Flack's Revenge

Lowbrow Branding Effort

There are so many important stories that I can be blogging about. The Supreme Court Decision on Obama's healthcare plan, for example, and how certain cable networks got the news wrong at first. There is also the Ann Curry affair (most people know by now that she was replaced as co host of NBC Today). I tweeted yesterday that it was painful to watch how big media very publicly eats its own.

But, no, today I feel strangely, inexplicably drawn to... the brow. The unibrow, that is (it is Friday, dammit, and I want to write about something fun).

The NY Post wrote yesterday about University of Kentucky basketball star Anthony Davis' efforts to trademark phrases related to his unibrow (yes, I read many papers but turn to the Post for coverage of such critical stories).  According to the paper:

Soon-to-be-pro basketball star Anthony Davis... is raising eyebrows with his unique marketing campaign. [He] has applied for trademark rights to “Fear the Brow” and “Raise the Brow,” in hopes of profiting from his odd facial trait.

“I don’t want anyone to try to grow a unibrow because of me and then try to make money off of it,” Davis told CNBC. “Me and my family decided to trademark it because it’s very unique.”

I am a bit speechless at the audacity and boldness of this move (yes, "hope" has nothing on it). Since the right words are hard to find, maybe it would be easier to express them in verse:

• So boldly sits atop his head
• Defines his brand, he has said
• A woolly line, of ample size
• Connects the dots above his eyes
• Caterpillars swoon, a Fuller Brush
• Almost anyone else would blush
• "Fear the Brow!" Davis says
• Use that phrase, he'll sue your ass

OK, enough fun, now back to business. Marketers, celebrities HELLLOOOO!! I know the Supreme Court's decision was pretty much a landmark, but if this thing with Davis stands, that is nothing. Just think of the opportunities in licensing, promotions, etc.

What other accidents of personal grooming can be legally protected? Who else in sports or entertainment has quirky personal identifiers that they can exploit? E.g.  Dog The Bounty Hunter ("Mind the Mullet")?

Guys (and gals), I am just a tech PR guy, not a celebrity PR and branding specialist, a little help here, any other ideas?

If Data Center Tech Were Marketed like the Republican Candidates

I heard about the latest out of a seemingly endless number of Republican debates, and thought back in
amusement about a comment a friend posted on his Facebook page.  He said, sarcastically I hope, that he was looking forward to more and hoped they continued even after the election.

The campaign season so far also made me wonder what it would be like if data center tech was marketed like the Republican candidates.  Here are a few possibilities, below - do any others come to mind?

• The leading vendors would host industry round tables in every market timed to key events in those markets
• The round tables would be staged like Jerry Springer talk shows, where questions are designed to start fights and rile the audience
• The participants would all argue about whose solution holds truest to industry ideals like high performance, bandwidth, improved energy and space efficiency and low latency
• They would pile on the market leader and attack it for not achieving those ideals in a socially acceptable way
• Their leaders would fight over who was most like industry icons
• Their leaders would call each other out about hype, bluster and grandiosity

Most of all they would talk, talk talk.

 

Louis CK Conquers Media, Heeds Mom's Advice: Just Tell Them Everything

Louis CK is a comic hero for every man, an unkempt alternative to the more mainstream comedians (think Seinfeld or Dane Cook).  He is irreverent, dark and just plain damn funny.

I have greatly enjoyed Louie's work, inlcuding his  FX and HBO series.  That is why I was pleased to see reports of Louie's recent successful effort to market content directly to his fans.

I first learned about this last week in the GigaOm piece: What Louis CK Knows that Most Media Companies Don't  The article says:

Until recently, comedian Louis CK was known mostly for a hilarious clip about how “everything is amazing but no one is happy,” which lampooned our inability to recognize our own good fortune and led to a TV show. Now, he has become the new poster boy for the idea of selling content directly to fans, after the success of a video download he offered on his website without any digital-rights protection. And that success contains lessons for traditional media companies who continue to lock down their content and otherwise fail to take advantage of the social web.

What Louie did, essentially, was bring his content directly to the public via his website at an affordable price ($5) without imposing restrictions or digital rights protection - avoiding the tangle of overhead, middlemen fees etc. that he otherwise would have had to pay. In other words, Louie made it cheap and easy - and is profiting in the process. He has also been getting a ton of great press.

