This Maskerade

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Christmas, move over. Happy Halloween, everyone! It's amazing how big a business Halloween has become. But that's not the subject of this posting. Rather, let's look at PR people attending the masquerade ball.

Last week, Slate's Seth Stevenson reported receiving a spate of unsolicited e-mails inquiring how to get hold of the weird Burger King mask. Like any good reporter, he became suspicious of the queries' authenticity, and wondered whether he was being flamed in an effort to create a viral buzz for the QSR's quirky maskot. He called BK's ad agency and received a "mealy-mouthed" denial from a PR person. The Times wrote about the exchange this weekend.

As the PR profession continues to grapple with how to properly engage the blogosphere -- in spite of many self-anointed pundits claiming they have the answers -- I know one thing: deception is not one of them. It smacks of planting paid actors in bars to talk up a "trendy" new cocktail.

What's unfortunate is that the purveyors of this maskerade are no doubt celebrating all the media attention their little deception generated. Do the ends really justify the means?

Cimino Real

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The financial windfall Mel Gibson reaped by exploiting the wave of Christian revivalism has gone to his head. Next month, the monomaniacal, newly emboldened (and embearded) filmmaker will bankroll production on "Apocalypto," a film of "mythic proportions" set 600 years ago, starring unknown Mexican actors who speak an extinct Mayan dialect. Gibson is writer and director.

Disney, which will release the film in the U.S., has a major PR/marketing challenge on its hands. If the studio's most recent history is any indication, and Mr. Gibson remains true to form, look for "Heaven's Gate," oops, I mean "Apocalypto," to come to a pew near you before next summer.

A News Release Worth Reading

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Ninety percent of the news releases that arrive on journalists' desktops, fax machines and in snail-mail boxes are trashed or never opened. Here's one that reporters will have a hard time ignoring. It is well-written, informative...and (front page) newsworthy. Look for it tomorrow at a newsstand near you, or if you can't wait, open your news portal's home page today. It comes with these free canned statements:

-- Bush
-- Cheney
-- Libby
-- Pelosi
-- Academic Pundits

Well and Good

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In his best imitation of Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook" speech, soon-to-retire Exxon Mobil CEO Lee Raymond proclaimed on the front page of today's New York Times: "This is no windfall." The oil industry titan used a news conference to rationalize his company's record profits this quarter while consumers take it up the gas pipe.

Consider these headlines:

"Oil Giant Does Well: Exxon Sales Top $1 Billion a Day"

"BP Profits Soar Despite Hurricanes"

"Chevron Profits Soar on Higher Energy Prices"

"Conoco Profits Surge"

They may be good news for three of the oil companies' key stakeholder groups: employees, investors and retailers, but growing reports of consumer outrage over the disparity between their pocketbooks and these companies' balance sheets aroused the (uninvited) ire of two other key constituencies: legislators and regulators.

To blunt criticism and ensure that its embarrassment of riches is put in perspective, Exxon Mobil took out an advertisement in The New York Times yesterday showing that its profit margins were in line with the average of all industries and far below those of banks, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies.

I find it ironic (and refreshing) to see a company/industry that is doing well getting hammered for not doing good.

The Sunshine State

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He visited New Orleans on eight separate occasions. He had his picture taken with the National Guard. He donned work clothes and picked up a hammer for Habitat for Humanity. Did these media photo opps help President Bush deflect the criticism of his administration's lackluster response to Hurricane Katrina? I'm not so sure.

It is therefore surprising that, in spite of his brother accepting responsibility for the slow response to Hurricane Wanda in Florida, the President will travel to the Sunshine State today for yet another photo op. Save the jet fuel!

This may be heresy coming from a career PR'ist, but Mr. Bush, forget the primping and posing for the cameras and do something tangible and substantive that will actually make a difference in the lives of the people affected by these natural disasters. All the photo ops in the world aren't going to restore electricity or deliver potable water. It may even backlash. Just sample the blogosphere later today to gauge citizen reaction to the staged courting of this key swing state.

The Stranger

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I was thoroughly enjoying the eclectic mix of articles and contributors that comprise Forbes's special report on "Communicating," which I learned about from my old friend Sam Whitmore's blog Sam Whitmore's Media Survey. That was, until I came across the piece featuring the bleached-blonde, child-of-privilege, party-throwing, bad-driving PR princess who has come to epitomize the less-than-savory aspects of our industry.

