Online Public Relations Thoughts

Cheating And Reputation

2012-02-01T08:29:00.000-05:00

Colleges are supposed to help students develop their minds in an environment of open discussion and honesty. That is why this cheating incident mars the reputation of a good school. If Claremont McKenna fibbed about SAT scores, where else has the school bent rules. Administrators have taken the right action. They confessed to the dishonesty and fired the admissions official who was responsible. The incident is not the only case of lying among colleges, and it raises the question of just how desperate higher education has become to compete for students. Is anyone surprised that students cheat as well and think little of it?

Pity As A Weapon

2012-01-31T07:38:00.000-05:00

There is nothing quite as demeaning as an opponent feeling sorry for you. Mitt Romney is using pity as a rhetorical weapon against Newt Gingrich. It's working. Gingrich brought it on himself and deserves humiliation. Romney is helping the process. There is a good reason for the tit-for-tat. Gingrich proved himself a bully in South Carolina -- and a liar. He won the state with his performance, and Romney couldn't afford to let him do it again. If Gingrich was going to bash him, Romney was going to bash back -- and hard. Expressions of pity for the failings of Gingrich were one more example of rubbing it in. Maybe Gingrich will be less divisive as the campaign unfolds, but don't bet on it.

Wrong Message? Cont.

2012-01-30T07:20:00.000-05:00

One wonders what the message of the just-completed Davos forum really is. The elite of the world get together to talk, play and sup. At a time when the rest of the world is struggling with austerity? The perception is that the wealthy are untouched by the miseries of others and maybe, uncaring. On the other hand, there is a benefit in information leveling, which is what Davos is all about -- leaders sharing cumulative insights. The long-term health of companies and countries comes from the shared understanding that CEOs and politicians take from meetings like Davos. Still, one questions if it needs to be done in a Swiss village with opulence.

The Price Of Certainty

2012-01-27T07:27:00.000-05:00

This is the price of certainty. AT&T was so sure that it could complete its merger with T-Mobile that it put itself at substantial risk. The loss it suffered last quarter was the result. AT&T is an example of arrogance. It would be easy to blame the CEO for the error, but almost certainly the CEO was told by his subordinates and investment bankers that the merger would be accomplished with enough lobbying and working with regulators. The merger never had a chance. It went from bad on Day 1 to worse then finally to a miserable end. AT&T is a case example of assuming what the future will hold. It should stand as a reminder to communicators never to be certain about what is to come.

Japan

2012-01-26T07:28:00.000-05:00

For those of a certain age, the memory of Japan as a manufacturing colossus is fresh. That was then. This is now. How the country has fallen. It is a lesson in the dynamics of global business. No one is safe for long, and those on top today have to work hard to stay there. Fears focus now on China with its millions of low-wage workers and enormous production capacity. This century may well belong to that country, but then again, it might not. China's political structure could ossify, and its growing middle class become restless.

The United States is slowly becoming use to the idea that it can no longer boss the world. Our time of manufacturing might has passed -- at least for now. There is a chance the US can make a comeback but it won't be tomorrow or in 10 years. Careers will be spent in rebuilding, if that should happen.

Why bring any of this up? Because it is a reminder to avoid boasting in communications. A healthy perspective is a humble one. Yes, you might be the market leader today, but what about tomorrow? Those companies that remain focused and moving forward are the long-term winners. Those that celebrate their status need to watch out. Think Kodak.

Shush

2012-01-25T08:31:00.000-05:00

This is useful communications advice but impractical when noise overpowers everything. Look around and watch people talking on cell phones, listening to music on headphones, watching movies or playing games on their iPhones, tapping messages into their laptops or iPads and occasionally chatting with someone else. One has to work hard now to achieve silence, to get time to think. Modern life thrives on noise and seeks to get louder. While this provides more avenues for communicators to send messages, it also means the chance of messages getting through has declined. This is the reason why messages need to be clear and compelling and why communicators need to work on message formulation harder than ever. Perhaps people will come to realize that they need silence and will voluntarily cut back on media, but that is unlikely to happen soon. Meanwhile, we have a job to do.

Baffle 'Em With Bulls**t

2012-01-24T07:32:00.000-05:00

Newt Gingrich has used his considerable debating skills to cover up weaknesses in his life story and campaign strategy. He is like the salesmen in Glengarry Glen Ross who push worthless swamp land on unsuspecting homeowners. He relies on the brio of words, words, words to give a shine to his personality that doesn't belong there. As such, he is an example of anti-PR and lack of transparency, but it worked for him in South Carolina and it might work for him in Florida as well. That is not surprising. Richard Nixon convinced Americans that he was the right President for the time -- and he did good things until he self-destructed. So, it is possible that Gingrich can sell his way to the nomination of the Republican party, but is it likely that he can sell himself all the way to the Presidency? One hopes not, but never underestimate the ability of great salesmen to baffle 'em with bulls**t.

Long Time Coming

2012-01-23T07:23:00.000-05:00

Research in Motion (RIM) has been teetering on the edge of irrelevance since the debut of the Smart Phone. A Blackberry is no longer the leading edge of business communications. That is why this action is occurring too late in the company's life. As co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, stayed too long with their approach to telecommunications and e-mail. They thought, as CEOs of forgotten companies before them, that they could fight off the marketplace and enforce their views. They forgot about the implacable obsolescence of electronics. It is an industry in which one dare not look back, because competitors are gaining on you. In this case, the combination of the iPhone and Android operating system represented advances that RIM wasn't ready for. From a communications perspective, it is a reminder to maintain humility and watchfulness. Assuming technical leadership is a serious mistake and failing to monitor the market sets one up for a fall.

Blackout

2012-01-20T05:59:00.000-05:00

The effects of the one-day internet protest and blackout of sites like Wikipedia are still being tallied. Congressmen and Senators are now backing away from SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), but the bill is not dead. There is still pressure from content creators in Hollywood and elsewhere to do something about theft of intellectual property. So, while grassroots PR and protest stopped SOPA today, something else will be introduced in Congress tomorrow. Perhaps the next time Congressmen will proceed more cautiously. If so, that will be a victory for companies like Google and sites like Wikipedia. There are no easy answers for piracy, so whatever solutions are proposed, there is likely to be more controversy.

Cult

2012-01-19T07:33:00.000-05:00

When you have a "fanboy" following, you can afford to be a cult like Apple with its intense secrecy. Apple disproves the idea of transparency and flies in the face of management theory. It also contradicts assumptions held dearly by communicators. All this can be summarized into a sentence: There are many ways to do succeed. Apple's approach might not work for other high-tech companies such as Dell or Hewlett-Packard or IBM or Oracle. But, it worked for its founder, Steve Jobs, and it appears that it will continue with this management style. As long as Apple can continue to turn out amazing products that keep its base wanting more, there is no need to change. The day that its secrecy will prove a burden is when the magic goes away and its devices and services are not much different than competitors. In other words, Apple has set an extraordinarily high standard in order to succeed. It has had a great run in the last 10 years. There is no guarantee that it will continue that run for the next 10. If it doesn't, it will be interesting to observe whether its culture helps or burdens the company.

Future

2012-01-18T08:27:00.001-05:00

No one is good at predicting the future and stories like this make for amusement later. Extrapolating from the present to a distant time fails to take into account human creativity and events -- adverse and opportunistic. It is hard to say where we will be by the end of 2012, much less 100 years from now. Few could have predicted the breakthroughs scientifically and medically of the last few years. And, there are too many variables in getting technologies to markets, not the least of which is consumer acceptance of them. That is why communicators should avoid scenarios of what might be, a temptation that occurs frequently when talking about scientific advances.

Class Warfare

2012-01-17T07:35:00.000-05:00

President Obama is pandering to voters in excoriating millionaires and billionaires. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney dispatches that talk as the "politics of envy." From a PR perspective, the president has the more forceful message. He is appealing to the largest block of voters who are only too ready to engage in class warfare. Forgotten in the sturm und drang is that most of today's wealthy were once part of the middle class. Through luck and hard work, they rose to the one percent. Most did not go to Ivy League colleges nor did they have a trust fund to fall back on. But no matter. At a time when lower class citizens are hurting, it is only too easy to be envious of those who are not. While Romney might be right in his characterization of what is happening, he is wrong in terms of the message he is sending. Every instance of a millionaire or billionaire behaving badly from now to election day will only heighten Obama's message that the one percent owe the 99 percent more.

