Online Public Relations Thoughts

Blame The Media

2008-05-18T20:32:00.001-04:00

It is a sign of desperation when one blames the media. On the other hand, there are times when the media should be faulted for jumping too quickly or falling into a herd mentality. Hillary Clinton appears to be suffering both from desperation and a media that has jumped to a conclusion. It doesn't help that her opponent is pulling huge crowds.

Still, there is little advantage to turning one's fire publicly on reporters unless one is sure others will follow. Only a few have won this gambit. It is better quietly to let reporters know they have made a mistake and to let the editorial process issue a correction. Of course, a correction rarely carries the impact of an initial story but in the databases, the original article and correction will live together. That, however, is of little consequence to one fighting for her political life today. There is no long-term resolution of an error in her favor if Hillary fails to gain the nomination. So, she is trying for the long shot. She is telling supporters to ignore the press and to listen to her.

What else can she do?

More Of The Same

2008-05-16T04:22:00.000-04:00

There will be more of this kind of fight in the future -- a dissident shareholder attempting to remove directors. Under the law, shareholders have more power than before, and they are using it. It is hard for directors to defend themselves, especially when a shareholder claims they have acted "irrationally."

It is unclear whether Yahoo's directors did act against shareholder interests or whether they understand the situation better than Carl Icahn. On balance, one should give directors the weight of better information. However, that won't stop Icahn from blackening their reputations. This is why it is hard to be a director today. The position carries reputational risk. It is also why boards need PR help. More boards now have their own legal and financial advisors. It is possible they will get their own crisis communications advisors as well. It would be foolish indeed to get into a public battle with shareholders and not have PR counsel in the background.

Bang My Head

2008-05-15T04:23:00.000-04:00

Some news stories make me want to bang my head against a wall. This is one. We represented the client who introduced this technology six or more years ago. No one was much interested then. It seemed too ethereal that one could strap a device on a person's ankle and track that person to make sure he stayed out of exclusion zones. This article repeats point for point what we were trying to tell the world back then. What's the saying? "Deja vu all over again?"

This is not the first time something like this has happened, and most PR practitioners have similar stories to tell. There are products and services that come before their time. They are good ideas but the world isn't ready -- or at least, the media aren't. So, we shake our heads when the world catches up. We wonder if we were persuasive enough, or if we contacted the wrong persons, or if something else happened. There never seems to be a consistent root cause other than the media were not interested. Who knows why they saw no news value then but do now? Some mysteries have no explanation.

Sign of Progress

2008-05-15T04:18:00.000-04:00

One can conclude that bloggers have come a long way in politics when there is this kind of an announcement. It is a PR move for the Democrats but a good one nonetheless. Someone will aggregate their postings to get a blow-by-blow view of the internal workings of the convention. For the first time in decades, the convention could be interesting rather than a staged show for delegates and party faithful.

Cloud Computing Redux

2008-05-14T04:11:00.001-04:00

This article summarizes some of what I wrote recently in an essay on Cloud Computing . It highlights one point -- the benefits of the Cloud are going mostly to individuals and small organizations. Larger organizations haven't caught on yet. There are reasons for that. Security is one, of course, but variability of high-speed networking, conservatism and embedded assets are among others.

The interesting part about this trend is the PC revolution started the same way back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Individuals started using small computers against the orders of IT managers who were protecting mainframes and dumb terminals. It took about five years for the power of the PC to overcome resistance. It will take that much and perhaps, more, for the same to happen with Cloud Computing. Meanwhile, early adopters will work their way through the problems and gain the benefits.

How many PR practitioners will move to the Cloud? Few. Most work today in large organizations with assets invested in large-scale networks. The ones who will adopt -- are adopting -- are solo practitioners with the courage to cut themselves free. There aren't many of those. PR as an industry has always been slow in the matters of technology.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has cut free and works completely in the Cloud. I'm not there yet either. My personal machine was purchased before the Cloud emerged, so I'm still invested in Microsoft Office. The next machine, however...

Title Power

2008-05-13T04:15:00.000-04:00

This is a fascinating story on the power of titles in Hollywood. Millions are spent -- or not -- on the strength or perceived weakness of a movie title. The story is testimony to the need to keep messages simple. The image of people thinking of titles such as, "To Hell and Back," is absurd. But, they do. When one thinks about it, what they are doing is not much different from those who think of campaign slogans -- "Hope in America."

