In Defense of Public Relations

You and I know New Year’s resolutions are meant to be broken, but I dare say, every year I try to keep them as long as I can. Since I didn’t share what those resolutions were  in the first place (I’ve been crazy busy the past two months), who’s to know I broke any of them? Well, in the spirit of honesty (the only kind of PR I practice and live by), I’ve broken the following resolutions already:

1) I promise to tone down the sarcasm — Well, this was broken by the first of January. Sorry, but like the old American Express slogan, I can’t seem to leave home without it.

2) Never curse at reporters behind their back. Be brave and do it in front of them — Well, I haven’t been brave enough to get pissy in front of them, but I must say I have done so behind their back. What they don’t hear won’t be published. Advice to journos: never leave PR people hanging dog.

3) I will not mail merge any pitches — I hate to admit this because I’ve hung people to dry about doing so. My excuse is I did land a client that warranted this ugly tactic and it resulted in a ton of media placements. On the downside, there were a few that asked to be removed from my lists. I can live with a 90-10 ratio so you understand why I did it, right?

4) I will only speak highly of firmprez and Big Boss — I did for the first day or two back from holiday, but I’m sorry I just couldn’t help it especially when these two are together in a room speaking to a client and lying their asses off.

5) Never touch the flask under my desk — I broke this one first before I broke no. 1 (see above).

Let’s hear what resolutions you’ve already broken. Be real and share. Anonymous comments encouraged.

My oh my. I have years of experience launching consumer technology products, but what David Pogue accused Barnes & Noble PR and marketing teams regarding the true weight of the Nook e-reader clearly shows why many PR and marketing folks are loathe by the press.

From experience, I base all the information I write on press releases and pitches that I feed reporters from the spec sheets provided by my client. As PR pros, we have the challenging task of finding the unique selling proposition of every new model or version of product that comes out. I never ask my client whether the spec sheet has accurate information or not. And we shouldn’t! So I don’t blame the Barnes & Noble PR team for not knowing the accurate weight until David Pogue called them on it because just like Pogue, these PR folks are referencing a spec sheet from a client that we accept at face value.

What irks me (and hopefully other PR pros like me that have an ounce of integrity left ) is the PR team’s reaction for being called out about the error whether it was intentional or not.  I absolutely agree with Pogue that the reply from the Barnes & Noble’s spokesperson was a complete attempt to spin the issue in their favor. The statement provided looked to me as a canned response from a crisis communications playbook that was created in the early 90′s.  When will PR pros learn that those days are gone? Stop the spinning and be truthful about your error? When making a mistake, apologize and make things right.  This is the age of social media and what you say and do will live online forever.

Another lesson that PR pros must remember and never overlook here is that reporters (and in this case, their daughters) have inquisitive minds.

Trust me, the truth shall set you back, but it will also set you free.

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…)