Month: April 2015

When the stakes are high, companies spend millions in PR and lobbying to win.  That is the case over the competition to build the new stealth bomber for the Air Force.  The face-off is between Boeing-Lockheed Martin teamed together and Northrop Grumman.  Both sides are using retired generals to make their cases, and they are fighting for a budget of at least $55 billion. The odd part of the competition is that no matter who wins, the victory will be short-lived because the other side will appeal and the bid might be run again.  Winning the right to build the bomber is a long-term campaign with as many twists and turns as a mystery novel.  It should be simpler than it is but that is the way of contracting to the Pentagon.  It will be many months yet before a final decision is made.  Meanwhile, the largesse of campaign contributions will run freely to Congressmen and Senators who are in a position to influence the outcome.  It’s not a pretty sight.

A dry lake bed, 11 cars and as many drivers produced a good publicity stunt — a message to an astronaut in space.  This is the kind of creative idea that PR has long been known for, although it is not clear that PR had anything to do with coordinating and making of the message.  The stunt was designed and filmed to go viral, and it has.  Hyundai also has submitted its message to the Guinness Book of Records as the largest message ever made using car tire tracks.  It’s a feel-good stunt that works because it is the daughter of an astronaut signalling him in space.  Hyundai has done well by doing good.  Kudos to the company.

Google has announced that it is going to install high-speed fiber to the home in Charlotte, NC.  Suddenly, Time Warner Cable announces it is going to provide six times faster speeds to Charlotte subscribers at no extra charge.  How come TWC didn’t offer it before?  This kind of action opens a credibility gap for the incumbent.  If TWC really cared about its users, it would have boosted speed all along.  It won’t be surprising if Google takes major market share in Charlotte once it has fiber installed.  It might cost a little more but it is so much faster than what cable has to offer, even after TWC boosts speed, that it is worth it. Monopoly continues to give cable providers a PR black eye.  Perhaps, they should welcome competition to keep themselves in better touch with their markets.

The Federal Government and corporate CEOs are in a stand-off over pay transparency — i.e. the use of a ratio to determine how much more a CEO is paid than the median income of employees.  The government wants to highlight how much more CEOs earn than workers.  Its reasoning is that inequity in pay will regulate itself eventually for CEOs whose compensation packages are too rich.  Unfortunately, there is no easy way to measure a CEO’s annual compensation, especially when much of it is incentive pay with multi-year vesting.  Proxy numbers mix together short- and long-term CEO pay.  Further, it is hard to determine the median income of employees, especially when a company has international operations where pay scales might be much lower than domestic earnings.  So while the PR intentions of the government are noble, they are flawed, and in need of revision.  However, that won’t happen unless companies show a willingness to work with the government to determine how best to develop a pay ratio.  That won’t happen soon, if ever.

Although not stated in this article about a cyber attack drill, there is a role for PR in the event of an invasion.  That comes in for development and transmission of messages about the incursion to the media, customers, suppliers and employees.  The writer states the case implicitly by saying that the company must prepare a media message and train employees in the use of social media.  It is not clear that Deloitte has a PR person in the room with other top corporate executives during the drill, but if she isn’t, it is an oversight.  Lawyers and marketers are unqualified to frame an accurate message without hype that is also easily digestible.  The lawyer will come with caveats, the marketer with adjectives.  The PR person should come with an understanding of what the media and public want to know and be willing to fight for it at the conference room table.  It is this connection with the external world that is important once an attack has begun because cyber-criminals take down the connection to the public or steal information of importance to external audiences.  If PR practitioners haven’t run drills for what to do in the event of a cyber attack, they should start.

Apple Watch reviews are out and they vary from superlative to so-so.  Unanswered by the reviewers I read is why one would need one with all of the other hand-held devices on the market.  This ultimately may be the PR challenge to the company — how to make the watch indispensable.  After the “fan-boys” have purchased one, there is still a huge market to address that is satisfied with conventional watches and use of mobile devices to tell time.  If Apple can’t solve the problem of need, the watch will ultimately be a flop.  The question now is what else should Apple build into it to increase functionality without complicating user experience.

How does an Also-Ran candidate become a contender?  For example, Rand Paul.  He is a self-described outsider who wants to win the Republican nomination for President.  One person knows what it is to be an outsider and win — President Obama.  He was an undistinguished senator from Illinois when he launched his bid.  Obama used every communications technique imaginable.  He was a ground breaker in his deployment of social media.  Paul will have to do the same, and because some of Paul’s positions are controversial, he will need to overcome popular objections to his agenda.  Obama shows it can be done, but that doesn’t make it any easier on Paul.  There might be an advantage to starting back in the pack.  One doesn’t have as much pressure as a front-runner, but at some point, one has to move up and maintain the top spot.  Then public examination of one’s character and promises becomes ruthless.  Paul may have to adjust his message as he campaigns, but by being out of the spotlight, it is easier to do.

How do you stop people from using one of life’s essential resources — water?  This is the problem facing not only California but also Brazil.  Every sector is affected.  In California, farmers are drilling ever-deeper wells.  In Sao Paulo, water is being delivered in tank trucks to some neighborhoods.  Cutting water usage is a matter of persuasion, and the most powerful tool is price.  Any PR campaign should begin with a market-rate set for water that induces greater care in its use.  That won’t convert everyone, but water bills will restrain the majority from over-use.  As for groundwater, there is legislation needed to protect it.  Farmers can be forgiven for drilling.  They are feeding the nation.  They have already taken 500,000 acres out of production, but they too must be persuaded that there are times when they can’t afford to grow because of long-term damage to the land.  This affects their livelihood and some might go out of business as a result, but drought shows no favorites.  When an essential resource is threatened, governments must take strong measures.

Sometimes, though rarely, a reporter will fess up and admit that a story was wrong.  Here is a spectacular case.  It took an impartial investigation to determine that Rolling Stone’s writer was duped and the publication with it.  One should not expect this to happen often.  A reporter will fight tenaciously to vet and protect sources.  Editors who have checked and rechecked an article will not readily pronounce it wrong.  In this sensational case, it was, and the reputational fall-out will be felt for months, if not years, to come.

The news about the Germanwings airliner crash grows worse by the day.  What was already a major crisis for the company is larger by the hour.  It is fair to say there was a systemic breakdown on the part of the airline and German privacy law.  The airline overlooked the report of depression.  German doctors who told the young man to stop flying couldn’t report their opinions to authorities.  The resulting reputational damage to Lufthansa, the parent company, will take months to repair.  It is easy to say that it shouldn’t have happened, but it did, and now the company has to deal with the aftermath.  There will be rule changes and extra protections built into the systems, and maybe privacy law will be amended.  However, when one is intent on taking his own life, there might not be enough barriers in place to prevent it now or later.