my 2 cents

40 Years of Excellence

One of the most famous and most-loved streets in the world celebrates 40 years this week.  It's not Broadway or Fifth Avenue here in New York, nor the Via Veneto in Rome or the Champs d'Elsee in Gay Paree.

It's Sesame Street.

Unlike most people, I came across Sesame Street not as a kid or a parent.  It was the summer of 1970 and I was finishing work on my Master's thesis, with books and note cards surrounding me on the living room floor.  I needed to take a break one afternoon at 4, so I put the TV on and this kids' program had just begun.  I was about to change the channel, but something about the show caught me and I watched it all.  And I watched it again the next afternoon and the next. Thus began my almost 40-year relationship with Sesame Street.  I was entranced by the fast pace, the captivating Muppet characters, the diversity of the human cast and the overall intelligence and humor of the show.  And they had big stars of the time as guests on the show, singing with the kids or with Big Bird or Kermit -- names like Richie Havens, Judy Collins, Bill Cosby, Buffy St. Marie. 

I became a regular watcher again about 14 years later, when my daughter was old enough to begin watching it.  I was a hit with her and her friends because I could imitate the voices of Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and Grover (my favorites), as well as passable mimics of Bert & Ernie and Big Bird. I remember around that time how nicely they dealt with the real-life death of the man who played the storekeeper, Mr. Hooper.  Instead of just pretending he'd moved away and closed his store, the show dealt head-on with death and the emotions that come with it.

And about six years later, I began watching Sesame Street yet again, with my son.  Around that time I had my first real-life encounter with Sesame Street.  I was representing a client at a luncheon at Channel 13.  I got there a few minutes late, and everyone was already seated.  I was shown to a table, sat down and everyone introduced themselves.  When the man next to me turned, shook my hand and said, "Hi, I'm Bob McGrath," I acted like a star-struck teenager.  "Bob!!" I shrieked much too loudly.  One of the (human) stars of Sesame Street, sitting next to me at lunch!  Unbelievable.

We had a nice chat and I told him how I had first discovered the show while working on my Master's paper.  He laughed and told me he's heard many similar stories, and that Sesame Street has always, right from the start, had a very big following among college students.

About a year later, I attended the opening of a McDonald's in Rockefeller Center.  Mickey D's was a client, and they had just started their first Happy Meal tie-in with Sesame Street.  Jim Henson came to the opening and I had the chance to talk with him.  I had no idea what he was saying to me, because I was so distracted hearing Kermit the Frog's voice coming out of the mouth of this tall, bearded grown-up.

Fast-forward another ten years.  I was handling p.r. for The Christopher Awards (still a client) and a puppeteer named Caroll Spiney was being honored for a children's book he had written.  Most of us have no idea who Caroll is, but we all know two of his most famous characters -- Big Bird and  Oscar the Grouch.  I got to hang out with Oscar after the ceremonies, when Caroll so graciously and patiently obliged a long line of adults who wanted the chance to get their picture taken with Oscar.  When I had my chat with Oscar, I found myself, like everyone, having conversation with the puppet and not the elegant, white-bearded man holding Oscar.  It was amazing to see adults revert so quickly back to childhood with Oscar.

And last year I hit the mother-load.  Childrens Television Workshop was being honored with a Christopher Award for so many years of excellence in children's TV, and most of the Sesame Street cast was there.  I again met Bob      McGrath, along with the actors who play Gordon and Luis.  I got to play with my old pal Oscar, and I met my grandson's favorite -- Elmo.  (That's me in the picture, with, from left, Bob, Oscar and Caroll.)

Over the past 40 years, I've had many encounters with Sesame Street -- both in front of and behind the TV screen.  It's been fun, on both sides.  I hope many more generations of kids all around the globe will have the chance to learn about letters and counting and about life from our friends on the world's most famous street.

Businessmen tops as pitchers

How believable and effective are celebrity endorsers? 

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a survey showing celebs don't have much clout when it comes to convincing us to buy a product or service. 

A new survey, from Adweek and the Harris Poll, doesn't ask whether or not celebs are effective influencers, but rather which types of celebs are the most and least persuasive relative to each other.

