies on all sides of the political spectrum. For her the best times are when she visits Australia. No guns, no bodyguards, no armoured cars. There are benefits in a quiet life.
24 April, 2010
It's all in the image
Melbourne Herald Sun 24th April 2010
We all have an image. It's the picture we present to the world that says "this is who I am" or "this is what my company is". We are each aware of it, we can all see it, but in fact it is as insubstantial as the photographic dye on a film, and as fragile as crystal.
In recent weeks we have seen a vivid demonstration of the lightness of image. A few months ago Christine Nixon was only a short distance behind Mary McKillop in the saintship stakes, retired with honour after having taken a broom to Victoria's musty police service, and welcomed as Chair of the Bushfire Reconstruction Authority.
Now a haircut and a pub dinner later and she's suddenly painted as uncaring, incompetent and unfit. Can this be the same, smart, chubby blonde lady?
Or take Rio Tinto, one of the saviours of Australia's wealth through the global economic crisis. But after the Chinese bribery trials and the stories that are now leaking out, the halo is starting to slip.
We can all immediately recognise image problems. Qantas is still the safest airline in the world but if they don't get their maintenance under control they're in trouble. Nowadays a drop in tyre pressure is enough to put them on the front pages.
Tiger Woods has had the worst winter of his life, while even the Pope is facing a horror trip.
So what is this image? I prefer to call it "a climate of opinion," what the world thinks of you. It's like the weather and as insubstantial and difficult to control. Companies and celebrities love to bask in the sunshine of good opinion but it only takes one cloud to bring on the storms and the chills.
Also in this land of ours we have the tall poppy syndrome. Here you can be hugely successful and still be given a negative image.
Think of the highest-grossing Australian film of all time. Mad Max? Australia? Nope - Crocodile Dundee. Paul Hogan redefined the Australian image and they've been chopping at his stem and roots ever since.
Derryn Hinch has a unique position as both cutter and victim - how many times has he been chopped? But he has been smart enough to turn this public churn into his unique image.
In politics image is everything, so politicians are most vulnerable. They even face a paid, dedicated team of image smashers known as The Opposition, closely helped by the media, forever looking for tomorrow's headline or tonight's news bulletin.
Bill Clinton somehow survived eight years in power with daily assaults on his image. Peter Garrett has discovered the icy waters of Parliament after years in the warm bath of fame and adulation. A decade earlier Cheryl Kernot had her image smashed after she jumped from the Democrats to Labor.
Business has many landmines. Look at Toyota with its tidal wave of recalls and problems - you have to wonder how even such a strong company can recreate its image of a solid, perfectly reliable car.
In the US the Domino's Pizza chain was brought low when two kitchen staff made a YouTube video of pizza being prepared as they messed around throwing food on the floor and up a nose. Domino's quality ratings halved overnight.
How can you protect yourself under such an assault? It's like a fire - if you can't put it out at least try to contain it. And the worst thing you can do to your image is to pretend the problem does not exist.
If you're spending squillions on a big public relations company retainer, you'll find that all they can really do is hold your hand and whisper the following advice:
Identify the problem and respond quickly - don't sit on it and hope it will go away. If you were my client I'd grill you for the truth, the whole truth. There's no gain in deceiving your doctor or your PR man.
You give the story as good a spin as possible: "As soon as the toxic leak was discovered the company put its emergency plan into operation."
Ideally, give the communications task to your top person - the CEO or chairman. The media will want to talk to them anyway.
Whatever you do, don't lie. It will always come out in the end. (Remember "I did not have sex with that woman"?).
Better to tell the whole truth however unpalatable. Say "He was drunk and in bed with his sister" in one mouthful, rather than waiting for the media to pull it out like teeth, headline by headline. "He was drunk!" Then "He was in bed!" and another few days later "With his sister!" Instead of one mouthful for the rabid dogs, you turned it into an ongoing feast.
This was the mistake Christine Nixon made. Instead of declaring all the facts of that fateful Saturday and copping one slap, she allowed it to be slowly extracted, so it became a string of front pages and news bulletins, and weeks of droning talkback hypocrisy.
So after the smoke has cleared, can a tarnished image be repolished? Well yes - especially if you have money.
Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and helped blow up millions around the world in last century's wars. But judicious placement of his legacy has made his name the world standard of peace.
Locally we have a fascinating study of image rebuilding. Steve Vizard was the darling of both the public and the establishment. Then came the issue of his share trading while a director of Telstra. Controversy exploded, and with it his image.
He is still midway through a 10-year ban from the corporate world but we are seeing his supreme media skills at work as he slowly claws his way back. Selfless donations by his foundation. Art works lent to the state. And now the resurfacing of his human face, and humour, on new radio station MTR.
