Strategic Public Relations

Google, Participatory Journalism and the BBC

Shout out to THE news source across the pond, BBC News.

From the understandable din of the Google IPO buzz, the BBC cuts to the chase with a simple Q&A on why it is such a big deal.

Q: Why are people saying the decision is unusual? The founders are taking great care to make sure they can still keep running the company as they wish. They make it clear that they have no intention of being dominated by the traditional Wall Street focus on quarterly results. "A management team distracted by a series of short-term targets is as pointless as a dieter stepping on a scale every half-hour," they wrote in an "Owner's Manual" attached to the SEC filing.

The BBC also advanced the concept of participatory journalism recently when it engaged readers to help the news outlet cover a story. As Poynter reports, tapping into readers in this fashion is simply brilliant. "This looks like a clever way to dress up your coverage even from far-away places and to involve your readers."

What’s News in the World?

A quick headline scan yields interesting public relations news.

THE New Product Introduction—2: Can we expect the new $50 bill introduction to top the uber-successful $20 bill introduction? MSNBC provides some insight into whether or not Andrew Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant are the only presidents getting an extreme makeover:

”The bureau also plans to add color to the $100 bill, the most knocked-off note outside the United States. It has not been determined when the new $100 will be unveiled. Officials are still considering whether to redesign $5s and $10s. But $1s and $2s will stay the same because they aren't of much interest to counterfeiters.“

Industry Research Shows Slumps & Surges: In one corner, AdWeek points to a pr industry slump. In the other corner, Media Post reports a hiring surge in the advertising industry.

Remember that different research means different samples. AdWeek reports on research limited to Fortune 500 companies' pr budgets and their pr hiring.

"This suggests that money continues to be spent on marketing-related activities like advertising and marketing-oriented PR, and the cuts came were in other areas, such as community relations and internal communications."

The need for public relations success metrics was also reinforced. "There is still a tremendous amount of effort needed on the part of senior PR leadership to more intimately connect itself to business development and revenue generation."

Will PR Week also weigh in on this report?

Goofus: Reluctantly, I want to give out a Goofus to the Christian leaders banding together to rebut “The Da Vinci Code.” Need I remind anyone that the book is for sale in the fiction aisle?

By conducting an organized campaign, it gives credibility to the book’s assertions. A simple Google search will point you to articles disproving many of the points made in the book. In the meantime, author Dan Brown will be able to buy and sell a small country based on the sales spike this effort will create.

But since I have no Gallant to balance this Goofus designation, and I have 16 years of Catholic school under my belt, I’ll pass.

May is for Martha: Stewart gets sentenced in June, but there is still plenty of relevant news in the meantime. You are probably unaware of this news since none of it is controversial. Or perhaps you simply do not care. :-)

Step Away From the Blog: Earlier this week, I discussed business technology with the APR review class for the Cincinnati Chapter of PRSA. It was interesting how much I had to update my six-month old presentation.

The biggest update was the section on blogs. Six months ago, I dumped the original presentation into a blog to make my point. As a result, the presentation was skewed towards this technology—not to mention it was tougher to follow.

This time I went old school with a simple PowerPoint. I’m hoping it was more effective as a result.

But Wait, There’s More: The above is just the news not already covered by the PR blogosphere. Per usual, Tom Murphy encapsulates some highlights and you can get a good dose of the blogosphere through Constatin Basturea’s PR Blog Rollup Site. Enjoy.

The Means to an End

Congratulations to PR Opinions' Tom Murphy on the birth of his son, Cillian. Take plenty of pictures Tom; they grow up quickly.

My CEO notes that, were it not for our families, this career would be nothing more than a circus. In my case, public relations is a means to an end. This one:

Have a great weekend.

Showtime

Of the top 10 professions requiring the most walking, I once read somewhere that public relations professionals ranked right up there with postal carriers, police and newspaper delivery people. How did we make the list?

Trade shows.

This week I am logging my miles on a client’s trade show floor. It is great to see attendance break records. Shows, meetings, conferences and conventions are back in full swing as the economy returns.