PR Disaster

2012-01-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

The Russian government is reacting with outrage over the failure of its Mars probe. Officials are vowing to name those responsible for the errant rocket, and they have turned the crash into a PR disaster for the nation and the space program. Their reactions smack of the old Soviet Union. Yes, it is necessary to find out what went wrong and to fix it. And, it might be necessary to dismiss some people from the program who are not competent to be there, but to pillory them publicly helps no one. It is likely to motivate talented scientists to avoid working for the space program. Who wants to be mocked? The real PR disaster is the Russian government shooting itself in the foot.

Instant Destruction

2012-01-13T07:31:00.000-05:00

The video of Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters instantly destroyed any credibility the US had in Afghanistan. One vile action cost millions of man-hours of meetings with elders, working with the populace and reputation building. It doesn't make a difference that thousands of soldiers have done their duty in the country and treated the people well. The Taliban will use the video to convince the populace that Americans are devils. What possessed these Marines to do what they did? Surely their commander didn't know their actions. This incident is a lesson to every organization that one thick-skulled employee can ruin the efforts of hundreds or thousands. When you have a screw-up in the ranks, get rid of him. Your reputation and the reputations of your other employees aren't worth sacrificing because of one malcontent.

Only In Politics?

2012-01-12T07:28:00.000-05:00

Is it only in politics that humans can make contradictory arguments such as this? We as a Congress are in recess but we're not. Therefore, you can't act as if we are in recess because even though we aren't present, we are. Corporations can get caught in such circular irrationality but they don't seem to do it as often as politicians. From a PR perspective, Congressional Republicans look like idiots, which doesn't help their re-election chances in the Fall. One wonders if many of them are going to return after November's ballot. Polls indicate that the American public is fed up, and there is a good chance that citizens will sweep incumbents out. The president's decision to run against Congress this year will only highlight its lack of action. I wouldn't want to be a communications or campaign director on the Hill this year.

Curious Culture

2012-01-11T08:25:00.000-05:00

It is a mark of Japanese culture that a company can sue its executives, yet let them continue to run it. At least that is what Olympus is doing. One would think after all the bad PR that Olympus has suffered in recent months that the board of directors would want to make a clean sweep. But, no. Japanese must remain in charge, even if they were part of a long-term conspiracy to cover up losses. Predictably, the company has reaped more bad PR for this action, but it defends its position by saying that business continuity is more important. Maybe so in Japan, but Olympus is an international company and its decisions are playing out on a global stage. One wonders how the company can continue with such decision-making.

Wrong Message

2012-01-10T07:31:00.000-05:00

As this article points out, Mitt Romney is delivering the wrong message about his time at private equity firm, Bain Capital. Romney talks about the jobs that Bain created but he avoids mentioning jobs lost and companies that failed to thrive. The point is that Romney wasn't in the business of job creation but wealth enhancement for private investors. If he could have increased wealth without a single employee to compensate, he would have done so. And, that's not wrong. Business is supposed to enrich its owners. Politicians, on the other hand, have a populist view. To them, business is supposed to create jobs for the masses whether or not it enriches the ownership. Romney has adopted this view in an effort to win the Republican nomination. His opponents are calling him on it and pointing out his hypocrisy. That is a shame because Romney has proved that he knows how to run a business. He may not have figured out how to be a politician.

Up And Down, Up And Down

2012-01-09T07:57:00.000-05:00

Stock market volatility has been going on for months now with no letup. Worries include the Euro, the viability of European banks, debt talks and more. One day the market is up because everyone thinks a resolution is on the way. The next day the market is down because no one believes the fix will work. And so it goes. From a PR perspective, it is a testament to the power of perception and credibility. Trillions are traded up and down based on the collective view of money men. Since they have no clue to the outcome of the Euro crisis, they hold their positions for shorter periods and are ready to run in an instant. If they did believe that the Euro crisis has been resolved, they would be holding their positions longer. The uncertainty of the future has spooked them, and they are trading on emotion. There isn't much that European governments can do for them. The route to a fix is slow and tedious with a great deal of uncertainty. Business doesn't like surprises and until the markets are more credible and perceived to be safer, the ying and yang of trading will continue.

Business Decision - PR Problem

2012-01-06T07:24:00.000-05:00

There are times when a corporation can't win. This is one. Boeing in response to pending cutbacks in military budgets has elected to close its 80-year-old plant in Wichita, KS. Everyone is crying foul. Kansas politicians had gone to bat for the company in its long and much-disputed win of an Air Force aerial tanker contract. Some of those tankers were to be built in Wichita. Now, Wichita is facing even more unemployment as plane manufacturers continue cutbacks. This has created a PR problem for Boeing but it looks like the company is going to take its losses and go. It didn't seek to negotiate anything. It made the announcement suddenly and without warning. Perhaps there was no better way to do it, but one wonders.

Practicing What It Preaches

2012-01-05T07:16:00.000-05:00

News that Google had put itself in the penalty box was refreshing. It practices what it preaches. It seems that someone in Google violated webmaster guidelines, so Google has de-linked its Chrome browser download page for 60 days from key words that would lead to it. In taking this action, Google is showing that it doesn't play favorites when it comes to managing its search site. It would be heartwarming if other companies did that, but most are likely to do just the opposite. They overtly favor their products to the detriment of everyone else. Granted that Google is under pressure for perceived unfairness, but an action like this is an effective answer. It is good PR, and Google once again is showing leadership.

Do The Math

2012-01-04T08:33:00.000-05:00

Wikipedia is trumpeting that it raised $20 million from one million donors for the service yet it serves 470 million people a month. Do the math. That isn't a great show of support. One wonders how an encyclopedia that has become an internet utility can have such a low monetary base. Perhaps the answer is that on the internet, people have come to expect everything for free. From a PR perspective, Wikipedia needs to do more work to build its base of monetary support. Imagine if 470 million gave just a dollar apiece. Wikipedia could expand its service for years to come. An optimist would conclude there is upside potential. A pessimist would wonder what happened.

Culture Shift?

2012-01-03T07:34:00.000-05:00

Could it be that movie theater attendance and box office revenue will never grow again? Is the theater industry in a culture shift it cannot prevent? From a PR perspective, there isn't much one can do when the public decides to take another direction. With abundant entertainment alternatives available in the home, going out to the movies may be less compelling. If so, a theater industry that has flourished for more than 100 years may be in a permanent swoon. Movie theaters won't go away completely, but it will not be surprising if the number of screens shrinks throughout the US. It appears that 3D wasn't the savior of the movie house that experts hoped for. And, the prices of 3D movies are outrageous for a mass entertainment medium.

Should movie producers even concern themselves with increasing theater attendance? They are looking beyond the box office already and they will abandon movie houses if their revenues are elsewhere. If I were a theater owner, I would be concerned.

Same Old Same Old

2012-01-02T08:39:00.000-05:00

It is illusion to think that a new year brings change. Clients problems remain the same. The political environment doesn't shift. Nations continue on the same paths they had the year before. So, why do we persist in seeing a new year as a beginning? It is a quirk of psychology to think we can divide life into periods when time is a continuum. Most of us have today off in celebration of the new year. Tomorrow we will go back to work, and it will look as it did when we left for the holidays. That is good, actually. If things did change, we would have to scramble to catch up. Instead, we pick up assignments and move forward. So too with resolutions. Chances are that those we keep we had been holding before the new year began. So, it is a new year but a same old year. May it be happy and healthy.

Taking A Break

2011-12-27T07:34:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a break this week. Have a great New Year celebration. I'll be back in 2012.

