New York University PR forum

2010-01-06T15:48:00.002-05:00

This morning I woke up and watched Fox and Friends. I would prefer not to talk about it.
At any rate, they did this puff piece on Romney (It was literally the newlywed game with him and his wife) but during the teaser they kept promoting it with Romney saying, almost verbatim "Well, there'll be no surprises here".
I wonder if I was the only one who heard that as a dig at fellow 2012 rival Sarah Palin, who seems to be a fount of weird surprises?
I tried to find video of it, but, frankly, it was so boring I couldn't deal. Here is part of the transcript, though!

Why my personality will never allow me to trade RSS for Twitter

2010-01-06T12:21:00.002-05:00

I spent January 1, 2010 like I bring in most new years, in the fetal position cursing loud sounds.
However, I did read this interesting David Carr column about the non-ephemeral nature of Twitter, in his estimation. The passage that is relevant is this one:

Not that long ago, I was at a conference at Yale and looked at the sea of open laptops in the seats in front of me. So why wasn’t my laptop open? Because I follow people on Twitter who serve as my Web-crawling proxies, each of them tweeting links that I could examine and read on a Blackberry. Regardless of where I am, I surf far less than I used to.
At first, Twitter can be overwhelming, but think of it as a river of data rushing past that I dip a cup into every once in a while.

In essence, what Carr is saying is that he is forgoing RSS readers for his use of twitter. Perhaps that works for him. But this passage, "I follow people on Twitter who serve as my Web-crawling proxies, each of them tweeting links that I could examine and read on a Blackberry." suggests that Carr has a much different personality than me, one that allows him to give up control.

If you are the obsessive compulsive control freak type (let's just say you are, for arguments sake) this functionality of twitter will not replace doing the primary reading and evaluations of topics themselves via RSS. In short, you are putting trust in tweeters. That's a difficult step for me.

I think Twitter makes a great companion piece and serves as an excellent, real-time barometer of public mood and impact, but I don't think it will replace RSS reading functionality, at least for those of us with difficult personalities. Hence, instead, I link in defense of the RSS, offered by Read/Write Web.

As an addendum, yes, i know i've been extraordinarily absent on this blog. Just thought this one merited publish.

Social Media for Old People

2009-06-10T14:25:00.000-04:00

Although, in my experience, there are an awful lot of young ones who don't know how to use any of this technology either. So, the link is here. Get started.

10 essential social media sites for college students

2009-04-21T13:50:00.000-04:00

I guess most of these also translate for grad students, such as great tools on finding and comparing textbooks and internships...

Again, apologies for the paltry pace of posting. Alliteration! yay!

Cross-cultural fascination

2009-03-23T10:45:00.000-04:00

So, just as a sidenote, this piece by James Fallows about a presentation he saw at SXSW had the most fascinating observations about the Chinese and social media/interaction:

No one uses voicemail. When some one calls you on your mobile phone, you generally pick it up. Mobile calls take precedence over face-to-face conversation, which is generally interrupted by a call. [Too many times to count, I have seen people take mobile-phone calls while giving a speech or presiding at a meeting. It's the norm, not something rude.]
China uses SMS more intensively. SMS may have become entrenched because of the low cost of sending text messages. The first thing Chinese do in the morning is check their IM first, not their email. [Though, this assumes they turned off the phone at night!]
Instant messaging, combined with SMS, is a hugely popular means of communication. China's leading IM platform, QQ (Company: Tencent (HK:0700)), has 350 mm users-over 50 times the audience of Twitter! [Two days ago on the Beijing subway, I counted 25 people in the same car as me all typing out or reading text messages and only two actually talking on the phone. Also, you're never out of mobile-phone coverage in China -- on subways, in elevators, wherever. Discussion of reasons some other time.]
Only 56% of all Chinese internet users have email addresses. [If you want to reach a busy American, you send email to the Blackberry. That gets you nowhere here.]
Ownership of PCs is much lower, especially in 2nd and 3rd tier cities, where heavy PC usage is at Internet cafes.
Unlike the West, where e-commerce was Web 1.0 and social media is Web 2.0, China's internet usage started as a social phenomenon first and is just now moving to more utilitarian purposes.

EAT IT SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE!

2009-03-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

Oh my god, our program won a major award from PR Week's annual gala. Education Program of the Year! This, on some level, compensates for NYU being looked over in the BCS championship this year.
Mad props to Ming Lee and John Doorley and to the program in general. A photo as below:

Oh, Hello Nerds

2009-03-02T16:12:00.000-05:00

What's that? You tire of making index cards by hand, like a CAVEMAN?
Well, via Lifehacker, here's your free solution, Cramberry!

Your GPA will thank me.

Principles of Surviving Social Media Revolution

2009-03-02T12:57:00.000-05:00

Muhammad Saleem of Mashable takes the example of Hulu removing, without notice, seasons of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and its subsequent response to the rabid uproar from fans of the show and distills 5 universal truths from their success
Lesson #1: Communicate Even If You Have Nothing to Say
Lesson #2: Be Forthright
Lesson #3: Make It Clear That You’re Listening
Lesson #4: Acknowledge Your Mistakes
Lesson #5: Promise to Learn and Improve - Then Deliver

This mirrors a lot of fundamental lessons taught by our program but it's always interesting to see it personified in 2.0 cases.

Of course, you should click through to read the article and the specifics, but I thought even in summary, it was interesting.

Kinda funny essay by Michael Pinto, who is rather cynical re: Social Media Experts

2009-01-27T12:38:00.000-05:00

He wrote a post entitled, Social Media "Experts" are the Cancer of Twitter (and Must Be Stopped). I feel him, I really do, and I think it's kinda funny to express that skepticism using the metaphor of zombies but it's also rather clear that Pinto himself is highly integrated into the web culture (he is using footage of a videogame that I can't name but remember was big in college with nerd-folk)(PS I'm only pretending not to know the name of the game).
Here's the thing though: He is probably both web-savvy enough to be able to pick out rather fraudulent players in the game but, also, he is probably in no need of any counsel as he probably has a great level of expertise. For example, his post was on the front page of Digg. Meaning he's immune both to the less reputable trickery and immune from even the more expert advice. I'm sure he could be hired out as a Social Media "Expert" as well. It's just clear he doesn't wish to be. There's an under-estimation, however, on his part as to just how not clued-in the vast majority of the populace is.

Ugh...Maybe you shouldn't be doing your own community outreach

2009-01-23T12:50:00.000-05:00

From the Consumerist comes the following exchange between the Director of Regional Operations for the Western United States for Petland and protesters incensed about their using disreputable puppy mills.

From: Chris Beth [mailto:cbeth@petland.com]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 5:41 PM
To: jjpippin@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Petland Plano

Dr. Pippin,
I was at the Plano store last Saturday when you all were there. I
just wanted to thank you for being there! We had so many people tell us that they did not see us located there and your people drew them into the store.

I was actually wondering if you could be there both days on the weekend and maybe Fridays?

Thanks again,

Christopher Beth
Director of Regional Operations - Western US
Petland, Inc.
—-——-——-——-——-——-——-—
From: jjpippin [mailto:jjpippin@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 9:35 PM
To: 'Chris Beth'
Subject: RE: Petland Plano

Ha ha, that's very good Mr. Beth. We see the traffic at your store every Saturday, so please stop with the amateur reverse psychology.

Let's just see how this works out, shall we? We're in this for the long haul.

John J. Pippin, M.D.
—-—Original Message—-—
From: Chris Beth [mailto:cbeth@petland.com]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 9:54 PM
To: 'jjpippin'
Subject: RE: Petland Plano

Dr. Pippin,

Ha, ha? I wasn't kidding. Unless you are watching the traffic all
other times of the week you certainly could not quantify the results of your presence like my stores door counters record. Regardless, we sold two puppies while you were there. One Westie and one Beagle.

We are also in it for the long haul, Dr. Pippin. The last 41 years of us being in business has not been by fluke.

Best Regards,

Christopher Beth
Petland

I guess this counts as engagement but, man, don't have to be obtuse about it...

Way of the Future. Via Himler

2009-01-22T11:42:00.000-05:00

PR Newser has been running an interesting series on predictions for PR in the coming year. Most I've rather discounted but the one they reviewed by Peter Himler, who I find to be interesting, strike me as rather omniscient. My summary, which won't do it justice:

Further adoption of technical know-how from PR pros
A continuation of convergence between bloggers and journalists
Traction on social media will continue to be elusive
More willingness on behalf of corporations to encourage genuine user-generated content

China's New PR Initiative

2009-01-14T10:32:00.000-05:00

China has, according to the excellent reportage of James Fallows, announced that it will be investing over $6 billion in an effort to articulate China to the rest of the world. Chinese institutions often have trouble explaining themselves or miss on cultural nuances, so it's a most worthy investment and one, I think, that speaks to the principles of our PRCC program: That no matter the message, it's clear articulation and honesty that should be the first step in engagement.

I would also like to say that there have been several students in the program that are Chinese and intelligent and would be great candidates for these initiatives.

Quick, outdated hits

2008-12-05T15:09:00.000-05:00

Brian Solis on adapting the field of Crisis Communications to the web
The Generation Y guide to Web 2.0 at work (funny, for a PR type)
Shel Holtz on whether or not PR and Social Media are yet on footing capable of handling each other.

Is social media your resume?

2008-11-29T13:46:00.000-05:00

Zoe Erdos has an interesting piece about the job hunt in which she, to simplify her argument, points out that the judgment of your character and ability is no longer relegated to a one sheet summary of your accomplishments in the form of a resume.

Instead, just as significantly, this impression is made through your presence on social media networks. So, the argument becomes does the prospective employee just start accounts to have them and therefore make their presence known or do they engage in the networks in a fashion that genuinely reflects themselves?
Either way, again, I implore you, join them.

To the social media holdouts in rareified air

2008-11-26T13:09:00.000-05:00

Bite the bullet already. You need to learn this stuff even for the most basic of Media Relations and pitches. "I'm not a computer person" just doesn't suffice anymore. Of course, if you're in this demographic, you're probably not reading a "weblog" anyways, but still...

PR Newser points to an amazing study pointing out that nearly half of all Journalists use Facebook and LinkedIn to assist in reporting. If you are to engage these reporters, you'll need to be familiar with their territory.

The social media effect on PR

2008-11-24T19:24:00.007-05:00

Just as we questioned the value of a master's last spring, The Horn Group in SF gathered a bunch of professionals to ask if social media is killing the entire PR practice. A bit extreme, but still an interesting question and certainly relevant to ask. It's essential to question your value on an ongoing basis, especially in this climate.

Of course the event itself drew a ton of coverage through twitter and the like which has since kept the conversation going. A strong argument can be made that social media only creates more noise and short term tactical success for an organization, if successful at all. Generating publicity or web traffic through social media is only a small piece.

Our own Toni Falconi's blog, PR Conversations, collectively interviewed James Grunig on his thoughts on social media, which he sees fitting into his two-way communication model. The interview continues onto a lively discussion in the comments. It's lengthy, but well worth reading.

Did someone say Survey?

