The Flack

Once again, the PR industry is poised for another black eye with the September prime-time UPN debut of "Sex, Love & Secrets" about a 20-something "conniving" publicist played by Charlie Sheen's sometimes-ex Denise Richards. It could have been worse. The original show title was "Sex, Lies and Secrets." I wonder whether all PR people in the eyes of Hollywood are conniving or it's just all Hollywood PR people?

I find it a bit eery that on the day after I post a photo of News Corp. heir apparent Lachlan Murdoch on this blog (see previous item), he resigns from the company. I better be more judicious about image selection moving forward. Hmmm. On second thought, perhaps an image of Charles Dolan's son will produce the same effect.

Once again, the scrappy Murdochian NYC tabloid bests the big boys by breaking the billion-dollar blockbuster news of acquisition talks between NBC Universal and Dreamworks SKG. It almost doesn't matter that the New York Post continues to bleed red (state) ink, the newsroom (and biz staffer Tim Arango) must be pleased as punch today. Even the venerable Wall Street Journal gave credit where credit was due. BTW - I wouldn't be surprised if that lead came from RM himself, who's fond of strolling through the newsroom.

So what's the point of holding a news conference when the news already is out? That's the feeling I'm having at this very moment as the entire New York media corps gathers at Madison Square Garden to hear that Larry Brown has been hired (at $10 mill per year!) as the new coach of the New York Knicks. The danger of pre-announcing the main headline lies in the fact that reporters' questions may delve deeper into areas the Garden may not be willing or prepared to address. Of course, local TV sports producers and talent need pictures, so Larry and Isiah re-united at The Garden will nicely fill that void making the no-new-news news conference viable.

(I'd be surprised if Jim Dolan, the much-maligned (by the city's rabid basketball and hockey fans) CEO of MSG parent Cablevision, subjects himself to the gaggle of the NY sports press.)

One of the more astute advertising industry beat reporters, Brian Steinberg of the Wall Street Journal, today reports on plans by the perenially beleagured ad holding company Interpublic Group to consolidate the function that measures the effectiveness of the company's varied lines-of-business. Other than the fact that it's refreshing to see some media coverage of IPG that doesn't include a restatement or postponement of the company's earnings, I wonder how practical it will be to assess advertising, direct-marketing and public relations using comparable analytics.

Truth is: these are disparate marketing approaches, which behave differently and thus require different means of measurement. PR simply has too many dimensions. How can one reasonably compare an effective crisis communications campaign with a 30-second TV spot? Still, those in the PR measurement game continue to strive to bundle it with other marketing disciplines...probably because that's how many CMOs want it.

For fans of the NYC tabs, the name "The Teflon Don" will always be associated with the late John Gotti for his ability to avoid having the charges stick. I don't know what Teflon's inventors DuPont had to say about the high-profile brand exposure (after all, it's commonplace nowadays for the infamous to land spokesperson roles), but I do know that the Wilmington-based chemical company is hoping that the re-surfaced media coverage alleging Teflon's potential health hazard does not stick around much longer in the news.

Unfortunately, it likely will...given the voluminous body of deleterious information about Teflon residing on the Web, and its migration to the mainstream media. DuPont has done its best to counter the criticism with its own perspective (that pops as a paid result ranking at the top of a Google search for Teflon).

The steaks are heating up as DuPont is feeling the effect of these allegations on its bottom line.

If you can pay the infamous for access, why can''t you pay the famous? That is just what the British gossip rag OK! intends to do when it hits our shores next month. It will not only pay, but it will give celebs editorial and photo control (as if "A-listers" don't already have this!).

Most established American publications publicly disdain the practice of checkbook journalism. However, fierce competition these last few years -- fueled by some very high profile weddings -- brought down the walls between church & state as fast as one could say Ten Commandments in an Alabama court house.

I wonder if Elliott Spitzer would say it's OK to pay-for-play?

In a most unCanny coincidence, the same Iraqi civilian was quoted saying the same thing in separate press releases issued by the U.S. military in response to two different terrorist bombings in that country. The military apologized. Hmmm...

