Media Relations

The Daunting Daily Fishbowl. Even Your Neighbors Are Now "Citizen Reporters."

“If the British government can’t keep Prince Harry’s presence in a war zone a secret, why do organization leaders think they can hide anything? Revealing a widespread cover-up was the dream of any journalist. Now that dream is shared by millions of citizen journalists.”

This from an article in PRSA Issues and Trends by Gerald Baron, called Building Trust in a Media Maelstrom.

Whether they like it or not, businesses, government, organizations, associations...even your late night scrap-booking club are open to a scrutiny as tiny as an atom and as huge as the universe as we know it today.  Baron's article asks: "So how can trust be built in this kind of negative environment?" His excellent answer: "Remember the three drivers of the instant news world: speed, direct communication and transparency."

The next time you are are asked to keep something "out of the media,"  flash Baron's article in the face of the asker.  Especially this part:

"Those involved in responding to the Virginia Tech incident reported more than 1000 reporters were on scene. Add to that number the tens of thousands of bloggers, passersby with cell cameras and individuals commenting on news sites who are part of the new army of 'citizen' journalists.' "

Enough said?  If you are a one-person PR team, as is the case with so many companies in America, be ready for the day when the "Media Maelstrom" pays a grueling visit. 

In this new media world, how do I sleep at night as a consultant?  I keep a list of senior, experience-rich contractors. I know their rates, and when a client calls me in "freak out" stage, (usually at 5:00 p.m. just prior to a three-day holiday) I get on the phone and recruit a customized crisis team and have an instant budget in my head.  I know I can't do it all alone.  I pay well, I pay immediately on invoice, and strive to be financially generous with those who keep my life sane.

One more thought on all of the above...an excellent quote by Warren Buffet:

"If you lose money for the firm, I will be understanding.  If you lose reputation for the firm, I will be ruthless."

Amen, Warren.

Prepare For the Coming New Age of PR and Advertising. It's Already Here!

Quotes that say it all.  Three comments via Paragon Media:

“Online is getting to the point where it may be more important than the 30-second TV spot.”
     - Joel Ewanick VP-Marketing Hyundai Motor America

“The country’s third-largest advertiser (General Motors) is getting ready to shift fully half of its $3 billion budget into digital and one-to-one marketing within the next 3 years.”
     - Advertising Age - March 17, 2008

"As television implodes, marketing chiefs are turning to the Net to create branding initiatives.”
     - Wired Magazine - April, 2008

Get Rich Saving The Earth - The Greatest PR Strategy I've Ever Heard

Yes, it sounds strange.  I sat in a room of 75 people at Sundance Resort in Utah last weekend.  Robert Redford, who casually and unexpectedly strolled in, introduced his friend, Fred Krupp, who has written a just-released book:  Earth: The Sequel.

Krupp, who is President of the long surviving Environmental Defense Fund, gave me amazing hope for the future of the planet by using the ultimate PR approach...."If you don't want to be green to save the earth, then do it for the money."

I've only just "paged" through his book, but some of his statements truly thrilled me.  I haven't heard this kind of optimism in decades.

Utah, my home state, will surely wince if the government puts restrictions on coal power.  But those who fear, or depend on coal for their own personal survival, will find this a reasonable read.    

Fred's speech was witty, he was respectful of current energy providers, did not strive to instill fear, nor did he speak too emotionally about nature’s challenges.  He talked like a businessman, discussing a new and cleaner future.  He challenged all entrepreneurs and current businesses to become the next Bill Gates or William Buffet, via help from the government through the Cap and Trade System (read all about it...in his book).

Fred predicted, with what he cautiously said was a “90 percent” certainty, that the federal government will, within 18-24 months, have a global warming policy in place, explaining that all three presidential candidates had one in their platform.  I laughed heartily when he said, “If you don’t want to be green to save the earth, then do it for the money.”

This is my second "energy crisis."  I was young in the 1970's during the oil embargo, and have felt forever afraid of the direction we've taken since that scare.  I would like to thank Fred Krupp, his organization and his publisher for putting the ultimate "spin" (I hate that word but here, it works) on going green.  He is right.  Money motivates.  In this book, he and Miriam Horn show us the money.  Now all we need is a leader who admits the earth is warming and unites a fractured society to stand bravely behind strong incentives to reinvent energy.