In the end, titles convey the broadest sense of what one is saying and often, readers project their own meaning onto them. I was taught long ago to make headlines short, simple and accurate. None of that holds in Hollywood, or in politics, for that matter. In both environments, a suggestion of meaning is enough to attract people to the movie theater or the voting booth. The suggestion may or may not accurately reflect the underlying substance. However, it is testimony that both movie moguls and political communicators understand the power of a few carefully chosen words. That is a lesson for the rest of us.

Temptation

2008-05-12T04:23:00.001-04:00

Near the end of a hard-fought campaign when victory is in sight, there is a temptation to relax in sight of the finish line. That is one temptation to resist. Opponents can still strike hard and perhaps, win. One can still stumble and lose.

Communications should avoid celebration and maintain the same caution one has when the decision is still ambiguous. Let others, such as the media, make the case that you have won. Don't make the case yourself until you do. The best leaders refuse to believe their press clips. They hew to their message and their goal and make sure their followers do as well. They realize that anything can happen -- and usually does. Hillary Clinton has battered Barack Obama and his own pastor has made his life difficult. He seems to appreciate that it "ain't over till it's over."

Still, it is easy to relax after the rigors of hard work and months more to come. However, should he win in November, the hard work is just beginning. The weight of the office will crash on him with expectations high and disappointment guaranteed because no one can live up to campaign rhetoric in reality. That is why it is never wise to promise too much -- a temptation politicians rarely resist.

Obit For The Living

2008-05-09T04:25:00.000-04:00

How do you go on when reporters have written your death notice, published it and now are waiting for you to expire? This is the challenge Hillary Clinton is facing. Anything she says now will be largely ignored as attention turns to the nominal candidate, who at this hour still doesn't have enough votes to guarantee the nomination.

It is hard to think of a message or medium that can remove one from this dead end. From a communications perspective, it is checkmate. One wonders how her communications staff can get up in the morning and go back to the fever of the campaign trail. My guess is there will be more mistakes made in coming days -- like this one.

There have been other candidates written off by the media who have made comebacks, but it is rare. The hard part now for Clinton is motivating her own people. Her message must be directed internally as much as to voters.

The coming days leading to the last primaries will be increasingly uncomfortable for campaign staff. After months of non-stop work and exhaustion, going through the motions of yet another primary has to be misery. This is one more reason why I'm glad I never worked in political communications.

New Word, New Worry

2008-05-08T04:24:00.003-04:00

This article introduced me to a new word (for me) -- yottabyte. Actually, it was two new words, since it uses zettabyte as well.

Let's see. There is a terabyte that is commonly used. That is a trillion bytes. A terabyte is followed by a petabyte that is a thousand terabytes, then an exabyte, which is a thousand petabytes followed by zettabytes then yottabytes, which equal 1000 to the 8th power. Got that?

What is worrisome about this? The world is storing so much information now that we are closing in on a society where the detailed lives of individuals and organizations will be on record forever. The more data there is to explore, the more past mistakes can return to haunt the present. Preserving reputation will be more than a forward-looking task but an archival one as well. "Sure, we made mistakes in the past but we did good things then too."

There haven't been many organizations to date that have had to defend their pasts as much as their present. One group does come to mind -- German companies that served the Nazis during World War II. Their past behavior continues to haunt the present.

While it is unlikely that most companies will have deep stains in their histories, it is likely with changing societal mores that records of past activity will be interpreted negatively in the present. We have seen that often enough in the matters of environmental responsibility, for example, or the treatment of women and minorities.

Is it possible that companies will need keepers of archival reputation?

They All Had Publicity

2008-05-07T04:21:00.001-04:00

Articles like this are good reminders. I've referred to them in the past. These 15+ products were never born in the marketplace but flacked as solutions. They came, and some never quite went like Duke Nukem Forever. Year after year, the maker promised an introduction of that game, which has never happened and never will happen.

The reminder is simple. As PR practitioners, we shouldn't drink from the bubbly fountain of promise that marketers quaff. We deal with the same media time and again. We have to look them in the eye and maintain their credibility. There is a distance between reporting what a company intends to do and plugging the virtues of a not-ready-for-primetime product. There also is counsel that tells company executives not to promote products that aren't ready. I suspect in some of these cases a PR person did that and was ignored.

