News journalists have the intention of parading a controversial story, but sometimes end up with a very different scenario.
News journalists have the intention of parading a controversial story, but sometimes end up with a very different scenario.
I just read the latest edition of the e-newsletter from Skyline Exhibits (Skyline Trade Show Tips), and I liked what I read so much, that I felt it was appropriate to share some of their ideas here.
So . . . with the permission of Skyline Exhibits, here are six tips on how to get more bang for your buck the next time you exhibit at a trade show, conference or event.
Skyline Exhibits recently surveyed its customers about tradeshows, and these are a few of the top ideas they selected to share with readers of their e-newsletter, Skyline Trade Show Tips.
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Actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment at 3:31 EST today, and the news was out in less than 90 minutes. It’s always a saddening time when someone unexpectedly dies, and he was quite the talented actor who will be missed. Frankly, I’m even more interested in seeing his performance as The Joker [...]
Our fellow pr practitioners at the Michigan Republican Party made a major goof tonight. I mean, really, congratulating the wrong candidate? Their explanation…they simply pushed the wrong button.
Full story at LA Times.
There are a couple of questions in life you never want to answer, such as
Well . . . I’ve got another question to add to the list. It’s
Unfortunately, Royale Energy (NASDAQ: ROYL) has just landed the first Sad Betty Award for its January 11, 2008 news release. In my opinion, this is probably one of the most confusing and most awkwardly written announcements I have ever read.
I couldn’t help but notice the AP story today about the release of the Air Jordan XXIII shoes.
[Pause for the roaring round of applause.] 
In case you are not one of the crazed and obsessed kids (or adults acting like kids) skipping school, work and even mugging to get your hands on a pair, let me give you a little background on this now “household” name of a shoe.
In the early 1980’s Nike was a struggling shoe company who was in serious need of a company and product makeover and they had their eye on rookie play Michael Jordan. Unlike other shoe companies, Nike was willing to risk a substantial amount of their marketing budget on this particular deal.
The differences didn’t stop with the budget alone. The new shoe line had a bold black and red design-a stark contrast to the white high-tops seen in the NBA. When the NBA banned the shoe from the league, Jordan wore them anyway, racking up to $5,000 per game in fines. (Nike was happy to pay these fines to keep the shoes in the public eye.)
Since 1985, the Air Jordan line has consistently been among the best selling basketball shoes and has gained a strong crowd of fans and collectors. With the release of the XXIII (Jordan’s iconic jersey number), many have rumored this shoe will be the line’s last.
Ever the savvy marketer, Jordan is keeping his lips sealed on that one, only teasing the media with “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
While I love the idea of ending the Air Jordan “reign” over the basketball shoe market with this legendary number, I highly doubt Nike is willing to lose this obviously valuable brand. (Nike won’t say what Jordan’s contract is worth but Lebron James’ deal is worth more than $90 million.)
I also think there would have been a bigger pr and advertising push if this were the last Air Jordan…but what do you think? Am I way off base?
Dear Mark & the rest of the Facebook executive team:
I’ve been following with interest the events of the past 72-96 hours involving the dust-up between Facebook and Robert Scoble. (See my blog post of tonight on Utah Tech Watch entitled “Who Owns Social Media Data? Scoble-Facebook-Plaxo Fracas Raises Questions.”)
Wow, what a mess!
Here’s my free advice: You need better public relations counsel. Specifically, outside counsel.
Obviously, I’ve got a vested interest here in that I’m in the PR field, and I own Politis Communications, a small strategic communications agency that provides PR consulting and services.
That said, I’ve worked with technology companies for nearly 25 years (including large firms like Apple, Novell and GTE, as well as other firms in all shapes, sizes and industries throughout the United States and overseas).
And even though our offices are in Utah, I’m a San Francisco native that was raised in the Bay Area. (Heck, I even spent six years of my life living in East Palo Alto just a few miles from your offices.)
For the record, I’ve been searching all over the ‘Net for the past hour or so trying to see if I can discover whether Facebook currently has a PR firm or not.
My guess is no, because if Facebook does, that agency is invisible. And if you do have a current relationship with a PR firm and they’re “invisible” on purpose, that’s a BAD IDEA!
Regardless, Facebook needs better PR advice, whether that advice is from an external source or not.
So, whether it’s with
good luck in your search.
Because if you don’t get better advice, Facebook is going to continue to screw-up BIG TIME in what matters most — with your reputation in the court of public opinion.