Ideology

2011-12-23T07:37:00.000-05:00

When a person's beliefs get in the way of serving the public, the beliefs can turn evil. Here is a case. It echoes what Cambodian communists did to that country, what Stalin did to millions of Ukrainians and Mao to millions of Chinese. In each case, leadership was convinced it knew better than the people, and in the end, they starved and murdered millions. How can such monsters exist? They do and will continue to do so. They are individuals so in love with their ideas that people are simply pegs to be moved about in order to achieve goals. Should these pegs be broken, they are thrown out without the least thought or disturbance of conscience. The only way to stop such ideologues is to take power from them, always difficult to do because power is what they live for. Kim Jong Il was simply the latest in a long line of tyrants. One would hope his son is better but there are rumors he is actually worse. How long will the North Koreans tolerate such people?

Interesting

2011-12-22T07:55:00.000-05:00

This is interesting. Microsoft is abandoning participation in the giant Consumer Electronics Show held each year in Las Vegas. The firm has announced that 2012 will be its last year. Its reason is that there are many more channels to reach potential customers now. One wonders what the future of shows such as CES might be, given that there is less need to go to a place to show off new products. Is Microsoft in the vanguard of manufacturers who will eventually pull out, or is it a one-off whose decision will stand alone? I suspect many PR practitioners hope that Microsoft is starting a trend. By all accounts, working CES is stressful and non-stop, and what one gets out of it in terms of publicity might not be so great.

Arrogance Or Inevitable?

2011-12-21T08:23:00.000-05:00

The news of AT&T's failed merger with T-Mobile was stunning even though it was expected. AT&T put huge resources toward the merger, including a $4 billion payment to T-Mobile should the deal not go through. From a PR perspective, one asks whether AT&T was arrogant in thinking it could force the merger through or whether failure was inevitable given the changed environment in Washington DC. In another administration, the merger might have gone through with conditions placed on AT&T for what it could charge cell phone users. Was there something AT&T missed in its effort? Perhaps, but it spent hundreds of millions lobbying the White House, the Justice Department and the FCC. What it did not expect was how adamant they would be. AT&T also didn't seem to make much effort in building grassroots support for its case. That might have been because there wasn't much of an argument that it could make to customers. There would have been more spectrum to use, but somehow customers would pay for the purchase of T-Mobile.

Whatever the factors for the failure, it was one of the largest PR bungles of the year.

Physics Phlackery

2011-12-20T07:23:00.000-05:00

This story highlights the fact that scientists are not beyond puffery when it serves their interests. They are human too. The search for the Higgs boson has produced its share of hyperbolic statements and maneuvering for credit. And, calling it the "God Particle" is going overboard, even for flacks. But, scientists, angling for bigger and better machines, will go to extremes like anyone else. The lesson here for PR practitioners is to approach scientific claims with the same skepticism that we would approach anything else. It may be more difficult in science because the concepts and math are beyond reach, but that is no excuse for letting an enthusiast in a laboratory claim more than he can justify.

Fatal Puffery

2011-12-19T07:25:00.000-05:00

Monarchs eventually lose touch with the lives of their citizens. It comes in no small part from flattery that distorts their view of themselves and their responsibilities. That is why the puffery of this man was fatal to millions of North Koreans. He was anything but a "dear leader" in letting his people starve. Clearly, he had an arrangement with the military to keep their support, and they apparently are as corrupt as he was. One wonders how long the apotheosis of North Korea's leadership can go before the people say they have had enough and put their lives on the line to topple the family. If other countries are an example, it won't be that many years more. On the other hand, the geography of North Korea is such that the country's leadership has been able to seal it off from the rest of the world effectively. Still, I will not be surprised if in my lifetime, the country falls and a reunification of the two Koreas occurs. Perhaps in the light of reality and not puffery, the North can find a sustainable future.

Bold Predictions

2011-12-16T07:40:00.000-05:00

This study from the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism is bold in its predictions and conclusions. One that caught my eye was the death of most newspapers in five years.with only the largest and the smallest surviving. If that happens, something that is credible will need to take their place and that something is apparently not social media because the study says most people don't find it believable. From a PR perspective, loss of newspapers won't be a major challenge. We will have to work a little harder to find the right media to use, but tools for that are well developed and in the market. It would help if audiences should find social media to be more credible in the next five years, but that will depend on those who blog, Twitter and make Facebook entries. There is some serious journalism in social media. There needs to be more.

As for the other predictions, some I believe and some I don't. Perhaps the tablet will replace the desktop PC, but I have a hard time believing that. I have no doubt the desktop PC will die off but laptops are not going away that quickly. I accept, however, that our privacy is lost, and somehow that is not bothersome.

PR Challenge

2011-12-15T08:32:00.000-05:00

Here is a multi-year PR challenge -- getting drivers to stop using cell phones. The National Transportation Safety Board wants it halted everywhere. Good luck. This is an issue in which drivers will and do rebel. I live in a state that has banned cell phones while driving. I see constantly drivers with cell phones to their ears. They don't understand the danger, or if they do, they take the risk that driving while talking is safe enough. The NTSB is in for a long-term PR campaign to instill more conservative behavior. Penalties and fines will not be sufficient because people will keep an eye for the police while talking. There needs to be peer pressure, the same kind of mind change that drove people to wear seat belts after years of spurning them. It would be an interesting campaign to implement.

Great PR, Again

2011-12-14T08:26:00.000-05:00

Here is an example of great PR and a community service at the same time. Once again, it is from Google. Why do I cite them so often? Because the firm does neat stuff repeatedly. It seems to be in the genes of Google to tackle interesting projects in new and different ways and in the process, burnish the brand. The upshot is that more people use Google, and it maintains a distance between itself and competitors. Not many companies can position themselves like this. Google has made a science of it.

Protecting Reputation

2011-12-13T07:19:00.001-05:00

Here is one way to protect a school's reputation -- buying URL's with .xxx extensions. Universities across the US are buying web site names that could be used by pornographers. And, well they should. The pornography industry will use anything and do anything to make a buck. The cost of protection is a few thousand dollars. That's cheap by comparison to the headaches that could come from someone using a school's name to sell sex. One might wonder what has happened to society, but it is no different today than it was in the past except for the presence of the internet. Perhaps the biggest laugh in the article is the protest from pornographers that they have to spend money to protect their trademarks.

Reputation And Psychopathic Tendencies

2011-12-12T07:48:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting article on reputation and psychopathic tendencies. Whether or not you agree with its conclusions, it is worth reading. A psychopath is a person who doesn't care what others think of him. Reputation has no meaning. If the person lies, cheats or steals, there is no feeling for those who have suffered loss because of the psychopath. Lack of empathy allows behavior that is offensive to society. The article, more controversially, maintains that great wealth, or the prospect of it, breeds distance from others and an inability to understand what others experience. Anyone who knows the history of philanthropy will know that isn't necessarily true. On the other hand, the temptation to transgress social norms is larger when there is a pot of gold in bad behavior. The main point of the article is important. Those who distance themselves from society can develop tendencies to transgress society's norms and are a danger. In other words, reputation is important.

Incredible

2011-12-09T06:44:00.000-05:00

For a leader of an organization to claim ignorance of its activities is a fatal blow to credibility. Yet, that is the claim that John Corzine made yesterday in Congressional hearings. He said he didn't know where $1.2 billion of customers' money went when the firm collapsed. If he doesn't know, who should? Corzine's situation is tragic. He went from Goldman Sachs to a senator then governor of New Jersey and finally to CEO of MF Global where his career ended spectacularly. There is little that he can do to recover from the blow of MF Global's bankruptcy. His testimony to members of Congress yesterday was in his own words, the right thing to do. He deserves credit for that, but it won't offset the misery caused by MF Global's liquidation. From a PR perspective, Corzine is toxic.

Fatal Blow?

2011-12-08T07:28:00.000-05:00

How does a company recover from this? Olympus is staring at its mortality after a damning report on the behavior of its executives. Its stock has lost more than 50 percent of its value, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange is threatening to delist the company. The company has done great injury to a key public -- its shareholders. Its interim president and the board have indicated they might step down at a time when Olympus needs leadership and clear communications. It is unlikely to get either for weeks or months while the damage is unwound. Should Olympus survive, its future executives will have a painful and difficult duty of rebuilding the company's credibility. It will be a prolonged public relations exercise.

