I love it when a plan comes together

       “I love it when a plan comes together.”

        That phrase is instantly recognizable to fans of the 1980’s series, The A-Team.  Col. Smith liked mentioning that sentence whenever his squad invented a way to overcome trouble or the bad guys. Usually, Smith said his signature one-liner after the team quickly conceived some multi-step strategy to achieve victory.    

     I like “I love it when a plan comes together” for two reasons: it is inspiring, and it goes to the essence of public relations.

        The October 17th PRF&P lesson underlined the importance of good public relations planning. I found that 2:24 minute class useful. It hammered home the nuts and bolts of winning strategic communications campaigns. I’m sure this lesson made clear sailing for PRF&P students who drifted at sea about public relation plans.

       Monday’s lesson provided a framework for any strategic communications cause to achieve success. A thought out plan ensures that all necessary steps are covered. Missing just one will hamper, or even doom, the best intentioned public relations effort. One weakness is a plan with a dull goal. 

      I think it really helps to define one’s niche. There’s nothing like a product or service that stands out, or can’t be easily obtained elsewhere. Few things are more advantageous than promoting something that can be found or done few places else.

    For example, let’s say your PR client was NYU’s School of Continuing And Professional Studies (SCPS). The objective was to boost enrollment. Wouldn’t one strong selling point be highlighting SCPS’ numerous foreign language offerings?

 After all, how many other institutions teach hard to find tongues such as Persian, Norwegian, Greek, and Korean?   That alone will serve to attract more students to SCPS, especially in worldly New York City.  

    For all “PRF&Pers, we need to ask ourselves, “What edge can we give to our public relations pitches and plans? What different can we help introduce to the public? How can we best convey the right message to the right people? How can we get our clients to stand above the competition?

   Answering those questions well will pay off well. You, your client, and your audience  will all love it when a plan comes together.  And, perhaps, your public relations group will earn the name “A-Team.”

Big Pharma Gives You the RX Pad

 

How much do you trust your family physician? Really.

 

Does he or she  really have your best interest when considering drug therapy? Well big pharma would encourage you to take matters into your own hands and subsequently into their vast pockets.

 

Big Pharma has been using a different tactic to increase their sales. After all, who is treated by the  drugs prescribed? Patients.  We have all seen it. In drug ads in magazines and television commercials, the message is clear. Patients have to determine the best means for their health and wellness by controlling which drugs they receive. In fact, the ads imply that the patient must ask their doctor,  politely of course, “why not this drug?”. I’m sure  big pharma’s PR people have asked, “why didn’t we do this earlier?”.

 

When  I first saw a television ad for a prescription medication, I thought big pharma went too far. Why do I need a commercial for male sexual enhancement? Or restless leg syndrome? I can foresee my mother-in-law neurotically researching these drug  therapies and flaunting them during a checkup.  The availability of information has made us better consumers but at what price? When does a physician say, “no mas”. Somehow the physician’s training has become diminished yet his risk  increases if he gives in.

 

To imagine the worst case scenario, imagine the sad fate of Michael Jackson.Was he one of these patients who went too far?  He hired a doctor, apparently, for the sole purpose of  administering a specific drug. Of course the circumstances of that case are unique but not too far from a common truth. Patients may not know what is truly best for his or her health and they are forcing the hand of the physician.  I still trust my doctor, so here, that back the Rx pad. Thanks, but no thanks. WARNING: this opinion may cause severe to moderate headaches, boredom, or extreme vomiting. Please do not read this in darkened rooms, confined spaces, or with your spouse after eating too many legumes.

They’re Grrreat (but the government doesn’t think so)!

Tony the Tiger. Toucan Sam. Snap, Crackle and Pop. These are the cartoon images I have grown to love. I remember walking (well, probably running or skipping) down the cereal aisle to grab a box of the sugary goodness without hesitation or fear. I was oblivious to the unhealthiness contained inside and frankly, I didn’t care. My primary concern was which colorful box had the best prize or featured the most loveable character.

