60 days? 90 days? Your contract is what you and your agency agree it should be.
When you first signed, did your agency get up and running in a month? Then why should it take more than 30 days to slow it down?
Note to PR agencies: You are still responsible for passing along any media enquiries that occur past the close date. Ad agencies may need a lengthier turn-off-the-light period.
9 / 2 / 10
PR Agency match: When your company enters a foreign market -- a VERY foreign market
When we were living in Hong Kong, we have to admit we were startled the first (and second and third) time we saw someone walking around in their house slippers and pajamas in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a major commercial area.
Hong Kong is a developed, global location -- it's one of the most important banking and foreign trade depots in the world -- but culturally speaking, there are differences.
What brought this to mind was a cultural divide during a recent match. The head of the local office of a major, international company decided he knew which PR agency was best in his market. Too bad he'd already made two poor choices.
Agency Select was brought in to work with him and around him.
When presented with an assessment of past results or lack therof, he had to admit that head office's desire to perform a search made good business sense. Best yet, our services are free, so his budget wasn't affected by our assisting with his PR match. Another happy ending.
8 / 26 / 10
Dubai/Pakistan PR match
We've been working on a PR match for an entity in Dubai during the Ramadan period. The Dubai company has 4,000+ companies under its umbrella. When we went shopping for an agency in Pakistan, we happened on to an agency with some major clients -- and a lot of heart. After the evening break-the-fast meal, on more than one occasion we spent a couple of hours Skyping about the flood, about politics and maybe a little bit about PR.
Today I learned that thanks to those at the mosque and family and friends, the agency has filled a truck with food, water and other goods to try to navigate what little there's left of roads, to deliver to one of the storm-struck towns. All we can say is BRAVO, ZEESHAN!
If you'd like to contribute, please drop us a line info@agency-select.com and we'll connect you.
7 / 21 / 10
Green search engine Forestle: go Europe, go green
We stumbled on the German eco search engine Forestle and we're happy to report it's the way to perform a more European-centric search. What's better yet is that with each search, we're contributing to the regreening of the rain forest. A few pennies are generated and given to the Nature Conservancy's "Adopt an Acre" program around the world.
Our computer automatically translates everything into English using Google Translate. (Has anyone else noticed how this tool has improved over the past few months?) We did a comparative analysis of a Google search and a Forestle search and came up with about an 80 percent return tipped in favor of European results. It was like entering a whole new library.
Take 20 seconds to try the same experiment and let us know what you find: joan@agency-select.com
7 / 17 / 10
English majors [French, Spanish, Swedish, French, etc.] apply here: all that essay writing has finally paid off
If you're an advertising or PR agency, and if you haven't had a blog in place for at least a year, you're way behind the curve.
Do you already have an SMO? Better rush out and hire a couple. SMO -- Social Media Optimizer -- is the new term for those people who sit and churn out blogs, Tweets, Facebook comments, Myspace, who add friends, who interact with other bloggers and in general, are the wordsmiths whose parents encouraged to study something else.
Something else turned into spinning words into salaries. They represent your agency and you sometimes hire them out to write for your clients.
The whole Web has become one big writing-and-thinking exercise. So many people with so much to say. Incroyable!
6 / 17 / 10
Covering your assets
Are you protecting your stakeholders from looking like BP’s CEO?
We just watched CEO Tony Hayward of BP being grilled by a US Senate committee. His "I can’t answer that,” "I wasn’t there when that decision was made” and "I don’t know” made him look the fool. Some pundits will state that these were deliberate answers from Hayward in an attempt to "plead the 5th" [amendment] but if so, it backfired.
Each time he admitted ignorance, I wondered what his stakeholders were thinking: Hoorah Tony – or good-bye profits?
Then there’s the question of, "The buck stops here."
And the board of directors: Aren’t they each responsible in some way?
When it comes to the BP crisis, who are you going to believe: Hayward, or the photos of the dead pelicans?
We recommend:
1. creating an environment that heads off this type of scenario at the pass. Your PR firm can do only so much to protect your company. Whatever safety procedures that can be put into place need to be so, regardless of profit and as soon as possible.
2. meeting with your company’s executives to discuss worst case scenarios before they happen. Role play the narrative to see what it feels like to sit in the hot seat. And don't forget to show some emotion. Saying "I'm sorry" without the passion to punch this home renders the comment meaningless.
