Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

« Older Entries

Crisis PR: Three Core Principles and Planning Checklist to Guide Your Actions

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Reputation Skewered

Posted by Tom Gable

Most major organizations create crisis plans in advance of need, update them regularly, have a strategic array of tools and tactics ready to go (hidden Web sites, video, audio, fact sheets, media kits) and even rehearse their responses. The better job an organization does before a crisis strikes – or at the beginning to quickly manage a crisis based on sound principles should a plan not be in place – the better the result. These fundamentals came to mind in tracking the Toyota recall, the changing communications strategies and lack of responsiveness early in the game.

In creating a crisis plan and carrying it out in any crisis communications situation, three basic principles should guide your actions:

One – Be honest and stick to the facts. Do not speculate, hypothecate or exaggerate. Those impacted by the crisis deserve nothing less – and your reputation may be damaged irreparably if you aren’t truthful and authentic.

Two – Think strategically about the long-term. It is too easy to be reactionary, get caught up in the grinding short-term pressures of the situation and scurry to respond to those demanding answers from every quarter. What do you stand for? What are your core values? Your culture? Are your responses to the crisis consistent with these values and authentic – no hype? How will your actions today be viewed a year from now? Five years from now?

Three – Maintain unified and consistent communications during implementation of your plan. Nothing will erode your credibility faster than conflicting messages coming from different sources within your organization (be aware that the media – and class action attorneys in some cases – will pursue every angle in search of controversy, unethical behavior or criminal intent).

Another key factor for launching a crisis plan: speed of response. As witnessed with the issues swirling around Toyota as it sank deeper into a crisis PR vortex, lack of pro-active communications resulted in the news media, elected officials and other outside sources taking control of the message momentum. Instead of being fast and responsive, Toyota seemed to adopt the Three S Strategy: be silent, slow and stonewall.

Crisis PR is a team sport that requires a great play book. As a starting point for creating your own plan, Gable PR has developed a detailed checklist (click here) to guide any organization through the essential elements required. Think of it as a critical pre-flight check list. From this start, any organization can adapt it and keep it evolving to keep up with the changing requirements for communicating in the nanosecond news cycle spawned by Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and traditional media embracing 24/7 coverage.

Depending on each crisis, some areas will require more research, planning and action than others. Please take a look at the list and let me know what else might be added, enhanced, edited, deleted or explained more clearly. Crisis PR, to borrow a line from Ernest Hemingway, is something of a moveable feast and the goal is to take charge of the menu.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Crisis PR, Horizon Management, In the Beginning, Team Play | No Comments »

Beyond Crisis PR: Can Toyota Change Its DNA?

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Road to Recall

Posted by Tom Gable

The Toyota crisis PR case is not just about the recent recalls, global media scrutiny and potential Congressional action in the U.S. It has metastasized from neglected issues within the body corporate to impact vital functions in every fiber of the Toyota being.

Possible deeper issues were discovered by Ken Bensinger of the LA Times and others in major media. He started following the case after an off-duty CHP patrolman and three family members died when the accelerator stuck on their Toyota and they crashed in rural San Diego County in August 2009. Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, apologized. Soon, Toyota recalled 4.3-million-vehicles, its largest recall ever.

As outlined in an interview with the NPR affiliate KPBS in San Diego, Bensinger and his LA Times colleagues started probing. They found issues going back to 2001, 2007 and 2009. Toyota talked about floor mats as one cause, then the next day said there were issues with a sticking accelerator pedal. Analysts thought the answers didn’t add up and began asking about design flaws in the electronic throttle system. Were there deeper problems that Toyota wasn’t addressing?

Bensinger said Toyota talked about quality and safety but seemed to be ignoring problems. He said they practiced global “obfuscation” and he then walked the KPBS listeners through a litany of Toyota transgressions over the past decade.

The problem from a PR standpoint wasn’t just obfuscation and a pattern of not dealing with the issues in a forthright manner. As I noted in the same interview, the issues go into the heart and soul of the corporation. What does Toyota stand for? What are its values? Those are the first questions corporations need to ask themselves if they are going to position themselves above the competition. Then, can they deliver on the promise?

