Checkmate - Commentary

5 steps to instant celebrity like JetBlue's Steven Slater

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:42:00-0400

It’s amazing how social media changed the power game between employees and employers. Case in point: Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who freaked out on the job.

Let’s recap.

As an employee of a major airline, he lost his cool, made a public, obscenity-laden comment to a cabin full of people, grabbed a couple beers, activated the emergency exit, slid down and ran away on the tarmac. Then he was arrested at a beachfront home in the Rockaways.

Most of us may remember a time when this kind of behavior would have triggered personal humiliation, psychological distress and a “Man, I just screwed myself” inability to ever land a new job.

Not anymore.

Now, thanks to ordinary people having a compounding butterfly-effect voice, characters like Slater are transformed from bad guys to heroes … instantly. One week after Slater’s meltdown, Hollywood publicity man Howard Bragman announced he’s representing him to “sort out the scores of offers that have come through in the past week from media, producers, brands and other interested parties.”

If you want to become a celebrity like Steven Slater, listen up and follow these five perhaps not too tongue- in-cheek rules of the new world media:

Take your frustration public - If you’re fed up and can’t take it anymore, don’t sulk, don’t get depressed … don’t kidnap or shoot. Instead shout to the rafters and make your voice heard using social media. Slater tweeted, Slater Facebooked. Give birth to your own community.
Don’t be afraid to tell it like it is - Be colorful, be bold. Authenticity rules! Slater said, “To the f---ing a-hole who told me to f—k off, it’s been a good 28 years. I’ve had it. That’s it.” Indirectness sucks!
Tie into a grassroots theme - People latched onto Slater because he personified what many feel every day in the workplace: loss of control and power. By losing his cool, he actually restored his reputation and gained new levels of power he never had. Become a modern day folk hero.
Go for the extra flair - Slater could have just grabbed the microphone, shouted his message and waited for the armed guards. But no, he added special touches that helped shape a more memorable persona. He grabbed two beers and maneuvered his own exit, sliding down an inflatable ramp. Do it in style!
Become one with the peacock - After the initial dust settles, don’t let second thoughts enter your head and never regret the action you took. After the incident, Slater didn’t look fed up, angry or berserk, he looked, well, mildly freaky, but content. So flash your colors and embrace your inner peacock!

Rules to tweet by

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:42:00-0400

One of the best and worst things about social media is that anyone can make up the rules, i.e. the conventions, protocols and etiquette by which we collectively conduct ourselves. For instance, someone once made up a rule that PR people shouldn’t blog on behalf of clients. Like sheep, we all nodded and went along for a while murmuring slogans like “Must be authentic.” Someone else finally questioned “Why?” Debate ensued, logic prevailed, and blogging services (with the proper disclosure) have become a standard PR offering these days.

Social media norms tend to be self-regulating. We now all agree that censoring blog comments is bad (except for trolls and incendiary words). Writing in upper-case sentences = SHOUTING = impolite. And our Farmville-playing Facebook friends got the hint and stopped annoying us with their barnyard updates.

Twitter, on the other hand, remains largely un-self-regulated. Despite the wealth of tools available for filtering and finding good information, Twitter’s poor noise-to-signal ratio remains the #1 obstacle to adoption cited by our clients. So in the spirit of self-regulation, I want to direct you to Mathew Inman’s witty 10 things you need to stop tweeting about from the popular The Oatmeal site, even though it may suck 80% of the oxygen out of the Twittersphere if the rules are embraced.

Link

A million miles in 288 pages; how to get unstuck by living better stories

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:59:00-0400

We hear so much about “storytelling” these days, especially in the context of PR, communications and branding.

In Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, the essence of “story” is central.

Miller is trying to get to a new place on a personal level, but he’s stuck. His breakthrough happens when he attends a famous 36-hour seminar called “Story,” taught by Robert McKee.

He learns that story “is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.”

While living better stories is the essence of character transformation, the conflict part is key. Without FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), memorable stories don’t unfold and personal progress is stymied.

For the first third of the read, it felt like a book about Miller’s personal journey. But then something happens, and it unexpectedly transforms into a story about me – my journey. I suspect the same thing may happen to you.

