Your PR Architect

After two straight years of weekly PR Architect blog posts, I'm taking a break this week. I hope you'll return in January, when I plan to resume this blog.   Happy New Year.

By Theud-bald from Paris, France (Galerie Lafayette - Christmas decoration 4) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons What's the biggest mistake a public relations practitioner can make? Misreading the target audience. Pitching your story to the wrong individual. And I'm not about to do that. It's the last few days before Christmas. You're last-minute shopping. Wrapping gifts, roasting chestnuts, shipping packages, or tipping the postal carrier. You're not chasing down PR tips. Whatever modest audience this blog attracts isn't wondering about some company's PR blunders just now. So, this week, I'm respecting my audience.  Go celebrate your holidays. Hug your loved ones. And Happy Christmas. 

No, it's not Steve Jobs.  I'm referring to Steve Ells, Chipotle's CEO, whose company has been having the worst weeks ever. Maybe the worst quarter. Unexplained illnesses linked to Chipotle's fresh-food menu have resulted in more than 120 customers taking sick, and the temporary closing of 44 restaurants in Boston and the Pacific Northwest. By Aude (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons To his credit -- and at some professional risk -- Ells took to the morning TV news circuit last week, and took full responsibility for these problems. On the TODAY show, the first words out of his mouth? "I'm sorry." No royal "we're sorry." No PR aphorisms along the lines of,  "We regret..." He took responsibility. And explained in very plain English what the company's doing to sanitize the restaurants and make them safe. And, even when asked about the impact of the bad news and closings on Chipotle's stock price, Ells stayed on

I'm struggling to figure out how Snapchat fits in a public relations strategy. This may be akin to By Snapchat, Inc. (https://twitter.com/Snapchat) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons asking your grandfather to join Instagram. Admission: I'm in learning mode with Snapchat. The app peered into my device's address book, and served up two names of contacts with Snapchat accounts. I haven't spoken to these individuals in more than a year. And neither are people with whom I'd want to share images from my daily life. (Aside: while writing this blog, I had to force my fingers to type "Snapchat" and not "snapshot." Old habits die hard.) But a colleague tells me Snapchat is a viable marketing communications platform for her needs. She works in undergraduate admissions, and is using a version of a university mascot to promote followers for the university on Snapchat. In the battle for hearts of prospective young enrollees, a plush-toy ani