In Defense of Public Relations

Please stop. No applause, congratulations or happy birthday songs today. I’m enjoying writing this post in my birthday suit anyway. Yes, it’s been a  year today, okay not exactly today (for my official twitter date of birth, check here), but it’s definitely been close to a year so please hang with me.

This is a milestone event for me and couldn’t have done it without all of my followers. [If I sound like Taylor Swift's do-over speech, please Kanye me].  So thank you for clicking on that follow button, I’m hoping none of you have regretted it.  Thank you too for clicking on the url on my profile, many of my hits (which will be sold on itunes soon) come from Twitter.  You’re part of a very smart group of hundreds of thousands that visit this blog regularly.

Second, I have a super hero complex (check out this blog’s tagline), which stems from being forced to wear super hero pajamas as a child. Have I told you I jumped from the roof once when I was about five years old using a blanket as a cape? Didn’t break any bones, thank goodness, probably since the roof of the doghouse was barely two feet high.  Sorry, I digress, but being anonymous is kinda like being Spider-Man. While prdude gets the adulation (yes, really) of many wonderful followers and readers, the real me is behind the scenes working my magic giving all the glory to my not-so demanding clients (no, not really).

Finally, if you are one of the select few who’ve outed me (there’s a handful of you), you’re in a fine group that includes Jack and Suzy Welch. Just remember that the confidentiality agreement you signed is iron-clad and I’ll sic all the bad-ass lawyers on you if you reveal my true ID. Just kidding. Thanks for keeping my secret safe.

If I haven’t bored you to death let me explain why I joined Twitter. THERAPY. Yes, if you’re working at the insane asylum I work for, you’ll need a lot of it.  Thanks to Twitter, I haven’t been committed yet though many here should be. Best of all, it’s free.

Here are a few milestones from the past year (not in any order):

- My first follower was @ctmichaels who’ve gone on to bigger and greater things like being a regular contributor for The PR Breakfast Club.

- I got a couple of hits for myself check ‘em out here and here.

- I became the accidental host of masquertweet even though it was really @PRCog‘s show.

- @PRCog, @aerocles and I were planning an out-of-town coffee run to Maine, but when we were all packed and ready to go, this happened.

- I posted the 10 Hottest PR Chick Pics on Twitter and the Ten PR Dudes with the Smoothest Moves on Twitter.

- The ‘dear boss’ and ‘dear firmprez’ tweets spurred questions about whether the firm I work for truly exists, which inspired me to write this post.

- I am a Twitter Addict so I created a 12-tweet program and started tweeting, You Might Be a #Twitteraddict if…, obviously inspired by redneck comedian Jeff Foxworthy.  Try this. You might be a #Twitteraddict if you click this.

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. If you know when your Twitter Date of Birth is, share it here.

It was suppose to be a nice, relaxing Labor Day weekend, until this woman slips and falls on the steps by the pool area at the Plaza San Antonio Marriott.  I was contacted by my source who is a PR veteran about the unfortunate incident and was truly surprised by the response from hotel management and the silence from the Marriott’s corporate office even after filling out the customer care feedback form.  Of course, this couple and their children who were taking a mini-vacation consider themselves nobody special.  I wonder if the hotel and the corporate office would be as indifferent about the whole incident if it had been Eva Longoria who had the misfortune of slipping on the property.

This post is not about blame or who’s at fault.  It’s about what businesses like the Marriott can do to turn a bad customer experience into a good one, if not a great one.

The unfortunate incident occurred around the pool area where a number of hotel guests were enjoying drinks at the pool bar.  The smooth brick steps leading up to the bar were so wet from kids splashing around the pool that without proper lighting, it is hard to distinguish whether the steps were wet or not.  In New York City, it would be similar to what we call black ice when sidewalks freeze with a thin sheet of ice.  In fact, when one of the hotel’s staff members arrived to help she said, “you should let management know that this area is dangerous, others have slipped here, but they won’t listen to us since we’re just employees, guests have a better shot of getting recommendations approved.”

In addition to the fact that it took more than 20 minutes for any hotel staff member to show up, there was no adequate first-aid kit available.  For a hotel with more than 250 rooms in San Antonio, Texas, it was beyond comprehension.  The poor staffer who arrived pulled out a band-aid the size of an iPod shuffle and an antiseptic spray.  She even had to give out an OTC pain-reliever from her own stash. When the woman and her husband asked for the manager, the staff member said, there is no manager around and that they will be contacted the following morning when the manager comes in.  When they asked for an incident report form so the entire incident can be documented, there were no incident report forms available. It’s probably because there were so many terrible incidents that have happened in that hotel that they ran out of forms.  Needless to say, it was turning into the mini-vacation from hell according to my source who shall remain nameless for the time-being.

So the following morning, after a long arduous and painful night experienced by this hotel guest, the couple waited for a call from the manager.  Nothing, but dead silence.  So the husband rang the front desk to find out what’s going on and if the manager was in.  The manager was indeed in, but decided not to check on the injured guest.  She apologized and said she was misinformed by the staffer and that she was waiting for the guest who was in misery to call her.  I’d think if you’re a hotel manager or simply a caring human being for that matter, you’d show you some interest in a person’s well-being especially one who had been injured at your property.

So my source gave the manager free advice about a couple of things that she ought to do at the hotel to improve customer safety and satisfaction. 1) add proper lighting in pool area 2) put up signs that area is dangerous when wet 3) purchase first-aid kit fit for a hotel and not a two-year old.

In return, manager said, “we’ll comp you and your wife free room service for breakfast only.”  Here’s what my source said that the manager should’ve done:

- Manager should’ve checked how they were doing first and foremost.  A little bit of sincerity and compassion goes a long way.  An apology would have also helped.

