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What would you advise? PR nightmare

April 21, 2007

The situation: The General Manager of the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino has booked the country singing duo Big & Rich and sold a few thousand tickets. Without his knowledge, a radio station who had tickets to give away has upped the ante.

To accommodate the wish of an ill 5-year old girl, the radio station has made arrangements with Big & Rich to let the girl and her family see the show and hang with the entertainers backstage after the show. They, of course, have promoted this heavily on their station.

The night of the show, the casino GM learns of the plans. He says they can’t go through with the plan because they are not allowed to permit anyone under 21 into the casino.

Because they didn’t want to break their promise to the little girl, Big & Rich canceled the concert and spent time with the little girl on their touring bus.

The casino is left with a couple thousand people waiting to get into the concert and has to tell them its canceled. And you can imagine what the radio station did. Lots of bad buzz.

What would you have done? Okay, time for you to step into the casino GM’s shoes. Would you have handled the situation like he did? If not, what would you have done differently?

Is the no negative language rule a double negative?

April 20, 2007

I am blaming it on The Secret. In the last month, we have had two different clients ask us to go back and revise something we’d created a while ago and they’d already been using because it contained "negative language."

One even referenced the book and the Law of Attraction.

Now don’t get me wrong…I’m all for the law of attraction. I agree with it. But I also think its more of a concept than an absolute.

Then, the topic came up yesterday in yet another client meeting on a current project. So this has been on my mind quite a bit lately.

As a writer, I strongly believe that sometimes it is more powerful to speak in the negative. Maybe I’m wrong. Let me share with you my thoughts and then I’d like to listen to yours.

Words like never, don’t or won’t can be potent triggers. They can connote a depth of conviction, in my opinion. I like to use them as a contrast. To give the copy a twist or really pound home a point without pulling out the hammer.

"We’ll never charge you for the same repair twice" is a more powerful statement than the same concept written in the positive.

We don’t do bankers hours feels stronger than we have evening hours or we’re open until 7.

Our viscosity standards will never be compromised is pretty tough to state in a positive way with as much conviction.

Or am I wrong? I’d love to hear your thoughts about using negative language in copy and taglines.

Meet the Age of Conversation Authors

April 19, 2007

About two weeks ago, Gavin Heaton and I announced that we were going to publish an e-book called The Age of Conversation.

We’re going to donate all proceeds to Variety, the Children’s Charity. We’ve been spotlighting different chapters across the globe throughout our posts.

Then we shared that the book will be dedicated to CK and her mom, Sandra Kerley.

Of course, it was going to be an incredibly short book if only Gavin and I wrote it. So we invited all of you to join us. To kick it off with some fire power, we started with an impressive list of confirmed authors to be sure:

Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G.Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiel s
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
CB Whittemore
S. Neil Vineberg

The topics are as remarkable as the authors. These authors are going to tackle everything from community to religion, job seeking to design, sharing to television. And just about everything in between.

In less than 1 week, we exceeded our 100 author goal and we’re off to an incredible book.&nbs p; Thanks to all of you who have decided to write a chapter, to all of you who promoted the author request and to all of you who I know will continue to help us spread the word.

I dare you not to love this

April 19, 2007

Picture this. You dial your mobile phone. You speak for half a minute. Those sentences get e-mailed to your e-mail address.

Or your client. Or your employee. Or an intact team. Or your spouse.

It’s like instant dictation. But not only does it get typed, it gets delivered.

Brilliant. I predict Jott.com is going to be the breakout of 2007. Here’s how I’m going to use it:

Dictate notes from meetings and send them to myself for a record. Jott it.
I’m pulling out of a client’s parking lot and send a note to our Project Manager about opening a new job. Jott him.
Forget milk? Never again. Jott me.
Have a breakthrough idea while waiting to board a plane — jott my entire staff before I forget said idea. Jott the team.
Want to remind my daughter to do XYZ but she’s going to get home before I do. Jott her.
See someone across the way at Panera and want to remember to call them in a week or so. Jott me.
Have forgotten to grab a book from the office 3 times. Jott me.
All the stuff that I try to write down before I forget it. Jott me. Jott me. Jott me.

Ah yes…and on every e-mail there’s a link so I (or whoever gets jotted) can listen to the audio file.

