ZN

Organizations most receptive to change are likely to have a competitive edge, making use of all the opportunities along their path. But who is the right person to lead the change, armed with the tools and knowledge to adapt to an ever-changing environment?

Enter the agents of change.

These individuals, with their finely tuned balance of attributes, act as catalysts for change and help their own companies adapt and survive in a transient environment. Their roles are valuable but can also be precarious, with obstacles littered along the way.

The term “agent of change” may not always have a positive connotation, particularly if change, and the important role it plays, is not yet widely understood within the organization. If a headstrong individual comes armed with a ready prepared manifesto and doesn’t take into consideration the internal hunger for transformation, things can go awry (take the story of Jack Griffin, a change agent at Time Inc., for example). But, if you have the right person with the right mindset, incredible things can happen.

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Lately, we’ve discussed the importance of understanding the online landscape prior to building an online communication strategy (see previous posts here and here). This time, let’s dive into the actual campaign, skipping past establishing your digital strategy and creating online assets.

You’re probably aware that once your campaign is in full swing, an essential part of your daily activity should be to monitor its performance and, in particular, what’s being said online. But why? Because individuals around the world are talking about brands, products and other topics of interest every day – and if your campaign is working properly, your brand should be what they are talking about!

Social listening enables you to see your campaign’s performance beyond website statistics and see the social context, so you can quickly adapt your tactics to boost performance. For those who don’t listen, chances are you are missing out on some very valuable learning opportunities. And this is a common occurence, as many organizations think they are hitting the mark on which topics/issues to address, when in fact they should make a U-turn.

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Answering this question even a few weeks after TEDxBrusselsChange is easy.
No. It will not.

Europe is teeming with ideas and innovative solutions. There is a pervasive spirit that constantly pushes for new ways of thinking, new ways of acting, and new ways of making an impact. The video below will give you a feel of these things as experienced at TEDxBrusselsChange.

In line with this spirit, a number of great projects tackling health-related issues have been born. One of these was very much inspired by Lode Dewulf's talk on Breaking Pregnancy Taboos, which led to my involvement in setting up a coalition: http://www.pregnancytaboos.org that aims to tackle the issue of pregnancy and medication.

With events like TEDxBrussels and TEDxBrusselsChange giving rise to initiatives that can actually make a difference, who would want the positive disruption to end?

If I told you that with one mouse click you could impact change, would you believe me? Chances are you wouldn’t.

But Julie Dixon, Deputy Director of Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication, would have you believe that you could.

Watch the full live stream video from TEDxChange 2013.

At the core of Julie’s talk at TEDxChange 2013 is the notion that in a world where everyone is interconnected by social media, personal influence is a currency that is just as valuable as money.

She asserts that by simply liking a campaign, sharing a photo or video, signing a petition, writing a blog, or supporting a crowd-funded campaign and asking people to take action, you leverage your influence and reach out to other people in your network. These people can potentially influence others; share their money, time or other resources that will enable the success of the cause.

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Like the universe, the Internet is continuously expanding. By the end of 2011, 2.3 billion people were connected to the Internet and 1 billion people had mobile-broadband subscriptions. We also know that they were busy writing 28,000 blogs on Tumbler, uploading 48 hours of new video, sending 100,000 tweets, and entering 2,000,000 search queries on Google – every minute. That’s a huge audience and a lot of data.

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John F. Kennedy once said that “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”.

In ZN, we believe that in order to adapt to the digital age and to keep up with the fast-paced growth of information, today’s leaders and thinkers should develop the habit of continuous learning and have this at the core of their everyday lives.

Last January, the Cefic Communications team had their first round of the ZN Digital Masterclass – a series of workshops for practitioners who wish to expand their digital skills and develop insights on how to create, implement and measure an effective online strategy.

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One of the main concerns of our clients is how to create and maintain an efficient communication strategy. And for this, we at ZN understand that before anything else, it is critical to know the online landscape you are in.

There are some questions that you need to ask yourself when starting a new online communication strategy.

