PR Chicago

Look at me: Clever Old Spice campaign will spur poor imitations

Love the very creative Old Spice viral campaign, reported on here. Old Spice marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy and Old Spice ad star Isaiah Mustafa worked for days to produce more than 150 videos with personal messages to fans and Twitterati. Mustafa recorded droll responses to tweets from fans, who included Ashton Kutcher, Alyssa Milano and Kevin Rose, founder of Digg. He stood in for one Twitter fan with a marriage proposal, complete with a ring and a pair of candelabras. Of course, all of the videos are recorded with a bathroom shower backdrop, and with the handsome actor/athlete clad in a towel. Definitely not a bad thing. 

And bravo to the usually-hidebound P&G for going with the flow and having some fun with it.

However, there are bound to be hundreds of poor imitations headed our way. I'm picturing brand managers and ad execs thinking about how they, too, can pull it off with their own spokespersons. Would this work with Lance Armstrong? Tiger Woods? Do you really want a personal video from the Donald? David Hasselhoff?  Maybe not. This is a one-time clever idea, folks.

The new PRspeak: A magical, transparent conversation.

We all have our favorite words. Most of us try not to use them to excess. The proliferation of social media, however, has increased the use of buzz words exponentially. This year, it's "conversation," often used to refer to communication between companies and brands and the public. I'm also seeing a lot of "transparency," used by communications departments to convince various publics that they're revealing everything. Hmmm. And, the most recent buzzword is "magical." Steve Jobs, on introducing the iPad, referred to it rather breathlessly as "magical." Hey, I'm a big Apple fan, but can an iPad be magical? Not unless it can fly across the room unaided or transform, say, into something else, like a car or a Louis Vuitton bag. 

Tweeting as fast as I can

OK, I admit it. I am a former Twitter naysayer transformed into a Twaddict. I'm still trying to figure out how this social medium will evolve as more and more people discover it. What kind of tweeter are you?

• The Depressed: "Ate a bad clam" or "Feeling sad today." Sigh.   
• Tweeting for tweet's sake: "Got up." "Ate breakfast." "Went to lunch." "Saw a movie."  Scintillating. 
•  The Overachiever: "6 a.m. Just ran 14 miles, mixed up a protein shake and finished another chapter in my book." I might just join the ranks of the perennially depressed after reading these kinds of posts.    
• The Guru: Lots of folks are experts, gurus, mentors and coaches. I may be feeling inadequate.  
• The Educator. Love the tweeters with tidbits of information, articles, research, news items. 
• The Constant Retweeter. It's like cable reruns. Enough, already!  
• The Seeker. Finds the quirkiest and most interesting articles and links. One of my favorite tweeter types. 
•  The App and Product Tweeters. I'll check your stuff out if I have time, but does it always have to be about you? 
• The Autotweeters.  Save time, automate the process and bug your followers. It didn't take long for someone to figure out that you could tweet all at once and have an app spread your tweets around throughout the day.
• The Non-followers. I don't follow everyone (why would a surfer dude be interested in anything I have to say?), but I follow most people who follow me. When they don't follow me, I feel snubbed. That's just silly, I know.  

If you feel like it, follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/prchicago

Another Twitter dustup

A recent, and highly blogged and tweeted scuffle between a journalist and marketing professional points up the visibility of those seemingly harmless comments on Twitter. They just might come back to haunt you.

In short, journalist calls marketing person for info for a story; marketing person doesn't get to it until the next day, and when she does call there's a nasty exchange because she didn't get back to him right away. She tweets about it, he tweets back, etc. Everyone's taking sides, and mostly against the journalist, who unleashed multiple f-bombs on Twitter. Check out the story and comments here. 

Back in the day, we used to tell our clients that if they wanted something to be "off the record," they shouldn't say it. And that was in pre-Twitter and Facebook days. Now, people are busy recording every moment, from the mundane to the ridiculous, tossing off snarky comments and perhaps thinking that 1) no one cares and/or 2) no one is REALLY paying attention. Well, tell that to the Ketchum VP who tweeted a derogatory remark about the city in which a big client is headquartered.  People ARE paying attention.

But is it news?

What makes a successful media pitch? From time to time, many of us in the PR business must tell a well-meaning client that his or her story clearly isn't news or even feature worthy.  Unfortunately, it's like telling a mom that her baby is ugly: she doesn't believe you and she hates you for saying it.  Some tips for telling a good news angle from a bad one:

1. It's something the average reader would like to know. For consumer media, put on your "average reader" hat and consider whether the story is relevant for many people, or if it interests only a niche market.
2. It's timely. Your story might even be ahead of its time. Some six or seven years ago, I pitched a story on identity theft to some legal magazines and newsletters. "It's not a story," I was told. "We don't think it's a problem." In other cases, the ship has sailed far away. Last year's trends are last year's news.
3. You have supporting information. Does a reporter have enough data to make this a relevant article? Consumers who have used or are using your client's product or service, endorsements from non-commercial third-party sources, facts and figures on the market for your client's product or service -- all this is essential to a good story pitch.
4. Your client is available for an interview -- and media trained. Sometimes you lose a good placement because your client is reluctant or unavailable for an interview. Even worse, sometimes your client is ill-prepared for media questions. Make sure you develop some incisive sample questions and answers so your spokesperson can prepare adequately ahead of time. 

Good deeds and good Samaritans

There are those grinches out there who believe that a good deed, if done or encouraged by a corporation, is not a good deed at all. Shame on them. Only those who truly help the poor and give to charities anonymously can be said to be altruistically pure. The rest-- the celebs, the philanthropists, the corporations -- would like the world to know that they care. Is that so bad?

