Online Public Relations Thoughts

'Bout Time

2009-11-24T05:08:00.002-05:00

The news that President Obama is about to announce his decision on troop levels in Afghanistan highlights a weakness -- indecisiveness. He has maundered about the decision for months while forces in the Afghanistan have been strained and waiting and his commanders left in the air not knowing how they are to proceed in handling the conflict.

From a PR perspective, the president may have placed himself in a position where he can't win. No matter what he decides -- whether to maintain, decrease or expand forces -- he has built contrary expectations across the country. The anti-war activists will be angry. The support-our-troops faction are already unhappy. Citizens who don't care for either side are wondering what took him so long.

Presidents should make decisions carefully. We know what happens when they "shoot from the hip." But, there is care, and there is paralysis. A perception that a President is unable to choose is ruinous to his image and his administration.

When Success Is Failure

2009-11-23T05:08:00.002-05:00

The medical establishment spent decades beseeching women to get mammograms in order to detect incipient cancer. Their education program was a success. Now, after in-depth study, a scientific panel says there is no need for a mammogram until the age of 50. Women have rebelled and demand that they be allowed to have the test beginning at age 40 as they have all along. This is a case of a PR campaign that succeeded too well and failed. No one left room for a possible change in message, and now women do not want to hear the new evidence. It is a cautionary tale for practitioners who send simple messages. Sometimes that is not the best approach. As for mammograms, for the time being women will continue to get exams as they always have, whether or not the procedure helps them.

Culture Change

2009-11-20T08:14:00.002-05:00

The Air Force is learning to transition from fighter jocks to remotely controlled drones. Predictably, the culture change is painful. The service, which has had a technological flair since the beginning, is not adapting easily to technology that "dumbs down" the role of the pilot. In essence, the aeronautical science the Air Force depended on since the beginning has turned on it. From a citizen's point of view, it was about time. Budgets for fighter planes had soared out of sight, and it is increasingly difficult to keep a Cold War air force competitive. The cost overruns of the latest fighter jet are symptomatic. The Air Force has always set itself apart from the Army with its boots on the ground. It can't be easy to find itself subordinate to Grunts.

Leak Strategy

2009-11-19T05:03:00.003-05:00

President Obama says he is angry with the leaks detailing discussions of troops for Afghanistan. But is he, really? Frequently in Washington, proposals are leaked to determine how they play with Congress and the public. The issue of troop levels appears to be one such case. Obama might be angry but he sure is watching the reaction of his party and the country to various troop levels that have been considered for the conflict. This is an odd way to do PR that seems to work only in the political realm. If Obama really is angry, then he knows where to go to stop the leaking -- to his own staff.

How Airlines Lose Customers

2009-11-18T05:09:00.002-05:00

This tale of woe damages months of reputation building by United Airlines. A few more examples like it, and the airline might as well go out of business. United apparently doesn't understand that customers can strike back at its tactics -- and do.

Census PR

2009-11-18T05:04:00.001-05:00

An interesting example of Census PR.

Smart PR

2009-11-17T05:11:00.002-05:00

General Motors' announcement that it is going to pay back part of a Government loan that it doesn't need is smart PR. It telegraphs that the company isn't as badly off as people think. It shows GM is being a good citizen by returning funds to the citizenry. It validates progress toward the goal of leaving government protection altogether in the future. It is positive news for a company that hasn't had any for a long time. The news offsets the company's loss during the last quarter. One hopes that more good news comes from the company in the near future.

High Risk

2009-11-16T07:29:00.002-05:00

This is a high-risk decision and dangerous on more than one front. There is a risk of safety for the 9/11 defendants. There is a risk that they turn the trial into a political show for the benefit of radicals in the Arab world. There is a risk that with the press hyping every moment of the trial, the defendants won't get anything close to a fair hearing. So why is the administration doing it? The PR gain from having a 9/11 trial in New York is far outweighed by negatives, it would seem. The president and his advisers know far more than I. One can only hope that they have applied common sense to deliberations.

How To Hurt PR

2009-11-13T07:36:00.003-05:00

A company can work hard to tell its customers how much it appreciates them and their business but this kind of episode can turn a company's efforts at PR upside down. It's the little things that count and not the big messages.

