Today’s PR: What’s The Story?

Do you think today’s PR is easier to manage or harder to manage?  The world of public relations has really changed over the past 10 years. 

Ten years ago the communication tools for PR were limited.  We had press releases that were mailed, faxed, email, or hand delivered.  We had telephones to call and discuss. 

Today we have all of the above plus several more options.  Of course it seems no one waits for the snail mail option anymore.  Why would you when we live in an instant news society.

Today the world of technology has made PR a lot easier to get the word out.  Not only do we have the internet but we have the world of social networks.     But while it’s so easy to get the word out, doesn’t that make it harder to get the message actually read? What makes you special?

I recently went to the retirement party for my parents.  After 35 years they sold their public relations business in upstate New York.  Many of their friends, clients, media, and co-PR peeps came to what was a sort of a roast/tribute to them.  This event reminded me of the two main reasons why my parents were so successful: Relationships and never afraid to think outside the box.

Without the relationships, they would have been just another public relations firm peddling information.  One member of the media told me how he will never forget getting deli platters personally delivered (by my parents) to the news rooms on major holidays. 

PR events and stunts are legendary with my parents PR firm.  They have a knack for dreaming up stuff that will not only drive the media to the event but always get the public talking. Don’t you think it’s cool when PR is the event?

Think about the amount of potential news items the media receives today compared to 10 years ago.  Today, anybody can act like a PR person to get their message out.  Our world is bombarded with constant messages. 

If you handle PR for an event, show, or venue don’t rely on the message or the vessel for the message.  You are still the messenger.  You need to have that face-to-face relationship with the media. You need to create PR events that will create excitement not just for the media but your potential customer.  That is what brings your message to the top of the pile.

What We Can Learn From Tiger

You probably looked at the headline of this blog post and said “what does Tiger have to do with us in event & entertainment marketing”?  My answer is: what he did wrong. 

Yes, of course his “transgressions” were wrong and there is no excuse for them. But I am talking about his PR blunders.  I continue to be shocked and amazed how companies and people (famous & not famous) screw up the handling of the PR message.  Lawyers, managers, PR execs, and agents are always telling their clients to “keep quiet”.  I understand why they want them not to say anything.  The more someone talks, the deeper in shit they get.  However, staying quiet is all in the timing.  If you stay quiet too long you raise more red flags. 

In the case of Tiger, he and his people made this into a bigger media deal.  They did this by the handling of the situation.  The story first broke in the late morning.  The incident happened in the middle of the night.  This means several hours had passed by the time the story went public.  Why did it take so long for his team to respond?  The correct crafted statement could have really taken the wind out of the media frenzy.  Instead, they said nothing for a long time. When they did say something it was a very cryptic message that raised even more media attention.

In our business things are going to happen that require a PR crisis response.  How we handle the PR can make all the difference.  Long before a crisis rears its ugly head you should have a plan.  Work with your legal team.  Discuss “what if” scenarios with them.  The legal people are there to protect you from legal and civil courts but they don’t represent you in the court of the media or public opinion.  There needs to be a balance. Make sure you ready on both sides.

Have a great weekend!

Hype Builds Hype

Unless you have been living in the woods with no form of communication, you most likely know what movie came out today.  I take that back, you probably do know because some werewolf is doing PR in the woods.

The release of “New Moon” is a perfect example of building hype.  Not only did they do a great job of building hype, they built hype on top of hype.  You cannot not turn on your TV without seeing something about this movie.  They are the talk of the social network sites.  They have made the stars of the movie into a screaming frenzy not seen since the Beatles came to America.

The movie has not received rave reviews.  But who cares?  If you have the right product with the right PR and hype, you can overcome anything. Do you think all those teenage girls care about reviews?  As event & entertainment marketers we can learn from the marketing of this movie.

The amount of PR this movie is getting is mind blowing.  If you handle PR in your market, you should be taking notes.  If you hire, pay, or budget PR in the live event business you should take notice.  Hollywood spends money on PR!  For some reason we dread spending money on PR in the live event business.

They have had the stars of the movie anywhere and everywhere.  They had hundreds of screaming girls at my local mall this week.  The mall management was smart and did the event in the new part of the mall.  This is an area with high price stores and no customers.  I bet that is most amount of people that part of the mall has ever seen.