Yes, I'm talking Lizzie (doing her best to look Like Tara Reid).

Could this really be the venerable Forbes that chose to feature Ms. Lizzie alongside the likes of Noam Chomsky, Walter Cronkite, Kurt Vonnegut, Jane Goodale, Arthur C. Clarke, Vint Cerf and Daniel Libeskind????

The by-line for the short (and perplexing) visit with Ms. Grubman reads Peter Kafka. Now it makes sense! This is part of the PR Princess's metamorphosis. Or is it some kind of plague on our profession?

What's Inside

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This blog has talked considerably about the natural tension that exists between transparency and message control. Can the two live side by side, or does transparency actually impair an enterprise's ability to advocate its point of view? Furthermore, can opening the curtain to expose one's warts, actually produce a reputational (and ultimately) financial benefit?

Yesterday, McDonalds held a news conference to announce that it would add nutritional information to its menu item wrappers. (Heretofore, that information only was available on its website and in-store brochures.) It follows the QSR's efforts to re-make Ronald McDonald into a fitness advocate, and the industry's efforts to blunt the criticism of its role in the obesity epidemic..

This is a bold, and some may think risky move, considering the quantity of fat and calories contained in a typical Big Mac. Nonetheless, I suspect most patrons of McDonalds won't even read the wrappers, and Micky D's gets a big PR boost for its open and honest approach.

CONTENTious

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Much has been written about the great divide between red and blue, Dems and Republicans, pro-life and pro-choice, evolutionists and creationists...

Yet, another schism now divides our nation. Supporters on both sides of the digital rights management (DRM) issue are as passionate as those mentioned above, but unlike them, both sides reside within the ranks of the nation's intelligentsia. It's an east-coast west-coast match-up, with Hollywood turning its back on its neighbors in northern California.

In one corner are the advocates of free digital content forever, and in the other are those demanding pay for play. The advent of the Open Content Alliance, a less egregious affront to copyright law (now supported by Yahoo, Microsoft, The Internet Archive, and some universitites) may just be a Trojan Horse. Here's a sampling of the combatants:

FREE:	PAY:
Google Yahoo BitTorrent EFF PK Microsoft ...others	AAP NBCUni TimeWarner NYT AP The Authors Guild PEN USA ...others

To give you a sense of how high emotions are running, the Association of American Publishers' website was hacked this week sending visitors to a porn site in Texas. The AAP's lawsuit against Silicon Valley's biggest advocate for consumers' "digital rights" no doubt precipitated the hack.

The stakes are high. Watch how advocates and their respective PR operatives work both sides of this far-reaching (global) issue.

Blur

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If you can't get them to cover your good news, just pay them for it. That seems to be the modus operandi of the Newark (NJ) City Council. We all know that newspapers are struggling with a dwindling advertising base, and that newsmakers are struggling to get out their messages, so this appears to be a win-win. My prediction: both parties will see the error in their ways and kill the deal.

Ta Ta, Toby

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I loved the plot line on last night's installment of NBC's "The West Wing." President Martin Sheen fires his longtime confident, White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler, for leaking some classified information to, of all places, The New York Times. The show uncharacteristically diverges from reality when the President goes on to announce the news on primetime TV.

First of all, the networks probably wouldn't give the president the airtime for an announcement of this nature, and secondly, who advised the president to hold a news conference in the first place to fire his senior spokesperson? His Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense, or Vice President, perhaps, but his Communications Director? Highly unlikely.

Dan Bartlett, your identity is safe for now. Maybe one day we'll see a PR-type merit his or her own prime time announcement.

Why is This Man Smiling?

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As Mr. Delay prepares to defend himself in a Texas court and in the court of public opinion, his PR handlers have weighed in with this advice: "Smile!" An obedient Mr. Delay obliged. Is it forced or natural? Will the whole world smile with him? In Gladwell's Blink, the author postulates that a smile is contagious only if it's natural. Take a look at these images of Mr. Delay (and his wife), and you be the judge.

