Posts Tagged ‘writing’

Quoting the Greats on PR, Journalism and Creativity

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Creative Seeding

Posted by Tom Gable

I was working on a copy for a workshop for the PRSA Counselors Academy’s annual conference and subsequent articles on improving writing skills for the PR profession and had slid into a creative morass. Having been a journalist, I turned to the proven ploy of using research to find brilliant people I could quote, then benefit from the halo effect. The quest turned up a few gems I may or may not use, but thought I would share them for the good of the order:

I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.

– Robert McCloskey, State Department spokesman

It’s not easy getting up there and saying nothing. It takes a lot of preparation.

– White House spokesman Barry Tiov

Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach’s ‘St. Matthew’s Passion’ on a ukulele.

– Bagdikian’s Observation

Every journalist has a novel in him, which is an excellent place for it.

– Russell Lynes

I wish people who have trouble communicating would just shut up.

– Tom Lehrer

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.

– Daniel J. Boorstin

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

– W. Somerset Maugham

Where facts are few, experts are many.

– Donald R. Gannon

What’s another word for Thesaurus?

– Steven Wright

I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.

– Peter De Vries

Don’t use a big word where a diminutive one will suffice.

– Anon

If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: Resist hyperbole.

– Anon

Eschew Obfuscation.

– Anon

Avoid awkward or affected alliteration.

– Anon

Last, but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.

– Anon

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RIP Print Advertising (1704-2010) – and Long Live the Tweet

Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

Tweetless

Posted by Tom Gable

This headline is actually a take off on a posting by Simon Dumenco on AdAge.com in September titled “RIP, the Press Release (1906-2010) — and Long Live the Tweet. When It Comes to Pithy Spin, Should Marketers Be Taking Their Cues From the Celebrity-Industrial Complex?”

The piece was about as deep and fact-filled as a Tweet (or maybe two Tweets). One excerpt:

“The long-suffering, much-maligned press release, I’d argue, finally died this summer, thanks particularly to JetBlue and BP, with a little moral support from Kanye West and just about every other celebrity with thumbs. (Of course, press releases will probably continue to stumble along, zombie-like, for years to come, because too many PR folks are still heavily invested in grinding them out.)”

The piece did generate lots of attention and comments in several PR discussion groups on PRSA and LinkedIn. I commented on the AdAge site:

“Perhaps use of the news release will fade in the puff-filled world of the ‘celebrity-industrial complex,’ where fast, furious and fluffy seems to rule the day. For legitimate businesses, organizations, institutions and even individuals with a need to get out a quality message with some depth and detail, the news release will continue to be the primary means of communication. This is particularly true with publicly traded companies, where SEC regulations mandate full and timely disclosure. And blasting out a series of 140-character snippets of facts probably won’t qualify.”

Many others pointed out the shortcomings of the piece and also provided links to excellent research supporting the future of the news release. Here are a few examples:

“Serious news requires more than 140 characters. There’s a time and a place for a mixture of the methods we use, some are more appropriate than others — it depends on the client, the story, the event, timing, audience, etc. A true strategist knows how and when to pull it all together.” — Posted by Marisa Vallbona, APR, Fellow PRSA

“Burson Marsteller just published the findings of its message gap research (link). They make a great point – press releases are no longer written just for the media. Given how often they are posted by different sources across the Web, customers and prospects might be reading them as much as reporters. Nuances granted (e.g. press release don’t generate coverage, good media relations skills do), this is another reason the press release isn’t dead.” — Posted by Jon Bornstein

“The news release is far from dead, it just has a new purpose. Granted, it not be an effective media relations tool, but it has become an important online way to talk directly to consumers through search. The wires aggregate the news wires, and news aggregators are the second most popular source of news, according to Pew Internet (click here). – Posted by Eric Schwartzman

“Total hogwash. If you believe it, you haven’t read David Meerman Scott’s whitepaper on press releases and/or his book “New Rules of PR and Marketing” covering the new mind shift of PR/Marketing strategy…tossing out ANY long standing tool without realistically understanding your market, your media, and seriously considering some of the of the NEW and strategic ways of utilization is not a good idea.” — Posted by Melissa Freye