Of interest at this show, aside from the newest tchotchkes, is our approach. My client is not an exhibitor. Instead, we are doing some sponsorship for visibility and conducting research with show attendees. We started online with a survey prior to the show. We announced the results on the first day and continue to publish new results each day.

The daily publishing cycle makes me feel like we are working on the show daily, but the media is responding to the content. In this case, there are enough publications conducting online reporting that we’re getting multiple placement opportunities throughout the show.

There are a ton of news conferences scheduled throughout the show. Quite frankly, I think they are a waste of everyone’s time and cannot take the place of personal briefings.

I’ve conducted two news conferences at trade shows in 12 years, and that was one more than necessary. The news conference makes sense on the surface—one announcement to every media outlet is an efficient use of everyone’s time at the show. But these announcements typically define news too broadly and assume a level of self-importance.

Schedules may be hectic and change throughout the show, but personal briefings are much more effective. Company news at trade shows is usually not earth shattering. Customized media relations are always more effective and this rule is no different when it comes to trade shows—just more challenging as the entire industry gathers under one roof for a few days.

Regardless, my work schedule will impact posting here. Things should return to normal next week.

Al & Laura Ries are Dancing

Al & Laura Ries, authors of The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, were surely happy when they opened up today's New York Times.

The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) 2004 Management Conference unveils new research findings that cite the decline of consumer advertising effectiveness.

"The survey findings are significant because industry executives are frantically searching for ways to forge more emotional connections with fractious, and fractionated, consumers that differ from conventional methods like running 30-second television commercials and print advertisements." SNIP "The risk posed by some of the new approaches, like placing sponsored brand messages or products in the entertainment content of programs or publications, is that consumers will consider such selling strategies even more obnoxious."

Well I have to admit; "unscripted dramas" like The Restaurant took product placement to new lows with their constant product references. But the chairman of the 4A's, Ron Berger, offers a sound perspective on the results.

"The great agencies don't say, 'The 30-second commercial is dead, so we're dead.' They understand that, and embrace that, and will reinvent themselves and what they do to market brands and products."

"The idea that TiVo, remote controls, any technology, is fatal to our business I find absurd," he said. "The opportunities of technology and what it enables us to do are more exciting than at any time in our history."

Well said. As a firm believer in the power of integrated marketing, to say these results show the decline of advertising is incorrect. It just means an agency's creative team needs to be more, uh, creative than ever. This task is made even easier if you are pulling from the full palette of marketing tactics.

Ads Coming to RSS Feeds

MediaPost reports on the potential for text ads to be included in RSS feeds.

Adding clutter to RSS' ad-free environment does not excite me, but it has to happen for RSS to become a mainstream technology. If there is money to be made, it ensures newsreader capabilities will be wrapped into an operating system, e-mail platform or browser.

Reuters to Change Online Content Model

Reuters is ending its "free lunch program" as we know it and evolving most of its content to a subscription-only model. The Wall Street Journal offers a great overview of Reuters' new approach, as well as a ranking of "top U.S. financial news and information sites." The most notable change will be how Reuters will drive consumers back to its site.

"To read most articles, readers will have to click on a link to Reuters's own Web site. Within the next year or so, some of that information -- such as material designed to help monitor companies or interviews with top business figures -- will be available by subscription only, a bid by Reuters to gain additional income. The new strategy takes effect June 1.

The change is the latest step in the evolution of business news on the Web that is designed to make it more profitable for the news operations that provide it, even if users balk at paying and bypass the site. Already, some of the Internet sites that have been big distributors of Reuters news say they won't be signing up for the slimmed-down service."

This could impact how public relations teams develop media relations strategies if the shift translates into less exposure for a Reuters placement. In my experience, if you track two stories over Reuters and The Associated Press, you'll see more Reuters pickup online and more AP pickup in print. This is anecdotal, but something to watch over the next few months as these changes occur.

