Flack's Revenge

PR Checklists: What is the State of the PR Program?

My post on Tuesday discussed PR process and checklists.

There are many types of checklists covering many different areas of PR. They can be about things as seemingly trivial as covering for a colleague on a briefing (my team sometimes regrets asking me when they see my checklist of info needed to make sure that I have everything), to large projects like events management.

Since President Obama just gave his State of the Union address I thought it might be a good time to ask: what is the State of the PR Program for your accounts? The checklist below is one I put together that can help a PR team make sure that the basics are in place and that the account is in good standing:

PR Toolkit

Key Messages
Last update / frequency of update

Thematics
Last update / frequency of update

Media/Analyst/Bloggers lists, graded for:
Accuracy
Categorization
Core list identified
How up-to-date it is

Editorial calendars, awards, graded for:
Completeness
Usefulness
Key opportunities called out

PR plan, graded for:
How up-to-date it is
Goals identified

Results / coverage

Quality - Did messages get through?  Did stories reflect our key themes?

Quantity - Did we have sufficient coverage?

Comparisons: vs. competition; previous year results; against goals identified in plan

PR Mix - Are you using a good mix of tools? Relying too much on any single approach?

Of PR, Checklists and Happy Work Places

The turning of the calendar in a new year is always a good time to reflect and look ahead.  In PR, we take start of the year as an opportunity to make sure that account basics are in place and develop PR plans for the coming months.

I was inspired towards this end while working with our teams at Fusion PR by a very relevant article and book.

The article, Thinking Happy Thoughts at Work, from the WSJ, ran last week and was timely.  Many work places are not particularly happy right now given cutbacks and the general state of business.  The article described strategies that companies are using to deal with this, and focused in particular on the growing trend of using happiness coaches:

Indeed, the happiness coaches go beyond traditional positive-thinking approaches, taking new tacks that tend to ring true with workers. Some examples: Write e-mails to your co-workers every day thanking them for something they have done. Meditate daily to clear your mind. Do something for somebody without expecting anything in return. Write in a journal about things you are thankful for; look for traits you admire in people and compliment them. Focus on the process of your work, which you can control, rather than outcomes, which you can't. And don't immediately label events good or bad, but remain open to potentially positive outcomes of even the most seemingly negative events.

One passage that caught my attention was the idea of focusing on process and not getting so hung up on things that are out of your control.  This especially tings true for PR.  We cannot control the media, bloggers, or marketplace conditions.  We emphasize these facts when we do media training with clients.

Through a focus on repeatable processes, and careful attention to each step we can achieve excellent results for our clients while injecting a does of sanity into our work lives - and hopefully leading to a more rewarding and happier career and existence.

Very much in line with this train of thought, I took note about all the recent buzz regarding the book Checklist Manifesto.  The author has gotten tons of coverage for his book and approach.  The following text is from the NY Times review of the book:

Doctors often overlook or omit steps in the multitude of tasks we perform every day. As Atul Gawande argues in “The Checklist Manifesto,” these are situations where a simple to-do list could help. For example, a five-point checklist implemented in 2001 virtually eradicated central line infections in the intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital, preventing an estimated 43 infections and eight deaths over 27 months. Gawande notes that when it was later tested in I.C.U.’s in Michigan, the checklist decreased infections by 66 percent within three months and probably saved more than 1,500 lives within a year and a half.

Gawande, a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and a staff writer at The New Yorker, makes the case that checklists can help us manage the extreme complexity of the modern world.

It seems obvious to me that simple checklists can be part of the processes that help us manage our work and deliver results for clients. I will share some of the PR checklists I am working on in an upcoming post.

Curb Your Enthusiasm Apology: Season 7 Episode 2

Caution: Borderline Content Alert

Four Essential Characteristics of an Apology

In the NY Times Shortcuts column on Saturday, Alina Tugend wrote an excellent article: An Attempt to Revive the Lost art of the Apology.

According to the piece, there are four important components to an apology:

These include an acknowledgment of the fault or offense, regret for it and responsibility for it — and, if possible, a way to fix the problem, said Holly Weeks, a communications consultant and author of “Failure to Communicate: How Conversations Go Wrong and What You Can Do to Right Them” (Harvard Business Press, 2008).