2008-11-23T21:36:00.002-05:00

Then someone might as well have said fun!
Stuart Bruce has created a survey to ask the general public/PR world if they think PR degrees are worth it.
I fully encourage all readers of this blog to take the survey, and hence ensure that there are ones of responses!

PR Stunts Make You Fat

2008-11-04T08:38:00.000-05:00

First and foremost, I hope you have voted, plan to vote, did the absentee thang, have a rocking excuse (being lazy is not one of those), or are on line to vote right now!

Second, beware of the calories on the following PR moves, but kudos to the brainpower capitalizing on a politically charged day.

Ben&Jerry’s
Go to participating scoop shops today from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., and you'll get a free scoop of ice cream.

Starbucks
Starbucks said they expect to hand out "hundreds of thousands" of free tall coffees to those who have voted.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
Voters get a star shaped patriotic sprinkled extravaganza.

P.S. Yes, your vote does count.

Quick hit: Just go talk instead of emailing

2008-10-13T10:24:00.000-04:00

If anyone is guilty of this it's me. Although, in my case, I use email because I like to have a written record of the conversation I will inevitably forget later on:
Emailing colleagues, even when they're sitting just a few metres away – feels safer for two reasons: you have the protective bubble of a time delay, allowing you to think up a sensible, appropriate reply. And you get to limit their possible responses. While a conversation can flow almost anywhere, emails can be directed, thus limiting the possibility you'll say something worthy of mockery.

And yet ... it can be very easy to misread the tone of an email in a way that real conversation doesn't usually allow.

Make the most of your academic experience

2008-10-09T15:56:00.001-04:00

We're always looking for contributors to this blog and while it is certainly not the end-all be-all in terms of web experience, it will at least help you experience and begin to digest the future of the field. A note from today's Read/Write web report:

"Social media consultants, expert practitioners with multiple years of success in the kinds of positions discussed above and in some cases in traditional marketing jobs, are the ones making the most money.

No one we surveyed named an hourly consulting rate below $150 per hour. $300 per hour was the most common rate named. Some listed monthly rates of $2k to $4k per engagement, which we assume probably means 20 to 40 hours per month.

Social media (or in many cases Search Engine Optimization) consulting is probably making a fair number of people six figures. What are these people doing? They are advising companies on how to set up and run blogs, how to reach out to and relate to bloggers, how to use Twitter (seriously) and how to make advanced use of RSS. The SEO work is probably the most technical, but degrees of technical challenge are all relative. A lot of this work is about communication skills.

It's a new world online and people with experience succeeding in it are widely sought-after by businesses wanting to catch up fast. There's a nearly bottomless need for and a strong demand for high-quality social media consulting - the big challenge is bridging the gap between living a Web 2.0 life and reaching out effectively to people.

We believe there are a fair number of snake-oil salespeople in the social media consulting field as well, but we didn't survey any of those people."

So, don't be one of those snake-oil salesman. Post and engage for the program and learn little by little for the field that can eventually help you understand the emerging technologies.

Quick Hit: HARO vs. ProfNet

2008-10-03T16:56:00.004-04:00

Interesting interview with Andrew Adam Newman about his Adweek article on Help A Reporter Out vs. ProfNet.

In my book, HARO wins because of the obvious - it is free - and ProfNet's exorbitant subscription fee can unfortunately be budget restrictive. Oddly, this was featured in Adweek, not PR Week.

Strategy, Tactics

2008-10-02T10:06:00.004-04:00

There's always a lot of discussion in some of our earlier classes about Strategy v. Tactics and which guides whom, etc. I think a lot of it boils down to inconsistency in definition and hence, we get hung up on semantics.

In the class with Fred Garcia re: Strategic Communications, he often mentions the book Fiasco, whose central themes involve strategy and tactics, this time in the context of the planning and execution of the most recent occupation in Iraq.

The comparison has entered the dialogue because of John McCain's assertion that Obama didn't understand the difference between tactics and strategy. In the context of the war, who knows...
However, in the context of running this campaign, as James Fallows points out, it's McCain who has been ever-reliant on tactics and eschewed an overall "strategy":
McCain's dismissive comment suggests that he still does not realize this.

Some examples are so familiar as to need no explanation: McCain choosing the ten-day tactical "bounce" from the surprise choice of Sarah Palin, in exchange for the enormous strategic risk in choosing an un-vetted and now obviously unqualified running mate. Or McCain rolling the dice with his threat to boycott the debate -- and then, once on stage, appearing to be only mildly interested in the financial-bailout deal that 72 hours earlier was the stated reason for overturning all agreements about the debates .

Fallows later goes on to discuss (via a reader) the difference in terms of a military jargon:
A good analogy to explain military strategy is a stool with three legs: goals (mission); means (concept of operation); and resources (people and equipment). If the legs are not balanced, you have an unbalanced stool, increasing the likelihood of failure.

The surge added troops (resources) to carry out the counterinsurgency mission of defeating the insurgents and establishing enough stability so that the Iraqis themselves could develop the means of controlling the violence.

The final goal (grand strategy as distinguished from military strategy) is the emergence of a fully functioning Iraqi state friendly to the US. Military strategy must support that goal. The primary means (concept of operation) in the military strategy was to station small units among the Iraqis rather than in large Forward Operating Bases; cordon off the neighborhoods of Baghdad with cement walls; co-opt the Sunnis by paying them to fight al Qaeda in Iraq; and winning the hearts and minds of the population that tolerated and supported insurgents (dry up the sea in which the insurgents found nourishment). His continued stating that the surge was a strategy is inexplicable.

Finally, many factors unrelated to a preceding the surge led to the reduction in violence. For example, the decision of Sunni tribal leaders to eliminate al Qaeda in Iraq by cooperating with the US for personal reasons and money; the completed ethnic cleansing of neighborhoods in Baghdad; and Sadr's truce with the US, among others

So, in essence, if we are looking to standardize the usage of these terms in our program, perhaps it is best to conform our definitions to the usage above.

How are people getting through?

2008-09-26T11:54:00.004-04:00

A sprinkling of today's headlines:

JPMorgan buys WaMu
Biden 'to be replaced by Hillary' on Obama ticket

Op-Art

Bailout Talks to Resume After Impasse

With the headlines exploding this morning - literally - I want to know how people are getting through to the clutter?

Things to do on your student salary

2008-09-24T10:59:00.000-04:00

Hi,
Just a quick cross-posting:
It's free Museum day on the 27th for all Smithsonian related museums and there are several gems in the NY area.
I've cross-posted a breakdown of several of note in my other blog that has nothing to do with school.
If you're in NY and new to it and you have no money and are interested in, well, things, this is a good opportunity.

Oh Good! The Left is Catching Up in the Sleaze Game! America huzzah!

2008-09-22T17:50:00.000-04:00

People who monitor this sort of thing have noticed that chain emails making completely unsubstantiated claims have now become prominent on the Left. Previously they were the provenance of the Right. As the child of someone who receives various emails from family members who, in succession, forward me correspondence assuring me that Obama is both a muslim and, then without any hint of irony, that his christian pastorisgoingtoeatusallbecauseheyellsalot I guess I can say that's progress. But not really.

As a sidenote, what am I, a Bob Garfield groupie?

On Duplicity and Morals

2008-09-19T15:50:00.002-04:00

I have found the Ethics course taught by Fred Garcia to be among the most thought-provoking within or without the program.
However, the lesson I walked away with was that mendacity, even in the aims of morality, was never worth engaging in.
However, in Jennet Conant's new book, The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington, celebrities and great minds were enlisted to either propogandize or lie on behalf of the Allies, depending on your viewpoint.
For instance, as during this interview with Brooke Gladstone, she tells this story:
They came up with this idea of forging a map that would be a Nazi map. This would show that his was the Nazis’ plan to take over part ofSouth America. They'd planted it and then they leaked the fact that there might be something going on there to the FBI. The FBI raided the place, found the map, and this prize was then passed all the way up thechain, and Roosevelt talked about it in a very famous speech. They sort of got away with it and nobody quite pinned the tail on the donkey.

I think it's pretty hard to argue with the cause but would you be willing to lie like this?

A Whole New World

2008-09-10T17:41:00.004-04:00

Read Brave New World of Digital Intimacy and hear what I've been thinking for a long time on status updates. And then let's discuss how to infiltrate individual "micro blogging" as another medium for the message. Peace.

Perceptions Beyond our Control

2008-09-09T11:27:00.000-04:00

The On the Media episode for the last week of August was as illuminating as ever and topical in the wake of the discussion of race in the United States. Professor Tony Greenwald is interviewed by Brooke Gladstone about the Implicit Association Test:

Here’s how the test works. On a computer you are asked to place, quickly as you can, positive words, like “love” or “success” next to black faces, and negative words, like “agony” or “failure” next to white faces. Then you are asked to switch negative for positive, white for black. Your reaction time is then measured. If your reaction time is shorter when you, say, match the positive words with the white faces, that’s your natural association.

Over and over, millions of times, the test demonstrates hidden biases when it comes to not just race but age, weight, gender, etc. University of Washington psychologist Tony Greenwald created the Implicit Association Test

There are so many fascinating insights from this interview. It explores the question of whether the media drives the culture or just reflects it. It has implications both for policy rollout and for unconcious assocations in general.

I'm amazed that no firm or institute has started a solid think tank to explore just these questions. At any rate, I would suggest clicking through to read about this experiment in depth or just listen below

Quick Hit: Illustration of Social Media

2008-08-26T10:10:00.000-04:00

The hot buzzword that people seem to like using today and not fully understanding is "social media". Hence, via Drew Benvie via Brian Solis, a map:

A quick comment on an ad from this morning's AM New York

2008-08-25T12:08:00.002-04:00

There's something to be said for a catchy line or a hook. However, with certain sensitive fields, I'm not sure you need one.
For instance, if you're advertising McDonald's, "I'm loving it" is fine as a catch phrase.
However, if you're offering abortion, I'm not sure much more is needed than a generally serious tone and maybe brief contact info and qualifications.
Enter this ad from this morning's AM New York:

Is that line really necessary? Is this really the reputation this medical office is going after?

John Bell's take on the essential skills of the future

2008-08-20T12:57:00.000-04:00

I was originally going to write something about this but looking at it I think it can just be presented without comment:

Create integrated marketing and communications strategy

Deploy live 'listening posts' online and offline

Design and deploy an advanced search engine optimization program

Plan and run a new media relations program inclusive of head-of-the-tail and long tail "media"

Identify & engage with influencers online and offline

Manage communities

Integrate new technologies into their own lives

Model measurement and performance metrics including new "engagement" metrics

Run quick pilot programs and evaluate on-the-fly

Train staff and clients continuously

Participate in conversations, not just 'messaging'

Create and execute content strategy including video programming (hifi and lowfi)

Use digital crisis management

Actually, a Follow-Up to Rubel's Treatise on Pitching

2008-08-13T10:04:00.003-04:00

I linked to it quickly last night but I think his observations are so telling of the future for the industry not just in terms of Tech PR but for the field as a whole that I'm just going to delve a little bit further.

