Archive for May, 2009

Mine Magazine: The Future of Media (and Media Relations?)

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

News for you!

News for you!

Posted by Erin Koch

Slate.com this week provides a fascinating look at a new type of personalized magazine from Time Inc. The magazine, called Mine, polls subscribers on their interests and then pulls content from different sources to produce, print, and mail a customized magazine tailored specifically to those interests.

Slate’s Farhad Manjoo thinks this model has oodles of merit: most Sports Illustrated subscribers probably don’t subscribe to The New Yorker – but would probably love to read that publication’s sports-related stories. And I don’t subscribe to Entertainment Weekly – but I’ll confess I would be more than happy to read its review of the new Star Trek movie.

This hyper-personalized approach to providing content is also highly relevant for PR practitioners. Major hits (such as a story in a high-circulation publication like the Wall Street Journal) still have their place in PR and can make a big impact on a business. But many of today’s businesses are more interested in reaching a narrow audience in a very specific way (think industry e-newsletters or blogs or even word-of-mouth). One of our clients at Gable PR recently told us “I don’t want the front page, I just want to get in front of potential clients.”

This means that the PR approach – like Mine magazine – must be highly personalized. A good agency will first learn all they can about a business’ target audience – and the right way to reach them. Who are the decision makers? What messages will influence them? And, most importantly, what are the best methods (media) to make those messages top-of-mind?

In other words, PR firms should follow the Mine magazine model: poll their clients’ key audiences on what they want, and then provide it – in a format that is highly customized and designed to generate results.

Photo Credit: faeryboots

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Business Week Editor, Top PR Pros Offer Social Media Tips

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Posted by Tom Gable

The recent annual meeting of IPREX, an international network of leading independent PR firms, featured a heavyweight panel on new approaches to PR. The moderator was John A. Byrne, editor-in-chief of Business Week and the panel included senior corporate communications professionals from Bausch Lomb, GE, Kodak, MasterCard, Pfizer, Swiss Re and Viacom. More than 60 professionals from 15 countries and 29 U.S. cities attended the meeting in New York City.

The expert panelists all agreed that major corporations need to invest in building reputations from the ground up with every tool available and by involving the entire organization, from clerk to chairman. Failure could come quickly with partial commitments, insincerity and non-authentic approaches, which will be discovered quickly and magnified in lightning speed through the social media.

The panelists agreed that a key element in PR for the future is ensuring that communication becomes more two-way and engaging and takes on a human voice, avoiding corporate speak.

Gary Sheffer, executive director, corporate communications and public affairs, GE, said his firm has had a tough year. It’s reputation is dented. The economy has gone through a reset and his company is resetting PR to be more human, taking advantage of the “300,000 people around the world who have a passion for what they do” and 500,000 retirees. They have hired journalists to handle the blogging, and the program has been liberating for communications as it adds a new strategic component.

Ray Kerins, of Pfizer, said his company is a “$50 billion start up” with new management, new focus and a new structure. They are focused on fixing the Pfizer reputation. “We make life-saving medicines. How can our reputation be bad?” Jeff Kindler, the CEO, is focusing on reputation being driven by employees, from the sales representatives all the way up. Esteem, admiration and trust are key drivers, plus good governance, Kerins said.

Barbara Pierce, APR, public relations director, Kodak, used the social media to fight back when The Wall Street Journal ran an inaccurate story. Kodak responded with Twitter and blogging. They taped a video and put it on FaceBook and YouTube to refute the WSJ. They briefed industry analysts and used Twitter and Email to point everyone to the video while pursuing a correction with WSJ editors, which ran the next day.

Michael McDougall, APR, vice president, corporate communications, Bausch Lomb, said building trust and confidence are essential drivers of reputation. Who do you trust? This gives organizations the opportunity to be strategic in their communications and perform as promised.

Harvey W. Greisman, senior vice president, worldwide communications, MasterCard, fights the perception that MasterCard is at fault for high interest rates on credit cards, rather than the financial institutions issuing the cards. He advocated using social media depending on the target.

