Your PR Architect

I didn't know you could buy surplus animatronic figures from Disney parks. Let alone install one from the Hall of Presidents as a company CEO. Animatronic at Disney Hall of Progress By SteamFan (own work (Nikon D80)) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) via Wikimedia Commons You'll read countless New Year's resolutions in the coming week. Some will be preposterous or hard to keep. But if you're a CEO or executive director of an organization, and you don't wish to be mistaken for an animatronic historical figure, there's an easy resolution to keep -- one that will help your internal communications far more than any newsletter or video message. It's simple: Be authentic. Be human.  Not every CEO is a "people person." The leader I'm describing -- call him Gerry -- was a good strategist and a charismatic sales leader. But he was never at ease talking

Did you hear about the CEO who gave back his bonus because the company missed its financial target? If you did, great. If not, you'll have to look up the story elsewhere. I'm not going into it here. The most important part of public relations is being authentic. Being real. Acting like a human. So if you're reading this, a few short days before Christmas, here's my professional advice: Turn off your your computer. Browser. Tablet. Phone. Whatever.  Go out and do something real. Something authentic. Something that has nothing to do with clients, product publicity, or crisis communications. It'll keep. Be human. Celebrate the love of others, and be generous with your time and talents. Happy holiday. 

When you need to drop 2,000 words on "what PR Is not about," as a recent online opinion piece does, you're too much in love with the sound of your own words. And losing readers with every sentence. By Joost J. Bakker (Flickr: Do The Right Thing graffiti Amsterdam) [CC BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Is this really a checklist? It feels like a rant -- a  long-winded epistle about what PR is not about that strayed into TLDR* territory after 300 words.  So, in the interest of brevity and casting PR in a less-defensive light, here's a much shorter list of what public relations is: 1. Public relations is about building trust between an organization and its stakeholders: customers, members, employees, investors, partners, and media. Do this by telling the truth.  2. PR is  about helping organizations and their leadership act and sound smart, innovative, and authentic.  3. PR is about doing the righ

By lululemon athletica [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons There's a bit of Twitter real estate that can help your organization or client create brand presence. And too often, it's just thrown away.  It's the "bio." That's what Twitter calls the 160-character summary about yourself or your company. One hundred sixty characters isn't much, but I'm often astounded how many organizations squander this real estate in unrelenting hyperbole.  Creativity's fine here. But jargon isn't helpful. Here's one example: BLANK BLANK, one of the nation's leading drug store chains, proactively empowers you in your pursuit of personal wellness. (Website) What does this mean? Should I expect the drugstore's employees to drop by and be my personal trainer? They sell vitamins, bandages, and personal beauty products. My pursuit of "personal wellness," such as it is, comes from diet, e

Thousands of years ago, Bedrock Motors mailed Fred Flintstone a fake granite car key. The mailer promised a chance at starting a new car. Fred went over to the dealer, tried the key, and it didn't work. He was annoyed and left to shoot pool with Barney. By Schumi4ever (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)] , via Wikimedia Commons And this hoary old marketing technique has continued unchanged ever since. I'm sick of it. Even more today, because the fake keys sent by my town's Dodge dealer are plastic and metal -- and therefore not recyclable. If the dealer sends out 1,000s of key mailers twice a year, that's a needless burden on the waste stream. It's bad PR for his business if I mention the name of the Dodge dealer here. But there's just one Dodge dealer in my town. Its name rhymes with "arena." You can figure this out. So

I can't begin to talk about the psychology of rape or rape victims. I don't know what I don't know. And, probably, neither do you. But when the recent round of accusations against Bill Cosby surfaced last week, and the only rebuttals came from Dr. Cosby's attorney (an interesting choice of spokesperson), my PR gene kicked in. By cropped by JGHowes from File:Lee Archer memorial service  (2010).jpg [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Cosby calls these charges "innuendos." Given the number of women who've stepped forward with claims, the word "predatory" comes to mind. Either way, it's a sad capstone for Dr. Cosby's decades of professional achievement and acclaim. Here's a recent account: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2838255/Whoopi-Goldberg-sides-Bill-Cosby-expresses-skepticism-sexual-assault-claims-didn-t-accuser-rape-kit.html The PR guy in me asked: "If I'm a beloved 77-year-old entertainer whos

Eric Friedman makes a number of good points about employee communications in this blog: 10 Steps to Keeping Employees Engaged and Motivated -- but he skims past an important step: listening to employees, face-to-face. His communications advice: " Communicate well and often.  Training sessions, memos, newsletters, FAQs, and regular meetings can all be used to present your vision to your employees. Make sure to ask questions, and if they are confused, redesign the way the information reaches them." "Trim for ansatte hos NVE" by Henrik Svedahl/Norges vassdrags- og  energidirektorat - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ nve/4174242876/. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share  Alike 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Trim_for_ansatte_hos_NVE.jpg# mediaviewer/ File:Trim_for_ansatte_hos_NVE.jpg This advice feels at once both intelligent and dated, because Eric's cited source is about 10 years old. Memos and newsletter