Business leaders scored the highest out of five categories, with 37 percent of respondents rating them "most persuasive."  They were followed by athletes, at 21  percent, TV and movie stars at 18 percent, singers and musicians at 14 percent, and former political figures, at ten percent.

Business leaders scored higher among older (55+) respondents, at 46 percent.  Only 28 percent of the 18 - 24 age group put business leaders at the top.  That group prefers sports figures.This poll is a comparative survey only, ranking the five categories against each other. 

A ranking of slightly more than one-third is not very impressive.  But I'm surprised that it's even that high in this post Bernie Madoff/GM and Chrysler bailouts/200 bank failures/derivatives meltdown/record home foreclosures economy.  It makes one wonder how trustworthy (or how smart) our business leaders are, and if their recommendations of products and services are worth following.

I wonder if the rankings for business leaders might have been lower if some other choices had been included in the survey -- choices like "doctor" or "educator" or "scientist" or "blue collar worker."

Bathroom Blogfest -- Late Entry

I think Bathroom Blogfest is officially over.  I contributed a post when it began a week ago, but I just came across this and just had to write about it.

There's a new product called Poo-Pourri.  According to the press release (which is undated, so I don't know how new it actually is), this product "banishes bathroom odors with a single flush."

But, wonder of wonders, it anticipates bathroom odors before they occur.

Here's what the news release says:

    "Proven to stand up to the most offensive bathroom odors with a simple spritz, Poo-Pourri is the first bathroom spray made of all-natural essential oils to eliminate bathroom odors before they occur." The release claims it is "forever changing the bathroom experience... You won't leave any odor behind and it neutralizes any residual odor so it doesn't follow you out of the bathroom."

Say what?  It's bad enough you have to worry about trailing a piece of toilet paper on your shoe, but the possibility of an odor following you is just too much.  That goes up there with things like "restless leg syndrome."

The release explains the product creates a film on the surface of the water in the bowl, which "traps and diffuses embarrassing odors." 

The marketer is trying to create a new product category to replace air fresheners in the bathroom.  But is it really so wonderful that at $9.95 for a 2-ounce spray bottle or $14.95 for a 4-ounce bottle, it will replace Lysol, which gives you 12 effective ounces for less than three bucks?

For my money, I'll be happy to spray when I'm finished and hope for the best.

PR for PR

I've never been a big fan of PRSA, the Public Relations Society of America.  My take -- the organization has been top-heavy with p.r. politicians, more interested in self-promotion and power trips than in really helping advance the profession.  The long-time focus on their APR accreditation has not, in my opinion, done much to elevate standards or respect for what we do.

For too long, PRSA has kept its inner workings hidden, doing a terrible job of p.r. for itself and for the industry.  Practically any issue of Jack O'Dwyer's PR Newsletter will give you details on what's wrong with PRSA, from its politics and wild spending to its anti-New York bias.

But FINALLY, it seems like PRSA is doing something right.  This week they announced an advocacy campaign intended "to foster more accurate and better-informed perceptions surrounding the value and roles of public relations," according to the official PRSA website.  Under the theme "The Business Case for Public Relations," the program's stated goal is "to drive industry recognition and growth by helping professionals in the field educate key stakeholders about public relations' functions and outcomes, demonstrate its strategic value and enhance its reputation."

PRSA has compiled information, articles and case histories into three categories to help make the case for PR:

    "Convincing the CEO"

    "Communicating the Value of Public Relations"

    "Public Relations' Advantages vs. Other Marketing and Communications Vehicles."

It looks like a promising start.  Hopefully, PRSA will put the appropriate resources behind the effort to make it effective.  It will help if they reach out to the entire p.r. industry to support it, rather than the giant agencies that seem to have dominated PRSA for years.

So... kudos to PRSA for taking these important first steps.  Let's hope they, supported by the rest of us in public relations, can do a good job communicating how and why our business is so much more than publicity and press clippings.

Going on the go

This post is part of Bathroom Blogfest 09.  I'm proud to be one of 21 bloggers invited to participate in this third annual event, celebrating all aspects of bathrooms.