Essentially, he voices the complaint that any astute reader of the PR blogosphere has by now absorbed, that the volume of pitches are just too overwhelming to respond to. He complains of literally not having a chance to even decline most pitches and that most of these pitches simply aren't palatable regardless of product.

He then drops this fascinating and true nugget: "It's my view that increasingly, bloggers (and maybe journos too) simply don't want our help. Many bloggers - particularly those who cover tech - love to discover new things and experience them on their own, unaided by PR."
This leads him to conclude that perhaps pitching is broken.

Then Michael Arrington weighs in on the matter:

"They’re (PR folks) trying to apply the same rules they used when the number of journalists covering their companies was a manageable, chummy lot. Today there’s a whole spectrum of people writing about startups in big media publications, large and small blogs, Twitter, Friendfeed and everything in between.

Most PR folks don’t read blogs and certainly don’t understand them. All they see is a Google alert with their clients name, and rush to put out a fire. Down the road they may try to bring those bloggers into the fold, largely relying on word of mouth as to the best way to approach them in lieu of actually reading the blog itself."

All of which is entirely true HOWEVER then Arrington has this observation: "So back to practical advice: what do you do if you’re a startup looking for help in getting the word out about your company? First off, don’t hire PR help until the volume of inbound requests by press are simply too much to handle without help. That’s way down the line for most companies."

I certainly understand where he is coming from. He has reached this conclusion because he feels there is no need to hire someone in the function of a PR person if that function is to solely send out email pitches or emails. However, there must be innovative firms out there who can devise pitching strategies that incorporate emerging technologies (be it by utilizing friendfeed or optimizing feedly or using twitter, or whatever next week's meme is) and if so, don't these innovative firms essentially fill the role that the traditional forebearers did?

Anyways, Peter Himler picks up the discussion...

Oprah or Iowa?

2008-08-13T01:04:00.006-04:00

Who does Obama owe his nomination to? According to two economists from the University of Maryland, it's Oprah. Over the past year they've studied the role of celebrity endorsements during the 2008 Democratic election. More specifically, they cross checked the Oprah subscription lists with those who voted for Barack Obama during the primaries and found a highly unlikely random relationship between the two. Upwards of one million names appeared on both of those lists (approximately one third of an actual percent of the U.S. population).

The opposition presents a stronger case pointing to the Iowa caucus, also citing many of those individuals would have voted for him regardless of her approval. Celebrity endorsements have been studied in past elections, and while high profile names bring attention to voting and individual candidates, they do not always translate into votes. As far as high wattage celebrities go, the Oprah endorsement could have gotten people out to the primaries that may have never even voted in an election before.

If John Edwards had scandalized himself sooner or not run at all, the outcome would likely have been different at this point. Can someone please book Hillary Clinton on Ellen DeGeneres before the DNC? If the core Oprah demographic and avid book club readers turn out again in November, there may be a talk show host as the VP candidate.

Pitching is broken not dead

2008-08-13T00:26:00.000-04:00

Um, in lieu of just copy-pasting Steve Rubel's latest prescient observation into the field, journalism, and society in general, you should probably just read it.

Keep this in mind in dealing with "old media"

2008-08-12T23:02:00.000-04:00

a- sorry about not posting in awhile. blahblah whinewhine.
b-The Edwards affair appears to finally be the kick in the pants the established media firms needed to affirm that their practices need to change (You're dead to them, Judy Miller and the Iraq War). The newspaper industry, starving for readers and advertisers, missed what turned out to be a legitimate story (from a fairly unreliable source) that could have proved a bonanza for them.

So what lessons does it look like the media are going to take from this debacle? From the Newshour with Jim Lehrer (on this occasion hosted by the much more informative Gwen Ifill)
RICK THAMES: I think there are two lessons here for
mainstream media. And one is, of course, one that I think that we are
quite aware of, and that is that we're no longer the gate-keepers.
Sometimes now, when rumor arises, we're going to need to address it.

And it's true. From now on, even legitimate news organizations are going to be a lot less reticent to report on rumors, which is going to make some of your jobs a lot harder. Me? I work at a desk at a University. Won't make a feather of a difference.

The Official Peter Shankman Shout Out

2008-08-06T10:20:00.004-04:00

Every once in a while there is a system that just works. Peter Shankman of Help A Reporter Out makes it his bizness to assist a journalist/member of the press/freelancer/producer/you get the point in getting a source for a story and great media opportunities out to the chatterboxes who can help them. Sign up for Peter’s quirky email list and you’ll get approximately three emails a day with media opportunities and even if that doesn’t resonate you’ll here all about the adventures of a guy just trying to help his reporter friends out.

A PR misstep looming

2008-08-06T10:17:00.000-04:00

On July 30th, the liberal magazine Mother Jones published a piece about an operative for the gun-rights movement, Mary Lou Sapone, who infiltrated grassroots gun control groups under the name Mary McFate. It has the potential to be pretty damning for the NRA, which is reported to have contracted her services.
Yes, I know this is apropos of nothing

The way it has been reported, it seems like one of the worst cases of espionage in recent memory and certainly something that would earn mention in the Toxic Sludge is Good for You reading in our Ethics courses.

At present, the NRA and the 2/1 Marys have remained silent on the matter. It's not clear if they are preparing a response or are simply hoping silence will wait the crisis out but I wonder if either is really a prudent response. I would argue they need to at least acknowledge the crisis and hope they, as an organization, have the bravery to confront the allegations and deal with them appropriately.

FINALLY! The RNC Enters the 20th Century

2008-07-29T10:39:00.001-04:00

I'm doing my thesis on the political genesis of political movements on the internet. It's as exciting as it sounds. However, I have been shocked at how far behind the GOP has been as compared to progressives on the web front. Finally, something remotely clever (the idea and design; the actual product is still fairly specious and slandering) has been put out by the RNC. It's a fake facebook page for Obama. Only 3 months before the election to go!
I'm not a GOP supporter by any means but I would like to see them at least fight for the youth vote or really any vote besides their base of special interests.

More Blogger Insight?

2008-07-22T18:23:00.001-04:00

A PR blogger writing about pitching bloggers and maybe even a lil insight… that’s ironic enough for anyone.

Most blog readers have their favs. I know the people around my office do. It’s a great moment when you identify with a blogger, make a connection, maybe even post and be responded to. Hey, you never know.

One of my personal beloved is Greek Tragedy, for a number of reasons not on this list. One great characteristic is honesty, even when it comes to her profession. She recently attended a blogging conference to find “they” are much like the rest of us, insecure, caddy and overall a bunch of elitists. Geez, it really does sound like the playground of our lives.

A friendly reminder that “they” are just like us. When pitching a blog make sure you read the content and featured audience. Also, get to know the dos and don’ts – its only fair – we read their innermost thoughts everyday. The least we can do is play by the rules.

To Bury Twitter, Not to Praise

2008-07-19T07:32:00.004-04:00

The reason I started this blog was to, in part, emulate some of the better thinkers of the industry, Steve Rubel and Brian Solis. And one thing they have been enamored with (although perhaps less so as of late) and I have never been able to feel an affinity for is Twitter.

It's just that I don't see the point in Twitter. To me, at least, it just mimics the function in facebook of the status thing. And those are never so momentously important to me that I would want to really keep track of it outside of facebook. It just seems like a superfluous tool that has somehow gained traction in buzz but not practicality.

I understand that people want to communicate on the run or keep track of what their friends are up to and I think that early concept of dodgeball.com was good but i don't think twitter fills that hole, although there have been promising fits and starts.

I think friendfeed fills an entirely different function that I like. I can see what my friends are tooling around with on the internet and watch what they watch, and then later when I hang out with them, I can have fodder to talk to them about as opposed to them forwarding me videos or, god forbid, talk about things not based in pop culture. I think it fills a basic human function, a built in base for conversation, and an aggregrator of culture. You have a bunch of different weird stuff you do on the internet and I would like to know about it. Obviously not your private stuff, you don't want to see my WebMD history and I don't want to see the anti-biotics you order online, but I do want to see the Feist video you find funny and I don't want to have to forward it to you. I think this explains friendfeed's exponential growth. So, join friendfeed and let's virtually hang.

The Aw Shucks Ruse that is the Obamachine

2008-07-16T21:20:00.004-04:00

I won't front. I am a fan of Obama. I've raised money for the dude. I think he's an interesting, inspiring character. I like him less for his politics than for the fact that he seems to be slightly less miserable than the regular batch of politicians. But mostly, I want someone elected who isn't so entrenched in DC that they come in already beholden to special interests. I'm looking for someone a little green (in both senses).
(McCain is awesome in this clip)

So, it's to my shock (and not really dismay) to realize what a sophisticated machine the Obama movement is. This is not some grassroots movement as we traditionally know it, where Mom and Pop orgs sell cupcakes and plant apple trees for support (confession: I never finished Johnny Appleseed). From Salon:

The 5 million people on Obama's e-mail list are just the start of what political strategists say is one of the most sophisticated voter databases ever built. Using a combination of the information that supporters are volunteering, data the campaign is digging up on its own and powerful market research tools first developed for corporations, Obama's staff has combined new online organizing with old-school methods of voter outreach to assemble a central database for hitting people with messages tailored as closely as possible to what they're likely to want to hear. It's an ambitious melding of corporate marketing and grassroots organizing that the Obama campaign sees as a key to winning this fall. The sheer scale of the operation --because of Obama's large network of supporters and heavy emphasis on field organizing -- means the data can be sliced in ways that the Bush-Cheney campaign couldn't have dreamed of in 2004...
It's the political equivalent of what big corporate marketers have been doing for years: If you're a baby boomer living in Westchester County, N.Y., golf gear catalogs will show up in your mailbox, but if you're a 20-something living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, you might get a free trial of Spin magazine instead. Now the same goes for politics -- if you're in a demographic that makes you statistically likely to have children, Obama might send you an e-mail about education policy instead of one about taxes.

Over the past several years, I have moved several times. The only people who can find me are the Obama campaign and my alma mater. Even my family has been relegated to phone calls (hence, less clippings from my Mother about all my HS friends who now have babies).

Of course, this efficiency is great for Obama. In a sense. He can efficiently use his resources to target and calculate voters and trends. On the other hand, at least to weirdo cranks like me, he loses some of that indie Je Nous Se Qua that turned me on to him and made him cool in the first place. Of course, he's already got my vote unless he chooses like the Ronald McDonald mascot as his running mate or something, but still...He should be careful use that data to target the vote and energize the base and be weary of the temptation to trade in his values for an attempt at triangulating toward the same mediocre candidate we've seen hundreds of times before. Also: C'mon! FISA? Seriously?

No comment, by commenting

2008-07-14T18:59:00.007-04:00

Further proof to Thea's post on Google Comments that you should, in fact, comment comes today via PRNewser. It is ingrained in our brains from early on there are many ways to deflect a crisis. I wouldn't call this story a textbook example, but I hope it would encourage you to use your imagination and not shy away from even the worst humor.

Betcha Didn’t Comment

2008-07-09T13:12:00.002-04:00

Attending an industry event a few weeks ago, I heard someone mention Google comments in passing. This led to great curiosity and I of course “Googled” it.