Information "Reruns" ? "Steep Drop in First-rate Journalism?"

You can feel it under your feet....like a long earthquake aftershock.  Excitement mixed with mild nausea.  Big, big change happening each and every day.  Just going online makes my heart race.

Newspapers and bloggers are converging.  It's happening fast - both exciting and eerie.  Lean-staffed newsrooms are producing the content that everyone needs....but the vehicles that transport the content throughout the Web are the ones who are either making the money or have the potential to make it... not the traditional newspapers or news outlets.

And then there's a big fracture in the definition of: What is news, what is truth and what are the new ethics?

Forbes now has a network of 400 blogs, lending its name and credibility to this new frontier, and plans to sell ads to go with it.  Also, today's  PRSA Issues and Trends paints the picture of our information future.

"America is about to enter a fractured, chaotic era of news, characterized by the superior community conversations made possible by blogs, and also by a steep drop in first-rate journalism. As a piece in the current issue of The New Yorker points out, the result will be clusters of communities with their own ideas of 'news' and 'truths,' and the loss of a single national narrative and agreed-upon sets of facts by which to conduct our policies."

The old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times," has manifested in our time and at this moment.  Don't misunderstand. I love & crave change.  But content creators give us the guts of the information world.  Even if they are willing to provide it for free now, the day will come when they must pay their bills, and must put food in their mouths.  We should regard and respect content producers or we are all doomed to information reruns online.

Thanks to fellow blogger Matt Reinbold for passing this along, let me conclude with this picture that paints a thousand words:

2008 Report on the State of the Media - Grim?

Those of us in media relations are certainly rooting for all of our local newspapers to survive.  A column by John C. Dvorak in today's PC Magazine doesn't paint a very good picture:

"There are too many papers selling the same news.  The yearly report on the news media is out, and there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. That is, the news world is at the end of the tunnel, and the train is headed rapidly toward it.

During the current downturn, I wonder whether one single paper has said, 'It looks like our subscriber base is dwindling, and the young people are not reading the paper. It's time we beefed up coverage. We have to find more writers and editors and put them to work to improve our product.'

Exactly when did cheapening the product and making it worse become the way to do things in the U.S.A.?

'Hey, our cars are crap. Let's make them worse!'

'Good thinking, Benson! Give yourself a raise!'

'Hey our airplanes are crashing left and right and people are not buying them anymore. Let's see if we can make them cheaper! That will solve our problems!'

What am I not getting?"  (End of column excerpt).

I'm no expert on the industry, but I do believe the days of mass media covering a single breaking story are over.  Each news outlet needs to stand on its own with unique content - and a healthy staffing of reporters to generate it.  Now is not the time to cut staff.  Now is the time to rally, hang in there, and treat your reporters with respect, because content is still "king."  Hold on.  The scary future will soon be clearer - don't panic.  Don't hang onto a street sign during the hurricane.  Seek out the eye of it, rest calmly and realize that you can't make profits all the time.  Life is a cycle and so is business.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I believe the good newspapers...those who serve the public and care about content more than profit will ultimately survive the strong winds of change.

Funny Headlines

A local Utah reporter (Dan Harrie) and The Columbia Journalism Review are responsible for helping me collect some funny headlines over the years. I'd like to share them with you.  If they offend, my apologies in advance :)

 

Advertising Must Adapt

It isn't about telling people about your product anymore.  It is about entertaining and engaging them.  If you do, they'll do the advertising for you.  A great example in Ad Age today about Tide's Super Bowl ad success.

"... that's why the most liked, most memorable ads usually are stories about the audience. How else could Procter & Gamble's Tide brand engage the mostly male 2008 Super Bowl audience? It certainly didn't spend 30 seconds explaining the innovative features of its stain-removal product. Instead, its commercial, "Talking Stain," portrayed a clearly identifiable situation among men: an older man interviewing a younger man who has a coffee stain on his dress shirt. As the hapless candidate discusses his interpersonal skills, he's shouted down by the loud, gibbering stain. At the end of the commercial, the stain is erased -- and silenced -- by the Tide to Go product.

By the end of Super Bowl Sunday, the ad had driven more than 30,000 unique visitors to mytalkingstain.com. Some visitors just read about the product there; others created more than 5,500 customized ads. The spot also received more than 100,000 views on YouTube that day and has had more than 1.5 million views since."