3. working with your PR agency to understand your company’s messaging should there be a crisis – that the sooner an apology is made, the better. The public smells insincerity.
4. understanding that crisis comms is no longer the animal it used to be. Your reputation might have taken years to attain – but the blogging, Twitter and Facebook community can destroy years of work in a matter of hours.
I have a confession. I am mad over Broadway and the West End. Aside from my profession-related LinkedIn groups, I'm signed with the musicals.
I'm one of those people other people like to take on a long ride. I am known to break into song somewhere during the second hour of a trip when people and kids are getting fiddgity. I sing in tune and I know every word to almost every show tune. "Oklahoma" always gets everyone singing along.
One of my favorites music- and lyrics-wise is "Oliver Twist," with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. I was singing this to myself the other day and I realized that its message applies to b2c advertising and PR:
Who will buy This wonderful morning? Such a sky You never did see!
Who will tie It up with a ribbon And put it in a box for me?
The feeling of hopefulness and of all of life's possibilities in just a few lines. What a brand THAT is.
5 / 19 / 10
Social media: Did you know that there are now over 200,000,000 blogs?
If you're a PR agency, an ad agency or a company or corporation that hires agencies and has various stakeholders, this is for you.
We're on several foreign language LinkedIn groups, and this video is sweeping its way from country to country: www.socialnomics.net
Did you know that Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S. -- and that social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web?
5 / 16 / 10
Pitching
Over the years, I’ve established some new PR and ad agency game rules for pitching so that there’s no pitching at all. But I really can’t take the credit. I’ve sat in on so many pitch calls that it’s really the clients who have taught me how to teach the agencies to pitch so that it’s a conversation between potential partners. So here’s a shout out to everyone who’s helped me to create an environment rather than sitting through yet another sales spiel. And woe to the agency that clings to the notion of sell sell sell, even when I've coached them not to. Pitching is about people. Just ask Dale Carnegie.
5 / 7 / 10
PR and politicking in the UK: George Lee
Because we're interested in everything international we watch CNN, Sky News, BBC, CNN, France 24 and Al Jazeera.
CCTV, the 24/7 Chinese news station (we watch it in English), just showed how localized the news can be. They followed George Lee, a UK conservative candidate, who introduced himself to thousands of people by going out early each morning for 14 months to knock on doors. The only word he knew when he arrived in the UK as a child was "tomorrow." He now has a very British accent and is obviously totally assimilated.
We hope his PR campaign was successful, wish him well, and hope he becomes a part of the UK's tomorrow.
4 / 17 / 10
Start-Upitis
We receive calls and emails from start-ups with lots of lead time until launch – but usually with no lead time at all.
This past week is a good example: a b2c about to launch in-store at the U.S. chain Bed, Bath & Beyond on April 26 (we received their call on April 14 -- sigh) and a b2b tech portal launching June 1 (good planning – or so we thought).
We had a brief call with the b2c as he was entering a shopping mall. He promised to call back within a couple of hours. Five days later we realized we hadn't heard from him and we called back to see if he was still wandering the mall's corridors.
When he told us April 26, we informed him that it was too late for a full-fledged media campaign and advised he save his budget for another launch. During the call we learned he had decided since our first 18-second call to go the cheap-and-cheerful (and ineffective) route: He was going to hire a freelance press release writer "just to get out there" and would we please go through his choices and pick a writer for him. We declined the invitation -- but we'll definitely be happy to spend 100 hours on his match.
For his real launch, we do have an idea about some potential agencies which will match his breezy style and his product. Stay tuned to the national U.S. morning TV talk shows around the end of May and you'll catch his kitchen product there. If we can get him to calm down and focus long enough to perform his match.
Our b2b folks called from Silicon Valley. Great tech portal product, excellent delivery, surprise guests! We learned about 20 minutes into the call that the remainder of the team was also present. I counseled these turbo-charged entrepreneurs to slow down and to give more thought to their goals; after all, we have a comfortable, professional stretch of time during which we can find them their perfect tech match.
They agreed that they were acting hastily and I could hear a collective sigh of relief that some sanity had been injected into the conversation. We constructed their PR brief and emailed it. The next day their brief hadn't arrived in our inbox, nor the next, nor the next.
