my 2 cents

Bad PR: Fine line between stunts and a hoax

 

Stunts are sometimes used as a public relations tactic to generate attention and media coverage.  It might be something funny, daring or competitive, but the intent is it will gain public and media attention.

But there’s a difference between a stunt and a hoax.  It’s a line that should never be crossed by an organization or a PR professional or agency.

A hoax means you are intentionally fooling someone.  Plan a hoax as a PR tactic in hopes of gaining attention and you risk gaining much more than you bargained for – the loss of public trust and future business from those you’ve defrauded.  And when you involve the media in that hoax, you will also lose the chance of coverage in the future.

An online dating service based in the UK recently used a hoax as a way to gain attention.   It worked, to a degree, but at what cost?

The online dating site, whose name I won’t use here because I don’t want to give them even the slightest bit of added exposure, claims it weeds out people who are less than beautiful.  That’s its sales pitch – it only accepts “beautiful people.”

The company announced last week that their site had been hacked and some 30,000 “normal or ugly” people had been accidentally admitted to their dating list, bypassing the site’s “vanity filter.”  The company claimed it had discovered the hack and has refunded the registration fee to those ugly people who had been inadvertently permitted to sign up for the “exclusive” dating service.

It turns out the hack never happened – the whole thing was a hoax.  Now I’m not sure how much publicity this got.  I saw it only on one of the PR news sites, and also on a tech blog called PR Pro.  Hopefully, the story didn’t go much further.

But it IS out there, because the company, through its ethics-challenged PR agency, issued a news release on PR Newswire, with a London dateline.  That means the company and the PR agency knowingly sent a false news release out to the media.

A web security researcher was quoted in the PC Pro story, calling the hoax “a fantastic piece of chicanery.”   He said the hoax was designed to  ”get them thousands of pounds of free publicity, with little risk of damage to their reputation.”

This “expert” couldn’t be more wrong.  It may have brought the site some curious viewers and even some new customers.  But how many others have been turned off by being lied to?  And the PR agency that put out the news release may have a hard time getting publicity in the future from any real journalist.  (If I were a honcho at PR Newswire, I would ban that agency from ever issuing a release for any client on the wire.)

To me, the use of a hoax to gain attention shows a lack of creativity on the part of both the agency and the client.  The dating site does have an interesting and potentially newsworthy angle, and simple hard work and good pitching would have gained some legitimate media exposure. 

Using a hoax to generate publicity goes against basic public relations and journalistic ethics.  It is not activity that should be rewarded with coverage.

 

What's in a name, redux

About a month ago, I wrote about some ad agencies trying to re-make themselves, even if in name only, by calling themselves anything but an ad agency.  According to an Advertising Age story, Campbell-Ewald proclaims on its website "We are not an agency."   The site goes on to explain that they're "hundreds of diverse minds rattling as one."    

Saatchi & Saatchi, says, "We're not an ad agency.  We're an ideas factory."  Lowe tells people it's a "high value ideas company."

Now the name game is hitting the Public Relations field.  A story in The New York Times ad column Wednesday told of changes at Golin Harris.  The headline: "Account Executive is Antiquated.  Consider Yourself a Catalyst."

The story says it took the folks at Golin ten months to come up with new titles for staffers to denote specializations and the agency's ability to work in the areas of digital and social media. like catalyst and strategist.  So now, Golin won't have account executives or account supervisors.  Suddenly, these people will be transformed into "strategists" and "catalysts."

Say what?

The story says the new titles cover four categories:  Strategists analyze a client's business; Creators are the writers, designers and producers; connectors are the staffers who reach target audiences through traditional and social media; and catalysts are the account people. 

Looks to me like they'll have the same people, but just with different titles.  Oh, I suppose they'll bring in more young people familiar with social media to be the "connectors."  Isn't that we've always called publicists or media relations people?

Years ago, when I was a senior VP at Manning Selvage & Lee, they had some specialists who worked across account groups, assisting individual account teams as requested.  They had someone who was the writing expert, offering much-needed help with what would have been poorly-written releases and backgrounders.  They had someone who assisted clients with coaching for TV interviews, and someone else who had been a business journalist who helped account teams target and formulate pitches to major business media targets.  So now the specialists help work with digital and social media – nothing really new.

