Tweet of the Day: Conficker worries spur self-evident press releases
With the Conficker virus striking computers Wednesday, the computer worm ranked among today’s top discussion items on Twitter.
New York Times tech critic David Pogue, who already scored a PR Junkie Tweet of the Day, managed to blend Conficker and PR in a tweet.
Self-serving, self-evident press release of the year. "Conficker Virus: McAfee is Available for Comment." D'ya think?
And there you have it, Tuesday’s Tweet of the Day. Good luck with Conficker, everyone.
Send us any tweets you think deserve highlighting. Leave them in the comment section, e-mail to me (michaels@ragan.com) or send me a message on twitter @msebastian.
Have you seen the new commercial for Fling, the Mars candy bar for women? Here it is.
Very nice—quite the double entendre. (And far more clever than suggestive beer commercials aimed at men.)
According to Advertising Age, “Print work for the brand declares ‘It’s not cheating if you don't feel guilty,’ ‘Your boyfriend doesn’t need to know,’ and ‘Pleasure yourself.’”
Mars representative Ryan Bowling told Advertising Age that “the concept for Fling – which has been in development for more than two years – was to develop a ‘permissive indulgence’ for women.”
Wow. So women need permission to eat a candy bar? Hey, the 1950s called, they need their gender politics back.
Some critics are saying give me a break—and not the Kit Kat kind—over the Fling campaign.
“What the candy companies don’t quite understand is that for those of us who truly love candy, we don't see it as gender-specific,” wrote a blogger on the site Jezebel. “And for every bar like the ‘Fling,’ … that arrives, the idea that candy is something women should feel guilty or careful about is perpetuated, leading to a public perception that some things are ‘bad’ and ‘good’ for women to eat.”
Liberal mag Mother Jones also weighed in saying Mars has tapped “the under-utilized market of paranoid heterosexual women whose eating habits are monitored by their boyfriends.”
Mother Jones added:
“The PR packages that went out to media outlets contained sheer T-shirts that read ‘Try It In Public,’ equating the act of women consuming sweets in front of other people with being as taboo as committing sex acts in front of them. Couple this with the oppressive pinkness of the campaign, and one is left wondering when marketers will figure out that in order to make women buy things, they do not have to, literally, shove sparkles down their throats.”
Wonder what the Twitter-ati and mom blogs will say about it?
And since we're talking about gender politics and marketing, here's a 15-second clip from Mad Men, the TV show about advertising in the early 1960s. The main character, Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) ponders writing ad copy geared at women.
Tweet of the Day: Don't worry car owners, Uncle Sam's got your back
The U.S. government promised current and future car owners today that it would guarantee warranties on GM automobiles if the company goes bankrupt.
With that in mind, Tim Siedell, the co-founder of Fusebox—a brand communications studio—provides the Tweet of the Day.
The good news is the government will back your car’s warranty. The bad news is you'll have to bring your car to a DC area Midas.
Send us any tweets you think deserve highlighting. Leave them in the comment section, e-mail to me (michaels@ragan.com) or send me a message on twitter @msebastian.
Another editorial cartoon offends public—does it offend you?
Perhaps you’ve seen the Pat Oliphant cartoon that ran in several print newspapers and Web sites this week.
Jewish rights groups have cried foul and demanded newspapers, including The New York Times, remove the cartoon from their Web sites. They’re calling it ant-Semitic.
But is it? Is this cartoon anti-Semitic or anti-Israel? And is there a difference?
I think Oliphant, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, walked a fine line here. The cartoon does criticize the nation of Israel, but it also offends the Jewish religion. Oliphant denigrated a religious symbol—the Star of David—and dragged Nazi imagery—goose stepping—into the picture; that’s guaranteed controversy. He knew it, and so did the papers that ran it.
That said, I don’t think any newspaper should remove it. Doing so would continue a disturbing trend of censorship in cartoons. (See police shooting chimp/stimulus bill cartoon.)
It’s Friday, so we’re calling the Tweet of the Day early.