The assault by veterans groups on the tacky plot line of "Wedding Crashers," wherein the principal characters use fake Purple Hearts as babe magnets, will result in even more attention to the smash comedy hit ($80.9 million in ten days). It wasn't enough that Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn were anointed on the cover of Rolling Stone as the new Belushi and Aykroyd.

Now a little controversy, to which New Line Cinema has yet to respond, will give the film some legs. Should the offended groups not have raised the issue? Of course they should have. But they should know that their public castigation keeps the comedy in the news during its vital second and third week of release.

Much of what we do in public relations comes down to instincts. "What is the right thing to do?" we often ask ourselves. As I assess the myriad problems confronted by the nation's (and one day world's) largest retailer, I'm sometimes befuddled by the thinking at the Bentonville behemoth. Small case in point: the edict by the company's corporate controllers to end its fun, irreverant and community-building singles shopping nights. (Not that this would be my preferred venue for seeking a soulmate, but for many, it's the ticket.)

Wal-Mart should look to Starbucks' image-defining music sensibility and wireless Internet access, Barnes & Noble's pajama party kids' reading nights and named-author events, and Home Depot's in-store garden club and kids' workshops. Wal-Mart is in denial.

I guess the retailer's yellow smiley face will have to suffice.

It may not be true citizen journalism, but I find it noteworthy that New York 1 News will soon allow viewers of the Time-Warner owned all-news NYC cable channel to determine the order of the story segments they'd like to see. The new program is called "The Call," and it contrasts with an even bolder move by its Beantown cousin, Comcast & Hearst-owned New England Cable News wherein viewers are invited to submit their own video news for airing on the local cable channel.

Taking a cue from the suffix in the former Wintel duopoly, Microsoft today released the name of its next operating system. It's Vista.

I never liked the brand names Windows 95, 98 or 2000. The ME and XP names were an improvement in their ability to fend off obsolescence. Still, neither of them seemed to benefit from the thinking of the big brand identity firms like Landor or Enterprise IG.

I remember working with Intel in the early days of its consumer-branding of the Pentium chip - a most suitable name for its evolutionary 586 processor. Today, the world's largest chip maker appears to have taken the whole branding thing to an extreme. Off the top of my head, I can think of names like Pentium 1, 2, 3, 4, Celeron, Itanium, Centrino, Pentium M and its latest, Pentium D.

At least Microsoft Vista won't have to deal with such a confusing brand lineage. I even like the tagline: "bringing clarity to your world."

Some journalists are fond of dissing PR pros, and the level of dissonance spiked recently when a tech reporter and blogger at the Boston Herald and Yahoo!, respectively, let fly with their nasty opinions of the profession. (Remnants of the animosity that prevailed during the dot-com bubble?)

In the interest of fairness, journalists have their share of questionable practices as well. We all remember The Devil Wears Prada, a thinly veiled and highly unflattering look at Vogue editrix Anna Wintour. Now an associate beauty editor at one of the "six sisters" has been outed (by a publicist no less) as the cloaked blogger who's been dishing on the unsavory practices in magazinedom. Whatever freebies magazine editors receive, it pales in comparison to the over-the-top goodie bags A, B and even C-list celebs command at high-profile events.

As if its market cap was not high enough, Google announced yet another tool in its arsenal of weapons designed to capture more eyeballs and thus ensure revenue growth. From a PR perspective, the timing of the Google Moon announcement -- to coincide with the first lunar landing -- propelled this story higher than it might have climbed had it not leveraged the historic date.

But it wasn't just the date that added to the news value of this story. (After all, Google makes news of one kind or another regularly.) This announcement also coincides with the Space Shuttle launch, Star Trek Scotty's death wish to have his ashes blasted into space and the monthly appearance of the full moon.

Now that Google has the Earth and the Moon, maybe the Mountain View-based company should consider moving its headquarters to Sunnyvale?

It's curious how following rumors of a possible sale of Kodak to HP , both companies announce five-figure layoffs. A Wall Street strategy to feign fiscal fitness? Or a replay of Sears-KMart?

In spite of the continuous cycle of news in which we as media consumers now live, how a story is reported in the first mainstream news cycle still sets the tone for subsequent media coverage. For media strategists, it is therefore vital to "manage" the first reports as best as possible. One strategy entails withholding all details until a strategically chosen moment in time. We saw this with the midnight release of Harry Potter, and again with last night's "surprise" announcement of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.