If Toyota stresses quality and safety, can it relaunch and walk the talk over time? Can it invest in image as a part of corporate strategy, not in stonewalling, silence and slow responses?

The Wall Street Journal in an essay on Feb. 6 identified deep cultural factors to be overcome:

In Japan there is a proverb, “If it stinks, put a lid on it.” Alas, this seems to have been Toyota’s approach to its burgeoning safety crisis, initially denying, minimizing and mitigating the problems involving brakes that don’t brake and accelerators that have a mind of their own. President Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder, was MIA for two weeks and the company has appeared less than forthcoming about critical safety issues, risking the trust of its customers world-wide.

This has been a public-relations nightmare for Toyota, as its brand name has been synonymous with quality and reliability. Crisis management does not get any more woeful than this and the cost of this bungling so far—the initial $2 billion recall and the loss of 17% of share value since Jan. 21, when the gas-pedal recall was announced—is only a down payment on the final tally. The recall will surely expand, including cars produced in Japan. Lawsuits are being filed and an expensive settlement looms. And then there are the idle factories and empty showrooms to account for.

It is not surprising that Toyota’s response has been dilatory and inept, because crisis management in Japan is grossly undeveloped. Over the past two decades, I cannot think of one instance where a Japanese company has done a good job managing a crisis. The pattern is all too familiar, typically involving slow initial response, minimizing the problem, foot dragging on the product recall, poor communication with the public about the problem and too little compassion and concern for consumers adversely affected by the product.

The New York Times also documented a pattern of slow response on safety issues and detailed engineering issues going back to 1996 and covering almost every model.

Can Toyota change its DNA? At a press conference in Nagoya on Feb. 5, Toyota President Akio Toyoda expressed his deep regret for the inconvenience and concern caused to Toyota customers. He said he would take the lead toward improving quality around the world by establishing a global quality task force and implement a six-point action plan to improve quality in every region.

Turning the Exxon Valdez wasn’t easy. Check back in two years, which is probably the minimum time it will take to make a course correction, set new plans in place, start building a new culture and generating consistent, positive results over time versus navigating through the rubble from a permanently damaged reputation.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Authentic PR, Client Service Results, Crisis PR, Horizon Management, Hype Free PR, In the Beginning | No Comments »

In Crisis PR, It’s Not Always How You Start But How You Finish

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Shrinking image?

Posted by Tom Gable

The news media, auto industry analysts and elected officials have been aggressive in going after Toyota for its delays in responding to a growing crisis about sudden acceleration in some of its models from gas pedal and floor mat issues.

NPR opined that “the carmaker that could end up doing long-term damage to the sterling reputation it has painstakingly built up for several decades.” It cited a slow response time in dealing with the problem and communicating.

Critics in the story noted that “the worst-case outcome for the company would be if any of the investigations uncovers evidence that Toyota has been aware of the problem for longer than it has admitted.” This implied that Toyota may be hiding something.

The theme turned up in a Los Angeles Times story:

The pedal maker denies that its products are at fault. Some independent safety experts also are skeptical of Toyota’s explanations. ‘We know this recall is a red herring,’ one says. Sudden-acceleration events in Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been blamed for at least 19 fatalities and 815 vehicle crashes since 1999.

Critics jumped on quickly to ask for specific timetables. The Toyota CEO was largely silent (a Japanese TV crew caught him at a financial conference in Davos, Switzerland, where he made a short apology). Toyota then pulled its brand advertising, ran public service ads in major daily newspapers around the country, hired a PR firm and started communicating.

When Toyota went public with a PR blitz, they used their head of U.S. sales rather than CEO. Some said this seemed to indicate that Toyota wasn’t dealing with the issues at the highest level.

“We deeply regret the concern that our recalls have caused for our customers, and we are doing everything we can — as fast as we can — to make things right,” Jim Lentz, Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, said in a statement on Monday (Feb. 1, 2010).

Although late in responding by crisis PR standards, Lentz did the classic: recognize the issue, apologize, empathize and then set a vision for the fix.

