Ambushed

Tweet

NYU's Jay Rosen

NYU's Jay Rosen is a very smart fellow. I've heard him speak on many occasions about the transformation taking place in the worlds of media and journalism. He even joined one of our Publicity Club of New York panels back when the sea change had not fully taken hold. I was thus surprised to see him in the news last week for an entirely different reason.

He apparently was caught in a sting orchestrated by right-wing video prankster James O'Keefe of Acorn and NPR-defaming fame. Mr. O'Keefe insidiously dispatched a young man to one of Mr. Rosen's public lectures under the guise of having an interest in potentially matriculating at NYU.

The man's real intention was to capture Prof. Rosen and his fellow presenter Clay Shirky's insights into The New York Times in an attempt to discredit the news operation of the (world's most) esteemed news organization. Ahhh...if only someone would secretly embed at Fox News to really demonstrate news bias.  I suppose there's always Anonymous.

James O'Keefe

Of interest to me, and by extension, my PR-minded readers, is what happened next. The pseudo grad student contacted Prof. Rosen to arrange "an interview" two days after the session. with the ruse of exploring enrolling at the university, but instead used the meeting to secretly record the politically progressive professor for publication.  As a result, more fuel was added to the pretender's prefabricated narrative.

In a Poynter piece titled "To Catch a Journalist," Rosen reflected after the fact:

"I now realize he was scamming me and almost certainly taping me. The intended story line, worked out in advance, was lefty journalism professor jumps at the chance to assist with the discrediting of the Tea Party by passing along sensational footage to his buddies at the Times."

By quickly agreeing to the interview, While Prof. Rosen was duped into this interview, many other newsmakers blindly agree to talk to strangers, breaking a cardinal rule in PR: don't avail yourself to a media interview before learning about the reporter, outlet and intended story line. Truth be told, newsmakers (and their PR handlers) are perfectly within their rights to have a few questions answered before acquiescing, e.g.:

• What is the nature of the story? 
• How much time will be needed for the interview? 
• Where will it run? 
• When will it run? 
• Who else is being interviewed for the piece?

I'll never forget some of our media training sessions in which we would ambush senior executives as they emerged from the office elevator. With a hand-held camera and sun-gun, the executive reflexively started answering questions without any cognizance of who he/she was talking to or in what context the footage might be used. In Rosen's defense, the faux-journalist had a hidden audio recorder.

In today's media-driven environment, anyone with a decent-grade video camera or lowly blog can grab face-time with some pretty influential newsmakers, no questions asked. Sure, the White House press office remains solicitous about granting access to their main charge, as do the corporate communications departments of most publicly traded companies.

But without professional gatekeepers, many newsworthy folks can be feckless in their desire to attain some of that 15 minutes of fame. Many big names have even succumbed to the charms of this decidedly niche blog, and I've seen whole sites sprout, aggregate and flourish based on the relatively new dynamic wherein thought leaders have myriad new outlets to air, well, their thoughts.  Beet.TV and BigThink are two that come to mind.

Another positive outcropping of the times in which we live lies in the ease with which anyone can publicly share his or her POV. To this end, one has to give Prof. Rosen credit for taking the time to thoughtfully address the very reasons for which he apparently was targeted in the first place. His post is titled "A note to my conservative friends."

(Who knew he had conservative friends?)

State of the Biz

Tweet

I typically reserve my weekly round-up of videos for the weekend, and actually have a number of cool clips queued up to post either tomorrow or Saturday.

In the interim and in light of some client pressures right now, I'm posting a video of a recent sit-down I had with Mike Bako of Inside Communications wherein we talk about the state of the biz. Here's the clip as it appears on Forbes.com:



Your comments are welcomed. I did confuse one question concerning goals for this blog versus my company website, but other than that it was a good conversation to have.

OWS: A Sustainable Stage Show?

