Building CEO credibility
with the Cantos interview
By Dominic Jones, IR Web Report Related:
Using
the Web to Rebuild Trust in CEOs
ONE of my all time favorite
IR website features is the Cantos interview. It
is rare for a new Web practice to come along and
be so perfect right out of the starting gate.
But the Cantos interview did that three years
ago, and it remains today one of the best features
any IR website can have.
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The
"Cantos Interview" is
the standard by which all company-sponsored
executive interviews are judged.
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The Cantos interview is a five to 15-minute
video interview with a public company's CEO
— and often the CFO as well — that
is usually released online immediately after
a company announces its quarterly results. They
are mostly found on British and some European
companies' websites, and are co-produced with
companies by London-based Cantos
Communications.
The interviews are enormously effective communications
tools for companies, giving their executives
an opportunity to communicate directly with
investors immediately the quarterly news is
out in the market. They can be a key tool for
helping CEOs to communicate more effectively
and rebuild
trust with investors.
A Cantos interview is also compelling website
content for investors and shareholders, especially
for those who value a more strategic, longer-term
focus that CEOs tend to be good at. Cantos says
the interviews attract four to 10 times the
audience of a typical analyst call or presentation.
Although they are essentially public relations
pieces, the interviews are made credible because
of good, relevant questions. This is likely
because the Cantos producers and interviewers
have a TV journalism background. This results
in productions that are more focused
than most analyst conference calls, which often
can be unfocused, long-winded and absorbed in
minutia.
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| Beer
giant SABMiller (ranking)
was one of the earliest users of Cantos
interviews. |
Cantos got it right from
the start
All credit to Cantos Communications for defining
this piece of Web-based communication because
although some preceded and others have followed,
the "Cantos Interview" is the standard
by which all company-sponsored executive interviews
are judged.
Importantly, the firm has from the start observed
good usability principles in its products. Most
notable are the printable text transcripts
that accompany each interview. The firm also
counsels clients against requiring users to
register to view the interviews, which is another
good bit of usability advice.
However, the true Cantos cache is the objective,
unscripted tone of most interviews. This adds
credibility to the companies that are paying
for their production. It takes a certain confidence
and openness to be willing to pay to have someone
fire tough questions at your CEO. And in that
sense, just having a Cantos interview on your
site has become something of a credibility builder
in itself.
The journalistic quality is something Cantos
got right at the start and, thankfully, has
stuck with. This is achieved because Cantos
maintains control over the questions. The interviewees,
while aware of the topics to be covered, aren't
aware of the actual questions ahead of time.
The result is interviews that have a rare authenticity
given that they are paid for by the companies
themselves.
How the interviews are
produced
I asked Cantos to provide me with a description
of their production process and costs. They
sent me a detailed explanation that basically
breaks down like this:
Preparation
Preparation should start a few weeks ahead of
filming, although for deals or crises this can
be compressed to just one day or just a few
hours. Preparation includes planning the logistics
— locations, cameras, number of interviewees,
translation or subtitling requirements and distribution
of the content — and readying the questions.
Cantos puts the questions together based on
a review of independent research, media coverage,
broker research notes and the draft announcement
press release. These are then discussed with
the company's IR or communications team. Interviews
are not scripted and interviewees don't usually
know the actual questions in advance - although
key topics of discussion are agreed on before
the interview.
Cantos works with the company's web team and/or
external advisors to discuss how to integrate
and promote the Cantos interview on the company's
website to attract viewers when they arrive
on the IR homepage. The company might also provide
media coaching for executives to help them improve
their on-camera performance.
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It
takes a certain confidence and
openness to be willing to pay
to have someone fire tough questions
at your CEO.
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Filming
The Cantos interview is filmed the day before
the release of the announcement. This requires
Cantos to work as a trusted advisor under strict
confidentiality. Interviews are normally either
a one or two camera shoot. The Cantos team goes
to the client, usually to their offices or to
their PR company or broker's office.
The filming process is designed to create little
disruption for management in what is already
a very busy, pre-announcement schedule. The
Cantos team arrives an hour before to set up
and get everything ready. Filming can take from
30 minutes to a couple of hours for multiple
interviews but is normally around one hour.
Editing is done immediately after filming,
on-site, using laptops. Sign-off is done immediately
after editing, on-site. In most cases, the company
and its legal advisors can view and approve
the final cut within two hours of filming.
Media encoding and
hosting
The interview is encoded in the various media
formats, transcripts are written, and web pages
are fine-tuned overnight. This is usually done
at Cantos's office but they have been known
to do so at short notice on the laptops and
upload the content to their servers via the
Internet from the client's office or from a
hotel room.
Release
The interview is released on the client site
and on Cantos.com within minutes of the corresponding
announcement, often hours before any analyst,
media presentation or conference call, and hours
before the media and the sell-side have put
their own spin on the story.
The interview is also available through Reuters
3000Xtra and on 3 mobile phones in the U.K.
The transcript is carried verbatim by Dow Jones
Newswires to their 340,000 terminals worldwide.
U.K. companies tend to release announcements
around 7:00 am local time. Usually, the Cantos
interview is published immediately afterwards
and its publication is itself subject of a separate
announcement over the major newswires. The announcement
is supplemented by email alerts to registered
Cantos viewers and additional company followers.
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| By keeping
the questions relevant and straightforward,
Cantos interviews build credibility. |
Cantos says this timeliness allows the companies
to set the agenda from the outset and allows
for a level-playing field across all audiences
- investment professionals, media, business,
employees, private investors and the general
public.
The interviews are often "repurposed,"
with additional delivery on company intranets,
CD-ROMs and broadcasts at live events.
Feedback
Qualitative and quantitative feedback and analysis
of the viewership is provided after two days
and a month following the interview release.
A sample of institutional viewers is called
for qualitative feedback. Feedback is compiled
in formal reports and presented to the company.
Interview views range from a minimum of around
600 to several thousands. On average, 65-85%
of web views originate on the company website
and 15-35% on the Cantos website.
Cantos says that about 30% of views are to
the transcript while 70% are to various streaming
formats. The choice of media varies based on
many factors including viewer personality, familiarity
with the company, subject matter, and firewall
and bandwidth issues.
Some analysts go straight for the transcript,
first thing in the morning, to make sure they
haven't missed any material information, while
others prefer watching the video for body language
and texture. Some will watch the first few minutes
on video and read the rest. Others will listen
to the audio stream while their pour over the
press release, says Cantos.
What do they cost?
Like anything truly good, the Cantos interview
doesn't come cheap. The company employs a multidisciplinary
team of 35 professionals who take care of everything
from communication strategy, interviewing, to
media encoding and web traffic analysis.
According to the company, a standard 10- to
12-minute interview with single-camera and no
significant travel, the all-inclusive fee is
£15,000 ($28,000 USD), or £17,500
($32,500 USD) if both the CEO and CFO are interviewed.
A separate service for small-cap companies
just being launched costs £6,000 ($11,000
USD) all-inclusive. Interviews for internal
not external purposes are cheaper because they
do not include the distribution and feedback
part of the service.
For some companies it may be possible to produce
something internally that is as good as the
Cantos interview. Mostly though, I doubt that's
possible given the tendency of company employees
to be overly sensitive to their executives.
Most companies, particularly North American
and Japanese companies, invest far too little
time and money in their websites relative to
the importance of the Web as an interface between
the company and its investors.
In the end, this might well be a case of penny-wise
pound-foolish. Inadequately funding your website
can be potentially more expensive for your company's
valuation if the end result is poor perceptions
of management and a lack of faith in the future
direction of the company.
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