They are surely out there again, trying to sift through the thousands of possibilities for a tech PR agency. If they calm down and focus long enough to realize they're tossing out their inventory – time -- we're here to perform their match.
Lastly, we were approached by three more-seasoned companies that understand agency search and the concept of process. We love start-ups, we admire medium-size-to-large entities, and it's our pleasure to mentor start-ups to act like them.
2 / 17 / 10
Learn from my mistake + a new client just signed with their UK PR agency today
Notice the date on this blog entry? Now check the date of the one below. Have I been idle? No. I changed servers -- and lost all of the blog entries in between. While the site was supposedly backed up and there should have been a copy, this too was lost. Recommendation: Create your blog entries in a Word doc, copy and paste.
The happier news is that Ultra-Gen, a company that develops and markets OTC (over the counter) consumer aesthetic products, just signed with their UK PR agency today. The even happier news for Agency-Select is that moments later a new client that distributes solar panels -- we love green tech products -- emailed that they're ready to start their search. Excuse me while I start my research and ready their PR brief.
12 / 12 / 09
"Time is my inventory" -- social media writing part 1
It's no surprise that one of the very first commercial programs to catch on over 20 years ago was a "time clock" program for lawyers, who bill for their time.
I recently spoke with an attorney who after three minutes said to me, "I have to get off now. Time is my inventory." Tick tock tick tock.
I'm working on a PR agency match for a new client, a Web site that's in stealth mode until mid-January. We're looking for a New York PR agency that can deliver a mix of traditional and social media services. Aside from paying for writing skills, they're going to be paying for time, one of the bases upon which PR services are billed.
Social media takes time and lots of it. Between blogging, Twittering, LinkedIn and Facebook-ing, and then connecting all of these dots online, this requires a whole new line of staff.
Should your client start to grumble, suggest that they spend just one day creating all of this themselves. Add on press release and marketing collateral and white paper or case study time, and your client will have a whole new healthy respect for the term "writer."
12 / 5 / 09
Blogging tool: a clever addition to your blog
I just read about a new blogging tool thanks to Google Translate. It automatically translated from Hebrew to English and while wobbly, it gave me the opp to learn about www.skribit.com
Running out of stuff to write about on your blog? Writer's block? Feeling pressured because Google will be scouring your site looking for new materials?
Sign up for Skribit and a suggestion box will appear on your blog page. Site visitors can write to you, telling you exactly what they want you to write about. Cool! But what if some wise guys start assigning you useless homework or if your competitors take over your space?
I wrote to the creator of the tool and with the paid version -- very inexpensive -- it's possible to moderate the suggestions so that you can control what appears on your blog page (from a business point of view, highly recommended).
The box will be on this page after the weekend. Stay tuned.
11 / 18 / 09
PR and advertising agency search: What is it? (next week: Why do we need it?)
When the Fortune 500 needs a PR or advertising agency, they frequently turn to a consultant to assist with a search.
An agency search firm's job is to lead a company through the process of choosing an agency that will be the best fit for them and at the right budget.
Most SMEs can't afford this luxury, where fees may run well over $150,000 for a search.
And where are the bigger companies usually led? To exactly the same "list of suspects" -- to the larger and very pricey PR and advertising agencies listed as the top 50.
We like a more organic approach to search, and we like to uncover some of the gems that the search agencies often miss. We also like to work with small-to-midsize clients, teaching them the ins and outs of choosing the right agency for their needs.
And of course, the fun part for us is when we're asked, "It's free? Really free?" and we get to say "Yes."
11 / 9 / 09
A win for client Starling Advanced Communication
Lufthansa will be using Starling's inflight surfing service -- a satellite connection to wireless broadband Internet. Starling is the sole provider of the antennae necessary for the service, which comes under the Panasonic Avionics ExConnect System. Starling's first contract, through a distributor, is valued at $9m, with prospective revenues of up to $60m.
11 / 5 / 09
World Series Baseball
Go Yankees!
11 / 4 / 09
5 Tips on agency "tricks of the trade:" Our tipsheet comes out mid-month
If there's one word that gives me the jitters, it's "upsell." This is one of the things some PR agencies, advertising agencies, etc. will do to try to add sometimes unnecessary services -- and fees -- to your bill. Whether you're a Fortune 500 or a start-up just out of the gate, this is one of the items you need to know about.