We need this kind of hype filled live events for our venues.  I don’t see why we can’t. 

Have a great weekend!

Did You Know Elephants Can Paint?

Ringling Bros. Circus is currently playing in my city.  In case you are not aware, I worked for many years (and several years ago) for them as a promoter.  To this day, I stop what I’m doing when something about the circus pops up on my TV screen.

The reason I bring up Ringling is because I noticed they seem to be getting back to their marketing roots.  They seem to be pulling out some of the old playbook.  I think this is great!  The circus is all about that. 

This morning the local TV news station was showing footage of the elephant salad bar publicity event.  This is an oldie but goodie event.  When half a dozen elephants show up in the middle of the street and start eating salad and bread, you will get media attention.  The elephant walk was just a few days before and it also still attracts the TV and print cameras. You just can’t buy this kind of marketing.

During the news story on the elephant salad bar, they also brought up that one of the elephants had painted a picture which is being auctioned off for the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.  This made me smile with pride.  You see, 20 years ago I first came up with the elephant painting idea after reading a news story about elephants drawing and painting at a zoo in upstate NY.  When I first brought it up, everybody laughed and said “no way”.  Some of those who laughed are the same people who came up with the elephant poop giveaway idea.  Today, elephant painting is part of the Ringling playbook and they are raising money for good causes.  This is what publicity is all about.

Have a great weekend!

Take Your Facebook Marketing Live

I am happy to report that more and more event and venue marketers are using social network sites to market their events and shows. Bravo to all of you!  For example, I am Facebook friends with the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.  They are really great at marketing their events on Facebook. I seem to get event invites, news, or on-sale announcements from them everyday.

Most of you who use Facebook are aware that FB has a live chat feature.  This is their version of instant messaging.  It occurred to me that the Facebook live chat is an untapped marketing tool.  Those of you that are using FB as a marketing tool have gathered hundreds of friends.  Why not chat with them?  If you have a show coming in, why not use the live chat as a PR event?  Have someone from the show do a live chat with your FB friends? How about a press conference using the live chat?  Let your friends be the reporters.  What about asking your FB friends what events and shows they want to see?  This chat feature is a great opportunity to ask our customers what they think.

Attn: Boston Readers

Tonight (September 30, 2009) is Boston’s chapter of the monthly Aspen Dinner Club.  We are meeting at the Elephant and Castle in Boston’s financial district.   This dinner club was started by my brother Jim as an off shoot of the Aspen Live Conference.  This dinner club is designed for anyone in the event and entertainment industry.  The dinner club now has chapters in L.A, New York, Denver, Austin, Indy, and Boston.  If you live in any of these markets you should attend one.  If you don’t live in one of these markets, you should start your own chapter.

Why Do Some PR People Still Not Get It?

One of the big news stories here in the Boston market has been the firing of hundreds of housekeepers from the Boston Hyatt Hotel.  They were fired so they could be replaced by an outside firm that could make beds cheaper.  As the story goes, the housekeepers were not only fired but had to train their replacements before they left. 

As you read this, you most likely got pissed off at the Hyatt  (as you should).  That was a pretty nasty thing to do to fellow humans.  I am sure that if you ask the GM at the Hyatt his side of the story he would tell you a different story.  That is the point to today’s blog post.  Why did Hyatt PR drop the ball?  In fact they waited so long to react that it became a huge news story that included the Massachusetts Governor calling for a State boycott of Hyatt.

It should have never gotten this far.  When any company of any size wants to change something, why don’t they think things through?  In the Hyatt example, this involved hundreds of employees.  Did they not think this was a possible PR nightmare?  Was the PR department involved in the decision?  If they were, someone in that department should be fired.

As event marketers, we have to deal with PR issues all the time.  From simple things like trying to get the word out about an event to canceling shows.  Whatever the reason is for PR, it is always very important to not only get the message out in a timely fashion but in the correct tone.  Every single word you use could be read a different way. This example proves why PR is one of your most important marketing assets.

As for the Hyatt, they made the housekeeping change to save money.  I bet by the time this crisis is over they will have spent more money just trying to deal with the crisis then they saved in the employee change.  Maybe they can re-coup some of that money by outsourcing the GM and PR department.