He advised the IPREX members and guests from several NYC-based corporations to look at all targets and how you reach them and plan to engage them. Respond quickly and transparently. He said his organization is even looking forward to more direct communication with its opponents.

The key takeaways from the panel:

  • Focus on building reputation for the long term
  • Integrate social media in your strategic PR plan to get there
  • Develop a human voice
  • Build a culture of pro-active communications
  • Use all the tools available (make video an important part of the tool kit)
  • Listen
  • Be authentic
  • Be responsive
  • Admit when something is amiss
  • Reset as needed

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California’s Election: $15 Billion vs. $21 Billion vs. Who Cares?

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Posted by Erin Koch

When I worked for county supervisor (now state assemblyman) Jim Beall back in 2001, the City of San Jose and County of Santa Clara reached an agreement on sharing redevelopment funds. Government types thought this was a big deal. But as Beall’s media guy, I recognized that no one, most notable the media, would really care unless we could find a very human way to illustrate the impact of the merger.

The answer: having a family living in one of the redevelopment zones speak at a press conference about their hopes and dreams for improving their neighborhood. Four TV cameras showed up and we earned great coverage on the evening news.

This brings us to this week’s special election in California. Four of five budget-related initiatives on the ballot lost, increasing our state’s budget deficit from $15 billion to $21 billion budget. The only one that passed: limiting salary increases for state legislators and constitutional officers in years of budget deficits. Why did this happen? The reasons cited by the Sacramento Bee and others are too numerous to list in a single blog post. But in short, very few voters knew what was at stake in how it would impact them in real-life terms. The ballot language was confusing on each and considered deceitful by some pundits. Then, talk to a voter about increasing the budget deficit and you’ll get a yawn. But show them a classroom of eight year olds who will soon struggle with 30+ other students in their class (versus 20) and you will have their attention.

Governor Schwarzenegger and the state legislature must now make drastic budget cuts – and many in California will indeed soon experience firsthand the personal impacts. Could the outcome have been different?

This is the type of communications challenge that creative and strategic agencies love. How to tell a story in a compelling way that gets into the frontal lobes of a target audience in a way that moves them to act. It isn’t easy. The process requires a committed campaign finance committee to support sound (often extensive) audience research, brainstorming on evocative key messages to bring the issue to life, research into the best media to use for delivering the message, and, most importantly, consistent fact-based follow-through according to a strategic plan, yet one with the flexibility to adjust as the dynamics of the campaign change.

Are you facing a similar communications challenge in your company, organization, institution or public entity? Is your message getting through? Do you know how to bring your vision and attributes to life in a compelling and human way? If not, we’d be pleased to provide a quick Creative Audit at no cost to give you something to think about going forward. Please email me (erin.koch [at] gablepr.com) with Creative Audit in the subject line.

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Paying for Intern Positions; Poor PR Practices

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Huffington Post Auctions Away Internship Position for More than $13,000

Posted by Krista Rogers

Despite the common phrase that is often said to justify a blunder, all press is NOT good press. In an obvious effort to grab attention, The Huffington Post decided to hold an auction on charitybuzz.com for a two to three month internship in NYC or D.C. Requirements include the applicant be at least 18 years old and have some serious extra dough to spend.

Now while the second caveat is not clearly stated in the auction regulations, the current bid for the short term internship is $13,000 with a minimum next bid of $15,500. And you thought your unpaid internship set you back!

Initially, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. Since the money raised will be donated to The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights charity, paying for a job almost seems justified. However, the HuffPost has had celebrity contributors including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Norman Mailer and John Cusack. They also reportedly raised over $25 million in seed money so it is hard to swallow the idea that a mere $13,000 written from a student’s trust fund is going to make a significant impact.

The issue of an aspiring journalist who wants to work for an American liberal news website and has the money to “jumpstart their career in the blogosphere,” is not what we are here to discuss. That is already generating enough negative feedback among critical bloggers and journalists. The question we want to answer is “what to do with PR backlash and how to prevent it?”