Without inside knowledge of the White House media strategy, it was clear to me that the evening announcement, unusual in and of itself, of a stealth candidate, was designed to deprive deadline-challenged newspapers with the window typically needed to fully produce this first write of history. Hence, Administration-supplied information and "experts" filled the information vacuum.

The second strategic thrust involved television, and specifically, the cable TV talk fests. Desperate for informed experts, cable TV producers and guest bookers scrambled to line up their share of pundits to pontificate on the selection. From what I observed, the Administration was also ready on this front, eagerly offering up as many nominee-supporting "surrogates" they could muster. In channel surfing, I caught everyone from Ed Meese to Ken Starr to NBC "Law & Order" star Fred Thompson.

Judging from the coverage, there's plenty of high-fiving in the White House this morning, especially considering how its strategy did double duty by knocking Karl Rove out of primetime.

I never understood or agreed with the premise of Air America. From its outset, the syndicated radio network was promoted as a "progressive" and "liberal" voice, created ostensibly to offset the conservative idealogues who increasingly populate TV and radio's programming dials. This positioning, in my mind, was and is a mistake. Just as NPR is in a struggle to affirm its journalistic objectivity, Air America would be better served to strive for the same. (Al Franken's involvement says enough about its political leanings.)

As details emerge about Al Gore's new media venture, it's refreshing to see "Current" (as it is named) not promoted as residing on one end of the political spectrum or the other. (After all, do Bill O'Reilly or Tucker Carlson promote their brand of histrionics as "from the right" or "showcasing the conservative viewpoint?") Gore is smart to feign neutrality.

It's one thing to pay your PR agency to conceive, produce and distribute a video news package to advocate a point of view, but something entirely different to ask a commercial news organization to do the same. Hence, the news that the EPA paid $40,000 to The Weather Channel to produce and air video segments pertaining to global climate change has shades of Armstrong Williams written all over it.

Some may argue that The Weather Channel is not beholden to the same journalistic standards as let's say CNN or ABC News. For me, that's a hazy argument.

Public relations is a subtle discipline whose effects can usually be felt over time. Those who expect PR to solely drive business results will invariably be disappointed, especially in an increasingly fragmented editorial environment. PR is just one of the many tools in the marketing tool box.

There are, however, countless examples where PR can play the starring role in the business success of a marketing endeavor. The most recent involves the sixth book in the Harry Potter series, which just set an all-time sales record. Clever advertising? Effective direct mail? Compelling book jacket graphics at POP? Marketing tie-ins? No way. It was the meticulously orchestrated media relations campaign, in which the author played a starring role, that drove the droves! Google News lists 2169 stories on the record-breaking sales story alone. Even the unintended/intended advance sales of the book before the bewitching hour popped big time.

Look for Scholastic's good showing at next year's PR Week, PRSA Silver Anvil and Paul Holmes's Sabre awards.

It may not be as contentious as Red v. Blue, Republicans v. Democrats, Roe v. Wade, or Yanks v. Bosox, but the pundits predicting the demise of paper as a news medium continue to prognosticate. Granted, media fragmentation and citizen journalism are rampant, and the rules are changing as a result, but there are valid arguments on both sides of the publishing equation. Recently, the editor of MIT's Technology Review weighed in strongly on the side of digital, much to the chagrin of his Beantown neighbors at IDG, which he predicted, in five years, would have but one paper publication left of the couple hundred it now publishes. A recent study by the Carnegie Corporation also paints a bleak picture.

I, however, am inclined to agree with Paul Farhi and Tim Porter who believe digital and paper will thrive in peaceful (and profitable) co-existence. Now don't ask me about the Dems and Republicans.

As if the folks at American Media didn't have their share of problems, now this. Earlier this week I wrote about how AMI-owned tabloid Weekly World News published an ill-conceived story naming the "ten ugliest people." One of those named was a police officer who acquired his "ugliness" from first-degree burns in a rescue operation. The magazine apologized, and the editors were fired.

