Flack's Revenge

PR 2009 - The Color of Brand

 
If you are involved with PR, the you must be dealing with some kind of problem, right? Or do you have a crisis? Are you caught up in a PR meltdown or an issue? 

These are the modifiers often used in conjunction with the phrase "public relations."  Much less frequently do you hear words like boon, bonanza, dividend or benefit. 

That is my perception, anyway, and I think most people would agree with this.  When people think of PR, they most associate negative things like spin and problems.  I understand that in many if not most cases, the words relate to the situation at hand, not the profession or practice; still, there is a certain guilt by association that negatively colors PR as a result.

I am a former (I often say "recovering") engineer and like to apply the scientific method rather than just rely on theories.  So I thought I'd try the following simple exercise to investigate a potential problem with PR as a brand.  It is designed to answer the question: how is PR "spun" by the media?  What does the editorializing tell us about media biases regarding PR?  See below for the methodology I applied.*

You can see the results in the word cloud illustration above.  A diabolical set of words indeed!

Although the exercise in this post explored PR, you could use the same approach to study media perceptions about your brand or category of tech.

Also, you may recall that I have blogged on similar topics previously.  Please see:

Fighting PR's Public Relations Problem

PR Wars and other Problems

I find that all too often PR is brought into discussions of metaphorical wars and problems.  Companies are said to fight PR wars and have PR problems.   Rarely do you see discussion of marketing wars, market share wars and stories about companies just having problems.  No, PR has to be brought in as a convenient but lazy device - it makes a nice headline and story but tarnishes an entire industry.

* Methodology: I searched on the phrase "public relations" in Factiva over the past year, and copied the words surrounding it into a Word document.  I plugged the results into the Wordle word cloud generator.  The word cloud shows frequency of these words by modifying the font size accordingly.  I filtered out phrases in which modifiers were neutral- e.g., "director," "firm," "agent," "officer," etc. and selected words that show sentiment.
I searched back three months, and sorted by relevancy over major publications (this resulted in about 1500 articles overall)  The number reflected are from 500 articles; you could multiply these by four to get the approximate account for one year.

Best practices in trash talking: Crush the competition and make grown men cry, in 3 easy steps

So, who knew that there's a proven formula for trash talking, and that someone has spent time studying and cultivating this fine skill? The NYT sports section had a story yesterday that reported on NY Jets linebacker Bart Scott's trash talking skills and how he hones them.  As the article says:

A Jets linebacker, Scott views trash talking as an art, or science. He has developed and refined his method. He has studied loquacious athletes from years past. And he has practiced, from the first day he tugged on a uniform all the way to Sunday, when he will unleash another torrent of mostly unprintable barbs on the Atlanta Falcons.  His mouth runs 365 days a year....

In PR we are supposed to make nice and play diplomats,  But you never know when you might have to mix it up a bit with friends or colleagues (also we have a foosball table at Fusion PR, and the competitive play sometimes goes into over drive).  The tips could come in handy for our clients, for when they are walking those trade show expo floor "mean streets" or rubbing shoulders with the competition at conference panels.

Over the years Scott has gotten inspiration from professional wrestlers, and by studying trash talking titans of yore like Muhammad Ali.  He boils the formula down to 3 steps:

1 Research - to better understand opponents, especially any Achilles heel they might have

2 Mix Fact with fiction, exaggerate (in a clinch, can always use Yo Mama! jokes)

3 Know your audience, save best stuff for last

How Good (or Bad) is AT&T's Network? The Power of Brands and Narrative in Shaping Public Perception

AT&T's cellular network leaves a lot to be desired, according to many.  However, if you are willing to put up with it, you too can become the proud owner of an iPhone, since AT&T is still the only network that supports the world's coolest device.

And why, pray tell, is AT&T's service so bad - and apparently getting worse every day (if you believe news reports and the stories that get told and retold)?

Because of all those iPhone users jumping on board, of course, and their streaming, browsing, uploading, texting and talking.  It makes perfect sense that these data hogs put a hurt on network resources and rob it of precious bandwidth.

All well and good, except network tests show that AT&T has the best network for data, according to a NY Times article by Randall Stross: AT&T Takes the Blame, Even for iPhone's Faults.

The article cited independent testing by two firms.  Here are the results from the article (the first, based on tests by Global Wireless Solutions, and the second from Root Wireless, a company that ran close to 5 million tests involving smartphones and the major carriers):

The results place AT&T’s data network not just on top, but well ahead of everyone else. “AT&T’s data throughput is 40 to 50 percent higher than the competition, including Verizon.”