Now, imagine walking (or running or skipping—whatever you prefer) down the same cereal aisle without Sugar Bear’s smiling face or the fierce fangs of Count Chocula. Frightening isn’t it? Well, the government has the tendency to do that to people.

The government continues to develop strategies and tactics to eliminate childhood obesity. In an effort to curb junk food marketing to children, the government suggests pulling cartoon characters from cereal boxes. Voluntary health guidelines developed earlier this year set maximum levels of fat, sugars and sodium; requesting food companies not to market foods that go beyond such parameters to children ages 2 through 17. The guidelines apply to many media venues, including advertisements on television, in stores and on the Internet, in an effort to reduce rising child obesity levels.

According to www.letsmove.org, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. I get it. Kids are fat these days--there is no way around it. It makes no sense for a five year old to weigh as much as I do. The government is simply looking out for the best interest of America’s children who are not nearly as active as they should or could be. But why should I have to suffer because Carol Brady can’t tell little Cindy or Bobby no? Why should I have to lose a fragment of my childhood shopping experience just because Bobby is three years old and weighs 200 pounds?

I know it’s selfish, but it’s not fair. It’s up to the parents to set the overall standard of health in their household. It is also the parent’s responsibility to tell their children to put the video games aside and find something fun to do outside!

Maybe I am making way too much out of this but if the government pulls the plug on Tony the Tiger, I will be heartbroken. I believe in the government’s objective and overall strategy but they should definitely reconsider some of their tactics. How else will I know how grrreat something is without the help of a talking tiger or his Kellogg cartoon friends?

Beyond the Comfort Zone

I'm musing over life outside the comfort zone and how it feels. My answer: Painful – but embrace that mental pain right? It will make you grow.

I know a few of us were slightly overwhelmed on the last call over the final assessment. Things got a little quite in the online classroom there for a while.

So I wanted to share something that’s been at the forefront of my mind, aside from “oh cr*p, where do I start?”

Rebels. They have a different way of doing things. One of my favorites is Tim Ferriss. Tim is a master of loopholes, working smarter and simply, a productivity guru. His book “The 4-Hour Work Week” first introduced me to Pareto’s Law which dictates that 80% of your desired outcomes are the result of 20% of your activities or inputs. This can be interpreted as: there are only few things that are really important and it seems the key is identifying that significant 20-percent.

Could we use this principal in our approach to tackling a PR plan? Say for instance, always having the Big Picture in focus - that 80% (or more) reap factor? Would this help eliminate distractions and highlight the important deliverables at each point in our timelime?

And could we use it to identify tactics that are “best – fit” for our clients (those 20% of social media campaigns producing 80% or more measurable results)?

Tim also introduced me to Parkinson’s Law which dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion…..

Confused Much?

Tim clarifies this point so elegantly that I would like to share it with you all:

“It’s the magic of the imminent deadline. If I give you 24 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the bare essentials. If I give you a week to complete the same task, its six days of making a mountain out of a molehill. If I give you two months, God forbid, it becomes a mental monster. The end product of the shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus”.

So perhaps, as it directly relates to PR, assignment work and life in general - a good piece of advice is this:

“Identify mission-critical tasks and set aggressive start and end times for their completion”.

Or simply: Deadlines create focus (I think I remember you saying this too Eric?)

Working Smarter has been a common thread in our discussions on this blog, so if someone’s point of view or personal methodology has had a lasting impression on you, do share – I would love to hear about it.

STRAGEDY!

We communications-types are the first to poke fun of the buzzwords. When overused, "Strategy" is still one of my favorites (along with "unique" and "at the end of the day"). And when feeling especially snarky, I'd coin the strategic plan-in-question a pure STRAGEDY!

This short clip spotlights a theme we talked about last night as it relates to PR planning  -- or any business-related activity (or personal, for that matter):  Tactics Without Strategy = FAIL!