Instead of allowing life to unfold upon us in a haphazard way, Miller helps us discover (unassumingly and humorously, through the lens of his own experiences) how we can grab hold of our lives by shaping memorable scenes. These pivotal, scary, sometimes risky self-created life events blast us through personal roadblocks and psychologically get us to the new outcomes we desperately seek.

Miller learns that while planning is important, the magic isn’t in passively pondering – but in doing. “We have to show it,” Miller says. “A character is what he does.”

Miller discovered that once you experience a memorable scene, you get hooked and want more.

“You’ll get a taste for one story and then want another, and then another, and the stories will build until you’re living a kind of epic of risk and reward, and the whole thing will be molding you into the actual character whose roles you’ve been playing. And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can’t go back to being normal; you can’t go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.”

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years invites us to live better stories. The cool part is we learn how to do it without the typical “10-step” sort of dogma. It’s a beguiling combination that nudges itself within your soul.

Thanks, Chris Brogan, for turning me onto it.

Apple's sour grapes bruises a stellar brand

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:23:00-0400

Even the ultra-cool sometimes just don’t get it.

After a few haughty responses earlier in the week to complaints about its iPhone 4 dropping calls, Apple made a smart move and offered free cases iPhone 4 consumers. The cases will prevent the “death grip” problem that cause the phone’s reception to fade and sometimes drop calls if held a certain way.

But Apple CEO Steve Jobs apparently just couldn’t just hand out the cases and live to fight another day. Standing on a dais in front of an image that said “Antennagate,” he had to show a video illustrating problems with competing phones like the Blackberry. Then he insisted there’s nothing really wrong with the iPhone 4 – that the situation is a media creation.

“We're not feeling right now that we have a giant problem we need to fix,” Jobs said during a press conference at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters. “This has been blown so out of proportion that it’s incredible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less fun when you're on the other end of it.”

Has Jobs grown too accustomed to the rainbows and unicorns he usually gets from the media? I have to wonder if his PR people warned him he’d look like a whiner if he complained about the press because that’s how he came off – defensive. The media did not, as Jobs intimated, create this problem. Apple’s arrogant response to customer complaints did. When customers got the high hat from Apple, they started complaining publicly through social media and the news media picked up on the story.

When are executives going to learn a little humility and contrition go a long way in situations like this? You’d think that coming so soon on the heels of Toyota’s and BP’s PR Armageddons that Apple, normally a PR-savvy company, would have had a response as slick as its products. Considering the vast reservoirs of customer good will it has to draw on, Apple could have snuffed this out before it became a problem. It might have had to eat a little crow by admitting its hot-shot phone had a flaw, but at least it wouldn’t be getting bludgeoned in the press at the same time.

Dirty little secret revealed: Sean Penn was right; the media did drop the ball on Haiti

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:08:00-0400

It’s been six months since the 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, killing more than 230,000 people and leaving 1.5 million homeless. There are still few jobs to be had and no permanent shelter. Only two percent of promised reconstruction aid has been released. And according to a report issued this week by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, only nine percent of pledges by governments (about $50 million) has actually been delivered.

Sean Penn has been a vocal activist for Haiti since the quake, remaining in the country with his daughter to help over the past six months. He brought up an interesting point yesterday in speaking with Harry Smith of CBS News’ Early Show: "I think that the media has played an enormous part in the failures that are still going on today and the recovery here and the relief operations."

Smith then said: "People would be curious why you went in the first place. And then, why you stayed. What's the best answer for that?" Penn answered: "...if they're wondering that, then that would be an indictment of the American and the international press that came here in the immediate aftermath of this devastating earthquake."

Penn elaborated: "The United States sent its military, that did an extraordinary job in immediate relief....And then when they went on with other deployments, when the amputations en masse stopped, the media left."

I ran a Factiva search to prove or disprove Penn’s theory. If you’re not familiar with Factiva, it’s an advanced search tool from Dow Jones that enables you to analyze media coverage. Factiva’s database includes more than 28,000+ leading media sources from 157 countries in 23 languages, including regional and industry publications, Web and blog content.

