PR's Greatest Hits

Comprised from actions of PR royalty like Richard Edelman, interviewing experience, observations and case studies, these practices have proved continually successful as well as imperative in the public relations field. To succeed in this business, one must only look at previous achievements as well as failures. Everyone has the tools for success; the trick lies in one’s ability and creativity when using them.

• Credibility
• Networking
• Stay Current and Open-minded
• Do Your Homework, Research
• Find an Mentor

Pop Culture and PR: Tackling the Trend

Angelina & Brad vs. Jennifer & Vince. Skin and bones! Grey's Anatomy. Nicole who? Nick & Jessica vs. Nick & Kristin. Scientology woes. Oprah! the O.C. Lindsay Lohan. the Olsen twins. New Orleans. American Idol. Jay Leno. The Colbert Report politics, Iraq and President Bush's hidden agenda?

So what does this all mean? Who knows! But it's obviously important because with just the mention of a product on Oprah, its stock sky rockets! A single episode of American Idol sweeps in millions of viewers just to see who Simon will chew out. We expect the actress who doesn't have 5 pounds to lose, to lose at least 20 pounds then criticize her for being a poor role model to young girls. America condemns while praising at the same time. Pop culture, synonymous with contradiction, has created a phenomenon within America: the obsessions with celebrities and living the “fabulous” life.

That's right; I'm talking the multi-billion dollar tabloid business. Who’s dating who? Who’s having Brad’s baby? Whose anorexic? Overweight? Who shops where? Who said what? Who cares!?! However, PR would be foolish to ignore this tidal wave of a trend. Instead, align your product/client within pop culture’ "good" graces. Naturally, depending on your constituents and demographics, different trends will attract different results, desired or not. If you want to draw in the middle-class housewives, get on board with Oprah. If you want young adults, start watching Grey's Anatomy. It doesn't take much though to recognize the "it" new thing. Just pick up any current copy of People Magazine, Us Weekly or Star to see what's "in" and what's "out" simply by looking at the cover.

So unless you've been living under a rock, you can figure out what fits within your client's scope. Then, embrace pop culture and tackle the trend that will make you're image the up-to-the-minute pioneering product it’s always been (unless Jessica Simpson hates it that is).

BBC America Launch: Examing the Reconnection of America and the Mother Country through TV

The 1980s—characterized by economic and political decentralization, an astronomically-booming global population and advancing technological development—brought with it rapidly changing beliefs worldwide that challenged traditional institutions. I feel BBC characterized these changing times perfectly with its decision to venture into commercial broadcasting launching BBC America on the US cable market under its new BBC Worldwide commercial broadcast.

BBC, the world's leading and most well-known broadcaster based in the United Kingdom, operated solely on revenues collected from television license fees. However, increased economic competition initiated by the 1980s British radio and television market deregulation forced the BBC to reexamine its position as a public service broadcaster. How could the publicly-funded radio and television broadcasting network generate needed revenue on its advertisement-free programs and still adhere to its core values and regulations? What possible business enterprise would thrive while maintaining BBC’s reputation as the most respected and well-known public service broadcaster? BBC consequential underwent a network restructuring in 1995, and developed a new subsidiary commercial division providing quality programs internationally while also generating supplementary income for its traditional UK charter base—BBC Worldwide.

Taking the international directive, in 1994 BBC Worldwide emerged seeking to build upon the original BBC's respected brand and integrity using its credibility as a launching point. By keeping both ventures separate, BBC Worldwide could advertise and participate within the commercial market while simultaneously using the BBC familiarity. In 1998, the partnership with Discovery Communications Inc. (the parent company of the Discovery Channel) paved the way for BBC America's sensational introduction onto the US cable and satellite market in 1998. The network’s success rested on its ability to: (1) maintain the traditional BBC organizational structure and operational structure as the world’s most-respected public broadcaster on its native soil of the British Isles; while (2) developing, marketing and earning revenue from a commercial arm, the newly created BBC Worldwide division. Could the former public-funded broadcast network successfully expand and integrate itself into a foreign market as a wholly advertising-supported broadcast network a still return a profit?

