Thursday, May 17, 2012
Why?
Why do smart people do dumb things? Take this case. Any half-aware executive should know that when making dubious claims, sooner or later regulators will come after you. One is justified in asking what the Skechers' executives were thinking. Maybe they believe what they are promoting and indeed, the company is standing by its product. But, that isn't enough in the face of other evidence. Settling and paying a fine is more than business decision. Perceptually, it is an admission of defeat. Perhaps, the public will forget in a few months that the company paid out $40 million, and it will be back to making millions. From a PR perspective, this isn't a way to do business. The company should substantiate its claims with independent studies not funded by Skechers and not performed by anyone connected to the business. But, if its executives have chosen to skate close to the edge of legality, they aren't likely to do so.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Power Of Perception
Is the power of perception worth $86 billion+. Some commentators think so. Of course, the perception surrounds Facebook and its IPO value. A chorus of critics think the site is vastly overrated and advertisers won't find the value in it that is forecast. But, who knows? It is unclear at this juncture. Rather, people are buying on the basis of unsupported belief, a poor basis for investing as experts will tell you. Chances are they will be disappointed, but if like a miner, they strike gold in the creek, their risk-taking will be handsomely rewarded. There is as much faith on Wall Street as in a church. From a PR perspective, it pays to be cautious, and perhaps, cynical. We've seen hysteria before and for the most part, it never ends well. It is best not to let perception overrule reason.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Well, Duh
Colleges and universities are starting to realize they cannot keep raising tuition. That's a blinding insight. Academics have lived in a bubble for so long that they have difficulty understanding they have priced themselves out of their market. They expected parents to pony up year after year, decade after decade, and parents did, but they can't any longer. Their children are buried in debt from which they will not escape well into their working careers, if they have careers.
No one can accuse academia of listening to its publics. In fact, it was the reverse. The attitude was more put-up-and-shut-up. A come-down for education has been too long in arriving. Maybe now universities and colleges will practice elementary public relations.
No one can accuse academia of listening to its publics. In fact, it was the reverse. The attitude was more put-up-and-shut-up. A come-down for education has been too long in arriving. Maybe now universities and colleges will practice elementary public relations.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Falling On Swords
The fallout at JP Morgan continues with three executives falling on their swords and resigning over a loss that can now reach $3 billion. Jamie Dimon, the CEO, is busily acknowledging that the trade was stupid, ill-managed, etc. It probably won't help him offset the call to impose the Volcker Rule and stop such proprietary trading, even though it supposed to be a hedge against risk. Dimon's crisis management may be a valiant attempt, but time and tide are against him. It might be better now for Dimon to prepare the bank for a new era. The larger question is whether risk management is adequate in major banks, and this incident would seem to indicate that it isn't. Many more executives may resign before it is. It is a major PR challenge for banking.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Moral Authority
Some organizations possess moral authority unless they squander it. That is why stories like this are instructive. Roman Catholic bishops the world over continue to struggle with the sexual abuse scandals that have riven the ranks and caused many believers to walk away. It is hard for them to discipline nuns in light of this, since nuns weren't involved in sins of the past. Observers are asking what right bishops have to talk about doctrine when they themselves failed so glaringly at keeping it. It is a hard question for the episcopate, yet Church law and belief endow bishops with the responsibility for guarding faith and morals whether or not they fail personally. Bishops, in other words, should be humble in light of their faults but not back away from making decisions. I don't know the details of their concern with the leadership organization for nuns, but their letter was unpopular, which will make guidance all the more difficult to give. From a PR perspective, bishops are on the wrong foot.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Fertile Field For PR
This journalist's complaint against a New York Times reporter is interesting. What it tells me is that the field of chemistry is fertile for PR. Of course, there are good chemicals and bad. The human body is made up of chemicals and everything we eat, drink and breathe has chemical compounds. To damn chemistry is narrow-minded and ignorant, but a supposedly sophisticated reporter at The New York Times appears to be doing just that. Perhaps it is the word itself that causes him to shrink. If so, that is a huge change from the early to middle part of the 20th Century when the miracles of chemistry brought better living. Maybe it is too much to expect that the industry can be returned to those days, but it shouldn't be criticized unfairly by those who don't know what they are writing about. That is an invitation for PR to provide an education.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Poor PR
A story like this is poor PR for a bank. However, there have been hundreds of them in the last two years. Banking as an industry has a long way to climb back to public respect. Wells Fargo almost certainly isn't the worst institution out there. The cumbersome process of buying, selling and foreclosing homes has built enormous friction into the system, and when banks tried to speed it up, they were damned for robo-signing. Mortgages are paper-ridden -- piles of lengthy documents for just one home. When one is dealing with refinancing tens of thousands of homes about to be foreclosed, the process spirals easily out of control. But, a home owner might legitimately ask what banks are supposed to do. It is their job to have the system figured out. That they don't is the source of their bad reputations. The mortgage mess is an example of PR being what you do and not what you say.
