Category Archives: Public Relations

Should the Government Bailout Failing Journalists?

I’m still shaking my head in amazement over Lee Bollinger’s Wall Street Journal op-ed last week, which was titled “Journalism Needs Government Help.”

Today Bill King, president and CEO of American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio, chimed in with a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor supporting Mr. Bollinger. Mr. King writes, “Lee Bollinger makes a compelling case for increased government funding of journalism in America.”

Are these people for real?

Mr. Bollinger is president of Columbia University, and his plea for government to rescue journalism shows just how far off the cliff much of the “mainstream” news media have fallen. His op-ed also is an enlightening contrast between the way the academic and business communities view free markets and competition.

Mr. Bollinger blames the Internet for journalism’s decline and laments that because of its success, Americans may become deprived of the essential information they need. His solution? “More public funding for news gathering is the answer.”

Isn’t more public funding the same argument we’ve heard for decades as the cure-all for our failing educational system and a panoply of well-intentioned but ill-conceived social programs?

But the bigger issue is that we already are routinely deprived of essential information by a host of journalists more intent on advocacy and slanting the news to their liking than simply reporting the facts.

One recent example is the way in which most of the national news media ignored the DOJ’s dismissal of the New Black Panthers’ voter intimidation case, despite compelling video evidence. Another is the widespread misrepresentation of Arizona’s immigration law.

“Enhanced public funding for journalism,” as Mr. Bollinger so charmingly calls it, will in reality do nothing more than enhance the fawning relationship liberal journalists have with the Left and bring us closer to government control of news.

The First Amendment prohibits Congress from abridging freedom of speech or of the press, but no where does it suggest the government should establish, regulate or underwrite the press.

Instead of blaming technology, what Mr. Bollinger and his colleagues ought to be asking themselves is why people are abandoning many print and broadcast media giants in droves, while a handful of national media outlets have found ways to succeed and leave their competition in the dust.

The real problem is that a growing number of people simply don’t trust what they hear and read from most journalists these days. Siphoning off public dollars to reward failure and give us more of the same is not going to change that.

Money can buy a lot of things, but integrity isn’t one of them.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Ad Agencies Need to Balance Sponsorship Benefits with Risks

Kristi Clough, an associate at Seattle PR firm Firmani + Associates Inc., recently wrote a guest column in the Puget Sound Business Journal about the benefits and risks of company sponsorships.

You can read her column here: http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2010/05/17/focus22.html?b=1274068800^3358031&ana=e_vert

While Ms. Clough believes that the benefits of sponsorship tend to outweigh the risks, she acknowledges that “Character flaws and basic human nature can derail brand alignment seemingly overnight.”

It’s that overnight derailing part that bothers me. As I’ve previously noted on this blog, the potential downsides to linking an organization’s brand with a public figure are significant. It can take a long time to build a brand through a celebrity, yet that goodwill can evaporate very quickly when there’s a scandal.

Of course, there are many examples of celebrity endorsements that have been highly successful and which generated increases in sales. But, when you combine risk factors with the large outlay of money that top celebrities typically demand for endorsements, I can’t help but wonder if there aren’t smarter ways to spending marketing dollars.

Perhaps there’s some safer middle ground. Earlier this week, Marketing Daily reported that the Aflac duck has teamed up with “Toy Story” characters Woody and Buzz Lightyear in a 30-second commercial promoting “Toy Story 3.”

Now there’s a celebrity team that’s hard to beat—and one that’s pretty unlikely to engage in anything controversial or unsavory.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Ad Agencies: CMO Survey Finds Most Clients Satisfied with PR

A new survey from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council finds that most marketers are satisfied with their agencies, with a majority ranking them as “pretty good” or ”extremely valuable.” Less than one in 10 of the respondents said they plan to switch ad agencies.

Only 14% of the respondents said they are looking for other PR representation.

According to a CMO Council news release, participants were drawn from every major region of the world and were representative of most vertical industry sectors and company sizes. Nearly 63 percent of respondents said they reported directly to the CEO, president or COO, while another 21 percent said they were accountable to a regional vice president, general manager or division/business group head.

Other key findings from The State Of Marketing: Outlook, Intentions and Investments for 2010 include:

• Clients are building new internal skills, and if you’re a traditional ad agency with a limited suite of standardized creative and media services, you’re likely to have less budget, control and influence with your client.