PR backlash results from poor research and poor planning. Why did The Huffington Post choose to go down the auction avenue as an effort to drive readers to their site? A lot of the negative feedback they have received questions the logic of the auction. The plan is flawed to the core because the obvious winner and future intern for the HuffPo is not going to be the most driven, qualified or intelligent journalist but instead the person with the biggest checkbook balance.

While I condone inventiveness and the ability to take the road less traveled, it is more important to consider motivation and target audience before executing a plan for media attention. So no, not all press is good press. Ironically, the Huffington Post Seems to Agree.

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How much should you trust the media? Swine flu feeding frenzy raises doubts.

Friday, May 15th, 2009

eMarketer Data

eMarketer Data

Posted by Liz Dill

According to TNS, a global market research company, less than half of respondents actually trust the information they receive from newspapers, online news and TV broadcasts. The lack of confidence is not surprising considering the plethora of overblown and overhyped stories in the media such as the recent hysteria caused by Swine Flu. The Swine Flu story has now virtually disappeared from the media as top health officials have said that the Swine Flu is no more severe than the ordinary flu. According to the World Health Organization, 36,000 people die of the common flu each year and so far Swine Flu has claimed the lives of 23, most of whom were infants or elderly with weakend immune systems.

With schools and other public places now reopening their doors, it’s pretty clear that the Swine Flu hysteria caused by the media is a case of the boy who cried wolf. Seems a bit reminiscent of the Y2K scare. With the public not trusting the media and becoming desensitized when pack journalism drives a feeding frenzy of over-hyped coverage, what happens when a legitimate threat does occur? The public may not take it seriously and fail to take appropriate precautions. The bump in ratings and circulation is clearly outweighed by the loss of confidence by media consumers.

Media drives mask sales

Media drives mask sales

So what is the lesson learned? Do your research and place the news in perspective (one death here, another there, yet airwaves filled with images of people donning protective masks). Check out third party sites such as the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Don’t get your news from just one source – do a quick Google, Yahoo or other news search to see what other media are saying. Check out some of the media critics such as FAIR and Accuracy in Media. A real threat or a ratings grab? Knowledge is power.

 

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Storytelling in a Crisis: Dog Bites Lion or Lion Bites Dog?

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

mountainlionPosted by Erin Koch

In a crisis, the story that is told (and repeated and believed) is often NOT the most accurate story, but rather the most compelling story. This has huge implications for the health of a business.

Take the story of Hoagie (a beloved family dog) and a mountain lion. Earlier this month, reports flooded the internet and blogosphere with a heartwarming tale: A family dog named Hoagie (once saved by his owners from being put to sleep) threw himself in front of a charging mountain lion, saving his masters from near-certain bodily harm.

Yet the warm fuzzy tale, according to this piece in the LA Times, is highly unlikely. Mountain lions don’t typically attack humans, particularly when there are two or more people in a group and especially not when there is a dog around. More likely: the family pet saw and chased down the mountain lion (more likely a bobcat) and was injured in the ensuing fight.

Why then did the story of the heroic pet catch on so fast? The answer, obviously, is that it was a story worth telling and retelling.

How can businesses protect themselves from a similarly inaccurate story spreading like wildfire and damaging their reputation, perhaps irreversibly? Having a crisis plan in place is the key. If Gable PR were advising the “Association of Concerned Mountain Lions of Southern California”, our advice would include:

• Identify and highlight key facts early (for example, Hoagie was illegally not on a leash).
• Use statistics to highlight the infrequency of attacks.
• Identify credible experts to testify about your nonconfrontational nature.

What would a similar crisis plan look like for your business? Which key facts would you highlight? Which statistics would you use? Which experts would be ready to testify on your behalf? Are you ready for the dog to attack?

Photo by DigitalArt2

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Trust, Authenticity, Honesty — Keys to Flawless PR Consulting

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

Posted by Tom Gable

Last week, Gary Vaynerchuk posted a great video rant on “corporate speak” and lack of authenticity in most PR messaging. To quote: “After weeks of being in meetings where people allow the PR team to control the message and it allows brands and companies to lose their soul and message or even worse they allow others to tell their story for them I was compelled to do this video.” You can follow Gary @garyvee.