- Manager should’ve gone above and beyond the usual free breakfast like offering a free night, parking and room service meals for the duration of their overnight stay. Maybe throw in a free movie in there as well.

It’s not about getting things for free.  It’s about having the couple and their kids leave the hotel as brand ambassadors versus the opposite.  Although they feel that their nobodies, they still have a circle of friends including myself who trust them and who listen to their experiences.  Wouldn’t the Marriott have preferred the couple to leave and tell friends, “I had a bad accident at the Marriott, but they took care of me really well. It turned into an awesome experience and it’ll be my first choice whenever I need to stay at a hotel.”  The complimentary items are a small price to pay for a lifetime of positive feedback.  Besides, this lady will have a scar for life as a reminder of the unfortunate incident at the Plaza San Antonio Marriott.

Would you trade this for a free breakfast?

When I first saw the hashtag for the PR Breakfast Club, I immediately thought of the 80′s John Hughes classic, The Breakfast Club. Then I asked myself, what is the PR Breakfast Club? Is it an exclusive clique of PR folks? Are these the cool PR kids of Twitter? I suddenly flashback to high school. I’m not going to tell you which group I ran with then since that’s beside the point, what I wanted to know was what’s the purpose of this club? And who are its members?

I noticed that those that hashtagged #prbreakfastclub, then the abbreviated form, #prbc, were in fact, cool, but not the way I remembered high school. None of them will stuff you in a locker or give you an atomic wedgie unless you ask for it.  They’re cool because they come from all walks of life, ages, backgrounds, gender, title, etc., but there’s one common factor that bonded them together, and that is, they’re passionate about public relations (even if some may not be passionate about the firms they work for). Upon realizing this, I put out the following tweet:

Coincidentally, a few minutes after I tweeted this, news broke that Breakfast Club Director John Hughes died, then I re-tweeted this (check time stamps):

I’m not a psychic, but I really thought it was eerie that news about John Hughes’ death came out at the same time I was experiencing an epiphany on what the PR Breakfast Club was about.

So on August 31st, 2009, a date that will be remembered in PR 2.0 history, a new summer blockbuster premiered.  The PR Breakfast Club may not have received as much publicity as The Breakfast Club when it premiered in 1985, but it’s safe to say its cast members will have much longer careers than the cast from the movie.  So here they are the “cool” kids of the PR Breakfast Club.  If you don’t mind, please consider them as my #followfridaybeforealongweekend recommendations. (Please note that my observations are simply based on their tweets and posts and not on physical similarities to the actors/actresses from the movie. I have not met anyone of them in real life.)

@PRCog — He plays the John Hughes’ role though he’s not as reclusive only because he’s anonymous to many of us. He’s been known to reveal his true self to a lucky few who have been brave to dare meet him unmasked. Not surprisingly, all have described him as a rock star.  His classic one-liners make us laugh out louder than any John Hughes movie ever did except for Home Alone.  His posts are amusing and at the same time deep.  Without him, the PR Breakfast Club may not have debuted since he’s the dude that ties everything together.  He’s the only one in the group who knows html. Of course, feel free to disagree with me.  I believe there are some who feel he’s more like Principal Vernon.

@CTMichaels — Chris is not a geek but like all of us, he can be at times.  He plays the freshman because he’s the youngest guy in the group and I predict his career in PR will be long and successful. Isn’t Anthony Michael Hall still famous today? See USA’s The Dead Zone and The Dark Knight.  His attitude of staying true to who he is will take him a long way or possibly get him fired.  Either way his famous white pants make him a shoo-in for this role. Oh and I love his tongue-in-cheek style of writing.

@KOttavio @jessisjuicy @missmotorcade @hdueitt — Kate, Jess, Sherri and Heather can all play the Molly Ringwald role.  Not because they’re beauty queens (though one of them actually was) and not because they love pink (though one of them really does).  It’s because they speak their mind no matter what the circumstance.  Hey, didn’t Molly Ringwald finally learn to accept who she really is and not care what other people thought of her.  Well, these ladies know who they are and it clearly shows in their writing.

@keithtrivitt — Am I the only one who thinks his twitter headshot resembles Zachary Quinto (who plays Sylar in Heroes and Spock in the new Star Trek)?  Keith plays both Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson. He has a clean-cut athletic side and a rugged troublemaking side.  Judging by his tweets and posts, he may or may not be a wrestler in high school who carries a switchblade in his pocket.  His tweets and posts show a deep knowledge of sports, PR and social media.

@daniellecyr @stina6001 @TeamMomMedia @tjdietderich — As far as I know they’re not kleptomaniacs, but they can play the Ally Sheedy role because they’re writing is deep, thoughtful and full of substance.  Unlike the Ally Sheedy character, they’re not reserved and introverted.  In fact, quite the opposite, but didn’t Ally Sheedy finally come out of her shell at the end of the movie and locked lips with Emilio Estevez? (Keith, watch out!) Well, these ladies are a force to be reckon with for their understanding of PR and social media.

So that’s my take on the cast of the PR Breakfast Club.  Forgive me if I’m totally off target about their personalities.  And if you do have an opinion, please share it with me.  As I mentioned, I’ve never met any of the cast members in real life.  One thing’s for sure, they’re contributions to the PR Breakfast Club makes it a worthwhile blog to read on a regular basis.

If you don’t hear from me for awhile, that’s because I’ve OD-ed from too much PR Breakfast Club content.  Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you, but it’s quite addictive…in the meantime, this one’s to all the members of the PR Breakfast Club, that includes you dude. (Oh and by the way in high school, I hung out with the…)