I've always viewed part of my role for clients as assisting with strategy.  But I don't call myself a strategist.  And I am a catalyst to generate exposure for clients, but I don't call myself a catalyst.  I think Golin's name changes are baloney, but their big clients may buy it.  More power to them.

It seems so many PR agencies (and ad agencies, too) are running scared, afraid they'll lose billings to newer shops who specialize in digital or social media PR.  So they're scrambling to make themselves look different – even if they're really not.

If what we're doing is PR, then we're a PR agency, regardless of what titles we confer upon our staffers.  It's really as simple as that.

 

Being first to try new technology has its risks

Technology is fantastic, opening so many new vistas for business and personal use.  This is especially true when you look at how we access and enjoy entertainment.  But the ever-advancing march of technology can be costly and frustrating.

The latest example is brought to light by a report cited in ADWEEK that shows how DVDs, once the shining new "next best thing" that made VHS tapes obsolete, are being eclipsed by online delivery of movies, TV programming and other video content.

Research shows that the DVD retail market slid by 44 percent in 2010, to $4.5 billion, down from $8 billion the year before.  In 2007, the DVD market was worth more than $10 billion.  ADWEEK says the number of units shipped in 2010 was 225 million, compared to more than 400 million in 2009 and 517 million in 2007.

What happened?

Technology happened.  More of us are downloading films online, whether via Netflix, Hulu or other online delivery systems.  Or we DVR TV programs we want to watch at our own convenience, while the old VHS player -- if it's still even hooked up -- sits idle, blinking away at 12:00...12:00...12:00.  And as the new generation of internet-ready HD TV sets find its way into our homes, even more of us will get our video directly online -- bypassing those VHS, DVD and even the new BluRay players we so quickly invested in.

As our old technology becomes obsolete, it means a surge in business for the manufacturers and retailers as we stock up on our large-screen HD TVs, surround-sound systems and -- maybe -- 3D TVs. And the old VHS, DVD and BluRay machines end up going to the attic, to gather dust alongside our turntables, tape cassette players and all the other hi-tech gear we so eagerly bought years ago.

I'm glad I am not an "early adopter."  They're the people who have to have the latest gadget as soon as it comes onto the market, paying top dollar so they can be first on the block to own one.  And now the HD TV they paid $2,500 for can now be bought for a fraction of that amount.

I'm perfectly content to wait on the sidelines.  Let others pay the crazy prices for stuff that still needs to get the bugs worked out. 

At least I can be pretty certain that by waiting I won't get stuck with something that becomes a laughingstock -- like the 8-track tape players of the 1970s.  Thankfully, I never bought one.  I also never bought a Nehru jacket or a leisure suit.

New grads: You got your degree. Now what?

  

 

 

 

Even as hiring is showing a slight 
increase, it's not easy for new 
grads.  The job market, especially 
in the PR and marketing fields, 
is still flooded with last year's graduates.

The job search should really begin while a student is still in school, 
by building a resume of work experience from internships (paid or 
unpaid), volunteer activities and leadership roles in school activities 
and clubs.  For aspiring PR and marketing pros, good resume-builders 
could include work as a reporter or editor at the school newspaper 
or radio station, or helping (paid or unpaid) at the school's PR office.

But for those who have just graduated and didn't do their resume-
building over the past four years, all is not lost.  There are options, 
even in this blistering job market.  The options I suggest here, 
however, will require patience and the willingness or ability to suffer 
through months of little or no income.

Since the biggest obstacle is differentiating oneself from other 
equally qualified candidates, the "Experience" section of the resume 
can be crucial.

So if you have no relevant experience, go out and get it.  Go to a 
local business -- a retailer or a service provider.  Offer your 
marketing or PR services free or, if you can get it, for a very small 
fee.  Do a good job and save copies of news releases, press 
clippings, local radio segments.  Or, volunteer as a marketing person 
for a local charity or a do-good organization -- the local animal shelter, for 
instance.  Help them get exposure.  Create an event -- and document 
the results.

If you hustle and you're lucky, after a few months you may have 
some real experience that can show an employer you are creative 
and you can do a good job for him or her.

It's not too late to build your resume.  But don't wait too long.  
The Class of '12 is just around the corner.