“Total overstatement…This headline was meant to grab attention without the substance to back it up.” – Posted by Toni Hatch

“I made my comments known in the comments section of that preposterous post. Anybody else tired of “FILL IN THE BLANK is Dead” headlines? So bait-and-switchy and gimmicky. Judging from the comments above, you all see through it. Meanwhile, here at Business Wire (Monika is vice president of new media at BW), and our worthy competitors, we are sending 1000s of press release each work day. That ain’t dead, folks. That’s alive and well. If you’re really interested, here’s a link to our White Paper on The State of the Press Release.” – Posted by Monika Maekle

(On the Ad Age comment section, she wrote about the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism finding that “As news is posted faster, often with little enterprise reporting added, the official version of events is becoming more important. We found official press releases often appear word for word in first accounts of events, though often not noted as such.”)

The AdAge piece did get lots of attention. There are precedents for hyperbolic claims erupting when tectonic shifts are underway in the media, such as the punditry about the anticipated death of radio with the launch of television or the deaths of traditional print and broadcast advertising when the Internet started taking off after the introduction of the Netscape browser in 1994. The deaths didn’t happen and won’t because of the same reasons the world won’t see the death of the press release any time soon: people get their information from many sources, so communicators need to make strategic use of all the channels, tools and tactics to reach those targets effectively and measure impact.

The press release may see different forms of delivery and packaging, but it will continue to be a potentially powerful communications tool for organizations of all sizes, particularly when the work is fact-filled, content-rich and tells a good story.

And for a few last words about advertising, which AdAge claims started in the U.S. in 1704:

“From any cross section of ads, the general advertiser’s attitude would seem to be: If you are a lousy, smelly, idle, underprivileged and over-sexed status-seeking neurotic moron, give me your money.” — Kenneth Bromfield

Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. — Stephen Leacock

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Editors panel: Online journalism standards lacking; no guarantees of accuracy, verification, trust

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

Daily and Sunday

Posted by Tom Gable

The title of the news panel was “It’s Not Your Grandparents’ Newspaper or Newscast Anymore” and although it occurred in San Diego with local media, one can find several lessons learned with broader implications:

        • - The ability to self-publish on the Internet has created a world where journalistic principles most likely don’t exist and readers now have the burden of determining what is journalism and what is not
        • - Evolving newspaper business models, with 24/7 reporting and fewer copy editors, has resulted in more errors
        • - The competitive nature of the broadcast media can creating feeding frenzies, such as the one experienced when the loon preacher in Florida threatened to burn a copy of the Koran on Sept. 11
        • - Viewers need to distinguish between entertainment shows and news shows
        • - Journalistic standards are lower with online media (or nonexistent)

The panel was held Sept. 17 at a biweekly luncheon meeting of the Catfish Club, founded by the Reverend George Walker Smith in 1970 to spur dialogue and understanding among different segments of the community. More than 70 attended, including community leaders, elected officials, retired Sheriff Bill Kolender and a couple of gadflies.

The moderator was Michael Grant, former columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune and now journalism and media instructor at Grossmont College. He was joined by: Jeff Light, editor of the U-T (www.uniontrib.com); J.W. August, managing editor of KGTV (ABC affiliate, owned by McGraw Hill); Andrew Donohue, editor, Voice of San Diego, 100 percent online newspaper; and Leon Williams, now retired, the first black elected to the San Diego City Council and also the county Board of Supervisors, who has a long history of promoting positive deeds in minority communities.

Grant set the stage by noting that with the evolving world of self-publishing, there are no guarantees online news is journalism – accurate, verified and worthy of trust. He said in pre-Internet days, the news media acted as gateways to screen out the questionable, objectionable, unverifiable and other non-news. Now, with everyone being self published, journalistic principles may simply not exist. (I had one former editor hand back a daily business column written on deadline saying it wasn’t writing, it was typing; glad he was around to make it right.)

Grant, a droll former Texan, said the authors of websites, blogs and other self published information and mostly never been to journalism schools. As a result, it is now up to the citizens to have the burden of determining what is journalism and what is not.

Donohue said he sees “churnalism not journalism” because of the 24/7 news cycle being chased by media with smaller staffs and more pressure. He said if gatekeepers of old had been at work, the preacher who threatened to burn the Koran on Sept. 11 might never have been covered.