There are instances where engineers fall in love with their ideas and companies get carried away. PR should be a restraint that protects credibility and reputation and keeps companies from putting themselves in untenable positions. In the case of this vaporware, it didn't work, if any practitioner tried.

Victim

2008-05-06T04:27:00.000-04:00

This is a timely article on "backscatter," a legacy of spam. It's timely because it just happened to me. Suddenly, I was getting dozens of e-mails claiming my messages were not delivered somewhere in the internet universe. Of course, a spammer had spoofed my e-mail address onto a mailing, and I was getting failure replies. I was upset for a few days about this, not the least because it was cluttering my inbox and was annoying. It turns out I was just one more victim, and there is nothing I can do except to change my e-mail address.

I like to think there is a special place in the underworld reserved for the souls of spammers, and this only strengthens that wish. The internet brings out both the best and worst of humans. It is a constant reminder that one can never cease protecting one's name and reputation.

Not Surprising

2008-05-05T04:26:00.000-04:00

Microsoft's decision to pull out of its offer for Yahoo is not surprising. It was clear some time ago there were diminishing returns from the overly long courtship. In a posting on April 24, I noted that it was time for the companies to act because the PR battle had gone on too long. So, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, has pulled the offer and now, wounded speculators and shareholders are screaming. Ballmer needs another PR campaign quickly to explain why he backed out and why it took so long for the decision. Yahoo on its part will need to do the same. A failed merger has as much need for communications as a successful one.

Tone

2008-05-02T04:24:00.002-04:00

One of the more difficult tasks in writing is tone. I'm working on a column now for an executive who is worried about how the piece will sound in the minds of his target audience. Concepts in the column are right, but implications are wrong. Several people have taken a shot at its tonality. None of us have captured the elusive feeling yet. We're at the point now where no one is sure a right tone can be captured, but we keep plugging. A word change here, an adjective there, a dropped sentence replaced by another.

Tone requires an inner ear that is tuned to the mind of the individual for whom one is writing. In this case, no one seems to have dialed the frequency yet. This is not the first such column where I've run into trouble like this. I wrote another column recently for a different CEO that was dropped for the same reason. The column used verbatims from the CEO, but no one liked it. How is it a piece can reflect exactly what a CEO said but still be wrong?

There are times when tonality leaves one lost. There isn't a direction to an end. There are only possibilities. When this happens, it is best to sit with the individual for whom one is writing and to hammer out a final piece. Unfortunately, that is rarely possible. CEOs are busy people. So, one tries and tries again and hopes he doesn't exhaust the CEO's patience before finding the right nuance. These are the hours when writing is no fun at all.

A Walk In The Cloud

2008-05-01T04:33:00.000-04:00

Cloud computing is a term that has emerged in high-tech over the last year or so. It refers to the vast computing power supporting the internet from huge operators like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Google and others. It also refers to the growing number of applications that are solely internet-based that allow users to download word processing, spreadsheets, presentation and other software per need as well as store their information on collaborative workspaces on the internet.

This article looks at the implications of Cloud Computing after a brief survey of how we got to it in the first place. While it is still early in the game, it is already possible to cut ties to PC-based software and to work around the world with little more than a good internet connection. Results will vary by location and surprisingly, the US is among the slower countries in terms of cellular broadband speed. That will change in time, however. As speeds climb, so will the ability to work collaboratively anywhere at anytime in ways that are difficult to achieve now.

As usual, I welcome any comments you may have about the article. It is a living document that can be changed. This is the 75th essay posted to online-pr.com

Dumb, If True

2008-04-30T04:34:00.001-04:00

Campaign communicators try anything whether ethical or not. Here is a case, if true, where communicators got caught. It was a dumb move. Whatever happened to transparency in the PR business? O, I forgot. Political communicators don't believe in it. They have one policy -- win. The end justifies the means.

Radical

2008-04-30T04:22:00.000-04:00

Here is a radical call to kill print editions of newspapers and to publish only online. The blogger notes that it has been done already and the future of some news publishing operations depends on cutting costs to the bone. He is pitiless in his description of journalists who fight to save newsprint. It is sarcasm born from conversion to the online world himself.

