In Defense of Public Relations

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.

I was about to let this blog die a slow death. Thanks to Coke, I’ve been rejuvenated to add one more post, No, I’m not O.D.-ing on caffeine. Seriously, I’ve been slammed the past few weeks and sharing my thoughts in 140 characters is just so much easier.  So how did Coke motivate me to write something longer than 140 characters? Simple. They launched a social media campaign.

What irks me about Coke’s social media campaign involving three hand-picked adventurers visiting 206 countries in 365 days is the clear lack of strategy and creativity that Coke is known for. It seems like they were trying so hard to come up with a cool idea that they ended up with a mishmash of Burger King’s Whopper Virgins campaign and the Amazing Race.

In my humble opinion, social media is a channel to build new relationships and cultivate existing relationships. When I first got wind of this campaign, I immediately asked myself, “why should I care?” I have no existing relationship with the three travelers  If I will be following the adventures of the three Coke amigos, I’d like to know  more about them. How they were chosen? Did they beat out millions for the job? What have they accomplished? It just seems so random. They’re almost an afterthought to the entire campaign.

Another thing that bothers me is the name of the campaign itself. “Happiness Goes Around” is just, in a word, dumb. It’s as though they heard the song by Donovan that goes, “happiness runs in a circular motion..,” used in two TV commercials that I know off (Delta Airlines and Cheerios), and then decided let’s go with that. In the case of Delta and Cheerios, the jingle worked well.

As for me and many others, HAPPINESS is simply a state of mind and searching for it in 206 countries might yield some memorable times, but true “happiness” is a choice. Pardon me for being preachy or sounding like Tony Robbins, but then again, Coke might do better in connecting to its customers (that includes me) if they sent us to one of Tony Robbins‘ motivational seminars. I’ll even capture it on video and upload on their site. This would’ve saved Coke tons of money. Whatever Coke saves dough, it should donate to the American Diabetes Association. Now, there’s a campaign that will connect with me on a personal level.

Feel free to share your un-happiness here.

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.

[After a 2 1/2 month hiatus, I'm debuting a new post. Hey, I follow the TV calendar and series premieres are just around the corner.]

Anyone with half a brain understands that computer glitches happen. During the course of the day, I’m sure you’ve had to reboot at least once, I know I have to about once every two hours, but that’s another story.  What happened today at BestBuy.com was obviously a computer or human error.  I hope it’s the former so no one will get fired.

In case you were not around Wednesday morning, BestBuy.com posted the greatest deal in the history of online shopping. A 52-inch Samsung TV for $9.99.  Upon realizing the pricing error, Best Buy came out with a statement stating “while we are truly embarrassed that this occurred, Best Buy will not be able to honor the $9.99 price.” Ouch!

Without knowing how many TV sets were bought by customers online (I assume there weren’t many because they determined the error within a few hours) and how much the company would have lost in sales, it would’ve been great if Best Buy had honored the price.  Only if it were a perfect world where customers who purchased the same item for the full price WILL NOT complain about those that got this deal and with the understanding that only one TV will be given per customer who bought one, Best Buy would’ve made history.  Here’s how:

- Whatever losses Best Buy incurs, it’ll make up with the positive publicity that it could have milked for days, if not, weeks, instead of the negative commentary and bad jokes on social network sites that will live forever.  I’m betting that whatever amount in lost sales the electronics retailer experiences, the dollar equivalent from all the positive media coverage will be far more significant.

- Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson would have become a household name and probably even be considered as a guest on Oprah maybe even hold a Beer Summit at The White House. At the very least, he’ll be on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

- Best Buy doesn’t have any competition to worry about.  Seriously, I believe a move like this will even increase Best Buy’s market share and bring more customers to their stores instead of driving them away to shop at regional retailers like 6th Avenue Electronics or P.C. Richard & Son.

- Consumers will be commending Best Buy versus cursing it. One consumer even started a web site that calls out the Best Buy error. Welcome to the social media era.

- You can’t put a price tag on goodwill especially during tough economic times.  Best Buy will be a company to be emulated by other big box retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, etc.

