REICH COMMUNICATIONS

A New York Icon

 

I just walked through the lobby of the Chrysler Building, on my way back from a meeting.  I could have walked alongside it on Lexington Avenue, as I usually do every day on my way to and from work.  But I decided to walk through the lobby, just for a change.

I'm so glad I did.  I've been in that lobby many times, but the beauty of it really struck me today.

As you can see from these pictures, it's the epitome of art deco.  So is the outside of the building, with its gargoyles looking down on us pedestrians as we scurry by 31 stories below, along with eagles up on the 61st floor.

With its magnificent spire, the Chrysler Building has been an integral part of New York's unique skyline since it was completed in 1930.  It continues to stand out, especially as many of the newer skyscrapers go up with boring and uninspiring facades.

Even after almost 90 years, the Chrysler Building is part of what makes New York special.

One of the Perfect Days in NY City

We had a rainy start, but today turned out to be one of the perfect days here in New York ... warm, but not hot.  Low humidity and a refreshing breeze... all under clear blue skies.

Beautiful.  One of those days that makes it easy to love New York.

We Remember, With Thanks

With thanks to all who served, and especially those who remain in Normandy.

In the words of a 96 year-old vet who was there and returned this week for the first time after 75 years...   "Freedom is never free."

New York: Broadway is Booming

 

Broadway set a new box office record, as the 2018-2019 season just ended. 

Nearly 15 million seats were sold, bringing in $1.83 billion -- up more than 10 percent from last year.  Only nine years ago, ticket sales hit $1 billion for the first time.  

Ticket prices have gone up a lot, but you can still find relative bargains online or at one of the TKTS booths.  Regardless of price, there's just nothing like live theater.  And seeing a show in New York -- in one of the spectacular old theaters, with fantastic set design and great staging, is like nothing else.  Going to a show in the theater district is exciting -- even for us jaded New Yorkers -- walking to and from the theater, with streets filled lined with theaters and filled with theater-goers.

Some of the shows we've seen this past season include the musicals Prom, The Cher Show and Wicked, as well as plays Network (Brian Cranston was amazing) and The Waverly Gallery (great performances by Elaine May and Lucas Hedges).

Haven't seen Hamilton yet.  We could have seen it in previews a few years ago for about $79/ticket, but I said back then, "Why would I want to see a play written to rap."  OK, I was really wrong on that one, and now tickets go for hundreds, IF you can even get them.

We just got tickets for Tina - The Tina Turner Musical, which opens in October.

Coming to New York?  Make sure to see a show on Broadway.

 

What We Do: The Christopher Awards

 

Thursday evening is the 70th annual Christopher Awards, honoring the creators of books, films and TV that tell stories of people doing good.

It's not about the best-seller list or box office or TV ratings. Instead, the Awards are about encouraging people to do whatever they can, in ways big or small, to make our world a better place.

Honorees this year range from Mark Wahlberg's film about foster parenting, "Instant Family," to the Mr. Rogers documentary, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" to the 886-page book by David Blight about slave-turned-abolitionist/author and journalist Frederick Douglass.

We've been knocking on doors to get advance publicity on the winners in papers, on radio, TV and online.  Tomorrow the awards will be presented.  It's always an inspiring evening. 

More to come in this space after the awards.

 

The Upfronts: Paying More for Less

 

It’s a ritual of late spring…the upfront TV marketplace.

Every year, the networks (and in recent years, major ad-supported cable channels) present their fall programming to major advertisers and ad agencies here in New York.  They’re usually glitzy productions at major venues – this year at Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, the Beacon Theater – with lots of star-power from the networks.

There’s a lot at stake.  It’s a chance for advertisers to buy ad time at better rates than if they waited until later in the year, when prices could be anywhere from 10 to 40 percent higher in what’s called the scatter market.

During the upfront period, the networks usually sell as much as 90 percent of their prime time ad availability. 

