AMEC Communication Effectiveness Awards 2009
Entry Form
Company Name:
Client/Campaign:
Category:
Precise, Insight division
Barclays – Insights for the AGM
Best use of Measurement for a single event
Objective/Brief
Barclays’ AGM was held on the 23rd of April this year. Ahead of the AGM, Barclays PR team were keen to
understand what topics shareholders/investors may raise at the AGM in order to prepare the executive
board for questions that shareholders may raise that were not on the core meeting agenda. In other
words, to anticipate any ‘curve-ball’ questions that were not on the board’s radar so that they were well
briefed and prepared ahead of the AGM.
Precise were asked to provide insight to help with the above objective.
Strategy
Our approach to the challenge was to track and analyse social media as an intelligent source of insight
into topics of conversations, sentiment and discussions amongst shareholders for the 4 weeks leading up
to the AGM. By tracking and analysing social media discussions around the topic of Barclays we could
deliver informed insight into:
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What topics Shareholders were discussing
What the sentiment of those discussions was
What themes and concerns were being expressed that could potentially be raised at the AGM
Using our leading edge tools that spider/crawl the internet, we were able to identify all discussions in
social media sites relating to Barclays on a daily basis in the lead up to the AGM. As our technology tracks
the entire internet, we were confident that we had identified all conversations that were occurring in the
weeks leading up to AGM. We identified conversations in a range of social media platforms including
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Influential Financial, Investment and Banking Blogs (e.g. FT Alphaville)
All other blogs (over 100 million blogs)
All internet Forums (e.g. Interactive Investor, Online Forex Trading)
Micro-media (e.g. Twitter)
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Execution/Implementation
Our tracking of social media conversations around Barclays in the lead up to the AGM identified that
conversations were occurring in a wide range of social media platforms including Forums, Blogs and
Twitter. Relevant shareholder conversations and comments were taking place in over 30 social media
sites with over 60 posts on topics that where occupying the minds of investors.
From these posts we provided Barclays with insights on what topics were being discussed in social media
sites by investors in the time leading up to the AGM. These were
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iShares sale
Exposure to derivatives
Share Price
Dividend
Director remuneration
Asset Protection Scheme
Re-election of Board
Having identified the topics, we were then able to provide key insight into the nature of discussions around
each topic. For example:
Asset Protection Scheme - Whilst the majority of shareholders are happy with the company’s rejection of
the government’s asset protection scheme, a number still see it as a high risk strategy. Comments
suggested that shareholders are looking to the bank to explain the benefits of not participating in the
scheme. Although reported as being to retain full control over lending, pay and strategy in the mainstream
press, several comments from discussion boards suggest this message hasn’t reached all shareholders.
In addition to insights on what shareholders were discussing and the nature of those discussions, the
sentiment of each post was analysed to give Barclays clear insight as to the extent of positive or negative
sentiment around each topic.
Conclusion:
The report was delivered to Barclays 3 days before the AGM and was used to brief the executive board on
what topics shareholders were focusing on with insight into the nature and sentiment of what shareholders
where likely to raise at the AGM.
This proved to be a new, innovative and informative source of insight for the executive board, giving them
confidence that they had anticipated all potential shareholder questions at the AGM.
"The social media research which Precise undertook ahead of Barclays Annual General Meeting was a
valuable means of identifying which issues our shareholders were discussing through social media. It
also allowed us to ensure, when briefing AGM participants that we were focusing on the most topical
Barclays-related subjects."
Alistair Smith, Head of Media Relations, Barclays
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