Month: August 2014

Another Atlantic City casino is closing its doors and massive hotel/gaming complexes are gathering dust.  Atlantic City, NJ, was supposed to be Las Vegas East.  At least that is what the governor and developers hoped for.  So, they piled in and built and built until there was more capacity than needed, given the rise of American Indian casinos and racetrack slots.  Failures like this should be a lesson to managers and communications practitioners.  Entering a marketplace after it has developed is often a bad idea.  Others have captured the brand positioning and a new entrant can’t say much more than, “me too.”  In gaming, there isn’t much room for innovation.  This is true for many industries.  To bull one’s way into a developed segment with something better, faster and less expensive is hard.  Usually a product or service has a few bells and whistles to make it look different when it isn’t.  Consumers are rarely fooled, however, even with advertising, PR and  social media shouting, “Look at me!”  

An insurance company showed its displeasure over making a $20,000 settlement by sending an individual 11 buckets filled with coins.  How dumb is that?  It became an instant news story and a ding to the company’s reputation.  How many people will want to insure with an organization that has such snits?  It might have felt good to send pails filled with change, but that feeling will pass quickly enough as existing customers ask why the company did it.  It smacks of immaturity.  It is poor client service.  It is the kind of protest that individuals make over paying taxes.  Taking revenge on a customer, even if the customer has been obnoxious is stupid.  The best approach is to refuse service to the individual quietly,  Cancel his policies and suggest another insurance company that might cover him — i.e., be nice even when dropping someone.  That is so obvious and yet, employees forget.  Good client service requires constant monitoring and management.  Even then, it takes only one employee who is unhappy to wreck relationships with customers and a company’s reputation.

Amazon and book publishers need each other.  It is sad that one of the largest publishers has entered a pitched battle with the largest bookstore on earth.  It is equally unhappy that Amazon sparked this war because it wants to get its way with marketing e-books.  As the PR war continues, the real loser is the public, which can’t get easy access to books it wants to buy.  Amazon might be right in pushing its pricing policies, but it was foolish to ban books from its site that come from Hachette.  The only result was to rile authors who publicly blamed Amazon for its practices in a huge two-page advertisement in yesterday’s New York Times.  Were I Jeff Bezos, I would publicly proclaim victory and leave the field with what remains of a shredded reputation.  But then, Bezos didn’t get where he is today by giving in easily.  This might be his flaw or a secret to his success.  In any event the longer that Amazon fights with Hachette, the worse it gets for Amazon.

…can get away with punishing his own people in an effort to strike at other nations.  Call it reverse PR.  I’m cutting off my nose to spite you, and it is going to hurt.  No wonder President Obama is not impressed with Putin’s latest move.  One wonders, however, how long the Russian people will put up with such a leader.  There is little doubt that Putin wants power for the long-run, and he is likely to get it, given his hardball tactics, but Russian citizens will grow restive.  It is like a return to the failed Soviet state.  This time, however, the country is weaker.  Sanctions are hurting its economy and Putin doesn’t care.  He is determined.  If only he were thinking about the welfare of Russia rather than his own power-base, he might be remembered in history as a great statesman.  Now, however, he is seen as a bully, an image that is likely to remain.  Putin proves that public relations principles do not work in every society.

The hysteria about Ebola patients coming to America for treatment presents an opportunity for public relations.  That is what the chief nurse at Emory University is doing with this article.  She not only counters the concern about the virus getting loose but she skillfully positions Emory on the leading edge of medical centers for such a rare and life-threatening disease.  I would be surprised if she didn’t have help with writing this essay, but even so, her position is strong and her reasons stronger.  Of course, this won’t salve unreasoning fear, but it will alleviate some of the concern that most citizens have.  Perhaps the strongest reasons are the humanitarian ones.  We need to treat these people who were caring for Ebola victims in Africa.  It isn’t right ethically to abandon them in their hour of need.  And, in stabilizing them, the medical profession is learning what works and what doesn’t.  There is always a doomsday scenario but this essay is pointing out that in this case, it is unlikely.

This article focusing on spin-offs of newspapers and magazines into separate companies is wrong-headed.  Media companies were public servants as long as they made money, and since they were often in monopoly positions, they could afford to be high-minded.  As the internet took over, so did the economic imperative driving newspapers and magazines.  They live on ads and circulation revenue.  When both of these declined, so too did the Church, the newsroom, because media owners couldn’t afford to keep them staffed.  Corporate PR practitioners must not forget that behind all they do is business.  Yes, their companies can perform public service but they have to make money too or shareholders will act and throw management out.  Wall Street might be winning the media battle through spin-offs of the print business, but that is as it should be.  The medium isn’t sacred.  News reporting online is as effective as turning the pages of The New York Times or USA Today.

Watch this.  It is comedian John Oliver’s attack on sponsored content online, and the satire is devastating.  He first defines the difference between Church and State as it has existed in the media for much of the 20th Century then he shows how the line has blurred between the two since the rise of the internet.  The humor is scatological, but the points he makes aren’t.  PR practitioners, especially, should be worried about the blending of advertisement and editorial.  The power of PR depends on impartial media who confer credibility by independent reporting.  If online news gathering becomes pay-for-play, there isn’t much reason for media relations.  Simply fork over the money and watch them write.  That can be done by any media buyer.  Aside from a threat to PR, the increasingly foggy distinction between Church and State in the media takes a hammer to the credibility of the media as well.  Newsrooms know that if publishers do not.  There is room for more satire on this subject, but it would be better if publishers restored the bright line sooner rather than later.

This fellow has been mocked enough for his blatant appeal to reporters to follow him and his boss on social media.  The question is how should he have approached the media, if at all.  For one, the idea of a “bribe’ should never be considered.  No wonder he was held up as an oaf.  Rather, one should remain as factual as possible.  “My boss is tweeting.  Here are some things he has covered and more he will address in the future.”  If the information is of use to the media, they will follow the tweets.  If not, they won’t.  One learns quickly who the journalists are following the company.  The jocular manner in which he wrote the pitch also is a no-no, especially the winking emoticon.  I don’t know what this fellow’s boss is saying to him now, but it can’t be good.

This is funny satire on the online way of gathering and reporting information.  It’s all in clicks and clicks determine both copy and especially, the headline.  News is watered down to titillation.  Important information is banished.  If a reader fails to open a story, all is lost. The trend hearkens back to the era of Yellow Journalism when circulation was everything and facts beside the point.  This trend will pass in time as readers demand more information to help them understand the world and make decisions.  It won’t go away completely but it will moderate.  Serious news consumers will gravitate to media that serve them best.  Lowest common denominator readers will seek excitement.  From a PR perspective, both kinds of media are important to getting information out.  PR practitioners need to learn multiple styles of writing to appeal to click-bait readers and to serious consumers.  PR can’t afford to cut off one or the other if it is to get information widely disseminated.