• Investing in digital demand generation and online relationship building rank among the top initiatives being taken to maximize the impact and value of marketing in 2010 by 46 percent of those surveyed.

• When marketers were asked to rate their online marketing performance capability, only 6 percent responded “excellent.” The majority (44 percent) reported they are either growing their capabilities or struggling to quantify the value of online marketing spending.

• Attesting to the growing shift to digital modes of engagement, 59 percent of marketers are looking to train and develop existing staff, 40 percent are adding or expanding digital marketing agency support and 36 percent expect to bring in new talent resources to their organizations.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Ad Agencies: Reputation Insurance Is on the Rise for Celebrity Endorsements

The New York Times is reporting that insurers are being “inundated” with inquiries from companies seeking to protect their brands.

“Many companies take out death and disability insurance to cover themselves in the event that an athlete or celebrity endorser dies or is injured while under contract. In a new wrinkle, more companies are trying to insure against the potential loss of sales when an athlete product endorser is involved in a scandal,” according to the Times article.

After all, if someone like Tiger Woods can suddenly become a liability to companies that were linked to him through his endorsements, how many celebrity/athlete endorsements are really safe bets?  That’s exactly the point of my previous posts on this subject.

“Insurance policies can cover money paid to athletes as well as the cost of producing and booking television commercials, print advertisements and other promotions,” the Times article notes. “Some insurers will also cover the costs of new commercials with replacement athletes.”

Insurers say they base their assumptions on how much revenue grows after an athlete or celebrity became a company endorser, but no amount of insurance is going to protect a good corporate name if it gets tied to a scandal.

As one underwriter put it in the Times story, “Tiger Woods has made people think about their reputations. These days, people don’t worry about the office burning down, but about their intellectual property being damaged.”

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Accenture Replaces Tiger Woods with Animals in Ads

This was too good to pass up. After posting my comments yesterday that it’s safer to link a company with an animal “spokesperson” such as a gecko, duck or cow than with a celebrity, today I learned that after six years of a sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods, Accenture is replacing his image with a line up of animals.

According to an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (which I just saw referenced in another publication this afternoon), “After nearly a month of focus-group testing and production work, Accenture is rolling out the new global marketing campaign this week. The creatures, which include an elephant, a chameleon and some frogs and fish, will star in a series of TV, print and online spots. They also will appear in airport ads in 28 countries.”

Wonder if this is the start of a trend where other companies will soon be following the herd?

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Celebrity Spokespeople Can Cause Headaches for Ad Agencies

Another one bites the dust. The Associated Press recently reported that Hanes has dropped its advertising campaign with Charlie Sheen because of domestic violence charges filed against him.

His wife allegedly told police the actor put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her, charges that Mr. Sheen denies.

“Given the publicity, it makes sense to not air those ads…” AP quotes a Hanes spokesman is as saying.

As the companies that used Tiger Woods for endorsements learned in the last couple of months, associating one’s brand with a celebrity can have great downsides as well as rewards.

When it comes to linking a client with an outside influencer, ad agencies will find ducks, geckos and cows a safer bet.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Tiger Woods Fiasco Has Important Lessons for Ad Agencies

Until now, I’ve resisted weighing in on Tiger Woods’ marital woes. Like a lot of people, I already know more about his escapades than I wish I did. Still, there are some important lessons ad agencies can glean from this fiasco.

I can’t recall ever seeing a person’s reputation fall so quickly and dramatically, followed closely by sponsors dropping this hot potato left and right.

I found it interesting that earlier this month Ad Age ran a story saying some people in the sports-marketing industry were speculating that Tiger’s newfound notoriety “might actually redound to the benefit of the brands he endorses.”

One PR expert suggested Tiger could rebound if he and his wife stay together and he keeps winning. Apparently, winning covers a multitude of sins, at least according to this line of reasoning.

Well, it hasn’t quite turned out that way for Tiger, and now there are question as to whether he will ever play golf again professionally.

One of the most obvious lessons to be learned is that in a crisis, stonewalling doesn’t work very well. Especially when you’re someone famous, the media will dig out the truth and put you in a reactive mode.

A second lesson is the risk companies take in sponsoring an individual. When Tiger’s favorability ranting in 2000 was the highest in poll history at 88%, having a close corporate tie no doubt seemed like a good idea. In the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, his favorability dropped to 33% — a 55-point swing from his peak.