Sincerely,
David Politis
P.S. Should you want to, I’m not hard to reach. My email address is easy: dpolitis @ politis.com, and my office number is 801-523-3730 xt. 11. Buena suerte. dlp
P.P.S. At the risk of sounding like I’m kissing up, I do feel that what you and Facebook have accomplished since its founding in 2004 is nothing short of amazing. And I wish you all the continued luck in the world. But as I wrote tonight on Utah Tech Watch, the Scoble mess makes three major public mistakes in two months. That’s NOT good, and I think you, Facebook and the Facebook members deserve better. Ciao.
Although the post below did not run originally as a Politis Pointer (when it first ran on DavidPolitis.com on February 2, 2007), I believe it’s worth re-posting here as part of The Betty Factor. Truth be told, sometimes you have to write a longer headline.
So with minor edits, here’s the original post.
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Notwithstanding Malcolm Atherton’s comment in our recent training meeting about the rule to keep headlines in news releases short in length, the truth is that sometimes reality trumps the rules. Here’s a case in point.
One of our clients at Politis Communications, HandHeld Entertainment (now ZVUE), notified us the other day that it was going to be adding a new “outside” member to its board of directors. Obviously, adding a board member is significant news, so we began drafting up a release.
Although not labeled originally on DavidPolitis.com as a Politis Pointer on January 22, 2007, the post below definitely fits the bill.
So . . . with some modifications, here are some thoughts on the relationship between public relations and an organization’s bottom line.
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When I began my first professional job in public relations in January 1984 at Tycer-Fultz-Bellack in Palo Alto, California (then the largest high-tech ad/pr agency west of the Mississippi River), we had to write or type our news releases by hand and then give them to a secretary who would get them “word processed” for us.
Although not labeled originally on DavidPolitis.com as a Politis Pointer on January 9, 2007, the post below definitely fits the bill.
So . . . with some modifications, here are some thoughts on the value media receptions can bring to a strategic communications program.
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For about the 15-billionth time, Politis Communications took at least one of its clients to a Showstoppers Media Reception at a major trade show — in this instance, the Consumer Electronics Show. And once again the results were awesome!
The Politis Pointer below was originally published on July 8, 2006 on DavidPolitis.com. It is re-purposed below with minor edits.
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So what should you do if you find your name (or your company name or a product/service name) misspelled in an article or editorial?
Simple, tell the author. That’s it? Yeah, that’s it.
One of the keys to generating better media coverage is getting to know the media better. There are several aspects to this quest.
One of the biggest challenges that junior PR pros face is a lack of perspective — they often feel that the news release they’re writing at that very second is a “stop the presses” type of story, an idea destined to lead the network newscast that evening. More seasoned public relations professionals recognize that there are levels of newsworthiness and that often what may be perfect for one media outlet may fail miserably with another.
For example, television stations/networks are ALWAYS looking for the visible aspects of a story. Limited visible aspects to a story idea translate into limited chances that story will make the air.
Not sure where to start when building a list of media outlets to target for your business-to-business public relations or advertising campaign? Try turning to BtoB Magazine.
Each year BtoB unveils its Media Power 50, the magazine’s ranking of the top media outlets for companies selling to other businesses, a.k.a. business-to-business (or B2B) marketers.
The ranking includes a breakout of media outlets in seven categories:
The article also includes its overall ranking of the top 10 B2B media outlets for 2007, which you can find by clicking on the Media Power 50 link above.
This article is a great place to start for PR and ad pros looking to build a targeted B2B list for a Betty Factor-driven campaign.
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NOTE: For the record, BtoB Magazine published its Media Power 50 article back in May 2007. However, TheBettyFactor.com just got launched a month ago, so I figured it was (and is) still valuable to write about BtoB’s list here.
In the future, as we come across other such articles, rankings and lists that we feel are valuable to our readers, we will write about them here, even if such items were originally published some time ago. dlp
Professional race car drivers know that if they can edge their cars right behind the car in front of them on the race track they can take lower their fuel consumption significantly.
In essence, a car cutting through the air creates a miniature vacuum behind it as the air swirls to the back of the vehicle. If another car enters this swirling vortex it is (in essence) partially pulled along by the lead vehicle, hence lowering the fuel usage by the following car. This lowered fuel consumption occurs because of the principle of drafting.
PR professionals can also use the principle of drafting (or slipstreaming), and there’s an excellent example of this on Business Wire today.