The Yucatan Peninsula

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Some years ago, I worked on an assignment for the Mexican Ministry of Tourism wherein we were charged with putting in perspective the damage from the 1985 earthquake centered in Mexico City. The U.S. media coverage made it sound as if the entire city was wiped out when in fact the physical damage was relatively confined (albeit deadly). We dispatched helicopters with video crews to capture and disseminate the new footage, and prepared the top tourism official for appearances on the network morning shows and elsewhere. It was an effective strategy.

As we look at Wanda and the devastation it is creating in Cancun and Cozumel, the Mexican government today understandably is focused on the safety of its citizens, but tomorrow will grapple with the crippling of an industry that contributes such a vital revenue stream.

"Cancun is now one of the most popular resorts in the world. The Cancun area receives 35% of Mexico's tourism revenue, and the percentage is growing. Tourists arrive daily from Asia, Latin America, Europe, Canada, the United States and Mexico."

Can an effective public relations strategy help hasten the area's rebound? How will Wanda affect tourism to other Mexican destinations?

Hong Kong and SARS, Phuket and the Tsunami, the Florida Keys...all have returned to some semblance of touristic normalcy. The PR-savvy tourism authorities for these destinations were aggressive in keeping the communication channels open with travel beat reporters and broadcasters. Their efforts no doubt hastened the fade in the collective tourist consciousness of those images of devastation. In Mexico, time too will heal, but pro-active communications when the time is ripe can help.

Bud Pong Select

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Anyone who has a son or daughter in college should have heard of the game "Beer Pong" or, as it's sometimes called, "Beirut." (Don't ask.) It was therefore not surprising that Sunday's New York Times page one story on the game, whose goal is to drive one's opponent to drink, was the paper's most e-mailed story of the day.

The story revolved around how marketers were hopping on their Clydesdales to capitalize on this brewing phenomenon. The nation's #1 beer meister Anheuser-Busch even re-dubbed the game "Bud Pong" until, of course, August Busch IV came to his PR senses. The ensuing letters-to-the-editor summed up why.

With all the scrutiny the alcoholic beverage industry has endured over the issue of under-aged drinking, which clever marketer thought this endorsement was a good idea, especially given all the millions the industry has spent to forestall any regulatory action against it? Yesterday, to its credit, Anheuser-Busch pulled the stopper.

Talkin' Turkey

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I do my best to avoid getting mired in the nasty political discourse that has gripped the nation. Still, the PR machinations of the Bush administration offers so much good material for this blog, it's almost impossible to ignore. Take Scott McClellan's recent tirade aimed at the press corps, or the "spontaneous" exchange between the President and some U.S. troops that was anything but.

I've written about the Presidential press secretary's trials and tribulations in the past, and will only say that Mr. McClellan is just doing his job by keeping the members of the fourth estate on their toes...and vice-versa. However, Mr. McClellan must admit that his job is made much more difficult when the recipients of his daily message view him as disingenuous.

On the subject of disingenuousness, the recent Presidential presser that was billed as an unrehearsed conversation with the troops ranks right up there. From the post-event reports, it seemed that this "unscripted" exchange backfired big time.

There is nothing worse than appearing to manipulate the news media -- except perhaps a straight-faced lie. Both are sure-fire recipes to burn bridges with those on whom you rely to deliver your messages. Sure, orchestrated PR events happen every day, and the news media have even learned to tolerate them...within reason. But it's one thing to bake the world's largest pumpkin pie, and quite another to stage a war.

Chain Gang Grannies

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Armed with gray hair and walkers, the very gregarious group of grannies gathered at the Army Recruitment booth in the heart of Times Square for the purpose of enlisting. Talk about the perfect photo-op. But what made it more meaningful, from a PR perspective, was the simple resonance of their message:

"We wanted to sign up. Instead of our kids dying, we wanted to take their place. We've already lived our lives," said granny of five Joan Wile, 74.

It makes Louis Farrakhan's rhetoric and Cindy Sheehan's increasingly ineffective advocacy pale in comparison.

To break through the cacaphony of today's media noise, it doesn't take thousands at yet another rally in DC, but a cogent stand by an unconventional, but earnest advocate in a setting that enhances the message -- something like Cindy Sheehan's first days in Crawford. The anarchists who descended upon Seattle for the WTO and New York for the Republican Convention can take a page out of the grandmas' playbook. The 18 grandmas were arrested.

