Strategic Public Relations To Make Your Business Bloom
Friday, June 30, 2006
"National Television": Quaint, Anachronistic -- and Meaningless
We were reading a promo in People -- "Kirstie Alley sets a new fitness goal: getting into a bikini on national television" -- when it occurred to us that the once impressive term has pretty much lost its meaning.
Used to be, "national television" meant one of the three broadcast networks -- which guaranteed that whatever was on "national television" got a huge audience.
Now, some "national television" shows on cable get a smaller audience than the nightly news in Des Moines (that one's for you, Mike.)
What's more, anything of national import -- such as Kirstie Alley in a bikini -- could simply be loaded on YouTube and it would spread to "national television" whether Kirstie originally "got into the bikini on national television" or not.
Capiche?
On a side note: We'd love for Britney to read the passage above aloud, just to watch her do all the air quotes that the task would require.
Wondering why Andy Pemberton got sacked as the editor of Spin after only two issues? Just take a side-by-side look at that magazine and Blender, where he was the founding editor. A comparison using two recent issues:
Blender's newsy front of book section: Burner: Everything you need to know and plenty you don't. Spin's newsy front of book section: Barometer. Everything that's hot. Or not.
Blender's front story in Burner: The assassination of Proof and Pig Hawk, two rappers and friends of Eminem. Spin's front story in Barometer: The assassination of Proof and Pig Hawk, two rappers and friends of Eminem.
Blender's signature colors: Red and yellow. Spin's signature colors: Red and yellow.
Number of Q&As in Blender: 7. Number of Q&As in Spin: 8...
Lists included in Spin: America's 101 Wildest Parties; The 25 Hottest Stars Under 25. Lists included in Blender: Rock's Nastiest Divorces; The five most influential musicians of the last five years; 33 things you should know about the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Back page of Blender: 15 Questions for KT Tunstall. Back page of Spin: 25 Big Questions for Jimmy Wales.
"Lads mag" editors like Pemberton have been landing plum jobs across the magazine industry for the past few years -- at pubs like Playboy, GQ and others -- but have had difficulty duplicating their success (despite shamelessly duplicating everything else).
Thomas Huang of the Dallas Morning News offers a spirited argument for better media coverage of Asian men -- using one of Media Orchard's favorite flicks, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, as his commentary's centerpiece.
(Check out the clip above -- unsafe language -- if you haven't already seen the movie.)
800th anniversary projects are way behind schedule, and many doubt if the warrior is a fit hero for the 21st century
They were supposed to be the celebrations that would attract 400,000 visitors and put independent Mongolia on the world map, but instead a public relations disaster is in the offing.
Plans to commemorate Mongolia's greatest hero, Genghis Khan, are running into major delays and political rows. This summer marks the 800th anniversary of the warlord's unification of the marauding Mongol tribes, at whose head he swept across Asia and created the world's largest land empire, but nearly every construction project in his name is way behind schedule. Hmmm...we wonder how Genghis would have reacted to such delays and squabbling? After all, this is the legendary leader who once said (well before Schwarzenegger in Conan):
The greatest pleasure of a man is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.
Be glad he's long gone, sniveling Mongolian bureaucrats.
The leading Kremlin spin-doctor rebuffed Western critics yesterday with a robust defence of President Putin's democratic credentials in the run-up to the G8 summit in St Petersburg.
Vladislav Surkov, in an unprecedented meeting with foreign reporters, dismissed charges that Russia should not be a member, let alone the president, of the G8 because of its recent moves to curb democracy. Mr Surkov, widely regarded as Russia's second most powerful man, rejected the term "managed democracy", which is often used to describe the highly centralised, and often authoritarian, political system that he has crafted as deputy head of the administration.
"Our democratic model is called 'sovereign democracy'," said Mr Surkov, a college dropout and PR expert, who joined the Kremlin in 1998 ... "As far as a possible emerging national ideology are concerned, I think they are unlikely to differ drastically from the common European values."