The numbers are big.  The major networks rake in around $9 billion as advertisers rush to grab up ad time.  When you add in the dozens of cable networks, from A+E to National Geographic Channel, the total take is close to $20 billion.  And it’s almost always a sellers’ market, since the ad buyers don’t want to get locked out.

For major advertisers, TV still offers something other media can’t – a big audience seeing ad messages pretty much at the same time, or in “real time” as the network ad salespeople say.  So even as the total TV audience continues to dip, ad rates appear to be going up again this year. 

Marketers are paying more for less, but FOMO (fear of missing out) still drives the upfront market.

Fact-Checking: A Real Challenge for the Media

 

Major media outlets do their best to get it right.  After all, their product is information and if is incorrect, its value diminishes.

Wayne Friedman, writing last week in MediaPost’s TV Watch, examines the problem media are having today with a president who is a serial tweeter.    

As we know, the Tweeter-in-Chief rarely seems to bother with facts or accuracy, often shooting from the hip about whatever is on his mind or whatever he just saw on FOX News.  The major media try to fact-check, but that becomes a daunting task when he can throw 20 – 60 tweets out in a morning.

Friedman reports that Media Matters of America examined more than 2,000 tweets posted by major media from Jan. 26 to Feb. 15 and found that 65 percent of those tweets did not fact-check, but simply reposted or included presidential tweets without indicating where they were false or erroneous.

More than half the time they just repeat what he has said without checking for accuracy, so it’s ironic that the president calls major media “fake news,” when they are simply repeating false information he puts out there.  

The Media Matters study showed that NPR did the best job of fact-checking.

The bottom line here is not to rely on tweets for news.

Enough!!

 

Jews shot while at prayer in synagogues in Pittsburgh and California, while anti-Semitism rises here and in Europe.  Muslims shot in their mosques in New Zealand.  Black churches being shot up or set afire in the south.  Shootings at Catholic churches in Sri Lanka.  People fleeing poverty and political strife being turned away or imprisoned at our borders.

What is happening to us?  Where does all this hatred come from?  Why is it increasing now, instead of coming to an end as our world grows smaller and we learn and understand more about each other? 

Hatred and mistrust of others who believe differently or don’t look like us is nothing new.  It been around for centuries – maybe even from when humans first evolved.  It’s been the cause of countless wars and major genocides including the Crusades and the Holocaust.

As a Jew, I’ve felt that distrust or dislike from others.  Thankfully, it’s been rare for me, but it’s been there.  And of course, others of my faith have felt it in ways too painful to try to describe – pogroms in Czarist Russia, which is what brought my grandparents here to America more than 100 years ago, and the Holocaust, which caused many millions to lose loved ones and even entire families.

For what? 

We can’t blame the resurgence of hate crimes on one person, but our president is undeniably a factor in this troubling trend.  His words of hate and intolerance stir haters here and abroad and make some who might be on the fringes to take that step – desecrating cemeteries and places of learning and worship, or at the extreme, shooting people because they are “different.”  His words of “thoughts & prayers” ring hollow and false when he also embraces and encourages white supremacists by calling them “good people.”

I know he will never own up to his actions or admit he’s been absent in terms of calling out these senseless acts of hatred.  Instead, he’s to tell us something insulting like “Nobody likes the Jews more than me” or “There’s my black in the audience.”

With all the lies, distortions, moral and ethical missteps and so many other things bordering on criminality, probably the most damaging thing he’s done so far in his term is to further divide us and turn us against our fellow Americans.  It’s been so much more than pitting Republicans and Democrats against each other.  It’s been black vs. white, poor vs. rich, Christians and Jews vs. Muslims, farmers vs. city folk, educated vs. less educated, white collar vs. blue collar, “real” Americans vs. immigrants of color.

Enough!! 

It’s time for our leaders, especially elected leaders of both parties, to call him out and demand he put a stop to hateful rhetoric, starting at the top – in the White House.  He is not speaking like an American leader.  He must be told to stop, by Congressional censure or some action or statement that tells us and the world that his hate-filled words do NOT represent what’s in the hearts of most Americans.