I examined the strategies BBC Worldwide implemented when introducing BBC America to the United States measuring its success in two ways: (1) by the bottom-line numbers of American cable operators carrying BBC America, subscribers watching BBC America and growing advertising revenues; and (2) in the satisfaction level of BBC America’s audience.

Wanting to update its well-known but seemingly stuffy reputation in the United States, BBC introduced something completely un-American onto the American viewing system attempting to separate itself from various competing broadcasts. In the end, BBC America wanted to become financially independent and evolve as a strong business. BBC America aimed to have 25 million American subscribers by 2004. BBC America knew it must target passionate American viewers passionate about BBC who would in turn spread through word of mouth the validity of the new channel. Bridging BBC's well-established and notorious brand to the BBC America’s novel newsworthiness, BBC promoted the channel through the trade press, supporting the affiliate sales drive for distribution and ad sales drive for advertisers. Additionally, it used television, radio, newspapers and magazine promotions to raise awareness and demand.

BBC America’s constituents included members of the Television Critics Association, advertisers, US cable operators and satellite providers and anglophile television viewers. Attempting to reach its primary audiences through buzz in the trade consumer press, the strategic implementation emphasized a well-developed timetable taking the targeted audience into careful consideration. BBC America wanted to place itself firmly on the American audience’s radar, which they did.

Winning coveted slots, including the opportunity to present its channel at the Television Critics Association, BBC continually used positive press and imaginateve approaches to further its new channel in the US cable and satellite market. The first program-specific publicity campaign, This Life—an edgy and contemporary drama—won unprecedented coverage for a small cable channel. In October of 1998, Echostar’s DISH added BBC America to its network placing the channel in a total of 4.5 million US homes. The commercial website campaign substantially exceeded expectations receiving and efficiently answering 1,500 e-mails per month by January 2000. Several articles, including USA Today’s top ten highlights of the 1998-1999 TV season and the Wall Street Journal’s mention of its 1999 summer schedule of premiere programming, featured the channel which BBC America used extensively in advertising and promotion.

By 2004, BBC America has 25 million US subscribers (on target). In its first season, BBC America also reached the 25 per cent in upfront advertising received. The website received 700,000 page impressions per month from 120,000 unique users per month. Completely positive press since the launch occupied $2 million worth of space in trade and consumer publications in 1999 and rose the channel’s profile by appearing in practically every major newspaper and trade magazine—including USA Today, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Multichannel News, Broadcasting and Cable and Advertising Age.

BBC’s ability to successfully reinvent itself by capitalizing on its solid brand and reputation while remaining loyal to its theoretical foundation exhibits the imperative flexibility needed for a company to maintain, create and capitalize on innovative opportunities in an international market. The carefully selected media mix used opinion leaders in the target culture and country allowed BBC to distribute quality programs that secured opinion leader’s and viewers’ conviction of what BBC America should and would entail by using an extensive amount of research to discover the Anglophile viewer.

So the point to this long babble of cable domesticity? Do you’re homework, then do it again, then do it again; build off of a sound reputation that audience will find familiar; creatively promote yourself in unheard of mediums; and offer innovative programs specified designed and selected using all that homework you did! Now bugger off you bloody American!

I Want It All Baby! Autonomy, Domesticity and Business Success

Can One Bake the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies on the Block, Wear the "Big Girl Pants" and Equally Compete in the Boardroom Simultaneously?

It's not that I think all women need to be completely independent, nor men for that matter, but I do believe that a sense of autonomy, being self-sufficient and the ability to hold your in a variety of situations gives women merit and credibility in the business world which previous generations reserved only for men. Over Spring Break, I began reading Bitch, by Elizabeth Wurtzel—yes I know, it got my attention too. I am only on page 26 and already know Wurtzel is onto something. Addressing difficult women and praising their ability to captivate and maintain interest throughout history, it seems the more confusing and controversial you are during life, the more infamous you become posthumously! Take Marilyn Monroe and Cleopatra for example, they spent their whole lives breaking boundaries, infuriating others, beating to their own drum you could say and had their fair share of problems to go along with it. Yet, through death their lives have become legend and we can’t get enough—a Google search for “Marilyn Monroe” returned with 17,800,000 websites and “Cleopatra” in close second with 16,800,000!