After Joy’s Clear Writing Workshop, I started thinking about how social media is influencing public relations writing. I came across a Motrin commercial from 2008 that made me question the impact of viral media on public relations. The commercial was posted on the company’s website during International Baby Wearing Week:

People reacted immediately to the ad, and a negative uproar ensued. From tweets to bloggers, Motrin faced a backlash that they weren’t prepared for: the power of social networking. Motrin pulled the campaign and apologized – two days later. The existence of social tools requires companies to have an immediate crisis plan. In just two days, Motrin devalued their brand by not responding quickly.

I think Motrin used an irreverent tone to identify with the ‘younger’ moms and failed. I think it bordered on condescending, resulting in “baby wearing moms” feeling insulted.

The tagline was “we feel your pain.” That was all it took for me to understand why bloggers (parenting blogs), and mothers (through twitter) reacted so negatively.

PLEASE let me know your thoughts on commercial, specifically the wording and tone.

1) Was it a PR disaster waiting to happen?

2) Did Motrin wait too long to apologize in a world where bloggers keep blogging throughout the day and people tweet non stop?

3) Is their message clear?

4) Did they execute the message in the appropriate manner for their target audience?

Brands have always been delicate things – companies need to be more careful and prepared in today world of social media and social networking.

The Joy of Writing

This week I don’t have any videos or pictures to add, just a short story.

As a child and young adult, I loved writing, specifically in my journal. I wrote twice a day everyday which started the day I learned cross my t’s and dot my i’s.

Somewhere between the age of 16 and 23 I began to hate writing. I was very nervous about writing academically and professionally. As Nicole mentioned, I over analyzed every sentence…in fact I over analyzed every word! Truth be told, I was scared of writing and my fear turned into hatred. When writing academically and professional it took me ages to get one sentence down on paper; I had all the information and ideas in my head I just couldn’t seem to get them down.

Godin summarizes my fears perfectly in  Writing Naked, “The reason business writing is horrible is that people are afraid. Afraid to say what they mean, because they might be criticized for it. Afraid to be misunderstood, to be accused of saying what they didn't mean, because they might be criticized for it.”

I saw writing as a chore. I could verbally communicate my entire essay out loud without having it written down on paper. Why couldn’t I write essays? Proposals? Even simple e-mails?

After stumbling upon a box filled with my old journals, I decided to go through some of them. I realized that I had once loved writing and I could learn to love it again, or least not be afraid of it. So I developed my own strategy for writing.

1.     Research: In order for something to be written clearly and effectively, it must be well informed. You MUST be well versed on the subject that you are writing.

2.     Write as if no one will read it: Don’t worry about grammar, punctuation or structure. Just write. Write like you would in your journal and as if no one else will see it.

3.     Organize, edit and remove: Now that you already have everything written down, you can organize the information and remove all unnecessary sentences and word.

After I started using this strategy, I found that writing both academically and professional became much easier for me. I found that by removing the element of ‘being wrong’ or having grammatical or spelling errors in my writing helped tremendously.  I wouldn’t say that I have become a better writer, but my hatred and fear of writing has disappeared. 

I still write in my journal every day and if anyone else suffers from a fear of writing, I highly recommend starting a journal.

Rule #3 - If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out!

First, I really enjoyed the Clear writing class! Writing is one of the most effective skills you can develop for expanding your leadership and impact on your brand (both personal and professional). 

Following last week’s workshop, I have also been thinking about the gold rules all week and I wrote on several subjects just to be up and running! The thought of starting my own blog was so exciting but I found myself asking... do these rules apply the same way online.

While PR changes with social media, the clear writing rules stay the same. Indeed, the essence is SUCCINCT. In an era where everything is short-cycle, fast-paced and where the information flows rapidly, writing should be clear and direct to gather attention. 

Challenging? Yes!!!

Flexibility in writing is certainly another asset for any professional in communication because of the diversity of platforms (websites, social networks, and blogs). Perhaps, also imagine small platforms like your smart phone. Have you ever thought about how the content has to be modified to fit on small screens or how it has to catch your attention even if you are walking your dog, your coffee in one hand, and reading the PRFandP blog on your phone in the other hand? 