Changing Face Of Journalism

2011-12-07T08:22:00.000-05:00

This is interesting news. NBC's local TV stations are joining in partnerships with local and not-for-profit news sources to cover their markets. These are blogs and web sites that have focused on issues in their local communities. It is about time. No matter how many staff reporters that a major TV station has, it cannot cover its market well. TV has never had the reach that newspapers once had. (Newspapers have shrunk badly in coverage.) Now there is a chance that NBC stations can break news that hasn't shown already elsewhere. It also means that PR practitioners have alternate avenues to reach the media that they didn't have before. Let's hope that what NBC is doing is a model for other local news media.

Own Fault

2011-12-06T07:23:00.000-05:00

Business can gripe about Federal and state regulation but much of the time, it is the fault of business that regulation is imposed. Take this case. MF Global apparently used customer funds in an unauthorized and illegal manner, thereby precipitating new rules from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Other industry participants will complain about onerous regulation, but they need only look at themselves for an explanation. It is religion among businessmen to talk about free markets, but capitalism can't handle freedom. When it happens, businessmen run amok. They need the hand of government to guide their behavior. Otherwise, the marginal and short-term players drive out those who act responsibly. That is why it is hard not to get impatient when CEOs preach the glory of free markets. It is hype and not PR. If they were in an environment of rabid capitalism, they would plea for regulation. Wouldn't it better if they were honest?

Perception Vs. Reality

2011-12-05T07:24:00.000-05:00

Vladimir Putin cultivates an image of strength, of a bare-chested athlete who controls the world around him. Thus, the reality of the vote in Russia must have come as a shock. Even with alleged vote fraud, he wasn't able to gain an overwhelming majority. All those photos of him roughing it in the Russian Outback, playing the super-man, haven't gone down well with the public. One might think he would abandon that approach and work harder at the down and difficult political game of satisfying voters -- i.e., true PR rather than publicity. Time will tell, but could it be that democracy is finally arriving in Russia?

Out Tomorrow

2011-12-01T07:36:00.003-05:00

I'm on the road tomorrow and will be unable to post.

Pitching Bloggers

2011-12-01T07:36:00.000-05:00

This detailed explanation of how to pitch a story idea to bloggers isn't all that different from pitches to journalists. Basically, it is get to the point, don't be pushy and be transparent. Why is it then so difficult for PR practitioners to do that? Perhaps it is a compelling need to sell rather than converse with the other party. Or, it could be that PR practitioners actually believe the hype. They are unable to stand back and look at a story idea objectively. They lack news sense, maybe because they have never been on the other side of the industry and been buried under a snowfall of press releases. Read the explanation and decide for yourself.

Status Seeking

2011-11-30T08:16:00.001-05:00

This is an interesting article on status seekers. They will pay more to get luxury goods that set them apart but in the end they might not achieve the status they are seeking. It is something that merchants and marketers have known intuitively. The studies reinforce their insights. From PR perspective, status is something we work with constantly. There is a powerful urge to belong to groups and to avoid the label of outsider. One communications technique is to form groups that are set apart through their knowledge and/or economic circumstances. The self-esteem of members of the group makes message-sending easier. But, as the article explains, there are downsides for doing so.

Embarrassing, cont. -- And Potentially Deadly

2011-11-29T07:22:00.000-05:00

When you stake your future on a product and suddenly the product appears unsafe, one is left more than red-faced. That is the position General Motors finds itself in with its Chevrolet Volt. The auto's lithium batteries are undergoing a Federal investigation because they have either caught fire or begun to smoke in two out of three crash tests. GM will need to rectify the problem then conduct a PR campaign around the safety of the vehicle to explain what it has done. Otherwise, it risks the future of the Volt. To state the obvious, this is not a good position to be in. One wonders why the company didn't see the problem in its own testing. It is much harder to fix a mistake in public and more difficult to convince the public that an error has been corrected.

Embarrassment

2011-11-28T07:18:00.000-05:00

As if AT&T didn't have enough troubles already trying to save its proposed merger with T-Mobile USA, this is embarrassing. Allowing your accounts to be hacked is bad enough but hacking that funds terrorist groups is worse. One wonders what level of security the phone company has and whether it is making sufficient effort to stop intruders. The hacking wasn't an overnight affair. It went on for two years and variations of it date back 12 years. One could make a defensible claim that AT&T hasn't been serious enough about security and if not, what about the privacy of millions who use its network?

Black Friday

2011-11-25T10:08:00.000-05:00

The mass hysteria of Black Friday is instructive for PR practitioners. There is little reason for it especially since studies have shown that lower prices on goods such as toys and electronics come later in December. Yet, millions line up to crowd stores and fight one another for "bargains" on racks and shelves. Merchants are happy but the irrationality of it defies economic logic. If one were to consider the situation objectively, he would stay home and buy most goods online and have them delivered to the door, thereby saving hours of searching, exhaustion and waiting in line for harried clerks to swipe the credit card. Perhaps there are good deals to be had, but are they worth the effort?

Disaster

2011-11-24T08:54:00.000-05:00

What would you call a service that fewer use every year but raises prices to compensate for lost revenue? The US Postal Service. There is nothing the USPO can say to lure users back to "snail mail." The service is locked into a cycle of erosion with no recovery expected. Congress has finally taken notice of the dire conditions but has yet to act on a bill that will allow the USPO to shrink to an economic size. So the service keeps a death watch. Imagine how this plays with the tens of thousands of postal employees who are not sure if they will have jobs in less than a year. From a communicator's perspective, it is a disaster and not much to be thankful for.

Take It Easy

2011-11-23T08:15:00.000-05:00

It is an interesting PR strategy to ask the media to take it easy on you and to appeal for patience. That apparently is what the new Hewlett Packard CEO, Meg Whitman, is doing. Her appeal is understandable. HP has had too much drama associated with it for the last six years -- and too many CEOs. Whitman wants to lower the company's profile and focus on the work of serving customers. Will the media let it -- or more importantly, will those employees who have gossiped to the media over the years hold their tongues? HP has leaks from the board, from executive ranks and from everywhere else. Whitman must know that, and she also must know that it won't be long before tongues will wag about her. She is asking for a few months grace. Let's hope she gets it.

Great PR

2011-11-22T07:17:00.000-05:00

This is great PR. Google proves time and again that it is not what one says about oneself so much as what one does. The company makes mistakes but on balance it has led the way in providing needed but unfunded service to internet users. It must be wonderful to work in the corporate communications department of the company.

Clashing Assumptions

2011-11-21T07:32:00.000-05:00

The U.S. debt panel will conclude today in failure, an end observers have seen coming for a couple of weeks. It is a lesson in clashing assumptions. Neither side could see the other's point of view. In other words, the debt panel was a futile exercise from the beginning. It is also one more example of the limits of persuasion. One can only reach consensus if the another is willing to listen. Debt panel members apparently spent their time talking past one another. There was no environment fostering agreement and no change in the minds of members of Congress. Even if they had lashed together a compromise, it was unclear that it could have passed. So now, Congress has "kicked the can down the road" until 2013 after the elections when they will try again. If the make-up of the Senate and House do not change greatly, they will be no better off then. Democracy is messy.

Sad

2011-11-18T07:42:00.000-05:00

It is hard to watch Eastman Kodak liquidate itself in a losing fight to stay out of bankruptcy. What must employees of the company feel? Maintaining morale has to be a losing effort, and gallows humor the order of the day. The irony, of course, is that Kodak invented the technology that is killing it. That more than anything must grind at the heart of its surviving workforce. There is only one other company in the modern day that has had the same experience -- Xerox. But Xerox through inspired leadership was able to turn itself around. Kodak's failure is partially that of leadership but more that its fundamental technology, film and chemicals, is obsolete, and the company has yet to find an economic replacement for them. Kodak is staking its future on printers, but it is running out of time. Meanwhile, its longtime fans feel depressed watching its dying throes.