Straight from the source, “comments give people related to a news story the chance to directly respond to it. These comments are linked to alongside the normal media coverage for that story. We think this feature helps provide more perspectives on a particular story without sacrificing the quality of our coverage. Additionally, these comments provide a unique insight, because they come from individuals who otherwise may not have had an opportunity to share their responses.” Of course they want you to be nice, truthful, honest and perhaps on the boring side. On the upside having you / your client / your companies point of view on someone else’s content can be really a bonus.

Dealing with Negative Reviews

2008-07-07T10:25:00.001-04:00

Yelp, a site for the community to review businesses (basically, an electronic form of a Yenta Network, PS add me as a friend here) has begun to get impostor websites begun by frustrated owners of poorly reviewed businesses.
I wonder if this strategy will prove anything more than cathartic for the owners? After all, it may relieve some of the frustration of being poorly reviewed anonymously on Yelp but it is doubtful the competitor sites will do anything to deter Yelp's influence in the community. Hopefully, the owners and proprietors see it as such and continue to engage critics in the forums and take their considerations under advisement.

via TechCrunch

"Do you think 40 pages is too much?"

2008-06-30T21:34:00.010-04:00

Measuring advertorial influence on editorial can lack transparency - from "sponsored" content disguised to look real to genuine editorial that just so happens to favor an advertiser. Harper's Bazaar is catching heat for the 40-page spread given to a large backer, Estee Lauder. This fall the company will be launching a new women's fragrance, Sensuous, the latest big budget brand the beauty empire will be pushing. The advertising that will hit those infamous September issues features four famous faces.

Had Gwenyth Paltrow appeared on the cover to promote a new movie or project, it would be considered a big get. Coordinating schedules for this shoot no doubt drove at least one poor publicist/editorial assistant crazy, so that alone this should be considered a logistical feat. NYT points out a fact that few other media outlets followed to reprint. Getting paid to act in a movie, and appearing on in the cover of a high profile publication to talk about the project is normal. Yet being paid to model in an advertisement (where the brand is also capitalizing off Hollywood success) and be featured talking about the ad, is somewhat of a double standard. The who-knows-how-many-page spread in W Magazine leading up to Mr. and Mrs. Smith (a movie that I'm not sure many people actually saw) Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were featured in a pictorial depicting a tfamily did not blur those same lines in the public eye. In some niche publishing, in this case luxury, there are only so many brands worth covering. It is not abnormal for sponsors to become unhappy with the way they are treated.

Two things are for sure: Copies of this issue are flying off shelves and Harper's Bazaar is making a ton of cash. Any woman that follows this sort of stuff knows the brand name before she is able to buy it. Oh, and third, if the chatter doesn't stop this could turn into a case study for Doorley/Garcia Volume II.

It's an interesting discussion, please let us know your thoughts.

Branding, as compared to dating

2008-06-25T13:59:00.004-04:00

Recently I made the switch from agency PR back to in-house. Having input on the creative content in terms of media sellability (I'm pretty certain that is a not a word but I can't come up with anything better) is something enjoy and makes my job easier at the end of the day, although I know it's not for everyone. A coworker shared an article from a packaging design blog which related branding to dating, through just seven (easy) steps!

It can be hard to push a product when you have to bite your tongue on suggestions you would have made to your client if you had a say before production. Sometimes small changes can help with overall visibility in the marketplace. Per step #6 -- An iconic British product + an iconic British designer + a collaboration that has not been done 1,000 times before = Viola! Success!

Hence our focus on strategic communications a good hook can make a good product great, and even more mediagenic (again - not a word).

Yet another reason to be thankful for your career decision

2008-06-24T12:05:00.009-04:00

An "uncertain media landscape" and ongoing cuts in publishing are leading more reporters and editors to PR for longer term stability. A little while back I posted about my jealousy of the NYU Journalism school, as it's newer and shinier than our digs. Thankfully Adam reassured me that journalists are awesome, but generally poor, and PR is a great halfway point - even if the education does not come from a fancy looking building. As PR Week points out, "While many journalists ultimately end up in PR, the media industry's troubles are causing some to do so earlier in their careers."

While it's not quite a mass exodus, it means more competition in specialized industries. The upside of this is having a head start in the PR world over those newcomers that know the ins and outs of journalism. It is somewhat like finding a band before they are discovered by Pitchfork, or featured on MTV's commercial rotation during The Hills (this is not to say that I don't love The Hills).

A guide to your summer reading...

2008-06-12T22:39:00.004-04:00

... Kidding. However, this is an amusing guide to many of the sites we frequent via Vanity Fair:

"Navigating the blogosphere can be trying, what with everyone from Al Roker to your Wiccan cousin out in New Mexico vying for the attention of the world’s billion-plus Web surfers. In an effort to make some sense of it all, Vanity Fair has charted the most influential or amusing blogs about politics, gossip, Hollywood, media, and miscellany, and located them on two basic continuums: tone and content."

New York Hopefully Continues on the Tech Path

2008-06-03T14:48:00.001-04:00

This is internet week in New York (you've had your day in the sun, Asparagus month!) and as such Mayor Bloomberg has announced the inception of NYC seed:
a seed-stage technology fund for NYC-based companies that seek to
"express their original ideas through software and web-oriented
technologies."

In essence, (via the amazing Read/Write Web), the Mayor has started yet another innovative initiative in order to attract tech startups to New York or to sweeten the allure. As if NY needed that. At any rate, it's a great idea and particularly great for those who are nerdy but don't want to move to San Francisco.

Wave of the future: Wave of the future

2008-06-02T15:46:00.002-04:00

If you've never seen the Aviator you're missing out on one of the best movies of all time.
But I digress.
It's weird. I am beginning my job search and have no idea what I should be looking for or in and I find the blog of Shift Communications to be surprisingly and refreshingly honest as they discuss their travails:

We’ve come to think of our agency as a “tween.” No longer a scrappy start-up, and increasingly finding ourselves punching above our weight-class in newbiz pitches. It’s exciting to be pitching for FORTUNE 1000 business, even if it means the competition is far more fierce. We wrestle with how to best present our credentials.
Meanwhile, the PR industry is catching-on to this whole Social Media thang: although too many agencies still view Social Media as a “checkbox” rather than a sea-change, my arguments to this effect sometimes fall on deaf ears, especially when talking to less savvy prospects.

I should point out that this isn't some surreptitious attempt to flatter Shift in an attempt to get hired. Their offices are in Boston and San Francisco, neither of which is located near Brooklyn. Still, I do find it interesting how much variance exists in not just the culture of these different firms but an actual tangible difference in thought between organizations.

At any rate, I'm writing about a post I find fascinating called 5 Thoughts on the Future of Public Relations:

Agencies must become comfortable with the personal branding of individual employees.--God, I hope so. Otherwise this whole keeping a blog thing will have become very much counterproductive
Agencies must do a far better job of training staff. -I'm amazed how many people I know at agencies not familiar with technology.
Agencies must explain to clients – with crystal clarity – that mistakes will happen.
Agencies must help clients move from Reactive to Proactive to Interactive.
Agencies must reconsider their core value.

From the City that brought you John Chaney

2008-06-01T11:34:00.001-04:00

I got a request to link to Temple University's student-run PR firm. Again, I am near graduating and I think this would be a wonderful idea for NYU to have. I like making that recommendation near graduating because it means I will not have to do it.

As a sidenote, I would like to reiterate what an amazing city Philadelphia is.

Should McLellan be "sanctioned" by the PRSA

2008-05-29T14:59:00.001-04:00

Um, one would think yes. Of course, the criticism from instructors is repeatedly that the PRSA is toothless to a fault and the standard to practice ethically pretty low. Regardless, Gary Weiss makes an excellent point. If this profession is to be taken seriously on any level, it needs to at least speak out about egregious violations to the code of honesty.

Contra Gladwell

2008-05-27T16:55:00.004-04:00

The hugely successful Tipping Point book (from the equally larger than life writer Malcolm Gladwell) has sort of become a bible of sorts for those interested in how Word of Mouth works. Oversimplified, the Tipping Point argues that there is a select group of influencers who, if micro-targeted, can shape opinion on a macro scale:

These tastemakers, Gladwell concluded, are the spark behind any successful trend. "What we are really saying," he writes, "is that in a given process or system, some people matter more than others."

However, emerging now (well, not now, but 4 months ago when I bookmarked the article) is Duncan Watts' work that suggests these patterns of things becoming popular are less because of a select few of super-influentials and more a result of random influences and exceptional properties that effect any situation or environment.
Re: Milgram's famous experiment with sending mail to be forwarded to influentials and that mail coming from a few select hubs:

In 2001, Watts used a Web site to recruit about 61,000 people, then asked them to ferry messages to 18 targets worldwide. Sure enough, he found that Milgram was right: The average length of the chain was roughly six links. But when he examined these pathways, he found that "hubs"--highly connected people--weren't crucial. Sure, they existed. But only 5% of the email messages passed through one of these superconnectors. The rest of the messages moved through society in much more democratic paths, zipping from one weakly connected individual to another, until they arrived at the target.

There are detailed criticisms of both perspectives and the article is a must-read. I'm sorry for posting it so late.

A Long Walk Ruined

2008-05-22T12:33:00.003-04:00

Gnome Golf
Originally uploaded by brex

Of all the things I am worried about in the transition to working in the field as a PR practitioner, for some reason the idea of having to pretend to be interested in golf seems the most challenging.

To me, golf is nothing but a sedentary baseball. It's for those who can't handle the excitement of a 3-hour broadcast helmed by Tim McCarver.

That's why it's with delight that I am (seriously, very belatedly) writing about this piece from the New York Times.

The trend, apparently, is that less people are playing golf:

Over the past decade, the leisure activity most closely associated with corporate success in America has been in a kind of recession.
The total number of people who play has declined or remained flat each year since 2000, dropping to about 26 million from 30 million, according to the National Golf Foundation and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.
More troubling to golf boosters, the number of people who play 25 times a year or more fell to 4.6 million in 2005 from 6.9 million in 2000, a loss of about a third.
The industry now counts its core players as those who golf eight or more times a year. That number, too, has fallen, but more slowly: to 15 million in 2006 from 17.7 million in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The end result? Hopefully more people will bond with me over hunting. Yes, I enjoy doing deals over dead animals.

Quick Hits

2008-05-18T21:26:00.001-04:00

An opportunity for folks working full time at an agency and under 26 to take a survey and win stuff! Oh, yes, also, contribute to the field and body of knowledge.
Combine Steve Rubel AND Brian Lehrer? Throw in a treatise on managing information overload in the digital age and you have spelled nerd-vana for this guy. Seriously illuminating stuff.

That is all

Eat It, Recession!

2008-05-09T10:46:00.004-04:00

Vader Bum
Originally uploaded by SMRart

Once again, the PR field seems to be defying the general trends of the market. According to the Council of Public Relations, growth in the field is robust even in the face of a general downturn in the economy.

An article from Minneapolis/St. Paul discusses the growth of some local firms and speculates as to its reason:

Firm executives agree the growth is due to the cost of public relations being lower than advertising; firms that have advertising arms say those operations remain flat...
In a slow economy, companies see a greater need to reach out to consumers and keep their names in the news while keeping costs down...