• Who are the key influencers around your topic?
• What terminology does your target audience use?
• What kinds of messages are being circulated? 

The next step is monitoring the online conversations on a regular basis in order to identify trending discussions, engage with stakeholders and assess your performance. Doing all of this can be complex and time consuming, especially if you consider all of the online channels that currently exist.

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As always, the ZN’s team of Hyperthinkers have been hard at work. Their heads becoming so hot with ideas that it would blind an infrared camera and boil the kettle from a distance. Here’s a look at some of the things they’ve been up to:

Animal Testing Perspectives – Animal testing is a controversial issue and one that is difficult for the general public to fully grasp.

That’s why the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), together with ZN, created a space that could help people understand the nuances surrounding the issues – including the link between research and health/healthcare benefits – and where an honest and balanced debate could take place.

The website has two sub campaigns. The first relates to new EU rules that will require scientists to publish research summaries online. It aims to bring more transparency by asking what information people want to see. Have a look at research studies in plain words.

The second has to do with the increasing pressure to end animal research in Europe. If no more animals would be tested on in Europe, what would the ramifications of this policy be? Would animal testing become a major industry elsewhere? For this reason, Animal Testing Perspectives is launching a page to discuss all the potential side effects. To find out more, visit Shall it stay or shall it go?

James Elles – James Elles is a member of the European Parliament. He is a member of the Parliament’s Budget committee and substitutes for many others. He is also the founder and chair of the Transatlantic Policy Network and co-founder of the European Internet Foundation. Now that you’ve seen his resume, we can agree that “government elite” is a pretty accurate description. So why is ZN involved with an EU politician?

In addition to providing communication strategies for companies and associations, we also provide services for… people! We recently gave Mr. Elles’ site a makeover and made him more accessible to the people. Take a look at  http://www.jameselles.com.

IABC – If you are in the business of communications, you will be familiar with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). No? Well, it is really big network that helps “practitioners” (people in the biz) connect and share knowledge.

It currently has 16,000 members, and guess who chairs the Europe and Middle East region? Our very own Chief Hyperthinker, Philip Weiss! In an effort to give IABC Europe a facelift, we gave its website a good do-over too! You can see the result on europe.iabc.com.

If you would like to know more about IABC, Phil wrote about his experiences and the benefits of joining the association on his hyperthinker.eu blog.

ZN is currently working on many other exciting projects, so stay tuned for more news!

REMIXit offered a unique experience that enabled TEDx-sters to build on the inspiring talks they saw at TEDxBrussels and share them with the community for great prizes. TEDxBrussels is pleased to announce that, after careful deliberation, the juries have finally delivered their verdicts! You can find the list of winners in the website of REMIXit.eu

Thank you to all TEDx-sters for your contributions, sharing and votes. The REMIXit campaign was a big success thanks to you! Philip Weiss, Chief Hyperthinking, said “It was great to see the creativity and insights that simple ideas can bring to life. Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes the best ideas are simply a matter of looking at the same things from a different perspective… The world needs hyperthinkers, and there is hope, because there are plenty around at TEDxBrussels.”

Thank you to TEDxBrussels, Accenture, SWIFT, ZN, Evernote and Getyoo for their support and help in making this project possible.

The REMIXit campaign represents a subtle shift in the philosophy of “sharing ideas” to doing them. It freed TEDx-sters from the constraints of being spectators and enabled them to become participants and share their ideas. Like Philippe Ruttens, Marketing and Communications Manager at Accenture BeLux, who added “Accenture is pleased to have co-launched the REMIXit contest to boost the creation and combination of ideas and innovations in Belgium,” we look forward to taking this a step further next year and seeing how much more creative and innovative people can be!

We are looking forward to seeing what REMIXit will bring to the table next year.

Over the last year, VaccinesToday celebrated many accomplishments – they published 110 blog articles, achieved new levels of reach and visibility, and ushered in their second birthday. It has been a good year for VaccinesToday, but three milestones really stand out and, as Vaccines Europe’s partner on this initiative, we are keen to share them.

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