Given the continued accelerated decline of newspaper circulation in the US, his point of view may be correct for smaller newspapers. Larger papers will find a steady state of readership at some point and will continue, but it will be difficult. They won't be as profitable as they once were. Most news publishing operations still haven't found an economic model that works online. Until they do, newsrooms will keep shrinking.

It is an unpleasant time to be a journalist in America.

Bad News

2008-04-29T04:22:00.000-04:00

There are times when the public doesn't want to hear the truth. Here is one. It is hard for Americans to adjust to the high price of gasoline (that is still lower than what is paid in Europe). There was flash news yesterday that gasoline reached $4.00 a gallon in San Francisco -- a dreaded number.

Citizens will blame the President for failing to do anything about it. There isn't much the President can do, but he is the leader. It doesn't help when you have financial gurus predicting a long and hard recession. The confidence of the American public has collapsed.

What can the President say? Not much. He is a lame duck and few pay attention to him.

From a PR perspective, it doesn't get much worse, although a scenario is set for new leadership that might bring fresh perspective. Asking the public to wait isn't much of a message, but there are times when that is all one can do.

Global Communications, Global Panic

2008-04-28T04:45:00.000-04:00

Global prices for food are rising. Stories of food riots around the world are appearing in traditional media and online. Global communications are fueling global fears, including panic buying of rice. Get ready for more of the same with the fully connected earth. A distant country's problems are suddenly are own. The transparency of modern media emphasizes connectedness in ways few could imagine. We now know that food stocks worldwide are low. We also know some governments have pulled up their bridges in foreign trade and are starting to hoard food for their own citizens. It will take concerted government action to calm fears and to make sure there is sufficient apportionment among countries. Right now that is not happening. The poorest countries are being left out.

As PR practitioners, we should observe this living case closely and learn what needs to be done to fend off global panic. We will see it again in our lifetimes.

Great PR Positioning

2008-04-25T04:38:00.000-04:00

Let me add my huzzahs for this wonderful PR idea. It is the best kind of approach -- providing a useful tool to the beer industry that also positions the company behind it. This goes under the heading of "I wish I'd thought of that." The best thing that Miller Brewing can do is to leave the reporter alone and let him carry on just as he is. That is hard for marketers, however. They always want to sell, sell, sell. (See the previous blog posting.)

Good Point

2008-04-25T04:24:00.000-04:00

This blog post is "catty," but it makes a good point about social media. Social media are not marketing vehicles to be started and stopped with the beginning and end of campaigns. They are continuous relationship vehicles. That is true as well with web sites. Marketers, however, haven't figured this out. There are many orphaned sites online that were started for book launches, for example, then dropped when book publicity ended. The sites sit there getting moldy by the month until someone finally takes them down.

When marketers start and stop these vehicles, they make one point clear. They don't want a relationship. They want to sell you something and disappear. A one-night stand is fine. The consumer is justified in feeling cheated.

Dancing for Dollars

2008-04-24T04:33:00.000-04:00

The dance between Microsoft and Yahoo has been going on for weeks now. Yahoo has adopted a "Just-Say-No" strategy unless... unless Microsoft pays a whole bunch more for its stock. Microsoft has taken an "accept-it-or-else" strategy that doesn't appear to be changing.

The two sides are interesting to watch because they are using PR campaigns against each other. Yahoo points to value it says Microsoft isn't considering. Microsoft says its bid for Yahoo is fair, and it won't raise it. Moreover, Yahoo hasn't found any other suitors for the price Microsoft is offering. So they dance back and forth -- each lobbing verbal shells at the other and hoping to win public sympathy.

Thus far, it doesn't appear to be working. If Microsoft moves forward with its threatened hostile bid, Yahoo's talent can walk out the door. If Yahoo stays independent, there is no guarantee the company can re-ignite growth. If the two companies do get together, the enmity between them may doom a merger from the start. One wonders why Microsoft continues its pursuit.

From a PR perspective, the longer the verbal warfare continues, the lower the chance anything good will come from the merger proposal. It's time to act.

JawJaw

2008-04-23T04:25:00.001-04:00

It gets uncomfortable for a company to have a Federal regulator criticizing it repeatedly. That is what is happening to Comcast, the broadband and TV cable company. Comcast says that it has a right to control its delivery systems so heavy broadband traffic doesn't bring down the network for all. The regulator says it is Comcast's responsibility to carry all traffic without prejudice -- i.e. net neutrality.