Using Google, I found the two most popular (and relevant) search topics:

1. Haiti earthquake

2. Haiti news

Using these key words, Factiva revealed the following levels of media coverage over the six-month period:

While Factiva isn’t a be-all-end-all and doesn’t include every publication or blog in the world, it’s comprehensive.

This data suggests Sean Penn may be onto something.

7 reasons why "pitch" & "pitching" need to go bye-bye

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:19:00-0400

“Pitch” and “pitching” aren’t going away … but they should. They’re so frequently used in agencies, corporations, not-for-profits and organizations they appear current, reasonable and viable. But they’re not. They should be retired immediately.

Historic usage, prevalence and pithiness shouldn’t supersede relevance or appropriateness. If it did, words like: colored, going steady, secretary, sissy, stewardess and mental would still be in wide circulation today.

Here are seven reasons why we should drop the pitch:

1. It's a dated form of PR – media relations used to be one-way. We’d craft our “pitches” and try to sell them to busy reporters. Please Walt Mossberg, notice me, listen to what I have to say, and I hope (and pray) you write something. Those days are increasingly over. The world of top-down media dominance has been replaced with a never ending grassroots conversation that’s lively, engaging, empowering and direct to consumer/customer.

2. It de-positions the PR industry – most of us have worked hard adapting to - and adopting – many historic communications transformations. We’re not there yet… (may never be), but we’re in a better place. We’re taking the PR industry to a new position where authenticity and transparency shape our practice – not hype and selling. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go back.

3. It damages our reputation – pitch and pitching sound old-school – pre-social media, pre-community – and they are. When we say these words, they immediately date us, forcing astute listeners to categorize us as “hit and clip,” “press kit” era PR dinosaurs.

4. It’s one-way – pitching epitomizes the old-world model of one way communications. Shut up and listen, I've got something to say. I'm the pitcher, here's the pitch … I'll wait and see if you catch what I've got to say … or not. Yes, the great “pitchers” of the past weren’t this crass … they’d initiate a conversation. But lots of people continue to push out their packaged ideas via Twitter, e-mail, Facebook, etc., never inviting or urging a conversation.

5. It’s arrogant – I don’t like it when a car salesman makes assumptions about me when we’ve never met. I don’t like it when a telemarketer reaches me at home to sell me something I’m not interested in. I don’t like it when people try to convince me to support an idea I’m not familiar with or don’t believe in. Pitching has all these attributes, and more.

6. It’s a turn-off – this approach helped give PR a negative reputation, a perception often shaped by aggressive, fake, single-minded people trying to get their way vs. earning respect and building rapport.

7. It doesn’t work – instead of pitching, let’s enter a two-way conversation, tell a story, listen, learn, invest time and treat people the way we like to be treated. We may not always get where we want to go, but we’ll build genuine relationships that have more lasting value.

BP triggers dark side for augmented reality

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:46:00-0400

No sooner did brand managers and marketers discover augmented reality (AR) as the next big marketing frontier then did consumers find a way to use AR to voice their own opinions.

AR developers Mark Skwarek and Joseph Hocking are keeping BP’s feet to the fire with a new AR iPhone app that lets users visualize the Deepwater Horizon oil spill at their local BP gas station or wherever they happen to see a BP logo.

Called “the leak in your hometown,” the app transforms the logo into the source of the deep sea gusher. Just point your phone at the logo and your outrage and sense of futility over the unceasing disaster is rekindled.

If you’re new to augmented reality, it’s technology that overlay’s digital information and imagery onto your view of real-world things, typically using a webcam or smartphone camera as the visual conduit.

The BP gusher app is pretty simplistic as far as AR apps go. Yet it’s a brand manager’s nightmare. As the app’s creators describe on their blog …

An important component of the project is that it uses BP’s corporate logo as a marker, to orient the computer-generated 3D graphics. Basically turning their own logo against them. This repurposing of corporate icons will offer future artists and activists a powerful means of expression which will be easily accessible to the masses and at the same time will be safe and nondestructive.

Remember back when brand managers first swooned over the potential of social media as a new direct-to-consumer marketing channel, not yet realizing how the technology gives consumers their own, sometimes critical, voice? With AR, it’s déjà vu all over again. Google ‘augmented reality’ and ‘marketing’ and you'll see what I mean. But the effusive praise by marketers will soon be tempered as they discover that AR can be a double-edged sword, as much a threat to their companies’ corporate reputation as it is a powerful marketing tool.

