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Many people think of SADD as Students Against Drunk Driving, which is how the organization started more than 35 years ago.
Traffic safety remains the group's primary issue, but they also help young people deal with other things ranging from drugs to bullying and self-confidence. To reflect their broader scope, they became known several years ago as Students Against Destructive Decisions.
My client, The National Road Safety Foundation, has been working with SADD for many years, but the relationship has grown stronger over the past few years as we've sponsored national programs and contests with them and worked with them to produce a Passport to Safe Driving. It's an impressive toolkit developed by the teens in SADD that has helpful driving tips for new drivers and also for parents of new drivers. It was unveiled today at the annual meeting of SADD State Coordinators, who came to New York from 20 states for three days of planning for 2019 and beyond.
SADD is a large organization with more than 400,000 young people in 7,500 schools nationwide. I've had the good fortune of getting to know many of the student leaders, who are an impressive group. One of them, Rick Birt, who I met when he was a "kid" several years ago, is now the CEO and is doing a phenomenal job leading the young people and their adult leaders. He just had a birthday Tuesday. He's now in his mid-20's.
The state coordinators are also an impressive group. And it's clear that they are passionate about helping young people be safe and make smart decisions.
Pictured at right are the SADD State Coordinators in town this week. I'm way up there at the front of the room -- the guy with the grey hair. SADD CEO Rick Birt is in the center, next to my partner-in-crime Michelle Anderson of the National Road Safety Foundation..
It's times like these when I say, happily and luckily, "I love my job!"
CBS says ads for Super Bowl LIII are more than 90 percent sold out, with just over two weeks to go. And title sponsorships have been sold for each hour of pre-game and post-game shows.
Marketers are shelling out more than $5.2 million for a 30-second spot.
CBS expects the extravaganza in Atlanta to bring in $500 million, topping the $414 million that NBC earned for last year's Super Bowl.
Understandably, CBS will milk the event for all they can get. Starting at 11:30 a.m. eastern, with seven hours of pre-game shows. They'll be covering the game with 115 cameras, including four with live augmented reality graphics. CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus says the broadcast "will look as innovative as any broadcast in history."
For many people, Super Bowl is as much about the ads as it's about the football. Top advertisers this year are automotive, beer and beverage, movie studios and technology companies. Returningf advertisers include Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, Doritos, Avocados from Mexico (even with tariffs), and WeatherTech.
Despite the changing media landscape and continuing bluster about "fake" news, 2019 should present many of the same old challenges for the publicity sector of the Public Relations practice.
Media remain media, whether traditional or "new" media. The editors and content producers - whether at a newspaper, TV newsroom, a podcast or an online site - still want material that will draw the attention of readers and viewers. That means that we in PR must think like editors and provide story ideas and background that's relevant. We must spend time to develop a good pitch that clearly and succinctly outlines what we are offering and why it is relevant and timely.
How we in PR maintain contact with editors and producers has changed from when I first got into the field. Way back, you had meetings and lunches with editors, in order to pitch your story ideas. These days, media people have little free time for lunch or even desk-side meetings. They take pitches by email and via Twitter and other social media. More than ever, a good email subject line is crucial. And since the news cycle is 24/7, journalists often respond by email during the "off" hours of the evening or weekends. Long gone is the 9-5 business day.
Relationships with key journalists are still important, but many of those relationships are now digital or by phone only. The relationships come from reliably providing story ideas and/or interview subjects.
Planning is still important, since non-breaking stories are often determined days or more in advance. Yet we must remain alert to fast-breaking things happening in the world and online, including what's going around on social media. There seems to be a lot more to try to keep track of.
What has changed most during the past three years is that the entire news cycle can be -- and often is -- totally disrupted by a presidential tweet. Despite all the planning, relationship-building and carefully crafted pitching, journalists can at the last moment be totally sidetracked onto other stories. Or the time and space that might normally be allotted for your story may disappear as seemingly every moment or column inch gets devoted to a tweet and its fallout.
That's the new reality in the news and PR business. That's not to say PR hasn't always been a challenging field whose results often rely on things beyond our control. The challenges have changed a bit.
But when it works, public relations can be powerful and cost-effective in shaping thoughts and actions. And for me, as a practitioner, it can be and usually still is fun.
Remembering my pal Loki, at his favorite spot looking out the bedroom window from his chair.
It's been four years and I still miss his puppy kisses every day.