So, in essence, we're a cost effective measure to promote goodwill among the public, a function that becomes all the more important in the downturn of an economy. It's not good news that there's a recession, necessarily, but it is great news that there's so many opening in Minnesota!

Via the amazing PR Newser

Is there more to blogging than reblogging?

2008-05-03T06:38:00.013-04:00

Microblogging is quickly becoming phase 2.0 of social networking media. What can easily be dismissed as yet another toy the kids are playing with is making legitimate headlines. Case in point, a graduate student from UC Berkley traveling to Egypt for his thesis (note: don't travel for your Capstone) used his Twitter page to announce an arrest and subsequent release from jail -- with the update coming directly from his cell phone. Not that I've ever been in jail, but I would assume that should have been immediately confiscated?

Aside from this unique story where Twitter was able to benefit someone in a pressing situation these sites are mainly used by tech afficianados looking for one more outlet to express themselves to add to the ever growing list. Companies are catching on as they did with the Myspace and Facebook before them and use these newer platforms to provide quick updates from newsworthy events in order to reach the younger demo. This heightened form of lifestreaming is likely to become a security issue as you are basically LoJacking yourself, especially given the problems that arose due to Myspace and other online stalking.

Most well known at the moment among the microblog's is Twitter, she of the twitch-like 140 character glory, the slightly more complicated platform which integrats photos, links, mp3's and video is tumblr, and then there is the location-based Brightkite designed to provide short updates, photos and clips showing where you were when the post went live. The idea is simple and clean, and has an easy interface allowing updates to come directly from websites, text and instant messages. Unfortunately this desire for quicker, faster, and shorter may invaribly have an effect on the news cycle. I already hear myself telling stories about how it was in the good 'ol early days of my PR career when we used to actually read full articles.

Again, Quick Hits

2008-05-02T16:14:00.001-04:00

Sorry, I've got to get these out of my files and everybody loves links!

An article from the Wall Street Journal arguing that "We're Powerless To Resist Grazing On Endless Web Data". I would argue against that but I may just be the exception

From my favorite PRNewser blog, 6 Questions to Ask a Reporter Before You Hang up:

1. When are you open to schedule the call/meeting/etc?

2. When is your deadline?

3. When is the publish date?

4. Who else are you speaking with for this story?

5. Is there a particular angle you're taking?

6. What would you like to know for your story?

And, a 10 step primer on how to build a better blog relations program

Thinking outside the box...

2008-05-02T12:18:00.001-04:00

Is my least favorite term on earth. Or close to it.
At any rate, it's the advice given by some of our professors as we embark on our jobs and careers. Sometimes, it's the only way to seek out solutions to a problem. Here is one:
There is a classic case in which the tenants of a large office building complained about the increasingly poor elevator service. A consulting firm specializing in elevator-related problems was employed to deal with the situation. It first established that average waiting time for elevators was too long. It then evaluated the possibilities of adding elevators, replacing existing elevators with faster ones, and introducing computer controls to improve utilization of elevators. For various reasons, none of these turned out to be satisfactory. The engineers declared the problem to be unsolvable.

When exposed to the problem, a young psychologist employed in the building's personnel department made a simple suggestion that dissolved the problem. Unlike the engineers who saw the service as too slow, he saw the problem as one deriving from the boredom of those waiting for an elevator. So he decided they should be given something to do. He suggested putting mirrors in the elevator lobbies to occupy those waiting by enabling them to look at themselves and others without appearing to do so. The mirrors were put up and complaints stopped. In fact, some of the previously complaining tenants congratulated management on improvement of the elevator service.

Ackoff, R. L., 1999
Re-creating the Corporation
Oxford Univ. Press, NY p15-16

More Quick Hits

2008-04-30T11:37:00.001-04:00

Leon Spinks is someone who does not enjoy the quick hits

So, further free time means more posts. Huzzah!
For all of you in the workplace or trying to deal with such, a quick summary of Robert Sapolksy's new book by Lifehacker, which expounds on how evolutionary biology can be used to explain some office politics

Then, one of our essential lessons from Lou Capozzi is that PR people lack some essential business skills and those have to be formulated in order to be taken seriously. I have no idea how to negotiate as I grew up in America and am not an attorney. However, here's a tip: Ask for Something You Don't Want, Then "Give" On It

And, of course, 250 tips on public speaking. First one to collect them all gets to re-write the Gettysburg Address!

Quick hits

2008-04-30T11:20:00.002-04:00

A new mascot of someone who enjoys quick hits!

Tips for conquering your fear of public speaking (outside of liquor)

A fascinating study on how humor is productive for the workplace and its limitations

And another study showing that CEO's pay is directly related to the amount of media exposure that the firm has (yet even more reasons for PR to have a seat at the table, however selfish)

And now, to continue clearing out all the junk in my saved folders.

Cognitive Dissonance in the News

2008-04-28T12:40:00.003-04:00

How exciting!
As any student in the program knows, a great deal of our curriculum revolves around the theories of cognitive dissonance and its different components.
Farhad Manjoo has a new book out entitled True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society that explores the tendency humans have to tune out what they don't want to hear and the interplay and significance of that in an era when you can get news from whatever source you choose to reinforce your viewpoint.
I'm going to post a decent part of the transcript from On The Media's interview with the author because it's just so illuminating:

He begins with a study conducted in the late '60s. Psychologists put college students in a room to listen to various speeches that were obscured by static. At any point the test subjects could press a button
to temporarily reduce the static. Farhad Manjoo says that nonsmokers would repeatedly reduce the static during speeches about the bad effects of smoking.
FARHAD MANJOO: The smokers, on the other hand, wanted to only listen to the stuff that confirmed their belief that smoking wasn't so bad for them....
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Now, you use examples from, you know, decades ago to illustrate selective exposure
and selective interpretation, but you contend in your book that these are really manifestations of the current media world of blogs and talk radio and email.
FARHAD MANJOO: Yeah. And in this world, there is the front door, the big newspapers and big network news
outlets. The side doors are the blogs, talk radio, cable news, which actually draws a very small audience.These side doors allow us to kind of amplify these factors of selective exposure and selective interpretation, and they make these factors kind of more important today than they were in the past,
because in the past, you couldn't really seek out media that comported with your beliefs because, well, there weren't that many media choices.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: And you give a couple of great examples of how this plays out in the modern media
world – the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which worked very hard to change the nation's understanding of John Kerry's war record.
FARHAD MANJOO: Right. They went through this very circuitous path. They held a press conference. Big
newspapers and big network news outlets came. And everyone ignored what they had to say because it was apparent to these journalists that the evidence that this group had didn't really stand up. So they went to basically every talk radio outlet in the country and they popularized their message on the Web. And they started to attract donors, which was pivotal for them because then they could run TV ads and those TV ads then sort of got amplified through the cable news and then eventually made it to, you know, network news.And lots of newspapers and legitimate journalistic outfits ran dozens of pieces basically debunking the Swift Boat Veterans, but the people on the right, and, to some extent, people in the center who
listen to people on the right, didn't have much exposure to those facts.

So, my point is, there's an outlet for everything. Hooray internet!

"Freelance" is not code for unemployed

2008-04-23T15:48:00.005-04:00

Earlier this week I attended a NYWICI sponsored panel on freelancing at the NYU School of Journalism. I am totally jealous of their fancy building on Cooper Square, though as Adam pointed out after I promptly e-mailed to complain, we have somewhat more of an opportunity to capitalize on our ROI as communicators. I have worked with many amazing freelance writers in the past and thought this would give some further insight as to what you can expect when you are pitching a story to someone who must then find an editor to publish it. While in some ways this is similar to pitching an assistant editor who needs approval from their editorial board, there is less of a constant guarantee unless you are working with a writer contracted by a publication with the latitude to publish what they wish. I've recently been toying with the idea of doing some freelance PR work or writing while in a transition phase so I can focus on the finishing school with a little more time on my hands than I have had in the past, but have not been sure what hurdles to be aware of as I look around. Inevitably this is something many of us face in our careers at some point or another.

The panel included the well rounded group of established journalists who have freelanced at least one stretch of their careers including Adam Peneberg, freelance writer for Fast Company, NYU, Forbes, Wired, Playboy, and Mother Jones; Jessica Siegel, freelance writer for Glamour, NYT, Ms. Magazine, The Village Voice, Salon, Reader's Digest, and NPR; Matt Rivera, multimedia producer for the WSJ; Rebecca Fox, managing editor of Mediabistro and their FishbowlNewYork; and Althea Erickson, community manager for the Freelancers Union. Aside some of the writing focused advice, a lot of the messages were universal in terms of working on your own. Choose your niche but don't limit yourself to too specific a "brand," actively stay up on the news across all fields, income will never be consistent, read the fine print in contracts to ensure you are not selling your soul or missing out on possible cash (taxes are an entire other topic that was not touched upon), and - shocking to hear it said out loud even though we all know it's true - print will in fact die one day (2011 is the projection for online ad revenue to surpass print) so basically our job roles on both sides of the media fence will either be useless or, likelier, evolve into something other than expected. The more I hear the word "recession" the realization is more apparent that it's always a good idea to sharpen those independent working skills.

Erin Ryder, the King of Media Relations

2008-04-23T13:20:00.001-04:00

I haven't posted in awhile and that's fine. I just want to point out that we got mentioned in Gawker, primarily because Erin Ryder is tenacious and badass enough to get it done, I'm assuming, as she has been hustling the piss out of our upcoming event.

Ethics in Communications

2008-04-20T17:37:00.003-04:00

The NYTimes article "Behind Analysts, the Pentagon's Hidden Hand" takes a sharp look at ethics in communications. Two of the ethics issues raised from this articles are:

Many of the military analysts who were retained by the Pentagon to toe the department's official messaging also were executives or board members of defense contractors. Whose responsibility is it to disclose conflicts of interest? The Pentagon who were providing these analysts with high-level access to government officials and sensitive military information? The networks who hires them to provide expert commentary? Or the analysts themselves?
According to the article, many of the military analysts maintained the Pentagon's key messages on air, but privately disagreed with the official assessment. Why did they lie?

In every class in the NYU PRC C masters program, we are exhorted to not lie. Although public relations is a study of human behavior and we strive to shape public minds, there is the underlying bias towards more communication with audiences but also more communication without lying.

That the military analysts were sometimes executives and board members of defense contractors jockeying for key government contracts is not far-fetched. These men have lived and breathed the military their entire lives and that is where their expertise lie. In interviews with the NYTimes, many acknowledged that they used their access to government and military officials to their business advantage. They also acknowledged that providing commentary on air that opposed the official Pentagon message resulted in swift castigation and removal from the Pentagon's military analyst list.

It saddens me that these men who have achieved so much military commendation would lie to mislead their fellow Americans in order to maintain their access to government officials to attain a business competitive edge.

