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Penn State Lessons and the Sin of Spin: When Cowards Take the Easy Way Out
Corporate Communications… by Karen Friedman, Karen Friedman Enterprises
I recently had the opportunity to participate in a realistic risk exercise involving scores of local state and federal officials. The purpose of the day- long event was to allow participants to implement emergency response plans, coordinate activities and practice responding to an incident that threatens public safety in order to protect the public should a real life emergency occur.
As an observer and evaluator of communication tactics and strategies, what impressed me was the constant attention of every participant across multiple agencies to protect those who were affected by the threatening situation that was unfolding.
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Think Ink: Five Ways to Score Press Coverage at a Trade Show
Public Relations… by Adrienne Appell, Senior Manager Public Relations, Toy Industry Association
The reasons companies exhibit at trade shows can be varied … key among these, of course, are introducing new products to retail buyers and networking with industry colleagues. But trade shows are also an excellent opportunity for exhibitors to attract press coverage for their organizations and products.
Held in New York City every February, the Toy Industry Association’s American International Toy Fair (Toy Fair) is the largest toy and youth product event in the Western Hemisphere.
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Social Media and Your CEO: How to Build the Brand Together
Social Media… by Mark Cooper, CMO & Co-Founder, Offerpop
Getting your CEO to be a regular participant in your company’s social media program can help you shape perception of your brand as authentic and open. A CEO who is engaged, socially, can help marketers build relationships with consumers in ways that no program or campaign can. Brands can sometimes evolve into one-sided messaging. A CEO who joins the chat on Facebook, Twitter, etc., ensures that your brand messaging is a dialogue, not a monologue.
Michael Dell is often held out as the ideal of the socially engaged CEO.
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B2B Social Media Success: Raytheon’s “Clutter-Busting Content Strategy”
By Critical Mention for the Critical Now Channel
In the age of millenials, many agree that social media plays a large role in an organization’s communications efforts. It helps us listen to what our consumers want and need, and to interact and and connect with them in ways that were not possible just a few years ago. Despite the benefits of social media, we have frequently heard this refrain from non-believers: Social media, specifically Twitter, is for B2C. It is pointless for B2B, because they have no audience.
Well, to all those naysayers, Corrin Kovalsky, director of digital media at Raytheon, tells us that we all have an audience – and she has the proof to back it up.
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YouTube Optimization Series, Part 4: Video Analytics – the Metrics That Matter
By ZOG Digital for the Digital Visibility Channel
After your initial optimization work, using YouTube Analytics to stay on top of the metrics that matter is critical to ensure your content remains optimized. You can think of these metrics as a proxy for what your viewers think about your channel, and your viewers remain an invaluable source to help guide you as to what content you should be producing. The way to begin is to analyze your most popular videos within YouTube Analytics, and then start working backward. Key metrics to investigate include:
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Crisis PR: Business Schools Offering PR, Crisis Comms Tips to Students
USA Today
The Public Relations Society of America has launched a pilot project at five business schools to teach MBA students how to handle crises and preserve corporate reputations. “CEOs have made egregious mistakes in transparency and governance,” said Gerard Corbett, chairman and CEO of the public relations group. “This initiative is to get executives at the beginning of their careers and understand the nature and purpose of good reputation management.” Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Quinnipiac University’s School of Business and the University of Texas at El Paso’s College of Business Administration are participating in the pilot project. The schools will offer a public relations course in their MBA programs in the 2012-2013 school year and document what works best in subject matter and teaching methods …
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Scientology Reels from Cruise Divorce PR Blow
Agence France Press
The Church of Scientology has remained tight-lipped about Tom Cruise`s shock divorce, grappling with a PR blow which has revived questions about the controversial celebrity-friendly religion.
The Church has made barely a single comment since Katie Holmes dropped her June 28 bombshell on the Hollywood A-lister, probably the most high-profile member of the nearly six-decade old organization.
Cruise`s representatives have been more forthcoming — and lashed out this week at the tabloid National Enquirer over a story describing the “Mission Impossible” actor as a “monster.”
But the publicity blitz around the story has also shed an unfavorable light on the Church, which has long battled with a controversial image, fueled by criticism including from former members.