Disclaimer: I wasn’t one of the consumers who bought the TV online for $9.99. Opinions expressed here are simply my own and was not paid by Circuit City.

P.S. — This post is not a criticism of Best Buy’s topnotch PR team, which handled the crisis by the book.

Since joining Twitter less than a year ago (pre-@aplusk), I’ve observed many new words being created using Twitter’s first two letters — TW.  I’ve always had a special affinity towards TW only because it’s the initials of Tiger Woods, but I digress.

The combined letters, T & W, are also used by many Twitter apps like Tweetie, Twitturly, Twitterrific, Twitpic, among many others to show that it’s somehow related to Twitter. Trust me, if you’re a dude hanging out with a bunch of non-twittering dudes, the last thing you want to say is, “I’m tweeting using twhirl & tweetie.” Hey, I get it, it’s a San Francisco company. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

So here’s what I’ve come up with as my very own Twitter glossary of terms or Twitter slang, in short, Twang:

TWIT — One who tweets about everything that happens in their lives no matter how mundane. Sample tweets look like this: Ate at Taco Bell. Took a dump. Flushed toilet. Forgot to wipe ass.

NITWIT — What I’d call Ditzy Boss when DB starts tweeting. Seriously, Twitterers whose tweets indicate their IQ level is in the low double digits.

TWISTED — Tweets that are so insane that you can’t tell whether it’s a joke or if you should be calling 911 maybe even CTU.

TWYCHO — Taking TWISTED a step further. A twitterer whose obviously a perv. Also classified as a twitter stalker. You must immediately remove and block from your follower list. If persistent, call the authorities, or send message to @ev or @biz .

TWIVORCE — Two twitter friends who now have irreconcilable differences. They remove each other from their follow lists, but on occassion, goes directly to the other’s twitter feeds to see what they’re saying. One day, a twitterer will use twitter to serve divorce papers to his/her spouse in under 140 characters.

TWILO — A former hip Manhattan club where many NYC Twitterers used to partay before Twitter was invented. Today the NYC party animals are stuck at home staring at their twitter feeds taking care of the kids they had with their dance partners at the famed Manhattan night club. The only clubbing they do these days is with a golf club.

TWITCHICK — Self-explanatory for dudes, but proceed with caution because twitter profile pics can be enhanced or be an outright fake. Unfortunately, in twitter-verse you can never tell.

CELEBRITWITS — Not to be confused with CELEBUTWANTS like Paris Hilton who tweets as @babygirlparis. These are the celebs on Twitter who showcase their celeb status by only following a select few of their celeb friends while their followed by hundreds of thousands even millions. Many are classified as TWITS and NITWITS judging by their celebri-tweets. See above for definitions.

TWAB — Twitter Acronym Break. Introduced by @joeprguy for active twitterers to stop for a couple of minutes and define acronyms that Joe (aka “Mr. Check Out My Guns”) tweets. I thought it was a pointless exercise at first, but after a few times, I ended up thinking hard to find the right words that would fit perfectly for the acronym. It gets in your head like @oprah.

TWITCH — Means many things. The itch a twitterer gets when Twitter is down for more than a minute like when it’s down for it’s “so-called” maintenance. The witches at your job who’ve joined Twitter. Big (literally) boss nervous tick that throws people off.

TWIX — The official candy bar of Twitter.

I could think of many more, but I won’t have enough space in this post to keep you focused. And the more I think of new ones, the more I sound like my 3yo dudeling who calls his favorite pasta Twortellini.  I’m sure you can come up with others too. Please feel free to share your TWANGS with me.

In recent months, Twitter has been getting so much attention and it’s not just because of its cute little blue bird logo that you see below. Actually, that blue bird can be annoying, but it will grow on you if you stare at it for a couple of hours. And that’s exactly how Twitter is.

tweet tweet

Like many, I was completely baffled why anyone would want to share their thoughts, activities, diet, religion, cars they own, work experiences, personal hygiene, sexual preference, pretty much their entire lives (save for trips to the toilet–c’mon tweeps we gotta draw the line somewhere!) to just anyone and everyone in under 140 characters. It’s hard enough to share our lives each day with friends and family, and now to share them with the universe (twitterverse as I eventually found out) is just plain stupid.