Noisy CEO

2009-11-12T05:07:00.002-05:00

So the word leaks yesterday that the new CEO of AIG is threatening to quit because of government interference with his job. Now what? As a PR person, it is never easy to handle a noisy CEO. Fortunately, there aren't many of them. In this case, the CEO's threats can seriously damage an already endangered company, which has turned over CEOs too frequently. You can be sure that reporters are calling AIG to ask to speak to the CEO. You can be just as sure that the CEO isn't talking to the media. But the news is on the street and a quiet countdown has begun on his tenure internally and externally. It is a tough position to be in, and it damages already sagging company morale.

Public Embarrassment

2009-11-11T05:03:00.002-05:00

Here is an interesting PR challenge. How do you recover credibility after publicly going back on your word? General Motors had announced that it was going to sell Opel, its European subsidiary. Everything was set for the sale. Then, GM announced it had changed its mind and is not going to peddle the brand. Predictably, everyone in Germany is angry with the company, especially politicians and unions. GM's CEO acknowledges the embarrassment the company has caused and has promised more freedom for Opel to operate. Still, that might not be enough to salve German feelings. It also looks like GM is unable to figure out what to do in its weakened state. That doesn't help the company. From a PR perspective, GM has hurt itself in this episode.

Unintended Perception

2009-11-10T05:15:00.002-05:00

Is Congress a body run by the wealthy for the wealthy? It would seem that way. Given the number of millionaires, one would be pardoned for thinking that many of these individuals have little feel for the common man. Of course, this isn't true, but the perception that only the rich can afford government service is a danger to those in power. Citizens might think legislators do not have the best interests of the public at heart. Historically, Congress has been a body that has had a disproportionate number of wealthy. The first Congress was composed of wealthy men, for example. Unintended perceptions can become stumbling blocks, and it is hard to know where they will rise and how they will affect one's communications objectives.

PR Lesson

2009-11-09T04:23:00.002-05:00

The family just spent two and half days in Washington DC visiting museums and taking tours. Washington is one great civics and PR lesson. Over and over you are taught that the country in which you live has a constitution and government that allowed the development of inventions and industry and a political history of growing freedom. Even museums that concentrate on art have a story to tell of how American citizens were at the root of how they were conceived and built. It is all overwhelming and one soon becomes foot-sore and weary. But, there are lifetimes of learning packed just into the Mall, not including museums away from the Mall, of which there are many. Washington is the great museum town of the earth today and should be the destination of every citizen. It is an example of PR at its best.

No Post Tomorrow

2009-11-05T05:18:00.000-05:00

I will be on the road Friday.

Playing At The Margins

2009-11-05T05:05:00.002-05:00

Companies like this that play at the margins of respectability risk their credibility. There are, unfortunately, many companies that take that chance where there is money to be made. The question is how these firms maintain their relationships with the public such that they continue to do business? That they do is a given or they would be out of business. This company would argue that it is providing a valuable service, but the service is on the edge of legality. There are plenty of organizations that provide illegal products and services and operate in the shadows but maintain their businesses. The bargains they make with their publics is enough to keep them profitable. Public relations can be corrupted like anything else.

Interesting PR Challenge

2009-11-04T05:12:00.003-05:00

Here is an interesting PR challenge. Writer pens bio of willing subject. Subject blasts the bio as a poor job before the book appears. How then do you gain awareness for the book when it does go on the shelf for sale? One can merchandise the book against the subject, I suppose -- "Learn the spicy details about X." But if there are none, it is doubtful readers will pick up the work for long. There is always a risk when writing about a person who is still alive and active, or a company, for that matter. I've had the task of publicizing books about standout companies that were in trouble by time the book was in print. That is not fun either.

The Power Of Credibility

2009-11-03T07:52:00.003-05:00

Congress is livid with Wall Street. Wall Street says it is sorry. Congress doesn't believe it and is readying regulation to hem financial houses in. The financial houses oppose any further regulation. This only make Senators and Representatives all the more angry. There comes a time when all the PR and lobbying that one deploys is not enough because credibility is irretrievably lost. This appears to be one of those times. The best that bankers and investment houses can do is to soften pending regulations.

There isn't much of a platform that Wall Street can stand on to defend itself. It has taken billions of US funds to prop up weakened banks and insurance companies. Some of that money has been paid back. Much of it might be lost forever. Wall Street cannot argue that it regulates itself in a free market. It has proven once again that it can't.