Compliments of New York Times technology critic and blogger David Pogue is this humorous rumination on the power of a large Twitter following.
Pogue followers doubled since yesterday (??). We could have some REAL fun with this army! Skew Amazon rankings, flood blog comments... :)
He has 47,593 followers—and growing.
So far Pogue’s tweet has attracted some remarks from fellow Twitter members, including this one—a compliment to the Tweet of the Day.
Why do the Twitterati assume that followers = army that will do their bidding? So, what do you want us to do for you?
Send us any tweets you think deserve highlighting. Leave them in the comment section, e-mail to me (michaels@ragan.com) or send me a message on twitter @msebastian.
Tweet of the Day: Expectations—and Kiefer Sutherlands
Today’s Tweet of the Day has to do with expectations—and Kiefer Sutherland. It comes from the mind of Brian Brown, a “modern marketer” at Minneapolis-based branding agency, ideapark.
Had a dream last night where Kiefer Sutherland told me to follow him on Twitter. Turns out, he's not on Twitter.
Send us any tweets you think deserve highlighting; the tweet should either focus on communications or else come from a communicator on Twitter.
This e-mail pitch came through the Ragan newsroom yesterday and it hits all the right notes.
Subject: Catevo's Job Title Contest Update
I just wanted to provide a brief update on the current contest that the Catevo Group is hosting for Jonathan Ressler, our newest social media guru. As I mentioned yesterday, The Catevo Group began the contest yesterday in which anyone can submit a job title for Jonathan Ressler or vote on their favorite title. The person whose title receives the most votes will win $250 and bragging rights of course. Since yesterday, the Raleigh News and Observer ran a fabulous story on the contest and the contest site has already received hundreds of nominations. If you haven’t already, you should take a look.
(Contact information was provided beneath the person’s signature.)
What does this pitch do well?
First, the subject line is brief, accurate and to the point. The pitch is just one paragraph; it’s written in a breezy tone and there’s no jargon. The easy link to the newspaper article is perfect, plus the adjective to describe it, “fabulous,” is an attention getter.
The suggestion at the end, “If you haven’t already, you should take a look,” is a nice touch.
Most importantly, the editor of Ragan.com, Roula Amire, liked the pitch—and she was the intended target.
"The subject line says what it is," Amire explained. "It’s a short paragraph written without any jargon. And it’s kind of interesting."
New feature on PR Junkie and PR Daily, the Tweet of the Day.
Apropos to this being the first Tweet of the Day, President Obama on Wednesday became the first sitting president to tweet—or the first sitting president to let someone post a tweet under his or her Twitter account.
Either way, it’s the Tweet of the Day for Wednesday, Mar. 25.
Just when you thought social media had cornered the market on ways to burn your company, some genius on Twitter finds another way to keep you up at night.
It’s called Bitch Slap, and it’s a Twitter feed that lets people anonymously insult each other.
For instance, let’s say I wanted to insult a colleague at Ragan, but was afraid to do it a) to his face, b) on a message board, c) in a blog, or d) through my Twitter address. I would send a direct message to the people at Bitch Slap with the insult, who would then send a tweet directed at my colleague with said insult. Bitch Slap promises not to share my identity, as long as my slight isn't too nasty.
Yes, as human beings, we have lost all our intestinal fortitude. Take this nugget from Tuesday afternoon, “@stuartyoung for not sending emails he promised to send yesterday!”
But here’s the best part, there’s a warning label attached to this Twitter feed, which says: “Abuse/harassment will result in your information being sent to abusee and/or the APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES.”
So go ahead and insult somebody, anonymously, if you like, just make sure it isn’t too rude (although homophobic slurs seem to be just fine on this Twitter feed).
What does this all mean for your company? Well, it’s yet another way for someone to attack its image or reputation.
Ever wonder what's going on inside the heads of those Twitter addicts? This cartoon takes us on a strange journey into the desperate heart of the Twitter-sphere. Hold on to your iPhones.
Why was a part of the male anatomy among the top 10 Twitter trends?