Witness the cynicism shown during the recent rash of "Pay it forward" coffee purchases during the holidays at Starbucks. Some bah humbug bloggers suspect that Starbucks employees started the whole chain --purchasing a free cup for coffee for someone in line at Starbucks so that person would purchase coffee for the next, and so on. Oh, the humanity!

A very clever and effective big-city promotion for Starbucks was its "Red Cup on Cars" campaign. A red magnetic coffee cup was affixed to the top of a car. Each good Samaritan pointing out the coffee cup (or even rushing to remove it and give it to the driver) received a $5 gift card as a reward, and Starbucks received some great mentions on major market TV stations.

PR Pests and Cranky Bloggers: Can't We All Just Get Along?

Not since the wave of lawyer jokes hit some years ago has a profession been so reviled as PR. As much as PR professionals work to conduct themselves ethically and, moreover, not make pests of themselves, journalists and now, some holier-than-thou bloggers have become INCENSED that we DARE to sully their inboxes with press releases and PR materials.

Granted, a number of newbies, overeager entrepreneurs and even some big agency people who should know better have angered journalists such as Wired editor Chris Anderson and blogger Tom Coates. Perhaps Chris Anderson is being a bit disingenous, since Wired Magazine is basically a compilation of items about new tech gadgets (and where, I might add, would he have heard about them, if not from PR people?) interspersed with a few articles. And even stranger is Coates' rant...it seems that his blog appeared on a list of MOST INFLUENTIAL blogs (the NERVE!) and since that posting PR people (or so he says) have been sending him masses of unsolicited product information. Again, a bit disingenuous. 

Apparently, these folks have not heard of 1) the delete button or 2) the practice of sending all unsolicited emails to a folder to be sorted out at leisure, if at all. Another idea: don't provide your personal email address if you're going to be so offended. Send it to a favored few. Trust me, we don't want to send you an email if you're going to get all cranky about it.

Also,it might be well advised to provide PR people with a list of the correct contacts for specific sections of your publication. Sometimes it's not clear from the publication or the web site, and often we can't get through to anyone at your office to find out who we need to contact.   

The Live Earth ecopalooza and other annoyances...

• I wonder...did the Live Earth artists get to the venue in an energy efficient way? If we combined the square footage of all of their various residences, would we be able to comfortably house the denizens of a mid-sized town? Is anyone just a bit annoyed that they're telling US to conserve energy? Vinay Menon offers a very funny take on the subject in a column in the Toronto Star, saying that the stars' promise to carbon-offset energy consumption is .."a bit like buying somebody a hat after you've pulled out his hair."
• I wonder...why retail operations often don't carry event sponsorships through to their stores? Posters, custom coupons, event tickets for customers, even special products created to highlight sponsorships...although it takes more work, the payback is in increased customer awareness.
• I wonder...if the iPhone is such an awe-inspiring gadget, why don't I want one? Although I would consider myself an early adopter, I remember my purchase, oh so many years ago, of the Apple Newton. Can you say....wait for the next iteration?

Scrapbooking dogs and other stupid story ideas

PR folks have been regularly lambasted for bad or boring story ideas and their penchant for pitching even the most inappropriate media outlets (check out badpitch.blogspot.com). But when you have a less-than-scintillating product to promote, you sometimes have to look high and low for decent story angles. We do what we can.

That said, the media shouldn't come out of this unscathed. Recent articles on the $54 million lawsuit for a pair of pants a hapless dry cleaner lost and the hiccupping girl who, finally rid of the persistent problem, ran away from home, underscore the media's apparent fascination with stupid stories.

And now this find: one journalist has requested leads on pets with hobbies from a PR service that helps journalists find sources and information for stories. What kind of hobby would your dog have? Would it be a traditional dog interest, say, digging or chewing? Or maybe your dog enjoys scrapbooking or collecting sports memorabilia?

Help us help you

PR isn't strenuous, but it IS stressful. That's because we can find ourselves trapped between clients who have unrealistic expections and media people who, in an industry facing serious economic downturns, don't even want to deal with us. We do want to do a good job, though, so here are some ways to get the best value from your PR firm:

• Stick around. Sometimes CEOs come to a town to do interviews and are willing to devote about 30 seconds to the task. Sure, it's not the easiest thing in the world, but since you're here, why not take advantage of the opportunities that your PR firm presents? And if you don't like talking with the media, we can help train you so you'll feel more comfortable and confident.
• Give us some great information to work with. PR people are often criticized for not providing in-depth information to the media. In some cases, it's because clients don't feel the need for pitch materials, such as b-roll, backgrounders, bios and photos. Won't you let us develop them? In addition, are your management people available for interviews? Could you provide contact information for satisfied customers/clients? Does your web site have adequate content?
• Allow us time to tell your story. Getting in-depth coverage doesn't happen overnight. We need to nurture our media contacts, providing the right pitch at the right moment. Then we need to follow-up with the requested information and interviews in a timely fashion. Sometimes this takes months, given the extreme demands on the time and attention of today's overworked print and TV reporters. Be patient. It will be worth it.
• Keep the dialogue going. We love to discuss story angles with clients. Often some usual fact or idea will result in a great media placement. We also like to explore some other ways to build awareness for your product/service, including demos/sampling, networking with business/community organizations, sponsorships, radio promotions and special events.

The best PR programs result from an ongoing client/agency partnership. The client must be committed to and actively participate in his/her own PR efforts, and these efforts must be constantly evaluated and reexamined so that they meet the changeable demands of the media and the public.