Speed Of News

2011-11-17T07:19:00.000-05:00

Is the speed of news too slow? This story is interesting. Associated Press disciplined one of its reporters for tweeting a scoop before the wire service had a chance to run it. The reporter's reason for tweeting was the need to get the news out fast. The AP's answer to that is prior right to the reporter's output. The lesson for the PR practitioner is that news is reported now as fast as one's fingers can type on a cell phone. It is no longer possible to stay ahead of a story, if it ever really was. The best one can hope for is to stay even with reports of breaking events, and that is unlikely as well. Crisis communications planning and rehearsals should take this change in speed into account. It is still wrong to react publicly without having facts at hand, but the pressure to get facts is greater than ever. If AP's wire service is too slow for the news, it is too fast for the PR practitioner.

Hard To Accept

2011-11-16T08:22:00.000-05:00

After hundreds of millions spent to develop and test a new drug, it is hard to accept that the drug is no better than a generic medication that has been around for years. Yet, that is the fix that AstraZeneca is in. From a public relations perspective, AstraZeneca should accept the results and go on. That means it reports to physicians that the drug brings no greater benefits to patients than what they are already using. It will be interesting to learn if the company does that or if it conducts more studies trying to establish a differentiation. My bet is that it will because of the huge investment the company has made. I also would not be surprised if the company no longer conducts head-to-head comparisons to avoid being embarrassed like this again. It would be dishonest but understandable.

Not Surprising

2011-11-15T07:26:00.000-05:00

This focused study of news organizations and their use of Twitter is hardly surprising. They employ Twitter as a news feed and not to foster conversation and engagement. In other words, news organizations use Twitter as a publicity tool. Yet, these same reporters and editors find PR people objectionable. The irony is amusing. It also is instructive. A social medium does not need to be used in one way. Like any other tool, it can be adapted for other purposes. A purist might say a screwdriver may only be used for turning screws, but a practical mechanic wields it for opening paint cans as well. Pushing content through Twitter turns the medium into a headline service, which readers find useful. I suspect a broad-scale study will find most Twitter feeds are not designed for engagement but simply to inform others of events.

College Blahs

2011-11-14T07:36:00.000-05:00

I spent two days last week visiting colleges with my daughter. It was an exercise in how not to do PR. College tours are all the same. During the information session, an admissions director provides a few words to warm up the parents and teenagers. Students take center stage to tell of their experiences at the institution. The admissions director returns at the end to talk about test scores and admission criteria. Then, a peppy young thing takes parents and aspiring high school juniors on a walking tour of the campus. They point out buildings, the cafeteria, the student union, the library and in a rare case, a college tradition such as a painted cannon, a gateway, a plaque on a sidewalk that is not to be stepped on. Then, it is over and on to the next university where the same lethargy repeats. The conclusion one reaches quickly is that most colleges and universities have little differentiation other than their sports teams. That's not much of a commentary on education. There is need for creativity in communications that is sadly lacking. Parents and students should expect and get a better understanding of what they are getting for their investment.

Out Two Days

2011-11-09T07:32:00.000-05:00

This blog is taking a two-day rest, beginning tomorrow.

Buried Alive

2011-11-09T07:31:00.000-05:00

Here is a no-win PR crisis -- a public announcement of your firing before it is official. What is happening to coach Joe Paterno also occurred earlier this year to HP's former CEO Leo Apotheker. The news broke that Apotheker was going to be ousted at the next board meeting without Apotheker being told about it directly.

Paterno knows he is on the edge of a precipice, and there is little he can do except to step off of it with as much grace as he can muster given the horrid situation. It is an ugly way to end a long and successful career, but the future is no longer in his control. He must wait now for the plunge while trying to keep his team motivated to win games. One could hardly blame him if he no longer feels motivated.

The person(s) who leaked the news of his firing should feel ashamed, but almost certainly they don't. They have their own agenda, and Paterno was in the way.

Erosion

2011-11-08T07:19:00.000-05:00

How long can one stand against a river of accusation before popular support is eroded? Presidential candidate Herman Cain is finding out. He has made blanket denials and is on the record saying that he has never engaged in sexual harassment. A total of four women -- three anonymous and one public --- disagree with him. It is possible that the women are mistaken or lying but it is less likely every day. Meanwhile, Cain has handled his protestation of innocence badly and put himself in a PR pickle. He is trying to move forward and ignore the news. However, the news media won't let him. There is a good chance that the air will come out of his campaign, and he will plummet. If so, he will go on the record as one more candidate who wasn't ready for the scrutiny of a presidential campaign.

Incredible

2011-11-07T07:32:00.000-05:00

Sometimes statements from organizations and individuals are not credible whether or not they are true. Here is one. Google may not feel dominant among search engines, but there is no one else in the world that agrees with the company. These kinds of claims do not serve Google well and play into the hands of critics. Google does not have a 100 percent market share, but it is 60+ percent, more than enough to be called a monopoly. The argument that does play well, it seems to me, is that Google is free. It is hard to call a free service injurious to the public. Chairman Eric Schmidt has made that case, and from a PR point of view, it should be the one that he sticks with.

Cloud Credibility

2011-11-04T07:36:00.000-04:00

"Cloud" is the hot information technology. This is storing data and software off-premises with a vendor such as Amazon.com. However, there is a credibility problem with "Cloud" computing -- security. Predictably, in-house information technologists don't believe that storing data elsewhere is as secure as they can do themselves. This is to be expected. Unless one has his hands on the hard drive, there is always a fear that someone else will take it.

Security is a communications issue for PR practitioners working in high-tech. There is nothing they can say to alleviate the worry. It is a matter of time and continuous safety until IT executives are converted. This means, however, that any embarrassing failure in "Cloud" security can be a fatal blow to the concept. Security is a fundamental issue and not peripheral to Infrastructure as a Service.

Even Scientists...

2011-11-03T07:25:00.000-04:00

News that a Dutch social scientist faked several research papers is a reminder to communicators to be skeptical. Even scientists can be bamboozled. There is no refuge in willful ignorance. This is a stance some practitioners take of communicating what they are told without question. They see themselves as mouthpieces without neurons attached. It is the client's job to be accurate, they say.

This is not and has never been true. The PR practitioner serves as an editor as well as communicator. The practitioner's job is to make sure that whatever goes to the media is accurate, so both the client and practitioner maintain credibility. Those who don't earn the reputation of flacks and the ill will of reporters and editors. Of course, even with best efforts a scientist and communicator can err, especially if another is skillful in lying. When that happens, one should admit it immediately upon discovery and take steps to remedy the mistake, as is happening with the Dutch social scientist. Scientists abhor those who violate principles: practitioners should do the same.

The Future Is Past?

2011-11-02T08:32:00.000-04:00

This is an interesting discussion of the Fortune 500's adoption of social media. It seems usage has leveled off and the author wonders if corporations are giving up. Based on my own studies, corporations have not adopted social media as much as one might think. It appears to be a question of effectiveness. Corporate communications departments may not yet know how to use social media and aren't convinced of its impact. It takes time for the benefits to be clear from any new technology or medium. Usually by time one is convinced of its merit, the person is late in learning how to adopt it. The Fortune 500 will catch up: It takes time. But, practitioners should be using and understanding the media, so they are ready when their corporations are.

Useful Reminder

2011-11-01T07:59:00.000-04:00

Perhaps no other season other than November/December has generated so many cliches. This column is a useful reminder to writers, including PR practitioners, to avoid them. In other words,"Tis the season" to avoid such usage, to stop yourself from writing "Jolly Old Elf", "Yes Virginia", "Jack Frost" and "ringing out the old year". Holidays are overloaded with false sentimentality already. They don't need cliches piled onto them. Besides, it should be a test of one's creativity to come up with new descriptions that appeal to editors and reporters. For those who would argue that cliches are expected during the holidays, the answer is to do the unexpected. Be fresh where so much is stale. It might surprise the curmudgeons on the editing desks to give a second look at your release.