On Monday afternoon, a part of the male body that sounds like pianist was among the top 10 trending words on Twitter.
Why? Mainly because of chatter about a Web site that lets you measure your e-privates. That’s right; it’s come to this—posturing over the size of our virtual privates.
Of course, that’s all fun and games until a stuffy manager decides to check out this Twitter thing. He or she starts poking around and next thing you know finds this page.
Obama's Special Olympics gaffe is good for the nonprofit—and Sarah Palin, too
Over the weekend, the Young PR Pros Yahoo Group kicked around the question, “What would you do if you were the Special Olympics?” In light of President Obama cracking wise about his bowling game on the Tonight Show Thursday.
“It’s like—it was like Special Olympics or something,” Obama said to Jay Leno about his recent bowling score of 129.
Obama deputy press secretary quickly apologized (sort of) after the Tonight Show to reporters on Air Force One.
“The President made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics,” Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters. “He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world.”
Before the Tonight Show even aired Thursday, Obama also called Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, to apologize for what he had said.
On Ragan’s new Web site for PR pros, PR Daily, a commenter praised Obama’s reaction: “But once Obama removed his foot from his mouth, he exercised textbook damage control (a good example for PR types from both parties),” the commenter wrote.
The majority opinion of the Young PR Pros was that the Special Olympics should seize on the president’s gaffe—has Obama been hanging out with gaffe-prone Joe Biden too much, by the way—to illuminate the group's good works, especially given the tough year most nonprofits face. And the Special Olympics have seized the moment.
Shriver invited the Obama administration to hire a Special Olympics athlete in the White House. “In so doing, he could help end misperceptions about the talents and abilities of people with intellectual disabilities, and demonstrate their dignity and value to the world,” Shriver said.
Meanwhile, Sarah Palin has joined the fray. Palin, whose son has Down Syndrome, condemned what the president said. “This was a degrading remark about our world’s most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world,” she said.
While Palin is uniquely qualified to comment on this topic, her entry into the conversation seems conveniently political—especially since she has slammed the press for dragging her family into the spotlight. Where was Governor Palin when the film Tropic Thunder—and its excessive use of the “R-word”—came out to much hype last summer?
Do you leave positive comments for clients on Web sites?
Over the weekend, I was speaking with an early 20-something PR professional about her job. She mentioned very matter-of-factly that the first thing she does for a new client is visit Web sites like Yelp and CitySearch, user review sites, and leave positive comments and reviews—without disclosing her role as PR counselor.
Is this ethical? Or is it simply naïve to think these user review sites aren’t packed with comments from PR pros and marketers?
UPDATED: Can PR improve AIG’s image, or is it too late? NOT REALLY
UPDATE: Bad PR is affecting AIG's consumer business, Advertising Age reported today. And neither a marketing campaign nor PR outreach will help, claims at least one PR professional.
"This is so beyond that and so much more at a strategic and policy level that before you can even think about tactical outreach, you have to remove the malignancy first," said Eric Dezenhall, CEO and co-founder of communications consultancy Dezenhall Resources.
The communications approach for AIG is to explain what the company is doing with taxpayer money.
"They need to be communicating what it is they are doing with those funds and beyond that, where there are these business-practice questions, there's an even higher bar in terms of articulating what they are doing with taxpayer funds and it seems there is a fairly consistent lack of appreciation for that reality," Torod Neptune, senior VP of global public affairs at Waggener Edstrom, told Advertising Age.
Comments to PR Junkie have echoed the communicators Advertising Age interviewed. One PR Junkie commenter named Drew wrote, "There is no way to spin this into a positive story. An open presentation of the issue and resonable availability to the media is the best course for AIG's PR staff. It may not be pretty but at least you'll get credit for not attempting to hide the ball."
Imagine representing a company or person so reprehensible by the public that some days it feels like you’re standing between your client and an angry crowd bent on tar and feathering the person.
I imagine that’s what it’s like to work communications for AIG, which on Sunday said it will pay $165 million in bonuses to executives even though the government has poured $175 billion into the ailing firm to ensure it remains solvent.