Tweet

Occupy Wall Street Photo-Op (photo: Kathy Williams/AP)

Since learning (and writing about) the Occupy Wall Street protesters' pro bono use of a PR firm to ratchet up media coverage of their actions -- versus their call-to-actions -- I have viewed the movement with a jaundiced eye.

No. I have nothing against the use of PR to help an organization or enterprise advocate a point-of-view. After all, I've spent my career doing much of the same. I also am sympathetic to some of the themes that have emerged.

My beef has more to do with the PR peeps' use of fabricated photo ops that come off as more flash than substance, and the potential ill will it might engender with the media they're trying to influence. Did anyone bring the giant scissors to the ribbon cutting ceremony?

I remember years ago the sour taste I had after a colleague from our DC office convinced our New York team to create a ruse designed solely for the shooters and reporters at a press event. We had the U.S. Treasurer in town -- at Radio City Music Hall no less -- on the day the newly redesigned $50 dollar bill went into circulation.

It wasn't enough for the Treasurer to sit at a table on the street opposite the Music Hall's $50-emblazoned marquee to sign her name to the new bill for anyone trading in $50 worth of old currency. My politically minded colleague insisted that we create a second photo op whereby Radio City would open its box office specially so that the Treasurer could purchase the first tickets to the Christmas Spectacular. If my memory serves me well, this took place over the summer.

I cringed at the blatant choreography of it all wherein my colleague physically positioned the photographers over here, and the Treasurer over there to create the right effect. If journalists thought PR people were manipulative, it was certainly validated that day. More significantly, the fake ticket purchase surfaced nowhere in the ensuing coverage.

I also remember the event in which we renamed West 43rd Street & Broadway in honor of Adolph S. Ochs on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Ochs-Sulzberger family's ownership of The New York Times. I arrived early to make sure that all was in order and to meet then Mayor Giuliani's advance person.

His first observation: the actual street sign, which his boss and Arthur Jr. would jointly reveal later that morning, was not squarely facing the media riser we erected acoss the street.

The advance guy insisted on maneuvering the sign so it would face the cameras. I resisted. After all, my client was The New York Times! I'd do it for any other client, but not this one.  I even remember suggesting that "Mr. Ochs would turn over in his grave if he thought we were gaming this photo op." In the end, the mayor's guy prevailed out of expediency.

Flash forward to Occupy Wall Street. Today, we're treated to a photo op that also struck a hollow chord, but one which the AP decided merited movement over its vaunted wire.  It featured a couple of protesters getting fake haircuts while wearing bibs with bank names printed on them.  (See image above.) Geesh.

Maybe this says more about the state of journalism than it does about some enterprising PR firm? In either case, former AP president Lou Boccardi wouldn't be pleased. And other esteemed journalists are beginning to question the sustainability of the movement, as New York Magazine's Adam Moss did in his tete-a-tete with Frank Rich today:

"I find it plausible that the rage itself is sustainable — but I have a hard time seeing how the Zuccotti Park manifestation of it lasts much longer. It looks too fringe not to eventually be dismissed as fringe. The media will turn against it when it's no longer convenient to the narrative."

The only thing that was real in today's photo op in Zuccotti Park: the protester pictured actually needed a haircut.

Your Weekend Viewing

Tweet

Stop...Motion

As the cool kids are "freaking out" over the Lytro camera, here's a neat little stop-motion video courtesy of BitRebels (HT Steve Farnsworth).

  


Email Overload Tee'd Up 

With emails suffocating many inboxes, here's a wearable creation to keep track of the madness. (via Launch):




A Scottishman in New York

Yes, print still begets broadcast, or in this case, cable. Here's a one-on-one from NY1 News with Mashable founder and New York transplant Pete Cashmore. Click HERE to view the seven-minute segment.




Newest Social Net to Music

 Simon Mainwaring via David Armano tweets our attention to this Google+ music video:




Bad Siri, bad!