Channel Surfing

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As Verizon fibers up to bang broadband heads with the cable industry for control of your TV and Internet viewing pleasure, enter the electric utility industry with its own socket-based plan to offer broadband access.

But I digress. I really want to write about my new TV, a Samsung high-def flat panel LCD, not because it puts my 22-year-old, once state-of-the-art Mitsubishi 19-inch Diamond Vision behemoth to shame, but because Samsung, along with many other HDTV-makers, has a licensing pact with Gemstar-TV Guide wherein the latter will provide a built-in channel guide. Good-bye cable box.

The problem for Gemstar -- which bought TV Guide from Murdoch who bought it from Annenberg for billions -- is that the in-set channel guide for these cable card-enabled TVs does not work. No, it's not just my new cable-ready TV, it's all of them. Gemstar has left these manufacturers -- and the purchasers of their sets -- in the lurch. Now that Mark Cuban and Verizon's FiOS fiber service are climbing into bed with Gemstar, I just thought I'd pull a Jeff Jarvis and do a little consumer activism. Alas, I don't have as many readers as Jarvis to precipitate a consumer revolt, but it does feel good to expose Gemstar's problem, since it remains literally out of the public eye.

Trading Spaces

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For most people, PR equals publicity and PR pros are publicists. Less appreciated, but no less significant are the many other tools in the PR toolbox, most of which have little do to with generating ink or airtime. They include public affairs, employee communications, investor relations, constituency building, and others.

The last item on this list was on full diplay on the front page of yesterday's New York Times "Metro" section in a story on the efforts by developer Bruce Ratner to win support to relocate the NBA's Nets from New Jersey to a hopeful new complex Brooklyn. The article's title: "To Build Arena in Brooklyn, Developer First Builds Bridges."

Without the crucial process of bridge-building, e.g., constituency relations, Mr. Ratner would surely fail in a city where almost every significant real estate endeavor encounters potentially ruinous turbulance. This almost happened to the folks building the complex that will house the new Jets/Giants stadium at The Meadowlands, which, judging from Mr. Ratner's PR acumen, will soon house an abandoned NBA arena.

Poseurs

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Who's paid and who's not? The practice of exploiting celebs for the purposes of adding publicity value and cache to a commercial promotion has turned into a fine art. (It falls into the same category as doling out valuable goodie bags at paparazzi-laden events like the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys.)

Louis Vuitton, the "LV" in LVMH, the world's preeminent purveyor of luxury goods, held a doozie in Paris recently that was chronicled in today's New York Times. What was no more than a store opening, albeit the largest Louis Vuitton store in the world, drew A-listers like Thurman, Stone, Hayek, Deneuve, Ryder. (Well, maybe not Ryder.)

For the layperson reading the glossies, it's less apparent that these media magnets cut deals to be paid in clothes, handbags, jewelry, champagne and/or cash. Even Paris Hilton boasted that she commands $300K to just show up. William Morris, CAA and ICM all have booming practices specializing in this brand of PR payola.

As Times scribe Eric Wilson reports: "No expense was spared to promote the opening of this latest temple of luxury... The number floating around the store among guests that night for the cost of the two-year renovation and the two-day opening festivities topped $50 million."

I wonder how much of that went to the bold-named faces who attended?

And the Beat Goes On

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Disney Gets Religion

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Last month, I posted an item on how the marketing team at Disney turned to faith-based Christian groups to build buzz for its film "The Greatest Game Ever Played."

Apparently the strategy worked. To market its big-budget holiday film, "The Chronicles of Narnia," the company is playing the Christian card again, according to a piece in today's New York Times. In addition to planned screenings at Christian music festivals, the company has begun to seed the "Christian-music-based-soundtrack" on radio stations formatted with Christian rock. Let's hope the "seeding" doesn't violate the Seventh Commandment.

Instant Leakage

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It's only human instinct to whisper as-yet-to-be-reported news to a friend or, for PR types, a reporter. It makes one appear to be "in the loop" and may even help ingratiate the leaker with the journalist. This is the fuel that drives the PR-journalist dance in Hollywood, inside the Beltway, on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley.