And here is the company’s two-fold defense of the bonuses:
1. Blame the lawyers. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Saturday (read the letter), AIG Chairman Edward Liddy said outside lawyers told the company that if it didn’t make the payments, which were agreed upon last year, it could face lawsuit.
2. Cite retention and recruitment. Liddy also noted that the bonuses help AIG retain talent. If you don’t pay top executives what they’re worth they leave the company. Then again, part of the $165 million is going to executives in AIG’s financial unit, which is largely responsible for those credit default swaps—you know, the nasty things that helped spark the economic meltdown.
Where does the company go from here in terms of public relations? The letter to Geithner indicates that AIG's top 25 executives have agreed to annual salary in 2009 of $1. That could be a start, although probably one that will fall on deaf ears.
So is there any way AIG’s can improve its reputation? Only if the public gets to tar and feather one of the executives—and we're not recommending that.
Oh no, now super villain Lex Luthor is asking for a bailout
Well, I suppose it was inevitable.
First the investment banks and commercial banks needed tax dollars to stay afloat, then AIG and America’s Big Three automakers asked for a piece of that pie. Now multi-national firm Lex Corp needs a bailout.
That’s right, Lex Corp, owned by Superman’s arch nemesis Lex Luthor (as portrayed by Mad Men’s Jon Hamm) needs our tax dollars to stay afloat.
Jon Stewart and CNBC’s Jim Cramer will meet tonight on Stewart’s the Daily Show to, I’m assuming, talk about the mini-feud Stewart launched last week—and continued this week—over CNBC’s failure to adequately report on the financial meltdown.
The Internet will be buzzing tomorrow about the outcome.
Mark Penn, the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, then sent a memo to his employees defending the firm and rebutting one part of Maddow’s commentary.
“Her commentary also significantly mischaracterized the nature of the firm's past—for example, we never took a dime from Blackwater,” Penn said in the memo, which was leaked to PR Week.
When Obama met Favreau: A speechwriter’s love story
The Chicago Tribune ran a story on Sunday about President Obama’s chief speechwriter, 27-year-old Jon Favreau. Nothing all that new in this profile, since Favreau refused to sit for an interview with the Tribune.
The story notes that Favreau is the second youngest chief presidential speechwriter. James Fallows, the lead scribe for Carter, was two months younger than Favreau.
I interviewed Fallows via e-mail about one year ago for a Ragan.com story about the age difference between presidential speechwriters (young) and corporate speechwriters (not young). Fallows is now an Atlantic magazine editor based in China.
Here’s part of what he had to say:
Political speechwriters generally are young … for many people on a campaign, speechwriting is not a JOB; it’s a risk/dare/gamble. That is, for each person who ends up as the campaign speechwriter for Obama or McCain, there were ten others who signed on with Romney, Dodd, Edwards, Biden, Giuliani, and so on.
Political speechwriters are generally younger because the hours are unbelievable; the pay is very low; and the probability is that you won’t still have a job when the campaign is over (because most candidates lose).
Fallows also explained why he left the Carter White House.
I was 26 when I started work for the Carter campaign and 27 when he was elected; Patrick Anderson was a couple of years older; most of us were around the same age.
I had worked briefly as a magazine writer before joining Carter and realized that what I enjoyed more in the long run was writing books and magazine articles in my own voice, as I have done since then.
I was going to post the 25 Things I Hate About Facebook video someone sent me. Until I watched it. And realized it's not funny or clever.
So instead, for those who haven't seen it, or those who want to watch it again and again (me), here is an instant Jon Stewart classic as he reveals the ineptitude of CNBC's financial reporting.
Guess who’s to blame for the recession? It rhymes with ‘shublic belations’
When the private plane industry took flak after the public learned the nation’s top executives don’t fly commercial, who did they call? PR pros.
So who will PR firms call now that the public is learning companies and governments pay PR pros?
In separate incidents this week, the Chicago media and one Cable TV host slammed the City of Chicago and AIG, respectively, for paying outside communication companies. The message was: How dare these organizations spend tax dollars on communications while the economy sinks?