Now we read that California's once pumped up Governor is on the dole through ad sales from another AMI-owned pub, Muscle & Fitness, to the tune of $1 million a year. From a PR perspective, this poses a greater problem for the leader of the nation's most populous state than it does for AMI, unless of course you consider who M&F's advertisers are.

In its ongoing commitment to lessen the public perception gap that exists over its factories' working conditions, Gap Inc. today leaked to the Wall Street Journal its second annual "social-responsibility report." The news is good (otherwise, why would the SF-based apparel company have offered it up to The Journal a day before its general release?)

More and more companies are taking the initiative to placate their important constituencies, which include increasingly influential and sophisticated NGOs, by tackling and then publicly sharing the operational and societal challenges they face. Reebok, followed by Nike, are other notables that have transparently come to terms with their workers' standard of living.

On the environmental front, BP and Shell have taken the lead, while ExxonMobil's CEO, in an article also published in The Journal, thumbed his nose at the environmental movement. We soon shall see the price it will pay for its recalcitrant position. The company is now the target of a boycott by some potent NGOs. Maybe the nation's largest oil producer should just take out a Greenpeace ship?

Unveiling a giant commercial billboard in Times Square has been a mainstay for NYC PR practitioners as long as I can remember. Who among us hasn't worked at one time or another with ArtKraft Strauss , the masters of such eye-popping extravaganzas? I'll always remember the raising of a super-sized British Airways jet over the Great White Way.

Not to be outdone, the odorous folks at Calvin Klein today revealed images of its three-story perfume bottle complete with actual actors who will go "live" for two days next week. (I wonder if this credit merits inclusion on their acting resumes?) The artist's rendition appears as a full-page "news" story in today's New York Post. Its prominence leads me to believe that CK's handlers offered it up as an "exclusive" to the money-losing, but always fun-to-read NYC tab.

Yesterday was not a good day for presidential spokesperson Scott McLellan. The White House press corps saw to that. Without inserting my own political proclivities on this most challenging PR assignment (for anyone in our line of work), I will say that Mr. McLellan managed to withstand -- for better or worse -- the pounding by the media seeking to reconcile his apparent contradiction over what Karl Rove did or didn't do.

I remember several years ago, the Council of PR Firms invited former White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer to an industry luncheon (ostensibly to promote his new book). When he finished with his prepared remarks, the floor was opened for questions. I was tempted to ask Ari how he was able to stay on message when the message he was directed to give might make him internally, if not ethically conflicted.

I held my tongue, but I will say that in the agency world, if a client were to direct his agency to mislead or lie, it would be sufficient cause to terminate the relationship...no matter how lucrative or high profile the assignment.

Taking a page out of the crisis management handbook, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said: "The lesson of history for George Bush and Karl Rove is that the best way to help themselves is to bring out all the facts, on their own, quickly."

The very astute PR pro Bob Feldman didn't know what he was getting himself in to, or did he? The former head of now WPP-owned GCI startled the PR industry several months ago when he announced that he would collect his family and move to the left coast as the new head of corporate communications at Dreamworks Animation. Ironically, and fortuitously for him, his newly renovated apartment was featured in The New York Times real estate section on the weekend before the news broke.

With today's profit warning , the cancellation of a second public offering, and a possible SEC investigation for insider trading, Dreamworks is giving Bob a run for his money. Perhaps Jeffrey Katzenberg knew this all along, hence the rationale for bringing in someone outside the entertainment PR sphere in the first place?

Taking a page out of the long-running Foster's advertising campaign, the folks at Anheuser-Busch seem to have gone too far. Today's New York Times reports that Budweiser's makers have used marketing materials to deride competitors SAB Miller and Molson for being foreign-owned. (I think The Times called it "jingoism.") Now that this mean-spirited campaign has given its makers a black eye in the media, look for the St. Louis-based brewer, founded by Germans, to do some serious backtracking.