Creek Park Pictures today announced in a news release that it’s going to hold a special pre-screening in Salt Lake City tomorrow evening, December 12, of its forthcoming film, “A Mormon President,” with a panel discussion on “Anti-Mormonism in America” following immediately after. (By the way, what an attention-grabbing headline for the release: ‘Anti-Mormon feeling is alive and well in America–and I know why,” says documentary Producer/Director, of Creek Park Pictures.” Very powerful headline.)
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that “experts” generate greater media coverage.
Today’s post is designed to suggest some ideas on how to become an expert to help generate better media coverage.
This may sound super obvious, but if you’re reading this blog and you’re concerned about what you can do to create better media coverage, chances are you already are an expert — at least on one or more topics.
I’ve found that the biggest challenge most people face is recognizing (and/or admitting) that they are an expert at all. They’re too shy, too humble, too whatever. Get over it. I’m not suggesting that you have to be the foremost expert in the world on the topic in question, simply an expert.
Me? I’m an expert on tons of topics. Obviously, I know TONS about PR, marketing, advertising, investor relations, self-promotion and just about any other topic related to strategic marketing communications. But I also happen to be an expert on a whole raft of other topics as well. (keep reading…)
Most marketers understand it is impossible to obtain good survey data from a poorly written survey. However, after a quick search online I was surprised how many surveys contain classic “survey writing” mistakes. A few examples include:
1. Do you watch sitcoms regularly?
2. Are Old Navy and Banana Republic good clothing brands?
3. Young girls often develop eating disorders in order to obtain physical perfection. Should our school district invest more money in eating disorder education and prevention?
These questions are vague, leading, double barreled and the last one is loaded with emotion.
My “7 Tips for Effective Survey Writing” is not all inclusive but will put you on the right track towards a well written survey.
1. Keep your questionnaire short and simple.
2. Avoid leading questions.
3. Balance your rating scales.
4. Don’t make the list of options too long.
5. Use closed ended questions.
6. Place questions in a logical order.
7. Pre-test your survey before you send it out.
I’ll just come out and say it. I’m a member of the LDS church. I believe that God still calls prophets as his mouth piece on the earth, and I believe that today, that prophet is Gordon B. Hinckley.
He delivered a speech a number of years back where in the middle of a portion that was on finances he said the following:
“There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.”
I said this was a “number of years back,” but it was in 1998 during a talk called “To the Boys and to the Men.” What exactly did he mean by this?
Looking Back
Maybe I’m being a little more candid and a little more personal than normal, but when I look back at this statement made in October of 1999 and then I look at what occurred during the next few years . . . well . . . I think “stormy weather” was the perfect metaphor.
But I really don’t look at the “proof” so much as the clarity with which that statement “portent of stormy weather” so often came to my mind after hearing it. My question now is this: Have we seen this portent of stormy weather already come and pass or is it still here and arriving?
Yesterday I wrote about how the story of Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs crashing his Lamborghini and leaving it was suspicious.
Chicago Bears linebacker leaves his crashed Lamborghini. Why?
Briggs delivered a press statement after it all came to the surface.
“When it happened, the first thing I did was I panicked,” Briggs said. “I didn’t want there to be a big scene there, so when I left I called a tow truck. I also was startled and called and reported my car stolen. Within 10 minutes, I called and took responsibility for what I did because it was ridiculous in the first place.”
Lance, why did you lie to the police and tell them your car was stolen?
Again, supercars have the power to slide off the road on dry pavement, and he just got this car, but answer me these questions:
How did he get home from the crash?
Who picked him up?
What did he tell that person?
Did he call anybody else?
What did he tell them happened?
Like I said yesterday, my best PR/Journalist sense tells me we’re going to learn a lot more about this crash that we haven’t been told.
Bears Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs was charged with leaving the scene of an accident after crashing his Lamborghini and leaving it alongside an expressway on Chicago’s North Side, Illinois State Police said yesterday.
via Boston Herald.
Hmmm. From my PR standpoint, I have a hunch we’re going to learn more about why Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs decided to leave his car after crashing it into a light pole at 3 a.m.
At the end of the day, I will say this . . . the guy just got the car, and if you don’t know how to drive a supercar (not that I do, but I’ve driven a couple) and you go even slightly too fast at the wrong time, you’re going to wreck it.
My good friend and local Utah PR guy Clayton Blackham got tracked by a coyote while running one Saturday morning in Little Cottonwood Canyon. You’ve really gotta read this . . .
As I got on one knee to tie my shoe I saw the coyote’s pace quicken towards me. I finished tying my shoe, stood up, grabbed a cantaloupe-sized rock and started running again. I figured if he attacked me, I’d bludgeon him.