Mr Surkov's sudden emergence into the spotlight is part of a Kremlin campaign to buff its image before the G8 summit, with the help of Ketchum, an American public relations company. It provided a rare insight into the ideology behind the Kremlin's drive to reassert central control over parliament, national media and strategic industries...
Let's take a moment to imagine the brainstorming session where Ketchum's gurus might have come up with the term "sovereign democracy":
"OK, gang, we want a name that sounds democratic without sounding too democratic. Whatcha got?"
"Um, parliamentary dictatorship?"
"No -- idiot."
"Nationalist oligarchy?"
"No, no ... We need something that will sound friendly to the U.S. -- you know, the Fox News crowd, middle America."
"I got it! Fair-and-balanced democracy!"
"Nice try. C'mon, this is a brand, people. Think buzzwords, taglines -- think outside the box!"
"Just Rule It!"
"OK, try putting one foot back in the box. Perkins, you've just joined us from our technology practice. Do you have any ideas?"
"Yeah, here are a few: Russia's turnkey, end-to-end democracy solution... State-of-the-art, best-of-breed democracy... Consumer-generated democracy..."
"You need a little more time to get acclimated. Does anyone have a decent idea? Linderman, you've been a little quiet in the corner of the room..."
"Yes, I've been thinking about Putin's market position. He's really created a highly managed, nationalist democracy -- if you can call it a democracy at all. But 'managed democracy' doesn't work because it sounds watered down, and 'nationalist democracy' doesn't work because 'nationalist' is scary to people.
So -- instead of 'nationalist,' which sounds aggressive, why don't we call it 'sovereign democracy'? It means the same thing but sounds less threatening. In other words, Russia is only trying to protect its 'sovereignty' from outside interests."
"Linderman, that just might work. Focus-group it and get back to me -- asap."
Proof That Media Orchard Is No Geek: Second Life Creeps Us Out
If you don't know what Second Life is yet, we'll let Neville Hobson explain it to you. We signed up but got creeped out and left. This is one fad/trend/meme/phenomenon/revolution we'll be content to watch from the sidelines.
(Image snagged from Joseph Jaffe, who has more on Second Life here.)
NBC has gone from big-timing the folks at YouTube to paying them big bucks -- or at least raising the startup's profile. Here's the deal via Forbes:
Judging by the "Top Favorites" section on Sequoia Capital-funded video-sharing site YouTube, Internet users like watching students performing robot dances, teenagers playing electric guitar versions of Pachelbel's Canon, half-witted dogs scratching themselves and the pratfalls of small Mexican boys. So beware any corporation looking to seed the site with promotional content; regular "Tubers" will reject the clips if they appear to be a shameless attempt to gatecrash their frat party.
General Electric unit NBC, which has hectored the video site over copyright issues in the past, announced Tuesday it would use YouTube to promote its fall television lineup in a partnership that draws attention to the Internet's growing role in generating buzz around traditional media content. The AP reports that the agreement includes an integrated, cross-promotional advertising relationship on the YouTube service and significant on-air promotion provided by NBC.
Alas, "Tubers"--no couch-potato jibe intended--are still not likely to find legit clips of Lazy Sunday, the Saturday Night Live parody rap that circulated widely on YouTube and other sites before NBC Universal's legal eagles asked for its removal. The deal will instead highlight promos made by or for NBC, including clips from new programs or old ones such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, behind-the-scenes interviews and other features largely exclusive to the Internet.
Great! We've been looking for a place to watch Leno commercials online. We can't get enough of that guy. Funny stuff!
LOS ANGELES - Several city officials on Tuesday sharply criticized a planned bikini contest to raise money for spaying pets, saying the "Hooters for Neuters" event was degrading to women.
Hosted by the Hooters restaurant chain, the July 13 fundraiser will donate money to the spay and neuter programs at Los Angeles Animal Services.
"Are we going backward here?" said City Controller Laura Chick. "We are a city with all kinds of progressive programs that empower women and end discrimination in the workplace, and now we're being connected with a Hooters bikini contest. It isn't right."