Full article here

The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR

Via The FirmVoice , the latest chart from BurrellsLuce showing PR employment spiking, advertising jobs down.  Amazing...

While we're on the topic, the NY Times bestselling author of The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR, Laura Ries, is the keynote address at an upcoming PRSA Spring Conference in Salt Lake City, UT on Thursday, March 20.  Panel sessions afterwards include:

1. How technology is changing traditional communications channels and what you should do about it.

2. Managing Microtrends: Targeting your communications.

3. Networking reception.

I hope to see you there.  Register here for The New DNA of Communications Development conference.

From the program:

Workshop Schedule

Noon               Registration and Lunch

12:30 pm          Laura Ries Keynote Address

New York Times best selling author of The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR and The Origin of Brands, How Product Evolution Creates Endless Possibilities

Ries will discuss a startling and crucial development in marketing: the shift from advertising–oriented marketing to PR–oriented marketing. Today's brands are born with publicity, not advertising. The Body Shop, Starbucks, Wal–Mart, Beanie Babies, Oracle and Yahoo!, have all been built with virtually no advertising. With case histories and a step–by–step plan for creating buzz in the PR era, Ries will talk about how to give up the cherished big–bang approach in favor of a slow build–up. She will explain how and why publicity should assume the major role in product launches, with advertising solidifying brands rather than creating them. Her address will be an essential primer on brand–building in the public relations era.

1:45 p.m.          Media Panel

How is new technology is changing the way media collect and report the news?

NEWSPAPER             

Charlie Craine, Director of Interactive Media, Deseret Morning News

RADIO 

Alice Webber, Corporate Relations, KUER FM 90          

TELEVISION

Tanya Vea, News Director, KUTV 2 News

INTERACTIVE 

Matthew Reinbold, Creative Principle, Vox Pop Design

3 p.m.              Microtrends Panel

How to target strategic messages to specific audiences?

GENERATIONAL        Rob Brough, Vice President Communications, Zions Bank          

GENDER                     Katie Sullivan, PhD, University of Utah

CULTURAL                 Venessa Di Palma Wright, DPR Comm

INTEREST                   Susan Walton, PhD, Brigham Young University

4 pm                Networking Reception

Register today for this high-impact, strategic communication event.

www.slcprsa.org/events

Hosted by the Marriott City Center Hotel, 220 S. State Street in Salt Lake City

Questions?  Contact Jason Mathis, jason.mathis@imail.org

Marketing, Ad Agencies Now Calling Themselves PR Firms?

I've noticed an uncomfortable trend.  Perhaps you have too.  Advertising agencies and marketing firms, marketers, etc. have suddenly become PR firms.  Now I'm not against that, as long as they are what they say they are.

This new situation is certainly creating confusion with clients.  Now, if a good old fashioned PR firm is asked to bid for some work against ad agencies - which are now saying they are PR firms - the client expects the same flash and pizazz, highly expensive presentation in order to win the bid.  This is disheartening.   

In today's PRSA Issues and Trends:  "Doug Spong, president of Carmichael Lynch Spong, said the process has changed because of a number of factors, including the economy. He said the attention PR continues to get as an effective alternative to advertising brings to the lot potential buyers who spend a lot of time kicking tires but don't always sign on the dotted line.

'It's good that marketers are looking at PR as a way to make their limited dollars stretch further, but it's a double-edged sword," Mr. Spong said. "They're acting like it's an ad-agency search and as if PR firms are $400 million-billings ad agencies with 15 people in research and planning, a 50-person creative department and 12 people in broadcast production. Most PR firms aren't staffed like that.' "

What do you think of this new trend? I welcome your input.

$150 Million To Train Citizen Journalists

So you wannabe a citizen journalist?  Or as some prefer to call it:  Community journalism.  Big things are happening in your world.  Pay attention.  See this New York Times article about a $150 million donation to help train people like you.  Via SPJ's Press Notes.

If you are already "reporting" on local and worldwide events without understanding the rules of journalism and the legal vulnerability you may face, use great care with what you write and send to the universe.

As William Buffet once said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.”    Source:  Brainy Quote via Utah Policy Daily.