Pringles Postscript: Based on the edible marketing post below, consider Pringles' packaging. The cardboard sleeve can is a snack food category classic. They could put the trivial pursuit cards in the can. They could stash them under the lid—much like the mini music cds that now are turning up in beverage lids.

This approach harkens back to earlier days when Pringles' owners, P&G, used to bury sets of dishes and drinking glasses in boxes of its powdered laundry detergent. "Cards in the can" take on the free prize effect and make the product a collectible. OK, 'nuff said. Can you tell it's lunchtime?

Power Brands

A Penny For... is hosting "brand week" over at his blog. One post asks you to define a brand in 25 words or less. This exercise is similar to the elevator speechconcept. The bottom line is that if you cannot simply summarize your pitch...you probably cannot sell it.

One item "Penny" points us to is a Forbes article entitled "Power Brands: Beyond the Balance Sheet." It is interesting to see Forbes rank 25 top brand names by specific drivers of brand value, including reputation, management, innovation and human capital. The online version allows you to slice and dice the data using these metrics.

This study reminds me that CoreBrand's annual brand equity study. Due out in a few months, it ties a company's brand to its overall valuation—probably integrated marketing communications' most powerful metric. In the meantime, you can head to CoreBrand's site to access a few free whitepapers along with a ton of registration-required content on brands.

Edible Marketing?Some folks joke that advertising will take up every inch of free space someday. From coupons jumping out at you in grocery store aisles to restroom ads, advertising in previously ad-free environments has become accepted.

This news story makes me wonder though. Pringles Potato Crisps will be printing Trivial Pursuit questions ON their chips. I'm all for new and innovative ways to cross promote, but this one leaves, um, a bad taste in my mouth? Sorry, couldn't resist. I guess it is a step up from paying people a couple of bucks a week to wear your logo on their face.

Search Wars From snack foods to search engines—Google recently fired the Gmail salvo at Yahoo and Hotmail recently. Yahoo has been the first to respond with a new ad campaign. The "Life Engine" campaign focuses on how Yahoo users get everyday things done using their search engine. I get the concept, but it IS just a search engine. The "Search is Life" implication might be unintentional but from first view, this campaign smacks a bit of self-importance. After all, have you ever seen Morton Salt try and position itself as a "Life Spice?"

Of Agencies and Acquisitions: Sure signs the economy is truly back (no really, this time we mean it) are the recent agency acquisitions taking place across the nation. The New York Times details the big ones underway. A colleague of mine calls this timing the annual spring thaw. The market is back and, with acquisitions like this, people will be on the move.

NPR Stumbles, Responds

The past week or so I have tracked and lamented NPR's decision to move Bob Edwards from his role as "Morning Edition" host. The announcement was poorly handled as if NPR were merely announcing a change in its programming schedule.

Well, after nearly 25 years at the helm of "Morning Edition," Edwards has developed a following that became pretty vocal once it learned of his new role.

A friend that shares my "Edwardian-preference" participated in the grassroots campaign to keep Edwards at the "Morning Edition" helm. NPR's response is below. They get high marks for responding quickly and thoroughly. Engaging the listeners most vocal about their angst over Edwards ousting was the right thing to do for all involved. They clearly underestimated the issue this change would create, but they are addressing it.

