Geneva is probably best known for its lake, its chocolate, as the location for various United Nations and other non-governmental organisations, where the founder of the Red Cross was born, and… probably not much else. Lausanne, known as the HQ for various international sporting bodies, and… probably not much else.
Nyon. Even less well known than its neighbours, but staking its claim to fame by hosting the second largest (who knew?) open air music festival in Europe (the Paléo Festival), by the presence of UEFA, and by being midway between Geneva and Lausanne. It’s also, rather more pertinently, home to an interesting company called Leidar, founded by Rolf Olsen, who we got to know at Report International, when he headed up Motorola’s EMEA communications many years ago. Back in the days when Motorola was still the leading global mobile handset manufacturer.
Leidar specialises in advocacy and strategic communications on an international scale, and whilst measurement was a tool much used by Rolf in Motorola, it has not been a major component of Leidar’s client programmes to date. With the increasing visibility and acceptance of the benefits of measurement to communications professionals, Rolf decided that an expert workshop on measurement theory and practice would be a valuable part of his small team’s professional development.
We used the AMEC Valid Metrics Framework as the basis for some practical thinking about the application of measurement tools to Leidar clients and projects. Using the Framework forces some hard thinking about how best to articulate the benefits of measurement to their clients – enabling a move away from sterile conversations about the cost of measurement, and refocusing towards the value it brings to the communications function and the broader business. By seeing the connection between measuring outputs and business outcomes (sales, loyalty, employee engagement, advocacy or whatever) the team could use the Valid Metrics framework to frame their thinking about measurement in relation to their specific clients.
Every time I present the AMEC grids, there is a great sense that communicators are finally, really getting it… The terms of the debate change, heading towards a more strategic focus, where value is no longer counted in AVE or the size of the clipping book, but is related directly to quantifying the value PR brings to the business.
It may not be the largest centre of communications innovation, but Nyon now has a group of measurement mavens who, I am sure will be challenging their clients to engage with measurement as a strategic tool to enhance their role within their organisations.
