The Best Job in the World

Stumbled upon a very interesting article about Queenslands latest global tourism campaign that, while not quite PD, is an excellent example of how utilization of the internet and social networking can work. Do you think this kind of campaign has any feasible implications for public diplomacy elsewhere?

What happens if a global tourism marketing campaign dresses up as a job recruitment drive? A global reality TV show gets under way.

Tourism Queensland launched its Best Job in the World competition in January hoping to generate fresh interest in Australia's sunshine state - a dream location, according to the locals, that is beautiful one day, and perfect the next.

The internet, and its social networking sites, then delivered. Within the first 48 hours, they had received more than 7,500 online applications.

Better still, more than 200,000 people logged onto the site in the first weekend alone, placing unexpected strains on server capacity.

No wonder. In these "feel-bad" times, Tourism Queensland had opened up the ultimate feel-good job: the post of 'caretaker' at the blissful Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, with a six-month contract worth a handy Aus $150,000 (US $110,000).

Wild card

Then there's the three-bedroom beach home you get to luxuriate in, which comes with a swimming pool and golf cart.

The successful candidate must also be willing, in the words of the online advertisement, 'to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, swim, snorkel, make friends with the locals and generally enjoy the tropical Queensland climate and lifestyle.'

Nice work, if you can get it, and 34,000 applicants from over 200 countries thought they stood a chance.

Now the field has been whittled down to 16 finalists, including a wild card entry chosen, in true reality television style, through an online poll.

They include a receptionist, some students, a teacher, a charity event manager, and an actress. And on 3rd May, they're all due to converge on Hamilton Island for the final.

The biggest winner, though, is Tourism Queensland, which reckons that for US$1m, it generated US$70m of global publicity.

Osama hoax

"We did it on the smell of an oily rag", says Danielle Kootman of Tourism Queensland. "We pitched it after Christmas in the northern hemisphere when there is not much news around, and so amidst all the cold and gloom here came the dream job.

"It really captured the imagination of the world."

It also helped that the organisers received a hoax application from a man purporting to be Osama Bin Laden, while Tourism Queensland generated even more headlines by concocting a story that one applicant felt so passionately about the job that she tattooed an advert for the Great Barrier Reef on her arm.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so it's no surprise that other have sought to replicate the success of this viral campaign. The 'NEXT Best Job in the world,' a short-lived Canadian venture, has now been postponed.

Russell Howcroft, an advertising executive who is a regular panellist on the hit Australian show, The Gruen Transfer, says Queensland's online campaign has been so successful because "it isn't an overclaim".

"All the best advertising makes a legitimate claim, and for many people this really is the best job in the world. The proposition is supported."

The challenge now for tourism chiefs is to convert interest into visitation, a tough task for such a long-haul destination and at a time when there are fears within the Australian tourism industry that visitor numbers could drop by 250,000.

But Tourism Queensland says it has received heightened interested from airlines, which might look to establish new routes serving the sunshine state, and from global travel companies.

Once again, the campaign has demonstrated the power of the internet, and of viral marketing.

President Barack Obama harnessed the power of the web to win the most powerful job in the world. Now Tourism Queensland has used similar techniques in what it claims has now become the most sought-after job in the world.

Economic Stimulus and Soft Power

Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan recently unveiled the new Japanese economic stimulus plan and said that one area he wants to focus on is in capitalizing on Japan's soft power and hopes to create a large number of jobs in the anime and manga industry.

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's manga and anime heroes could come to the rescue of the recession-hit economy, Prime Minister Taro Aso, an avid fan of the country's cartoons, said in a speech Thursday.

"The word 'manga' has entered the global lexicon... Japan has materials that attract consumers around the world such as animation, games, fashion -- so-called 'Japan Cool'," the conservative premier told a press conference.

As the world's number two economy is struggling with its deepest post-war recession, Aso said the government could facilitate overseas exports of manga, video games, fashion and other "soft power" cultural products.

"Many Japan-based fashion magazines enjoy top-level popularity" in the Chinese market, said the 68-year-old premier.

"By linking the popularity of Japan's 'soft power' with business, we wish to grow it into a major industry worth 20-30 trillion yen (200-300 billion dollars) and create 500,000 new jobs by 2020," he said in a speech.