August, of Channel 10, said cable beats things to death. He also used the Koran story as an example. The cable news networks picked it up and it turned into a feeding frenzy. If they had just dropped it at the outset, August said, the story would have gone away. He noted the growth of fake news programs and the challenge of confusing real news with entertainment.

Williams said the media has a duty to be accurate. He told the audience that the reporters often ask leading questions (“Don’t you think it’s the end of the earth?”) and complained about reporters twisting things to create conflict. He said the media need to keep their feelings and prejudices out of the news and present the news as fairly and objectively as they know how (in whatever the format).

Light, recruited from the Orange County Register where had driven web-based initiatives, said the new owners of the U-T bought into a losing operation and now wanted to find a way to “improve lives and build a stronger community.” When the new owners arrived, they found an aging, shrinking and dissatisfied audience, Light said. They did research and people were interested in values and improved community coverage. Rather than do incremental changes, the U-T made major changes to give a strong signal to the community. This included a complete design overhaul and making website news coverage the driving force, with section editors later determining what should make the print edition.

On accuracy, Light said the time-honored process within the news business was to have reporters arrive at a different level of trust, based on experience. They would turn in their stories, which would go through the editing process. Does it ring true? Have the facts been checked? Then the story would print. He said news media hear quickly if the are wrong, or if not all sources have been used.

In answers to questions from the audience, he said they have reduced the number of copy editors at the U-T. It was a financial necessity. He said he was given a certain budget for reporting. Under the old news model, 40 percent of the staff covered the news and the rest was infrastructure, including copy editors and editors. Now, they’ve reduced the number of copy editors to increase the number of reporters in the field and improve community coverage.

There will be a spike in errors, he noted, but they will be cosmetic. The reporters are getting closer to each community they serve, which he believes will be well received. He said he likes the online comments to stories because they help the media learn. But he hopes to eliminate anonymous postings.

The panel agreed that online comments are great, but need attribution. Light said the blogs and the various voices with anonymous comments get into demagoguery. Donohue said online platforms can generate ranting. Since the Voice of San Diego changed to eliminate anonymous postings, the quality of the comments has gone up considerably. They also moderate the comments.

Grant noted that with anonymous comments, most of the harangues turn into people ragging the comments of others rather than the story.

Donohue said Voice of San Diego, the online paper, has a tight editing procedure. The reporter prints the first copy of the story and gives to Andrew to edit with a red pencil in the old-fashioned way. The reporter is then challenged to prove the accuracy of the story. As a third step, copy editors conduct fact checking. They also require that reporters to footnote their stories. The footnotes are hidden, but give the editors of the opportunity to research and learn more. On big stories, the material is sent to their lawyers. This diligence hasn’t prevented Voice from breaking some big stories in politics and education and winning awards. Its processes could provide a model for any legitimate media outlet, online or otherwise.

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Print Media Rising in 2011 or Gone in 2022?

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Maybe Not

Posted by Tom Gable

Will print media make a comeback starting in 2011 or will newspapers be gone by 2022?

Two recent postings questioned the future of newspapers and print media. Joe Pulizzi, writing in Folio, noted that print can and should play a vital role in an overall content marketing mix. He offered seven reasons why he envisioned good news for print in the coming year (summarized here; see his post for more detail):

1. Getting Attention: There are fewer publications in most niches, so each gets more attention.

2. Print Media Help with Customer Retention

3. No Audience Development Costs; marketers can distribute a magazine to their customers using existing lists.

4. What’s Old Is New Again; marketers are leveraging print in their marketing mix.

5. Customers Still Need to Ask Questions. He noted that you can ask yourself tough questions based on what you read.

6. Print Still Excites People: He talked to a journalist who said it’s harder to get people to agree to an interview for an online story than print; people will reschedule for that.

7. Unplug: Joe opined that people are disconnecting themselves from digital media in increasing numbers. (Recent studies show that digital overload actually hurts cognition).

