The H&M nightmare
Unless you’ve been hidden under a rock for the past week you’ll have heard of H&M’s recent marketing campaign which saw a young black child wearing a hoodie which reads ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’. And in the days since the backlash has been huge – not only has the fashion brand lost celebrity endorsers, but huge swathes of customers have also pledged to boycott the business. The H&M fiasco is not the first time a global brand has come under fire for seemingly racist campaigns. It was only recently that Pepsi was widely criticised for its ad showing Kendall Jenner appearing to end racial tensions with a simple gesture – offering a can of Pepsi to a police officer! So what’s going wrong for these brands which have colossal marketing and PR teams behind them in order to prevent such disasters? Outrage marketing Many believe that what we are seeing is simply an example of outrage marketing – a deliberate campaign to anger people which creates a buzz around a particular brand. And if that was the intention it can’t be disputed that it has worked – the company has been trending online and everyone is talking about it. And while the general sentiment towards H&M is negative, the brand is certainly in the spotlight. It remains to be seen whether the saying ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity’ rings true in this instance.
The LinkedIn message we all know about
You probably hadn’t heard the name Charlotte Proudman until this week. And if you still haven’t it’s a sure sign you don’t read the news – she’s been all over it following the apparent ‘sexist’ LinkedIn message she received from solicitor Alexander Carter-Silk. You may sense that I haven’t particularly warmed to her. So what are the facts and why has she got under my skin?
5 business and HR lessons from Game of Thrones – WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
I’ve recently started watching Game of Thrones after months of being told how good it was, how much I’d like it and how much I was missing out on by not being a regular viewer. Well, everyone was right – it’s amazing. Any fans don’t need me to tell them that the combination of power struggles, violence and dragons is practically unmatched on TV. However, while developing an unhealthy fascination with the series, I’ve also noticed a few key lessons that all businesses could learn from. Build strong pipelines – Nobody liked Joffrey but at least he held King’s Landing together. He may have been utterly loathsome, evil, tyrannical and plain awful, but he did at least carry himself like royalty. However, his replacement Tommen is nothing like that and is, frankly, a poor excuse for a King. Can you really imagine him organising a defence against a siege or charging into battle? The Lannister family didn’t necessarily have a choice, but businesses do, and failing to build effective pipelines leads to poor leadership succession. We all know what happened to Apple and Disney after their leaders initially departed and the same thing could be happening to the house of Lannister, which is currently teetering on the brink. Surround yourself with good people – You may think you can run everything, but the truth is, to be successful you have to delegate and that means you have to trust those around you. Robb Stark (RIP) made that mistake and we all know what happened to him. Tywin thought he was surrounded by people he could rely on and ended up being slain on the toilet by his own son. And as a result of that, Cersei is now surrounded by a small council made up of in-laws and relics who can’t offer any valuable advice. If you want to be successful, you have to build a good team around you who can offer additional guidance and tell you when you’re heading down the wrong path.
Halloween horror stories
With it being Halloween it seemed to make sense to do this week’s blog on a relevant and often terrifying subject. That’s why I’ve asked the BlueSky team for their worst, scariest or weirdest interview or employment experiences: Tracey – “When I was in recruitment some of our interview rooms had sofas. One of my candidates was early so he was shown into the interview room to wait for me. When the allotted appointment time arrived I entered to find him fast asleep. I thought he had passed out but it turned out he just had the mother of all hangovers. He was actually a good candidate and later secured a role, but he wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders that morning”. Vickie – “I once went to an interview where the interviewer discovered he hadn’t booked a meeting room and they were all full. As a result, we ended up having the meeting in the only room available – a storage cupboard! After 20 minutes perched on a box of paper in a very small windowless room, I felt highly embarrassed leaving the cupboard to many amused looks from the rest of the staff. I can only imagine what they thought!” Kerry – “Not long after I left university, I applied for a job online as a ‘copywriter’ at what was described as a new local publication in my home town. I was invited to interview, and attended on three separate occasions because the first two times I showed up the boss had forgotten he was meeting me. When I finally sat down with him in a dingy room of a rundown office block, he spent the first 15 minutes talking about himself and his wonderful hugely successful career. He then went on to tell me I’d actually be cold-calling for ad sales for a publication that was little more than a glorified monthly newsletter. I’d be paid per ad placement, but wouldn’t be paid for the first month whilst I learned how to use the phone… I made my excuses and left.” Steph M –
Forget the internship, bring on the returnship
As a woman who took a relatively lengthy career break to care for my children, I was interested to learn about the launch of a new scheme by Credit Suisse in London to help senior professional women re-start their careers after taking time out of the workplace. Dubbed the “returnship”, the Real Returns programme is the first UK example of an idea which has been gathering pace in the US over the last few years. The scheme involves returners taking on CV-worthy projects that draw on their existing skills and experience and being paid accordingly. It’s effectively putting a toe back in the water of the corporate world, allowing women - who have perhaps lost confidence in their abilities - the opportunity to prove that they’ve still got what it takes to succeed and that it is actually possible to juggle corporate life and a family. 70% of women fear taking a career break This story really struck a chord with me personally, as believe me, when you’ve been out of the corporate world for a good few years, the prospect of going back is a daunting one indeed. Once you’ve jumped off the train, it’s very hard to jump back on. In fact, a recent survey from London Business School shows 70% of women fear taking a career break. Nagging doubts about whether you can still do your job, whether you’ll be up to speed with new technology and how you’ll combine a working day with the working day you usually put in as the primary carer are more than enough to put you off even looking for a role. Female brain drain I know of far too many professional women –experienced, bright, capable and very well-organised – who have never returned to work after having a family. Not only is this a great loss to the professional world and the wider economy, but it’s also a personal loss for these ladies. All of that brain power, time invested in studying - in most cases for a degree or professional qualification – not to mention years spent climbing the career ladder, potentially sidelined for a future of domestic drudgery or a low-paid job for which they are massively over-qualified!