“The game never changes, just the players. The more there is to steal, the more it will be stolen. This isn’t just at the New York Stock Exchange or on Wall Street; it’s in the entire financial world. It’s a gene flaw, I think. You know, whenever they say it’s not about the money — it’s the money.” -John Jakobson, member of the New York Stock Exchange since 1955

I used this quote as the lead-in for my investor relations paper. Unfortunately it seems to apply to the government as well.

"...it’s in the entire ... world. It’s a gene flaw, I think. You know, whenever they say it’s not about the money — it’s the money.”

Losing Sight of the Goal

2008-04-20T17:09:00.004-04:00

Today's NYTimes article "Behind Analysts, the Pentagon's Hidden Hand" is a fascinating look at the Defense Department's public relations and strategic communications efforts to boost the image of the Iraq War in American minds.

I am currently in Professor Garcia's Strategic Communications class and we discussed yesterday the difference between goals and strategy. Effective strategic communications involve tactics that reinforce messages that support strategies that accomplishes goals. Where many organizations fail is to lose sight of the goal. This article shows how the Pentagon did just that.

Pentagon's goal was to shape American minds to view the Iraq War in a positive light. Believing that the Vietnam War was lost because of negative media coverage at home, senior officials at the Defense Department was loathe for that to to happen to the Iraq War. The strategy was the use of key influentials, ie-retired military men as television and radio analysts who would reiterate the Pentagon's official messaging.

According to Omnitec Solutions, the media monitoring company the Pentagon contracted to evaluate the military analysts' appearances, the strategy was carried out brilliantly. Omnitec reported that the Pentagon's key messages were being echoed on all television stations. It seemed that the high-level briefings and Defense Department sponsored trips to Iraq, were working.

But the goal was to change American minds about the progress of the Iraq War, namely to change the perception in American minds that the Iraq War was going well and as planned. And in this the Pentagon's goal wasn't achieved. Since the Iraq War began in 2002, the pubic approval rating about the war has only steadily decreased.

This is an instance of an effective strategy that didn't accomplish the goal.

PRCC Annual Reception

2008-04-15T13:38:00.011-04:00

For those of you we have not spammed via email, snail mail, facebook, or smoke signals... the PR League will be holding the first annual (yes, this is an oxymoron) reception on Friday, April 25th from 6-9p.m., presented by Manning Selvage & Lee. We'll be gathering some of the top communicators in the industry, media, and even headhunters too, for a panel discussion about the value of an advanced degree in public relations and corporate communications led by our very own Lou Capozzi, President of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation. If that is not interesting enough, cocktails will follow.

Students, faculty, communicators, and members of the media: Please send attendance requests and affiliation to prcc.rsvp@nyu.edu. We hope to see you there!

- PR League

17 Tips for Getting Blogged

2008-04-13T17:29:00.002-04:00

Cory Doctorow, the mad genius behind the internet's #1 site, Boing Boing, has a post up in Information Week that should have implications for those of you always looking to pitch to bloggers. The post, entitled 17 Tips For Getting Bloggers To Write About You, provides insight for those unfamiliar with the blogosphere in their goal of getting blogged. Among the most useful:
Have a link. Seriously: if you want bloggers to link to you, you need to have something linkable. Your upcoming TV show, protest march, product or soccer tournament is literally unbloggable unless you put it on the Web somewhere first.
Flash sites stink.

Linking policies are ridiculous. There is no legal right to control who gets to link your Website (no more than you have the right to control who gets to hand out driving directions to your office). The lawyer who advised you to put up a "linking policy" describing the "terms and conditions" under which the world is allowed to link to your site is an idiot who owes you your money back.
Finally: Send suggestions by the preferred means. Top blogs generally sport prominent links to their preferred means of receiving submissions -- sometimes it's an e-mail address, sometimes, it's a form.

It's a pretty similar idea as regular pitching but it's important to sort out the minor yet significant details.

Losing Trust

2008-04-03T10:53:00.002-04:00

Last night in the "Managing PR and Corporate Communications Functions" class, we had an excellent guest speaker, Laurence Evans of StrategyOne. Evan's presentation was on reputation management and Edelman's 2008 Trust Barometer.

The key themes from his presentation were:

Trustholders are key reputation gatekeepers.
The erosion of trust occurs over time, with an accumulation of events.
Trust motivates just as much as distrust.

In WSJ's article Clinton Slipping on Trust, Senator Hillary Clinton is at her lowest approval rating since April 2006. Her recent "misspeaking" about the Bosnia trip planted seeds of distrust in the voter's mind about her other policy experiences. Incidents most erode trust when it speaks to the candidate's core identity.

As Fred Garcia emphasizes, building trust includes the art of making predictions that come true. To rebuild trust with voters, Senator Clinton needs to make statements that cannot be proven false with YouTube clips.

Tips on Skills

2008-04-02T17:23:00.004-04:00

Mike Manuel is the author of one of my favorite blogs. He works for Voce Communications (California. Tech. Silicon Valley. You know the type). Anyways, he writes Media Guerilla. I'm fairly sure I've mentioned it before.
Look: my point is thusly: He recently had some students from his alma mater in to chat and he dispensed with a few tips that are germane to our students as well (and we didn't even have to go to Chico State, although the weather outside doesn't make that sound like such an advantage today).
Among the skills you'll find valuable:

Knowing Rudimentary HTML- It's much easier than it sounds. I can do really crappy html and I have no idea what those words stand for. Take over the webmaster job and teach yourself. It ain't hard.

Get Conversing in Different Mediums- Yes, emails and press releases are important. But at least be exposed to other formats and how to communicate through them whether they be ubiquitous (web pages) or completely inane (in my opinion, Twitter. I hate twitter.)

Understanding Distribution and Production- Do you know what an RSS? Do you know how to edit things for mp3 or ringtones? Do you know really simple lighting tricks for webcasting? These things aren't just for your parent's basement anymore. You can now get paid for it!

Manuel's interpretation of fundamentals is a lot more pragmatic than our curriculum, which is centered around writing and strategy, but no less valuable. If the only way you pick up these traits is through learning it yourself, no one's stopping you. Get to it.

Terrible Public Relations Practice for Real Estate Firm

2008-03-21T11:42:00.003-04:00

DSC_1691
Originally uploaded by rsguskind

For those of you who don't know, I live in Greenpoint. Recently, this neighborhood has seen a boon in fancy buildings and spearheading the charge is Robert Scarano architects(I was going to link to their page but it's a really annoying site that has loud noises and too many tchochkes).
I know nothing about Real Estate. I know there have been complaints about the design of the buildings but I would personally love to be the sort of person whose Daddy would buy one for me. Which, from the residents I've met of new buildings in my neighborhood, seems to be typical of the inhabitants.

However, perhaps because tensions run so high and also perhaps because these neighborhoods have seen problems before with abandoned buildings, Scarano has hired security for the project at Bond and Carroll.

The photo above is of a dog named Cappy from Barc's (visit the link and adopt a dog now dammit!) annual dog parade. Cappy is decidedly not an attack dog. He is the sort of dog that goes out for walks and probably has to wear a coat in this weather. However, the site has contracted out attack dogs as protection.

Long story short, they escaped and attacked Cappy. Cappy is recovering but what follows is cacophonous mess of passing the buck, which will hurt each involved. From Cappy's owners email to the excellent Gowanus Lounge:

I spoke with Angelo Biondo today (he's the owner of K9 Powerhouse Kennels). He thinks that Con Edison had been at the worksite and "dug a hole" but "they didn't tell anyone"....so the worksite was left open, and that's how the attack dogs escaped. Of course, his only response was "I'm really sorry" and "You'll have to get in touch with the contractors." I talked to the ASPCA Law Enforcement Department, and they said K9 Powerhouse Kennels are responsible for the dogs.

So, Biondo gives a half-hearted apology and whines about Con Ed's role in this. ASPCA declines to intervene (shocking in the wake of the negligence of the crane collapse on behalf of state and city agencies), and Scarano offers not a peep. Community Board 6's response is thusly:

Thank you for contacting our office. Unfortunately, the guard dog issue is a neighbor/neighbor matter that can only be resolved between neighbors. If you see the dogs loose again, I would urge you to contact the 76th precinct.

So, as Gowanus Lounge points out, action will only be taken once this negligence has injured a human.

Scarano is building in these neighborhoods and already engendering enough resentment. I know technically they're covered. It's not their fault that contractors are hiring attack dogs legally. But, c'mon. Walmart could technically contract out immigrant workers and lock them in stores but it hurt their image. Scarano needs to step in and do the right thing. Stop this practice of hiring firms that employ attack dogs. Use a more efficient, if not humane, method of using cameras or hiring a security guard. Yes, it's more expensive but it will save money from lawsuits in the long run. And it will make for better neighbors.

Wild Wild (Inter)net

2008-03-21T00:34:00.012-04:00

Communication laws are something most communications practitioner / publicist / journalist / blogger / flack / hack / insert-insult-here's fully understand. Countless PR professionals and journalists continue to make the same mistakes as those before them. Legality is not changing as quickly as the means of communication, and recognizing what can later haunt you is not entirely clear.

Reading real time news updates as most of us do, it is not always the news postings themselves that are the must read, but the readers reaction. The anonymity of the comments section provides an open forum to (blindly?) post rants and raves along with confidential details. Not unlike a signed or anonymous letter to the editor there has been a noticeable divide – some blogs generate record numbers of comments worth hitting the refresh button while others are lucky if they receive any feedback at all.

Most unique about this phenomenon is the argument over weather or not publishers should be responsible for their outspoken audience’s words. As of 1996, third party content providers could not be held responsible unless they could be identified. By screening or editing comments, protection against libel lawsuits is forfeited. The First Amendment cannot cover every situation this has, or will, become an issue for. Under the threatening headline “How Blog Comments Can Get You Sued,” and a follow-up post that later proves you actually can in fact be sued , Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici has closely covered the topic to make you think twice about lashing out online. Headlines have been popping up, including noteworthy articles in both The Atlantic and Wall Street Journal that continue to open up this interesting and timely debate to a wider audience.

“I’m Sorry, and I’m Going to Rehab”

2008-03-10T20:21:00.004-04:00

In many of our courses a reoccurring theme remains. A prominent public figure – be it a celebrity, business leader, politician, or family member of one of the above – admits wrongdoing and promises to amend their behavior.

Sex scandals are to politicians as “exhaustion” and drug problems are to celebrities. What becomes make or break are the steps one takes to rebuild their image after the crisis hits. It's been done before and it will be done again, the publicity machine kicks into a well oiled machine that the industry has become instinctively known for. If not strategic it is not going to work. What you see of the cover of Us Weekly, I assure you, is probably not a paparazzi shot of the celeb du jour staring into the distance and pouting at the camera with a perfectly styled hair and makeup. It has likely been as planned as a cover placement of Vogue, an appearance on Oprah, or a stroll down the red carpet at a high profile event. Sunday Styles ran an interesting article focusing on celebrity culture as it relates to public relations and rebuilding after a collapse. Things are not always as they seem, including the public persona of many well known faces. Maintaining the image can take a village.

It is crazy to note that even B-list celebrities can bounce back easier than (sometimes) credible business leaders and politicians who’s personal lives have been exposed for public consumption, while their professional lives remain relatively unscathed.