In PR news today, legendary image guru Michael Deaver has died. He was one of Ronald Reagan’s top advisers and a master at orchestrating the photo op.
I saw a clip in school about him that was supposed to be a “negative” story about how he would place Reagan in front of the camera drinking beer with the people and passing jars of jelly beans around the table in cabinet meetings. His reply was something about how that story only perpetuated his strategy. People saw him drinking beer with the people and sharing his jelly beans with his cabinet members, so it didn’t matter if the news story criticized it as PR spin.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Literally. There’s now an entire industry dedicated to “the image” in politics . . . they’re called advances or an advance. Every presidential candidate who has a team with any concept of image strategy has a team of people that follows the candidate’s exact schedule in “advance” of their appearances. Their job is to set the stage, to create the atmosphere and to make sure that the pictures and images people end up seeing in print or on television are in line with the image they want to surround the politician. Everything from hunting trips to factory visits has a purpose.
Journalists have caught on (see photo of Barack Obama and see photo of Mitt Romney). You normally don’t see photos that are taken this far out from the crowd because they’re not as interesting, but in most cases this is exactly what the campaign crowds are like . . . they’re not crowds at all. In the past you’d see close-up shots (and still do) that make it “feel” like a crowd.
“Oh the media monkeys and the junket junkies will invite you to their plastic pantomime. Throw their invitations away!” - Jermaine Clement in costume as David Bowie.
Provo, Utah’s own Apx Alarm had some bad press in Indiana recently, and I have to say they did an amazing job responding in the press. (You may not be a fan of summer sales companies, but that’s not the point). Watch and see what they did to respond.
Apx Alarm Video 1
Apx Alarm Reponse in Video 2
I was scanning CNN headlines today when I read “Facebook founder sued” in a very large font.
I have two big problems with this.
1) Your average CNN reader may not necessarily know what “The Onion” is.
2) People skim headlines.
3) It’s not true.
The Onion is a satire news site full of fake articles, and CNN is supposed to be “the most trusted name in news.”
Could it be?
Is it possible that some unknowing news editor doesn’t realize this is a fake news site?
I did an interview yesterday on publicizing books.
Author seeks big book success
It’s interesting how if you’re not very careful, the journalist can construe certain ideas about what you mean . . .
(I think sometimes it can be really intimidating if a book is really big,” said Page, crediting billionaire author J.K. Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter series of books, as the sole exception to that rule.)
Obviously, I don’t really believe J.K. Rowling is the sole exception to the rule. That’s not a direct quote. No harm done.
Hillary Clinton and John Edwards had an interesting conversation while the microphones were still on during the NAACP candidate debate. LOL.
The No. 1 rule for being on TV and Radio is to say NOTHING you wouldn’t want everyone to hear if you’re anywhere near a microphone. Did the PR person forget to tell them this?
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you have to read Digg with a grain of salt. Here’s the perfect example, and it’s getting lots of “Diggs” as we speak.
Take five seconds to check your facts on Google News, and you’ll find a statement from Dow Jones saying this isn’t true. The funny thing is the Dow Jones statement came out more than five hours ago, yet it still ended up on Digg.
I haven’t talked much about Spinjas.com, but it’s now live and has been for a month or more. There’s an excellent post over there about how the Orem Owlz tried to stonewall the local press because they won’t call the stadium “Home of the Owlz,” so the press basically decided not to cover Owlz games anymore.
The whole thing is quite hilarious, and frankly, a bush-league PR and business mistake that I hope gets worked out.
As the post mentions, this whole thing should have been addressed behind closed doors without involving the media.
Despite its recent troubles, General Motors is the luckiest company in the world over the next few weeks according to Jalopnik. The car-loving blog -- while heavily praising the movie's entertainment value-- says the highly-anticipated Transformers movie is basically a 144-minute commercial for GM. From the article:
"What makes this arrangement so amazing is that GM didn't pay Paramount a single dime to get it done. That's right -- not a single penny changed hands between the big n' beefy automaker and the big n' beefy studio. Sure, GM provided some in-kind contributions of concept vehicles and the like, and of course they've got their own marketing budget running their own marketing campaign -- but unlike other automakers, they didn't drop a single pence into Paramount's pocket for the privilege of having themselves featured in a movie [aimed at the coveted 15-35 male demographic, you know, the ones that buy a lot of cars] about cars that change into robots."
Lucky...