Over the years, in dealing with crisis communications issues involving everything from religious scandal, to threats to public safety, to corporate and organizational implosions, Gable PR has found that three basic principles should guide your actions in every crisis situation:

One – Be honest and stick to the facts. Do not speculate, hypothecate or exaggerate. Those impacted by the crisis deserve nothing less – and your reputation may be damaged irreparably if you aren’t truthful and authentic.

Two – Think strategically about the long-term. It is too easy to be reactionary, get caught up in the grinding short-term pressures of the situation and scurry to respond to those demanding answers from every quarter. What do you stand for? What are your core values? Are your responses to the crisis consistent with these values? How will your actions today be viewed a year from now? Five years from now?

Three – Maintain unified and consistent communications during implementation of your plan. Nothing will erode your credibility faster than conflicting messages coming from different sources within your organization (be aware that the media – and class action attorneys in some cases – will pursue every angle in search of controversy, unethical behavior or criminal intent).

Toyota can get beyond this crisis, recover from short-term damage to its brand and regain the trust and respect it enjoyed by investing in image as a part of corporate strategy. What will Toyota stand for in five years? Quality, customer care, engineering, design, reliability, value? All of the above? Whatever the vision, the next step is developing a strategy to provide ongoing evidence to support the vision. This goes beyond manufacturing to every way Toyota touches its customers and future customers.

In the era of instant communication, organizations need to take an immediate look at the issues it faces. Gable PR uses a crisis communications check list for starters. In less than an hour, we can work through the issues and determine priorities and critical tasks for action, including the speed of response.

For Toyota, it may have done a fast analysis and then decided to go slow in responding for internal or legal reasons. For the “new Toyota,” it should establish procedures for responding at warp speed to any outside concern. Instead of two days to a week, how about two hours or less, even if it’s to say “we are working on this and will get back to you as soon as the facts are in?”

For energizing every corner of the organization, the management schools have many cases for going beyond PR and establishing operating principles to live by in evolving the culture. What directions will Toyota give to its design and engineering teams to analyze what happened with the pedals and mats and develop new approaches to quality control? For the future, if a problem occurs once a new model rolls out, have rapid response teams with the power to analyze issues and make fast decisions on resolving the problem and then pro-actively communicate the new direction with an integrated PR program.

A pro-active internal approach builds support and understanding, then provides the foundation for launching the pro-active communications program. Educate internal audiences first. Develop a consistent messaging strategy, from the basic level of how dealers will answer their phones and respond in the future. Establish procedures for Tweeting updates as they occur and linking to Web sites for more details. Even if working on the image over three to five years, build a sense of urgency into the culture. Empower people to think about continuously improving every aspect of the business every day. By setting a new standard and vision, Toyota can then set in motion the critical business practices and cultural commitment to walk its talk over time – and finish a lot better than it started.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Authentic PR, Client Service Results, Crisis PR, Horizon Management, Social Media | No Comments »

Weighing In on the Taco Bell Drive Thru Diet – A Belly Laugh or Two

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Worked for me!

Posted by Krista Rogers

Among the top New Year’s resolutions are pledges about weight loss and exercise, so it is no surprise that when January rolls around we are besieged with gym and health-food advertisements. Ironically, as awareness of unhealthy transfats and the American obesity pandemic grows along with our waistlines, the fast food restaurants that have been guilty of clogging our arteries for years are now tooting their healthy-choices horn louder than ever. This makes sense from a marketing standpoint. People want healthier options, so it’s smart to truthfully highlight the healthier menu items. What doesn’t make sense is when a popular fast food chain tries to convince a nation that their “Drive-Thru Diet” is a weight loss secret.

Taco Bell, a quasi-Mexican fast food restaurant, isn’t just pitching its healthier options. It has gone pro-active and launched a misleading campaign with New Year’s “Frescolutions,” and seven menu items claiming to have nine grams of fat or less. Chewing on the campaign disclaimers will probably burn more calories than the 500 calories it claims you will save. How authentic is the diet and, beyond the bun, its Mexican cuisine?

The fine print includes:

“DRIVE-THRU-DIET® IS NOT A WEIGHT-LOSS PROGRAM… TACO BELL’S FRESCO MENU CAN HELP WITH CALORIE REDUCTIONS OF 20 TO 100 PER ITEM COMPARED TO CORRESPONDING PRODUCTS ON OUR REGULAR MENU…. FRESCO MENU ITEMS ARE NOT A LOW CALORIE FOOD.”