Like one Mashable’s article says: “If web copy is skimming the cream off the top of the milk, mobile copy is skimming cream off of the cream.”

Just like Eric, I am a fan of Seth Godin! Hilarious and inspirational speaker, I am a true follower of his blog. Rule #3 in writing naked has indeed never been more perfect for the digital age!

Communicate by... SPEAKING !!!

After talking about clear communications, it got me to thinking about how often companies advertise without focusing on the product.  I asked myself, what commercials am I familiar with yet have no idea what they are advertising?  


It made me flashback to being at a party recently where the DJ played a song that made everyone get up and dance.  Mid boogie I remembered that the song is famous for being in a commercial with dancing rodents. 

So I turned to a friend and said "this is that dancing hamster commercial!".  He asked, "what's that commercial for anyway?".  Wow, I had never thought of it.  


I picked my brain but still no clue.  It's days later and I decided to text a few friends to see if anyone knew the point of the advertisement.  "You know that dancing giant rodent commercial?  What are they trying to sell?".  These were the responses:


1. No idea


2. A car?  to which I responded, which car?  Her answer, "Hmm... no idea. Are you buying a car or something?"


3. A Scion?


It's a classic example of a company disregarding their audience as well as unclear communication.  Young drivers are being targeted here, but we are people who walk away during commercials, (or worse, fast forward our DVR's).  If we're in another room and we hear this commercial come on, we'll pay attention due to the catchiness of the song.  But the company is losing a great opportunity to burn its brand into our psyches.  Yes, the logo, car price, and car features are displayed visually at the end, but these are completely lost on us.  With not a single voice over, it may as well be a music video.  The smart approach is simple.  Speak these important details out loud!  "2012 Kia Soul, under $16,000".


I mean, I still know every word to the Mentos commercial, (fresh goes better with Mentos fresh and full of life!  Mentos, the fresh maker).  And that commercial aired around 1995!  The song is not only etched into my brain, the folks at Mentos were strategic enough to use it in the form of product placement in the popular film Clueless.  The music is catchy, the brand is mentioned, it works.  

Yet, a Kia can pass me on the street and I would never think, "that's the car from the commercial" and start doing the hamster shuffle.  The two are simply not connected.  


Kia has said that the "2012 Kia Soul has started a craze".  They are wrong.  What was achieved here is very strong promotion for the song, which is too bad because the mice have become a pop culture phenomenon.  Unfortunately, the car will not.  

Blog Power

My fellow [PRFandP]’ers,

I have a confession to make: I’ve seriously underestimated the power of Blogging. And that’s not all.

I now understand the importance of writing to a potential audience of zero, meaning that the sheer act of writing alone, putting all those thoughts down in a clear, non-convoluted way is really important.

Using your voice, whether it’s heard or not. Doesn’t matter – blog it!

“The humility that comes from writing it/the meta-cognition of thinking about what you are going to say/forcing yourself to become part of the conversation…"

God I LOVED that video. And Mr. Siegel – what an inspiration: “Building humanity into Communications”.

Yup, I’m inspired.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I kept thinking about Joy’s presentation all week. I’d catch myself giggling over all the corporate B.S buzzwords I’ve heard over the last 10 years.. It’s actually really funny when you think about how they ‘spring up’ outta nowhere, then all of a sudden become super impressive and everyone is throwing one in an email (guilty as charged).

The links provided in the learning module were great – I really enjoyed Mashable because:

• The Facebook social plug-in was a great personal touch. I felt connected right away
  
• Visually I enjoyed the layout of the “News”. A decent size preview pane without information overload is appreciated
  
• It’s modern, I really dig the overall feel of this page

Some final thoughts from me on Week 2:

God it hurt to cut out those fluff words when working on our web content! How about you? Did you over analyze every sentence like I did? Did you feel a little naked, like "Is that it? Is that all I’m really going to say…?"