Claiming difficult women are “trouble, trouble and more trouble—but worth every minute of hell!” Wurtzel describes individuals such as Gertrude Stein, Patti Smith, Bette Davis, Eva “Evita” Perón and Judy Garland not as bitches, but as women who blazed their own paths. And in our day, one cannot even think about powerful women without mentioning the unimaginable success of Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart. Millions of television sets turn to NBC at 4 p.m. to intently watch Oprah Winfrey—an Emmy Award-winning talk show host—as well as buy her self-titled magazine, O, and tune into her own radio station on XM Satellite Radio called Oprah & Friends. Forbes magazine ranked her as the most powerful celebrity and I have witness the power of her influence over everything from skyrocketing book sales to the fall of the cattle industry in the late 1990s. Yet this very influence constantly puts Oprah in the taloids, news and media attracting both criticism and praise. Martha Stewart catapulted into a complete domination as a lifestyle tour guide through all aspects of the homemaking—arts and crafts, garden, kitchen and etiquette—after a slight infraction with the law from a premature “yard sale” of her ImClone stock. However, neither is currently married, only one is a mother, both obtained fame and fortune through immense hard work as well as through a little scandal. So do women have to be bad sometimes in order to be successful? Is marriage, motherhood and a career actually possible? I find myself wondering exactly what role women are now expected to take on compared to the role they want to enlist in.

As a junior in college majoring in Corporate Communications and Public Relations, I spend countless late nights striving to further my education and obtain a vocation that I will be able to support myself on, take pride in and succeed in. Yet as I take each step closer to the real world, I find myself wondering where I’ll end up. In addition to my career, I want marriage, children, autonomy and success. Is this actually possible in one woman’s lifetime? Can I wear my “big girl pants” in the boardroom, be happy in a functioning marriage, bake the best chocolate chip cookies on the block, be active in my kids’ school and PTA and still be a woman in tandem? Ha, it makes my head hurt just thinking about it! I have learned from experience that you have to sacrifice to succeed and from history that a little deviance can equal success business-wise. Yet how does it fit into motherhood and domesticity? The mystery of the Supermom sometimes seems unattainable in today’s progressive, over-scheduled, demanding, CRAZY world. But somehow women do it. I have no clue how, but I plan on figuring it out because I want it all. I want to work my butt off, compete with the big dogs, know my way around the kitchen, strike fear into the competition, be an involved mother and still have time to paint my toes apple red while drinking a martini by the pool on a warm summer day.

So I end my ramblings with the same question I began with: Can One Bake the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies on the Block, Wear the "Big Girl Pants" and Equally Compete in the Boardroom Simultaneously? Honestly, who knows?! I do know however that right now, I have my plate full focusing on nailing down a summer internship, studying and doing the best I can in school and somehow finding time for me in an already overbooked life. I don’t have all the answers or the directions to follow on “having it all.” What I do have is much more valuable—determination, drive and a solid foundation. As they say, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Well, you better believe when I go after what I want, I will find the way, the means and time to make some sweet tea in between; after all I am from South Carolina ya know.

“Now Get On With Your Life!”

Edelman uses bloggers to initiate conversations with Wal-Mart issues, no need to “cry wolf”

Recently in the media, stories such as today’s New York Time’s “Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in Its Public Relations Campaign” and Wall Street Journal’s article from Feb. 9 titled “Blog Buzz on High-Tech Start-Ups Causes Some Static,” have brought attention to the growing shift in public relation imiage campaiging strategies. By directly engaging bloggers to initiate conversations about current issues pertaining to the company, companies enable public opinion to flourish, hopefully positive. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/technology/07blog.html

For example, in the Wal-Mart article, Wal-Mart hired Edelman, a highly respectable PR firm based in Dallas, TX, to help fix their “issue problem,” which comprises of only one of the many attacks the company faces. The main player in this situation, Marshall Manson, a senior account supervisor at Edelman, e-mailed bloggers who had either posted blogs supporting Wal-Mart or criticizing their critics about receieving newsowrthy updates not found in the mainstream media. Most agreed, which makes sense if you think about it—if I wrote a supportive blog about an organization and they in return e-mailed me asking if I’d like to receive more information about a topic I am already interested in, you better believe I’d say “e-mail away!”