Halloween

2011-10-31T07:35:00.000-04:00

It is interesting that a Scottish-Irish celebration the night before All Saints Day has become a secular event in the American calendar. There doesn't seem to be much meaning left in Halloween other than dressing in costumes and trick or treating with emphasis on treats and not tricks. It is a symptom of the American mind that few know what Halloween is about. Cultural diversity is at the heart of the nation, and we have adopted traditions from around the globe usually without their meaning. From a communicator's perspective, it is one more instance of the irrational that pervades life and that one must take into account when sending messages. However, it is easier to communicate when there is no prior meaning left in an event. One can insert content without worry, and that is just what commercial interests have done. Still, the antiquarian in me wishes there was some recollection left of what Halloween once stood for.

Population Publicity

2011-10-28T07:17:00.000-04:00

The UN and other organizations are making much of the seven billionth person born into the world. This article points out that it is impossible to know or to pick which baby is actually number seven billion. Any attempt to do so is fallacious and an act of Disestimation -- "taking a number too literally, understating or ignoring the uncertainties that surround it. " That won't stop the publicity hoopla, however. Authorities will simply ignore mathematical imprecision. As the author points out, however, this error is dangerous because it provides an aura of authenticity that isn't there. PR practitioners have been guilt of Disestimation, and it is a mistake to guard against. There is too much junk data in the world as it is.

Danger Zone

2011-10-27T07:28:00.000-04:00

This is a danger signal to anyone in politics, especially Republicans. Citizens are convinced there is inequity in wealth distribution, and they believe Republicans favor the wealthy. Class warfare has begun, and if I were a Republican Congressman, I would be worried. Lack of movement on jobs has frustrated citizens, and there is anger in the ranks. The usual action around such ire is to "throw the bums out." That happened in the last election. It can happen again in 2012. What is puzzling is that Congressmen read these polls. They are not ignorant of the breach of relationship with the public. Why they cannot move forward on job creation seems to be a combination of ideology and arrogance. Republicans may dislike what Democrats are doing to produce jobs, but they don't seem to have a plan of their own to communicate to the public. Instead, Republicans seem to be the party of "no." From a PR perspective, that's a perilous position to be in with the electorate.

On the other hand, citizens are misdirected in thinking that Washington can fix an employment problem that has been developing for a long time and is structural. Of course, a politician can't do that, but that is not what people want to hear. Thus, an appearance of movement is better than the status quo. Republicans don't seem to get that either.

Not A Loss

2011-10-26T08:44:00.000-04:00

The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, says the website may have to close because it is starved for cash. Assange sees the financial blockade of the site as an assault on democracy and no doubt, free speech. I cannot think of a communicator who would agree with him. What WikiLeaks proved is that there is and needs to be protected speech. Transparency only goes so far. While we in PR call for openness, none of us would hold that proprietary secrets be blabbed to the world. But, that is what WikiLeaks was doing. Assange believes that one pushes all information into the public domain and then let events take their course. It is a romantic notion and out of touch with the reality of business and governmental dealings. For those who paid little attention to WikiLeaks, it was only a matter of time before the site spilled industry secrets, and it had already taken records from banking. As a communicator, I defend the First Amendment, but I won't be sad if WikiLeaks disappears.

Souring Relations

2011-10-25T07:24:00.000-04:00

It is often difficult in a corporation to see interconnections with the world, but in politics, links are stark -- such as this case. In an effort to protect its borders, the US deports migrants to Mexico where crime is worse. Predictably, Mexico is unhappy about it because it is fighting its own war with drug gangs. So, what makes for good relations with US citizens creates bad relations between countries. There is no easy answer to situations like this. One can't choose citizens over neighboring countries without creating greater long-term relationship problems. After all, Mexico points out, much of the drug violence it is fighting comes from drugs being manufactured and transported through Mexico to the US. The US is more at fault than Mexico. Hence, the US should be more willing to incarcerate criminals within its own borders. No wonder Mexico is frustrated.

Endangering Reputation

2011-10-24T07:13:00.000-04:00

This kind of situation, even for an international company, is dangerous to its reputation. Excessive payments to advisers smacks of something illegal or, at least, out of bounds. Firing the CEO because he questioned the payments only looks worse. Now the FBI is involved, which means that Olympus will be under a cloud for weeks to come, if not months. One wonders whether the acquisition was worth the plummet in the company's stock value and the trouble that it has caused.

Long-Term Challenge

2011-10-21T05:17:00.000-04:00

Here is a long-term challenge for the country -- students who can't repay education loans. The challenge has created a divide between the college-trained young and the government, and it is destroying the middle class. The irony is that to do well in the US, one needs a college education, but the cost of that education has risen so far above inflation that students are in debt until their 30s or 40s. The deeper irony is that even with a college education, many students cannot find work. Citizens are angry -- and they should be. Part of the Occupy Wall Street movement is young people without jobs who feel they have been lied to. How does one communicate to them? The answer is simple but difficult. Give them a job and get them started on the road to the middle class. But, when there are no jobs available? This country risks losing a generation of workers who become an educated underclass. It is a problem that even activist government can't solve.

Ad Hominem

2011-10-20T07:12:00.000-04:00

Does anyone win with personal attacks like this? The two of them are like schoolyard bullies, talking loudly and throwing verbal punches. One could argue that such taunting and reactions show voters what the two presidential candidates are like, so they have value. On the other hand, what voters see is not pleasing. The two of them are losing reputation by engaging in such lowbrow rhetorical tactics. It would be good if one or the other decided to rise above the name-calling in order to put the other down. Meanwhile, we have political theater, and one is left wondering what happened to the Republican party.

Suspect Strategy

2011-10-19T08:23:00.000-04:00

This is a suspect strategy -- deny your customer goods because you don't like what a competitor has done. It communicates pique and arrogance. The only winner is the competitor who has the product the consumer wants. Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million would have been better off if they kept the books on their shelves while protesting Amazon's move. The approach of "You can't have it," drives customers from the store into the arms of Amazon anyway. From a PR point of view, the move was dumb. Maybe DC Comics was hurt temporarily for making the exclusive agreement with Amazon, but it is unlikely. People can order the paper copy from Amazon too.

Inarticulate Anger

2011-10-18T07:15:00.000-04:00

It is hard to make changes when one cannot express a set of demands. That is the difficulty in which the Occupy Wall Street protesters face at the moment. They have struck a proper note for thousands of citizens to join them, but other than anger, they don't yet know what to do. Sooner or later, they will need to list the changes they want. When they do, they risk splintering into sub-groups that battle among themselves. OWS thus far is a lesson for communications practitioners. One can start a movement easily enough using social media, but directing it to an effective end is more difficult. OWS needs a voice to clarify itself. It doesn't have one today.

Name That Observatory

2011-10-17T07:27:00.000-04:00

Here is an interesting bit of science PR -- bestowing a new name on an old observatory that has been modernized. It seems the old name -- Very Large Array -- no longer befits the facility with its new electronics and upgraded antennae. So, now the operation is looking for something jazzier. One could have fun with it, I suppose, but in the end Very Large Array is still probably the best description of white dishes spread across the desert. There is even an entry form -- right here, if you are interested.

Reputation Killer, Cont.

2011-10-14T07:04:00.000-04:00

Actions like this can destroy the reputation of a newspaper. It is good that the Wall Street Journal covered in detail what happened and that the executive stepped down. However, the Journal earns plenty of demerits for not discovering this itself and stopping it. It took a whistleblower to bring the seamy affair to light. Newspapers cannot afford to have this happen in an era of heightened scrutiny and criticism. One wonders what drove the Journal to do this in the first place. If it was a need for increased circulation to keep advertisers happy, then the Journal was cheating everyone.