Next BP victim: 'brand journalism'

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:15:00-0400

The brand journalist is the one of the most compelling marketing concepts I've encountered in a while. Leave it to BP to spoil a good thing.

Read more from our CleanSpeak blog here.

Surprising job titles reflect changing times in PR and communications

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:00:00-0400

For decades, the same titles were used for public relations and communications professionals in companies, agencies and organizations. These included Director, Marketing Communications; Manager, Public Relations; Account Executive; Vice President, Corporate Communications; Director, Community Relations; Publicist; Director, Government Relations; Account Director.

As our industry speedily reshapes itself – driven by historic grassroots empowerment, two-way conversations and brand building communities – so are the titles reflecting the jobs we do and responsibilities we bear.

Consider, for example, some of the current PR & communications job openings:

Manager, Cyclical Communications (Target)
Director, Global Partner Communications & Engagement (Starbucks)
Director of Innovation (Netflix)
Director of North American Positioning (Novozymes)
Web Evangelist (Microsoft)
Chief Content Officer (PBS)
Social Media Manager (Milestone Internet Marketing)
Manager, Green Marketing & Wellness (confidential search)
Competitive Intelligence and Social Media Strategist (EMC)
Online content & Communications Manager (Penny Saver/Harte Hanks Shoppers)
Senior Director, Internet Communications and Marketing (Save The Children)
Director Corporate Responsibility (Delhaize America)

While the classic job titles will stick around, there’s an emerging trend where companies, organizations and agencies are deliberately re-casting roles and responsibilities. How are the new titles different from the old? We see five transformations unfolding:

Some communications and PR titles are moving away from general functional descriptions (“communications,” “community relations,” etc.), shifting toward a more emotive position (innovation; evangelist, strategist, responsibility).
New titles are embracing online community and consistent two-way communication (engagement, social media, cyclical communications).
They mirror major societal changes (green marketing; web; wellness).
Some of the new titles are trending big picture (positioning; global partner, competitive intelligence).
Authentic, compelling & engaging content creation is central to branding success (the emergence of the Chief Content Officer).

Six branding lessons from "Lost"

Fri, 28 May 2010 11:07:00-0400

I already miss “Lost.” Arguably, no TV show since “The X Files” was as gripping within the sci-fi genre (or whatever pseudo category Lost fit in).

There are lessons to be learned from “Lost” for communications professionals trying to build memorable brands:

Character development hooks – “Lost” grabbed us because of its fully-developed cast of believable characters. The writers gave us plenty of time to get to know them, building complex, multi-dimensional views. And not just in the here and now. We cared about these people, we hated some, we felt bad for others. They were our friends; we knew them.

Take risks – “Lost” was about plane crash victims stranded on a mysterious desert island. But its writers stripped it of clichés, envisioning bizarre happenings – from time travelling to polar bears to marauding black smoke. Major characters were sacrificed. A paraplegic could walk again, was killed off and later became death personified.

Keep it fresh – “Lost” was a giant onion with layers & layers of interconnections across all characters. It wasn’t enough to tell the tale of Ben leading ‘the Others’ or Sawyer as a former con man, they kept adding new dimensions. Just when you thought you had a character figured out, a new angle emerged. Jack was good, Jack was a leader, Jack was confused, Jack was angry, Jack was scared.

Connect the dots to build understanding – Every episode introduced confounding elements. But in the end, their writers brought most of it together, explaining why dead guys were walking around the island, what “Smokey” was all about and how Jacob came to be. They made creative zaniness work. They gave us enough information to form our conclusions without forcing a rigid interpretation.

Tell great stories – It’s harder to recall facts, but we remember interesting stories. They have beginnings, middles and ends. Stories have challenges and conflicts followed by struggle and resolution. They feature memorable characters. And they grab us. “Lost” personified classic storytelling elements.

Carve out a distinct position – How many reality, medical and law enforcement shows are there on TV? Certainly enough to exceed two hand counting. “Lost” stood out. It was the only show of its type on the air. It wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it became one of the best of all time in part because it was so distinctive.