> From: NPR Communications
> Reply To: [email protected]
> Sent: Thursday, April 1, 2004 6:15 PM
> Subject: Morning Edition FAQs
>
> April 1, 2004
>
> Dear Morning Edition listener:
>
> I have heard from many of you over the past few days about our decision to
> reassign Bob Edwards to a new role as senior correspondent for NPR News.  By
> the responses we are receiving, it is clear many questions remain-we didn't
> do a very good job of explaining something so important. For that reason,
> we've compiled the most frequently asked questions and I've tried to answer
> them below. 
>
> I am also hoping that you will join me in a live online web chat on Monday, April
> 5 at 1 PM (EDT), when I'll be talking with listeners about Morning Edition and any
> other part of our programming that you'd like to discuss. This will be the first of
> several opportunities to talk about these issues directly with us.  For more
> information about how to join the discussion, go to www.npr.org/morningeditionchat.
>
> We've seen references by NPR management that the decision to move Bob
> Edwards to a senior correspondent position was about the need to "evolve,"
> and "refresh" Morning Edition.  What does that mean?
>
> Over the past three years we've been engaged in an intensive process of
> reviewing all of our programming with three questions in mind:  How can we
> continue to improve and deepen our coverage of the critical stories of the
> day?  How can we better tell powerful stories from around the world and from
> all over the U.S. in the way only NPR can? And how can we enhance our on-air
> diversity?  The changes we're making in Morning Edition - and the changes
> we've made in many other areas - are part of our answer to those questions.
>
> Three years ago, we looked at the rest of the broadcast world and saw only
> retreat: fewer reporters in the field, less international coverage, less
> diversity of views and voices.  NPR made a clear and conscious decision to
> move in the opposite direction.  We opened two more foreign bureaus, opened
> a production facility called NPR West in Los Angeles, and added field
> reporters in communities around the United States.  We launched new shows,
> like the Tavis Smiley Show and Day to Day, to expand our range and bring new
> voices to public radio.  We made major changes to All Things Considered,
> Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered. These changes in their
> entirety have improved and deepened our programming, allowing us to provide
> the broadest range of ideas, sounds, and stories.
>
> We believe, and listeners have told us, that these changes have brought real
> improvements to our programming, and we're confident the same will be true
> for Morning Edition.
>
> So, why are you moving Bob out as host of Morning Edition?
>
> Morning Edition is our most important show, and we wouldn't make changes
> without a lot of planning and discussion.  More than 18 months ago, we began
> a careful series of discussions about the program with Bob, stations, and
> NPR staff.
>
> Twenty-five years ago, Morning Edition was created with a single, in-studio
> host. That model is no longer sufficient to bring the weight of credible, in-
> depth reporting that we are demanding of ourselves. In the last year, we
> have experimented with a different model: two hosts (one in DC and one in
> Los Angeles) for the show, both capable of providing unique reporting from
> the field, and of working in tandem to carry the show forward during even
> the most pressing news events.  We believe this is the right model for
> Morning Edition in the years to come.  In making this change, we don't mean
> to diminish Bob's remarkable career at NPR, and we know that he will >
> continue to make an extraordinary contribution in his new role.  
>
> Are you doing this because you're trying to attract a younger audience?
>
> We don't program to one audience - but to everyone who wants in-depth,
> intelligent news and information.  Over the last two years, we have hired at
> least six new hosts at NPR - Michele Norris, Alex Chadwick, Tavis Smiley,
> Melissa Block, Neal Conan and Steve Inskeep.  They range in age from the mid
> 30s to the late 50s, they are white and black, male and female, east coast
> and west coast.  They are threaded together only by their excellence of
> craft, love of radio and dedication to the highest standards of journalism. 
>
> Why now? Why not wait till Bob's 25th anniversary in November?
>
> We made the difficult decision to replace Bob as host early this year, at
> the end of an extensive process lasting more than 18 months.  Given the
> length of time, we did not believe it appropriate to wait another nine
> months before making this change.  Having made the decision, we also felt
> that it would be unfair to withhold the information from Bob or, having told
> him, to ask many people to hold this announcement for an extended period of
> time.  All that being said, we deeply regret that many have understood this
> to be disrespectful of Bob.  We intended nothing of the kind. 
>
> Is this decision a reflection of a dumbing down of NPR - what we see in the
> commercial broadcasting world?
>
> No. We are working hard to move in the opposite direction: expanding our
> reporting staff and adding thought-provoking new shows.  In the coming year,
> with the proceeds from the historic bequest from the late Joan Kroc, we will
> expand our reporting staff, enhance our ability to do investigative
> reporting and increase our capacity to tell the stories no one else can. 
> Last month we hired Bill Marimow, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and one
> of the most distinguished journalists in America, as a new managing editor
> for NPR News.  We have also committed to adding three new producers and
> editors to Morning Edition to ensure that the quality of the show will only
> grow.  These hires are emblematic of our specific goal to enhance quality,
> diversity and excellence at NPR News. 
>
> Morning Edition's audience has been growing dramatically over the last few
> years. If it ain't broke, why are you fixing it?
>
> You're right, it isn't broken; it's a great show. If we were a commercial
> outfit where decisions are profit driven, we probably wouldn't make any
> changes.  But we're not.  We're driven by a mission to provide the highest
> quality journalism to our listeners.  We have asked ourselves hard questions,
> and we're acting on our answers to make Morning Edition even better. Our
> goals are to take the show to more places, with hosts as reporters going
> into communities, giving it more depth, flexibility and responsiveness.
>
> Unless you bring back Bob, I'm going to stop giving to my local NPR station.
>
> Public radio has been built on listener support, which is the largest source
> of funding for local, independent member stations. They rely on the public's
> support to bring each community the best news and information daily. Holding
> back your contribution will only penalize your local station for a decision
> made by NPR management.
>
> Is there a chance you will change your mind and bring back Bob?
>
> The changes we are making are part of a multi-year effort to expand our
> reach, to enhance our diversity, to tell stories from your community and
> abroad, and to be able to react to the immediacy of news across the day.  We
> have worked hard to make this happen and believe that you are already
> hearing the benefits of these ideas.  We are deeply aware that this is a
> listener-supported network and we are grateful for all the expressions of >
> love and support for Bob.  But in the end, this is about our broad
> commitment to delivering the kind of high-quality in-depth coverage that
> makes our reporting remarkable.  We do not plan to deviate from that
> commitment.
>
> As a senior correspondent, Bob will be an important part of our plans going
> forward.  He is an extraordinary storyteller and writer and we expect him to
> tell the most vivid stories of artists, thinkers and leaders.  We look
> forward to hearing him on all of our programs.
>
> Again, thank you for your comments about Morning Edition.  I do hope that
> you will choose to join us at the online chat on Monday.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Jay Kernis
> Senior Vice President for Programming