“It`s a terrible public relations situation for the Church,” said Karen Pressley, former “commanding officer” of the Scientology Celebrity Centre — the very name of which raises eyebrows to LA newcomers — based in Hollywood. …
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Global Marketing: Study Finds that Email Has Driven More Than Two Thirds Of Online Brazilians To Purchase
The Street
A new study released today by global interactive marketing provider ExactTarget found that nearly two thirds of online Brazilian consumers have made a purchase after receiving an email marketing message. Featured in ExactTarget’s Digital Carnival research report, the survey of more than 1,400 Brazilian consumers is the latest in its Subscribers Fans and Followers research series to explore consumer behavior across email, Twitter and Facebook. With only 42% of all Brazilians online, the study found growing strength across interactive channels. Key findings of the study include: 91% of online Brazilian consumers subscribe to at least one email marketing program, 68% have made a purchase after receiving an email marketing message, 53% are more likely to buy from a company after subscribing to its email marketing, 77% interact with brands on Facebook, 42% of consumers on Facebook (ages 25-44) have made a purchase after receiving a marketing message on Facebook, 41% use Facebook for work purposes, 26% of online Brazilian consumers interact with brands on Twitter …
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Microsoft Cuts More Marketing and Advertising Jobs
CMO Magazine
Microsoft on Wednesday cut an undisclosed number of advertising jobs but tried to put a positive spin on the move. “I can assure you we’re thinking about the exciting new opportunities that Windows 8, Xbox and Skype present for our advertising and marketing partners,” a spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal. The software giant’s announcement wasn’t exactly a shocker. Microsoft slashed an estimated 200 jobs last winter to streamline its marketing operations. And a report surfaced in early June that the Redmond, Wash., company was closing down its Microsoft Advertising TV Network, an ad-selling vehicle for some of NBCUniversal and Viacom’s cable networks. AdWeek reported at the time that the company had already offered severance packages to workers in that operation and was considering layoffs of 15 to 30 percent of its sales force …
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Investors Brace for Weak Tech Earnings
Mercury News
Tech investors are bracing for a wave of weak earnings, thanks to a shaky global economy and a continued slowdown in demand for personal computers, corporate data center gear and even software. Several chipmakers and component suppliers have already signaled that their spring quarter financials were worse than expected. Analysts say that’s a worrisome sign as a host of other tech companies — including Silicon Valley’s Intel (INTC), Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) and Facebook, as well as IBM and Microsoft — prepare to announce quarterly results this month. “Weakness is broad and is spreading in tech land,” Ambrish Srivastava, a financial analyst at BMO Capital Markets, warned in a report on recent negative indicators from chipmakers who supply components for PCs, servers and other computing hardware …
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IASB Hits at SEC Stance on Rules
Financial Times
The chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board’s oversight body has rebuked the US Securities and Exchange Commission over its apparent loss of enthusiasm for global accounting rules. The IASB writes the International Financial Reporting Standards used by listed companies in the European Union, Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Russia and other countries. It wants the US to move away from its domestic accounting rules, known as US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, by embracing IFRS. However, SEC staff issued a non-committal paper on the subject on Friday that gave no clue as to when an already-delayed decision on possible IFRS incorporation would be taken by the US markets regulator …
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Internal Communications: Vast FDA Effort Tracked Emails of Employees
New York Times
A wide-ranging surveillance operation by the Food and Drug Administration against a group of its own scientists used an enemies list of sorts as it secretly captured thousands of e-mails that the disgruntled scientists sent privately to members of Congress, lawyers, labor officials, journalists and even President Obama, previously undisclosed records show. What began as a narrow investigation into the possible leaking of confidential agency information by five scientists quickly grew in mid-2010 into a much broader campaign to counter outside critics of the agency’s medical review process, according to the cache of more than 80,000 pages of computer documents generated by the surveillance effort. Moving to quell what one memorandum called the “collaboration” of the F.D.A.’s opponents, the surveillance operation identified 21 agency employees, Congressional officials, outside medical researchers and journalists thought to be working together to put out negative and “defamatory” information about the agency …
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Crisis PR Experts Sound Off on Penn State’s Freeh Report
Washington Post
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s report on the Sandusky scandal charges that Paterno and other Penn State officials buried the allegations and allowed Sandusky to prey on boys for years. Despite the report’s revelations, PR pros and industry observers say its release was a necessary step as the university tries to regain public trust. “As painful as this was – and it was a body blow of mass proportions – it was probably the best thing they could do,” says Peter Shankman, a vice president at the public relations firm Vocus Inc. “By issuing the report they’re doing what they haven’t in 15 years. People can’t start to heal until they start doing the right thing.” Stan Steinreich, CEO of Steinreich Communications Group in Fort Lee, N.J., says that in situations like this, it’s important to tell the truth, which is what Penn State officials should have done instead of initially attempting a cover-up. “This will be studied for a long time by those in the industry as one of the worst PR catastrophes of all time, in terms of spiraling out of control,” Steinreich says. “I think that there is always a time where a corporation or an individual has to stand up and take the fire. Continuing to circle the wagons like Penn State (did) doesn’t help.” …
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Journalists Are Mad About Being in Romney’s New Ad
The Atlantic
You would think, after the Obama campaign debuted their knockout advertising punch on Saturday, the Romney campaign would want to come out strong with their next ad. Instead, they’ve pissed off two out of the three journalists featured in their thirty second spot. The ad uses clips of CBS’s Bob Schieffer, the New York Times’ David Brooks, and Time’s Mark Halperin all questioning the Obama campaign’s use of negative ads. “Whatever happened to hope and change?” Schieffer asks. The clip was taken from an interview with David Axelrod on Face the Nation from a few weeks ago. It appears the Romney campaign didn’t ask either of the three journalists if they’d be okay with being featured in a campaign ad, and unsurprisingly at least two of them aren’t pleased about it. The ad aired during Sunday morning’s Face the Nation, and it was the first time Schieffer had seen or heard anything about the ad. He was a bit caught off guard …
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Advertisers Devote More of Paid Search Budgets to IPad, Tablets
Bloomberg
Marin Software, which helps manage the ad campaigns of more than 1,800 advertisers and agencies, examined their spending in June and found some interesting numbers that bode well for the tablet market. Among them: — U.S. online paid-search advertisers spent 7% of their budgets on ads targeting tablets, up from 5% in March. That’s still small compared with desktop and laptop computers, which accounted for 86% of search ad spending. Still, that’s a quarter-over-quarter increase of 40%. — Search ads targeting tablet users seem to be more effective than ads served to computers. While only about 2% of consumers would click on a search ad on their desktop PC, 3.2% click on similar tablet ads, and 5.2% click on ads shown on smartphones. — Advertisers pay about 78 cents each time a consumer clicks on a PC ad, but 64 cents for an ad shown on a tablet, and 49 cents for an ad shown on a smartphone. So, search ads for tablets, as well as smartphones, are not only clicked on more, they’re less expensive …
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