Strategic Public Relations

So far, so great

Two weeks into the new gig and I am happy to report. Period. I'm very busy with a lot of interesting projects. Unfortunately, this means lighter posting here for awhile. So bear with me. There are plenty of new topics I want to discuss sooner than later. In the meantime, my friends to the right can provide you with the latest and greatest.

Million Dollar Ideas

Nope, not talking about Oprah and the Pontiac G6. That idea would be worth $7 million. But while I am on the topic, I must give props to Pontiac while noting that automobile manufacturers play in a different marketing league. GM is one of less than a half dozen folks that could push this envelope.

So when the AP calls this product placement a marketing coup, I disagree. To me, a marketing coup is when one company implements a new and creative idea at just the right time before its competitors. OK, Pontiac did this, but I'll add that a coup implies more "deft strategic move" and less "budget heft."

An example of a million dollar idea in my eyes comes from Red Herring. The publication just invited me to join its group on LinkedIn. Why do I love this idea?

* It taps into the social networking craze, even though LinkedIn bills itself as a "professional online networking tool" (good luck with that).

* It aligns Red Herring's dot com tech brand with a post dot com tech brand for a credibility boost of sorts. They at least get cool points for it.

* It makes good sense. Fast Company's online community of readers is well known. It took awhile for Fast Company to build. This approach is an easy and novel way to create community around its publication. It also incentivizes subscriptions as the invite is only extended to Red Herring subscribers.

The publication claims these benefits as well:

* Accelerate your career through referrals from fellow members - for jobs, deals, partnerships, clients, service providers, or other business opportunities.

* Let others know what you have to offer fellow members and their contacts.

* Upon joining the Red Herring group on LinkedIn you will instantly add numerous members to your LinkedIn network. (161 + when I accepted).

* Your affiliation with a group may not be the only way you are related to a fellow member. Only LinkedIn can tell you whom you may already know, and how you are connected to them outside the group.

I read about Pontiac's $7 million media relations blitz and figure the big expensive play deserves this much buzz. I see Red Herring's idea and wish I had thought of it.

From Andrew to Ivan

First of all, why do we name hurricanes? It seems odd to give a natural disaster a personality. We don’t name blizzards, fires or earthquakes after all. But I digress.

YoungPRPros, the smart Yahoo Group with a sense of humor, had a post recently about how a member's company was being opportunistic around hurricane-related media relations. Evidently their product proves useful in the aftermath of these natural disasters. They wanted to donate some product solely to get editorial placements. Ugh. This person obviously did not want to do it and was asking for advice on how to gracefully squash the idea.

Unfortunately for me it brought back memories. One of my first jobs was with a pr firm working on the Iams Pet Food account. Iams is a great company, now owned by P&G. Iams used to sponsor an Iditarod sled dog racer and I had a blast securing him appearances on national TV.

Iams donated truckloads of pet food to Florida after Andrew did twice as much damage as Charley. Pets were homeless, scattered and separated from owners as I assume they are now. It was the right thing to do. It was all done for free and the food was distributed to humane societies across Florida.

We did a news release on the donation and I was the young, innocent, wide-eyed (read: stupid) flack doing follow up on the release. Yes, I called folks to ask if they got it. This practice is bad enough when you are conducting straightforward media relations. In this case it became a hard-earned lesson for me on what not to do.

During disasters, media in the affected areas are busy getting basic relief news to folks while they themselves rebuild like everyone else. You can imagine how I felt after several media understandably read me the riot act and told me they didn't have time for a company to toot its horn, they were busy helping people. Ugh.

Should a company memorialize the donation somehow? Sure. Post a brief release to your newsroom and move on.

Needless to say, I learned from it. Recently, a client found themselves in a similar situation during the California wildfires. The client's steel prototype home was in plain view of the fires. The homeowners even let firefighters use the home as an outpost to monitor the fires and refresh themselves.

We made a decision early on to do nothing to promote this. The media did ultimately do one or two stories on their own however.

So if you find yourself in a situation like this, what do you do? The right thing, which is usually little to nothing at all from a media relations standpoint.

Client Side

This Friday ends an eight-year stint for me at my current employer. I've been working in agencies for 12 years and will be moving "client side."

FRCH Design Worldwide is an architecture and design firm focused on retail, hospitality and lodging. They do exciting work for big brands across the globe. I'm excited to become their director of marketing communications. They have a great story to tell and I am looking forward to doing just that.

What does this mean to you?! Fear not. The blog comes with me. And while I will have an entirely new perspective to add, that just means more new and interesting posts. The focus of my content will not change.

But I will surely miss the folks at HSR. Any agency keeping someone's attention for an eight-year stretch is surely a testament to the quality of that organization.