This comes at time when a new study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, states that prepared foods may contain an average of 8 percent more calories than are printed on package labels and restaurant meals may contain a whopping 18 percent more.

Bottom line (a big bottom line): the Drive-Thru Diet is increasing belly laughs rather than reducing waistlines.

Additionally, the Mexican fast food chain has a commercial starring Christine Dougherty, who says she lost 54 pounds on the diet. Christine’s story, however, is unclear on the details. Christine says that she reduced her total daily calorie intake by 500 calories to 1,250 calories by choosing Fresco items and “making other sensible choices” (sharing Fresco items with companions?).

The restaurant’s creative and long-standing slogan “Think Outside the Bun,” is clever and relevant, however the diet program seems to lose sight of its target audience, those in search of filling ground beef tacos and burritos from the “late night menu” and “4th meal” categories.

Lessons learned? Fast food restaurants will never be considered a healthy diet option or a great stop along the road to weight loss. Taco Bell may be joining other fast food chains in offering healthy choices to offset criticism and possible government regulation. That can be done, but without the hype. Be authentic, clearly present the facts and be creative with your key messages, themes and keep your core values in mind in all that you do. If you stray too far, instead of getting people to “Think Outside the Bun,” you may convince them to go elsewhere. As the saying goes, here today, gone tamale.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Authentic PR, Client Service Results, Hype Free PR, The Light Side | No Comments »

The external PR image audit: quick benchmark, reality test for measuring reputation

Friday, December 4th, 2009

The Ears Have It

The Ears Have It

Posted by Tom Gable

Client relations and finding new ways of measurement were two key issues facing PR firms based on results of a recent PRSA Counselors Academy survey which was released at the International Conference in San Diego. Connecting better with clients through an internal audit and other methods was recommended in the previous posting and in a talk to the conference. For developing valuable insights into image and the competitive environment, conduct an external audit, Although not new (probably first done by Edward Bernays), it can be done quickly, at far less expense than many other forms of qualitative research and will provide insights you can use in developing brilliant long-term plans for your clients.

Where internal audits delve into the soul and culture of an organization, external audits can probe the perceptions of media, analysts, customers, suppliers, academicians and visionaries in the space, serving as a reality test of the quality of a client’s image. As we found in some cases at Gable PR, the results can be a rude awakening.

Popping Bubbles (and organizational charts)

Gable PR was working with a scientific and research institution that was incredibly full of itself. An external audit showed it to be held in much lower esteem than several competing institutions. The findings helped get management focused on a program to first change their culture, planning processes and internal communications before getting pro-active with a new public relations program aimed at raising reputation to new heights. With one software company, the media thought that it had gone bankrupt because it hadn’t issued updated software in 18 months, much less a news release.

The best external audits are conducted by skilled interviewers and without the participants knowing the identity of the client. The audits can be positioned as gathering information for a marketing study to be published in a trade journal (which we often do). Stress confidentiality and anonymity to encourage candor and promise to send a copy of the results.

Start with a 30,000-foot question that establishes the focus of the research, such as: “In looking at companies in the accounting software (biotech screening, wet suit manufacturing, real estate development, etc.) field, who is the industry leader?”

The Qualities of Leadership?

The respondent may mention more than one. Pick one and ask: “What are the attributes that make them a leader?” If they make general statements like “quality,” probe deeper; do the same for categories such as technology, science, people, financial strength and culture (“Tell me more about the people.”).

Then, look at the flip side: “Any negatives?” Become an investigate reporter, of sorts. “Anything they need to change?” Open-ended questions work wonders.

Have a list of other companies in the field to ask about, including your client, and move through a reasonable number. “What about HyperGalactic Turboware?” “Effluvia BioDiagnostics?” “Are you familiar with the NanoMolecular Research Institute of Fleem? Your thoughts?” Delving into three or four, including your client, will provide a reasonable number for analysis.

