Strategic Public Relations

10 Award-Winning Hacks

Back in May, my PRSA chapter judged another chapter’s annual awards program. Fifteen binder-stuffed boxes were sent for our review.

Spending time with one of those BIG boxes inspired some ideas on how to improve award entries.

Follow Directions   If you’re told you’ll be judged on measurable objectives, you’d better put some in your entry. It sounds obvious, but it was amazing how many entries ignored this completely.

Revisit Research  Make sure you consider all of the research that went into your planning. You may not have primary research to support your entry, but every company is flush with secondary research.

Audience   You’re been immersed in the industry, client and project so the audience is obvious to you. And since it’s not always requested, many don’t include it for brevity. But you should quickly define the target audience early in the entry.

Sex Doesn’t Sell   Some national media clips, or four-color printed materials, might seem capable of carrying your entry. But that’s not the case. They may help show results, but you need steak before sizzle.

Highlight Key Points. Literally.   One entry was printed in color as key points were highlighted in yellow. This helped with readability since most entries are crammed into a page or two using small, single-spaced type. Use this sparingly for impact.

Size Matters   Your entry is short, so go long in the appendix to get credit for all the work you’ve done. Include samples of research, results and other relevant information. Don’t run out to Kinko’s and three-hole-punch a phone book to beef up your entry. Merchandise how thorough you were in planning, execution and evaluation. In reviewing the scores I handed out, the bigger binders tended to get higher scores.

Close In Summary  As I noted above, supporting material IS critical in vetting your entry. I reviewed each appendix to confirm or deny a score I already had in mind. But a concise, well-written entry can close the sale and win the award. Don’t leave any questions in the judges' mind for the appendix to answer. This is risky. Make it easy for the judges to assign you a winning score.

Color Outside the Lines  Consider ways you can make your entry stand out to capture the judges’ attention and keep it while they review your entry. David Ogilvy noted "rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men." Follow directions and don’t break the rules, but exceed expectations.

End on a High Note   Despite the format, award entries should tell a story. Yet too many of them simply end. Consider the entry title, the project's objective and how a one-sentence summary of the project's success might tie it all together for a strong conclusion.

Have A Stranger Read It   Before adding the entry to the binder, have someone unfamiliar with the project review the entry. This helps identify questions your entry leaves unanswered or areas where you need to clarify points you’re making.

Putting these binders together is hard work and the entry fees add up pretty quickly. Apply these hacks to help ensure this investment pays off and brings home some hardware.

The Tortoise and the Hair - finish uploaded by webel
Cross-posted to The Bad Pitch blog.

tags | public relations | PR | award entry | hacks | PRSA

Typepad Spam Blitz...CAPTCHA is Useless

For the past week, this blog has been blitzed by comment spam. I diligently delete it all and block as many ISPs as I can...despite CAPTCHA being turned on the whole time.

Sometimes I appreciate trackback and comment spam just to know that the two features still work (cue world's smallest violin). But this is crazy. And CAPTCHA appears completely useless.

So a Typepad ID is now required to leave comments. This eliminates the spam, but deters my Mom from leaving comments (despite the regular checks I send her to ensure a steady flow of conversation on this blog).

I'm beginning to understand why there's been a mass defect from Typepad to Wordpress. You break links, spill Google Juice and lose some feed subscribers, but perhaps you lose spam too? Maybe I should move this party elsewhere.

We'll see.

Until then, Typepad gets the Goofus and Wordpress gets the Gallant.

tags | typepad vs wordpress | captcha sucks | comment spam | blog spam

Friday Flickr Fix – 09.29.06

A week’s gone by since Ragan’s 10th Annual Strategic Public Relations conference in Chicago. But it was such a great time; I have to file a trip report.

I’ve been buried by work since then while a lot of the folks I met there have already moved on to their next adventure.

Most notably, Robert Scoble launched his new show for PodTech.net earlier this week. The prolific and social Canadian blogger Joe Thornley attended blogger meet ups in Ottowa and Toronto since the Chicago blogger dinner at Giordano’s.

Chris Thilk was our gracious host and Jeff Treem stepped out of the cubicle long enough to represent for Edelman. David Armano, David Dalka and the energetic Jeremiah Owyang were also there.

Be sure to check out Jeremiah's photos from the Chicago dinner and the conference.

On top of all this, I also squeezed in a media briefing at The Chicago Tribune where I snapped this pic. The Tribune building's exterior has "souvenirs" embedded in it from around the world.