To read what the others have to say this week, go to www.bathroomblogfest.com.  Thanks to C.B. Whittemore for getting me into this last year.  If you want to see what I had to say during Bathroom Blogfest last year, click here.

And then, read on below to learn about... Going on the go.

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It's a vague memory from my childhood.  I was at a community picnic sponsored by the local Y.  After several large cups of soda and lemonade, nature called.  And there they were, off to the side, hidden away from everything... the portable toilets.

As an older kid, I remember digging latrines in the woods on a Boy Scout trip.  But this time, I wasn't on a Scout trip in the wilderness.  I was with family and friends.  And using the port-o-john was like being sent to a torture chamber.

It was scary.  You'd take a few practice deep breaths and then, one final b-i-g breath so you could hold it as you step inside the little wooden hut, lock the door (if it had a working lock) and hope you could take care of business before your breath ran out.  If you needed to take another breath, you were in real trouble. 

Almost as bad was the chance you might accidentally glance down into that dark hole you were aiming at.  Not at all a pretty sight.  Between the olafactory and visual stimuli, you might find yourself struggling not to revisit the hot dogs and cotton candy you had just consumed.

Those are my earliest memories of portable toilets.  But more recent visits to portable toilets show a vast improvement, probably unimaginable back in those early days.

A few weeks ago I attended an outdoor wedding, set in a field overlooking the scenic Hudson River about 60 miles north of Manhattan.  It was a beautiful, clear night.  Despite the full moon, you could see quite a few stars in the sky.

Water and wine worked their magic and I found myself looking for the port-o-johns.  Dressed in a tux, the thought of spending even 30 seconds in the john was not a pleasant one.

What a surprise!  The bathroom, housed on a trailer, would have fit nicely in almost anyone's home.  First of all... it was spotless.  Thanks to modern technology, there was no odor other than the pleasant scent of vanilla coming from the candles set in sconces on the walls.  And there was no dark hole to turn your stomach.  Instead, modern porcelain fixtures were in place -- fixtures that would do any bathroom proud.

You could hear the fan in the ceiling aerating the place.  Actually, you could just barely hear the fan, since there was piped-in music on a pretty good sound system.  On my first visit, the Doobie Brothers were playing.  I was almost tempted to linger till the end of the song.  On my second visit, the guy before me commented on the musical selection, which at the time was featuring Eric Clapton. (The music in the bathroom was better than most of what the deejay at the party was playing.)

I did some checking online and found that the portable toilet business has come a long way since those stinky wooden shacks. The industry began in the 1940s in the shipbuilding yards of Long Beach, Calif.  Laborers had to go to the dock each time they needed to relieve themselves.  The ship builder, recognizing how much time was lost by the long trek, asked the company that serviced the permanent toilets on the docks to build temporary units that could be moved closer to the workers.  A wooden cabana with a small holding tank became the first portable toilet, and the idea quickly spread to the construction industry and to organizers of large crowd events.  In the 1970s, wood was replaced by fiberglass.  By the mid-70s, polyethylene replaced fiberglass, which was brittle and absorbed odors.  HDPE is still the material of choice today.

For those willing to pay as much as $1,800 or more for a day, you can get trailers with men's and women's rooms that can accommodate 4 - 6 at a time, with decorator tile walls, real wood cabinets, nice lighting with top quality mirrors... and your choice of musical accompaniment.

The multi-billion portable john business even has its own trade association and its own trade publication -- PRO: Portable Restroom Operator.

Portable toilets for construction sites, parade routes and other special events are more functional but clean.  But the high-end business for parties, weddings, bar mitzvahs and other special events is taking off, and there's a wide assortment of extravagant portable bathrooms on trailers to serve that market. 

While the companies in the portable toilet business take it very seriously, they also seem to have a sense of humor about themselves, if you judge by the names of some of the businesses.  I've seen names like Port-O-San and Call-A-Head here in the New York area.  But New York has nothing on names of some portable toilet suppliers elsewhere, as listed in the Construction Blue Book:

    Happy Can  (Atlanta)   

    Johnny on the Spot (Old Bridge NJ)

    UrinBiz (Chicago)

    Royal Throne (Washington DC)

    Tanks Alot (Tomball, Rex)   

    Willy Make It?  (Oregon City, Ore)

    Doodie Calls (New Orleans)

    Gotta Go Potties (Tobyhanna, Pa)

and the all-time worst name for a business... Wizards of Ooze Ltd., in Anacortes, Wash.

