Except for retired NFL players (who usually win), I would never advise any celebrity client of mine to appear on Dancing with the Stars. The whole show just wreaks of desperation and sends a weird message about who these “stars” really “are”.
Last week’s loser, David Hasselhoff sure qualifies as desperate (actually, he looked washed up) and clearly has no idea who he is. Then I saw this hilarious video:
He’s lucky it found its way primarily to Europe. But Hasselhoff’s other video, “Get Into My Car”, is offensive no matter where you live. In short, The Hoff pulls up in a “Kit” car look-alike (from Knight Rider), lures a young bombshell along for a ride, soon discovers he’s not going to score, hits the seat ejection button and out goes flying the poor girl into a pile of trash cans. While wrong on so many levels, The Hoff should be especially ashamed of himself for pulling a classic 80’s TV legend like “Kit” down with him. But that’s what desperate people searching for an identity do.
Then again, even people who aren’t desperate intentionally try strange things that end up as PR disasters and sometimes define entire careers. Just ask Casey Affleck. As Joaquin Phoenix’s producer in “I’m Still Here”, Affleck took a huge gamble on a movie both men knew was a hoax. Problem is that Joaquin Phoenix is an immensely talented actor who many say borderlines on genius. Short PR hit aside, Joaquin will be just fine in the end. Affleck, on the other hand, is not recognized in the same category, took a bath on the movie, looked ridiculous and is now flat broke.
While dumb ideas may be easy to recognize, it’s far more difficult to know if riding the “racehorse” that got you out of the gate is deteriorating into something that isn’t pretty. I think Geico’s formula in this regard is perhaps the most brilliant by incorporating several colorful “racehorses” - The Caveman, The Gecko, and Mike McGlone from The Brothers McMullen. These “pitch men” appear intermittently (yet predictably) have their own angles to keep Geico’s commercials fresh, but always stay on-message.
On the opposite end of this universe is John McCain circa 2008, who rode Joe the Plumber to the point where it got really old, looked really sad, and ended up flushing his entire campaign down the toilet. Man-crushes on a guy from a picnic in Ohio and Presidents don't mix.
“Mr. McCain, what’s your plan to reduce the national debt”?
“Joe the Plumber.”
“What’s your position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?”
“Joe the Plumber.”
Your business can avoid these types of problems, maintain relevancy and still be funny by remembering one of the Five Rules of Triumphant Communications – Just Be Good at Who You Are.
This type of balancing act has been mastered at the local level by Philadelphia jeweler Bernie Robbins, who has been wearing the same diamond in his beard for 30 years. Still looks great in commercials and Bernie didn’t “Jump the Shark” by adding an assortment of pieces to the shtick, or tattooing himself, or switching beard stones to hot pink.
He’s just darn good at being who he is.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
5 Blog Ideas to Prevent "Wacky FM DJ" Syndrome
Nothing annoys me more than reading a company’s blog or social media posts that spew lots of worthless junk.
You’ve read them...”Whoopie! New pool table in the break room and we played doubles against the office on the 18th Floor!” “I’m a business destination blogging about a weekend WienerFest in Venice Beach.” “Yum! Have you tried our product lately?” “Happy Paper Hat Day!”
Insert honking horns, buzzers, crazy whistles and two free tickets to see the Hanson Reunion at Jingle Ball.
I call it the “Wacky FM DJ” syndrome.
The “Wacky FM DJ” syndrome evolves from a fear of being boring. True, blogs and Facebook posts that read like term papers are awful. However, talking about things that have little to do with selling your actual products, services or philosophy can leave consumers dazed and confused.
Here are 5 ideas to make your blog on-message, relevant, interesting AND useful:
1. Remember What You’re Selling and Keep it Fresh! I worked with an author whose 2008 book espoused “The Three P’s of Parenting.” Because books are like new cars and lose value the minute they hit the shelves, my 2009/2010 blogs went out of their way to relate one or more “P’s” to new trends and issues.
2. Rip from the Headlines. For the same client, I blogged why “Jon and Kate’s” latest drama was another in a long line of “Three P’s” violations. Injecting a unique brand philosophy into a controversial situation tends to get the attention of TV people. Within two weeks, my client was booked as an expert guest on ABC News’ “What Would You Do?” program.