NOTE: Transformers looks incredible! At first I thought the movie and its premise seemed too lame for the big screen, not to mention juvenile and over the top. But after seeing (and hearing) the amazing CG, cinematics, and deep sound, I cannot wait to see this film. "Autobots, transform. And roll out!" (spoiler-free review here)
“His afternoons are spent on the court taking some 500 shots a day as part of his workouts.” - SLTrib.com.
“His,” or he, is USU basketball star Jaycee Carroll, and he’s hoping to get the call from some NBA team even though he’s only a junior.
500 Shots a Day
There were two things that struck me about this line in the article
1- He takes 500 shots a day
2- That’s only a PART of his daily workout.
This led me to ask the following of myself, which I invite you to also do.
1- Is there anything, anything at all, that you do that you would call your “500 shots a day” preparation for your professional career?
2- What is it?
3- Is it helping you to get better (to be the best) at your profession?
4- What else do you do as part of your DAILY “workout?”
5- Are these things translating into skills/progression that translates into a more valuable you? . . . is it working? (Dollars follow value)*
* More business. More sales. Better customer relations. More profit. Quicker turnaround. Etc…
The Personal Brand
The things is, we can talk all day about marketing our companies, products and services, but how well are we really building our personal brand? . . . more to come on the personal brand.
(photo via: NMSU.edu)
Yes. Henry David Thoreau.
“Our life is frittered away by detail . . . simplify, simplify, simplify.” HDT
It’s the same rule for marketing, product development, a user interface or a remote control. Nobody wants to read an instruction manual. They just want stuff to work. The more complicated you make something, the bigger and wider the dip becomes.
Brilliant! A picture truly is worth 1000 words. Via Ads of the World. Bonus: Go check out these three crazy ads from years' past. Blowing smoke in a girl's face used to be a turn on...? It did in advertising.
In case you didn't know, Nintendo has been on a storm over the past year (I'm a big fan). Their stock has doubled over the past 12 months thanks to their nifty little DS handheld and motion-sensing Wii console.
So in commemoration of Letterman's 60th birthday, Nintendo sent the late-night host a candid and personalized letter along with 2 handhelds and games that it's pitching to an older generation, all with an insane amount of message consistency. The letter copy is far from the bloated stuff PR peeps normally send. Have a look for yourself.
Assuming Dave's publicists personally delivers the loot, I'd be surprised if Letterman doesn't name drop the product on his show. So let's recap how to earn quality free media:
This post comes courtesy of a good friend -- Nicholas Roussos -- as he so concisely describes and interesting event that transpired in public relations yesterday. First a little background. Sony's newly launched PlayStation 3 is in a world of hurt. It costs a whopping $600 (Blu-ray included) and people aren't buying it. The value proposition just isn't there yet (if ever) on a mass scale. Note: PlayStation brings in 60% of Sony's total profits.
So yesterday, the world's largest gaming blog, Kotaku, leaked information that Sony would be releasing a new social networking tool heavily inspired by Nintendo's and Microsoft's already existing user-generated content efforts. Sony asks them not to run the story, but Kotaku rightfully does anyway.
About an hour later, Sony blackballs Kotaku from all company relations saying only information in the "public domain" will be made available to Kotaku in their coverage of Sony products. Kotaku publishes Sony's archaic email ban and fittingly describes the biggest conflict of interest between PR and journalism in a respectful reply to Sony's head of PR, Dave Karraker: "I think [your reaction] only highlights the differences that PR people and journalists have. My interest is not in making sure that Sony has positive news or that the timing of their news is correct, my job only is to inform the readers of news as quickly and accurately as I can."
Immediately after Kotaku's follow up post to their rumor, the internet implodes. Every single gaming blog is quick to criticize Sony's reaction. The story reaches Digg's homepage, and Sony's already negative relationship with consumers spirals even further out of control, all in a matter of hours. Sony quickly caves, and reinvites Kotaku to all of their events, etc. Everything like it was before only Sony leaving having learned a valuable lesson. That is the online conversation changes everything, as Nic states "Cluetrain-style." The above example shows Sony PR trying to do what traditional PR does; control the message and its timing. Kotaku makes that effort to control public and fosters more leverage against the mighty Sony corporation than it ever could alone. The online conversation is so powerful that even a company as big as Sony has to give in.
I don't care what calculated advice your PR company gives you, this is how you start correcting a mistake if you run a consumer business, or any business for that matter. It's called a sincere apology and it's been helping men stay out of the dog house since the dawn of time. Watch as JetBlue CEO David Neeleman publicly apologizes on YouTube to his customers. He takes full responsibility after leaving numerous passengers stranded on a frozen tarmac for 10.5 hours at JFK. Admirable.
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