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Hollywood Struggles to Respond to “Dark Knight” Shooting: Crisis Communications Takeaways for the Rest of Us
Public Relations… By Susan Vernon-Devlin, Director of Public Relations Services, Massey Communications
After the shooting in an Aurora cinema during a “Dark Knight Rises” showing on early Friday morning, Warner Brothers canceled the Paris red carpet premiere of its $250 million dollar blockbuster “The Dark Knight Rises.” They also immediately issued a statement saying the studio was “deeply saddened” by the incident and expressed sympathies to the families of the victims. The stars and producers did not make appearances over the weekend, and director Christopher Nolan issued a statement declaring tragedy “appalling.”
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After Aurora: Five Crisis Learnings from the Tragic Theater Shootings
Corporate Communications… By Evan Bloom, Senior Consultant, Eric Mower + Associates
While America is still reeling from the shock of the tragic theater shootings in Aurora, Col., other event, exhibition and entertainment venues should be doing the responsible thing and reviewing their crisis communication and management response plans as elements of this terrible story continue to emerge, as in the latest finding that the gunman acted alone (The Los Angeles Times). As the law enforcement authorities continue their investigations into this horrific event, there are some key factors that entertainment and event locations, as well as all other types of organizations, should realize:
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Obama’s PR Strategy: Will the 2012 Election Prove That Negative Branding Works?
Public Affairs… By David E. Johnson, CEO, Strategic Vision
In elections with incumbent Presidents, the incumbent’s message is usually their record and what they want to do in the next four years. We saw this in 1956 with Dwight Eisenhower who ran on the message of peace and prosperity. In 1984, Ronald Reagan ran on the theme of morning again in America. In 1996, Bill Clinton ran on the bridge to the future. George W. Bush won in 2004 with the message of choice.
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U.S. Olympic Hall of Shame: When Gold Goes Bad and Brands Lose the Race
By Larry Thomas, Latergy, for the Social Video Channel
World class athletes often want to be bigger, stronger, faster. They always want to be better.
World class brands often want to be bigger, stronger, faster. They always want to be better.
For better and worse and occasionally for best and worst, the two frequently get together to do business. Before, during and immediately after major sporting events – none more major than the Olympic Games – these whirlwind partnerships between winning brands and medal winners are formed in the face of fierce competition due to the mutual drive to succeed. Unfortunately, they are often fueled and fail by the mutual need for speed.
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Green or Greenwashing? Why Internet Geeking May Be Good For the Environment
By CSRwire for the Corporate Social Responsibility Channel
You work from home instead of going to the office (most of the time). You read your bank statements, newspapers and you write to your friends and family by email or you keep them informed via a Facebook or Twitter update. You download music and listen to it through your earphones, and buy books online and read them on your screen. You upload all your photos to your computer or view them on your tablet or smartphone. You even take courses online and attend webinars to enrich your knowledge.
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Media News: Murdoch Leaving News Corp. Subsidiary Boards
MarketWatch
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch is resigning from several of his subsidiary boards in preparation for an eventual split of the company’s publishing entities from the rest of the media conglomerate. Reports quoting News International, the entity that oversees the company’s British newspapers, say that the media mogul has stepped down from the boards of NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp. Investments in the U.K. The news was reported Saturday, but the company was quoted as saying that “this is nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise before the company split.” News Corp. will split off its publishing operations from its media and entertainment businesses. Its publishing operations include The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch …
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Warner Bros. Regroups on PR for “Dark Knight”
Variety
Forced by tragedy to re-evaluate its marketing and PR plans for “The Dark Knight Rises,” Warner Bros. was poised to cancel the remainder of the pic’s international press tour. The studio also lost a significant amount of marketing exposure for the pic on Friday as TV spots for the pic were dropped by numerous networks out of viewer-sensitivity concerns. There were reports that Warner Bros. had taken steps to limit some of its TV marketing for the pic but that was strongly denied by sources close to the situation in Burbank. The scramble on Friday came hours after a gunman killed 12 people and wounded more than 50 others at a midnight screening of “Dark Knight” in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colo …
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Mobile Marketing: Olympics Viewing Habits Shift To Smartphones, Tablets
Information Week
Mobile devices are giving fans more control over how they watch sports. In perhaps a first-time phenomenon, more than 40% of Americans will live-stream the Olympics on their smartphones and tablets, according to an online survey conducted by Velti, a maker of mobile marketing technology. “This survey reveals that a significant number of Americans are choosing to consume Olympic content on the go, and while doing so they’re overwhelmingly turning to mobile browsers,” said Velti chief marketing officer Krishna Subramanian in a statement. The survey, which was conducted over several days, asked 2,000 adults age 18 and older how they plan to follow the Olympics this summer. The survey revealed that 35% plan to use tablets and 27% will use smartphones to view games through online browsers. Seventy-seven percent plan to use their smartphones to watch live streaming coverage or check Facebook, and 63% will use an app …
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Email Marketing: Google Buys Email Management Provider Sparrow
NASDAQ
Sparrow, a provider of email management software for Apple’s platforms, announced that it has been acquired by Internet giant Google Inc. (GOOG). The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. “Now we’re joining the Gmail team to accomplish a bigger vision — one that we think we can better achieve with Google,” said Dominique Leca Co-founder and chief executive officer of Sparrow, in an announcement posted on the company’s website. Sparrow said its applications will continue to be available for the time being, but they do not plan to release new features for the Sparrow apps anytime soon. Sparrow offers email client service, which is formally called mail user agent. It is a program used to access and manage a user’s email …
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Give Us a Break: Earnings Show Recession May Be ‘Fast Approaching’
CNBC.com
While this quarter’s earnings reports have crossed a substantially lowered profit bar, future expectations through the year indicate a recession could be on the way. Estimates for the third and fourth quarters have been dropped to levels not seen since the days of the 2008 financial crisis, below even the muted 2 percent expected level of inflation.