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More from Bathroom Blogfest on Twitter at #ladiesroom09 or the Bathroom Blogfest website.

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Hometown hero

The suburban New York town where I grew up and still live -- Mount Vernon -- has been home to a pretty good number of celebrities for a city its size.

It was the birthplace of writer E.B. White, author of the children's classic Charlotte's Web.  Actors Art Carney and Denzel Washington also hail from Mount Vernon.  Eternal teenager Dick Clark is from my town.  Sports figures like basketball's Gus Hall and baseball's Kenny Singleton (he was a high school classmate) are from Mount Vernon.  Others who have lived here include jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, Cosby co-star Felicia Rashad and biz guru Seth Godin, with whom I used to play pinball.  Rock musicians like Roy Blumenfeld of the legendary Blues Project, as well as more contemporary names like Heavy D also come from this city of 70,000.

We recently lost one of our hometown heroes, pro-wrestler Captain Lou Albano.  I didn't know Captain  Lou.  I may have met him a long time ago at a local political or charity thing.  I know his younger brother George, who is a well-respected and much-loved principal at an elementary school in town that's won all sorts of awards for excellence.  George is a nice, caring and giving person. I've had the privilege of working with him over the years on local school board activities.

So as I was reading some of the obits on Captain Lou, it didn't surprise me that the kooky-looking, blustery big guy that was Captain Lou to the world was just the opposite in his private life... a family-first person, eager to help others whenever he could.  He came from a good family, whose values stayed with him.

It just serves as a reminder that you can't always a judge a book by its cover.

Condolences to George and the Albano family.  Mount Vernon will always be proud of Captain Lou.

FTC catches up with social media

Beginning December 1, bloggers and twitterers can be liable for hefty fines if they promote products and services for pay without disclosing that they have a financial arrangement with an advertiser.

For the first time since 1980, the Federal Trade Commission has updated its rules on endorsements and testimonials in advertising.  The new rules now specifically require bloggers and twitterers to clearly disclose any "material connection" to an advertiser, which includes payments for ads or promotional copy, or also for free gifts given in exchange.

Fines can be up to $11,000 for each violation.

For most bloggers I know, these new rules won't be a problem.  They already make it clear if they've received a free product or book for review.  Even Joe Jaffe, who stirred up people a few years ago when he over-hyped his free digital camera, made it perfectly clear he had been given a demo camera.  Readers were then free to make their own judgment about the impartiality of his blog posts.

The real problem seems to stem from a few segments of the blogosphere where outright greed and deception seem to run rampant.  Mommy bloggers (not all, of course) have been big abusers, with some so greedy that they've made it clear their policy is "no pay, no play."  Want to get written up in a popular mommy blog? No problem, as long as you send a nice payment or a major appliance or a trip to Disneyworld.  No freebie?  No coverage.

There's also been some abuse in the health area, where some bloggers recommend remedies only because they've been paid to do so.  Consumers have a right to know that the blogger may have been influenced by payment, which is what the new FTC rules are about.

It's probably abuses in these areas that brought the FTC's scrutiny.  For those who've been deceptive and greedy, their blogging practices will have to change.  It'll be hard to fly under the radar, since the FTC will probably be looking for a few cases they can use as high-profile examples.

It should be interesting to watch over the next several months.  For most of us, though, it's business as usual.

Be careful what you say (and where you say it) -- Part 2

Back in January, I wrote about a high-level public relations agency exec who embarrassed himself and his agency by tweeting how he hated visiting his client's headquarters city of Memphis, calling it a cultural wasteland.

People at the client saw his tweet and it quickly got passed throughout the company.  Last I heard, the agency kept the giant account, but the wayward tweeter was removed from running the account.The lesson then -- be careful what you say online -- is as true now as it was ten months ago.