Jeopardy

2011-10-13T07:16:00.000-04:00

Research in Motion (RIM) has placed itself in jeopardy with its Blackberry outages in Europe and North America. There are some things consumers rarely forgive or forget. Loss of an essential service is one. RIM already is in a dogfight against Smartphones that are eroding its market share. It can't afford to gain a reputation for unreliability. That would be a death blow. If Blackberry can restore service quickly and fix its backup systems, users might give it a grudging pass this time. Should a blackout happen again within a year, all bets are off. One wonders how the Blackberry system is set up such that a breakdown disrupted both Europe and North America. It would seem there was deficient engineering at some point. RIM will need to fix that too.

Adapt Or Die

2011-10-12T08:24:00.000-04:00

What is the positioning message of an industry that must either adapt painfully or die? That is the conundrum facing the publishing business where best-selling authors are going directly to readers or working through Amazon.com. The authors earn more, have less bureaucracy to deal with and get greater speed to market. So, what can the publishers say? Certainly they are still better for building authors who are not well known and who are a greater risk. But, because they are a greater risk, there are lower returns through sponsoring start-up brands. Publishers need big names to pay for unknowns, but the big names no longer need them. If I were representing a publishing house, I'm not sure what I'd say -- or advise. It seems certain that the industry will be much smaller soon as e-books take over and there is nothing the publishing industry can do to stop it. Nor, for that matter, should they attempt to stop it. They should be asking themselves how they can ride the tsunami.

Good Or Bad PR?

2011-10-11T07:29:00.000-04:00

Did Netflix practice good or bad public relations by cancelling the split between its DVD and streaming services? One could argue either way. The first argument is that Netflix should have known better than to split them in the first place. Had it done market research, its customers would have told them it was a bad idea. The second argument is that Netflix listened and reacted quickly when it discovered it had blundered. Take your pick. The first argument seems more reasonable. The bad reaction the company received when it announced the split should have been foreseen. There was no mystery to what Netflix wanted to do, and customers could understand readily the change. Netflix's blunder has hurt the company's brand and damaged the perception that it knows what it is doing as it navigates the changing video market. if you look at the company's stock, you will see a high-flyer that has crashed to earth. Netflix's mistake has already cost it dearly. It will take time to come back.

New Case Section

2011-10-10T07:31:00.000-04:00

Online-pr.com has a new section devoted to communications cases. It is here. Many of the cases are modeled after events reported in the news media. To use a cliche, they are "ripped from the headlines." The cases are designed to make you think. There are no answers to several of them, so any solution might be correct. The idea is to show that PR and communications are not formulaic disciplines. There are times when pitching transparency might be the best thing to do. But, that can be argued.

Read through them and let me know what you think.

Silly Publicity

2011-10-07T07:33:00.000-04:00

The idea that New Hampshire should be the first state to hold a primary for the presidential nomination has long been silly, but the state makes it a point of pride to be the leader. This has set up constant jockeying among other states who move their primaries up as well. It is all sophomoric and should have been done away with many elections ago. New Hampshire is intent on getting this publicity because there isn't much else for the state to crow about on the national political scene. If primaries were held according to population, California, Texas, New York and Florida would be the first ones to vote. The nomination process would be more equitable because the greatest proportion of voters in the US would have their say. But no, instead we have New Hampshire. There are times when publicity doesn't make sense. This is one of them.

Tough Challenge

2011-10-06T07:42:00.000-04:00

The news of Steve Jobs death presents a huge challenge to Apple. It now has little time to re-position the company in order to show that Apple can continue and thrive without its visionary founder. It is as much a communications task as it is a job to continue the breakthrough innovation that Jobs created time and again. Although the company needs a mourning period, it is not too soon to start the perceptual transition. How might Apple accomplish it? For one, it needs to show bench strength. Jobs didn't create Apple products on his own. He might have had the guiding vision, but there are thousands of engineers, product planners, logistics experts, marketers and others who made that vision come true. It is time to feature them in order to show that Apple has the skills to continue. If Apple can march on, it will be a legacy of his vision. The next two or three product introductions will be crucial. They will show whether the company is able to continue breakthrough design and to function at a high level.

The Leak As Publicity

2011-10-05T08:21:00.000-04:00

Here is a case where a leak was used for publicity purposes. As the article notes, Amazon has always been careful not to divulge the sales figures for its Kindle e-book. Suddenly, the advance orders for its new tablet, the Kindle Fire, reach the blog world. And, wouldn't you know it but the numbers indicate a faster sales pace than the competing Apple iPad? This type of leaking is so patent that it is hilarious, but the media jump eagerly to cover the news. There is nothing wrong with it. It's a publicity tactic that is hoary with age but always good. Still, one wonders if Amazon might have been a little more creative in getting the news out.

Hard-hitting Story

2011-10-04T07:32:00.000-04:00

This story about the private conglomerate, Koch Industries, is hard-hitting and potentially devastating to the company's reputation. Note that the Koch brothers used their director of corporate communications as cover. The article spotlights a fact of the internet age. It is almost impossible for even private companies to remain so. There is too much information available in court documents, witness testimony and other sources that can be collected and distilled.

The Koch brothers haven't been hidden in their political activities. They are well known financiers of conservative causes, and for that, opposition activists have been determined to smoke them out. If the brothers want to retreat to greater privacy, they will need to disguise what they are doing in a better fashion, but even that will be difficult to achieve. The government is gunning for them as well. Charles Koch has written of the importance of reputation and the need to guard it. Stories like this blow holes in a company's image that are hard to patch.

More Scenarios

2011-10-03T07:15:00.000-04:00

Here are three more scenarios to help you think through PR and communications challenges. Let me know your opinions about them and if they should be changed.

Monitoring

Breach of Faith

General Counsel

Smart PR

2011-09-30T07:30:00.000-04:00

The news that a college is giving steep tuition reductions to students with strong academic backgrounds is smart PR. College costs have spiraled well beyond inflation and middle class parents have been strapped for years to pay for them. With the recession, matters have become only worse. Seton Hall has gained national recognition for its move, and it has a chance of lifting the academic level of its student body at the same time. More colleges and universities ought to be thinking this way. Unfortunately, many are not. They are reaching out to foreign students who pay full tuition to help fund operating expenses and denying entrance to gifted students from the middle class who need some monetary help. When it comes to academics, a two-class society is emerging -- the wealthy who can pay the outrageous costs and the gifted but poor who are carried by scholarship. Those in the middle are left to suffer.

Fading Hype?

2011-09-29T07:15:00.000-04:00

If this story is true, a lot of people won't get hurt in the IPO market. The relentless hype in the technology industry has been harmful to the economy and pocketbooks of millions of gullible investors. It is nearly impossible to value a young company and its capacity for growth. Most companies flame out in time: A few survive to become great industries. There is no telling today whether Groupon will generate profits or Facebook will face a serious competitor. High-tech hype has a history. In the 19th Century, railroads were the marvel of the age and railroad scams were abundant. Starry-eyed investors then bought shares in roads that went from somewhere to nowhere with no chance of profitability. But, they were railroads, that was all that mattered. So too, the tech hype of today. PR practitioners are guilty of going along with it, and we should be ashamed.

Medical Relations

2011-09-28T08:24:00.000-04:00

This story is proof of a fact long known in medical administration. You can't tell doctors what to do. You have to persuade them, frequently one by one, to change the ways they work. Britain's failure to establish a comprehensive health information technology system is a warning to similar efforts in the US. Here, however, many hospitals have already learned the hard way, and they appoint a doctor to the technology effort. The doctor's job is to convince peers to try the new system and to show them how to use it. The US needs a comprehensive health information system. This country wastes billions through redundant and inefficient record-keeping, but we won't get it unless each doctor willingly participates. It is a challenge for medical relations.

Recycling

2011-09-27T07:48:00.000-04:00

One wonders how editors get away with this -- recycling articles in their magazines. When you own the barrel of ink, you have privileges. Imagine, if you will, if a PR practitioner recycled his pitches to the same reporters year after year. It might work until the reporters catch on, then there would be little chance the practitioner would sell a story again. There is such a thing as recycling an idea whose time has come. I've done that a lot. One brings an idea to a reporter who turns it down. As events develop, one resurrects the idea and presents it again. The reporter accepts it.