The NY Times' David Carr covered this yesterday in his Media Equation column:

The show could be viewed as the consumer wished, with no rights protection or expensive subscription. A buy-it-and-watch-it proposition, no cable company involved...While I was talking with him on the phone Thursday night, he checked his Web site and about 175,000 people had bought his special through PayPal. He expected 200,000 total downloads by the weekend, which meant he would have grossed $1 million. After covering costs of about $250,000 for the live production and the Web site, that’s a $750,000 profit. And he owns the rights, and the long tail of buyers, in perpetuity.

As a PR person, I had to chuckle about his approach, and media relations advice that Louie's mom gave him (from NY Times).

The transparency of the enterprise, including its cost in relation to how many people bought in, was the subject of media coverage all last week.... “It feels weird having numbers out there, because that’s my personal income,” he said. “But I talked to my mom, who is a pretty judicious, careful person, and she said, ‘Tell them everything. Just let it all get out there.’ So that’s what I have been doing...” 

I don't know if I would always agree with that approach, but the advice seems to be working for Louie.

Water Cooler Chat: Movies to See if you are in PR

Someone at Fusion sent around an email recommending a documentary, I replied, and before you knew it we had a lively thread about good movies to see if you are in PR - and fodder for this blog post.

I list the movies below, in no particular order, and the text of the emails as well, which provide additional color.  Hope you enjoy, and please feel free to chime in with other suggestions.

• Page One - Inside the New York Times
• Phone Booth
• Wag the Dog
• Sweet Smell of Success
• Happy Gilmore
• Exit through the Gift Shop
• Thank You for Smoking
• The Persuaders

Victoria:  Although it is a year or so old, I wanted to recommend the documentary “Page One – Inside The New York Times.” Coming from a journalism background and with my career experience in PR, I think it was an interesting snapshot into a trying time for traditional newspapers. We’ve all lived through the industry wide meltdown and surely you’ll be familiar with the journalists showcased in the film...

Bob: Yes I have wanted to see that – any other good movies for PR people to see? There are some dark ones about the profession and publicity agents:

1. Sweet Smell of Success – classic with Burt Lancaster
2. Phone Booth – Colin Farrell is a PR guy, did not see this
3. Thank you for Smoking – About a tobacco industry apologist / PR guy

Heather: Business Insider did a whole article in September….Some good movies on the list, but I wouldn’t call them accurate of the field...."Wag the Dog", excellent flick

Mark: I saw "Phone Booth" – Colin plays a sleazy celebrity publicist. Not one to emulate! I liked the movie though. “Happy Gilmore” finds Adam Sandler’s violent hockey-loving golfer falling in love with a publicist for the golf tournament (played by an actress who now stars on “Modern Family”)! “Exit Through The Gift Shop” is a hilarious documentary about a talentless wannabe graffiti artist who self-promotes his way to success in the NYC art scene. Some pretty good PR lessons therein…. I haven’t seen it, but Amazon has a DVD of a Frontline episode called “The Persuaders,” focusing on the advertising and PR professions.

It's Green Day here in NY

Fusion painted the company green today. No, not green as in money or green tech, I mean “painting” quite literally – the Fusion PR New York team took a little break to coat the walls of its office in bright green.

I am a terrible painter, but we do have some experts here. I never realized that painting could be so much fun, a.real team building exercise. The color we chose – snow cone green, or chartreuse, depending on whom you ask – is a real eye opener, we may need to try decaf coffee for awhile to adjust. Below are some pictures from the day, enough hands in the mix can mean a mess or a quick and efficient job – good thing it was the latter. 

When Worlds - and Online Friends - Collide

I was running an educational session on using social media to further media relations objectives here at Fusion PR. Towards the end, we allowed time for people to share their experiences and thoughts.

While most seemed to agree that it is generally a good thing when a journalist friends you, some in the group seemed uncomfortable with the idea of mixing personal and business lives on social networks.