I agree wholeheartedly on No. 6 on the excitement of print, plus its credibility. Coverage in a real, non-electronic publication with a history of competence and integrity has significantly more value than coverage in most online media and blogs (the latter being, of course, fairly low on the credibility scale). Seeing your story in the print edition of the NYT, WSJ, Economist or even your home town daily paper generates a great sense of accomplishment. PR professionals almost expect coverage to land in on-line media, so the so-called earned media isn’t as dear online as in print. Of course the print media have a website, RSS feed, Twitter feed, etc., so you can have the best of both worlds. And it’s a world I surely want to continue in perpetuity.

On the other side of the debate, Ross Dawson, a futurist, was speaking to Newspaper Publishers’ Association in Australia and predicted that within 10 years, mobile reading devices would allow people to consume news on the run and be the “primary news interface”.

He predicted the costs would fall from the $600 iPad level to under $10. “More sophisticated news readers will be foldable, or rollable, gesture-controlled and fully interactive,” he said.

He predicted journalism would be “increasingly crowdsourced” to “hordes of amateurs overseen by professionals.” (We now have that on the web, mostly with no adult supervision)

He did predict expert journalists would still be employed in Australia. Audiences would be guided to trusted journalists by some form of public reputation measures (probably recorded from electronics sensors implanted in our skins and transmitted wirelessly to the Media Measurement Algorithm Monitor in the sky).

Bottom line: this former printer journalist and long-time PR practitioner believes the printed word will continue to be valued by many, most notably those with a sense of the weight of non-electronic media. I read four papers every morning with breakfast and love to see how the news is played, the relationships of stories, news judgment in context and find new discoveries on every page. Sure, you can get a little serendipity online, but I don’t think the medium works that way. I find the printed variety better for scanning and quickly absorbing the flow of news and trends. I can turn a page and scan it faster for information than I can scrolling through a website screen or agonizing as I view 14 lines of news at a time on my Blackberry.

Joe, thanks for the post. I second the motion: print is rebounding — in 2011 and beyond.

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The PR Hurt Locker: Ten Land Mines to Negotiate in a Crisis (six through ten)

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Bye Bye Reputation

Posted by Tom Gable

The previous post covered the first five of ten land mines to avoid in a crisis: guilt, no plan, lack of culture and core values, big hat (no cattle) and CEO ego. The following delve more into hazards to negotiate during implementation.

6. Attorneyitis – This land mine occurs when otherwise good messages and communications that the CEO and crisis team have approved get handed off for legal review and come back bruised, bloated and infected with the deadly disclaimer virus. Short, compelling copy turns fuzzy around the edges. Statements of fact become weighted down with convoluted clauses and abundancies of redundancies (In one set of Frequently Asked Questions that Gable PR crafted to explain a law suit our client filed against a magazine for libel and slander, a sharp 19-word sentence nailing the editor for deceit was turned into 100 words of circumlocution without a verb). The test: read a sentence out loud and if everyone’s eyes glaze over like you were reading from C-Span transcripts or they laugh so hard they herniated, start over. (more…)

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PR News Release Words to Live By (Not!) in 2010

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Jargon for the Ages

Posted by Tom Gable

We entered 2010 with the banished words for the year from Lake Superior State University, an impressive list full of toxic assets that were shovel-ready for burial. To build on this fine start, we thought it would be instructive to offer a quick historical perspective on words most hated by the media in PR news releases.

Some words such as solutions must get dropped into news releases almost unconsciously, somewhat of a verbal tic. Lazy writers sprinkle their releases with jargon rather than striving to develop well-crafted, creative and compelling ideas that capture the personality of the company, its points of differentiation and the defining factors of its offering. Instead, they issue something that sounds like a majority of news releases going out over the wires each day. A test: redact the company name, send to colleagues in other markets and see if they can identify the company. (more…)

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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)

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Newspaper Web Sites: More News, Faster; PR Opportunities Abound

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

LA Times Home Page

LA Times Home Page

Posted by Tom Gable

BIOCOM hosted a panel discussion today on “Social Media 2.0,” with Terri Somers, BIOCOM director of communications and former Union-Tribune life sciences reporter as moderator. The panelists: Mauricio Minotta, Director of Communications, The Salk Institute; Peter Pitts, partner and director, Global Health, New York, Porter Novelli; and Shari Roan, life science reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