The e-mails sent by Manson list several excerts from newspapers and other media endorsing Wal-Mart, kudos for their high appliation return in Illinois and possible blog topics to discuss. The problem however, enters when bloggers posted blogs verbatum to the e-mails received by Manson, something I call this the “Cliff Notes Effect.” The CNE refers to when you were in high school and instead of actually reading Great Expectations or Huckleberry Fin, you went straight to the Cliff Notes, exerting the least amount of energy possible for the minimal grade possible, aka laziness. The technique Manson used is nothing new to public relations. In fact its roots originate in human nature—if you’re being verbally attacked, you will inherently fight back, rebute the rumors, tell “your” side of the story. http://sayanythingblog.com/wal-mart.pdf (example of an e-mail sent to supportive bloggers of Wal-Mart to give “nuggets of newsworthy information about Wal-Mart from time to time”)

The purpose of Manson’s actions was to expand the circulation of information to those genuinely interested in learning more. If a blogger decided they’d rather not write about Wal-Mart, then they’d just delete the e-mail. I think the media wants to turn blame on someone in a blame-less situation. No one is hurt, killed or deceived. People aren’t crossing their T’s and dotting their I’s when using another source’s information, which violates the basic ethics in writing. Attribute everything! It not only makes your work more convincing, it also deflect the blame later if there is any.

Despite the medium, ethics are ethics are ethics. This ideology pertains especially to blogs, when the temptation to deviate from one’s own work is exceptionally high. In order to maintain status as a credible source, transparency is imperative. If you didn’t say it, attribute it. Say where you got the information from, your relationship to the source and if there is any financial exchange. Is it required for bloggers to disclose their source? Not at all. But the absence of crucial information to help your reader make a well-rounded decision could prove devastating to your credibility. Transparency never hurt anyone’s image, but manipulation can kill it.

Edelman fully understands this concept. Every morning, promptly at 6 a.m., Richard Edelman posts a blog, and no surprise the topic of discussion today—Wal-Mart and Edelman’s involvement with the PR image strategy. Explaining everything in black and white, addressing the issues at hand, denying none of its actions and explaining the mechanics of PR strategy used—nothing to “cry wolf” about. http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Edelman’s tactic, one this is undisputable, Wal-Mart just got a huge surplus of publicity. More directly, as they say “bad publicity is better than no publicity.” And this case is no exception, in fact think back the James Frey situation with his book A Million Little Pieces. After Oprah kicked him out of her book club for illusionary renditions of the truth in his retelling of his experience with drugs and rehab, the book remains on the major best sellers list—number two to be exact.

The Bushman shamans of Kalahari, Africa, have a saying that I think pertains to pretty much every sticky situation, “Now get on with your life!” My advice to skeptics of this PR strategy reflects the Bushman shamans’—blogging is here to stay. Just because it’s a different landscape than previous years, it still is a PR tool to which traditional and innovative techniques will be applied to. Now get on with your life already and report about something we don’t already know!

Technology and Public Relations: A Manifestation of Information Sharing

The structure of Public Relations is changing. No, I take that back. They have already changed and the mechanics behind PR will never be the same. With new inputs, new imperative principles emerge as essential assets to a company’s culture—timeliness, effectiveness, consistency, control, validation and willingness to change. In order to create and keep clients, most importantly their trust, following these essential qualities means the difference from past and present. “Public relation’s roles as corporate gatekeeper will dramatically increase as we move into the 21st century,” Larry Weber, founder of Weber Shandwick Worldwide, claims in his book PR Visionaries. “Leveraging direct communication vehicles such as the Internet, PR professionals will take on the pivotal role of ‘content programmers,’ directing the experience a constituent has with an organization.” Emphasizing the importance of validation, PR practitioners need to pay particular close attention to the human interest aspect that creates the brand’s story/history/image in the eyes of the public.