Known for his sometimes gruff manner, Aso has sought to soften his image in recent years by casting himself as a Japanese "otaku" -- someone whose hobby borders on obsession -- by praising manga.

While this may seem like a good idea, it also runs counter to the trends that are occurring in the industry. Increased domestic production does not mean increased foreign consumption as you have to deal with licensing and distribution issues in your foreign markets.

Sources:

AFP
AFP 2nd Link
Anime News Network

Robots, Space, and Public Diplomacy

Japan is apparently aiming for walking robots on the moon according to this AP article.

Japan hopes to have a two-legged robot walk on the moon by around 2020, with a joint mission involving astronauts and robots to follow, according to a plan laid out Friday by a government group.

....

Other recommendations by the group include using space research as a tool to foster diplomacy with other countries and developing an advanced satellite to predict and monitor natural disasters.

Beyond the novelty of walking moon robots, there another item of interest mentioned in the article that relates to Japanese PD. The group proposing the robots for space research also recommended

promoting research into military satellites, such as an early warning system for detecting ballistic missile launches and systems to detect and analyze radio waves sent in space.

which is especially of note when tied to the a second quote in the article.

The Strategic Headquarters was established last year by a law passed to advance Japan's space technology and exploration. It allows the country, which has a largely peaceful constitution, to use space for military defense.

Given regional tensions concerning Japan's use development of military ability, I'm surprised I haven't seen anything else about this.

de Institute for Liberty and Democracy

In Peru, my group also met with several representatives from the Institute for Liberty and Democracy. This NGO was quite good at PD. The ILD was founded by the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. His book, the Other Path, outlined the value of tapping into the informal economy as an alternative to “The Shining Path,” or Sendero Luminoso.

At ILD, I was impressed by a series of concrete grassroots PD efforts used in a campaign to formalize assets in the early 90's in Peru. To encourage individuals to get titles to their homes and property, de Soto’s team appointed regional leaders, placed ads in local papers, gathered stakeholders, and collected information on the success of its efforts. They were very successful.

Unlike many institutions engaging in PD, ILD had a clear message: tap into the wealth of the poor. ILD also had a clear spokesperson (de Soto) and significant support from the Fujimori government. Even the name "Institute for Liberty and Democracy" set the NGO up for success in seeking the funding and approval of the U.S. and European governments. ILD used similar tactics to reach populations in many countries, especially in Africa.

Now, de Soto says he’s found the key to solving the economic crisis. According to Neasa MacErlean's article in the Guardian,

The work [de Soto] plans to do in Africa will be similar to the work he thinks the US and UK must do now - pulling trade and assets out of the shadow economy, setting up registers and focusing on transparency. But de Soto never expected that he would be giving the same advice to London and Washington as he would be giving to Africa.

Any thoughts on his view? Which NGOs do you think are especially successful in their PD efforts?

America's PD efforts in Peru

This spring break, I traveled to Peru as part of my class with Prof. Quainton, former ambassador to Peru. Our meeting with Michael McKinley, the current U.S. ambassador to Peru, was especially interesting in the context of PD. McKinley’s primary message was that America’s role is “to support Peru’s objectives in ways consistent with our own interests.” This seemed on-point in a country with significant challenges, including ethnic and class divisions, remnants of the Maoist terrorist group Sendero Luminoso, historically weak political institutions and ongoing coca production. McKinley, along with the Peruvian leaders we met, seemed optimistic about Peru’s future, even amid the global financial crisis. He explained that Peru has the lowest sustained inflation and the highest GDP growth in the region. This, combined with transparency and good budget management, had positioned Peru well.

When asked about PD efforts, Linda Gonzalez, a public affairs officer at the embassy, described cultural exchanges and media relations efforts. She'd encountered relatively favorable media coverage in Peru. In fact, Peru's President Alan Garcia's successful free trade deal with the U.S. has been seen as one of his biggest achievements by Peruvians. Based on Entman’s continuum of “Frame Contestation in Mediated Public Diplomacy,” this favorable coverage of the U.S. would suggest that there is a high degree of cultural congruence. In reality, it may just be a sense of shared economic goals. Gonzalez cited a poll that found that 68-70% of Peruvians believe the U.S. doesn’t respect Peru. Both Gonzalez and McKinley noted the importance of partnerships to address this.