3. Don’t Let a Good Pitch go to Waste! Instead of getting frustrated when your response to a media query meets dead silence, why not turn it into a blog? Think about it, if the subject already has the attention of one media outlet, there’s a good chance other media outlets and fellow bloggers who repost interesting viewpoints on Twitter and Facebook will like it too.
4. Be a Booth Blogger. I obtained a “Best of (Trade) Show” client product review on a lifestyle site with 14 million opt-in subscribers specifically because of aggressive yet tactical on-site booth blogging. Avoid useless stuff like “Gee, our sign looks great!” and "Come by and sample the product.” Instead, create posts about special promotions if the blog and social media are mentioned. Or perhaps share specific comments and questions heard at your exhibit.
5. Get “Trendy!” Earlier this month, the Beverly Hills 90210 anniversary became a huge trending topic on social media. Smart lifestyle retailers anticipated this and one colleague of mine was clever enough to personally blog about it to her loyal readers (Lori "MacBlogger") and post company Facebook tributes that seamlessly linked the “Lather” brand to the “celebration”.
You’ve read them...”Whoopie! New pool table in the break room and we played doubles against the office on the 18th Floor!” “I’m a business destination blogging about a weekend WienerFest in Venice Beach.” “Yum! Have you tried our product lately?” “Happy Paper Hat Day!”
Insert honking horns, buzzers, crazy whistles and two free tickets to see the Hanson Reunion at Jingle Ball.
I call it the “Wacky FM DJ” syndrome.
The “Wacky FM DJ” syndrome evolves from a fear of being boring. True, blogs and Facebook posts that read like term papers are awful. However, talking about things that have little to do with selling your actual products, services or philosophy can leave consumers dazed and confused.
Here are 5 ideas to make your blog on-message, relevant, interesting AND useful:
1. Remember What You’re Selling and Keep it Fresh! I worked with an author whose 2008 book espoused “The Three P’s of Parenting.” Because books are like new cars and lose value the minute they hit the shelves, my 2009/2010 blogs went out of their way to relate one or more “P’s” to new trends and issues.
2. Rip from the Headlines. For the same client, I blogged why “Jon and Kate’s” latest drama was another in a long line of “Three P’s” violations. Injecting a unique brand philosophy into a controversial situation tends to get the attention of TV people. Within two weeks, my client was booked as an expert guest on ABC News’ “What Would You Do?” program.
3. Don’t Let a Good Pitch go to Waste! Instead of getting frustrated when your response to a media query meets dead silence, why not turn it into a blog? Think about it, if the subject already has the attention of one media outlet, there’s a good chance other media outlets and fellow bloggers who repost interesting viewpoints on Twitter and Facebook will like it too.
4. Be a Booth Blogger. I obtained a “Best of (Trade) Show” client product review on a lifestyle site with 14 million opt-in subscribers specifically because of aggressive yet tactical on-site booth blogging. Avoid useless stuff like “Gee, our sign looks great!” and "Come by and sample the product.” Instead, create posts about special promotions if the blog and social media are mentioned. Or perhaps share specific comments and questions heard at your exhibit.
5. Get “Trendy!” Earlier this month, the Beverly Hills 90210 anniversary became a huge trending topic on social media. Smart lifestyle retailers anticipated this and one colleague of mine was clever enough to personally blog about it to her loyal readers (Lori "MacBlogger") and post company Facebook tributes that seamlessly linked the “Lather” brand to the “celebration”.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Why "Mess" is a Great Goal in Crisis PR
I recently worked on a crisis PR assignment that had everything going against us. My client, a leading law firm based in Los Angeles, represented a restaurant-management company who subletted part of their building/restaurant lease to a trendy wine bar.
As typical with sublets, things were a tad nebulous. So when the agreement went sideways for numerous reasons, the restaurant-management company decided to padlock the door on the wine bar at 3am on the Thursday prior to July 4th weekend. They then cleaned out all the tables and equipment and put them in storage. That’s when all heck broke loose.
The wine bar called the police, claimed theft and held a press conference with the padlocks in the background for visuals. The wine bar also incited a near riot among loyal locals who loved the establishment. Of course, neither my law firm client nor I were in (preferrably ahead of) the loop on any of this.
