The Problem with Hype

This is probably a very strange posting for a PR consultant, particularly a Singaporean one, to post but I believe that the last few weeks have given us an important lesson in the value of hype. As usual, the source of the post has something to do with a discussion I had with the other half on the value of hiring Wank Stains from the West to work in Asia and then there was also the question of Dubai World asking for a moratorium on it's debts.

Let's put it this way, we live in a world where "Image" counts. Like it or not, doing the business and being good at doing the business is not enough to get ahead these days. One has to project an image of being able to do the business. I remember being told by Monica Alsagoff, CEO of Communications DNA, "It's not about the best person for the job, but the person who sells him or herself best."

It's important to have an image and it is important to create impressions and that's not just something the PR people made up to stay in a job. What's the point in being good if nobody knows you? As a small one-man PR consultancy, it's important for me to constantly toot my own horn and ensure that people know me for all the wonderful things I can do for them. If nobody knows me, I don't get hired and so I end up living on the breadline. It's the same for my clients. I sell the image they want to project that helps bring in the sales and drives their business. Of course, I can't claim all the credit - a lot of it has to go to the chaps in the advertising and marketing agencies too. But you get my point, we need sell images to drive business.

Image and aggressively selling your image is particularly important when you are a small player. Everyone knows the "big" boys and the things they can do. So why should the customer go to the small guy? The answer is because the small boy sells an image of certain advantages that the big boy's don't have. Avis and Pepsi were proud users of the image of, "We're Number 2, so we work much harder for you."

Small countries have taken the importance of branding and image selling to heart. Singapore has spent years shouting to the world that it's a secure little red dot in a sea of insecurity. It's become second nature for us to shout to the world every time we buy a new piece of military hardware or security system - "It's to keep your money safe, Mr Foreign Investor." We also cannot help bragging about how rich and successful we are despite our lack of natural resources. It's not true to say that Singapore is a Little Red Dot - it is a Red Dot with an over-sized megaphone. The world loves Singapore because somehow, they've managed to believe everything we've told them about ourselves. -We're small but secure and rich and filled with people willing to make you rich. We have the best airport and the best airline and the best port and the best food and the best women and the best ding dongs this side of the South China Sea.

Dubai has learn t from us. Prior to the collapse of the global financial system two years ago, Dubai was "The" place to be in the Middle East. Dubai's propaganda machine followed Singapore's into over drive. The rest of the GCC was supposedly old fashioned, boring, dependent on oil, closed to every modern idea known to man and generally not a place you want to put your money let alone live in. Dubai by contrast was fun, free and wide open for business. Before you knew it, Dubai's airline was competing with Singapore's for the title of World's best and the airport was "The" duty free shop of the world. A host spectacular building projects were announced and anyone who was anyone had to be seen in Dubai. The hype machine worked so well that when I worked for Aramco, the poor Saudi's kept getting asked, "Which part of Dubai are you from?" The poor Saudi's could only ask me if, "Geography is taught in Singapore."

Image counts. Small city states like Singapore and Dubai push the image and the investors come and create an economic boom. Small companies do the same as do many people. Richard Branson makes a fortune selling "Image" particularly his own - the moment you see "Virgin," plastered onto anything, you think of this wild, hip, environmentally chap who is so rich that he can flap around in a balloon while you're slogging at the office - and he's not like the "old foggie" billionaire too. So, you buy his coke, cds etc and fly his airline cause you want to get a piece of him.

Branson plays the image of a small boy trying to have fun so well that when British Airways tried to sue him for poaching passengers, he somehow positioned it as him being bullied by the sour grapes at BA and before you knew it, British Airways were the ones paying him and everyone though BA were so mean to little Richard.

Hype works and it's good to have an image. Being known for things gets products and services sold! As Donald Trump, another one man publicist says, "Toot your own horn."

All that is all very true and well. However, hype without substance is actually down right dangerous for the seller and the buyer. I mean it is important to get known for something but you need to REALLY good that something everyone knows you for. Although Richard Branson and Donald Trump are known for their business acumen thanks to the publicity they attract, non of them have ever ran a listed company. Being listed is not necessarily a sign of business talent too but listed companies have a way of enduring in ways that one men shows do not. Part of that reason is because the management of a listed company has to be answer questions from shareholders as well as the media - The underlying business of a listed company MUST BE REAL in order to face the scrutiny of people like analyst. Richard Branson is famously evasive about the profits of the group (Our model lets us think LONG TERM) while Donald Trump makes such a song and dance about spectacular buildings without telling you about the mortgage he took out.

Dubai is now discovering that being the best known destination in the GCC as it's downside. All was well when "Hot" money flew in but now that Dubai World can't make a timely payment, questions about the integrity of the system are being raised. By contrast, nobody is pulling out of the "Economic Cities," that the Saudi's are building. The reality on the ground is that Saudi Arabia has a "Real" economy with real consumers. Yes, the Saudi economy is still very much dependent on oil and high oil prices have helped keep the Saudi economy afloat. However, Saudi Arabia's efforts to move away from oil dependence are real too and not just based on property speculation. Saudi Basic Industries Ltd (SABIC) really does make petro-chemicals and does a good job of it. As a matter of face SABIC did buy GE's petro-chemical unit.

The importance of having substance to back up the hype also applies to Singapore. Think of how "secure" Singapore is and what do you think of but Mas Selamat limping out of a secure facility and swimming to Johor and lying out there for a year while the Minister of Home Affairs kept insisting that our intelligence (best in the region) told him he was still in Singapore. So despite all the ads about how great the boys at the Ministry of Home Affairs are, most of us just snigger when you discuss security in Singapore. As a friend of mine said, "When the casino's get built and the crooks move in, do you think the Singapore Police Force can handle it, -they haven't actually fired their pistols outside the range."

The government is probably aware of this, which is why it continues to sell Singapore to Indonesian tourist. Singapore has wonderful medical facilities but if you go to any of our private hospitals, chances are you'll see a lot of Chinese chit-chatting away in Bahasa. A private banker friend of mine had to camp in Jakarta rather than stay in Singapore - the people with real money are simply not here.

By all means, hype yourself up but make sure you can back it up because once it's shown that you can't, it's a big job trying to repair the damage.

Let me end with a confession. Today, one of my most loyal customers is Polaris Software Labs Limited, an Indian IT company listed in Mumbai. My relationship with Polaris started when they gave me a job I was sure would end in failure but somehow the project succeeded. Ever since then, I've been honest with Polaris about what I can deliver and delivered and they've continued to stick with me.

My largest failure was actually Remey Martin, where I told the client I had managed to do allot of stuff. I didn't deliver other than a mention in an article that I wrote for the trade press. The client was not impressed and insisted I return the deposit.

Both these events took place in the same year and that underlined one important lesson to me - under promise and over deliver. Hype may get you noticed and may get people excited about working with you. But when delivery is not imminent, it becomes obvious and sooner or later when you don't deliver people walk away from you. It was a lesson I learned the hard way and so when people come to me, I make it a point to keep their expectations real.