As a former journalist now with some three decades in the PR business, I’ve found that authenticity and telling good true stories break through the clutter and get attention. I mentioned three excellent books on the topic in my comment on Gary’s video: Cluetrain Manifesto, Flawless Consulting and Body of Truth. These classics show how real stories in a human voice work. There is also being able to provide clients with “authentic counsel,” which Peter Block covers well in Flawless Consulting.  The book applies to all consultants, but has great threads of truth for the PR profession. Here are a few excerpts for your reading pleasures:

Chapter 3 – Flawless Consulting

Being Authentic – Authentic behavior with a client means you put into word what you are experiencing with the client as you work. This is the most powerful thing you can do to have the leverage you are looking for and to build client commitment.

It is a mistake to assume that clients make decisions to begin projects and use consultants based purely on rational reasons. More often than not, the client’s primary question is: “Is this consultant someone I can trust? Is this someone I can trust not to hurt me, not to con me, someone who can both help solve the organizational or technical problems I have and, at the same time, be considerate of my position and person?” Clients pick it up when you are laying it on too thick. Line managers know when we are trying to maneuver them and when it happens, they trust us a little less.

Lower trust tends to lower leverage and lower client commitment. Authentic behavior leads to higher trust, higher leverage and higher client commitment. Authentic behavior also has the advantage of being incredibly simple. It is to literally put into words what you are experiencing.

Client says: To really understand this problem, you have to go back thirty-five years when this operation was set up.

Authentic consultant response: You are giving me a lot of detail. I am having trouble staying with your narrative. I am eager to get to the current key issues. What is the key problem now?

Client says: If you will just complete your report of findings, my management group and I will meet later to decide what to do and evaluate the results.

Authentic consultant response: You are excluding me from the decision on what to do. I would like to be included in that meeting, even if including me means some inconvenience for you and your team.

In these examples, each initial client statement acts to keep the consultant distant in some way. Each is a subtle form of resistance to the consultant’s intervention and serves to reduce its impact. The non-authentic consultant responses deal indirectly and impersonally with the resistance (silence, acquiescence). They make it easier for the client to stay distant and treat the consultant’s concerns in a procedural way. The authentic responses focus on the relationship between the consultant and the client and force the client to give importance to the consultant’s role and wants for the project.

Authentic behavior by the consultant is an essential first part to operating flawlessly.

Used with Permission of the Publisher, Pfeiffer, A John Wiley & Sons imprint, copyright 1999.

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Obama Staffer Resigns Over Air Force One NYC Fly-Over Blunder

Friday, May 8th, 2009

Posted by Tom Gable

The New York Times today reported the resignation of Louis Caldera, the point person on the incident where Air Force One flow low over the New York City to create a photo opportunity and scared millions. President Obama called for a review of the incident. Today, the White issued a seven-page review along with the photograph. The memorandum from deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina, said that “structural and organizational ambiguities” in the White House Military Office led to a series of miscommunications and a lack of public notification.

“If he (Louis Caldera) had been aware that the flight would cause so much trouble or any embarrassment to the president or to the White House,” the report said, “he never would have allowed it to go forward.”

No kidding! In putting this idea together, Caldera and his colleagues must have been living in White House LaLaLand, where one can do no wrong in the most powerful office on earth. I doubt the White House press staff was involved. If they had been, a routine pre-event analysis would have made the risks abundantly clear and Caldera would have never authorized the flight. For details and ideas on creating your own pre-flight check list on special events, see the earlier post on April 30.

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Branding South Korea: Better Than the North?

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Posted by Tom Gable

The Los Angeles Times ran a story Sunday on how South Korea is spending millions of dollars to develop a national brand. The headline: “How about, ‘South Korea: Way better than you think it is’?”

The story noted:
• 40 percent of foreigners polled on country image cited its lack of “charm.”
• It is linked to North Korea, rogue nation headed by the bizarre Kim Jong Il.
• South Korea ranked 33 of 50 nations in a recent Nation Brands Index (Germany was No. 1, the United States No. 7).
• It has formed a Presidential Council on Nation Branding with a goal of moving to 15th place by 2013.
• The government also wants to “globalize” Korean cuisine, moving it to among the world’s top five by 2017.