Councilwoman Jan Perry said the department's attempt to be creative in telling pet owners to sterilize their animals "crosses the line."
The "Hooters for Neuters" campaign has actually been going on in various markets some time now -- with little protest. We expect Hooters will come out the public-perception winner in this dispute.
Welcome to the nightly news, Katie. Here's Cal Thomas:
Emulating the "listening tour" of Hillary Clinton when she first ran for the Senate, the newly minted anchorwoman of the "CBS Evening News," Katie Couric, will soon embark on a listening tour of her own. Executive Producer Rome Hartman says, "It's an attempt to hear from regular folks on a whole broad range of things that help us make decisions on how we can better serve our viewers."
The general manager of the CBS affiliate in Denver, Walt DeHaven, said in a news release that when Couric visits his city, "She intends to meet a diverse cross section (of people) so that she can really get to the heart of the community." In order to be in the presence of the first female permanent anchor of a broadcast evening news program, one must fill out an application. From those applications, "100 people from all cross sections of the community will be contacted and given the opportunity to participate" in the July 13 forum.
I suppose this is good public relations, though Couric is already one of the most recognizable faces in the country. What I don't get is DeHaven's comment that Couric's visit will help her "understand what Coloradans feel is important, what issues our community faces and how she can help bring significant news stories to television viewers, not only in Denver, but nationwide."
By the time one ascends to the anchor chair at a broadcast network, shouldn't it be assumed that the person already knows what news looks like and what the public needs to know? Does a surgeon ask a patient for advice before operating? If our children say they want cereal for dinner, instead of a balanced meal, do we agree to their tastes, or tell them to eat their vegetables?...
I'm all for anchors visiting "fly-over country," but given their privileged lives, large salaries and the similar worldview held by their friends and professional associates, don't look for Couric's listening tour to be much more than hype for the new "CBS Evening News."
Thomas uses the rest of the column to rip Katie's left-leaning viewpoints, but -- frankly -- CBS has given him a fat target here. Couric's "listening tour" is an example of a public relations initative with little raison d'etre, for the reasons Thomas explains.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes refused to sell pictures of their new daughter Suri, after the photos were offered to the media and failed to get a significant price, according to media reports in the US...
Photos of Shiloh Jolie-Pitt were reportedly sold to People magazine for $4 million, but pictures of Suri Cruise produced not more than a $3 million bid. At that point the offer for the photos was reportedly rescinded.
A magazine expert [says that] now that the baby is nearly three months old, her price will only go down...
Ah, the brilliance of the Fark community. One member noted the prevalence of the marketing term "baby's first" in selling everything from lullaby CDs to infant underwear to new parents.
Other members chimed in with their own product suggestions, which include:
Heads must be spinning in the MySpace PR department. Despite publicizing the efforts of the online community's "security czar" and the announcement of new restrictions to protect teens, the negative publicity continues unabated.
Here are two recent stories from the man-bites-dog school:
Controversy is brewing over some local officers who have profiles on MySpace.com.
Last week, a Marion County Deputy Brian Quinn, 26, lost his job because of what he'd posted on MySpace, WESH 2 News reported. Six police officers in Volusia County are under scrutiny for the same reason...
Edgewater police officer John Conley's MySpace site features the officer in full uniform pointing his gun ... "A handgun should not be taken out unless you know you're going to have to use it or for training purposes," said Chief John Taves.
A Jacksonville man says he was duped and robbed by two girls after attempting to meet with a woman he met on the internet.
The victim says he chatted online with a woman, known on her MySpace.com profile as "Natalia", for two weeks before deciding to meet with her ... "I went to [the apartment] and knocked on the door, and there was no answer. So I called her and said, 'I'm here' and there was no answer."
That is when two girls who were 14 and 15-years-old, approached him saying they knew Natalia, the girl he thought he'd be meeting ... Now sensing something was wrong, he was ready to take off, but was stopped by a shocking discovery.