The trip was a great mix of work and play and I hope to be back to Chicago soon.

White House Souvenir uploaded by prblog

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | Ragan Communications | Robert Scoble

GolinHarris’ Image Makeover Plan For 4As Gets 1F

For all the agency folks reading this blog that offer advertising and public relations, you should download this image.

When If your advertising colleagues give you grief about one discipline being more important than the other, print this out and hand it to them.

As Advertising Week comes to a close, GolinHarris’ job begins (reg. req.). Based on a brief overview of their plans to improve the advertising industry’s image, it won’t work.

”A team from GolinHarris, brought in by 4A's President-CEO O. Burtch Drake, laid out a few tactics, including one where agencies would feed news to the Golin team, which would aggregate the information and pitch it as trend stories to reporters.”

Why won’t it work?

1. It reads too media relations focused. A few story pitches cannot save an industry—even if every pitch gets placed and are all positive stories.
2. The industry needs to actually change. I'm sure more is being done here than we realize, but it’s just a start.
3. Even a full-fledged public relations campaign would need broader marketing support to get the job done. Just looking to publicity to improve the industry’s image reinforces the perception that advertising doesn’t understand public relations. That’s both disciplines’ fault.

Which discipline is more important? It depends on the specific problem trying to be solved. I don’t care what Al Ries says, both have strengths and weaknesses and are more powerful working together in an integrated marketing campaign—which is exactly what the 4A’s needs to improve its industry's perceptions.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | GolinHarris | advertising | marketing | Al Ries

GM Shifts into High Gear for Branded Entertainment

The auto blogs are revved up about GM’s involvement in the upcoming Transformers movie.

According to a quick preview from Ad Age’s Madison + Vine, GM wants “to play a bigger role in the entertainment projects it appears in. It no longer wants to simply give away its cars and trucks.”

The brand is off to a good start attaching itself to a movie that is already getting a ton of Google Juice prior to release. Just consider the Web-intensive demographic making up car and Transformers fans alike.

Maybe GM will come out with a Transformers edition of its Mustang that can perform like the Citroen C4 ads?

“Transformers, more than meets the eye. Transformers, commercials in disguise!”

tags | branded entertainment | movie marketing | transformers | GM | advertising | marketing | brand

AP: House aide resigns over fake blog posts

As campaign season gears up, astroturfing is being brought into the spotlight. The stakes are even higher in the political arena. According to the AP:

A top aide to U.S. Rep. Charles Bass resigned Tuesday after disclosures that he posed as a supporter of the Republican's opponent in blog messages intended to convince people that the race was not competitive.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, just because social media is fast doesn't mean the results always are. Social media environments tend to be a meritocracy where you earn and establish your credibility over time. You cannot show up one day and expect to be credible. And you certainly cannot pose as something you are not.

This was not the first time it happened and I fear it won't be the last.

tags | public relations | PR | astroturfing | political campaign

Worst Word Choice Ever!!!

Weight Watchers magazine brings us an unfortunate example of the importance of word choice.

Or maybe I'm just reading into it? Regardless, I do recommend the magazine cuts back on the exclamation points.

FWIW, my wife and I do Weight Watchers and subscribe to the magazine. And I think the connotation is funny.

tags | Weight Watchers

Now Spinach Needs Popeye

All kidding aside, where has PR been during the spinach/E. coli scare?

Dole, Natural Selection Foods and their industry seem asleep at the wheel. This is pretty bad considering they’re surely hard at work trying to address this complex problem.

Dole is praised as a standout for covering the online basics, putting a note up on its homepage and buying keywords, but it’s not enough.

Let’s review. The FDA tells us that “the ongoing outbreak of E. coli linked to fresh spinach has sickened 171 people in at least 25 states as of Saturday.”

Yet, even though news coverage has been heavy since the 15th, there has been no face to this crisis and little consistency in comments made by industry sources.

Several Voices, Mixed Messages
Enough sources have commented, on behalf of an array of associations, to tell me two things—the industry is fragmented and none of the associations are working together on communications.

PR Week tried to do a story. “Companies reached by PRWeek declined to comment about their communications plans. "Right now, the only education people need is to throw it away," said Jerry Welcome, EVP for business development, United Fresh Produce Association.

Wow. Revoke this guy’s phone privileges and sign him up for media training.