In case you were out of town the last couple of weeks.  (I mean really out of town.) Here's a clip in which the now famous (and transformative) Siri disses an iPhone 4S owner (HT Nick Bilton via Google+) Also, love the SiriLogs Twitter feed, which is another take on this meme.

http://twitter.com/#!/GuyKawasaki/status/127123308901711873


Siri's Starr Turn

It may not be the iPhone 5, but Apple is putting its marketing muscle behind Siri.  Here's the first TV spot for the 4S. Pretty soon we'll be seeing a Saturday morning cartoon about her!




iPhone Though the Ages

A video history of the iPhone via CNET UK HT TheAtlantic


CNET UK Presents: History of the iPhone, dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs from Drew Stearne on Vimeo.


Lady Gaga Through the Ages

Ms. Gaga's rise via the YouTube viewing barometer (HT @mackcollier)

PR as Blood Sport

Tweet

A Media Frenzy (Photo: Spencer Platt, Getty Images)

I received a call last week from a wire service reporter who sought some insights on the PR industry, and specifically why a New York PR firm would accept Occupy Wall Street as a pro bono client. The reporter had received from the firm the same email blast that I had proclaiming the firm's new association with the Wall Street protesters. 

Before getting on the phone with this reporter, I checked out #OWS's new PR firm's clients and credentials. It described itself as "a leading boutique agency specializing in fashion, publishing, luxury, consumer and lifestyle accounts." Huh? Luxury? Fashion? The protesters were anything but luxurious and fashionable. What gives?

Brooklyn Bridge (Photo: Mario Tama, Getty Images) 

As for the firm's core competencies, it is in essence an old-fashioned publicity and promotion shop whose singular goal (and measure of success) rests in the amount of ink and airtime it could muster for its coterie of downtown, style and celebrity fringe clientele. I didn't see much of anything about the firm's social or digital marketing prowess nor, more significantly, anything indicating a passion for politics.

This firm was essentially "retained" to get the Wall Street protesters as much media coverage as possible. Street theatre and histrionics would trump a core messaging and content syndication strategy.

It mattered little what was being reported as long as dramatic sound and images of a disaffected mob made their way into online, print, television and mobile media channels.

White-shirted, pepper-spraying police. Bravo! Bloodied protesters. Fabulous! PETA, eat your heart out! Drumming and chanting. Great for radio!
Running from the cops on the narrow (and once-bullish) streets of New York's financial district. Pamplona, step aside!

Running Against the Bulls

Ironically, for the PR tacticians, here is one client for which a cogent message track is actually not required. In fact, espousing specific demands could actually splinter the movement. The more specific, the less populous the group would become.

Stick with the 99% versus 1%. It appeals to the widest spectrum of the disenchanted and disenfranchised.  Some have even suggested that the Tea Party, with its own far-flung and often incoherent message track, should align itself with the Occupy Wall Street crowd.

So back to the wire reporter's question: why would a PR firm accept a client like the Occupy Wall Street protesters without pay or a history of political activism? The answer is simple: media exposure.

The protesters aren't the only ones craving the fleeting fame of the media spotlight. The PR firm's long-term sustainability actually depends on it -- especially nowadays when PR peeps outnumber reporters 3-to-1, and the challenge PR pros face capturing reporters' limited bandwidths.

After Zuccotti Park is emptied and the Occupy Wall Street movement dissipates (at least in its current form), the PR firm that served as the primary intermediary for local, national and international journalists will live on to leverage the very same news organizations with which it ingratiated itself during these tumultuous events of the last several weeks.

Update: The PR firm's CEO provides his rationale here.

A Virtual Feast

Tweet

Giada at Home

I really enjoy watching the cooking shows on TV. From the over-the-stove talents of the MasterChef and Lidia's Italy to the other talents of Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi and Giada at Home, these shows, for me, are a veritable feast. On the other side of the culinary coin resides Adam Richman in Man v. Food!

Chef Ramsey

And who doesn't revel in watching Chef Ramsey dress down some lame restaurant owner in Kitchen Nightmares? His reaction alone to the tasting at the outset of each episode is priceless.