We can apply these same lessons to our communications, branding and public relations efforts. A little “Lost” can get a company or organization found.

7 proof points validating the Dali Lama is right about our growing social consciousness

Fri, 21 May 2010 11:55:00-0400

The Dalai Lama visited the Today Show yesterday, his first visit to an American morning news show. It was surreal.

After making his entrance in a black limo, he greeted Ann, shook hands with Meredith, Al and Matt, and settled, sandal-free-foot-tucked-under.

Ann asked him if the world is getting better or worse. His Holiness quickly said “getting better.”

The spiritual leader of the Tibetan people contrasted the 20^th century with the 21^st, saying there will be “much change in the human experience,” and there will be much “more compassion” during this century. He discussed how positive action, vision and motivation will continue to manifest itself and why the right attitude can reduce man-made problems.

As one of millions involved in social responsibility, I instinctively agreed. The facts seem to bear it out.

Consider:

Plenty of data supports the growing humanization of our planet. Corporations that previously donated money and then considered their job done, now have a deeply and authentically ingrained giving-back ethic. They’re no longer posturing, or just being philanthropic, but working hard to solve society’s problems and genuinely make a difference.
According to the 2010 Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey, more than eight in 10 companies (84 percent) believe volunteerism can help nonprofits accomplish long-term social goals. Corporate managers believe the top benefits of workplace volunteerism include alleviating a social issue (36 percent), helping nonprofits function more effectively (31 percent) and serving more clients (31 percent).
On the individual level, 84% of Americans believe their ideas can help companies create products and services that are a win for consumers, business and society, according to the 2010 Cone Shared Responsibility Study.
Bob Gilbreath, chief marketing strategist at Bridge Worldwide and author of “Marketing with Meaning,” reported that 71% of consumers are giving as much or more now as they were before the economic downturn. He reported 87% of consumers would switch brands based on association with a good cause and 50% of consumers would pay more for products from brands that support causes. The Cone Roper survey has validated this trend for years.
Chris MacDonald, who’s #61 on Ethisphere’s list of the 100 most influential people in business ethics, recently called this “the golden age of ethical business.”
The 2010 Corporate Citizenship Report, a collaborative project of the Entrepreneurs Foundation and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, said, "Sustainability, the integration of people and planet into a company's purpose,” is on the radar for 73% of the respondents and becoming more important. “Environmental initiatives are saving money for companies and consumers, while environmentally conscientious companies are favorably perceived both in the marketplace and by prospective employees."
Dave Stangis, Vice President of CSR and Sustainability at Campbell’s Soup said, “The emergence of the VP of CSR and VP of Sustainability titles seems proof of the growing strategic business position of CSR.” As validation, SustainableBusiness reported the posting of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) jobs increased 33% in 4Q09.

The Dalai Lama said news media tends to “highlight negative things,” and we “take positive things for granted.” But media is beginning to transform too; the major network nightly news programs, for example, often end with an upbeat making-the-world-better story.

5 reasons CEO's hesitate to adopt social media

Mon, 10 May 2010 15:55:00-0400

With so much talk about social media (especially in the PR/communications/branding industry), you might think every company is excited about it and actively participating.
Well, that’s still not the case.

According to the 2009 Business.com B2B social media benchmark study:
• Only 22% of B2C companies use social media to produce webinars or podcasts
• Only 36% of B2B companies use it for recruiting
• Only 55% of B2C companies host blogs
• Only 50% of B2B companies upload content to social networks
• Only 49% of B2C companies are using Twitter

While many not-for-profits, consumer-facing and B2B companies are all over social media, many remain laggards, hesitant to take the dip.

Why the fear, uncertainty and trepidation (or lack of belief in social media)?

Here are the 5 most often heard misconceptions some CEO’s still have about social media:

5. “It’s too time consuming” – Many companies are hesitant because they know it takes time – and talent – to do it right. Social media isn’t a start-stop thing; consistency is the key to ROI, proof and returns. The companies who hold this view typically don’t have the infrastructure to Tweet, blog, comment, refine and search. While it’s not a good idea to start writing a blog and then stop (leaving black holes for weeks or months), it may be – arguably – even worse to never begin at all because measurable opportunity is lost. The more companies experiment with social media and learn from it, the more corporate confidence will grow.