There's a lot of work involved in piecing together the shattered crystal of a broken image.
We all have an image. It's the picture we present to the world that says "this is who I am" or "this is what my company is". We are each aware of it, we can all see it, but in fact it is as insubstantial as the photographic dye on a film, and as fragile as crystal.
In recent weeks we have seen a vivid demonstration of the lightness of image. A few months ago Christine Nixon was only a short distance behind Mary McKillop in the saintship stakes, retired with honour after having taken a broom to Victoria's musty police service, and welcomed as Chair of the Bushfire Reconstruction Authority.
Now a haircut and a pub dinner later and she's suddenly painted as uncaring, incompetent and unfit. Can this be the same, smart, chubby blonde lady?
Or take Rio Tinto, one of the saviours of Australia's wealth through the global economic crisis. But after the Chinese bribery trials and the stories that are now leaking out, the halo is starting to slip.
We can all immediately recognise image problems. Qantas is still the safest airline in the world but if they don't get their maintenance under control they're in trouble. Nowadays a drop in tyre pressure is enough to put them on the front pages.
Tiger Woods has had the worst winter of his life, while even the Pope is facing a horror trip.
So what is this image? I prefer to call it "a climate of opinion," what the world thinks of you. It's like the weather and as insubstantial and difficult to control. Companies and celebrities love to bask in the sunshine of good opinion but it only takes one cloud to bring on the storms and the chills.
Also in this land of ours we have the tall poppy syndrome. Here you can be hugely successful and still be given a negative image.
Think of the highest-grossing Australian film of all time. Mad Max? Australia? Nope - Crocodile Dundee. Paul Hogan redefined the Australian image and they've been chopping at his stem and roots ever since.
Derryn Hinch has a unique position as both cutter and victim - how many times has he been chopped? But he has been smart enough to turn this public churn into his unique image.
In politics image is everything, so politicians are most vulnerable. They even face a paid, dedicated team of image smashers known as The Opposition, closely helped by the media, forever looking for tomorrow's headline or tonight's news bulletin.
Bill Clinton somehow survived eight years in power with daily assaults on his image. Peter Garrett has discovered the icy waters of Parliament after years in the warm bath of fame and adulation. A decade earlier Cheryl Kernot had her image smashed after she jumped from the Democrats to Labor.
Business has many landmines. Look at Toyota with its tidal wave of recalls and problems - you have to wonder how even such a strong company can recreate its image of a solid, perfectly reliable car.
In the US the Domino's Pizza chain was brought low when two kitchen staff made a YouTube video of pizza being prepared as they messed around throwing food on the floor and up a nose. Domino's quality ratings halved overnight.
How can you protect yourself under such an assault? It's like a fire - if you can't put it out at least try to contain it. And the worst thing you can do to your image is to pretend the problem does not exist.
If you're spending squillions on a big public relations company retainer, you'll find that all they can really do is hold your hand and whisper the following advice:
Identify the problem and respond quickly - don't sit on it and hope it will go away. If you were my client I'd grill you for the truth, the whole truth. There's no gain in deceiving your doctor or your PR man.
You give the story as good a spin as possible: "As soon as the toxic leak was discovered the company put its emergency plan into operation."
Ideally, give the communications task to your top person - the CEO or chairman. The media will want to talk to them anyway.
Whatever you do, don't lie. It will always come out in the end. (Remember "I did not have sex with that woman"?).
Better to tell the whole truth however unpalatable. Say "He was drunk and in bed with his sister" in one mouthful, rather than waiting for the media to pull it out like teeth, headline by headline. "He was drunk!" Then "He was in bed!" and another few days later "With his sister!" Instead of one mouthful for the rabid dogs, you turned it into an ongoing feast.
This was the mistake Christine Nixon made. Instead of declaring all the facts of that fateful Saturday and copping one slap, she allowed it to be slowly extracted, so it became a string of front pages and news bulletins, and weeks of droning talkback hypocrisy.
So after the smoke has cleared, can a tarnished image be repolished? Well yes - especially if you have money.
Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and helped blow up millions around the world in last century's wars. But judicious placement of his legacy has made his name the world standard of peace.
Locally we have a fascinating study of image rebuilding. Steve Vizard was the darling of both the public and the establishment. Then came the issue of his share trading while a director of Telstra. Controversy exploded, and with it his image.
He is still midway through a 10-year ban from the corporate world but we are seeing his supreme media skills at work as he slowly claws his way back. Selfless donations by his foundation. Art works lent to the state. And now the resurfacing of his human face, and humour, on new radio station MTR.
There's a lot of work involved in piecing together the shattered crystal of a broken image.
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