Ketchum also recognizes the significance in coming to terms with emerging technology and channeling the message to increase brand awareness and maintain a competitive edge. In a press release released in June of 2005, Ketchum announced the launching of their new Global “Personalized Media” Service integrating online, wireless tools like blogs into firms’ communications strategy. And this was a year ago! With the lighting speed technology emerges at, Ketchum jumped to the front of the technology frontier explaining and utilizing the difference between blogs, podcasting, really simple syndication (RSS), search engine optimization (SEO) and mobile marketing on its website. What we thought was new is now old and the newest methods are flooding the information sharing scene—making it easier, edgier and more appealing than years past. http://www.ketchum.com/DisplayWebPage/0,1943,3257,00.html

By using emerging technological advances and converging the medium for each specific audience, routine business in effect becomes more streamline and precise. Not knowing how to take advantage of these new techniques and practices can leave your company at a serious disadvantage. Now with just the click of a mouse, a financial analyst can instantly view a company’s earnings. Customers can virtually try on clothes avoiding dealing with annoying salesclerks. “To truly have a real impact on influencing perception and behavior, pure information has to be supplemented with emotion,” Weber explains in PR Visionaries. No one likes to try on clothes on a “fat” day and how can one resist checking a company’s financial status from the luxury of their own home while drinking coffee and their bathrobe. The combination of emotion and convenience, technology is creating a new standard of how PR, as well as the global market, conducts business.

Transforming the way practitioners view the field, organizations like PRSA are taking notice and taking action by having a national conference on technology journalism in June of 2006. In an attempt to make sense and take control of today’s most effective and ambiguous medium of information sharing, the conference will cover maintaining clarity in communication, how technology impacts PR, assessing the PR landscape, leveraging existing tools for maximum effect, anticipating emerging trends and looking ahead. http://prsa.org/_Networking/technology/index.asp?indent=tech1

Some may wonder about the lack of personal contact with the in influx of information. While previous generations based business interactions on face-to-face contact, today and tomorrow’s generation were raised on the internet, text messaging, e-mail and cell phones. Both groups communicate effectively, but the methods have changed. Use the technological forms equally often. Yet in today’s world of impersonal contact, a personalized letter or phone call can mean the difference from remembering “Perrin White called me yesterday” versus “some P. White sent me an e-mail, but I deleted it because I don’t recognize the name.” The key is to maintain one-to-one communication with constituencies choosing the best medium for each situation and audience.

Technology is here to stay, but that’s old news. The idea now is to channel the message used to increase brand awareness, clientele and most importantly use these new techniques to your company’s advantage. However, a word to the wise, do not forget that behind that mouse, computer screen, blog, podcast and RSS is a human being with emotions, needs and wants. In the midst of technology, do not allow yourself to lose of element of humanity and emotion. By combining demonstrative and experiential interaction communication, you are well on your way to conquering the next in technology, whatever that may be.

How to get some serious INK for your client and the importance of discernment and imagination

Just when you think you have all your ducks in a row, everything changes. While this ambiguous statement resonates with basically every aspect of life, the matter I’m referring to conveys the ability of projecting your client’s name out there. Today more than ever imagination, intuition and taking the least traveled path will reap the most benefits when attempting to create and maintain buzz.

Focus groups? Check. Press release? Check. Media kit? Check. Promotional benefit? Check. What’s left? How does company X or Y reel in the everyday Joe or the specific target group that your product will benefit? Word-of-mouth. According to Mark Hughes, CEO of Buzzmarketing, “word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of marketing on earth” producing the most substantial feedback, hence INK for your client (https://webmail.smu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.buzzmarketing.com/). The problematic segment in this equation deals with once again, how do you spark these conversations? How do you make your product interesting, entertaining, newsworthy and above all, rise above all the clutter? The very basis of word-of-mouth derives from the venue it travels through—one on one contact. By speaking directly to the public, all other media competition disappears. Not to mention the velocity at which opinions now travel from one individual to another with the advancement of technology—Text messaging, blogs, podcasts, AIM, e-mail—has once again expanded the possibilities for getting your client ink.