4. “It’s still early days” - YouTube just celebrated its 5 year anniversary. LinkedIn has been in widespread use since 2005. Blogs have been mainstream since 2004 and over 5 million are being created monthly. Despite this ample evidence, many companies have the misconception that social media is still emerging. They’re waiting for more … evidence.

3. “Where’s the proof?” – Some executives of small- to mid-size companies look around their immediate ecosystem and draw wrong conclusions. Employees aren’t using social media for the business, but it’s because management isn’t advocating it. Traditional marketing campaigns may appear to be producing meaningful-enough results, but that’s because the superior measurement data generated by social media isn’t being generated. The CEO also isn’t feeling the heat from any … competitors.

2. “My competitors aren’t doing it” – Some companies compete in markets where nearly all the players parody each other. Differentiation is non-existent. Price is the only edge. Everyone sounds the same; they all co-opt each other’s messaging. Companies lead with feature-laden product discussions. There’s no brand personality. Everyone’s stuck, afraid to make a move in a new direction, worried about risking a misperception from … customers.

1. “My customers don’t use it” – This is the most common refrain of all from CEO’s. “My customers aren’t on Facebook. They don’t buy products after watching YouTube videos. They don’t read blogs. So why should we use social media?” While this may be the reality, today, the truth is it’s another Catch-22: customers aren’t using social media because the companies they deal with aren’t using it. Social media is transformational: once companies start using it, their customers get engaged. Individual voices come alive within a previously personality-free corporation and create brand personalities that yield competitive edge. You have to build the bridges first, then people cross over, communities get built and results follow.

Why PR accreditation makes more sense than ever

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:08:00-0400

When Eddie Bernays was alive and kicking, he advocated licensing PR professionals.

He once told me “Any crook, nitwit, dope, charlatan or ignoramus can use the words public relations.” He believed if our profession was regulated, “it would give our vocation a status comparable to lawyers, architects and doctors.”

Most people disliked (often hated) the idea of licensing. They felt it was a violation of first amendment rights and stifling to entrepreneurialism. They figured if a person wanted to hire someone who’s not “professional” and doesn’t have a reputable track record, then it’s their right to do so. Conversely, the PR practitioner shouldn’t be denied rightful employment.

Eddie’s idea might have been too overpowering, but the essence of his idea has never been more germane.

Like virtually every other business, the Web dis-intermediated the PR industry. The competency bar was lowered. Thousands upon thousands of new practitioners came into being globally. Limited (or no) public relations experience? No problem. Simply launch a website, stake out a position and make any claim you want. You’re an instant PR professional/agency/firm.

Recent case in point: BSMP LLC founded by Sarah Palin’s 19-year old daughter Bristol Sharon Marie Palin. The founding paperwork says the new entity “intends to provide lobbying, public relations and political consulting services.”

Credibility is one of the reasons the idea behind “APR” makes more sense than ever. Created by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in 1964, it stands for “accredited public relations practitioner.”

More than 5,000 professionals from agencies, corporations, associations and education hold this PR mark. I’m one of them. Speaking from experience, the screening and testing process is thorough, well run and rigorous.

Because April is APR month, I wanted to get a current view on accreditation. I spoke with Anne Dubois, APR, Fellow PRSA Chair within the Universal Accreditation Board, the group that oversees Accreditation. She had some interesting perspective:

APR is moving in the right direction: “More professionals than ever are becoming accredited … we hope this growth continues.”
APR still needs to create more momentum: “Not enough professionals are APR.”
APR moves us forward: “The fundamental purpose of accreditation is to unify and advance the profession.”
APR separates wheat from chaff: “On a personal level, achieving APR status gives professionals a mark of distinction that demonstrates their commitment to the profession and willingness to abide by the ethical and public standards held by the field.”
APR needs more ROI focus and visibility: “We must be diligent to continue to educate the marketplace on the value of Accreditation.”
APR isn’t consistently regarded by employers and clients: “It’s mixed.”
APR will improve if it becomes more front-loaded (i.e. more emphasis on taking it at the beginning of a career vs. waiting later, similar to earning your CPA or passing the bar): “Interesting. We’re in the research and development phase of an entry-level certification. It’s our hope we’ll be able to roll-out this new certification within the next two years. We believe this will enhance the overall value of accreditation."
APR needs to become more pervasive: “In a perfect world, all employers and hiring managers of public relations professionals would require Accreditation of every candidate applying for a public relations position.