Even a supposedly private email can create a problem.  Last year I sent an email to a friend, saying some gossipy (but true) things about someone else who we both knew.  Months later, the recipient of that email  accidentally it to a few people -- including the person I had ripped into.  It proved to be a bit awkward for me.

I've learned -- if you don't want anyone to know what you've said, don't write it -- especially online in any form.  Personal conversations and phone chats are safer, for sure.

I just heard a story about another online communication that backfired on the person who sent it. Over breakfast a few days ago with a widely-followed business reporter at The New York Times, he told me how he had done an interview with an ad agency executive for a story to run the next day.  The person who was interviewed wanted to blow his own horn, so he bragged on Twitter that he'd just spoken with this reporter, and he went on to say what the story was about.

The reporter was surprised when, moments after the interview, he got a call from the guy's competitor at another agency, saying he heard the reporter was working on a particular story.

By trying to make himself look more important, the tweeter unwittingly invited a competitor into the story that eventually appeared.  The reporter wasn't all too happy, either, since the tweets also could have tipped off reporters at other papers to the story he was breaking.  I don't think that reporter is too fast to respond these days to that guy's calls and emails.

So again, the lesson to be learned is this:    

        Be careful what you say and where you say it.   

If it's using any form of digital communication, perhaps it's wisest to keep quiet.  Or at least think before you tweet, email or blog.  Remember -- it could be out there for the world to see.

Thinking of a celebrity endorser? Think again.

It's not unusual to hear, in agency creative meetings, "Let's get a celebrity to pitch our product."Does a celebrity endorser work? 

Evidently not, if you believe the findings of a recent Adweek poll.

Seventy-eight percent of the respondents said a celebrity pitcher does not influence them at all.  Only eight percent said a celeb might influence them to buy a product, while twelve percent said it would likely cause them NOT to buy.

Consumers 55+ are even less likely to be swayed by a celebrity hawking a product.  Twenty-four percent of that group said it would deter them.  Men are lot more likely, at 15 percent, than women (11 percent) to be turned off by a celebrity endorser.

Of course, there are exceptions -- Oprah is on a level all her own.  But what advertiser could afford her -- if she would agree to do an ad?

To me, the main benefit of a high-profile endorser is that he or she could cut through the clutter and bring attention to your product or ad -- especially if that celeb rarely does commercials.  But after the attention, will he or she bring credibility?  That's a hard combination to put together.

And then there's the risk of your celebrity doing something that garners negative attention.  These days, it can be a lot more than "just" having an affair. We see celebrities getting busted for drunk driving, tax evasion, shootings, spousal abuse, surfing kiddie porn or promoting dog fights.  Some of these things carry a pretty big "yuck" factor with them.

Think of the damage an episode like that can do to a brand.  And that doesn't count the cost of pulling ads and quickly creating new ones.

Still thinking of a celebrity endorser?  Maybe you should think again, long and hard.

Odds 'n ends

A couple of things of odds 'n ends today, as I just returned from the Distracted Driving Summit in Washington. 

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood invited nearly 300 people involved in traffic safety to a 2-day meeting to focus on distracted driving -- a growing epidemic that's killing  thousands of Americans every year.We've all spoken on our cell phones while driving, and many of us have texted while driving. (Not me -- I don't like to text.)  This dangerous practice is especially prevalent among young people, who have the need to be constantly connected. 

This morning I met with a couple of young people, as we were prepping for a session on outreach to youth about distracted driving.  One young man, Greg, was texting while he drove and ran into another car -- killing two men.  He now has to live with that burden and he broke down as he told us the story, even though it was four years ago.  I met another young woman who now spends her life paralyzed in a wheelchair, after crashing while on her cellphone as she drove.

New studies show hands-free cell phone use while driving is almost as dangerous as hands-on units.  A key message that has to get out -- and that's a challenge we involved in public safety marketing have to address -- is that driving a car requires our full attention.  Most of us do it practically on auto-pilot because it's easy to drive.  But taking our eyes -- or our concentration -- off the road even for 3 or 4 seconds can be a fatal error if something happens (a car stops or swerves into your lane, or an animal runs into the road, or any of thousands of unexpected scenarios) while your eyes or your mind are elsewhere.   

