Proving Our Worth

1. Proving Our Worth Monitoring and Evaluation Panel

2. The Panel Susie Hall:Accident Compensation Corporation Kimberley Brady:NZ Army Anna Kominik: Ideas Shop Laurie Edwards:Accident Compensation Corporation

3. Proving our WorthMedia Monitoring and EvaluationLaurie Edwards, ACC11 August 2009

4. Why monitor/evaluate the media? • Critical source of information for most people • it impacts what they think and how they behave • which is important if you need their cooperation • monitoring allows us to hold the media accountable

5. Why monitor/evaluate the media? • Measure key message penetration • that’s why they pay us – to use the media as a channel to our audiences. • at two levels • campaign • corporate • have to be able to articulate those messages

6. Why monitor/evaluate the media? • Manage issues and • correct the media if they have it wrong • there’s no point otherwise! • or fix the issue if they have it right • “It’s not a media issue, it’s a business issue. Fix the business issue and the media will go away.” • “If you mess up, fess up.”

7. Why monitor/evaluate the media? • Inform future activities • what worked, what didn’t, what could we do better • set new targets • identify who is working for and against us

8. Monitoring – what? • Technology lets us monitor everything • subject to volume you might as well – often free • builds a fuller picture • talkback, blogs etc don’t always flow into mainstream but have some legitimacy • international as well • Same doesn’t apply to evaluation • with a few exceptions, the smaller audiences, lower credibility and lack of moderation minimise the impact of blogs, talkback etc compared to mainstream • Also blogs tend to be opinion driven rather than fact driven

9. Monitoring – how? • Technology and agencies will quickly tell you what was in the media. That’s good. • Also possible to know in advance! That’s better. • teach your business to recognise media risk • create relationships that encourage media to come to you first – must be available • NQX, Scoop etc – provide simultaneous alerts

10. Evaluation Media evaluation should: • be independent • if we do it ourselves we take things into account that the reader won’t. • measure against pre-agreed • key messages • performance standards • not averse to positive, balanced, neutral • relate to one of your corporate objectives, e.g. public trust and confidence

11. Evaluation Media evaluation should: • be weighted • a story on the front page of the Ellesmere Echo just isn’t worth the same as the NZ Herald • allow consistent comparisons over periods of time • there are usually patterns, trends • segment for different • parts of the business • key messages • spokespeople (internal and external) • media outlets and reporters

12. Evaluation - timing • Coverage of an issue • immediate, qualitative • get an external opinion if possible • Coverage of a campaign • during (if long enough) to allow adaptation and at completion • based on pre-set goals – volume, placement, messages • quantitative (media analysis) and qualitative (research as part of campaign evaluation) • Coverage of corporate messages • quarterly to allow adjustments if required • annual to feed into next year’s media strategy

13. Evaluation - issues • How do we factor in: • all those bad stories that didn’t appear because of our good work • the bad ones that became balanced or balanced that became positive • We can’t control what they write, so should we be held accountable? • ensure management understands you’re evaluating the organisation’s media performance – not just your own • no media advisor can save an organisation that continues to fail • but we have a responsibility to point out the failure

14. Proving our worth panel Discussion, questions and answers: • Susie Hall, ACC • Kimberley Brady, NZ Army • Anna Kominik, Ideas Shop • Laurie Edwards, ACC