Beware of broadcast media coverage scams

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:09:00-0400

I got a call today from one of our client CMO’s. He had spoken with someone who asked him several questions for a “television program he was producing.” He had a catchy name for the program.

After talking awhile, the TV person said his organization would like to “interview” the CMO’s company for the program. He talked-up the excellent national broadcast visibility it would generate.

It sounded intriguing until our CMO started asking a few simple questions, including:

tell me more about your company
tell me more about this show
who interviews us
what’s the story angle that interests you about us
when and where will the story appear

Basic stuff, but the TV show rep stumbled and couldn’t answer any of them with credibility. Our CMO friend didn’t like the vibe; he said “the guy got all squishy on me.”

That’s when he picked up the phone and called me.

The instant he described the encounter I knew what it was; the latest version of a scam where a video infomercial production company passes itself off as a legitimate broadcast editorial opportunity. I’ve seen it many times over the past two decades.

Aside from the unethical behavior and misrepresentation, the heart of the scam is money. After hooking the unsuspecting prospect with dreams of broadcast coverage, they tell you it’s going to cost money to pull it all together. In this particular case, it was in the $20K+ range.

Sadly, some companies fall for it. Here are some of the broadcast scams in business today: http://bit.ly/9Q0Ujz and http://bit.ly/bevDP6.

If you’re ever contacted by someone who rather quickly promises to get your company broadcast media coverage, ask one simple question: is this going to cost my company any money? If the rep stammers, delays, gets “squishy” or says “yes,” run for the hills.

Real media coverage is earned, not paid for.

Seven social media lessons from Nestle's reputation crisis

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:03:00-0400

If a company still doesn’t "get" how social media has changed the rules of branding by empowering consumers, look no further than the ongoing Nestle firestorm.

Nestle has been in trouble for awhile, mostly related to its continuing use of palm oil in its products. Palm oil is linked to environmental nastiness, including deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions and endangered species loss.

Caroline McCarthy of CNET News shared a balanced post about the Nestle brand crisis, triggered by ticked off consumers on Facebook. Nestle was clueless about the power shift enabled by social media and acted in an old-school authoritarian “we own the brand” way. It not only didn’t work, it backfired.

There are vital lessons from the Nestle debacle for professional communicators advising their execs or clients:

1. Before diving into social media, make sure key decision makers who think they want to go social media truly “get” how the game is played. It’s not a press release.

2. Make sure they understand how Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. aren’t one way vehicles (where the brand dominates the message), but an invitation to a never ending dance with constantly changing partners, some of whom are never your friend and may only want to dance if they can slap your ego and try to make you a better dancer.

3. Don’t go social media unless the brand is willing to take the risk of jumping off the cliff, giving up control to customers and consumers who will express their viewpoints, both positive and negative.

4. If your company or client wants to control the message, then social media isn’t for them. Look at how Nestle tried to tell people not to post their logos. It will incur a wrath not unlike "It’s not OK for people to use altered versions of your logos but it’s OK for you to alter the face of Indonesian rainforests? Wow!"

5. Creating LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts is just the first step. The goal isn’t to tweet or post, it’s to build an active community and an authentic two-way relationship based on trust. It’s easy to get started in social media, but time-consuming and challenging to remain engaged and build a following.

6. Remember that even if your company or client decides not to engage in social media, this won’t stop rants, rebellion and revolution. People will find a way to express themselves and let it be known they’re disturbed, upset, confused, disappointed or whatever the view. The train has left the station, so be prepared.

7. As we’ve learned from Nestle (and so many others), people don’t want to be scammed, ignored or mistreated. It will come back to bite you. So if your exec or client wants social media to become a positive tool, the brand must be a concerned good listener prepared to take action to correct situations that aren’t right.