Fast-forward to Sunday, July 4th at 5pm where I had just entered a party at a friend’s house. My cell phone rings with the law firm emergently reaching out and for good reason:
1. There was no PR plan in place for what was obviously going to be a dramatic situation
2. Shutting down a wine bar at 3am prior to a holiday weekend will not make many friends
3. TV cameras were on-site for two days prior to my involvement and had given the wine bar unchallenged coverage
4. The most influential local blog covering the area had already run two stories on the padlocking and neither were favorable to the restaurant-management company
5. While the wine bar was distributing misinformation-laden flyers door-to-door in the entire area, none of the claims were being refuted
6. The restaurant managers were highly emotional and had “rogue” tendencies. For example, they offered their law firm and me as “available” for on-camera interviews.
Working quickly and closely with the law firm, we made the following decisions that any company or individual could use in a similar situation:
1. No on-camera interviews – local TV media feasts on conflicts involving emotion and with an impending legal dispute, it would have idiotic to put any verbal responses into public record.
2. Reached out to every writer, reporter and producer who had covered the story and submitted a written response to each claim made by the wine bar.
3. Set up a lengthy interview between the area’s most influential local blog and the law firm. Of all the media outlets involved, the blogger was most likely to write an objective, long-form journalistic article on a complicated issue that affected loyal readers living closest to the conflict.
Within 24-hours, what could have been a total PR (and legal) disaster morphed its way into a “mess” – in fact, “mess” was the exact word the influential blogger used in the feature wrap-up column title.
“Mess” might not sound good at first glance, but when you are on crisis-defensive in the middle of a holiday weekend and days behind the opponent’s attack, getting the public to read about a bunch of attorneys espousing the minutia of contract law is nothing short of a miracle.
Sometimes cutting your losses in PR is just as good as an outright win.
As typical with sublets, things were a tad nebulous. So when the agreement went sideways for numerous reasons, the restaurant-management company decided to padlock the door on the wine bar at 3am on the Thursday prior to July 4th weekend. They then cleaned out all the tables and equipment and put them in storage. That’s when all heck broke loose.
The wine bar called the police, claimed theft and held a press conference with the padlocks in the background for visuals. The wine bar also incited a near riot among loyal locals who loved the establishment. Of course, neither my law firm client nor I were in (preferrably ahead of) the loop on any of this.
Fast-forward to Sunday, July 4th at 5pm where I had just entered a party at a friend’s house. My cell phone rings with the law firm emergently reaching out and for good reason:
1. There was no PR plan in place for what was obviously going to be a dramatic situation
2. Shutting down a wine bar at 3am prior to a holiday weekend will not make many friends
3. TV cameras were on-site for two days prior to my involvement and had given the wine bar unchallenged coverage
4. The most influential local blog covering the area had already run two stories on the padlocking and neither were favorable to the restaurant-management company
5. While the wine bar was distributing misinformation-laden flyers door-to-door in the entire area, none of the claims were being refuted
6. The restaurant managers were highly emotional and had “rogue” tendencies. For example, they offered their law firm and me as “available” for on-camera interviews.
Working quickly and closely with the law firm, we made the following decisions that any company or individual could use in a similar situation:
1. No on-camera interviews – local TV media feasts on conflicts involving emotion and with an impending legal dispute, it would have idiotic to put any verbal responses into public record.
2. Reached out to every writer, reporter and producer who had covered the story and submitted a written response to each claim made by the wine bar.
3. Set up a lengthy interview between the area’s most influential local blog and the law firm. Of all the media outlets involved, the blogger was most likely to write an objective, long-form journalistic article on a complicated issue that affected loyal readers living closest to the conflict.
Within 24-hours, what could have been a total PR (and legal) disaster morphed its way into a “mess” – in fact, “mess” was the exact word the influential blogger used in the feature wrap-up column title.
“Mess” might not sound good at first glance, but when you are on crisis-defensive in the middle of a holiday weekend and days behind the opponent’s attack, getting the public to read about a bunch of attorneys espousing the minutia of contract law is nothing short of a miracle.
Sometimes cutting your losses in PR is just as good as an outright win.
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