One such example of using the inevitable to your client’s benefit divulges from the fast-paced advancing technology and popularity of cell phones ring tones. Who ever decided that instead of having only five options of rings for your cell phone and expanded the selection to different sounds was on the right track. However, the individual that discovered the untapped resource of marketing hot artists’ tracks, for a fee of course, to play as the consumer’s ringtone on their phone hit gold. Today, if you type “ringtone” into a Google search, over 160 million sites appear in a matter of seconds. Having the choice from an endless supply of country, pop, rap, classical, TV show theme songs and whatever desired, consumers are pro-actively searching out their desired ringtone to fit their personality. Why does this work? Simple. It’s entertaining, newsworthy, inexpensive and is quickly becoming a norm of cell phones. Now, this opportunity has passed. But when one door closes, another window opens.

When dealing with transforming the old into something new and viable, think integrated communications. PRSA explains how combining the three elements of a new corporate logo, a redesigned website and a company spokesperson with an interesting twist—also known as the grassroots technique—a company can re-launch itself into the market with a fresh face and outlook. (http://www.prsa.org/_Advance/seminars/Extreme_Brand_Makeover.pdf) However, beware of skeptics who may challenge this change as a cover-up instead of a face-lift. In this case, transparency remains foremost important tools in shifting the old into new smoothly. This attempt to create an emotional brand connection with consumers can create big payoffs boosting awareness, resonates with consumers and re-establishes and reinvents the brand. Joel Frey, public relations manager and crisis control program manager for Travelocity, advocates this method for essentially taking an exhausted company and raising it from the dead.

Just as important, knowing what to do for successful campaigns runs parallel to knowing what not to do. Common Purpose, a nonprofit organization that runs educational programs and activities for leaders of all ages, sectors and backgrounds, lists the top ten marketing blunders on their website. Disregarding the obvious such as checking the spelling, grammar and details, the list continues on listing the importance and reemphasizing the imperative need for sound research. Before you even imagine about embarking on a new campaign, you must know what you are dealing with. Also, keep an eye on your website. If left alone too long, your website could easily fall victim to hackers creating a catastrophic situation. If this happens, immediately disable the site. Continuing with words of advice on appealing to diverse groups, conveying in the appropriate language, addressing individuals personally without overtly smuggling them, preparing your company for the worse implementing crisis control, waiting for the right time to launch your campaign and beware of the sometimes fatal impact of the shock factor. (http://www.commonpurpose.org.uk/home/public/civilsociety/skills/marketing/
mistakes/top-ten-marketing-blunders.aspx)

The Media and Public Relations Department of King’s College in London provides a list of questions on their website to ask when wondering the news value of one’s work (http://www.kcl.ac.uk/media/staff/whatisnews.html). Asking questions such as: Is the work ground-breaking? Is it the first of something? Will it affect a lot of people? Will it change familiar way of doing or seeing things? Is there a human interest angle? Does it link in with current news? Will it entertain, intrigue, surprise or shock people? Has it produced strong visual images? These vital questions will help determine the success of a campaign and I strongly suggest reviewing these angles backwards and front wards when attempting to launch a new idea, distribute a product or position a client. Once you have answered all these questions, repeat. A fresh outlook can prove indispensable when brainstorming.

In conclusion, what is the answer to getting ink for your client? There is no magic potion or equation that allocates a certain response from predetermined inputs. Only through collaboration of every imaginative, creative, refurbishing, entertaining, newsworthy, ground-breaking and necessary actions of life will one determine the key to success. Each product, client, campaign is different and deals with different attributes, settings, publics and needs. The combination of determining the need and the want with an unused venue of information-sharing will bring the best results. With that, stand on your head, do some jumping jacks, read a paper, ease drop on a conversation, just get out there! Figure out what people need, want, desire and figure out how your product can reel them in to fill that request. Only then, will you strike gold, and get ink for your client.