You can’t tell me this wouldn’t be helpful to you too. Come on, admit it. You’re going to Jott.

I will give the geniuses at Jott the last word.

Want to write a best seller?

April 18, 2007

Then start with a title that rocks. If you’re looking for a little help with that killer title, check out this tool:

LuLu.com’s Titlescorer will predict whether your title will help you sell millions of copies or end up on the 50% off rack. Developed by number-crunchers, this tool compares your title with attributes of the most successful books of the last 50 years.

Let’s have a contest…come up with a title (can’t cheat and use Gone with the Wind) and let’s see who can get the highest score.

What’s next? Pink planes?

April 17, 2007

As you may have read in this weekend’s US Today, American Airlines has launched a gender-specific are of its website, aimed at women.

Here’s what they say on the home page of this female-focused site. " Welcome to American Airlines AA.com/women – the airline industry’s first web page dedicated to women who travel. This web page is about you – our valued customer. We’ve listened to women and recognized the need to provide additional information tailored to your business and pleasure travel needs and lifestyle. We also invite you to share insights, travel tips and stories by submitting them to wehearyou@aa.com."

I don’t get it. Of the 18 hot links on the home page, only 2 of them seem women-specific. One is girlfriend getaways and the other is the safety tab. Couldn’t both of those have existed on the core page?

I guess this remind me of my pink tools post. I am let wondering why and as a man, wondering if women aren’t insulted by being segregated out when really travel is a humbling equalizer for all of us.

What do you think? Good idea or bad? If you were in charge of this web presence — how would you actually make it valuable to women?

A branding lesson from Jackie Robinson

April 15, 2007

I went to a AAA baseball game today and was reminded how inspirational the game can be. Today was Jackie Robinson Day. They showed a brief video that celebrated what he was all about. I will admit, I got a bit choked up.

60 years ago, Jackie Robinson did what no black man had ever done. He put on a major league baseball uniform and played along side white players.

And the part that people seem to forget is that Jackie’s breaking the color barrier was just the beginning of his struggles. Even after joining the team, he had to stay in different hotels, endure death threats, and dodge players who slid so they could drive their spikes into his shins and pitchers who hurled fastballs directly at his head.

His own teammates (not all of them) got up a petition to keep him off the team.

But he believed in what he was doing and so he persevered. One of my favorite Jackie Robinson quotes is "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

Jackie Robinson’s life had a purpose. Something he believed in strongly enough that he was willing to suffer the consequences.

I’m not beginning to suggest that any company’s brand is going to equal the courage of someone like Jackie Robinson. That would be insulting to what Robinson endured.

But…your brand should stand for something. Something you are willing to fight for. Something you are willing to walk away from business for. Something that matters enough to draw a line in the sand and say "no more."

If your brand doesn’t inspire that kind of passion in you or your employees, how will it ever touch your consumers?

Office politics are not optional

April 15, 2007

When someone utters the words "office politics" everyone shakes their head in dismay and comments that it sure would be great if there were no such thing.

But the reality is, office politics are not going anywhere. So wouldn’t it be to our advantage to learn how to recognize and deal with it when it appears?

Carpe Factum’s Timothy Johnson tackles the realities of office politics in his new book, Gust, The Tale Wind of Office Politics. Written in an easy-flowing business parable style, Johnson introduces us to a team of professionals that we’ll all recognize.

One of the greatest insights from the book is that office politics are not inherently bad.

Every business is filled with human beings and in some ways the book is as much a personality and psychological study as it is a business book. Being able to step back and objectively see the game being played is the first step to understanding what’s creating the problems at hand. The book also examines the power of influence within an organization and all the different ways someone exercises that influence.

Practical, straightforward and easy to remember solutions are woven all through the book.

Included in the book’s resource section, there are surveys that both employees and managers can take to facilitate a discussion around office politics.

Why is this a book all marketers should read? In most companies marketers rely on the cooperation of many departments and people. Without the ability to spot office politics and do the necessary analysis to identify the motives behind the behavior, we don’t stand a chance of being successful.

How to use informal surveys to generate some buzz

April 14, 2007

People are very curious about each other. Which is why the media loves surveys.

Surveys needn’t be massive, scientifically rigorous affairs to generate buzz for you. There is definitely a proper time and place for quality market research. But, in this case, I’m talking about just polling your customers with an interesting question that does not have an obvious answer so you can create some buzz.