PR people know how to tell and sell a story. They know how to persuade. They don't always know how to promote themselves. This week, an agency sent a pitch and a link to their YouTube channel. They offered a series of 90-second clips showcasing their wisdom regarding social media. Here's one: Each of their videos sounded like it was recorded in a restroom. At a fast-food restaurant. Not how I'd want to come across on the web. PR is a business of persuasion. You must persuade clients that you know your topic, know your media targets -- and you know what you're doing. I'm sure these people are smart. But when you post videos with poor audio quality, or don't re-shoot segments in which a speaker makes an obvious on-camera flub, you're not persuading anyone. You're only telling me that you don't attend to the quality of content that's the meat of social media. Truly smart shops recognize that you can't persuade anyone with vid

This one's pretty simple, really. CBC talk show guru Jian Ghomeshi was let go last week by his employer. And before tongues started wagging, he got out in front of the story, publicly describing the circumstances surrounding his departure in an online missive. Jian Ghomeshi (2009) By Penmachine (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)  or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons Both CBC and Ghomeshi claimed he was sexually active. Sometimes past the point you might expect. The Vancouver Sun has a succinct summary of activities to date: Jian Ghomeshi’s CBC lawsuit is hopeless — even if he’s telling the truth Credit Ghomeshi for getting his story out first. He defused the kind of protracted gossip and speculation that fuels much of the U.S. media's obsession with celebrity misbehavior. The PR lessons: Tell your story first, with a singularity of voice and message Do it without a news conference Give

I have a bunch of orphans to look after. Not long ago, I worked on a series of video podcasts. Created them, actually, with the help of some very talented video professionals. Our videos profiled professional photographers (see the screen shot below), many of whom championed the virtues of film and digital photography. No one called our work "content creation" at the time. But we produced online material to help build the reputation and brand of a company struggling to re-imagine itself for the digital era. Digital eventually supplanted film, and the company filed for bankruptcy reorganization. Our videos, however, reflect the company's view at the time: that film gave photographers creative latitude that digital cameras did not. (View the series at this link. ) This view, in 2014, has changed. The podcasts -- including this one, profiling British photographer  Jocelyn Bain Hogg  -- live on as created in 2011. Frozen in time. I would have forgotten the

There's no shortage of companies eager to conduct research to fuel your PR recommendations for clients. Good data is helpful, sure. But I recommend a different approach: Listen to your customers. Face to face. And not at a noisy, overstimulated trade show. Author and market researcher Paco Underhill's firm makes a practice of doing retail research by having a staff member track a consumer's behavior, in detail, as he or she navigates through the store. Me, I'd be highly suspicious of anyone stalking me with a clipboard.  However, the research I'm talking about does not involve clipboards or stalking. Here's how one experience went: On a brief trip to the west coast, I had time to spare. I wandered into a small camera shop that catered to serious photographers. I asked "how's business," and then added that I worked for Kodak -- at the time, a powerhouse brand in photography.  Unknown to me, the shop owner had serious issues -

I coach and advise students about careers in public relations. So I see my share of online job postings for PR positions. Too often, they read like this: By Esra / Esra (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/230083)  [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons [Headline:] Entry-Level Public Relations/Sales/Marketing In Your Eye  Marketing Inc   is currently offering entry level sales and marketing positions that include comprehensive training. No prior sales or marketing experience is necessary, and we will train you at the entry level to learn a variety of skills from sales and marketing to management and mentor-ship. (sic -- mentorship is seldom hyphenated) Responsibilities in Entry Level Include: Assisting in the daily growth and development of our company Assisting with efforts of new business acquisition Expertly managing the needs of external customers Developing strong leadership and interpersonal skills Face to face sales of services to new business and/or co

I vowed not to give more airtime to Roger Goodell and the National Football League's problems. So despite the headline, this isn't about Ray Rice, or Goodell, or the league's inability to utter two simple words: "Zero Tolerance." It's about using sports figures to promote consumer products. And whether it's time to end this practice. The cereal box here shows Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back who's accused of child abuse for injuring his young son. The most recent coverage appears here.  You'll struggle to find this Wheaties box on a store shelf. Maybe collectors snatched them up. Or store managers thought it wise to remove them. Maybe General Mills recalled them and shipped them to a country that never heard of Adrian Peterson. It doesn't matter. As a society, we deify our sports heroes, pasting their likenesses on or in automobiles, footwear, food products, and even pain remedies. And when they make mistakes or ca