Still, the top PR pros have learned the fine art of discretion, and in most cases, they (hopefully) resist temptation. The news last night of MSN and Yahoo's plans to open their respective instant messaging services to each other's users, was clearly an unintended leak. The AP reporter who broke the story reported that the wire service's two sources "...spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details."

I wonder whether Microsoft or Yahoo will investigate which in-the-know PR person, lawyer or banker succumbed to temptation this time?

We the Media

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Since I've known her, PR Week chief Julia Hood has kept her finger on the pulse of what's new and soon-to-be new in the PR biz. I was therefore pleased to see that she corralled author, columnist and master citizen journalist Dan Gillmor to serve up a regular column in the weekly trade mag.

A year ago, while reading Gillmor's prescient book, We the Media, on the rise of the citizen journalism movement (and its implications for PR pros), I had an epiphany of sorts. Gillmor outlined a utopian communications model wherein enterprises engaged and dialogued with key constituencies in a completely transparent manner. Those who disregarded citizen media risked having their reputations, products and services sullied in the microcosm called the blogosphere and often in turn, the mainstream media.

Gillmor's vision and the real-life examples he cited was a wake-up call for me, and probably many other PR pros charged with advising corporate or institutional leaders. Not only do managers need to pay closer heed to the voices of their disparate citizen stakeholders, but they would be much better off by opening up their kimonas to engage them. The question is: how far?

Certainly the corporate scandals of the 90's ushered in a call for sweeping changes in corporate governance. Transparency became a rallying cry. The advent of citizen-created media ("the sixth estate?") has had a positive affect in hastening companies' desire to be less opaque.

Even so, Microsoft, with its estimated 2000 bloggers, is now looking at the renegade "mini-Microsoft" and probably thinking enough is enough.

Transparency is an ideal, but is too much transparency really a good thing? Aren't there valid regulatory, competitive or even safety reasons for not opening the curtains too wide? Can a motivated individual pressure an enterprise to divulge information once considered proprietary, and thus profit from it?

PR Week's readers will derive tremendous value from Mr. Gillmor's thoughts on citizen-created media and their growing influence over the evolution of a news story, (e.g., it's no longer top-down). After all, the movement has greater implications for our industry than perhaps any other.

Still, for those who have worked through a sticky issue with the "C Suite" and general counsel of a publicly traded corporation, complete transparency remains an ideal whose time may or may not, should or should not come.

Wie

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With the ascendancy of 15-year-old female golfing sensation Michelle Wie to the pro ranks, Reuters today moved a story on what Michelle might expect from the "fifth estate." It suggested she take a media management page out of the Tiger Woods playbook. Mr. Woods, it seems, has "perfected" his "statesman-like approach" to the media and has shied away from one-on-one interviews.

Of course, this dignified behavior is in stark contrast to the public miscues of many other pro athletes including The Eagles' Terrell Owens, The Pacers' Ron Artest and, of course, the PGA's John Daly.

It is SOP these days for pro athletes to submit to "media training" during their rookie year and periodically over their careers. I once traveled to ATP headquarters in Florida to run a number of pro tennis players through the paces, including Pete Sampras and Sergi Brugera. It wasn't a matter of bad behavior, but more to make them comfortable in an interview setting and better at communicating what they wished to communicate.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nike or SONY footed the bill to further Michelle's media education.

Will 'n Dowd

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When these two redheads agree on something, watch out! Yesterday was one such day. Both George Will and Maureen Dowd, who usually proselytize from opposite ends of the political spectrum, shared a rare moment of ideological symmetry when they weighed in with two thumbs down on President Bush's next choice for the Supreme Court.

Conspiracy theorists, of course, will opine that Mr. Will's uncharacteristic objection is actually a White House ploy to neutralize Democratic opposition so that Ms. Miers sails through the hearings Trojan Horse style. I'm not so sure Karl Rove is that sagacious to orchestrate such a public relations feat.

Still, consider this: if Ms. Miers is successfully positioned in the court of public opinion as "not conservative enough," then how can the Dems hope to mount a plausible campaign to block her nomination? It would be an effective, yet insidious strategy.