So who is right and how does Comcast protect its reputation from further damage? The answer to the question is more complicated than it seems. For Comcast to be net neutral, it has to expand its network's capacity to handle huge bursts of data. That's expensive and someone has to pay for it. Either everyone pays for the expansion -- even light users -- or just those who are heavy users through volume pricing. Comcast has not moved toward volume pricing yet, but other internet service providers have. Increased cable rates or volume pricing will further erode Comcast's reputation with users who have alternatives, unless every other ISP takes the same approach at the same time. Meanwhile, the regulator goes around the country and criticizes it.

It is never comfortable being a "whipping boy," but that is what is happening here. It would easy if Comcast could make an agreement to expand capacity and get the regulator off its back, but what happens when insatiable demand for more capacity occurs again? Who pays for expansion the next time? Threats to reputation are never-ending.

From a long-term reputational point of view, it is probably best for Comcast to stand its ground to avoid further damage later. On the other hand, it if takes that decision, it will need the courage to tolerate the "jawjaw" of the Federal Communications Commission.

Reality

2008-04-22T04:26:00.000-04:00

Reality has a way of changing conventional wisdom quickly. Here is a case. A few months ago, there was animus against anything genetically modified, and as the article states, that dislike still holds in Europe. When massive food shortages arose, objections to genetically modified organisms (GMO) began disappearing. Emaciated babies and food riots have a way of re-setting agendas that all the PR in the world cannot achieve.

The interesting part of this story is that agronomists knew the shortage was coming. They saw food stocks falling. They warned it was necessary to grow more and to use anything that makes agriculture more productive. Few listened. "Slow Food," organic food and farmers markets had captured the interest of food writers. There is nothing wrong with these movements, but with the reality of falling grain stocks, it is clear they are ideas belonging to an elite that can afford them and not to a world worried about basic nutrition.

We know now as governments teeter and non-governmental organizations struggle to find maize, wheat and rice that the First World had been ignoring the plight of the Third World. Food prices have shot up in the US as well, but Americans can pay more than Africans.

It is time now for a new PR effort to explain agricultural productivity -- what it is, why it uses genetically modified organisms and what farming requires to feed the world. It's a much different story than most urbanites know.

Face-To-Face

2008-04-21T04:24:00.000-04:00

The Pope's visit to the US is now the stuff of commentators who are asking why he came. It is interesting that advance publicity about the man has changed. Suddenly he is kind and compassionate. It is unlikely he was much different before. People don't change behavior so quickly, especially in their 80s. But, that doesn't appear to be the main reason for the Pope's six days in America. There was a deeper element of communications involved -- the need for people to see leaders face to face in their own space.

Yes, Roman Catholics could go to Italy to see the Pope in one of his weekly audiences, but there is something special about the Pope coming to see them. This is true of all leaders. The CEO walking the floor of the office and popping in on managers has greater meaning than people being summoned to the CEO's suite. The message is clear, "I am here to talk and listen to you." All the modern media at our disposal do not change the need for personal appearance. Face-to-face communication always has been and will remain the most important means of persuasion. It is easier to forget that now, but we shouldn't.

Getting Away With It

2008-04-18T04:44:00.000-04:00

When an organization is big enough, it can get away with more. At least that is the case for the Department of Defense, which still cannot audit its books. One wonders why there isn't a severe hit to the DOD's reputation for its inability to perform adequate accounting.

Why, for example, hasn't Congress hauled the senior bureaucrats in the Defense Department before it and demanded answers? There is one explanation that appears obvious. The senior bureaucrats will ask for billions to pay for new systems to do better accounting. Those billions won't be forthcoming because tax money goes to payroll and weapon systems. Hence, everyone looks the other way.

Eventually the DOD will suffer for its prolonged mismanagement. It will happen the usual way -- through a scandal too big to ignore. Suddenly, Congressmen will discover the horrid financial mess and demand that it be cleaned up -- and it just might be. I don't expect to be alive when that day comes.

No corporation would be allowed to run as badly as DOD. Its executives would be jailed. But, there is a difference between public agencies and private business. There is more tolerance for frailty among public servants.