Tip of the Day | Before you spend days on a press release, ask yourself, "Can I just pick up the phone and pitch this?" If so, just create some key messages, in writing, and then get on the phone. |
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News: Send in the Baby Face?
Posted by: Grant on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 11:00 AM
prnews
| The "Toronto Globe and Mail" reported on June 11 that a new study suggests that putting a baby-faced spokesperson in front of a television camera could help a company in a public-relations nightmare, such as having 10 percent of users develop side effects from a new wonder drug.
"If the CEO comes out and apologizes and says, 'Look, we're very sorry; we didn't realize that 10 percent of the people would have side effects& ... and if that CEO has a baby face, it turns out that people are more likely to forgive the company and forgive the brand," the Globe quoted researcher Gita V. Johar from New York's Columbia University. "But if the CEO has a mature face, they'll think he's lying when he says he didn't know [there would be a problem] and that it's really the company's fault."
The study involving about 500 students shows that respondents judge a person's intentions based on the shape of their face.
Accordingly, companies would do well to show the world a mature-looking boss if questions of competence or vigilance come into play. Still, the research found that face shape can only go so far, and that an innocent-looking executive will not help if 20 percent of consumers have the side effects.
"Send out the baby face when the issue is one of dishonesty and the mature face when it is one of lack of vigilance," the researchers concluded.
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Straight Talk: Kill Those Creaking Buzzwords
Posted by: Grant on Tuesday, June 03, 2008 - 09:33 PM
publicrelations
| Buzzwords bring fresh perspective to our language, but they quickly become annoying and worn out. Try to stay away from using buzzwords as you quickly become just another voice chanting the same mantra. Stay original.
Here is a list of buzzwords and phrases that the Public Relations Society of America recommends you studiously avoid....
- Synergy
- At the end of the day
- Bleeding edge
- Best of breed
- Empowerment
- Metrics
- Center of excellence
- Right-size
- Run it up the flag pole (not really a buzz phrase, but an old horse)
- Democratization
- No bad ideas (let's face it, there are...how about the Third Reich?)
- Raising the bar
- The next level
- Bottom-line results
- Results-oriented
- Fully engaged
- Product life cycle
- Cutting-edge
- 24/7
- Underpin
- Multitasking
- Global village
- Benchmark
- Sing from the same song sheet
- Window of opportunity
- The same page
- Take a page from…
- Business solutions that work
- Real solution
- Going (or go) forward
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News: Many Branding "Sacred Cows" Melt Under Scrutiny
Posted by: Grant on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 05:48 PM
publicrelations
| PR professor and guru Bernd Schmitt is often asked, "How do I build a global brand?"
<p>
His answers may surprise you as he blasts three sacred cows of global branding. "I always tell my students that building global brands requires that you think big. And that means you have to break the rules, challenge convention and kill some 'sacred cows,'" he says in an article on AdAge.com.
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<p>So what are the sacred cows of global branding, and what are their alternatives? There are three deeply held assumptions that are almost never questioned in the business of building global brands. Read about them here: http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=124888</p>
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News: Raising Money in the Virtual World
Posted by: Grant on Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 12:22 PM
prnews
| You may already know about this, but the American Cancer Society is now conducting some of its walkathons online using the social media network, Second Life. In Second Life, users can create their own graphic character and move around the virtual landscape just as in a video game. They meet, date, play sports, dance, commit crimes, sleep, whatever. Well, the ACS has discovered they will walk for cancer research in the vitual world. I have never been to Second Life. Anyone looking for a doctor there? Here is an article about it: http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/06/american_cancer.html
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Straight Talk: Bad Pitches
Posted by: Grant on Saturday, December 08, 2007 - 01:05 AM
| | Pitching your story to the media, no matter the medium, is an electric moment. Better make sure you don't ground yourself and get fried. The Bad Pitch Blog (badpitch.blogspot.com) is a deep well of good advice using really bad (and often funny) examples. Read it. Especially the 10 Media No-Nos.
What's the worst pitch I ever gave? "You ran a story about X's support of the soup kitchen. Well, my client supports several soup kitchens, more than X does, I think you should write a story about my client." Yech.
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Straight Talk: Good Media Relations Means Checking Your Facts
Posted by: Grant on Thursday, December 06, 2007 - 09:06 PM
publicrelations
| President Bush gave out the wrong phone number at a press conference and I wouldn't want to be the person who handed it to him.
He was talking about mortgage relief for people who are now saddled with ballooning interest rates. He told people sinking under their mortgages to call a toll free number. The problem was, the number her repeated two times was actually a phone number for a Christian camp. Those poor people were slammed with phone calls. Imagine being the desperate mortgage holder who called that number. Can you say bad PR? I'm sure you can.
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