With just seven or eight smart open-ended questions, a skilled interviewer will secure sterling insights into perceptions from the outside world. Move toward closure with a big picture question such as: “What are the two or three biggest issues facing the industry in the next two years?” And: “Anything else you would care to add?”

The Message Not the Messenger

Once the audits are complete, create a master document with all the answers inserted randomly after each question. Don’t include attribution. By mixing up the answers and eliminating sources, the focus is on perceptions and messages, not the messenger.

Conduct a gap analysis with the internal audit. How do perceptions line up? What exists? More importantly, where do you need to go?

At this stage, the PR firm can use the findings to brainstorm on recommended long-range plans for the client. Set timetables for repeating the external audit as one means of measuring progress in moving an image in the right direction. Establish other means of measurement, which can include social media monitoring, content analysis and regularly scheduled online surveys using tools such as Survey Monkey and Zoomerang. Both are inexpensive, easy to use and can provide additional insights to consider in your strategic planning on positioning, differentiation and more importantly, getting the organization aligned to move its image and reputation in the right direction.

(For a sample external audit questionnaire, email: tom@gablepr.com)

Next: Basic Check List for Success in Client Relations

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, In the Beginning | No Comments »

PR Releases Packed with Leaders Providing Solutions

Thursday, November 5th, 2009
It's about style

It's about style

 

Posted by Tom Gable

In looking for new content for a speech on jargon later this month, we set up news trackers to see how all the leaders of the world were doing in providing seamless, end-to-end, leading edge, next generation, turnkey solutions to whatever niche they serve. Amazingly, the results mirror those from the first similar survey a decade ago and five subsequent tracking surveys. Every other release on Business Wire and PR Newswire comes from a leader and most of them are selling solutions, rather than specific products or well-defined services.

David Meerman Scott in his Gobbledygook surveys and others, including yours truly, have written about this extensively. For this exercise, we’ve pulled a few choice clauses from PR news releases and company boilerplates and inserted below without attribution. Since they are all leaders, instant name identification should be easy. We do identify one company, because it deserves recognition for hitting the Trifecta, incorporating three great terms disliked by most media into its boilerplate: leading provider, seamless solutions and performance-driven.

The Trifecta!

AccountNet is a leading solutions and professional services provider focused on the financial and government sectors. AccountNet creates performance-driven, seamless solutions that add considerable value, and utilizes proven system-integration methodologies and expertise to help clients capitalize on their existing infrastructures successfully and cost effectively

Whew. What are they selling?

Now, on to more leaders in many niches, with a few comments for the good of the order. And if you can identify any of these, post a comment. The person identifying the most leaders will get an Amazon gift certificate for buying reference books on style, grammar and the new world of PR.

  • the world’s leading provider of high-quality lenticular large format and custom-printed plastics
  • creates performance-driven, seamless solutions that add considerable value (the daily double)
  • (the company) goal is to be an end-to-end service provider to its customers by furnishing customized and integrated “turn-key” solutions
  • a leading provider of affordable easy-to-use enterprise-class systems management software as a service
  • an industry-leading provider of end-to-end web hosting services (they could be seamless, too!)
  • an impressive suite of proprietary products and services to create seamless solutions that meet each client’s highly specific needs (meeting unspecific needs wouldn’t work that well)
  • leading provider of email traffic shaping software (my email is in bad shape; I could use a seamless solution from these guys to get it into shape)
  • a leading provider of electronic engines for the optically connected digital world (would love to know more about this niche!)
  • the nation’s leading provider of cleaner electricity and carbon offset solutions (wonder if the leader in dirty electricity can use some PR help)
  • the leading provider of turnkey virtual communications and virtual office solutions (we could use some real solutions)
  • world’s leading provider of WiMAX™ and wireless broadband solutions
  • a leading provider of advanced font products
  • a leading provider of hip-hop ring tones and mobile content (probably a crowded market where leadership is critical to success)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Authentic PR, Client Service Results, Hype Free PR, Hypemeister Honor Roll, jargon | No Comments »

PR Horizon Management: Pointing Clients Toward New Territory, Long-Term Results

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Posted by Tom Gable

The public relations profession faces many challenges in these hardscrabble times. Clients are holding tight, cutting their public relations budgets or simply saying goodbye. Competitors swoop in, looking for hints of weakness in a client-agency relationship. Business consulting, advertising and marketing firms aren’t far behind, promoting their tool kits as a means of not only surviving but growing in touch economic times. What steps can agencies take to ensure that their clients are incredibly pleased with the work being done, the results generated on their behalf and the agency relationship?