I've developed, for my non-profit client The National Road Safety Foundation, a program to reach teen drivers and involve them in the communications challenge.  Along with National Organizations for Youth Safety, a youth-based coalition of advocacy groups, we announced today at the Distracted Driving Summit a competition for young people to create concepts for PSAs that address distracted driving and other risky driving behavior like speeding, driving under the influence, drowsy driving and failing to buckle up.  The winner gets $1,000 and a  trip to New York to see his or her idea turned into a professionally-produced PSA that will eventually be broadcast nationally and will go everywhere virally on the web. 

Pretty cool that the Secretary of Transportation likes the idea and featured it at the Summit.  And it's going to be written about on the White House blog.  The Secretary's office put us in touch with Seventeen Magazine, who will be partnering, and we welcome other media partners to step up as well.

I'll have more about this as the project progresses.  Meanwhile, corny as it might sound, don't text or talk on your cell while driving... and tell family and others you care about not to do it either.

UPDATE 10/16/09:   My client The National Road Safety Foundation, is running a competition for teens to come up with ideas for a PSA on safe driving.  It got the attention of the Secretary of Transportation, who is now working with us the project.  This story is appearing this weekend on some 200 TV stations nationally on "Teen Kids News."

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I just saw this on the O'Dwyer's PR blog and had to share it... 

Before I began blogging almost three years ago, the letters WTF meant nothing to me.   Had you asked, I might have guessed it's the call letters of a radio station somewhere.   Then one day, when someone used it in a blog comment, I asked a friend who's a texter and she told me.  Oh... ok.  Since then, I've used the expression myself.

Pity the poor unsuspecting folks at the Wisconsin Tourism Federation.  When the group was formed 30 years, who would have thought those letters would eventually come to mean something that has nothing to do with Wisconsin or cheese or lakes or whatever else that fine state has.

It's sort of like the public relations company that handles lists and release distribution -- PR Aids.  It's now called Cision, once Aids took on another unfortunate meaning. 

So the people in Wisconsin have finally made some changes.  It's now the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin -- TFW. 

Let's hope texters don't come up with some other shortcut that uses those letters.  New logos and stationery gets expensive.

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Not sure how I feel

I read in the Los Angeles Times the other day about a new ad campaign promoting Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  MSNBC picked up the story, which included a clip of the ad "Save the Boobs" from the non-profit Rethink Breast Cancer. 

The spot looks more like a beer ad than one for a disease that's the leading killer of women 25 - 49.  It features a woman with large breasts almost popping out of her bikini top, while every man

she passes stares, slack-jawed, at her chest.  Stripper music plays in the background.

Dan Neil's L.A. Times story is headlined "Breast cancer ads use lechery for good."

I'm not so sure.  It's still lechery.  It's still more of objectifying women's bodies.  It also reinforces the thinking that, when it comes to women's breasts, bigger and bouncier is better.  How does that make women with smaller breasts feel?

I understand, of course, the intent of this ad.  Get attention.  Get people talking.  It looks like that's worked (evidence: this post, the L.A. Times and MSNBC stories and others). 

I'm just not sure if this was the way to do it. Ads on serious subjects can use humor to get attention and recall.   Coincidentally, I saw another ad on breast cancer awareness (it's part of the MSNBC clip linked above) that had closeups of women with their hands on or under their chests, pledging allegiance to fight breast cancer.  Each woman referred to her breasts using a different slang expression -- my hooters, boobies, tatas, my girls, chi-chi's (never heard of that one), etc.  But they weren't in tiny bikinis; they were wearing street clothes.  And they were women of all sizes; not just the Barbie stereotype 36 double-Ds.

From what I've seen online so far, I may be in the minority here. 

The "Save the Boobs" ad is drawing positive comments from ad critics and from readers.  But I just wonder if the same message to younger women and the men who love them -- that breast cancer strikes young women too -- couldn't have been communicated in a way that doesn't reinforce the objectifying and demeaning of women.Maybe it's just me -- I'll admit it.

Your thoughts?