"[One of the girls] took [a] gun out and put it to my head and told me to empty my pockets."...
Police did a search of the area and found the two teens with another male suspect. They searched a purse and found two loaded handguns.
Fox News Throws Everything Under the Kitchen Sink at Democrats
While we're discussing Fox News silliness, we direct your attention to a nice piece written by Manning Pynn of the Orlando Sentinel. Pynn was responding to readers who wondered why the Sentinel hadn't reported on Rick Santorum's recent "discovery" of WMD in Iraq. After all, it had been the day's top story on Fox News.
Wrote Pynn:
Representatives of three intelligence agencies, speaking anonymously, explained Thursday that the weapons -- found individually, in pairs or in small caches during the past couple of years -- were manufactured before the 1991 Persian Gulf War and that there was no evidence of chemical munitions made after that date.
Although the report states, "chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal," David Kay, who led the U.S. weapons hunt in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, told The Associated Press, "It is less toxic than most things that Americans have under their kitchen sink at this point."
Slackers at Fox News Channel, you're on notice! Your boss is not pleased. Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes is on the warpath following his network's recent ratings slump, and he won't hesitate to clean house to turn things around.
So far during the second quarter, the No. 1 cable news channel's primetime schedule has dropped 22% in its core 25-54 demo and 8% in total viewers. The first quarter was even worse ... Ailes is fuming over the complacency he senses among staffers. Production values are slipping, and bookers aren't competitive enough, relying too heavily on the same pool of faces ...
Commenting through a spokesman last week, Ailes left no doubt: "Anyone who displays launch-type intensity will continue to have a job at Fox News. Those who don't will not. And that includes talent."
Here's another theory:
The Fox News Channel has been defending the Bush administration for six years now. Fox's preferred political party also controls both houses of Congress. It's like watching Will and Grace in its last season or two -- comfortingly consistent, but no longer compelling.
What Fox News really needs is a major change in the show to stir things up -- like when Lucy and Ricky went to Hollywood, or when the "Tailies" joined the gang on Lost.
In this case, the best thing for Fox's ratings would be Democratic victories in 2006 and -- even better for them -- 2008. That would ensure that Hannity et al could stop blaming silly targets like the ACLU for the quagmire in Iraq and could start pointing fingers at people who actually have power.
Trust us, Roger: Fox's ratings would go through the roof.
1. When you tell a reporter you can't comment on a story, the reporter has several options for how to present that response to his or her audience.
a. "Spokesman O.R. Chard said the company could not comment on pending litigation." (Seems reasonable enough.) b. "The company declined to comment." (Begs explanation, but fairly neutral.) c. "The company refused to comment." (Hmmm ... looks like the reporter doesn't like you.)
2. When you give your company or client's point of view on an issue, the reporter also has several options:
a. "Spokesman O.R. Chard said that the company had done nothing wrong." (Neutral.) b. "Spokesman O.R. Chard insisted that the company had done nothing wrong." (Bad.) c. "Spokesman O.R. Chard claimed that the company had done nothing wrong." (Worse.)
When you're reading, watching or listening to the news, look out for these words. They'll tip you off to the journalist's true feelings about the story -- and the company you represent.
In reading the celebrity rags after Cathy tosses them on the nightstand, we've come upon a media battle as politically charged as the daily dust-up between Fox News Channel and CNN.
Only in this case, it's not about right vs. left, Republican vs. Democrat, anti-abortion vs. pro-choice.
It's about anti-Britney vs. pro-Britney.
US Weekly is in the role of Fox News -- all mean-spirited anti-Britney-ness, in the same way that FNC is relentlessly anti-Democratic.
People is in the role of its Time Warner cousin CNN -- more empathetic to the plight of Britney (the Democrats) and willing to report an occasional positive story.
