The Tables, Turned

I'm comfortable putting my clients in the media spotlight, but when the light turns on me, much less so.Nonetheless, a local reporter captured my work in my community in this nice story. Made my Mom proud. See the story here.

Weiner Shows What Not to Do When Caught with Your Pants Down

This is a partisan but interesting recap on the series of events that occurred around Weinergate. Tons of PR crisis communications no-nos committed, the first of course being sending out lewd photos of yourself. To think that we trust our federal treasury to bozos like Weiner. But the main point here is that this man demonstrates everything you shouldn't do when you know you've been caught with your pants down.

The Sokol Firing and Theft of IP

If I were Citibank, I'd be asking David Sokol for an investment advisory fee.

Sokol, the Berkshire Hathaway lieutenant to Warren Buffett was shown a list of takeover opps and Sokol did some front running in his account and then was forced to leave Berkshire.

In my view, Sokol stole Citibank research for his own benefit.

How often does this happen to PR professionals, where a PR team provides, as part of the bid process, ideas and strategies for the prospective client and then the client decides not to pay for the services of the PR agency? And then they adapt the strategy?

That should be considered theft of service. Do you agree?

Perry's Debate Condition Gambit Pays Off

The 2010 elections are over, so now the Wednesday morning quarterbacking begins.

They say actions speak louder than words, and Texas Governor Rick Perry's election seems to prove that as a PR lesson.

Perry's Democrat opponent Bill White made hay with charges in early October that Perry was using an enterprise fund to reward donors to his campaign.

Perry countered with a charge of his own, that Bill White profited from secret business deals in the wake of Hurricane Ike that took advantage of his position as Mayor. Perry refused to debate White until he released his tax forms. White refused. Perry didn't show for the debate.

Perry set himself up to be an obvious target for the Democrat and Libertarian candidates there for the debate who couldn't resist the urge to pick on Perry. Bad mistake. Perry's absence on principle made him look like an innocent bystander that was getting knocked by Lilliputians.

Essentially, Perry waged a rope-a-dope strategy that paid off. Despite negative press for his no-show, Perry made the point that White had something to hide and wouldn't be a trustworthy governor. Critics could say what they want to about the Enterprise Fund, but at least it was transparent, something that White was not.

Interesting PR play.

BP Missteps Display Wisdom of Staying on Message, Getting Local

I and every other PR agent tell their clients to "Stay on Message" or suffer the consequences. When Barrack Obama strays from his message the United States suddenly has 57 states.

So too did the BP folks stumble today, with the chairman saying "We care about the small people." What a horribly snobbish thing for a Brit to say. Can you imagine what the French descendants in Louisiana are saying in response?

Which leads me to wonder whether the British folks did any media training before this prime time media opportunity? I mean U.S. media training, letting a group of American PR people listen to what they, the British officials, wanted to say and the words they would use. I'd guess not if idioms like 'small people' got through.

Which is a prime media lesson: Always work with your PR people to decide what sounds right and what doesn't. And if you go to a foreign country be sure to get some in-country advisors. Or else you'll dig yourself deeper and suffer a gusher of negative opinion.

And about that oil well...

Plain Language Please!

This Yahoo news story demonstrates how jargon enters the words we use and replaces real meaning. For example, when writing resumes, the author recommends deleting "Strong work ethic" and replace it with more details that are pertinent to the job you are trying to land: "I taught myself HTML over a weekend in order to grab a marketing opportunity." In other words, replace the jargon with real life stuff. That's a key to effective writing, but it involves some work. Jargon acts shortcuts to meaning, but if you're an employer, do you want to hire someone who has trained themself to be superficial or someone who digs into the details?

That's the choice we have as writers for clients. Do we want to give them marketing pablum or do we want to scratch and dig and really give their readers a deeper appreciation of our clients' products and services? I think the latter.

Check Out My Movie Review

I published a movie review about Sunshine Cleaning on American Thinker. Give it a read!

Diego - Stud Service

I've had several bad experiences with Craigslist, not least of which was their policy to remove my listing of my AKC registered dog, Diego, for stud service.

I guess it's okay for them to advertise all types of illicit sexual services, but try to mate a dog to further an awesome breed and you wind up in trouble with the Craigslist censors. I know why they have their misguided policy, but I won't go there...

What was weird -- and fantastic -- was that for the short amount of time that my listing was up (probably less than 12 hours), a good man from Bastrop found the listing and noted the details. Six or eight months after Craigslist pulled the ad, he called me and we successfully bred two great dogs, Baby and Diego. See Diego and the pups at this YouTube video.

Now, I'm going to try a mixed media advertisement to try to stud Diego again, with an advertisement in the Austin American Statesman that links to this blog. I'll let you know how it works.

If you are interested in Diego serving as a sire, please respond with an email.

Fish Pictures

I've been meaning to write this blog for a while, since my vacation in August, but just haven't gotten around to it till now.

One of the photos on the left column of this blog has me holding up three fish. What was interesting to me was that the guide insisted that I tuck my elbows in and hold the fish forward.

It's an unnatural position. I would have been much more comfortable holding the fish to my sides. The guide asked that I hold them forward. The guide nows the value of PR -- and how to execute it for his business.

So, the effect of that unnatural photo is to make the fish look bigger, being as they are in the foreground with little comparative scale because they aren't next to or near me.

The PR professional could learn something from fish photos. Put the important object up front. Be mindful of the effects of scale and comparison.

And most importantly -- SMILE!

Kraft Foods Demonstrates Continuing Value of Printed Materials in Online World

A Wall Street Journal story, "Kraft Foods Brings Readers to a Boil," reminds PR practictioners of the value of printed materials.

The story, written by Ilan Brat, says that:

Until this summer, the food company mailed out the magazine free to 10
million subscribers. Recently, though, it began charging subscribers $13.98 for
an annual subscription to four issues, which brim with recipes calling for Kraft
products....

Kraft, the world's second-largest food conglomerate by revenue, after Nestlé SA, became a publishing pioneer in the food industry when Irene Rosenfeld, now its chief executive, launched a predecessor magazine in 2000 while running Kraft's Canadian business, according to the company. The magazine was so successful in Canada that Kraft adopted it in the U.S. in the fall of 2001. The magazine is published in English, Spanish and French versions in North America.

Some readers have said they would pay for Food & Family. Reading
the printed magazine provides the opportunity "to sit and relax and get at least
a few new recipes," wrote sportette on the message board. It's "cheaper than a
movie these days."

Whatever you think of Kraft's attempt to ask readers to pay for their advertising vehicle, it's important to note that the magazine has been successful in achieving its goals. Of course the company is trying to find ways to cheapen the cost of producing the magazine (by putting it online for free or charging for the print edition). But that shouldn't cause us to miss the fact that hard-copy published content -- as old fashioned as it may seem -- is still an effective marketing and communication mechanism.

Indeed, the current chief executive may have launched herself to that position (at least in part) by introducing the company to the effectiveness of published materials.