I suppose I'm drawn to this content because I happen to love to dabble in the kitchen myself.

Man v. Food's Adam Richman

Padma Lakshmi

My wife may
be Italian, but I'm the one who makes the sauce (and the meatballs).

I don't however code. 

I'm more of a hack than a hacker, flack than a....  Maybe it was that early taste of MS-DOS that forever cleansed my palate of this popular proclivity.

Hence sitting through a few of the presentations at this week's New York Tech Meetup left me a little high and dry. I mean how pumped can one get watching a nervous geek painstakingly key-in computer code on a giant screen before an SRO audience of 800? The answer depends.

New York Tech Meetup Audience 10.11.11 (Photo: Clay Williams/NYTM)

For me, not very. But for many at NYU Tuesday evening, it was like the fifth game of the Major League Divisional Playoffs or the finals of American Idol.

The audience seemed mesmerized by the letters, numbers and symbols rolling out horizontally before their eyes. When a typo was made, several folks blurted it out before the coder on-stage even knew what hit him.

When the coding was finally cooked and ready to serve -- and it actually sated the audience's discerning appetites -- the adulation showered on the coder could give the announcement of the winning couple on Dancing with the Stars a run for its money.

As for me, I'd just prefer skipping how the sausage was made. My attraction to the monthly gathering rests with getting wowed by the every day utility of the apps, products and services that emanate from the all-night hackathons. Perhaps it's because my job to try to bridge the communications gap that invariably exists between the developer and the end-user.  For start-ups, it's frequently less a question of where to take the story, and more of how to tell the story.

Sure it was very cool hearing Mayor Mike describe how he personally soldered the transistors onto a motherboard to build the first Bloomberg Terminal in a pre-PC age some 30 years ago.

But few can argue with a powerful narrative that explains how those terminals facilitate real-time data sharing and its implications for the financial markets and other industries.

Of the nine or so presentations, I'd say the one with which I was most enamored was for Aurasma. We've all heard about 2D barcodes (QR codes to some). I wrote a post last spring proclaiming that their ubiquity at SXSW earned them the distinction of "winning" the giant tech fest.

 
                            Aurasma Demo'd @ #NYTM 10.11.11

Taking the idea of smartphone-scanning of still images to the next level -- GoogleGoggles notwithstanding -- Aurasma's developers treated the audience to a demo wherein a still photograph on the cover of USA Today morphed into an ABC News video clip on the same subject with the simple click of a smartphone. Or a scan of an image of a DVD player on its box instantly launches a video tutorial about the machine.

bit.ly's Matt LeMay

That's not to say that I didn't also enjoy hearing bit.ly's Matt LeMay, whom I've met previously over a table of unpeeled barbeque shrimp and fine wine, outline his company's plans to monetize bitly's billions and billions of bits of data for anyone wishing to analyze the online conversation.

He showed the audience a spare, Google-like search page under which all that data resides, and can be searched real-time...by geography too.  Smart (especially given Twitter's limited public archives).

bit.ly Search!

I had to dash out early -- thank you Mayor Mike -- and was sorry to have missed the presentations from Gust and from Framesocket for which my pal Clay Hebert played a presenting role.  I'll check out their sites.

I'll surely be back next month. (BTW, I'm liking Kikin's browser, demo'd last month, on my iPad.)  


All photos and video:  Peter Himler with a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS    

A Trio of Thought Leaders

Tweet

Wrong Location

OK So I arrived late. Who knew that O'Reilly Media/UBM TechWeb's Web 2.0 Expo had moved from that behemoth complex along the Hudson River to the heart of Manhattan's tourist district? (I guess I should have.)

I thus missed the first of the four sessions I hoped to attend.  It featured Karin Klein, Bloomberg LP's head of biz dev. Oh well. It wasn't really of primary interest to the PR-minded readers of this blog anyway.

