BDA Winter Update: A Message From Keith Reinhard
BDA WINTER UPDATE
A Message From Keith Reinhard, President
January 2006
As the New Year unfolds, we look forward to accelerating our progress in bringing business solutions to the challenges of public diplomacy. When our board last convened in December we agreed to concentrate our collective efforts on the following five project areas:
¿ Expansion of the World Citizens Guide program
¿ Partnership with the Young Arab Leaders
¿ Continuation of our public policy efforts - Building off of and continuing our partnership with the travel industry
¿ Launching a business-led bridge-building pilot program in Germany
¿ Gathering and publishing private sector best practices in public diplomacy
In an effort to provide a framework for our work in these areas, the board agreed to a five-part strategy bearing the acronym S.T.A.R.S. The five points of the S.T.A.R.S. strategy are listed below.
Sensitize key U.S. constituents to the rise in anti-Americanism and its implications.
Transform the bad American attitudes that exacerbate the problem.
Accentuate America¿s positive qualities and contributions to the world community.
Reach out to business leaders in strategic world markets to build new bridges of mutual respect and understanding.
Serve as the private sector connection for public diplomacy efforts by the U.S. government.
Brief Progress Reports on Some of BDA¿s Initiatives
New Board Member and Senior Advisors Welcomed
Just before Christmas, we officially welcomed Microsoft to our board, approving the nomination of Michael Rawding, Corporate VP of Global Sales for MSN. Additionally, we would like to welcome the following newest senior advisors: Mike Riley, Principal, Pragmatic Business Solutions; Bill Connors, Executive Director, NBTA; Alvin Snyder, Senior Fellow, USC Center on Public Diplomacy; and Amer Kayani, Regional Senior Commercial Officer for Egypt, Lebanon and Libya and Counselor for Commercial Affairs, U.S. Embassy Cairo.
Further we welcomed two new interns this spring: Nicholas Slijepcevic and Kristina Horton, who will be working with us through the spring term. We are delighted to have them with us and please feel free to reach out to them on BDA@ddb.com.
World Citizens Guide Program Expands
In mid-December we received a $45,000 grant from the National Travel Business Association to produce the first print run of an executive version of the World Citizens Guide for Business Travelers. The guide will go to print this week and we are working with companies to identify those who are willing to be the first to distribute and use the guide. In early March we will officially launch the guide with NBTA and partner companies. Additionally, the NBTA grant provides seed funding to finalize the development of an intensive executive level public diplomacy briefing that will be ready for piloting in early April. The development of The World Citizens Guide for Kids and class curriculum pack has been completed and we¿re in the process of securing agreements from states to pilot the program in local schools this spring as well as sponsorship for the first print run of the guide. The second print run of The World Citizens Guide for Students for those due to study abroad will become available this spring for sale online and we are already receiving advance orders on our main WCG Web site: www.worldcitizensguide.org.
Brand Foundations Process Completed for Travel and Tourism to the U.S.
In early January we completed a Brand Foundations process begun in September for the travel and tourism industry in Washington, D.C. BDA received an honorarium for facilitating this process, which first elicited opinions, perspectives and insights from the major sectors of the travel and tourism industry. Next, Professor Jim Crimmins, Marketing Professor at DePaul University, distilled this input into the Brand Foundations and Strategic Brand Concept we presented to the travel and tourrrism industry on January 9th. Students at VCU¿s Adcenter have volunteered to take these brand directions and, in cooperation with VCU¿s Design Center, develop a brand identity for the travel and tourism industry and also develop communications concepts for bringing more tourists to the United States. As you recall, bringing tourists from other countries to the United States is a proven way to increase positive perceptions associated with the United States and our people.
Partnership Formed with Young Arab Leaders
In December John McNeel and I attended the Young Arab Leaders Summit in Dubai. The meeting was highly productive and we gathered a great deal of attention for our proposed partnership and joint efforts. The two areas of interest continue to remain in the professional exchange area and in the sharing of best practices. YAL is now in the process of identifying qualified young Arabs for internships in U.S. companies of six months to a year. BDA is committed to opening doors for these young people. We also anticipate a BDA/YAL summit later this year in New York, which would bring young Arabs together with Arab-Americans and U.S. business leaders for the purpose of furthering the intern project.
Public Policy Updates
As you are aware, we had the opportunity to meet with Karen Hughes, Dina Powell and their staff at length this past December to discuss a variety of public diplomacy initiatives and efforts, focusing primarily on public-private partnerships that we had initiated with the travel and tourism industry. One of the proposed concepts was the idea of creating a Welcoming Ports of Entry Project beginning with three pilot airports. The project has gained traction and was released this week as part of Secretary Rice and Secretary Chertoff¿s new Vision Initiative. We have continued to build upon our relationship with the travel industry and look forward to working closely with the Travel Business Roundtable and the Travel Industry Association in the development and furthering of the ports of entry project.
Board & Advisory Council Nominations
We are currently accepting nominations for a limited number of seats on both our board and advisory councils. For consideration please send a bio, full contact information and expressed interest via email to Cari Guittard, Executive Director at cari.Guittard@sf.ddb.com no later than February 15th. Nominations received will be reviewed by our nominating committee. We plan to convene our board in early March where nominations will be considered for appointment.
The BDA staff joins me in wishing you health and happiness in the New Year.
Keith Reinhard