Wonder how you could adapt it to your profession? Let’s try a couple.

Photographer: "If you could take only one of your photos with you before evacuating your home, which one would you choose?"

Restaurant owner: "Do you count calories when you go out to eat?"

Computer consultant: “Do you ever talk to your computers (cursing and coaxing included!)

If nothing else, it’s great for newsletter filler, blog post, bag stuffer or a bill insert, etc. It will spark a conversation with your customers and who knows, you might even uncover an idea for a new offering!

Don Imus: The dark side of citizen marketing?

April 13, 2007

Let me cut to the chase.

I have never listened to Don Imus. I could care less what he says. I could care less if he got to keep his job or not. Do I think he’s a boorish pig, based on what he said about the Rutgers basketball team? Sure. But he certainly does not hold exclusive rights to that label.

To me, all of that is irrelevant.

Because the issue isn’t Don Imus. It isn’t racism. Or political correctness. Or respecting women. If it were about those issues, most of the shock jocks and reality TV producers would also have lost their jobs yesterday.

Imus isn’t the worst of them…he’s just one of them.

What matters in the Imus firing is who fired the fatal shot. And why.

We’re experiencing the birth of a new era – Citizen Marketing. We’ve all celebrated it. But perhaps that is only half the story.

In the old days, the power rested in the hands of a few. The zookeepers, or the sellers, ran the zoo. They decided what the animals ate, which animals were in the petting zoo and what the hours of operation were. It was at best, a very paternal relationship. At worst, it was a one-sided dictatorship.

But today, the chimpanzees have the keys. And in this early phase of this marketplace shift, where the buyers are actually the ones in power, it’s more than a little chaotic. There are no rules. Bananas on tap 24 hours a day!

On the good side – the chimpanzees’ exuberance can be very contagious and they can encourage/force the zookeepers to be better at their job, just to keep up with them.

But because there are no rules, the chimpanzees can also just as easily decide to pick on a particular zookeeper and fling feces at him. And because there are so many of them and because human nature says, "join the crowd," once a few of the chimpanzees start tossing poop, many of the other chimpanzees join in. Without really stopping to understand why. Mob mentality flashes hot and bright. And reason rarely has a starring role. That doesn’t mean the mob is always wrong. But it does suggest that the firestorm doesn’t allow for a lot of introspection or consideration.

Let’s face it. Don Imus earned ratings and advertisers because he was a boorish pig. And the chimpanzees (in this case…advertisers and the target audiences of those advertisers) rewarded him by buying more advertising, giving him a more prestigious time slot, more guest appearances, more fame, etc. etc.

I am also quite sure that the Rutgers comment was not Don’s first racist or sexist comment. I’m even willing to bet that some things he has said in the past were even more hurtful and offensive to some. But the chimpanzees screeched and hooted, loving his antics.

Until one day, a few chimpanzees didn’t like what he said. Who knows why. He was shooting off his mouth saying vulgar things, like they had trained him to do. But for whatever reason, this particular statement got everyone’s attention. And the chimpanzees started making a different kind of noise. And throwing feces. Pretty soon, they were making enough noise that others noticed. And joined in. And pretty soon, the only way to calm the chimpanzees was to get the zookeeper out of there.

And its not just Imus.

A story about an American Girl store and a 6 year-old’s Target doll garners over 409,000 Google results in less than a month.

A story about a blogger who received death threats now has an excess of 553,000 Google results, A CNN appearance, and professional and personal lives altered forever.

Mob mentality. Good or bad. Right or wrong. Who knows?

Who will the chimpanzees go after next? A good guy? A bad guy? Your favorite brand? Your company?

Should Don Imus have been fired? I have no idea. The truth is, he’ll have another gig in less than a month and we’ll chalk this up to, "well, that’s Imus." And he’ll still be a boorish pig.

It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we need to understand that just like there was a good and a bad side to the zookeepers being in charge, there’s a dark side to citizen-driven marketing as well. It’s a glorious day at the zoo until the chimpanzees start tossing the feces in your direction.

We are the citizens of citizen marketing. We’re going to set the course.

Unless of course, we get swept up into the mob.

Flickr photo courtesy of jj_mac

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