Delivery Fell Short

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PR pros are expected to turn out a respectable number of working journalists for a news conference. However, it's also important for practitioners to set reasonable expectations so that they may deliver on the promise. If one overhypes a presser, it may precipitate a negative backlash...as was the case with the introduction of the Apple/Motorola/Cingular Rokr.

John Murrell writing on one of the Merc-News's blogs, "Good Morning Silicon Valley," assessed yesterday's Sun-Google alliance announcement like this: "Google, Sun to jointly develop better news conferences."

Granted, Google doesn't have to do much nowadays to command the media's attention -- a position Sun enjoyed at a time when Google had yet to be annointed a verb.

A Current Affair

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The blurring of entertainment and politics is accelerating. From Martin Sheen to Fred Thompson to Jon Stewart to Geena Davis, it's hard to keep up.

Now we have the would-be president Al Gore attending a rally and concert in New York tomorrow night, not to castigate the Republicans or pontificate on global warming, but rather to elicit media attention, video content, and cable carriage for his new cable network Current TV.

Under the umbrella of "TakeBackTV," with a groovy website to match, Mr. Gore is on a tour (catchy, huh?). Next stop, Philly on October 20.

Denton Observed

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For the 17 million+ citizen journalists toiling in the blogosphere nowadays, Tom Scocca's page one New York Observer profile of "the Rupert Murdoch of the blogosphere" Nick Denton is a must-read. It contrasts with the sanguine reaction to the The New York Times Magazine profile of the Gawker founder that appeared last spring.

Now that blogging is mainstream (or is it?), the new media moguls, who also include Jason Calacanis, John Battelle and Arianna Huffington, to name just three, are the toasts of the town. Their prognostications of new riches coming from the paradigm shift of advertising to their online worlds certainly makes one want to believe. But, of course, I also was pumped up by the Dreamworks/Imagine/Paul Allen content venture pop.com. (Here's more from Battelle.)

A Sharper Image

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Some years ago, I sat on a panel alongside the head of the Consumers Union, which publishes the influential Consumer Reports magazine. Before the panel started, I walked up to her to introduce myself. When she learned I worked for a PR firm, a frostiness came over her that made Al Franken and Rush Limbaugh's relationship seem chummy in comparison. In the eyes of this non-profit, advertising-free organization, PR people must be the devils incarnated.

I was reminded of that encounter when I read today's story in The New York Times on how retailer Sharper Image hopes to blunt the magazine's negative review of its big money-maker the Ionic Breeze air freshener. The weighty magazine weighed in with two thumbs down. Rather than sue Consumer Reports (again), the retailer sought to dispute the magazine's findings in the court of public opinion. It released to the media an open letter defending the efficacy of its product.

"We got some not-positive press as a result of the first article. We wanted to make our case this time," said a Sharper Image spokesperson.

Good idea? I'm not so sure. In spite of Consumer Union's disdain for public relations, the organization employs a full staff of PR pros, and I'm told even uses the dreaded PR firm to advocate on its behalf. The net result: Sharper Image's spokesperson was dusted by the Consumer Reports spokesperson who had the final word:

"We're not talking about a digital camera. That can't kill you," said Mr. Asher. "But if people who have asthma or lung dysfunction buy the wrong kind of air cleaner, they can put themselves at harm."

Ouch.

"Covert Propaganda"

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As the world learns more about how PR practitioners interact with journalists (and others) to advocate for a point of view, the industry today received a wake-up call when the non-partisan General Accounting Office formally charged the Bush Administration with illegally practicing "covert propaganda" in its efforts to position itself as "committed to education." (Just think Armstrong Williams, Ketchum PR and "No Child Left Behind.")

Was it the nature of the message or the means with which it was delivered that precipitated the GAO's ruling yesterday? Clearly, many in our industry, most notably Richard Edelman, but myself included, bristled at the idea of paying a "journalist" to disseminate information. The abhorrent and aberrant practice not only compromises the integrity of the journalist, but it is a blatant breach of public relations ethics.

So I ask: was it payola to Armstrong Williams or the fact that the Administration used taxpayer dollars to propagate a political message (versus a public service message) that led to the indictment? Probably both. More importantly, what residual affect will this ruling have on how the profession is viewed and its future vitality? Hopefully those who chafe at the notion of transparency will get smart.