That’s an ominous recession sign for an economy that has barely managed to attain positive growth this year even with the strong level of earnings beats, according to an analysis by Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx in New York. “Revenue estimates for the back half of 2012 have been slowly working their way lower this year,” Colas said. “This trend, however, has accelerated to the downside over the past 30 days and we are fast approaching levels where these estimates are unambiguously pointing to the risk of a U.S./global recession later into 2012 and 2013.” …
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The Week Ahead: Wall Street Braces for a Barrage of Data
CNN.com
Investors will have a lot to contend with this week: a deluge of earnings and economic reports are due out, including Facebook’s (FB) first report as a public company and the first look at U.S. economic growth during the second quarter. This week, 138 S&P 500 companies are on tap to report second-quarter earnings. Of the 119 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, 69% have beat expectations, according to S&P Capital IQ. But the bar has been set pretty low. And only 40% of companies reported sales above estimates. That’s the lowest percentage since 2009, according to research firm FactSet. At the same time, analysts say that companies have also been adjusting guidance for third-quarter earnings downward. …
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Crisis PR: PSU Removes Joe Paterno Statue
The Los Angeles Times
The statue of former football coach Joe Paterno was removed from the front of Penn State’s football stadium Sunday morning, a symbolic indication of how an icon in the university’s rich history had fallen in the wake of his inaction after revelations that his former assistant had sexually abused young boys. But the more dramatic result in one of the more extreme cases in college football history may come Monday, when the NCAA will announce “corrective and punitive measures” against the university. The NCAA gave no indication Sunday morning about the details, although at least two media outlets said that college sports’ governing body would not issue the so-called death penalty and shut down the football program …
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CCOs on the Go: Carlson Taps Staoch as VP, Corporate Communications
MarketWatch
Carlson, a global hospitality and travel company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., today announced the appointment of Tammy Lee Stanoch as vice president, Corporate Communications. Stanoch will begin her new role on July 23 and report to Elizabeth Bastoni, executive vice president, chief Human Resources and communications officer. In her role, Stanoch will be responsible for leading the internal and external communications function for Carlson. In this capacity, she will lead media and public relations, community affairs and support the Carlson CEO and executive team on public affairs matters. Stanoch brings more than a decade of airline, travel and hospitality experience to Carlson — including senior leadership positions at Delta(R), Northwest Airlines, US Airways, Sun Country Airlines and The Mark Travel Corporation …
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Judge Tells Apple to Advertise a Win for Samsung
New York Times
A judge in Britain has ordered Apple to post notices on its Web site and to take out newspaper ads declaring that Samsung did not infringe Apple design patents. The unusual decision was the latest twist in a global legal battle over patents between the two rivals in the smartphone and tablet businesses. It followed a Pyrrhic victory last week for Samsung, when the same judge, Colin Birss, rejected an Apple claim over tablet designs, saying consumers were unlikely to confuse Samsung’s Galaxy tablets with Apple’s iPad because the Galaxys were “not as cool.” The phrasing raised eyebrows. The order requires Apple to take out advertisements to a similar effect in The Financial Times, The Daily Mail and several other British publications …
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Report: Apple’s Mobile Ads Make More Money Than Google’s
Forbes
Despite the rapid rise of mobile devices based on Google’s Android operating system, marketers are still getting better results from their advertising on Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Ads that run on Apple’s iPhone command significantly higher prices than Android, and way higher prices than any other mobile platform, according to a new report from mobile browser maker Opera Software, which also operates a mobile ad network. The iPad in particular, thanks to its large touchscreen and ease of use, gets the highest effective cost per 1,000 impressions (eCPM) of all devices–$3.96 to the iPhone’s $2.85 and Android’s $2.10. All the other platforms are far behind. That gives Apple’s iOS platform an outsized lead in actual ad revenues compared relative to its market share in traffic: Together, the iPhone and iPad capture more than 61% of revenues to Android’s nearly 27%. Again, all the others bring up a distant rear …
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