Pitching to accomodate the changing paradigm of the Journalism Industry

2008-03-09T17:15:00.003-04:00

Mark Glaser of CUNY has a piece out to new and practicing journalists that gives tips to help them cope with the changing marketplace. The old structure was that, after graduation, the emerging journalist would "cut their teeth" at smaller institutions in different markets before their resume would qualify them for more glamorous work.
However, the change in the marketplace, meaning a downward shift in most newsroom budgets means journalists must be more entrepreneurial. As Glaser writes:

...there have been many examples of journalists who have created their own mini-media enterprises online: Rafat Ali at PaidContent, Om Malik at GigaOm, Debra Galant at BaristaNet, Josh Marshall at TPM Media, Henry Abbott at TrueHoop (now owned by ESPN), and on and on.

And, indeed, the ideas that have emerged are interesting. ...Daniel Massey, one of the CUNY students who won a grant for his startup idea in the class, a sort of “reverse Digg,” where people would vote up story ideas for editors before they were written.

The point of interest to our field is how will this shift our strategy when it comes to pitching? How do we adjust the nature of our angles so that journalists can not just write a story about it but that it also can have legs on their personal blogs or flickr pages or whatever medium catches fire next?

Call out for contributors!!

2008-03-06T15:27:00.002-05:00

First off, I am not looking for a clone. More like more contributors. But that is just an awesome photo.

Soon, I will graduate. Well, maybe not soon but by the Fall. Of next year. If my prayers and numerous sacrifices of goats do anything at all.
Upon graduation, odds are I will not be contributing to this blog at all and, much like my banjo, skateboard, and six children, I will be abandoning it as I move on.
However, I do think it's something that I've learned a lot from and will prove a powerful bullet point on my eventual resume. It's with that in mind that I would like to invite more people in the program to contribute to this. Why?
Let's take the first example, Chris Clarke. He is a youngin' by most standards yet has parlayed his admitted lack of industry experience into a job with the top firm in Canada (It's the state above Michigan, for the Americans in the program). Besides, I'm sure, his intelligence and charm which made him a good candidate, what other assets does Chris have?
That's right, my cynical friend. He had a blog that he regularly maintained while a student and even now. Read his strong pitch on why you, as prospective employees in the field, should be contributors to the blogosphere. You'll be familiar with at least one trend and will express your adroitness to learn new mediums.

Next, let's turn our attention to Ryan Anderson, who preaches the gospel for those interested in success in PR to maniacal interest in specific subjects. That is my euphemism for Ryan's insightful "All Hail the Geek" post. The following is easily one of the most prescient observations I've read about the industry:

It’s said quite often that public relations, marketing or advertising is “not about the tools.” That’s a fair statement, but at a much higher level, the profession requires such an intense mastery of the tools - especially when it comes to social media - that it’s not sufficient just to have a textbook understanding of the tools. In order to be a grandmaster, you have to experience them on a level that cannot be read or explained. That’s where being a geek comes in, and that thirst for knowledge and personal depth - no matter how obscure interacting on Twitter or maintaining a podcast may seem to friends outside the industry - becomes a point of differentiation between “practitioner” and “expert.”

For those who are new to the industry, or trying to break in - your best investment in yourself, and ultimately your future tax bracket, is to be a geek. Dedicate yourself to learning about the whole, but spend the extra time understanding each of those moving parts. Your friends might think you’re a bit odd, but the benefit you provide to a future employer will be well worth it.

So, in essence, you're not blogging to gain a powerful readership. You're not writing because you'd like to eventually garner a position with gawker. You are writing because doing so greatly expands your base of knowledge and, hence, makes you exceptionally qualified for future employment. So, just drop me a line and hit this bad boy. Metaphorically. I hate being punched.

When the Music Stops

2008-02-21T16:45:00.003-05:00

Mack Collier of the Viral Garden (although I read him through the Daily Fix) has read the Stern paper entitled Does Chatter Matter (bless him for doing so because I read a paragraph and thought I was going to have an aneurysm).
Basically, the study tracked the effect of CD sales: The number of myspace friends the artists had versus the amount of chatter the upcoming release generated on the internet and the ROI of each on CD sales.
Collier sums it up thusly:

According to HypeBot, a new CD release that had at least 40 blog posts about it in the month leading up to release, enjoyed sales that were 400% higher than those for the average release.

A new CD release that had 250 or more blog posts about it in the month leading up to its release enjoyed sales that were 600% higher than those for the average release.

The researchers also discovered that while a higher number of 'friends' that an artist had on MySpace increased sales, the increase wasn't as great as those gained from blog posts.

I'm not sure how surprising this conclusion is, necessarily. While I am "friends" with musicians I like on myspace, I pretty much go out of my way to ignore their posts entirely. i don't know if it's really even the artist's pages, quite frankly, and I really don't want to listen to whatever drunken rambling they are sending out anyways.

However, I do take certain blogs recommendations and samples as gospel, specifically these two:
http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/
and
http://musicslut.blogspot.com/

Anyways, point is: Myspace vs. blog chatter: Blog wins. Because, again, it goes through a filter that I trust.

As a sidenote, I honestly can't remember the last time I bought a cd or (gulp) paid for music. And for reasons like this: Andrew WK has no appeal as an album but live or just dancing with Conan, he's the bizness

Meet Real Americans

2008-02-21T10:12:00.004-05:00

You know you did a PR "No-No" when Gawker slams you for a stunt you pitched them. For proof Applebee's got this public flanking. A word to the wise, when pitching remember it could end up anywhere... even as is.

My Two Cents on the Capstone

2008-02-21T09:37:00.002-05:00

The Masters in Public Relations and Corporate Communications is a wonderful degree, practical and focused. The last two hurdles in attaining this degree are the Practicum and Capstone. A suggestion to demystify the Capstone project, increase cohesion among the students in the program and distribute knowledge, why not institute a symposium for those who have completed and approved capstones?

sym·po·si·um (sim-poze-em)
n. pl. sym·po·si·ums or sym·po·si·a (-z-)
1. A meeting or conference for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations.
2. A collection of writings on a particular topic, as in a magazine.
3. A convivial meeting for drinking, music, and intellectual discussion among the ancient Greeks.

A symposium could also become an informal why for the program to celebrate graduating students. A little transparency and cheer would add a lot to the Capstone and the program.

Quick Hits: Tips on buying textbooks

2008-02-19T13:57:00.002-05:00

You know how in the beginning of each semester you buy textbooks, some of which are worthwhile and most of which are not? And you know how really ineffective our re-sale programs are?
Well, apparently, there's this company which brokers the renting of textbooks: Chegg.com.
From their description:Select textbooks, over 2 million to choose from.,Receive your books by mail.,Keep the books until the semester ends., Return your books.

Gates Foundation Needs You!

2008-02-18T11:45:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, the New York Times posted the article "Gates Foundation Influence Criticized" which mentioned that some members of the world health community at the World Health Organization (WHO) were unhappy with the way that Gates money was directing medical research. Having increased malaria research funding to $1.2 billion since 2000 from $84 million in the late 1990s, one could argue that the Gates Foundation has only spotlighted a neglected area of medical research. The Gates Foundation has also established the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington with a $150 million grant. The mission of the Institute is similar in ways to the WHO, evaluating effective treatments in different countries and ranking national health systems. But the implication that the Gates Foundation have used their money to influence public health has a whiff of Microsoft's tactics. This is where the Gates Foundation needs you, the PR professional, to educate the public and governments on how its money is benefiting those most in need.

What Level of Education are Employers Looking for?

2008-02-10T21:01:00.001-05:00

I think a thread of neuroses that runs through our program is the nagging doubt over whether this education will make any difference in terms of getting a job post graduation or mobility in the field after a position has been established. Joseph Thornley tackles the question from his own experiences. He comes to a fairly reassuring conclusion: The degree opens up doors but really, what he looks for is the ability to analyze and think critically. So many of our classes emphasize this and develop tools for this that I'm fairly confident.

NY C/U Event Planning

2008-02-06T15:38:00.001-05:00

After years of event planning I have realized that securing a space at school is by far the worst experience ever (maybe I am being a bit dramatic, maybe). Here are a few NYC resources for space when planning an extravaganza off campus. It will be easier that planning within the purple and white curtain...

Loft Rentals
Theater and Event Space
Party Space

More Piranhas Trained in the Tank

2008-01-29T20:40:00.000-05:00

A rather unfortunate Boy Scout tribute in DC via Gridskipper

Did you know that our own Rob Imig is an Eagle Scout? Seriously. Eagle Scout is to Boy Scout as Lance Armstrong is to leisurely cyclist.
At any rate, in its offering of new merit badges, the AP is reporting that a merit badge in public relations will be a goal. Now, as weird as this may sound, perhaps this isn't such a bad thing. With more people familiar with the functions of the practice, perhaps it will gain even more traction as a skill set in the public's eye. Also, let's hope they adopt the Boy Scout code of ethics to the PR merit badge. Maybe then the stigma of PR will be chipped away at further.

As always, via the amazing Media Bistro PRNewser blog

Covering a Celebrity’s Death

2008-01-23T09:59:00.000-05:00

When a large crowd gathers and something bad happens, there is a quiet rumble that spreads from one end to another, it takes a few moments, but eventually everyone hears a version of what happened. In a New York City midtown office, bad news spreads at lighting speeds. It was literally seconds before the death of Heath Ledger was announced that the entire office was im-ing the link or forwarding the google/yahoo/factiva/newyorktimes alerts. It was a wild fire or information. Bad news travels fast. How the news covered is a whole other story.

The New York Times’s City Room wrote a recap of how this news was covered in “Covering a Celebrity’s Death.” We all have to be aware of how news develops, but maybe just as important was news we choose to believe.

A few perspectives on choosing PR as a career

2008-01-20T13:54:00.001-05:00

First, from England, Sam Oakley's perspective. Sam runs All Things PR and works for Waterside Communications in Leeds. All I know about Leeds is that there is a famous Who concert from there.
At any rate, Sam received an inquiry from someone who was deciding between PR or Marketing. Here is Sam's take on knowing whether or not PR is right for you:

How do I know PR is for me? - You don’t know, until you’ve been doing it for a while but if you like reading, like the news, like talking and listening to people and don’t mind working very hard for very little money then you might well enjoy PR. I think there’s something of the speech writer inside most PR people in that we like seeing our words on
the page or the screen and don’t mind that they’re attributed to someone else.

Skill Sets: Writing and face to face communication are key. You also need to be flexible and willing to get stuck in, PR is not a 9 to 5. Every agency seems to be different and you have to be able to cope with that as well as different requirements of different journalists. You have to be able to form relationships quickly - the average length of
time a journalist is in post is about 15 months so you don’t have long to get on their radar. I’d also say that you have to ”get” the internet and web 2.0 etc… though I doubt every MD of every PR agency would say that yet. You have to be willing to learn when someone knows more than you, have strength of convictions when you know more than them, and
have the perspective to be able to tell the deference. I could go on…

These are accurate conclusions, if not a bit depressing. It's also comforting to note the focus of our program is in writing and communication. It's disheartening for our lack of web 2.0 training, however.