Based on lessons learned from working through three previous recessions (some better than others!), I’ve come to realize that success in client service and retention requires a manic sense of urgency to deliver short-term results combined with a disciplined approach to creativity and long-range planning. Smart agencies provide clients with ideas and strategic plans that will be generating results six, nine and twelve months into the future. The best way to get the agency or in-house team pointed in the right direction and taking action: create a system and process to drive results.

Developing Your System

At Gable PR, we experimented with different approaches in the 1992 recession. The goal was to have clients envision gaining market share and mind share from their competitors by committing to pro-active public relations. Statistics from several sources provided validation; the companies that continued marketing in troubled times grew faster than those who didn’t. We began calling our system “horizon management” and worked to get the client on board for sailing together toward new and beneficial destinations.

As recently presented during a recent PRSA Webinar and based on longer lessons found in The PR Client Service Manual, pro-active systems work best with an interactive team process; the more brainpower the better. One approach is to hold regular meetings every Monday to update on all client activities. For long-term impact, use the meeting to brainstorm new ideas for each client on a rotating basis. Chose one client or two as the subjects for the next meeting. Have the team leader or account manager review background information in advance of the session, including client calendars, milestones, known events and activities, conference schedules, editorial calendars and focus editions.

The Planning Spreadsheet

Then, to make it easy for everyone to visualize the flow of activities and critical deadlines, plot your plan on a project management program or Excel spreadsheet. List activities in the first column, months in the subsequent columns over the next year or two and put in check marks to note when activities or events are expected to take place.  A rough sample can be found here on the Gable PR Web site.

Then, during the creative session, analyze each opportunity and see what result might be generated to advance the client’s business, marketing or capital plans, or all of the above. Envision media relations, community relations, investor relations, social media activities, trade relations and public affairs opportunities unfolding across time.

Agency teams can brainstorm on the tactical approaches within each area, set priorities and also get creative in looking at what we call “the flip side” — what’s there and, more importantly, what’s not there? The initial road map gives the agency a simple planning document to track, and makes it easy to take detours and add new side trips while still keeping the original destinations in mind as the program unfolds.

From Brainstorm to Masterful, Strategic PR Plan

With team brainpower, the agency has now created a master plan for the year, with a series of new ideas it can present to the client, implement and keep updating with creative sessions that are adjusted to point to new horizons. Clients get excited. They see the agency as creative, intuitive, pro-active and worth keeping! New ideas can also drive new budgets.

The flip side is sitting back and bemoaning the lower budget and managing for time, not results. This inevitably ends up with the client calling to ask one of the worst questions on earth for an agency: “What have you done for me lately?”

Every agency’s mission, as well of those on internal PR staffs on the client side, should be ensure you do great work both lately and for the long-term. Techies call this parallel processing. Handle the daily tasks with alacrity and skill while working on your horizon program that generates results that go beyond the ordinary and expected for every client. The approach creates value and ROI for the client and relationships that endure to perpetuity (well, maybe not quite that long, but potentially for years and even decades).

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Horizon Management, In the Beginning, Team Play | No Comments »

Making the Online Video Boom Work for PR, Branding

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Getting Visual

Getting Visual

Posted by Krista Rogers

You can run but you can’t hide. The online video boom is here and it is not going to go away. And it is a great thing. Online video presents an incredible platform for public relations practitioners to help their clients or organizations improve communication and tell stories in new and imaginative ways. But the question is, “How?”

Earlier this month I participated in the PRSA teleseminar: Tapping into the Online Video Boom hosted by Mike McDougall, APR Vice President of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs at Bausch & Lomb that answered the questions so many companies are wrestling with.

Mike said online video should be an essential part of any corporate communicator’s toolkit. He really put the value of online video into perspective. It is no longer limited to channels such as YouTube or traditional broadcast media. It is becoming a cheap and effective tool that can be integrated into all of your communication tactics.