Dorie Clark

The next three sessions, however, were spot on. The first featured Dorie Clark, one of several comms pros who parlayed the pathbreaking digital work on the Howard Dean Presidential campaign into a successful Boston-based communications consultancy. (Others I know from that campaign include Nicco Mele, Joe Trippi and Teddy Goff who toiled at the agency that was spawned from that work for Dean.)

Dorie's session was titled "How to (Mostly) Control Your Online Reputation." She opened with a slide with some practical advice, and then proceeded to run through a litany of examples that were familiar to anyone following such things.
 

I especially related to #2, which I tend to call banking one's "reputation capital" for a rainy day. One case in point was Taco Bell whose "well" of Twitter and Facebook friends and followers helped shield the QSR from potentially reputation-ruining ruminations of selling "mystery meat".

I was able to catch up with Dorie after her session. Here's the audio clip. (RT: 5:41) Her full preso is here. (RT: 38 mins, volume boost req.)

FH's Joshua Micah-Ross

Next up was Joshua Michele-Ross alongside whom I sat on a panel several years earlier.  Joshua heads digital in Europe out of Amsterdam for Omnicom's Fleishman Hillard.  His talk was titled "What's Your Social Media Architecture."

Winchester's Mystery House

He cleverly used the metaphor of the "mystery house" that  heiress Sarah Winchester built following her husband's death wherein stairways led to dead ends, doors opened to nowhere...  Josh cited a recent study that showed how large companies today owned an average of 178 (disconnected and many languishing) social channels.

Social Media Architecture Goals

He went on to list five attributes a company must strive to meet for its social media architecture to succeed,  I had a chance to grab some sound with Josh following his session. Here's the link. RT: 6 minutes). Here's the audio of his full presentation. (RT: 38 minutes)

Dachis Group's Peter Kim Works His Magic

Next up was the always insightful and affable Peter Kim, chief strategy officer for the Dachis Group out of Austin.  Peter's talk was titled "Social Media Mythbusters" for which he honed in on three myths:

• Fail Fast 

• Customers in Control

• Brands Don't Need Facebook or Twitter Strategy

I was especially enamored with the third "myth," since for years now, social media pundits have decried the notion that organizations need to be in these channels simply because its de rigeur to do so.

Peter pointed out that Facebook and Twitter now have such critical mass that it's almost mandated for consumer-facing brands to play in their digital sandboxes. He pointed out that Facebook alone would be the third most populous country behind China and India.

I did grab sound sound with Peter following his session. Here's the clip. (RT: 6:02). And here the audio from the full session. (RT: 33 mins, volume boost needed)

All in all, Web 2.0 Expo New York provided a most worthwhile visit for this blogger.  But I've come to expect nothing less from the team at O'Reilly Media.

Your Weekend Viewing

Tweet

The Man 

Here's to the Crazy Ones (circa 1997) narrated by Steve Jobs




A nervous 23-year-old Steve Jobs about to go on TV (via BusinessInsider)




To Steve Jobs on his 30th Birthday (via The Next Web)




Steve Talks to Apple Marketing Team in 1997 (via Ad Age)




Steve Jobs Macworld 2001 (Tour of First Apple Store)
 



Steve Jobs Insult Response (WWDC) via Fast Company

 


Steve Jobs Commencement Speech @ Stanford University in 2005




Steve Jobs: "My Model for Business is the Beatles" (via 60 Minutes)




Steve Jobs & Bill Gates together w/Walt Mossberg (AllThingsD - 2007)




Steve Jobs last Public Appearance - Cupertino City Council Meeting (via The Next Web)

 

Those Who Knew Him

Woz via Bloomberg TV



John Sculley: Steve Jobs was Finest CEO Ever (via Bloomberg TV)
 

Walt Mossberg Reflects on Jobs' Life (AllThingsD via Fox Business News)

 


Mayor Mike, at the Opening of Twitter's NY offices, Opens with a Tribute to Steve Jobs




PBS NewsHour w/ Steve Case, Vincent Cerf and Xeni Jardin

 