Just check the June 26 issues of both pubs (the first one after Britney's interview with Matt Lauer) to see the extent of this political divide:
People
Headline: Britney: "I Know I'm a Good Mom" Subhead: In a tearful interview with Matt Lauer, Britney Spears defends her marriage and parenting skills and blames the paparazzi for making her an "emotional wreck." Description of Britney's pre-interview stroll with husband and baby: "Kevin would talk to Sean and then break out into a song, making up the lyrics as he went along," says a witness. "It made Britney laugh." At one point, Spears leaned in and kissed her husband on the mouth, with Sean snuggled in between them like a big baby sandwich. Choice excerpt: When Lauer pointed out a magazine photo caption that said, "Oops, No. 3," Spears responded, "There will be an 'Oops, No. 100.' There'll be plenty more oopses. I'm not perfect -- I'm human."
US Weekly
Headline: "I'm an Emotional Wreck" Subhead: In a new Dateline NBC interview, a stressed Britney Spears defends her husband. But is she being totally truthful? Description of Britney's pre-interview stroll with husband and baby: The moment seemed a little too picture-perfect. Was it a casual outing or calculated image control? Choice excerpt: Cry her a river! In 2003, Spears sobbed "strong, Britney," when Diane Sawyer inquired about her "rough year" and split with Justin Timberlake. On Dateline, she gets misty about her critics. "You have to realize that we're people."
But US Weekly was only warming up for its full-scale assault on Britney's Lauer interview in the July 3 edition, which is just hitting the stands.
This one includes the following features:
1. An US poll (of 100 people) in which 60 percent of respondents say that Britney was not telling the truth in the Lauer interview.
2. A second US poll (of 100 people) in which 87 percent of respondents say they "respect Britney less" after the interview.
3. A two-page story in which "body-language experts" and others break down the interview and conclude, on balance, that she's lying.
Hmmm. Two straight weeks of bashing Britney's legitimate complaints about unfair coverage and paparazzi harassment from publications like US Weekly? Wethinks US protests too much.
US Weekly's anti-Britney campaign is nothing new. It's relentless -- every week -- with nary a nice word said about the woman. Obviously there is an audience for this, just as there is an audience for the hate-filled stylings of Hannity, O'Reilly, et al.
If we spewed that kind of negativity every day, we'd be filled with self-loathing. Oh, well -- to each his own, we guess.
Only a New York Times Editor Would Make a Reference to the Italian Renaissance When Defending Jennifer Aniston Coverage
Excerpt from a Q&A session between NY Times readers and Culture Editor Sam Sifton:
Q: It seems that The Times has been giving more space to celebrity culture than it used to ... Jennifer Aniston, for example, is so omnipresent in our lives. Do we really need to read about her in The Times as well?
A: ... Celebrity walks hand in hand with artistic success and has since before the Medicis made art stars rich. We try to balance that fact against our interest in the art itself. And, having done that, we try to balance the art itself against other arts. We place pop culture against high. High culture against the middlebrow. Low culture against them all.
Clearly, many corporate folks think big words sound more impressive than small words. It just sounds better to "utilize" state-of-the-art technology than to "use" it, doesn't it?
No question, execs often have big-word-itis, and it is our job as communication professionals to counter that urge with simplicity and clarity. So does that mean we should always lobby for the one-syllable, three-letter "use" over the three-syllable, seven-letter "utilize"?
Not necessarily -- because contrary to popular opinion, the words aren't quite synonymous.
A number of critics have remarked that "utilize" is an unnecessary substitute for "use."
It is true that many occurrences of "utilize" could be replaced by "use" with no loss to anything but pretentiousness, for example, in sentences such as "They utilized questionable methods in their analysis" or "We hope that many commuters will continue to utilize mass transit after the bridge has reopened."
But utilize can mean "to find a profitable or practical use for." Thus the sentence "The teachers were unable to use the new computers" might mean only that the teachers were unable to operate the computers, whereas "The teachers were unable to utilize the new computers" suggests that the teachers could not find ways to employ the computers in instruction.
Got it? So utilize "utilize," but use it sparingly.