To quantify just how much impact online video has on internet users in the United States, here are some numbers from the results from a January 2009 Comscore report:

  • Over 147 million U.S. Internet users viewed an average of 101 videos each in January (more than three a day!).
  • 76.8 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
  • The average online video viewer watched 356 minutes of video in January, (approximately 6 hours), up 15 percent versus December.
  • 100.9 million viewers watched 6.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (62.6 videos per viewer).
  • 54.1 million viewers watched 473 million videos on MySpace.com (8.7 videos per viewer).
  • The duration of the average online video was 3.5 minutes, up from 3.2 minutes per video in December.

Mike was kind enough to share his ideas for using online video to show off an organization’s attributes, all within a strategic plan. Here are his top tips with a little Gable PR insights as well.

ELEVEN ONLINE VIDEO TIPS

  1. Let your spokespeople speak! Be casual and non-slick.
  2. Show your lighter side. Be careful though, there is a caveat; don’t make it too light. Make sure the video is appropriate to the company’s personality and culture.
  3. Show what is special. What could you use to increase internal morale or external interest? Talk about how many patents you have? Secret ingredients in your hotel’s recipes? Brilliant engineering in your medical device? Special relics in your museum? You can even interview someone who has been with the company for many years and share that with the world!
  4. Become an expert. Share your knowledge! (Check out Gable PR’s Guru ™ Program)
  5. Dust off the archives. People like to reminisce and witness a company’s evolution and vitality.
  6. Tap the unexpected. Are people using your product in a different or creative way? Build on that!
  7. Make the complex simple. Let video explain the complex.
  8. Supplement a news release with a video clip or link to a YouTube video to further explain your points and add personality to the organization.
  9. Turn your blog into a vlog (video log). Share your opinions, ideas, etc. through a vlog instead of a blog to better engage viewers and enhance your point.
  10. Celebrate global efforts if they exist. Use personalities and experiences from other countries. Highlight it and show it off.
  11. Highlight success. Milestones are a cause for celebration and an opportunity to say, “Hey! Look at us!”

One of the greatest aspects of the online video boom is the bang you can get for your buck. Grab an HD Still Camera for $130 that will have video and be up and vlogging in no time. Need an event documented at your European headquarters in Germany? Don’t send over a whole crew. FedEx a $130 camera and have the footage uploaded in an hour (or have them buy it there if the price is right).

YouTube experts blogged about three factors that contributed to driving an overall growth of 1700 percent in uploads in the last six months: new video-enabled phones on the market, improvement of the upload flow and a new, streamlined process to share videos on social networks. The new technology creates accessibility that allows for endless opportunities for anyone to jump on board and use online video to their advantage. And it’s a must-have addition to almost every PR communications tool kit.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Clutter Busting, Social Media | 1 Comment »

GM Volt Hits Reputation Management PR Hype Trifecta; Math Strangely Missing

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
What's behind the curtain

What's behind the curtain

Posted by Tom Gable

General Motors held a major media event to promote the 230 mile-per-gallon capability of its Volt electric car, preceded by a “What is 230″ viral campaign.  PR and marketing experts jumped in quickly to question the goal of the hype program for a car that wasn’t due out for one year.  Was it a preemptive strike against other electric cars in the queue? Or one small step for GM in repositioning itself?

The campaign did create buzz, plus questions, criticism and skepticism – the PR reputation management Trifecta.

Even worse, the media missed the big story and one that potentially pops the 230 MPG bubble: the Volt will be more costly to own and operate than less expensive cars getting far worse gas mileage.

The media debate centered on the validity of the MPG claims. The Los Angeles Times pointed out that the 230 MPG was based on city driving where the car might never use the gasoline engine. GM had calculated highway mileage for longer trips but didn’t release the data. Cynics wondered if the number fell in the Hummer range.

CNET raised similar questions about the mileage calculations and said it “begs an obvious question: how can the mileage of electric vehicles be compared to gasoline cars?”

AdAge took umbrage with the “What is 230?” buzz campaign.