I don't know George Simpson, but I do know American Media's main mouthpiece Stu Zakim. Stu and I started in motion picture PR together, and in fact, I gave him the lead on his first job in publishing (at Wenner Media) when he was getting antsy toiling for Dino DeLaurentis. Yes, Mr. Simpson's observation concerning the "quality" of David Pecker's growing media empire is a subject worthy for debate - especially when one considers Mr. Pecker's previous employer, Hachette-Filipacchi. Still, Stu's public support for his employer didn't merit the snarky personal comment in spite of the reason for it: one of AMI's magazine's tasteless inclusion of a burn victim in its "ugliest people" issue. Stu was only brought in to clean up the mess some editor at the magazine created. "...the editors responsible for the story were fired."

We all know that America has seen better days in the global reputation department, but now this on the heels of New York being ousted! I wonder what PR and lobbying will be required to restore America's favorite pastime to the international stage?

When Los Angeles Times editor Michael Kinsley agreed to allow citizens to "edit" an opinion piece, wiki-style, it resulted in some censor-less comments that sunk the bold journalistic experiment. Poynter's Steve Outing recently posted a telling tutorial outlining the ways in which a newspaper can immerse itself in the world of citizen journalism.

New England Cable News (NECN), the all-news cable station in New England, will now dabble with the video version of Kinsley's experiment, but in its news hole (versus on the opinion pages). Viewers are invited to submit video news stories. In this instant, however, a group of NECN editors will filter the submitted content before airing it. I wonder whether these video segments will undergo the same level of regulatory scrutiny that government or corporately-produced video news releases do?

Writing in today's New York Times, food/beverage business beat reporter Melanie Warner highlights the efforts by the industry to avert lawsuits over its role in the obesity epidemic. Specifically, she looks at the extensive regulatory and legislative lobbying done by the National Restaurant Association, the powerful trade association that represents the nation's QSRs (quick service restaurants), among others.

Ironically, many of the NRA's members are outwardly promoting programs and revised menus that are more healthful, while funding the trade association's efforts to end frivolous lawsuits, e.g., "I'm obese because I like McDonald's fries."

The NGOs are none too happy by this industry effort. From a PR perspective, working behind a "third-party" group like the NRA makes issues advocacy more tenable than going it alone. (It also helps shield against potential criticism of contradictory policies.)

Now that it appears the NHL will resume play next season, how will Commissioner Gary Bettman, team owners, and the players re-gain the trust they lost among fans? If they were smart, they might consider taking a page out of the Major League Baseball playbook. The years were 1994 and 1995 when MLB shut down causing great disaffection among its fan base. Today, the Major Leagues, steroids notwithstanding, is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Gary, put the fans first.

As abhorrent as today's terrorist bombings in London are, the perpetrators of this heinous act against humanity picked the right city at the right time to maximize news coverage worldwide. London is the media capital of Europe (though some may argue Brussels). The presence in Scotland of the G8 world leaders and last weekend's Live 8 concert put the global media spotlight squarely on this city on The Thames. The unexpected awarding of the 2012 Olympic Games was icing on the cake.

What was missing through the carnage was the message. Just as Mr Geldof leveraged celebrity to raise awareness for poverty in Africa, these terrorists use death and destruction to highlight their cause. Unfortunately, they fail to understand that their wanton acts invariably overshadow the cause, whatever it may be. Perhaps they simply wish to "take responsibility" for killing and maiming as many innocent people as possible?

The media and the media-consuming public have little tolerance for deception on the part of those they hold in high esteem. When a magazine does an Adobe Photoshop on a celebrity cover story, all hell can break loose.

Now we all know that politicians and their handlers have mastered the art of public deception (mostly under the public radar). So I took special interest in today's stories in the two NYC tabs, the Daily News and New York Post , exposing (a silver halide term) NYC Mayoral candidate Virginia Fields' doctored photo leaflet allegedly portraying her diverse base of support. At least her communications counselor Joe Mercurio admitted that the questionable photo is an amalgamation of four different photos to produce the desired rainbow effect.

Nonetheless, it's still a No No in my "ethics in communications" handbook.

HSH Prince Albert finally admitted having sired a son with an Air France flight attendant. Rather than endure endless rumors, innuendo and legal machinations, he adhered to a basic PR principle by coming clean. Of course, this decision wasn't easy -- even in light of his sisters' many headline-making dalliances over the years. I just wonder why it took nearly two months following the photo-filled cover story in Paris Match. Does this mean that Hachette Filipacchi, owner of Paris Match, will recoup the money it paid out to HSH in legal damages?