I have never understood this line of thought. It seems to me that your work is part of your identity, your personal brand, so-to-speak. Exactly what are people afraid of? If your Facebook profile shows a side of you that you'd rather not reveal, to your business contacts are anyone, well then, why do you have those details or photos there and why is it public?

Anyway, the debate kind of reminds of me of an amusing Jim Gaffigan bit (yea, I know, they are all amusing, this comedian rocks); one where he talks about funny unintended consequences when you mix groups of friends:

You ever mix two different groups of friends?

That can be stressful

You always feel like you have to prep 'em.

You're like, . These people over here, uh, they don't think I drink.

And don't be thrown by my british accent.

Yes, it is true that we sometimes act and behave differently with different groups of people; yet the above routine illustrates the folly of trying to be too different.

Fancy Ketchup ("Squirt in Mouth and Just Add Fries!")

Does anyone like those ketchup packets that they hand out at delis and fast food places?

Wall Street Journal wrote yesterday about this, and a new one that Heinz will be coming out with to improve on the ketchup packet design (excerpt below):

Some people rip off the corner of the packet with their teeth. Others, while driving, squirt the ketchup directly into their mouth, then add fries... After observing these and other "compensating behaviors," H. J. Heinz Co. says it spent three years developing a better ketchup packet.

Heinz says the new "Dip and Squeeze" packets will begin replacing the traditional rectangular ketchup packets later this year...

Squirt ketchup in mouth, add fries... now that is a neat trick, will need to try this. 

It all kind of reminds me of a comedy routine that Jim Gaffigan, one of my favorite comics, did on the subject.  Gaffigan is great, he has a very dry delivery and can make topics ranging from Hot Pockets, to ketchup to bowling and escalators outrageously funny.  Here is the text of Jim's riff on ketchup packets:

I do wish I was there when they decided on the size of those ketchup packets; I am not saying I need a gallon but maybe enough for more than one fry!

I always end up opening 20, I look like a heroin addict. "I'm gonna party once I get set up here!"

Does anyone ever use just one ketchup packet? "Do you have 1/2 of a quarter of an ounce of Ketchup? It's just so darn rich.  I need a resealable packet.  One that I can store in my purse!"

They always give you three packets... and when you go back up and ask for more, the guy handing them out always treats you like you're taking from his personal stash: "Hmmm, looks like my kids aren't having ketchup tonight!  Enjoy, ketchup glutton!"

Sometimes printed on the ketchup packet it will say "Not for resale" I didn't even know that was an issue... I've been to a lot of flea markets, no ketchup packets!  You know, if you're in a position where you have to sell ketchup packets, I don't think that's going to hold you back.

If you're lucky, you'll get a ketchup packet that's labeled "Fancy Ketchup"  Ketchup, you're being modest, you're way more than fancy, you're elegant!

Abercrombie & Fitch Lob Grenade at Jersey Shore Cast

Ah, the delicate and complicated dance between journalism and PR. We tempt them with our pitches. We run campaigns, events and sometimes stunts to get their attention and coverage. Many journalists say they are beyond our influence and ignore our pitches and campaigns. Yet every once in awhile, the temptation is just too great.

This was the case yesterday, when many covered a light story, one that provided welcome relief to late summer doldrums and "hold your head" headlines about the economy.

I grinned as I read several articles about an Abercrombie & Fitches press release that explained that the company would pay the Jersey Shore show cast not to wear their clothes. The company had executed a brilliant campaign, and the media were all over itt.  For example, it got covered in not one but two Wall Street jorunal articles, and a NY Tmes piece.

And it wasn't just the media that were having fun with it. The NY Times story - Abercrombie wants off  'Jersey Shore' (Wink-Wink) - mentioned that the A & F CEO interrupted a quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts, incredulous that they wanterd to discuss other things:

“Is no one going to ask about the Situation?” Mr. Jeffries, the chief executive, asked after a series of questions about Abercrombie’s finances and strategy. Finally, an analyst did, and Mr. Jeffries explained the background. 

Of course, the media need to let everyone know that they are in on the joke, as the "wink wink" headline in the Times indicated. And they all had to seemingly justify their coverage by interjecting real world concerns. The article in the Journal's Money & Investing section, of all places, raised the real issue of brands getting tarnished through association with the wrong crowds:

It appears Abercrombie is merely trying to stir up publicity. After all, the company last year sold a Tshirt printed with the words "The Fitchuation," an obvious reference to the star of the reality show nicknamed "The Situation."