I love employee recognition. I despise 90 percent of the photos taken to recognize great employees. HR leaders love to talk about employee engagement. If they wish to do more than talk, they'll advocate for a communications person to strengthen internal communications.  One strategy: beef up employee recognition programs. Some organizations do employee recognition well. Hospitals and health care providers do a good job of honoring their employees. Colleges and corporations, less so.  Often, someone will line up a group of employees for a  recognition  photo that's destined for a local newspaper, company newsletter, or website. The photo itself? It's often rushed, unposed, and you wonder if the organization is recognizing people, or lining them up for a firing squad. Look at these actual employee recognition photos, and consider the following suggestions: 1. The Line-Up: a non-motion perp walk featuring a casual, backlit gaggle of employees who don't kn

A headline that failed: "have you embraced the new Instagram Hyperspace app yet?" By Braden Kowitz (Hugs!) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Seriously? Embraced ? First: you can call Instagram an app if you wish, but that's a misnomer. It's a thief. When you post an image, the metadata in your photo tells Instagram (and its corporate overlord, Facebook) where and when the image was created. Algorithms comb the image for clues about your buying habits and likes. The image's information becomes something InstaFacebook can re-sell to marketers. I don't embrace thieves. If anything, InstaFacebook has you in more than an embrace. It's got you in a headlock. Second, Hyperspace: compressed time-lapse videos that make the best footage look like it went through a cappuccino machine. I could do this with a $75 digital camera, but I prefer high-quality videos that lovingly showcase my scenes,

If Roger Goodell is still commissar -- er, commissioner -- of the National Football League by the time you read this, it's because he has 32 team owners who love him. And a legion of fans who'll buy anything with an NFL logo. Including balderdash. Roger Goodell,  By Staff Sgt. Bradley Lail, USAF [Public domain],  via Wikimedia Commons Last week, I led my public relations class through a discussion of the Ray Rice-hit-his-fiancee-now-wife episode. But I might as well have done the lecture in origami, because new details keep unfolding. Last Friday, Baltimore Ravens fans -- including many women -- were shown in USA Today wearing replicas of Rice's jersey in support of the banned running back. The story continues to change, but here's a reasonable snapshot of what's taken place. It's not pretty. Rice and his wife may be right in blaming the media for their woes, including his indefinite suspension. They both appear to have behaved with amazing stupidi

(c) DKassnoff, 2008 Next week (Sept. 18-19), hundreds of public relations pros will visit Rochester for the Public Relations Society of America's northeast regional conference. They'll talk about social media, SEO, media relations, and many other hot PR topics. They'll drink coffee. They'll multitask. They'll swap and lose business cards. But they won't talk about communicating with diverse audiences, or hiring diverse account executives. A colleague invited six diversity PR experts (including me) for a panel discussion. But it isn't taking place. Just one attendee registered for the panel, so it's been cancelled. That's disheartening for PRSA's Rochester chapter, which has had a very active diversity committee for about five years. A committee that has earned national recognition for a pioneering "Diversity Apprentice" initiative introducing high school students to public relations. That just one PR practitioner si

This is not asking about your marital status. It's about becoming an extraordinary PR pro. (c) DKassnoff, 2014 In my workplace, "WED" is more than a word on a calendar page. It's a personal reminder:  WRITE. EVERY. DAY. WED.  The surest way to become extraordinary at some skill is to practice it every day. That's how Derek Jeter, Mo'ne Davis, and Jimmie Johnson become legends in their sports. Jeter takes batting practice before every game. Johnson doesn't wait til race day to log hours at the wheel at 180 mph. Writing is the same. Do it every day. You'll get better at it. Even if you're not writing a news release or a speech script. An actual letter to a friend will do. (Caveat: texts and emails don't count. Use paper and ink, not your thumbs. Your writing will have a greater sense of permanence, and you'll impress whomever receives your letter.) Yes, we all know some PR people who don't write. They may be capable d

Lady Gaga may or may not be a fashion icon. But someone at Pearson Publishing thinks she's a barometer of public relations, and chose her as the cover photo for Fraser Seitel's The Practice of Public Relations (12th edition). Footnote: some guy named Obama was the cover photo of the 11th edition. This isn't about tastes in music or whether Mr. Obama is a successful president. It's about our attitudes toward celebrity, and how we eagerly accept entertainers as exemplars of brilliance. I don't follow Lady Gaga or her music, but I do see how she's adept at leveraging opportunity when it comes her way. Examples: Polaroid -- today a foonote in photography -- made a splash in 2010 when it named Lady Gaga its "creative director."  Digital cameras were wildly popular then, and manufacturers churned them out in semi-bedazzling colors. Polaroid's marketing move cued plenty of headlines. However, Polaroid's brand image never rose above the "