In every market, AT&T had faster average download speeds and had signal strength of 75 percent or better more frequently than did Verizon.

The article suggests that the poor network performance is due to the iPhone design... but people simply do not want to believe that a company as cool and tech savvy as Apple could be at fault, and are more apt to blame AT&T:

Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, said the iPhone’s “air interface,” the electronics in the phone that connect it to the cell towers, had shortcomings that “affect both voice and data.” He said that in the eyes of the consumer, “the iPhone has the nimbus of infallibility, ergo, it’s AT&T’s fault.”

Note: The article asks the question - but does not answer, at least to my satisfaction - why Consumer Reports ranks AT&T lowest in cellphone service if the company truly does have a better network. It seems to imply that the dissatisfaction stems from iPhone users and the iPhone design.  Randall has opened our eyes and cast some doubt on some conventional wisdom, but I am not sure the "myth" has been completely and undeniably busted.

One More Blog and Twitter Content Generation Idea

In addition to the ideas I mentioned recently (and the ones from other referenced blogs, see below), I realized that there is another great strategy that can provide a rich vein of topics for blogging and tweeting;  one that many don’t see, yet it is right under our noses.

What I am talking about are the daily interactions with friends and colleagues, dialogue that is often captured electronically via email and other means.  We often buzz about topics near and dear to our businesses, products, services and lives.  We share links and interesting tidbits.  We correspond about breaking news and developments.  We share opinions on what these mean, offer advice and discuss strategies.

These interactions can provide good topics and content for blogging and tweeting.  The obvious caveats apply – you don’t want to share sensitive info or anything that might embarrass the source (err on the side of caution: if there is any question, just ask if it would be OK to tweet or blog about the topic at hand or share info with others).

Having said that, I often find that discussions with friends, collegaues and clients provide a great blogging or tweeting muse.  It generally does not take much work to turn the info from an email message or thread into a blog post or tweet and, in doing so, keep the content drumbeat going.

What to Blog

A number of my clients who have started blogs are running into the age-old (well, years old by now, anyway) question: what to blog?

Successful blogs are not all over the map, they tend to hew to a topical area and have an attitude, point of view and/or mission.  So if you have gotten to the point where the blog is now up and the first few posts are out, but you are not sure what to blog next, remember back to the planning stages when you discussed what the blog was supposed to be about.

As A list mobile blogger Ajit Jaokar of Open Gardens said in an interview on this blog:

It is... important to be consistent and have clear viewpoint... having an ethos and consistency help build audience.

This may get you back on track and provide ideas.

At Fusion PR, we like to develop an editorial calendar of topics, as well as help clients react to what is being buzzed about on top blogs that relate to their areas.  If the team that is supporting the effort is doing its job right, there should never be a shortage of potential topics.

I saw some nice posts recently that had great ideas for overcoming bloggers block (two of them, from a series by Paul Gillin):

Paul Gillin, Overcoming Blogger's Block

Paul Gillin, More Tips for Unblocking the Idea Jam

(One of my favorites: "Get Angry!")

ProBlogger, 14 Types of Stories You can Tell on Your Blog

I'd Rather be Writing, Twenty Usability Tips for Your Blog

(Strictly speaking, this post is not just about content ideas but does include some great tips with accompanying illustrations)

PR Golden Turkey Award goes to Tiger Woods

Day 5 and the silence continues

I am a bit late on my annual Golden Turkey awards (this Thanksgiving I actually did get me some fried 
turkey, see photo, thanks brother Mark!), but one obvious candidate is Tiger Woods.

Last night I found myself nodding in agreement with the talking heads on the Larry King Show - for a change they all seemed to concur, in this case that Tiger Woods is not doing himself an favors by not sharing more details about the accident (see NY Times article Woods, Not Talking to Police, Skips Tournament).  A right to remain silent (the obligatory defense attorney view)  does not mean that it is wise to do so.

One thing worse than a reputation tarnished is one that is recklessly and needlessly squandered.  By remaining silent, Woods is antagonizing the media beast, becoming fodder for the tabloids and in the process going from media darling to scoundrel.

The facts might not be pretty, but he can easily tamp down the feeding frenzy by just saying what happened and moving past it.  His silence not only feeds speculation but shows arrogance and intransigence (Woods either does not have good handlers or is ignoring their advice).

Man up, Tiger Woods, and tell your story