The second perspective is from Canada's Loyalist College in Ontario. Again, Canada is the state to the north of Michigan.
At any rate, their alumni paper has a letter from a recent grad in their Post-grad PR program lauding the program and its contributions to her learning and career. So, you know, maybe it pays off...

Quick Hit: Ethics and Technology

2008-01-13T12:58:00.001-05:00

I get the feeling a lot of you aren't familiar with anything webby. This is to your detriment. However, before embarking on anything even remotely internet-y (Oooh! I like creating adjectives) it would behoove you to read this post from Simon Collister re: some of the basic practices that every practitioner should know are verboten and unethical in the webby world. It should be standard knowledge.

The Value of Speech

2008-01-06T18:46:00.000-05:00

I'll be honest. I hate everything Mike Huckabee stands for. To me, he epitomizes that secret inner fatty. The kind of jerk who won't shut up about health food when he's thin but when he was fat 4 years ago wouldn't leave you alone until you drove him to the local gas station so he could buy some aged hot dogs and frito-lay chips. Plus, the whole "homosexuality is a sin and so is everything else unless I do it publicly" vibe has never worked for me. However, I must say, if I weren't so consumed by anger for his policies, I could see myself liking him. And I wonder, why, why on earth would I like the father of the boy who tortures dogs? 'Cuz dude got charms.
Andrew Sullivan, who I have as many mixed feelings about as teh Huckster, rightly points out what both democratic and republican frontrunners, who have defied conventional knowledge in their ascension, have in common:

In the television and internet age, old-style rhetoric is sometimes regarded as an anachronism. It isn't. Huckabee's brilliance in the debates gave him this opportunity. Obama's public speeches have been the best in a candidate since Reagan and Kennedy.

It speaks to the lessons learned in Managing Public Relations Functions. That authenticity and an ability to communicate your views via oration are invaluable.

Will Microsoft reap what it has sewn for its negligence on the reputation management front?

2008-01-03T10:45:00.000-05:00

It seems as though Microsoft's once near complete domination of the market is now seriously being challenged. By who? Of course, as with everything else, it's Google. Mitchell Ashley has a breakdown of the approach they've taken and the strategy they've adopted, with key tenets they've stuck to, including:

Don't Use Your Competitor's Products To Build Your Company
Hire The Best Open Source Insiders
Create and Sponsor Open Source Developers
Don't Lose Your Place At The User's Table
Hit 'Em From All Flanks

On that front, James Cramer (who is intolerable on television and brilliant when his mania is reined in by an adroit editor) has his top 10 predictions for this upcoming year. At #6?

Google continues its dominance and becomes one of the top three companies in the U.S. in market capitalization. It doubles its advertising share, at the expense of television and print. It also successfully challenges Microsoft for operating-system dominance. Microsoft calls for a government investigation of Google’s power, but no one cares because Microsoft is just too hated for anyone in Washington to champion.

So, essentially, what Cramer is saying is that conceivably Google could be open to the same charges that Microsoft once was. However, because of the care that Google has made to make strides within the court of public opinion (and as opposed to Microsoft's comparable indifference), the demand for regulation against Google won't be as intense. And, hence, Reputation Management pays dividends again.

Incidentally, if you've never seen this clip of Cramer on Mad Money, you haven't lived.

OK, actually, if you haven't seen it, maybe you have lived and that's the reason why you haven't seen it.

Just when you think it's impossible...

2008-01-02T09:33:00.001-05:00

…it gets harder. The NYT has reported, amongst others, that David Letterman has booked Robin Williams as his first guest for when the show returns to CBS tonight. This reminded me of how hard it really is to get a guest on a late night show. And now it will be even more difficult to get your client on - A-lister or not - due to the back log of shows. The talent producer, booking producer, head guest honcho are bombarded with all the reasons you “have” to have my client on. It's a difficult call to make to begin with and now things just got a little more complicated. Definitely share your creative ideas of how to land this utmost important and much desired booking.

Finding that first PR job (albeit in Norway)

2007-12-30T19:44:00.000-05:00

I suppose we can't really use this example as a microcosm of the job search experience so I will instead use it as an interesting description of a job search experience and you can draw whatever parallels and lessons you would like.

Jens points out that the trend in Norway is similar to that here, that the vast majority of hires in the industry go to veterans or those with media experience. Fresh-faced newbs have a tough time getting placement. He eventually did. Or she. I'm not very familiar with Norwegian names. Although I like Jens Lekman and he's a guy.

Look, my point is Jens (the blogger/PR employee, not Lekman, who, I reiterate, is awesome) has put together 6 tips from initial survey and research right down to the follow-ups. I would say it's invaluable. I kind of wanted to cut and paste as well as provide a link but, I don't know, that seems to teeter on plagiarism.

Jens Lekman, incidentally, is on tour.

PS from PR Jens' blog: After two rounds of intense interviews and a debate with the other applicants in the interview process I took part in, I received a phone form the consultancy, a respected Norwegian PR-consultancy, and was offered a job as a junior consultant.

What? Seriously? A round table debate among applicants? Where there no Gladiator suits available? Is this standard in the US?

New Year's Resolutions

2007-12-28T12:21:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! Resolutions, those things we hope to change / make different / work on, are made this time of year and I am throwing PR resolutions into the mix. I can only hope that PR professionals not embarrass ourselves in 2008.

So, let's all work on the following:

People writing about other people slamming PR folk.

Figure out why PR doesn't work and whose fault is it.

Stop writing crap pitches, just don't do it.

Get away from your crap PR job that is making you a mad / bad / nasty person.

Learn more, change more, get a mentor, be a mentor.

Have a happy, healthy and productive 2008!

Blogging’s a Low-Cost, High Return Marketing Tool

2007-12-27T09:54:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's the dog looking at this "blogger" or maybe it's the fact that the NYT is on point when discussing the benefits of the "blog" to small businesses. The article points to a recent American Express survey, which found only 5 percent of businesses with fewer than 100 employees have blogs. Big props goes out to Denali Flavors, an ice cream manufacturing company in Michigan. They license flavors to other stores and have a limited ad budget. Their blog drives business to the fab flavors and identified the "specialness" that they own, even as a distributor. Warning: Let's not be fooled though, a blog is a journey that one should enter in slowly and methodically. Especially for a small business or startup.

The ambiguity of advertising

2007-12-25T22:37:00.001-05:00

check2
Originally uploaded by SherlockHomeboy

From the Without Warning blog, this blogger points out one of the most inane print advertisements around. Obviously written by someone who either can't think clearly or has had their message shrouded by accountants and lawyers, this easy enough idea (a coupon) becomes incomprehensible.
Clear writing, people!

Pitching to Music Bloggers

2007-12-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

Puddlegum has a list of things you should consider when pitching music blogs. I know several people in the program have an interest in pursuing music PR. I also know several people in the program have really terrible taste in music. The first tip to all of this should be: John Mayer is terrible.

From puddlegum's post with my input after in parantheses:

One: Include the blogger’s name in the first line of the email. (well, include something short that shows that you read their blog and aren't just some spammer)
Two: Keep the email short. (yeah)
Three: Break your paragraphs up. (if you're keeping it short, this ain't a challenge)
Four: Bold keywords to attract the eye. (might appear arrogant/namedroppy but OK)
Five: Provide an Mp3. (word)
Six: Avoid linking to WMA or WMV links. (uh-huh)
Seven: Include a link to your digital album.(oh yeah)
Eight: Link to the artist’s websites. (do it already)
Nine: Provide images. (if you have no good ones, use this one)
Ten: Don’t pester. (although i would think you could pester music bloggers more because they are dirty stoned hippies who forget stuff)

2007-12-19T18:22:00.000-05:00

Ward Sutton, the brilliant/bellicose cartoonist whose works are often featured in the Village Voice, had a recent slideshow featured on the New York Times website that analyzed campaign logos and posters and what they said about each candidate.

I only mention this because it reiterates how important design is for communication. One of the most helpful guest lectures was a design maven who came in and spoke to our Writing Seminar II course to discuss the principles (basic) and impact of design in communication.

2007-12-17T13:08:00.000-05:00

In the interest of keeping up with current global trends, as we are pounded over the head with repeatedly, here is a short video of the fastest growing city in the world, Lagos:

Remember, the newly deposed king of this nation has a deal for you!

Cross-cultural differences

2007-12-10T11:22:00.001-05:00

The Hello Kitty craze is a bit more militant in China then these United States.

A recent interview(in Adrants) with Gothenburg's Frederick Olsson, in which the advertising guru speaks to the differences he observed in Chinese advertising during his recent travels to China reveals the following:

the Chinese government doesn't like marketers to know too much about citizens and therefore any type of participatory public event held by a marketer that involves interactivity is labeled "market research" which is forbidden by law.
While no law against guerrilla or alternative style advertising is one the books, it's frowned upon but if caught doing it, Ollsson says punishment is very likely.
Creativity:"Chinese advertising is rather infantile if you're looking only at creative." He says this is due to the simple lack of experience the culture in general has had with
capitalism and the marketing arm that goes with it. Conversely, Olsson says the work that is produced is meticulously executed , "extraordinarily good looking and technically advanced."
Also alive and well in Chinese advertising is what we would deem sexist. "A lot of macho gruff for the men and pink fluffy stars for the women," says Olsson.

Hence, no doubt it's going to be a tough market for PR professionals to get a grip on. Non-traditional consumer engagement is taboo and a culture of 1970s style cultural stereotype style exists. However, one wonders if the market will change as the audience becomes more used to capitalism.

Quick Hit

2007-12-06T19:45:00.000-05:00

I've decided I don't really have the time to summarize everything I'm going to link to, so I'll just link to it in a recurring section entitled Quick Hit, both to denote the style and as homage to Whitney Houston:
Chris Clarke on building yourself as your own brand and using PR to say who you are

Brooklyn as a Brand

2007-12-06T19:40:00.001-05:00

The Crack House
Originally uploaded by Hryckowian
reproduction of previous greenpoint attractions

We're always focusing on the benefits of edifying reputation in the pursuit of bettering the value of an organization. It works, sort of.
Case in point, Brownstoner's notice of a New York Press article that said, in part:

I was having lunch yesterday with someone from a prominent Brooklyn cultural institution and he admitted that he now gets requests to collaborate with his arts organization simply because they're located in Brooklyn. "We think it would be great to do something with you guys," he's been told. "We'd really like to have BROOKLYN associated with our name. It'll look great on the poster."

When I was a kid, the only cultural institution that was interested in moving to Greenpoint was a Museum of the Kielbasa. Now, it's become an attraction in and of itself.

Lit Up

2007-12-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

NYU’s Women in Communications (WIC) is a networking organization for NYU students interested in communications-related fields, including print journalism, broadcast journalism, advertising, marketing, public relations, new media, and fashion. According to their site “Lit Up represents the topics and ideas that inspire us.”

The site has a creative under grad staff (including my ubber fabulous sister) and covers relevant topics and reviews for us communication buffs. Let’s give credit where credit is due, they have their stuff together and a visually friendly site is just a plus.

Check ‘em out.