Through an intriguing cross-marketing agreement, Lands End recently sent copies of GQ to its most loyal customers, along with their catalogs. Some were unhappy with the semi-risqué photos of an under-dressed female model. (You can view the image here .) They complained loudly, and L.E.'s CEO apologized. Read about it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/business/media/risque-promotion-prompts-outcry-from-lands-end-customers.html?_r=0 From a crisis communications viewpoint, Lands End -- inventor of the Squall jacket -- did most things right, especially with CEO Edgar Huber's direct apology:  “There are simply no excuses; this was a mistake.” And removing customers' names from the GQ mailing list was a smart move, too. Cross-promotions involving trendy media are tricky. A case could be made that Conde Nast, GQ's publisher, severely misjudged the clothier's demographic; conservative, middle-of-the-road consumers who want durable fashions. Hint: sweater

Photojournalists have been fired for altering news photos. Public relations people disseminate art-directed, staged, or Photoshopped publicity photos. Somewhere in-between: crowdsourced photos used online by news media. Local TV and newspaper staffs are pretty lean, so they solicit photos from viewers and readers. Asking readers and viewers to send photos is a handy way to engage your audience but there's risk involved. A scheming news junkie with a smartphone could contrive an image, although most editors are wise enough to spot a faked photo. But what happens when a news outlet alters a submitted news photo for no apparent reason? Look carefully at these two images, posted by two competing TV news outlets on their websites. Both show a burning car, from which the driver was rescued. A closer look reveals a subtle alteration between the two shots. For unexplained reasons, the first news outlet omitted the license plate numbers. The second news channel ran the photo with

Bill Destler, RIT president A few days ago, I volunteered at an intriguing symposium discussing diversity in the arts in Rochester, NY. My friend Rachel's 21st Century Arts organized this event. I had no role except running a wireless mike to audience members during Q&A sessions, and snapping a few photos. Essie Calhoun-McDavid, retired Vice President, Kodak Kevin McDonald, Associate Provost, Division of Diversity, RIT I've worked in diversity, higher education, community affairs, and public relations for some time. Every so often, I found ways to bring two or more of these areas together. The arts need more diversity, and the companies and individuals who fund these organizations can help bring more diverse artists into the picture. With these modest qualifications, I made a few observations: While many executives from arts organizations (museums, dance companies, art galleries, theatres, etc) attended the symposium, just two individuals with corporate

To you, it may be mid-summer. To a PR person, it's now the Christmas season. By Sigismund von Dobschütz (Own work)  [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Public relations people can't use regular calendars. Especially if they're working on product publicity. Most need to gear their PR strategies to reach consumers in the November-December retail window. Which is why I loathe "Christmas in July" media events. The people at Cision have created a 2014 Holiday Gift Guide pitching kit. You can download it here. It may be useful if you have clients who sell packaged goods, pricey hams, electronic products, or sports items, and who count on PR to help drive their year-end sales. Such a "kit" can help you spend the next few weeks convincing print, broadcast, and online media to include those products in their roundups. You may get a 1

Last week's crisis communications misfires were plentiful, but let's focus on a Geneva, NY college (two, actually) and a media onslaught. Hobart & William Smith Colleges and The New York Times went toe-to-toe over the Times' account of an alleged rape and its aftermath.   It's a tragic story, no matter who spins the tale. A freshman student is subjected to an alleged rape , and the resulting investigations by college and local law enforcement failed to bring about action to discipline the offender(s) or change policy. Hobart's response to the Times ' devastating article? At first, no comments to the media, a letter on their website, and a follow-up letter to the editor of the Times from the chair of the colleges' board of trustees. Later, a heartfelt letter from college President Mark Gearan. HWS President Mark Gearan, By Kevin Colton (Kevin Colton) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons I worked at the Colleges a few years ago, when a st

If you know what a green-white checker finish is, you'll like this post. If you don't, you'll learn something about how businesses view unions in an era when unions are in decline. Last week, the top teams in NASCAR racing -- including those whose drivers include such marquee names as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and Ryan Newman -- aligned to form a "collaborative business organization."   Whatever that means. Daytona 500, 2006 (c) David Kassnoff The Race Team Alliance (RTA) may not be a union. Their stated mission is to explore areas of common interest and to work collaboratively on initiatives to help preserve, promote, and grow the sport of stock car racing. Millionaire drivers are abundant in NASCAR, so traditional labor issues might come down to what pit crew and garage teams are paid. That sounds noble. But, remember, NASCAR's a family-owned enterprise, not a franchise-managing league like those in football