“The push was flawed because it was ill-timed, targeted a group that is not likely to be the core Volt buyer and — most of all — didn’t offer enough clues to engage people,” Abbey Klaassen wrote.

Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, said he saw more talk about the government moving onto a 230-volt standard than this being for an electric car. Jokesters wondered if the question came from Conan O’Brien asking what was the new weight of Christie Alley.

Scout Labs, which measures social-media chatter, noted in AdAge that the “What is 230″ buzz also helped deliver a spike for rival Toyota’s Prius, an unintended consequence.

AdAge asked GM why do a teaser campaign. CEO Fritz Henderson said that in order to win a new generation of buyers, “we need to relate to people between 16 and 30. They communicate differently and we need to make sure we plug into that.”

“That may be true, but so is this: At $40,000, the Volt will be too expensive for much of that demographic,” AdAge notes, which gets to the BIG issue.

Surprisingly, if you do the math on costs of the Volt versus traditional cars costing less and getting significantly lower miles per gallon, the Volt loses.

The following table shows the cost of owning and buying gasoline for cars costing $20,000, $30,000 and $40,000 (estimated cost of the Volt). The 48-month and 60-month payments were calculated at 10 percent interest using Bankrate.

For mileage, the calculations were based on driving 10,000 miles a year and getting 20 or 40 miles per gallon at a price of $4.00 a gallon. We rounded off the Volt to 200 MPG from 230, assuming there might be a little highway driving.

In the worst-case scenario of traditional cars getting 20 miles per gallon over five years and a total fuel cost of $10,000 versus $1,000 for the Volt, the $20,000 and $30,000 cars are $16,496 and $3,748 cheaper to own and operate than the electric Volt. At 40 MPG, the savings are $21,496 and $8,748 over five years ($5,000 total fuel cost versus $1,000 for the Volt).

Bottom line: before using all your big guns, tools and tactics to launch a new initiative, position or product, analyze the backfire. Will it be minor, from the omnipresent critics and skeptics, or could it create long-term damage to your reputation and future business and marketing goals?

Four and Five Year Costs – Volt Versus 20MPG and 40MPG Cars Costing $20k and $30k

Car Cost

48

Annual

Subtotal

20 MPG

TOTAL

Diff

$20,000

$507

$6,087

$24,349

$8,000

$32,349

$17,147

$30,000

$761

$9,131

$36,522

$8,000

$44,522

$4,974

$40,000

$1,015

$12,174

$48,696

$800

$49,496

48

Annual

Subtotal

40 MPG

TOTAL

Diff

$20,000

$507

$6,087

$24,349

$4,000

$28,349

$21,147

$30,000

$761

$9,131

$36,522

$4,000

$40,522

$8,974

$40,000

$1,015

$12,174

$48,696

$800

$49,496

60

Annual

Total

20 MPG

TOTAL

Diff

$20,000

$425

$5,099

$25,496

$10,000

$35,496

$16,496

$30,000

$637

$7,649

$38,245

$10,000

$48,245

$3,748

$40,000

$850

$10,199

$50,993

$1,000

$51,993

60

Annual

Total

40 MPG

TOTAL

Diff

$20,000

$425

$5,099

$25,496

$5,000

$30,496

$21,496

$30,000

$637

$7,649

$38,245

$5,000

$43,245

$8,748

$40,000

$850

$10,199

$50,993

$1,000

$51,993

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Authentic PR, Client Service Results, Horizon Management, Hype Free PR, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Update – Aquarium of the Pacific Survey Rises Again

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Posted by Erin Koch

I wanted to post a quick update to our earlier entry on the Aquarium of the Pacific Web survey aimed at helping them establish a new price for their Child ticket.

In addition to blogging about my experience, I sent a somewhat-critical e-mail to the Aquarium suggesting that their survey might be improved. They graciously responded, almost immediately, and said they were interested in getting input from a public opinion research company on how their survey process might be improved.

We contacted a long-time research partner, CIC Research, and they agreed to help the Aquarium make some edits to the survey. I’ll be posting another update here soon on what CIC suggested. Beyond the survey, this shows how an organization can be responsive and turn a potentially negative PR experience into a positive.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Authentic PR, Client Service Results | No Comments »

« Older Entries