According to PR Week Tim Chelling, communications VP for the Western Growers Association, said his job, representing the 3,000-member agricultural industry policy and issues group, was to serve as "the most credible spokesperson possible."

He sounds pretty confident about pulling this off. The president of the association has also been quoted, noting "We have to do everything to assure the American public that our food is safe to consume."

Ad Age’s calls were returned (reg. req.). Another set of sources note that the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association is launching “a counter-offensive advertising campaign as soon as the FDA shifts its advisory against bagged fresh spinach.”

Laura Hubrich, marketing manager for the Earthbound Farms brand, said the brand will use its small media budget to develop an ad responding to the crisis. Earthbound spent $1.8 million in media during January through June of this year, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

Dole, which last year suffered a far-smaller E. coli outbreak surrounding its pre-packaged salads, managed to sustain sales by "being upfront, transparent, working with authorities and [due to budgets that rule out paid media] using consumer education -- packages in stores and the internet -- to communicate the safety of our products," said Marty Ordman, VP-marketing and communications for Dole.

Waiting on the ads makes sense, but the time is NOW to establish awareness of what the industry is doing to change. A coordinated PR effort would serve as ground cover in the association’s “counter offensive,” making the ads more effective. And it won’t take a multi-million-dollar campaign to do it.

The Problem with Waiting? The Media Assigns Meaning
If crisis plans were in place for something like this, you couldn’t tell based on the industry’s wide-ranging media response. In lieu of good quotes, the media are referencing other crises, comparing the E. coli outbreak to everything from the Odwalla E. coli crisis to an aircraft-accident investigation and even the 1989 Alar-tainted apple scare.

This could be a compliment if it the aftermath of the crisis. To compare the spinach scare to other crisis now does the industry no favors.

Consumers are looking for answers and they’re creating their own without enough input from the produce industry. As a result, the ads will have tough sledding in re-establishing consumer confidence.

"The thing that is more fragile than this product is consumer confidence, the trust that consumers have in our ability as farmers, processors, retailers and restaurant operators," said Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association. "That's what we've got to focus on."

He’s right. But if they think an ad campaign, a skinny online effort and no coordinated public relations will get them to their goal, they’re mistaken.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | crisis communications | Dole | spinach | e coli | advertising

Four Links – 09.11.06

Nine Ways to Commemorate 9/11 Media Orchard
Scott Baradell offers nine ways to commemorate the fifth anniversary of 9/11.

I’ll submit three more.

Learning From History The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Jim Borgman
Borgman reminds us to express ourselves. Freedom of expression is just one reason many people live in the United States.

Check out more from Borgman at his blog.

We’re Not Afraid
The name says it all. The buzz around this blog has died down, but the movement is still very much alive.

It reminds us to get involved.

Entrepreneurs 1, Terrorists 0 Dan Pink Blog
Dan Pink points to a new service that will send liquid-based toiletries to your hotel. Plan ahead, check your bag and they’re waiting for you upon arrival.

This is just one example that reminds us to get smart(er).

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | 9/11 | Jim Borgman | We’re Not Afraid

lonelygirl15's Real Identity is Ferreted Out

It would appear that lonelygirl15 is not so lonely. Futurelab brings us the scoop that she is actually the brainchild of several folks:

LonelyGirl15 is crafted by a group of filmmakers as an art project.

Here's their letter to their fans: “With your help we believe we are witnessing the birth of a new art form. Our intention from the outset has been to tell a story-- A story that could only be told using the medium of video blogs and the distribution power of the internet. A story that is interactive and constantly evolving with the audience. *SNIP*

Lonelygirl15 is a reflection of everyone. She is no more real or fictitious than the portions of our personalities that we choose to show (or hide) when we interact with the people around us. Regardless, there are deeper mysteries buried within the plot, dialogue, and background of the Lonelygirl15 videos, and many of our tireless and dedicated fans have unearthed some of these. There are many more to come.

The LA Times details the “YouTube drama” here.

Does lonelygirl15 hang with Strumpette? Cat Fight!

So today's Goofus & Gallant is brought to you by the letter “M” for meritocracy.

If you build something to attract attention online—you might just get it. But you better be for real or it won't last for long.

lonelygirl15 gets the Goofus.

zefrank gets the Gallant. Even though he is not even half as cute as Bree, he is for real. He is pretty brilliant too.

tags | public relations | PR | lonelygirl15 | Bree | YouTube | Creative Artists Agency | zefrank | blog | consumer-generated media