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Eric Schmidt's Poignant Interview on Steve Jobs (via Bloomberg TV HT The Next Web
 

Media Tributes

Cult of Mac Video Tribute




New York Times's media editor Bruce Headlam on Steve Jobs' influence on media



Jon Stewart's Video Tribute 




Stephen Colbert Tribute

CNN Video Tribute

 



Wired Video Tribute

 



A video moment of silence for Steve Jobs courtesy of Scientific American

His Fans

Apple's greatest fan courtesy of ABC News


  


Mourners at Fifth Ave. Apple Store via Business Insider



We All Are Steve

 

Casey Neistat HT Dennis Crowley
for Steve jobs from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.




A Two-Year-Old's Tribute to Steve Jobs (via CNN iReport)

Cursed Reporters!

Tweet

Have you ever wanted to tell-off a reporter for getting it blatantly wrong or worse, ignoring your overtures altogether? As PR pros, we forever had to hold our tongues for fear of alienating the very gatekeepers on whom we relied to tell our clients' stories.

I used to say that client relationships come and go, but the care and upkeep of editorial relationships are far more vital for long-term success.

Some reporters relished the fact the PR people were suppliant to them, and had no qualms sh***ing on them on occasion. Granted, the inane pitches many received more than justified their overt displays of animosity. If I took to heart all the abuse I've endured over the years -- from snooty, curt answers to total hang-ups -- I'd be in Bellevue Hospital today. It was an accepted part of the media relations equation.

The biggest issue today for PR types trying to engage reporters has less to do with verbal abuse and more to do with just getting to verbal. Back in the day, mainstream journalists received dozens of story pitches. The advent of email ratcheted up the volume even more.

Today, reporters on popular beats like tech and healthcare are apt to receive in excess of 500 email pitches...daily! You can thank the automated PR services for that, or rather, the lazy PR people who don't take time to vet and boil down the media lists those services spit out. This doesn't even include story ideas percolating on Twitter and custom-curated or aggregated feeds.

Today PR practitioners have more options for delivering their clients' messages and news to end audiences. First, not every pitch needs to land in the mailbox of an @nytimes or @wsj domain. There are countless influencers who have blogs and/or have large Twitter followings to make one's engagement efforts most worthwhile. Also, many mainstream journalists follow these folks and even view them as story validators who may catalyze their own interest.

Secondly, and more significantly, all companies today, as Tom Foremski suggests, are media companies. Developing ad creative is one thing, but today the smart companies are developing and syndicating edit creative that captures eyeballs. It's not earned, but rather "owned" media.

Has the onset of these alternative communications channels emboldened PR pros to throw caution to the wind in their dealings with reporters from established news orgs? Here's one of the Huffington Post's typical incendiary headlines atop a story that popped today:

"CBS Reporter Claims White House Officials Screamed And Cursed At Her."

In the piece, Sharyll Attkisson, an investigative reporter from CBS News, claims (and names) two government spokespeople who dissed her:

"Attkisson told Ingraham that, when she broke a damning story about the operation, she got extremely aggressive pushback from the Obama administration. She said that a DOJ spokeswoman named Tracy Schmaler had yelled at her on Monday about the story, but that it was nothing compared to the way a White House spokesman named Eric Schultz had acted. Attkisson said he had 'literally screamed at me and cussed at me' about the story, and that the White House also told her that she was the only reporter not being 'reasonable' about the issue."

Of course when you work for the White House where reporters are often suppliant to you, you have more latitude in the level of civility you're required to show a press person. Still, the piece brought a smile to my face when I think about all those nasty reporter quips hurled my way over several decades on the PR beat. Sharyll, I take no pity. 

Now I suppose the bigger question is what was a CBS News reporter doing on Laura Ingraham's radio show.

Picture Imperfect

Tweet

It was with mixed emotions and frankly somewhat of a shock to hear the news late last week that one of the world's most well-known and, at one-time, most-esteemed consumer brands was considering filing for bankruptcy. And I was not alone in my surprise.