But when is upselling a good idea? Send us an email and we'll share this and other tips with you. Write to us: joan@agency-select.com
For the record: We protect our clients from unscrupulous agencies. Agency Select works only with agencies that are transparent and we monitor our clients' accounts to be certain the agencies stay honest.
10 / 28 / 09
Tech Client N-Trig: another win
Touch-screen company N-trig signed a laptop deal with Toshiba. The Japanese electronics company will integrate N-trig's technology into its Satellite notebook, which it introduced ahead of Microsoft's launch of its Windows 7 operating system last week. Bravo marketing team.
10 / 27 / 09
Corporate Communications call: "The chemistry was great!"
We just received an excited call from a client, a corporate comms officer who spent today interviewing the three Eastern European PR agencies we hot listed for his company. He's no novice: In the early part of his career, he worked with a major European-based public relations agency.
We happily heard the usual: "They were so good that I don't know which one to choose." He called me from a supermarket ("They make you pay for plastic bags here!") on the way to meet his company's local sales rep for dinner.
Working with an agency search firm should be like working with a matchmaker. If she's got the contacts or know-how, she should be able to zoom in on a very short list of potential marriage partners. Why date 18 people before meeting Mr. or Ms. Right when the magic can happen in three dates with only one day of dating?
Transparency: The initial research segment of the match took us about 40 hours as we worked our way through the scouting and then narrowing-down process, interviewing numerous agencies for size, experience, team members, comfort level in a second language, price point, etc. -- but equally important, seeking the right chemistry.
We've got another trick up our sleeve for this match. This next part of the process is all about the proposal. Stay tuned.
10 / 23 / 09
Cameroon agency search
I'm currently conducting an agency search for an international mobile company that's about to launch a PR campaign in Cameroon. One of the most stimulating -- and fun -- parts of conducting an agency search is when I start to interview journalists.
Cameroon's two official languages are French (mine is rusty) and English (phew). It's one of the best ways to gather business intelligence not just about agencies, but about each country's modus operendi.
The last time I performed an agency search in Africa, I learned that pitching the media isn't necessarily the way to sell a story. Want prime time TV news coverage in Nigeria? All you have to do is pay for it.
10 / 13 / 09
No going back: PR and advertising agencies need "to social media"
I hereby declare "to social media" to be a new verb.
There are still agencies that are advising their clients to blog, Twitter, Facebook -- but they're not doing this themselves. When I'm working on a search, I look for those agencies that don't just talk the talk ("You, the client, should be engaging in social media"), but walk the walk ("We as an agency engage in social media.").
I'm still of the mind that not all clients, especially some in the B2B arena, need to blog. But for sure, any company that's B2C needs to be doing this. In the meantime, when I'm working on a search, I'm looking for agencies that have an in-house blogger or that contract out. These are the agencies that truly understand how to advise their clients, especially if the client has a blog or Twitters and opens itself up to being clobbered online.
If you're a North American or UK PR agency or advertising agency without social media savvy, I need to move on to the next agency.
If you're an agency in Germany or Italy or some of the other Western European nations or for that matter the rest of the globe, you're temporarily excused. Your markets are only just beginning to catch on to the ways that social media can help your clients' -- and your -- business grow.
10 / 7 / 09
Wolda logo design competition: Is this cool, or what?
The level of artistry in logo design is stunning. This one in particular caught my eye because graphically, it was a bit bland, vague, "just" a bunch of blurry, crayonn-y pastel squiggles and seemed so out of place...
Here's the explanation from this recruitment firm: "For Tessaro & Associates, communication is the key to business, and nothing is more unique to each person than their voice. So the Tessaro & Associates logo is formed from a fusing of the digitized versions of each team member's voice.
The logo is almost literally the voice of the company. Together with the word mark - the serif FF Olsen combined with the classical sub-line designed by Prof. Werner Schneider - we get a highly individual brand for a totally unique company."
This HR firm has taken the logo digital but ironically, the company doesn't have a Web site on which to show off their squiggly voice and face.