There are evergreen ideas that never get old, such as how to save energy around the house, but reporters and editors understand the need to circulate these ideas repeatedly for readers who didn't get them or need them the first time. One assumes, however, that they write a new article each time. Picking up copy and running it again seems tacky, but how can one accuse Martha Stewart of being tacky?

Scenarios

2011-09-26T07:16:00.000-04:00

Scenarios, or mini-cases, are useful to work through how one might handle communications challenges. They present problems that may not be in textbooks but are a part of counseling. There will be several presented here for your consideration. None are long but each is designed to get you to think about how you might have done something differently.

Read through:

The interview

New product

CEO

I look forward to your comments.

Is This A Business?

2011-09-23T07:21:00.000-04:00

Reports have come out that Microsoft has spent $5.5 billion to date in an effort to establish its search engine, Bing. From an economic perspective, one must ask if Bing is a business. Thus far, it is a money pit. Microsoft has enough cash to continue losing a billion a quarter for some time to come, but eventually someone has to make a decision to keep or chuck the search engine. If Microsoft elects to keep it, the firm needs to put Bing on a more economic basis. That will mean shrinking it or acquiring other search engines and migrating their users to Bing. Either way, there is a communications issue that Microsoft needs to confront -- proving that Bing is not a loser in the war against Google. There isn't much that Microsoft can say today.

Smart PR

2011-09-22T07:07:00.000-04:00

The US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon has been a fixture in Washington DC for years. It is an example of what smart PR can and should be -- a targeted message wrapped into a recurring event that draws public attention. The beauty of this competition is that it teaches as well as publicizes the need for more energy efficient homes. Students who work on the project return to their campuses smarter than before about design and experienced in achieving it. It might be fashionable to criticize the government these days, but there are government activities that are models of their kind. This is one.

Brainstorm

2011-09-21T08:26:00.000-04:00

This is a fictional case of a brainstor ming session and the dynamics that occur in a typical one. It has questions for discussions at the end. In my experience, this brainstorm runs more smoothly than most. Regrettably, many PR practitioners don't know how to conduct them well. It takes persuasion and subtle direction to get people talking and throwing out ideas.

This is the 123rd essay posted to online-pr.com.

Apology

2011-09-20T07:34:00.000-04:00

This is a candid apology from Netflix to its customers. When Netflix announced its change to separate streaming and DVD-delivery services, I wrote then that it was engaged in a risky experiment. The experiment didn't go well. So, the CEO of Netflix is trying again to explain what the company is doing. The change in name of the DVD service to "Qwikster" is interesting. It is clear that Netflix would prefer the DVD-delivery service to disappear, the sooner the better. The company earns far more revenue from streaming. How will customers take the renaming? A guess is that they won't like it but they will tolerate the change. Customers are still steamed but more about pricing than the name. It is good that the CEO acknowledged the company's public relations efforts were short-sighted.

From an objective perspective, what Netflix is doing is smart. It knows the DVD-delivery service has a limited life-span, and if it doesn't change with technology, Netflix will become obsolescent. Now if it can only get its customers to understand that.

The New Crisis

2011-09-19T07:16:00.001-04:00

This fictional case describes the new crisis -- a sudden explosion that is covered instantly by cell phone photos, Tweets, blogs, TV interviews and Facebook entries. There is no chance for a company to control the flow of information. It starts out behind the communications curve and scrambles to catch up. It never does although it follows the protocol for a crisis. One point the case tries to make is that there is only so much a practitioner can do to anticipate a crisis. The actual event may throw all plans to the wind, as it does here. One must expect a breakdown and the need to improvise. In spite of that, one needs to plan and rehearse. The elements of fact-finding and communication remain the same. It is just more difficult.

This is the 122nd communications/ PR essay posted on online-pr.com.

Interesting Excuse

2011-09-16T07:18:00.000-04:00

Clothing chain Esprit has given a novel excuse for poor financial performance. The chain says that "it lost its soul." In other words, it expanded too fast and started to neglect customers. Now it is retrenching and trying to become trendy again. Good luck. It is hard for a clothing retailer to recover its customers once they have departed. There are too many competitors and new ones constantly. At least Esprit understands what happened to it. It concentrated on short-term growth rather than long-term gain. However, knowing what happened and doing something about it are different. The company has a long road back, and its positioning may not be clear in getting there.

Tacky

2011-09-15T09:21:00.000-04:00

This kind of self-glorifying publicity is tacky and dishonest. Sooner or later, one gets found out, as in this case. When it happens there is little one can say in self-defense. One wonders what the water district and consultant were thinking.

Bad Dream

2011-09-14T08:18:00.000-04:00

Among nightmares the White House is suffering with the economy, add this one. The White House tried to make solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra a centerpiece of its green jobs push, but Solyndra went belly up taking $535 million in government loans with it. That is embarrassing enough but there is evidence that the White House pushed the Federal bureaucracy to approve the loan so Solyndra could serve as a model, and in the rush, there might not have been enough auditing of Solyndra's books. In other words, a complete botch of a PR program. Why is it when an organization is down, it can't seem to get anything right? This appears to be the affliction the Obama administration is living with at the moment. However, if the President can put a few wins on the board, it is possible to turn the perception around with headlines like "White House regains its footing." All is not lost, but the President can't be sleeping well.

Burning The Bridge

2011-09-13T07:18:00.000-04:00

In an earlier post I commented on the board's "tacky" decision to fire the former CEO of Yahoo by phone. Today, it is time to comment on the "tacky" way that Carol Bartz has handled her firing. She didn't go quietly and her use of foul language has cost her support she might have had. Further her vacillation about staying on the board then leaving didn't help matters. Woman CEOs don't get breaks any more than male heads of companies. Both should understand that a CEO serves at the pleasure of the board. If Bartz grasped that, she isn't letting on. Instead, she took a messy PR situation and made it worse. It actually looks now like the board was smart to get rid of her. Whatever Bartz does next in life, I'll wager it won't be a CEO position.

Symbols

2011-09-12T07:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the 9/11 ceremonies were a study in communications and symbols -- bagpipes and drummers, reading of the names, ringing of the bell, the memorial itself with its falling waters into a void. It was deeply affecting. Even though I was in Midtown Manhattan on the day of the attacks and experienced none of the terror that thousands downtown suffered, I was dabbing away tears while watching the ceremonies on TV. Others might not feel the same way, and probably don't. They can't forget their own terrors, which in many cases were greater than ours -- the Dresden firebombing, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Stalingrad, the London Blitz, village torching during Vietnam, civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, yesterday's ceremonies were a reminder that individuals die and not masses of unnamed bodies. The symbolism of the services served to drive home that the innocent who lost their lives were precious as all people are. That in itself is a reminder that is needed constantly, a communication that shouldn't be forgotten.

Interesting Decision

2011-09-09T07:19:00.000-04:00

This is interesting. A National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled that employees cannot be fired if they use off duty time to gripe about their jobs on Facebook. This poses an interesting PR challenge. Envision dozens of employees bashing a firm where millions can read about it. In other words, internal communications and listening are more important than ever, not that they weren't necessary in the past. This decision should cause one to review internal communications and listening programs in place. Are they adequate? Are they used well? To they need to be expanded, reinvigorated? Online monitoring will will provide a baseline for how happy -- or not -- employees are. Keeping the baseline low and under control is the goal.

Fired By Phone

2011-09-08T04:56:00.000-04:00

What can one say about a board that fires the CEO by phone call? It opens the directors to accusations of insensitivity and ham-handed PR. Yes, there was urgency to relay the decision to the now-departed CEO of Yahoo, but couldn't someone have arranged a face-to-face meeting in the nearest airport? There is never a good way to tell someone she is fired, but it reflects on the person who does the dismissal by how it is done. Even if the board was deeply unhappy with her lack of effectiveness and wanted to act immediately, a few extra hours to travel to see her personally would have been a more personal touch that reflected better on the directors. The next CEO of Yahoo, if there is one, will know that the board can act precipitously. Maybe that is for the best, but no one would blame a new CEO for looking over his shoulder.