But brand image isn't all fun and games. Flashback 10 years to England, where Burberry clothing and accessories became the uniform of certain hard-partying young Brits. Sales in England were very weak by 2005, when Burberry acknowledged that the brash new customers had alienated some of its higher-end traditional shoppers. Tommy Hilfiger had a similarly unpleasant experience in the U.S. in the 1990s, when it became a hip-hop staple that no longer clicked with preppies.

Towards A More Refined Publicity Stunt

The publicity stunt is the carnival sideshow of PR.  Sure, they are used and sometimes get great results across many different types of programs and industries; having said that, I think most would agree that stunts don't show off the profession in the most positive, intellectual light.

However I got a different picture of publicity stunts in reading the New York Times Book Review recently.  Tony Perrottet wrote an essay about litrerary publicity stunts.  It is a great walk through the history of book PR.  I share excerpts below, and encourage you to click the link and read the entire article.

• The most revered of French novelists recognized the need for P.R. “For artists, the great problem to solve is how to get oneself noticed,” Balzac observed...
• Hemingway set the modern gold standard for inventive self-branding, burnishing his image with photo ops from safaris, fishing trips and war zones. But he also posed for beer ads.
• But the tradition of self-promotion predates the camera by millenniums. In 440 B.C. or so, a first-time Greek author named Herodotus paid for his own book tour around the Aegean.
• Perhaps the most astonishing P.R. stunt... was plotted in Paris in 1927 by Georges Simenon, the Belgian-born author of the Inspector Maigret novels....Simenon agreed to write an entire novel while suspended in a glass cage outside the Moulin Rouge nightclub for 72 hours. ... A newspaper advertisement promised the result would be “a record novel: record speed, record endurance and, dare we add, record talent!” It was a marketing coup.

 

Bye Bye, BlackBerry

It was with mixed emotions that I laid down my BlackBerry and picked up a DroidX.

Bye bye, BrickBreaker. Bye bye, Blackberry Messenger.

The move was driven by equal parts device envy and the need to be on the cutting edge of communications that comes with my tech PR job - it was both a left brain and right brain decision. OK, what the the heck, the cool and fun factors too, if I were to be totally honest, after all aren't most buying decisions, driven by emotion?

In short, some of the same reasons that compelled me to ditch whatever I was using before, a couple of years ago, and get my first BlackBerry. I had related at the time (in a January 2009 blog post) how I had gotten tired of staring at the top of my (now ex) wife's head as she pecked away at the cute BlackBerry chicklet keyboard.

The BlackBerry was the power communications tool of high powered professionals, and, damn, I wanted (and needed) one too. Perhaps the head staring and device gap were symbols of how our marriage had eroded; perhaps my jumping on the BlackBerry bandwagon at the time was a way to get closer. At any rate, that did not work and we separated and are headed for divorce.

Strangely, my ex wife and me remain very friendly, which is hard for many people to understand. She got an iPhone not too long ago. As I sit with her sometimes, over meals, or with friends on the train, and watch the tops of their heads as they play with their iPhones and Droids, it has been hard to not get caught up in the excitement about the latest generation of smart phones.

All the slapping,pinching and tickling. The brushing, stroking the gestures - there are some definite, sexual overtones going on with these devices (or is it just me, am I a little warped? C'mon, you know the answer to that!).  They are fetishes, an obsession. All the sensory, multi-media experience they deliver, the easy online and email access, packed in one cool little device.

BlackBerry was the thing to have not too long ago. RIM somehow missed the boat on a sea change in tech, the franchise is not lost, but well on its way, at least in my opinion - just like Palm lost its way, and others before it.

I truly enjoyed BlackBerry over the years, and valued its utility. I will likely miss BrickBreaker, which I got severely addicted too. I will no doubt miss the operating environment that I got very used to as I strive to master the DroidX and its tricky multi-touch screen navigation.

But not so much, the DroidX seems like a wonderful device.

Bye bye, BlackBerry