The most compelling insights for the PR profession came from Roan. In a few minutes, she provided an incredibly succinct description of where newspapers are going in evolving from old to new models and incorporating social media to drive change:

  • The Web site is now their main product, not the print edition.
  • Most readers come from the Web.
  • As a result, the L.A. Times now reaches broader, more diverse audiences.
  • The Web site has 10 to 15 times more content than the print edition, which has its obvious production and distribution limitations.
  • They have more than 100 blogs, so can cover issues and ideas that wouldn’t typically get into the newspaper because of the size of the news hole.
  • With blogs, there are more opportunities to tell your stories and also stimulate comments, which help gauge public interest.
  • The blogs provide short snippets of news and are not fully reported out. They try to be fast in getting out the news and then provide links to stories or sources with more detail.
  • The beat reporters, such as those in sports, use Twitter to provide up-to-the-minute coverage. This has been valuable in covering breaking news, such as the recent fires near Los Angeles.
  • Twitter is used to Tweet on headlines and link back to the Web page.
  • Social media has made journalism more of a two-way street; they can engage with readers.
  • With an unlimited news hole on the Web, there is a greater need for visuals, including video.

Thanks to Roan for these important insights, including the latter. PR professionals, many of whom came out of print journalism (including yours truly), tend to think in terms of the printed word. Creating a visual communications strategy with Web sites, Facebook, You Tube, Flick, Twitter and all other tools and tactics can provide new power to any program, particularly those with difficult stories to tell in print but that can be covered in a three-minute video.

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Bulldog Reporter Panel: Tips on Writing for the Web, New Media

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Posted by Tom Gable

I participated in a lively Bulldog Reporter audio conference on “Advanced PR Writing for the Web: New Media Wordsmiths Reveal Copywriting Secrets to Grow.”

The 90-minute session was packed with good advice and enhanced with Tweets from participants and the audience (search for the hashtag #webwrite). Moderated by Jon Greer, it featured: Don Bates, Instructor and Founding Director, Master’s Degree Program in Strategic Public Relations, The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, @batesdon1; Debbie Weil, Corporate & CEO Blogging Consultant; Author, “The Corporate Blogging Book,” @debbieweil; Sarah Skerik, Vice President, Distribution Services, PR Newswire, @SarahSkerik; Ken O’Quinn, Corporate Writing Coach, Writing With Clarity, @influencewrite; Nettie Hartsock, Principal, The Hartsock Agency, @nettiehartsock; and Tom Gable, CEO, Gable PR, author of “The PR Client Service Manual,” @tomgable.

Common threads from the participants on how to break through in writing for the new media could have come from senior editors at the world’s leading publications: be relevant, useful, insightful, interesting, focused, topical and jargon-free.

Debbie Weil stressed good story-telling – bringing characters and company stories to life – and planning for future posting. Create an editorial calendar for major themes and stories, which can be enhanced with breaking topical news. Ken O’Quinn said to start with brilliant headlines. Think like a copy editor or the editor in charge of writing the table of contents for a magazine. Can you be interesting in a dozen words?

For short items, Don Bates said to be “snackable” – where readers can take short bites and be pleased.

Sarah Skerik provided insights into search engine optimization and using key words in releases that would tie into common search terms being used by media or anyone interested in the space.

Nettie Hartsock counseled against getting too carried away with search terms so the headers and copy turned into gobbledygook. There is also the downside of technical people getting too caught up in the process, which results in what critics call “typing not writing.”

For outside reading assignments, the group mentioned several classics: Cluetrain Manifesto; Body of Truth; Accidental Genius and Psychology of Persuasion.

In addition to the big ideas, yours truly went over the Gable PR seven-point litmus test as a starting point for issuing real news stories with topical, relevant information and evocative and provocative quotes. This was adapted from an earlier PR University teleseminar and workshops at various PRSA and Counselors Academy conferences.

1. Is it really newsworthy to anyone other than the company and, perhaps, the CEO’s family and a few friends?

2. How big is the impact: company, community, region, market niche or category, industry, technology or science breakthrough, nation, hemisphere, humanity?