10 / 3 / 09
Protecting your brand: online reputation management
Whether you're a law firm, Ikea, an enterprise software company, Skype, a restaurant chain, a mobile security company, UPS, an ad agency or an aardvark, you need to protect your online brand. We just found an online reputation management tool Brandseyeand wanted to share this with you. Also check out their "10 Rules to Recover from an Online Brand Attack" recovery checklist.
9 / 29 / 09
I have to Tweet this
9 / 25 / 09
Dear Joan: Our client will think we're goofing off
Q. As you know, in the agency business we use the term, "managing the client's expectations." One of our clients was unhappy last year when the entire office closed down for a week for Christmas. We had completed all of the required account work for the month. What should we do this Christmas to avoid another confrontation?
A. You're really raising a number of points.
Time yourselves. For starters, have everyone on your team use a software program that'll clock their time. It'll also keep you honest.
Plan ahead. By the middle of November, start to discuss the closing and set up a timetable for any activities that will need to be completed by Xmas. Focus more on the day you'll be back rather than the days you'll be closed.
Remind your client about market reality. Do explain that most editors and journalists are also away from their offices as the holidays approach and can't be reached.
Get creative! Suggest a menu of projects that can be carried out in lieu of speaking with the media.
You're also touching on a cross-cultural issue. Some agency relationships take place between differing countries and cultures. Each one of us tends to appreciate our own culture before that of others. Even LA, Chicago, SFO and New York seem to be foreign to each other -- but they do share the same holidays.
The next time you're going to celebrate a holiday, share the good feelings by shipping off a small gift to your client to let them feel included in your festivities, albeit at a distance.
9 / 23 / 09
Cadbury ad
Fallon UK created this ad for Cadbury's to promote fair trade. It features one of Ghana's top-selling musicians Tinny. Proceeds from the sale of the music (via iTunes) go to Care, a charity working with Ghana's cocoa communities.
I like the natural reference to Ghana's famous signage and hairstyle posing. An LA art gallery specializes in Ghana's hairstyle signs, so it was fun to see these familiar graphics elements.
9 / 21 / 09
N-Trig: Another success
Client N-Trig's touch screen tech just signed with Lenovo -- and their tech will also be part of Windows 7.
9 / 12 / 09
How to draw a logo
9 / 10 / 09
The Pitch: "It was a really good call."
I've spoken with dozens of agency people after their call with a prospective client. When I ask, "How do you think the call went?" I always hear the same thing: "It went really well."
This makes me scratch my head. I'm sitting in on most of those calls and I would hardly classify some of them as the very best of connections -- and I expect the best. They're always cordial and sometimes stimulating and because there's already been prior consideration given to chemistry, there's always some buzz chemistry-wise.
But not every call is a Cinderella's fit.
Sometimes the client becomes overwhelmed -- "They were all so great" -- and asks me to make the choice. No way. The client is going to be the one to live with his or her choice.
Then which pitch wins the day? It's usually the agency that's high energy, that teaches the client a couple of new tricks, that's not afraid to give away some creative ideas (how else will a prospective client know what stuff you're made of?) and that makes them laugh that wins the hand of the new wife. Oops. I mean client.
9 / 7 / 09
Mini-vacation in Dublin
Last night I ran to the supermarket and picked up a Ben & Jerry's Dublin Mudslide. (Not their best flavor.) This morning a UK healthcare PR agency sent me their creds (thank you) and when I opened it, I sucked in my breath when I saw this dazzling cover shot, a photo of Trinity College Library in Dublin by photographer Candida Höfer.
I spent most of my childhood in libraries. While I love the Net, this picture speaks volumes (sorry).
If you subscribe to The New Yorker, check out Ted Walker's lovely story "Donovan's Boots" set in Wexford, about a 70-mile drive from Dublin. I read it in 1969 and it's stayed with me all these years.
I'd love to take the time for a visit to Dublin but until then, I can gaze at this photo. I can almost smell the binding.
9 / 4 / 09
Chupacabra
If you're an ad or PR agency with the creative ability to translate the energy of the Mexico City "Thriller" event (see below) and the compelling draw behind the so-called Chupacabra phenomenon, then I may have a client for you. Note: I think the Texan killed a dog and then tried to hide this fact by calling it a Chupacabra. Curious? Go to Google Images or Wikipedia.