Perhaps the most important lesson, though, is that in an age when tolerance reins supreme, there still are some things most people won’t tolerate from celebrities, and repeatedly cheating on one’s spouse with multiple partners is one of them.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Ad Agencies Increasingly Pitching Consumers Directly

An unintended consequence of the decrease in news media outlets and the shrinking news holes of those that remain in business is that more and more public relations pitches are going directly to consumers.

“According to the website Paper Cuts, which tracks layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers, nearly 30,000 reporters have left the industry since the beginning of 2008. So instead of pitching their stories to reporters, a growing number of marketers are directly engaging consumers through original content they and their agencies are creating,” Michael Bush writes in the October 26 issue of Ad Age.

Bypassing reporters was unthinkable when I started in PR in the mid-80s. You had to live with the journalists covering a particular beat or industry, and find a way to work with them even when they were hostile and biased. Opportunities to respond to inaccurate or distorted stories generally were very limited.

Now days, PR executives have tools such as company Web sites, blogs, PRWeb, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to tell their stories without them being filtered through news media outlets.

As an example, Ad Age cites Coldwell Banker which, with the help of its PR firm Cooper Katz, launched a YouTube channel in May called Coldwell Banker on Location. David Siroty, Coldwell Banker Real Estate’s senior director for PR, explains how the company uses the channel to post educational videos about the housing market and purchase process as well as house listings:

“We can bypass the media and do videos from our CEO, brokers and agents talking about what first-time home buyers should do. You have a consumer that needs and wants to be re-educated on the nuances of housing. So we post the videos and drive traffic through social media.”

The channel launched with 300 videos and is now at 5,000 with just under 500,000 views.

While marketers such as Coldwell Banker are doing a great job of creating content and taking it to their audiences, this approach can’t provide the same level of credibility as a favorable news media article or the same reach as a national story during prime time.

Traditional media outlets will remain an important part of the PR mix for ad agencies and their clients – it’s just that they won’t dominate the way they used to.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Chairman Serving As Spokesman Has Potential Risks, Rewards

Lee Iacocca became the face of Chrysler when it was going through a very difficult financial time. Having lived in Michigan during that period, I still remember the TV ads with Mr. Iacocca confidently saying, “If you can find a better car, buy it.”

He was a natural salesman who knew the automotive industry inside out, and projected confidence in his company and its products. He also was a well known and respected leader. As a result, Mr. Iacocca was able to gain the public’s confidence and save his company from bankruptcy.

Now General Motors is taking a similar approach with its new chairman, Ed Whitacre, pitching the company’s “May the best car win” campaign, which offers buyers a 60-day money back guarantee.

Mr. Whitacre, who came from AT&T, is not as well known as Mr. Iacoccas was in his day, nor does he have the same level of credibility in the auto industry. And while GM says the ads have been received positively, some in the ad world are not so sure about the strategy.

According to an Associated Press article on MSNBC.com, “Some even say the ad starring the 67-year-old Whitacre hurts the Detroit automaker’s efforts to freshen up its image and woo younger buyers,” adding, “Commenters on Twitter aren’t having quite as rosy a reaction, saying he’s too old, too stiff and his presence in the ads doesn’t make them want to buy GM cars.”

Selecting the right person to become the face of a company is one of the most important decisions advertising and PR executives make. Will people trust an unknown such as Mr. Whitacre? GM will soon find out.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Online Debates Create Opportunities for Agencies

In California, where the mainstream media has cut back its coverage of state government and public policy debates, one P.R. agency is getting around these cuts by increasing its online public affairs presence.

Edelman, the largest public relations firm in California, found through proprietary research that online media outlets, such as blogs and Facebook, “are becoming more trusted as messengers — making them even more influential in the public policy debates that have a big impact on business in our state,” according to Gail Becker, president of Edelman’s Western region, in latest edition of the Sacramento Business Journal.

As public policy debates increasing shift to being online, Edelman is actively engaging in the conversation.

Steve Telliano, general manager for Edelman’s Sacramento office, likened online communication to a cocktail party.

If you stand on the kitchen table and start making a speech, “you’re not going to have credibility and no one’s going to pay attention,” he said, adding, “You have to join the conversation in a relevant way and transparently.”

As the way we communicate continues to change, and traditional communication channels become less dominant, ad agencies need to make sure their clients are joining important conversations with their audiences and that they are taking the lead in helping clients make important online connections.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.