Will a few slogans and expensive promotional and advertising programs move the image in the desired direction?

Euh Yoon-dae, head of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding, was quoted as saying: “We’re trying to advance the identity of Korea. It’s the substance rather than the brand itself. We want to walk the walk rather than just talk up some new advertising campaign.”

The branding czar nailed it. The question: can South Korea walk the talk?

Images and reputations build over time based on a consistent flow of positive evidence, or proof of principle as the engineers and scientists call it. It could be compared to creating a great tapestry or painting to hang in the Louvre. Thousands of strands of color need to be strategically woven together or dabbed creatively over time to create a work of art for your admiring publics. The work is authentic, original and compelling.

The process to move image in the right direction is fairly straightforward for a company, organization, individual, cities states and even nations:

1. How do you want to be known two, three, five, ten or twenty years from now?
2. Is it realistic and attainable?
3. What do you stand for (your position)?
4. What are the three or four core values and points of differentiation that support the position?
5. What evidence will be rolled out over time to validate each of those core values and add to the lore?
6. Who are your most important target audiences?
7. How do you integrate communications strategies to reach each consistently and creatively over time to move perception in the desired direction and motivate them to action?
8. What about the negatives? Worst case scenarios? Push back? Criticism and cynicism? Competitive counter-attacks? Lack of core values? Over-hyped attributes?
9. How to analyze and change tactics and strategies as needed?
10. Is the organization totally committed to the program?
11. Are there other factors that might influence the program (economic, political, sociological, etc.)?
12. How do we measure success?

Can South Korea achieve its goal of going from No. 33 to 15 in brand image in less than five years? Some might consider the task to be more like an assault on Everest than a casual walk to Reputationland.

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Remedial Media Training on Tap for Joe Biden, Robert Gibbs After Flu Flub

Friday, May 1st, 2009

obamabidenflu

Posted by Tom Gable

As covered in The Christian Science Monitor and elsewhere, Vice President Joe Biden “strayed way off message” on how to deal with the swine flu crisis during an appearance on The Today Show. He advised people not to go anywhere in confined spaces – airplanes and subways specifically.

The White House press office issued a news release in trying to clarify the remarks: “On the Today Show this morning the Vice President was asked what he would tell a family member who was considering air travel to Mexico this week. The advice he is giving family members is the same advice the Administration is giving to all Americans: that they should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico.”

However, Mexico was never mentioned in the TV appearance. This led to a great exchange in a Q&A session with Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, who tried to keep the Mexico spin going. A savvy reporter read directly from what Biden had said.

“I understand what he said, and I’m telling you what he meant to say,” Gibbs said.

This will help him land in the next edition of “The stupidest Things Every Said by Politicians.”

One of my favorites from that book: “It’s not easy getting up there and saying nothing. It takes a lot of preparation.” – White House spokesman Barry Toiv during the Clinton Administration.

To that, let’s add a few from Dan Quayle so we have something from both sides of the aisle:

• “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”
• “I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.”
• “I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have is
that I didn’t study my Latin harder in school so I could converse with those
people.”
• “I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy. But that could change.”

Media and presentation training are a must for anyone in advance of a media interview or presentation where there could be Q&A. Think about the future headline or sound bite and prepare the three or four key points you want to make to get to that headline. Have supportive evidence lined up for each of the key points as well.

This approach creates a structure for organizing thoughts and keeping on message. With good copy and research in hand, average intelligence, tough rehearsal with skilled inquisitors, setting aside ego, listening to the trainers and committing to getting better, just about anyone can nail an interview. Thankfully for ongoing entertainment value, a steady parade of politicians, CEOs with egos as big as Mount Whitney, spokesmen for special interest groups and assorted gadflies seem to avoid training, don’t take it seriously or flunk it. Biden and Gibbs made great things happen in the first 100 days. Here’s hoping the trend continues.

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