The article includes examples of inadequate apologies (classics include "I want to apologize" or "I am sorry that I have offended you").  On Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David was famous for his poor apologies (one of my favorites was when he was taken to task for apologizing via telephone while loudly chewing pistachio nuts.  The other characters argued with him about whether his apology was valid).

It seems so simple, yet why do so many people stumble when it comes to apologizing (especially when it involves a public figure and some kind of crisis)?  We are all familiar with the carefully parsed apology that sounds like it was written by a lawyer and does not adhere to the above apology "specs."  In fact, fear of legal liability - and the involvement of lawyers - is a major cause of ill-conceived apologies.

Here, I disagree with the article, or at least one of sources quoted. Holly Weeks is quoted in the article as saying: “So many apologies are constructed by legal or P.R. people” as a defensive mechanism, not as a sincere expression of remorse.

This implies that legal and PR are generally agree, and of course that is not always the case.  The last thing we (PR people) want our clients to do is sabotage apologies by making them legalistic and incomplete.

Another interesting thing I learned from the article is that a number of states have enacted "apology laws" that protect people from penalties they would otherwise be subject to simply because they apologized.

Efficiency and Rapid ROI the new Black in Tech

In an article that was generally pessimistic (Suppliers Say Spending Still Tight), the Wall Street Journal identified pockets of growth in tech today.

The fine print in the earnings season wrap was that IT buyers are still putting the squeeze on tech vendors, and that the spending is limited to areas with the most pressing needs, like security and data storage (we have a number of clients in these areas and were encouraged by the report overall).  According to the article:

Any available money seems to be flowing to tech products that address pressing needs, like gear to cope with the flood of data generated by most businesses... Another healthy sector is data security, as companies face an array of new threats to their computer systems.

But technology buyers remain selective, exploiting fierce price competition among vendors, and gravitating towards products that promise a speedy payoff..

Famous Publicity Stunts in Tech PR

Yesterday's post made me wax nostalgic and think of famous tech PR stunts, especially those which hijacked the big industry events, like CES and the former Comdex show.

Certainly, I have been involved in my share of PR stunts (could we think of another phrase for this? PR spectacle, maybe? "PR stunt" sounds so lurid and decadent).  At Fusion PR, our clients tend to be start ups, and generally are not the big brands with big budgets that have been behind some of the more extravagant and outrageous affairs.

I have been in the IT industry for quite some time, and tried to think back about some of the stunts orchestrated by Oracle and Sun, for example.  We have a number of ex-IBMers on our management team (myself included).  I asked them and they seemed to recall many of these types of things but not any one in particular.

So I did a Web search and same up with some interesting things:

From the Network World archives (via Google Books search) I found an article from 1999:

Who said penguins can't fly? A trio of skydivers literally dropped in on [Comdex] to promote Linux.  TurboLinux sponsored the jump into the parking lot at the Las Vegas Hilton as a way to highlight its TurboCluster product and introduce CEO Cliff Miller, who then flapped his wings about Linux, open source and the enterprise.

From the Java Lobby blog (and in the same approximate era):

It was funny in 1998 or 1999 when Microsoft paid people to dress up (or maybe that was just SF finery) and write anti java things on the sidewalks around Moscone during JavaOne. The writings were colorful chalk and had a wacky sense of whimsy to them.

I also found this cool post on Taylor Herring's blog: Publicity stunts Hall of Fame. It lists quite a few (mostly non tech) examples and has funny pictures to go along.

Ambush Marketing and Tech PR

The WSJ had a Business Insight supplement earlier this week. Published in collaboration with the MIT Sloan School, the section  included a number of very good articles.  A few covered tech-related topics (e.g. stories on IT platforms and process management).

Another article that I found informative and could relate to, was about ambush marketing. Ambush marketing is when companies that are not official event sponsors seek to associate their brands with the events. According to the article, it is a growing trend, and one that is resulting in a sort of war and arms race between event organizers and ambushers.

Event ambushing can take many forms.  Non sponsors can co-opt imagery and words in their advertising to make it seem like they are associated with the event.  The ambush could be an attempt to get a free ride and could also be an intentional attack on another brand.  According to the article:

In one of the best-known examples, American Express Co. rolled out television ads in 1992 with scenes of Barcelona, Spain, the host city of the Summer Olympics that year, and a message that said "You don't need a visa" to visit Spain. Visa Inc., an official sponsor of the Olympic Games, complained loudly. Amex has said that the commercials did not refer to the Olympics and were not an attempt to ambush Visa.