 

 

What We Do: The Impact of PR

 

 

Publicity these days takes on many formats and utilizes the whole array of media, from traditional to social.

It used to be all about exposure in newspapers and broadcast, and even when online news and information sites began surfacing, many marketers put little or no value on an online placement.   Back then, it was “Get me in The Times,” then morphing to “Get me on Donahue” and “Get me on Oprah.”

Now it’s more like “Get me trending on Twitter.”

Marketers, especially those with big budgets, continue to put their dollars into advertising.  Buy ads and you know when and where they’ll appear, with a good idea of how many eyeballs (or ears) it will reach.    

But, as many of us in PR have been saying for years (decades, actually), it’s not only about having your message be seen, but more about having it be believed and then creating consumer action – buying the product or service.

A new survey, reported in this week’s ADWEEK, looks at what type of content influences consumers to try a new product or service.  The biggest single influencer, the report shows, is articles and blog posts.  A good chunk of that content is initiated by PR outreach.   More than 28 percent say articles and blogs are what causes them to try to product.

Social media is close behind, at 22.6 percent.

Other things that impact consumers are in-person events, at 15 percent, and celebrity and influencer endorsements, at 9 percent.

Online ads are at 17 percent, and print and other traditional advertising is cited by 3.8 percent of respondents.  Ironic, since the numbers spent by marketers are just about the opposite.  Hmmm.

Credibility: A Key Asset in PR

 

One of the most valuable things a person in public relations can earn and maintain is credibility. 

The media are, understandably, a skeptical group.  It's their job to verify information they are given, especially when it comes from a spokesperson for a company, organization or politician.  And if that spokesperson gets caught lying, their credibility goes out the window.  Media people won’t ever trust anything coming from that person.

Sometimes a spokesperson gets incorrect information, whether intentionally or in error.  A good and confident PR person will push back and try to convince his or her bosses to stay with the truth or, at worse, say nothing.  It’s not always easy and many of us have been pushed to give in and tell lies.

I feel bad for any PR person who works for a boss who lies and puts that spokesperson in an untenable position with the media.  I could never imagine working for Sarah Sanders’ boss, who constantly lies, contradicts himself and makes or tweets off-the-cuff statements that often create a frenzy, as politicos and the media try to figure exactly what he meant.

But I don’t feel sorry for Sarah Sanders.  She agreed to the job she’s in and, through so many presidential lies, has remained there, often repeating or reinforcing her boss’ lies with yet more lies. 

The White House media have long been on to her game, yet they must rely on her since she is the media gatekeeper to the president.

The Mueller report has proven she is a liar.  On at least two occasions, the report shows, Sanders made "erroneous" statements and, when called out on them, lied again when she explained why she lied.  She lied about the lies when under oath before Mueller and his investigators.  Even when her lies have been exposed, she has not apologized and instead went on the attack against Democrats who have been saying there’s been Russian interference in our elections.

New York Times White House reporter Peter Baker said Monday that “a press secretary’s most important asset is credibility.  If you don’t have that, there’s not much point.”  We all make mistakes, he added, but the key to credibility is to own up to them.

CNN analyst and American Urban Radio reporter April Ryan said about Sanders, “She has acknowledged that she lied under oath.  You can’t trust her.  End of story.”

Ryan has called for Sanders to be fired, saying, “She’s been caught in lie after lie. It’s beyond spin.  In any other job, if someone acknowledged they’d lied under oath, they’d be gone.. terminated.”

In the Washington Post, media reporter Paul Farhi wrote that, “to some extent, Sanders’ credibility is a moot point, given her increasing isolation from and limited contacts with the press.” 

This administration, under Sanders’ hand as press secretary, has, as of today, set a record for the longest stretch – 43 days -- without a media briefing.  So far this year, she has held only two press briefings totaling about 30 minutes.  This, as the spokesperson for the man holding the most important job in the world.

 

Zissen Pesach