REICH COMMUNICATIONS

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

What We Do: Engaging Young People in Creating Safety Messaging

The National Road Safety Foundation, my client, has been creating materials to talk to young people about safe driving behavior for more than 55 years.  It began with literature and a film about drinking and driving, and it evolved into videos, supported by Powerpoints, literature and lesson plans covering topics ranging from speed and aggressive driving to drowsy driving and, more recently, distracted driving.

The programs are solid and they’ve been used in thousands of classrooms nationwide, as well as in presentations in communities by police, healthcare people and young people themselves through groups like SADD.

For many years, the programs were conceived by us, a group of adults working with our filmmaker.  Except for young people we used as actors, there was little if any youth involvement in developing programs that were aimed primarily at teens.  

That began to change several years ago when we were thinking of creating a video about distracted driving.  We knew what the message should be – don’t talk on the phone or text while driving – but we weren’t sure how to frame the message so it would connect with young people.  Should we focus on gloom & doom – the tragic results of a distracted driving crash?  Should we tell real-life stories?  What about things like music or humor? (Yes, humor, even for a serious subject.)

We pulled together a focus group and spoke with teens to see what kept them awake and interested, what motivated them hear and listen to our message, what bored them and what turned them off totally.  Our video “Generation tXt” proved popular and it’s still in use.

We then took it to the next step, to engage young people in actually creating the messaging and the videos.  We’ve been doing a series of contests where we invite teens to submit a script, storyboards or a written treatment describing a 30-second video (a TV public service announcement) on various safe driving issues and our producer works with them to film the public service message. 

Sometimes we also go directly to schools to work with students to create videos.  Earlier this year, we wanted to do another student-driven video, and I pushed to go to my alma mater, Mount Vernon High School.  We met with the TV Production teacher, Steven Galazzo, and he was excited to give his kids a chance to work with us  and our Emmy Award-winning director Alan Weiss, who produces the nationally-syndicated weekly show “Teen Kids News.”

After a couple of meetings with the class, a theme was selected and a script developed.  The idea was to talk about drinking and driving and the importance of not giving in to peer pressure.  Kids were selected to act in the piece, and other students served as extras, a student director and videographer.

I spent last Thursday at Mount Vernon High School, watching some great kids as they rehearsed and then did take after take until we got the footage we needed.  After a full day, the kids cheered when the student director, Stephan Johnson, a senior who conceived the spot with fellow seniors Jayda Pickett and Jannah Sharpe, called out “It’s a wrap!”                                                                                      

The video will be edited down to a 30-second spot that will air on 160 TV stations on “Teen Kids News” and also on other stations around the country when we distribute it for broadcast.     

When the piece is ready for air, I’ll post it here. 

I’m happy I was able to bring a this project to my old school and I hope the young people involved learned something while having fun.   

 

 

   at right, from The Journal News

Shining the Light

 

As expected, immediately after Attorney General Barr released his 4-page summary of the Mueller report, many on the right began calling up conspiracy theories about the "hoax" of collusion and Russian interference in our elections. They blamed Democrats, who they say are still sore losers over the 2016 election. And they also placed blame on the media.

It's interesting that we are now hearing reports from inside the Dept. of Justice that AG Barr's summary is not accurately reflective of the Mueller report and that it does find some questionable, even if not criminal, behavior in the president's camp.

An op-ed in Murdock's Wall Street Journal, whose hard news coverage I generally respect, rekindled the "fake news" claims, citing a few instances where the media got it wrong. It didn't bother to note the many more cases where the media got it right, often uncovering things that run counter to honesty and integrity in government.

The media play a crucial role in our democracy, keeping we, the citizens, informed by questioning our elected officials on policy and actions and, yes, tweets. The media also serve us by by finding and reporting on bad or even illegal behavior in our government.

The president and his enablers don't like this, since it hampers or prevents them from doing as they please behind the scenes. Media oversight and investigation expose actions that may not be in the public interest or in keeping with ethics and moral values most Americans hold dear.

So of course those in power will try to push back and silence the media. It's painfully clear and obvious.

That's why it's so important that the majority do our own pushing back, calling out the lie about " fake news" and standing behind the media. Buy and read newspapers. Watch the news on the networks. Write to advertisers who support papers and network news or, if you can, buy the products and services they advertise.

It's on us to support the media so they can continue shining light on the darkness.

Perks

I'm finishing up my work representing The National Road Safety Foundation at the Lifesavers Conference, where some 1,500 traffic safety professionals from throughout the U.S. have gathered to share ideas.  One of the breakout sessions I had proposed, on engaging young people in traffic safety messaging, drew an overflow crowd.

One if the perks of my work is the travel and getting to see some cool places.  Here in Louisville, the conference had a banquet tonight in the Millionaire's Club at Churchill Downs, where in a month the Kentucky Derby will be run. 

I met the head bugler for Churchill Downs, Steve.  And I walked through the paddock area where champions have walked.  Lots of tradition and history here, and it was great to see some of it.

I love my job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just sayin'

I'm not sure it's good for someone to call someone else a "thin pencil-neck" when they're so fat that they have almost no neck.  It seems like something an immature baby would say, not an adult and certainly not someone in a high public office.

Just sayin'

Aggressive Drivers

 

As a traffic safety PR consultant and advocate, I do a lot of work with issues like distracted driving, impaired and drowsy driving. But a big factor in many crashes is aggressive driving, which we see in many forms like speeding, tailgating, frequent and sudden lane-changing, and jumping traffic lights before they change to green.

Growing up and living in New York, I see a lot of aggressive driving, especially by taxi drivers. But it turns out the Big Apple is way down on the list of cities with the most aggressive drivers.

USA Today reports on a survey that measured aggressive driving in the nation's 30 largest metro areas.

Los Angeles, known for crazy traffic and crowded freeways, ranked at the top of places with the most be aggressive drivers.  Second, surprisingly, is the City of Brotherly Love -- where love doesn't seem to make it to the roads of Philly. Sacramento is third and Atlanta, where I just spent a few days working and driving, is fourth. San Francisco, San Diego, Orlando, Detroit, Austin and Las Vegas round out the top 10.

New York doesn't even make the list until #23, behind Charlotte, Boston, Chicago and D.C., among others.

The least aggressive drivers in big cities are found in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle and Portland), Cincinnati and Minneapolis.

So I guess I can stop apologizing for New York drivers, just as I don't have a to apologize for New York traffic jams, which also rank lower than in places like Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago.

I'm glad I live and drive in New York.