In an indirect ambush, non-sponsors can set up competing events in the same geographical area.

The article made me think of the laundry list of tactics we have used in tech PR to help clients benefit from events in which they were not official sponsors or exhibitors. (Please note we advise that the most direct and productive way to benefit from these events is to exhibit, sponsor, etc.and take care not to not break rules).

• Setting up media and analyst briefings at trade shows for client executives who are attending but not exhibiting
• Media and analyst breakfasts, dinners or hospitality suites close by
• Landing speaking engagements at these events

Bud Light Commercial - Too Light Too Heavy

Too Light / Too Heavy in PR

One of the things I actually like about Mondays is the NY Times Business section.  The paper makes up for the lack of hard business news from the weekend by running features, with a heavy emphasis on tech and media.  Today's paper has a couple of stories on the front page of the Business section that remind me of the funny Too Light / Too Heavy commercials from Bud Light.

On the "Too Light" side of the balance sheet is an article about Apple's soon-to-be formally announced tablet (see David Carr's Media Equation story: Conjuring Up the Latest Buzz, Without a Word.) It is hard to say that Apple's marketing campaigns are too anything, except successful.  They are "light" because they get all this buzz with nary a traditional PR peep.  As Carr reports:

This Wednesday, Steven P. Jobs will step to the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and unveil a shiny new machine that may or may not change the world.

In the magician’s world, that’s called “the reveal.”

And the most magical part? Even as the media and technology worlds have anticipated this announcement for months, Apple has said not word one about The Device. Reporting on the announcement has become crowdsourced, with thousands of tech and media journalists scrambling for the latest wisp and building on the reporting of others.

On the Too Heavy side of the balance sheet is the growing trend for big companies, brands and celebrities to take their fights public, even if it involves applying some tough love to their own customers and corporate sponsors.  In Corporate Antagonism Goes Public, Stephanie Clifford cites examples of cable companies and the Conan/Leno/NBC dispute.  She writes:

What’s happening, according to some observers, is a shift in how business negotiations are conducted — from closed and discreet to open and political.

“There’s a code of the past that we keep things in the boardroom and don’t go public,” said Bobby Calder, chairman of the marketing department at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “What you’re seeing is, I think, a realization that you can go outside and gain some negotiating power.”

The campaigns play to populist sentiment, asking the public to do the right thing, an approach that also draws from politics. They create a public spectacle, a narrative that distills dull subjects like contract negotiations into a good-guy, bad-guy conflict — a Harvard Business School case study turns into a shootout with Liberty Valance.

If Vendors Tweaked Product Lineups like Networks Shuffled Late night TV

As a PR guy, I find It nothing short of incredible how the Leno-O'Brien drama has played out on the public stage.NBC confirmed its plans to change the lineup early on.  Since then, there's been an outcry from O'Brien fans.  Leno and O'Brien have used their pulpits to spin and comment.  Others have piled on, providing running, blow-by-blow commentary as the situation has progressed.

The comedians' writers are no doubt working overtime to make all this seem funny, yet there is tons of money at stake to say nothing of reputations and brands - providing a serious backdrop to all the posturing and levity.

In essence, the comedians are becoming their own PR pitch men, spinning the events in their favor or at least revealing how little control they actually have over the outcome.  One wonders how their negotiators and PR handlers are dealing with this, and if they have a say in the shtick scripting.

If you are in tech PR, as I am, you also might let your imagine run wild as you consider how different the scenario is from the ones we are more familiar with, and be tempted to ask: what would happen if vendors tweaked product lineups like networks shuffle late night TV?

Here are the top 5 things that would happen (Top 10 would seem to be more appropriate, but I could only think of 5):

1. Vendors would announce that they are re branding and changing key components of their flagship product, letting loyal customers know that they will in essence be sunsetting the market leader 5 years in advance
2. Industry pundits would proclaim this to be a bold move that reshapes the playing field
3. When the channel sees what actually happens they will revolt and cause the vendor to reconsider its plans
4. The vendor will try to put the ketchup back in the bottle
5. Product managers, PR people and other execs for the vendor and competitors will tell jokes, talk trash about each other, insult the company and call its executives idiots