3. Has the same or similar story already been told (quick database research will answer the question)?

4. Can the premise be supported by valid data, third party sources, real case histories and ongoing proof of principle?

5. Does the company have credible “gurus,” or spokesmen and women who can bring the story to life and become valuable and trusted resources for the media?

6. Can the company be further differentiated by its people, technology, culture and personality? Or if you lined up all the companies in the space would they all look and sound alike?

7. Can the story be summarized in a compelling headline, Tweet or one or two-sentence sound bite or elevator pitch? If posted through social media, will it generate interest and action (Re-tweeting, links, etc.)?

This quick test can help create a smart, compelling and interesting story or posting that breaks through the clutter, communicates to key audiences and supports the long-term image and reputation of your client or organization.

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Companies and PR Firms: Thrilled, Excited With Just About Everything

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Posted by Tom Gable

As covered here recently, we are fortunate to live in a country filled with leading providers of just about anything. We should never have to settle for anything from the trailing provider category (Although we know of some CEOs who could actually agree to be positioned as a leading provider in the bottom 10 percent of the market).

Adding to the folly: many were “very excited” or “thrilled” to be making their announcements of anything from hiring a new sales manager for the adult diaper category, to bulking up a law firm’s litigation practice to reaching the half-way mark in recruiting candidates for a clinical trial (“We are thrilled to have reached the halfway point for enrollment in our XYZ trial…”). Imagine how thrilled they will be when they complete enrollment, conduct the trials and report results.

One dictionary defined thrilled as: feeling intense pleasurable excitement. And excited: being in a state of excitement; emotionally aroused; stirred. We are thrilled to report that use of these phrases fits into a category defined by the media as LAQs (or Lame Ass Quotes), which are usually found in the second or third paragraph of LARs (Lame Ass Releases), a growing category.

Gable PR research into news releases issued through PR Newswire and Business Wire in the past quarter turned up from 200 to 300 thrilled or excited companies a month from each service. The most common crime against clear communications: announcing a new hire. The CEO is always ecstatic because he or she has found someone that actually fit the job description (“So I am excited that Trisha (name changed) is joining our team and will lead Customer Operations. She brings a tremendous amount of telecommunications experience, a proven history of success and her energy and leadership will be invaluable.”).

A bank in California was very excited to be reporting its first profitable month after 26 months of operation. Imagine the thrills if they have a profitable quarter or, shudder, a full year in the black. Neighbors will probably call in the riot police and vice squad to quell the celebration.

CEOs, senior managers and deal makers with lazy PR people as unindicted coconspirators must lead largely dull lives when they become excited and thrilled about:

  • Adding a new vice president of sales in bathroom products.
  • Forging a strategic alliance in selling annuities.
  • Introducing a new software package that provides endless seamless solutions (this is another category to be covered later).
  • A new research collaboration to reduce toxicity in new drug compounds (picture the PhDs and M.D.s in their lab coats giving each other chest bumps and high-fives to celebrate the agreement).
  • Finishing shooting a TV commercial on psoriasis relief (…”we captured excellent footage and are very excited to move forward into post production.”). Look for a rash of press conferences to celebrate actual airing of the commercial.
  • Hiring a new vice president whose appointment “will enable us to build on our current successes and advance our position as a leading edge provider of solutions to the DEF market.”
  • Joining a company to do the job outlined by the recruiter (“I am very excited to be joining the team at MNO to help develop our new service offering that will enable companies and organizations with large market distribution networks to provide their customers with our PQR services.”
  • Launching a new Web site for an Indian casino, designed with “guests in mind” (one would hope). “We are very excited about our new eye-catching website… designed to provide an exciting, up-to-date gallery of all of our entertainment options and is dedicated to keeping our guests informed of every aspect of our fun-filled products” (Can we assume that previously the guests were largely uninformed?).
  • Rebranding a company (“We are very excited to give the company a new name. NAME is a culmination of the deep enthusiasm, energy and experience that we have for our industry, our clients and our community”).

The list could go on ad infinitum (or ad nauseum as the case may be). In future editions, we plan on arousing some senses by including the company and agency names of the leading providers of PR thrills and excitement. Stay tuned.

 

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Clutter Busting, Hype Free PR, jargon, LAQs | 4 Comments »

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