Art = Heritage?

BBC has an interesting article up about the sale of the Yves Saint Laurent estate, specifically two bronze statues that Christie's [at the time of the article] would be auctioning.
The statues apparently were once located in the Summer Palace in Beijing that was burnt during the second Opium war in the 1800's. The statues were taken and eventually ended up in Yves Saint Laurent's collection.
China believes that rather than be auctioned off, the statues should be returned to China as a form of heritage reparation.

The Chinese heritage administration said the auction would bring repercussions as it had "harmed the cultural rights and national feeling of the Chinese people".
"This will have a serious impact on its development in China," it said in the statement to the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party.

There was a follow-up piece on CNN.com with responses and analysis of the reactions to the auction which sold the two statues for approx. US$34 million.

The sale of the lost treasures has whipped up nationalistic passion among Chinese in and outside China.
Luo Zhewen, chairman of the Chinese Heritage Society said, "The biggest value of the bronze heads is that they are evidence of the crime committed by imperialists who invaded China. The despicable part the auction is not that it has breached international agreements, but that it is trading criminal evidence for a massive profit."
Movie star Jackie Chan agrees.
"It has broken the hearts of the 1.3 billion people of China," he said. "All these national treasures should be returned to their home countries. In future, these fountainheads will not belong to anybody and they should all be returned to the Summer Palace."

The furor over these items brought to mind David Lowenthal's piece on cultural heritage title "Heritage Wars"

Chauvinism underpins heritage rapine. The Rosetta Stone entered the British Museum 'honourably acquired by the fortune of war'; Napoleon looted all Europe and North Africa to prove France the Roman Empire's rightful heir; fin-de-siècle Americans threatened to buy up all England. Jingoist rivalry still foments plunder and inhibits global sharing. National and local self-esteem are sacred writ in international protocols. Equating heritage with identity justifies every group's claim to the bones, the belongings, the riddles, and the refuse of every forebear back into the mists of time. All that stands in the way of everyone's reunion with all their ancestral things is its utter impossibility.
It is impossible because it flies in the face of historical reality. There are no well-attested, long-enduring, pure, unchanged social or cultural entities. Every people are hybrid, every legacy multiple, every society heterogeneous, every tradition as much recent as ancient. All cultures are compages stemming from manifold antecedents. The farther back in time the more mixed is every ancestry. Multiple entitlements vitiate demands based on prior existence, occupance, use and discovery.

The CNN articles describes at the end of it two views on the auction within China.

A debate is raging in China's mainstream media and cyberspace over China's lost treasures.
"We don't have to be so angry over losing historical relics," wrote a person in ifeng.com. "China has countless historical pieces lost overseas. We have to build many museums if we get all of them back. If we put them in foreign museums, people still can see China's ancient civilization and understand the history of crimes committed by foreign countries."
Others were more introspective.
"If the Red Guards smashed the Rabbit Head in the Old Summer Palace, whom will you cry to?" asks one person posting in the People's Daily Forum. "We Chinese have destroyed our own things more than the invaders, and the destruction is more extensive, lasting, and thorough."
Tao Duanfang, an international affairs commentator in Beijing, said that, though the bronze sculptures were national treasures, "what are really valuable are not these 'dead relics,' but China's economic progress, social stability and systemic progress."

Cultural heritage can be a very touchy subject which can have significant PD implications. While a lot of people may never hear about or relate to PD efforts outside their country, cultural artifacts are something they can identify with and they are also an issue which is fought out in the media providing wider access to the general populace.
The BBC and CNN articles mention that not only is Christie's coming under attack in China, but France itself as well.
How do you see cultural heritage issues? Do you think they are related to PD?

Image repair through medical diplomacy

In her recent contribution to the Diplomatic Courier “Medical Relief: An Effective Diplomacy Tool,” Rebecca Wexler looks at how supporting other countries with medical products and service can assist the US to improve its image.

She says that “medical diplomacy presents the United States with the chance to reaffirm its commitment to humanitarianism and reawaken the spirit that once spawned the Peace Corps and USAID.”

Wexler outlines some of the advantages of medical diplomacy:

• it can be applied both as a short-term or long-term strategy
• it can help both to prevent conflict and assist in post-conflict reconstruction

"Healthy populations are able to work, cultivate food, and earn wages—all of which contribute to economic productivity and a functioning society. Conversely, disease is often born in conditions of poverty, festering in unsanitary sewage systems, overcrowded living quarters, and dilapidated housing structures."