My first experience with the biggest employer in Rochester, NY came in the mid-eighties at Hill and Knowlton. Kodak was a long-standing client of H&K's sister ad agency J. Walter Thompson. When JWT PR merged with H&K, we were tasked with booking local in-studio TV talk segments for the company's "photo experts." The hook? How to take better pictures, of course. It had multiple hooks throughout the year - holiday, wedding, prom, autumnal, graduation pictures...you name it.

Brooklyn Bridge Centennial Celebration (1983)

A few years later, we were on board a ship in the night on the East River to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge. The anniversary coincided with Kodak's debut of higher-speed film (ISO 200, 400, and 1000). We invited a handful of news magazine photographers aboard to use the ISO 1000-speed film to capture the event's fireworks display.  And they did -->

The digital drums hadn't started to beat just yet, but when they did -- some 13 years later -- I was at Burson-Marsteller noodling over another seminal Kodak product launch.  Like many other technology driven companies, Kodak had a huge conundrum before it: how to innovate without cannabilizing long-standing and lucrative businesses, namely its silver halide film and camera franchises.

Instead of fully embracing digital, which many in the industry still believed could never match the image resolution of traditional silver halide film, Kodak and other top manufacturers collaborated to prolong the life of film, but with some digital enhancements -- something they called the Advanced Photo System (APS).

We were brainstorming the launch of Kodak's branded APS entry - Advantix film and cameras - and were faced with a farily daunting hurdle:

Even though Kodak R&D did most of the heavy-lifting to develop the simpler, ready-to-use and improved quality advanced photo system, it had made a pact with the four other APS launch partners -- Canon, Nikon, Fuji and and Minolta -- to hold off announcing any specific products until 2:00pm on February 1, 1996 -- 2:00pm TOKYO TIME, mind you, or midnight east coast time!

I remember the brainstorming session vividly since B-M CEO Tom Bell personally sat in. We had two epiphanies: let's hold a Hollywood-style, globally satellite-fed live launch event at 9:00pm PT in Hollywood! We hired actress Jane Seymour to join Kodak chief George Fisher on stage for the product reveal, which included an oversized Advantix film cartridge descending from the ceiling (an inspiration of B-M's O.J. Hazard).  

Post-Event Show & Tell with Kodak CEO George Fisher

Our second idea proved even more effective than the day-of feeding of celeb images and infused video clips from L.A.. It entailed inviting top-tier print journalists, a network morning show, CNN and others to Rochester to get the first EMBARGOED glimpse at Kodak's take on the Advanced Photo System. (Remember, Kodak's engineers did much of the heavy-lifting.)

By the time the January 31st L.A. launch rolled around, the media pipeline was already filled with a dozen or so tone-setting, Kodak-owned stories. This strategy was validated when CNN told me a few days before the launch that it had to inform Fuji's PR reps when they called that its packaged segment was already in the can-ister, so to speak.

The product launch ended up being the most successful in Kodak's history, generating 1.68 billion media impressions and two million advance orders for Advantix cameras. (I still have the 6" thick clip book.) Six months later Forbes wrote:

"APS is the product of a unique collaboration by five big camera makers Kodak, Fuji, Canon, Minolta and Nikon to set a common standard. Kodak, however, has 60% of the patents on the camera. So why the collaboration? "We thought the industry could not afford another Beta/VHS battle," Fisher explains, referring to the war between two rival VCR formats.

Cooperation is paying off. Kodak's Advantix has 85% of the market in APS film sold in the U.S., versus 70% of the conventional market. This year Kodak will double Advantix capacity, to 5 million cameras. "This is a whole new platform that will give way to new ways of using these hybrid digital film cassettes," enthuses Fisher.

But, alas, Advantix, which I believe is still sold today, could only forestall the looming digital photography revolution, which Kodak ultimately and wholeheartedly embraced, but couldn't quite win the day.  Whatever the reasons for the shortcomings, we now await the fate of this proud and important pathbreaking American company.