8 / 31 / 09
Mexico City: On my list of great places to do an agency search
We're looking forward to performing a match with an agency in El Gran Albondiga, The Big Meatball aka Mexico City. It's a different place than the one we see on the news. Instead of drug dealers and death, it's some very hip people like the ones who organized 13,000+ people dancing to "Thriller" in El Zocalo a couple of days ago.
Mexico managed to break the Guinness Record Mundial (world record). If nothing else, it was a pleasure to see thousands of zombies instead of H1N1 mask wearers on the streets. Mexico lends itself to grand spectacles and death: If you've ever toured Las Catacumbas (The Catacombs) or celebrated El Dia de Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead), you'll doubly get how cool this is.
Note: Mexico seems to have caught Guinness World Record fever. In the past couple of days, they also broke the record for biggest mariachi band, biggest cheesecake and biggest kissathon. Take THAT H1N1 virus.
8 / 24 / 09
Stealth mode
Performing an agency search for Meaningo's dig-down-deep search engine debut in San Francisco next month.
8 / 21 / 09
Client Equivio wins Federal Trade Commission (FTC) account
eDiscovery software company Equivio has added the FTC to its client roster, which includes NASA and FOIA (Freedom of Information Act).
I like to think of decks as a flirtatious note sent before the first blind date. As the matchmaker in the middle, over the years I've received hundreds of decks, usually in PPT form. Some are show-offy, but some really communicate the mettle of the agency behind it.
The best deck-cum-flirt note was from a German PR firm while the most detailed -- it could have stood as a proposal -- was from an agency in Virginia. The winner for best looking deck was a UK financial PR firm.
The most important slides in a PR deck are the "eye candy" slides that make a lead drool.
These should be some of the examples where you've gotten traction in the media. A potential client may want to know about your background and your client list, but if you can't show 'em the goods, which is the reason you'd be hired, then you might as well pack up your deck and go home.
After media coverage there should be at least two case studies reflecting the sector in which your lead conducts her or his business. If this is tech, then your case studies should be tech and not b2c. Seems obvious? Not if you're on the receiving end as I've been.
Finish off your deck with references and lastly, don't forget that the last slide needs your contact details. How else is she going to know where to call you?
8 / 17 / 09
Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" from South Africa's Vodacom
South African ad agencies have a reputation for copycatting. This commercial harkens back to Beyonce's Saturday Night Live self-parody with Justin Timberlake, www.playingforchange.com, and the YouTube video with the guy catching a ball in about 30 countries. I like to think of it as more of an homage rather than plagiarizing, as several blogs have posited.
It's a fun ad and it caught the eye of Skype, which is shopping for an ad agency.
Advertising Agency: Draftfcb Johannesburg, South Africa
Executive Creative Director: Grant Jacobsen Deputy
Creative Director: Neo Mashigo Group Head
8 / 16 / 09
Brother Gregory
Gregory Isaacs is performing in Baltimore. I am green with envy.
I've been listening to his music at least once a week -- since 1982. I
wonder when he's coming to my town. The first time I heard Gregory
singing "Night Nurse" live at a small reggae club in LA, I almost
fainted.
8 / 15 / 09
Al Jazeera: Stop knocking and start watching
I have a lopsided sleep and work schedule, so after being awake all night while performing research, by 6 AM I turn on the TV and use it as background noise. I rarely stop working, but when I discovered Al Jazeera's documentary Witness series, it was irresistible and I gave it my full attention. My first viewing was of a doco on the underground movement in Iran to install satellite TV in the cities and countryside. (The closing shot is priceless.) I used to sit on the board of the International Documentary Association in LA http://www.documentary.org/ and the level of production values, charm, humour and wit of this doco would make it an award winner. Witness schedule http://tinyurl.com/n2tyxc
8 / 14 / 09
What we play with while on hold
Indian Shankar Drum Ganesh Machine [Warning: Addictive]
...multi-touch technology www.n-trig.com A Businessweek journalist is writing a story on Oprah as an early adapter. He's got the wrong girl. Do you have a tech b2c product? If you want to introduce it to a mass female audience, Martha's the one.
8 / 12 / 09
Shibuya University is offering a class on finger gymnastics for gamers
Their motto: Speedy
graduation is not the aim at Shibuya University. In fact, the long-term
student is held in great esteem. The campus: sometimes at a university,
sometimes at a department store, sometimes at a temple. Where do we
sign up to teach comms?