On Thursday, MSNBC’s uber-liberal host Rachel Maddow pounded AIG for “working on their image” and hiring another PR firm, Kenst and Company. According to Maddow, AIG has not only in-house communicators but also several contracts with outside PR companies, including Burson-Marsteller.
Maddow continued her segment by slamming Burson-Marsteller for working with creepy clients—dictators, polluters, poisoned-toy makers. Of course, if you follow the PR industry, and Burson-Marsteller, it should as no surprise that this large firm works with creeps.
For instance, the company's CEO, Mark Penn, worked as Hillary Clinton's chief strategist.
Just kidding. Hillary's no creep, although Penn sure is.
Is this the best dressed man in corporate communications?
Esquire magazine named Prince Charles the best dressed man in the world. One year ago, the magazine also named the best dressed communicator—sort of.
In March 2008, Esquire ran a spring fashion spread with “five ordinary New Yorkers.” One of these New Yorkers was Stanislas Nève de Mévergnies; Esquire identified him as a 33-year-old corporate communications consultant.
I contacted Stanislas last year to see if he’d do an interview with Ragan.com. (Things must’ve been slow at the time.) He politely declined indicating the Esquire pic had brought enough attention on him.
So does this appearance in Esquire make Stanislas the best dressed person in corporate communications? Any other nominees?
What is that word doing in The Wall Street Journal?
UPDATE APPENDED
In their popular seminar on corporate writing, Mark Ragan and Jim Ylisela encourage attendees to read The Wall Street Journal. The language and structure of its stories are among the finest in journalism.
No arguments here, although I was surprised to see “synergy” in a news article today about cost-cutting at Anheuser-Busch InBev. There was that nasty bit of jargon in the ninth paragraph:
“The company said it expected to save $2.25 billion annually due to synergies from the Anheuser deal—up from its previous estimate of $1.5 billion—with $1 billion of those cost savings coming in 2009,” reporters John W. Miller and Matthew Dalton wrote.
Sure this word turns up in certain Journal columns and articles on management, but in a news article? And not as part of a quote?
Jargon scored a victory today in the war on common sense language.
Well played, jargon.
UPDATE: Jargon scored a second victory. Shortly after posting this item, I checked my PR Week daily e-mail and saw this headline and caption:
Leveraging internal comms, online newsrooms, and more How do I leverage internal communications to maximize my external PR efforts?
City of Chicago abruptly scrubs $55 million in outside PR contracts
Around Chicago City Hall, PR needs its own PR rep.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports today that the city “abruptly canceled” 11 public relations contracts worth $55 million.
“We get it. We absolutely get it. We understand that it would seem absurd at a time like this to be using taxpayer funds for this kind of non-essential service,” mayoral press secretary Jacquelyn Heard told the Sun-Times.
The city already has, as the Sun-Times puts it, “an army of [in-house] media handlers” and after taking flak from reporters last fall for Chicago’s PR price tag Heard pledged not to spend another penny on public relations contracts until the city’s budget crisis ended.
And then the city did. Chicago’s Department of Environment signed a $5 million contract with firm Cultural Communications on Feb. 17, the Sun-Times reported.
What was it for? “Translation services,” Heard said.
At least one of the 11 firms claims the city stiffed them on their bill. And one Chicago Alderman—my alderman—Scott Waguespack, has crusaded against these PR contracts.
Calling the contracts “wrong-headed,” he said, “I don't think they provide any more service than the dozens of other PR people we have already in the city.”
Maybe that's true, and while PR contracts are an easy political target, Waguespack should be careful. He's an above average (rookie) city councilman known for his "independent streak" among Chicago's status quo in city hall.
In Chicago, an independent streak might hurt his chances for re-election. So let's hope Waguespack hasn't burned any bridges with the local PR community. He may need to enlist some heavy hitters to get re-elected.
The pitch you’re about to read is an excellent example of, “Hey numbskull, spend a few minutes learning about a media outlet before you contact it with a story idea.”