April Fools?

Tom Murphy’s post this morning had me wondering if he was playing an April Fool's joke on his readers. There is a UK-based event underway with journalists and PR folk discussing how they work together "in the delivery of news and opinions." It is my hope that it yields positive results.

US-based public relations societies might try and arrange a similar summit. It would be a welcome change to the media panels where the guests tell us to customize our pitches and do our homework before contacting them. And, when we do, don’t ask if they received the release. The only thing more tired than this programming staple is the rubber-chicken lunch that comes with it.

Other news of note...

Google's New Gig: Google announced it will offer free email accounts with 1GB of memory. This is a nice response to competitors Yahoo and Microsoft. It makes me wonder...was this done out of spite? "So, you want to top our search engine technology, huh? Well, we want to top your free e-mail." Nyah, nyah! :-P

Goofus & Gallant: This installment is on how to replace a host. NPR gets the Goofus here. It wants to make sure "Morning Edition" stays competitive and is ousting Bob Edwards. And it has a fight on its hands. Regardless of how it might turn out, NPR has handled this VERY poorly.

Gallant goes to The Boston Globe for its idea on who could replace Martha Stewart. Business will move on while Stewart focuses on her sentencing instead of her salad. Now, if the Fab Five were seriously deemed to be Martha's replacements, it would spread the person as brand issue across five people instead of one and defuse the problems that brand personification can create. It would also be a testament to Martha Stewart's importance in that no one person can replace her. More thoughts on this are at the Martha mini-blog.

Another idea on how to replace a host is to not replace them at all.

Sesame Street shows us you can change with the times without changing people. Sesame Street has had the same main characters for 35 years. It creates a familiarity that gives the show staying power. It also does not hurt that there are always a fresh crop of kids to tune in when its audience grows up and gets bored.

Disclosure: I have a three-year-old daughter and am more experienced on this topic than I care to admit.