On that note - I'm out ;)

See you all Monday.

How to avert a horror story

Brace yourselves for the tales of a true public relations nightmare. Hopefully the following has never happened to you.

Keeping in mind a quote from Reputation Management by Doorley and Garcia, let’s explore how the following threatened the reputation of my breast cancer organization, the Maurer Foundation. Doorley and Garcia wrote “Reputation = Sum of Images = (Performance and Behavior) + Communication.”

On July 15th, 2011, a woman at the Maurer Foundation said this DJ wanted to donate some of the proceeds of a party he was having to us. Before agreeing to this third party fundraiser, we set up a telephone meeting with the DJ for July 20th to get our who, what, where, when, why and how questions answered.

On July 18th, two days before our initial meeting, our Social Media Marketer called. “Check your email,” she said. “I found something alarming in my Google alerts.” Mouth open and steam coming from my ears like a cartoon, I read the following:

CassWorld




Event Details

Time: August 13, 2011 at 10:30pm to August 14, 2011 at 4am
Location: Park Central Hotel
Event Type: fundraiser
Latest Activity: Jul 18

Event Description
 Imagine Your In a Room Filled With Sweet Aromas, Music That Touches You Soft & Beautiful Pink Roses Fall To The Ground With Every Step You Take.

Imagine Your In a Room Sipping On Sweet Champagne Pink As Rose' With Chilled White Diamonds In Every Glass.

Join Us As Canville L. Mason, In Da Clutch, Lexx Luv Of PME, Suga Chea Of Team Rockout, Exclusive Ladies, Mel Of $tr8 Dymez & Roe Of T.I.M.E Presents To You....

"White Diamonds & Pink Roses" The Upscale Pink & White Affair
The Color Scheme Of This Event Will Be Set At Pink & White Whether You Are Male Or Female We Intend To Show Our Support To The Victims, Families, & Woman Struggling With Breast Cancer.
Mission Statement

Since 1995, The Maurer Foundation Has Been Dedicated To Raising Awareness Through Our Mission Of Breast Health Education. For more info visit:

www.maurerfoundation.org

This ad was copied from the DJ’s website and posted on CassWorld, a website we never heard of. Besides the fact that the ad was posted without our knowledge and permission, it’s obviously a landmine of writing errors and the antithesis of clear writing.

This is one part of a long ad. There was a hard push later in the ad to pay $250 and up for bottles of liquor. Drinking alcohol increases your risk of developing breast cancer! If you worked for a breast cancer foundation would you want to be connected to a party that’s selling overpriced bottles of Ciroc and Grey Goose? A quick Google search showed the same ad on eleven other websites!

So what do we do? Do we take the money and keep it hush? Or do we state that we will not be involved with this fundraiser and demand our name be taken off all current and future ads. We decided on the latter.

Again, the book Reputation Management states - Reputation = Sum of Images = (Performance and Behavior) + Communication. A company’s website and who you are connected to online affects reputation and image. It’s kind of like that crazy friend or family member that makes you look bad. Our horror story unfortunately ended with us sending a cease and desist letter. We solved the problem, then told our board members what happened, and how the situation was solved. That part is essential in covering your a**.

A Former Student's Site Overhaul

Odd coincidence.

Last Tuesday, just a day after you started working on Assignment Two, I got an email from Melissa Ng, a former Using Public Relations as a Marketing Tool student.

Melissa and her sister own PianoVerse, a small business in Jackson Heights. Melissa is a passionate musician and an eager entrepreneur.

This class didn't do the web writing assignment, but Melissa wanted to share the latest version of the PianoVerse site based upon our class efforts.

Specifically, PianoVerse revamped the company name/tagline (old version above). This shift changed the overall brand message, which then trickled into the site's new, fresh copy.

A couple of observations:

• Home Page: The new name/tagline combo is succinct and descriptive. It essentially represents the core message of the entire home page.
  
• About: I like how the tagline smoothly integrates into the PianoVerse mission statement.