A PR pro sent this e-mail to the editor of Ragan’s Web Content Report, a newsletter for communicators charged with running Web sites—not parents of aspiring child actors.
Dear [Ragan editor],
Doesn't everyone think their kid is a star, unaware of the perils of unscrupulous "agents"? Are you planning a story on Casting Kids and acting for Web Content Report?
Entertainment Tonight's Mary Hart spent a recent segment sizing up her future competition during her piece, "The inside track on kid casting," prominently featuring [Company X], a Youth-specializing talent company, "Which will help you avoid the rip-offs."
[Company X] have been providing honest and legitimate child talent services since opening their doors nearly 15 years ago. Instead of causing parents to empty their wallets, [Company X] works diligently to compose comprehensive lists of legitimate licensed talent agents and casting directors who don't charge fees from all across the country. The daily updated lists are sold in reasonably priced packages to parents looking for a thrifty start to a lucrative career for their kids. It's through this honest means that [Company X] have helped kids land gigs in commercials, on television, and in shows.
Learn more about the [Company X] at [Company X’s Web site].
Are you are interested in doing a feature, about [Company X]? Please feel free to contact me.
Best,
[Communicator who failed to do his homework]
Is this a poorly written pitch? Not necessarily. It was just geared at the wrong audience. Ragan editors laughed it off. But will the L.A. Times have the same reaction if it's hit with this kind of spam pitch or Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson, creator of the PR Blacklist?
I don't think their sense of humor is quite as evolved as Ragan's.
The best reason to be on Twitter (has nothing to do with ROI)
The Chicago Tribune reported today that 24-year-old freelance writer Nick Douglas, of San Francisco, scored a book deal with HarperCollins to collect other peoples' Twitter messages (tweets) into a book.
So here's a bit of advice for Nick Douglas: When in doubt pull tweets from badbanana, the irreverent Twitter feed from Tim Seidell, creative director/co-owner of brand communications studio, Fusebox.
And here's my advice for everyone else: If you need one reason to join Twitter then "to read Seidell's tweets" should suffice as that reason. Why? Because he's funny. Take this recent tweet, for instance:
"If I buy a new computer, then I need new software, and a new printer, and a new desk. It ends with me living in Vegas with a new family."
This politician takes the prize as half-wit of the year (so far).
The Orange County Register reported that Dean Grose, the mayor of California’s Los Alamitos, sent an e-mail to at least one colleague with a picture of the White House and a large watermelon patch superimposed in front of it.
The e-mail said, “No Easter Egg hunt this year.”
Here’s what one African-American had to say about the e-mail:
“I think [the mayor is] saying that since there’s a black president, there will be no need to hunt for eggs since they’re growing watermelons in the front yard this year,” said Keyanus Price, who told the Register she finds the e-mail racist and offensive.
Oh, by the way, Grose, who is white, sent the e-mail to Price. She turned it over to the Register.
This was Price’s e-mail response to Grose: “Hey, that's not nice at all. Not all black people like watermelon … you should know better than that,” according to the Register.
The Register said Grose replied with: “The way things are today, you gotta laugh every now and then. I wanna see the coloring contests.”
Price told the Register that this response made her more upset.
“As soon as I saw his response; that put me over the top because it was no big deal to him,” she said.
Grose has apologized for the e-mail.
Apparently, Mayor Grose—whether he’s racist, getting thrown under the boss or just plain stupid—has failed to notice that electronic communication embarrasses public figures all the time.
Elliot Spitzer and his e-mail, and Detroit’s ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his text messages, are but two recent examples.
Whatever his motivation, Grose might steal attention from Illinois’ nationally-known politicians. So, on behalf of the citizens of Illinois, thank you Mayor Grose.
Tell us how you manage unrealistic expectations, meet reporter needs, churn out news when there is none, deal with a client you can't stand, and what you say to people that slam PR. Or anything else that's on your mind.
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Good list, tho a bit US-centric. The world is full of unmitigated PR gaffes; Renault's F1 race fixing; UK PM Gordon Brow...