Buy Now, Pay Later

2009-11-02T06:17:00.002-05:00

It is instructive to watch a government official trying to avoid a reality by not answering a question. Here is a case. It would be poor "spin" for the Treasury Secretary to admit to the truth that taxes will have to rise to bring down the deficit, so he avoids answering. What happens, of course, is that it is worse public relations. The public knows that high deficits cannot continue forever into the future. Why not tell them the facts? Well, for one thing, it is just before elections, and the administration doesn't want to upset voters, not yet anyway. I'm not picking on the Obama administration. Every administration in my experience has shaded reality when it is in its benefit to do so. It's a wonder that citizens stand for it, but they do, perhaps because most are not paying attention.

The Speed Of Error

2009-10-30T05:09:00.003-04:00

This article examines how quickly erroneous information can spread across the internet. It concerns a misquote of Supreme Court Justice Scalia by a local newspaper. The misquote was swiftly picked up and cross-posted in several blogs without checking. All but one of the bloggers assumed the newspaper was right. It took one who went back to check the actual videotaped remarks of the Justice to find out that the so-called quote wasn't correct at all. The article points out that bloggers assumed the burden of accuracy was on the original source. It isn't and shouldn't be. Fortunately for the Justice, the error was caught in time before it spread too widely. What happens to those for whom errors are not caught? It is a lesson to PR practitioners to be vigilant and to react quickly when mistakes start circulating online. It should be a lesson for bloggers as well, but it probably won't be.

Below PR

2009-10-29T05:19:00.002-04:00

This fellow makes a good point about crass advertisers for whom anything goes in an effort to sell. These are people who are below public relations in that they have little respect for their audiences. They play on elemental fears and desires. On the other hand, their approaches do work or they wouldn't be using them. And, PR does play on emotions as much or more than the intellect. Still, it seems that few PR practitioners would want to serve the kinds of boorish marketers who run ads like these.

Publicity Dumb

2009-10-28T05:10:00.002-04:00

There are good publicity stunts that harm no one and dumb ones that backfire. This one backfired. Perhaps I am overly sensitive to these old-fashioned efforts to raise awareness, but there seems to be more of them now, and they appear to fail more often. It is a measure of the desperation of marketers that they are doing anything to get attention. I wonder if there was a PR shop behind this idea. I hope not.

Search and Social Media

2009-10-27T05:16:00.003-04:00

Search engines are catching up with the need to track social media. Last week, Microsoft's Bing announced it would search Facebook and Twitter. Now, Google is about to track real-time information from social circles. This is important news for PR practitioners because it will provide a closer view of what people are thinking. Do not be surprised if one learns that in their daily lives, most people don't think about or discuss issues. That, however, is good to know because it shows the challenge communicators have to get people to pay attention. Clients need to know as well what they are facing when they try to raise awareness. Search engine results can provide a microscopic baseline of opinion and perception.

Beyond Persuasion

2009-10-26T07:36:00.002-04:00

Anyone willing to die for a cause is usually beyond intellectual and emotional appeals. Even if apprehended in time, which in this case they were not, there is little chance that one can turn the individual around. It brings to mind other political groups, such as Japanese soldiers in World War II who were willing to die for the Emperor. One wonders why and how they were convinced in the first place. They were victims of cultural forces that persuaded them in a manner that allowed for no questioning. One does what one is told whether or not the order is moral, ethical or humanitarian. This kind of sickness pervades every society at one time or another. One can only hope to stop it before it gets out of control. Halting it can only be done by force. You get them before they get you. It is an unpleasant consideration for one who believes in the power of persuasion.

Were They Thinking?

2009-10-23T05:14:00.002-04:00

Stories like this go under the heading of "dumb." If true, there was a lack of adult supervision when this idea came to fruition. Any PR practitioner with a dash of common sense would have argued against such a marketing move. One hopes PR wasn't involved in any way. It is unfortunate that marketers in a desperate effort to do anything to raise awareness go overboard. These are difficult times, but that doesn't absolve one from thinking.

Political Powerplay

2009-10-22T05:12:00.002-04:00

The decision to slash the compensation of executives whose companies received bailout funds is a political powerplay designed to appeal to the public. The public will like it and agitate for compensation reduction for other CEOs as well. Missing in this coup de main is any sense of what the marketplace establishes as compensation for top executives. From what little I know, it is a great deal higher than what the pay czar has set. This will have two outcomes. CEOs will try to pay back government loans as quickly as possible to get out from under government control. Top executives will not readily step up for the CEO position should any one of the CEOs step down. While cutting CEO pay appeals to the masses, that doesn't make it the best public relations.