Since I’d try anything once, I decided to give Twitter a chance a few months ago even before Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) discovered it.  I signed up anonymously as prdude and just tweeted away mainly about my life at the PR agency (which shall remain nameless) I work at. It took me less than a day to realize that Twitter does provide a unique service.  It is not stupid after all.

Since that twateful day, when I signed up for my anonymous twitter handle, I’ve tried to define Twitter in my own way.  Here’s what I came up with, and yes, it’s an acronym for Twitter. Corny or creative? You tell me. Honest comments are always welcomed here.

T:   THERAPY. I work pretty much work for an agency that could be classifed as an insane asylum.  It’s not bad at first, but after awhile (in my case, years), you’ll realize you’re becoming crazy.  Twitter has been my therapy to help me through the insanity. And of course the weekly counseling and prescription meds help as well.
W:  WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Could also be Whazzup? Twitter’s become a place for me to share with people who care about what I say, do and think.  Seriously, there are many of them that do and they don’t work or belong in the insane asylum.
I:    IMPERSONAL. No matter how many times I exchange tweets with those I follow and those who follow me, the way Twitter is set up doesn’t promote real life friendships that’s why tweet-ups like Masquertweet are gaining popularity. It may also be because I am anonymous.
T:   TIME. It takes a lot of time to make Twitter worthwhile, but it’s definitely worth the investment. Not recommended for those who just don’t get it (that would include firmprez who insists that other firmprezes on Twitter have hired guns to tweet for them).
T: TEXT. It takes a lot of practice to deliver a message in under 140 characters.  I avoid the “continued” tweet, which is tweeting the same idea/topic in the next tweet just because of you run out of characters.  No penalty for violating though, it’s simply a personal choice.
E:   ENTERTAINMENT or EDUCATION. No matter what the tweet is, someone in Twitterverse will find it entertaining or educational.
R:  RETWEET. Tweet and Retweet were on a boat. Tweet jumped off, who was left? RETWEET.  This and #followfriday may very well be the most powerful tools on Twitter.  This is how news, ideas, products, etc. can go viral spread fast.  So please RETWEET this post.

So the PRWeek/PR Newswire Media survey came out yesterday to practically no fanfare. Maybe I was blind or plain crazed yesterday that I didn’t see any PR pro tweet about the findings save for Shel Holtz who challenged technology blogger/editor Robert Scoble to respond to his open query.  Apparently, Shel takes issue with some of Scoble’s attitude towards PR pitches and PR people in general.

Shel got his answer. Scoble ain’t backing down and posted this in response.

My take.  Both have valid points, but as a PR pro, I’ll have to side with Holtz on this one. Yes, there are crappy pitches out there, and it’s in your inbox, so simply click delete. It’s nothing personal. If reporters only knew the kind of pressure PR people are under and the amount of time we have in a day to service clients.  We try to be as smart and strategic as possible, I hope, but do we really have the time to research every reporter’s and/or blogger’s past articles to ensure pitches are targeted? In front of clients, we say YES, but in reality, who’s got the time?

If I had to research every reporter/blogger and figure out whether they’re an appropriate target, I’d be 7/11, that means working 24/7.  No one wants that even in this sad economy.  To put it mildly, be happy we’re pitching you, and the fact that you work in the media means you’re a target.  Just think of yourselves as celebrities, but not as pretty, and PR pros as the paparazzi, but not as sleazy.

When I read Don Bartholomew’s post, “You Might Be a PR/Social Media Redneck If…,” I was filled with laughter, yet at the same time sadness, just because there are so many PR agencies out there, including the one I work for, that can’t seem to adapt to the changes in the industry.

There is fear and ignorance that seem to plague many PR firms to take the step in changing the way they measure PR programs.  PR pros are so good at talking the talk about using social media in PR, but many are clueless as to what it entails. Furthermore, they don’t know how to sell their social media ideas to clients.

Here’s hoping that PR firms, including my own, will begin to embrace new ways of measuring PR. (Thanks to C-Money for forwarding Don B.’s post.)