But what exactly is medical diplomacy? Former health and human services secretary and chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, Tommy G. Thompson defines it in his 2005 Op-Ed for the Boston Globe:

Medical diplomacy is "the winning of hearts and minds of people in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere by exporting medical care, expertise, and personnel to help those who need it most."

Arguing that in the fight to end tyranny and the effort to spread democracy, Thompson states it is important that States such as the US apply all “weapons of freedom” to win. Medical diplomacy is one of those weapons.

Using smart power to solve foreign policy struggles

In her recent feature article for The Star, Lynda Hearst takes a look at how a smart power approach can advance the international cooperation and built a first step towards solving the current foreign policy struggle of the U.S.

Just as stated in the Gilboa reading we discussed in class, Hearst defines the smart power approach as an “integration of hard and soft power, maintaining military strength while using persuasion and example to seed democracy, human rights and other Western ideas throughout the world.”

Arguing that hard power alone will not secure global security Hearst underscores the need to find the right combination of the two approaches.

"Although an aggressive campaign against Al Qaeda and its kin remains central, it must form only part of a broader strategy, one that offers something to societies struggling to resist the rise of extremism and to overcome underdevelopment, health crises, and environmental degradation."

Hearst sees high potential in implementing citizen diplomacy tactics as a soft power component to the overall strategy; however, the multiple opportunities to engage are “scattered throughout government, with nothing linking them with military power into a grand, unified approach to the rest of the world.”

The challenge for the Obama Administration therefore lies in finding a way to unify the soft power opportunities and integrating them into the overall foreign diplomacy approach. Especially in countries where the U.S. military has been very present during the last years, the public will remain skeptical towards the new foreign policy approach.

As a conclusion, Hearst refers to Brian Kutilis who sees Pakistan as the first country where the smart power approach should be implanted: “Pakistan – with its first democratically elected government in more than a decade but ongoing security threats within and from without – will be the initial test of the new strategy.”

A New Era of Transatlantic Relations?

Barack Obama speaking in Berlin, Germany (7/24/08)

President Obama’s inauguration on January 20 has been well received in many European countries – including Germany. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, the image of the U.S. among the European public has suffered. A survey on transatlantic trends conducted by the German Marshall Fund shows that the number of Europeans viewing the U.S. as a desirable global leader dropped from 64 percent in 2002 to 36 percent in 2008.

The wide-spread popularity of President Obama in European countries literally raises hope of an improved transatlantic cooperation. John K. Glenn, director of foreign policy at the German Marshall Fund, sees potential in President Obama. However, he points out that electing Obama as the 44th President of the U.S. does not immediately reverse the U.S. image and improve the transatlantic relations.

In his POLITICO article “Obama to Europe: Ich bin ein listener,” Glenn underscores the need of Obama to listen to European allies and reshape the public opinion of Americans as a country not seeing Europeans as essential partners.

According to Glenn, one of the main reasons for the negative public opinion among Europeans was caused by a lack of cooperation with European countries in terms of dealing with terrorism. It is therefore not surprising that Angela Merkel attached the claim for better cooperation and communication between Europeans and Americans to her congratulating message for President Obama, stating that “no single country can solve the problems of the world.”

From my perspective as a European native, Obama’s election can be seen as the first step to improve transatlantic relations. Yet, there have to be more to follow. Appointing the two renowned foreign policy experts George Mitchell and Richard Holbrook to special envoys has definitely been another step in the right direction, underscoring Obama’s intention to find a new strategy when dealing with the Middle East and Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As John K. Glenn states: “Obama’s great promise is that he has the potential to make collaboration with the United States not just politically possible but politically desirable.”

Broken Public Diplomacy

Hi Everyone,
I found this article by a former USIA employee today when I was looking around. The article lays out the former structure of US public diplomacy under the USIA and the problems that have occurred since integration with the State Dept. From the article, one can see that the current public diplomacy framework is scattered and broken.

I think it elaborates well on the points Prof. Hayden made yesterday about the lack of deference given to PD.

Here is the link to the article, http://www.publicdiplomacy.org/104.htm