Fishburn Hedges

26.05.2010

This Friday sees the international launch of the Apple iPad.Although there might be a bit less hype surrounding the launch on this side of the Atlantic – in part due to the fact that many UK and European newspaper and magazine publishers will be adopting a wait-and-see approach to the development of new apps – the event is significant nonetheless.For the PR industry, the arrival of the iPad will underline the generational shift in media consumption. The focus on generating column centimetres – or even inches – in traditional media campaigns has proved remarkably resilient up until now. A main reason for this is that the ultimate buyers of these campaigns are of a generation in which the printed product was primary. Coverage in the pink pages of the FT still commands great kudos because senior management see it there.If the iPad succeeds in bridging the gap between the old and new media worlds, we should see a more balanced approach towards campaign media planning based on hard fundamentals and not chairman’s vanity.Other corporate weaponry will follow suit. At the top of my list is the annual report, the lead version of which for most major quoted groups remains the glossy document. This will at last change as a new generation of company secretaries and heads of IR demonstrates the huge added value and interactivity of online reporting. It takes me back, over 20 years ago, to when we produced the first ever annual report on CD-ROM, and I’m somewhat surprised that the possibilities for corporate reporting presented by the iPad haven’t been talked about more.In time, companies will be able to revert to the production of a single report because the iPad format will allow different audiences – in this case, private shareholders and the professional investment community – to select very easily the level of detail required. In the further future, we may even see companies promoting their products to shareholders through the online report, utilising the interactive function of the medium. After all, it’s in shareholders’ interest to use advertising to part-fund the cost of this expensive annual production.As Stephen Fry has said, it’s not until you have personal experience of the iPad that you start to recognise its extraordinary potential. I have a feeling that our industry will discover that in the months and years ahead.Posted by Neil Hedges