Some years ago, I met and worked with Prince Albert. I found him to be genuine and grounded. I suspect that this has been painful for him, but also know that he will not regret this decision, though he still has to deal with the sticky succession situation.

The reviews are in.

I had written previously about the Live 8 extravaganza from the perspective of its celebrity, and how that celebrity could very well overshadow the raison d'etre for the concert itself. Now that the event has passed, I must say that Mr. Geldof and company did an admirable job keeping the humanitarian issues front and center.

One unexpected bi-product of the concert was the boost brand AOL has received by besting perennial arbiter of what's cool on the music scene, MTV. From all accounts, MTV's Live 8 production paled in comparison to AOL Music's.

Kudos to AOL. Could this be the catalyst that sparks the turn-around Jonathan Miller envisions?

Anticipation, exclusivity and hyperbole come to mind when I read the advance coverage about the security measures in place to preserve the sanctity of its first day of release. J.K. Rowling's rationale via her publisher: "It was her concept for kids to all get the book at the same time and be reading it at the same time."

I ask: what better way to create, or rather, re-create a media "event?" Hasn't the publication of every new edition of "Harry Potter" followed the same tried-and-true, public-participatory formula? Garnering benign advance "news" goes a long way toward neutralizing potentially negative critical reviews...not that "Harry Potter and the Half Blooded Prince" is destined for this fate. In either case, we won't know until July 16, a date until which even book reviewers agreed to embargo their opinions.

Watch for serious PR machinations from Karl Rove, or rather his lawyer, as media momentum grows for comment on his role in the Plame affair. (Sen. Schumer used his weekly presser to make the case.) Ironically, TIME magazine's nemesis Newsweek is the first MSM outlet to put the leak squarely on his shoulders.

Just how much our nation is divided will be evident as all sides gather their forces to do battle over Justice O'Connor's replacement. I wonder whether the court of public opinion will even have any influence over this matter.

Let's not forget about the G8 Summit. Qadaffi quoted berating African countries for having their hands out. Pres. Bush said to stand alone when it comes to energy policy.

Also, Black Hawk down (in Afghanistan) will play on. Word is that two elite soldiers on that helicopter were found dead.

Wednesday's the day when New York City & Co. will hear about the Olympics. As a New Yorker, I think it would be kind of cool to host the 2012 Olympics. (Many don't, contrary to Mayor Bloomberg's assertions .) In either case, my money is on Paris or London.

While we're talking sports, go Lance!

(If you're a PR person hoping to gain media mindshare this week, be mindful of the above.)

Overkill 

The marketing team for "War of the Worlds" will likely concur that the star's advance media noise plus the film's multiple "premieres" (sans working media) have helped elevate Steven Spielberg's rendition of the HG Wells classic to "a box office record", albeit on a Wednesday. Personally, I'm not convinced that the Scientology-fueled pre-release interviews helped the box office at all. This film had all the ingredients for a big showing with or without the ubiquitous command and control TomKat duet.

However, the marketing license to deploy a superlative to quantify the opening box office does play a role in the overall PR plan. Opening day bragging rights is somewhat of a holy grail for theatrical film marketers. Hence, the $21.3 million raked in by "War of the Worlds" made it the biggest Wednesday debut for a Paramount Pictures movie. Personally, fewer qualifiers might motivate me to see it.

Arizona-based Taser International is suing Gannett, parent to USA Today and the company's hometown paper the Arizona Republic, for an article in USAT comparing its products to electric chairs and other sordid instruments of torture or death.

The company, which conducted its share of crisis management in the recent past -- not the least of which was the resignation from its Board of now-defamed Bernard Kerik's following his headline-making revelations -- had nonetheless electrified The Street last year with its high voltage stock performance.

Suing a newspaper can be a dicey affair, and should only be used after all other means are exhausted, e.g., an attempt to gain more balance in the original story, the submission of a letter-to-the-editor, a suggestion for a follow-up story, or a request for a retraction. Tonality in a story, however, is not a basis for seeking a retraction. The publication of erroneous information is, and if that info materially hurts the company, then a lawsuit may be warranted.