Good Old Fashion Event PR

With album, record, CD sales or whatever you want to call it down, it is good to see a band doing old fashion PR to promote their latest release. 

If you haven’t heard yet (don’t know how you didn’t) U2 has a new album called No Line on the Horizon.  Even though they are one of the biggest bands in the world, they still have to work to make this album sell.  Over the past couple weeks they seem to be everywhere.  Award shows, David Letterman, streets being named after them, and private concerts.  Tonight in Somerville MA (just outside downtown Boston) the band is playing a FREE concert in the 850 seat Somerville Theatre.  The tickets were given away on a few Boston radio stations.  Boston has a rich history with U2.  WBCN was the first radio station in the U.S. to play a song from the band. 

The PR for this event has been fantastic.  It first started as a rumor two weeks ago and the buzz has built up ever since. They kept calling the venue location a secret while leaking out venue info.  The location became “official” when the production trucks showed up.  The media attention has been huge.  Every TV news station is camped out in front of the theatre.  I don’t think there is one person in the greater Boston area that does not know about it.  As I wrote yesterday on Twitter, “record company marketing budget well spent”.  If this does not sell albums in Boston, then the music industry is REALLY in trouble.

 

The L.A. Marketing Weekend

As I mentioned on Friday, I was in Los Angeles this past weekend and spent all day Saturday at the Nokia. The Nokia Theater in L.A. is very cool.  It holds 4,500 seats and is built for the 21^st century.  You most likely have seen it on TV.  It is the home of the Emmy’s and AMA’s.  I was there to see Thomas & Friends Live on Stage – A Circus Comes to Town. AEG Themestar the producers of the show are a client of mine.  I am marketing several Northeast dates for them.

 

At our marketing meeting for the event I was happy to see and hear everyone’s enthusiasm for all the digital media and social network marketing. 

 

Arena marketing people need to get with the program because promoters of live events and entertainment are looking to these non-traditional methods in a big way.  We all know that marketing budgets are tight.  We want you to use your collected data to help sell our shows.  Data has a very short shelf life yet you collect it and leave it stored like its some kind fine wine. It does not get better with age.

 

Barbara Pflughaupt is handling the national PR for the Thomas & Friends tour. She is sending out a media kit that is only a post card size mail piece.  When media need material they can go directly to the online Thomas Live press room which is listed on the card.  I think this is brilliant. No one reads those old bulky folders. 

 

Only in L.A. can you get into a club from a back door next to the men’s room of the restaurant your eating in.

 

 

Super Bowl Thoughts

Thank you to the Super Bowl gods for giving us a good game this year.  Nothing worse then being full of chicken wings and watching a bad game. 

 

The half time event with The Boss was great!  Even if you are not a fan you have to admit it was a very entertaining show.  The sponsors should be happy with the show but “who was the sponsor”?  I don’t remember do you?

 

I went through all a lot of work getting those 3D glasses and that part was over in less then 3 minutes.  What I did like about it was the fact that viewers had to do something. I like interactive marketing. 

How many of you really went to the godaddy.com website to see the “shocking” ending? 

 

The Teleflora spot is one of my favorites.  Not only did I think it was funny but the spot goes with the brand.  I didn’t forget what product they were talking about. Everyone watching with me also liked the Doritos spots.  Of course it wouldn’t be a Super Bowl without the Budweiser Clydesdales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PR In The Web 2.0 World

The world of public relations has come a long way.  I grew up around PR.  My parents are in the business.  When I first started in the entertainment marketing business PR consisted of press releases, face-to-face story pitches, and PR events or stunts.  Today, with the technology PR can and should be one of your most valuable assets.

If you handle PR for a show, event, or venue you should be busy every single day.  You have so many options at your disposal that you should never just sit at your desk and play solitaire.  Instead use that time to play in the social network world.  You should always have your social network sites up on your screen where you are always deep in the trenches of your customer base. 

I have become a recent fan of Twitter.  This social site is perfect for all PR people.  You can tweet all day in your social space about your brand.  I search Twitter everyday looking for other Twitter members to follow (you can follow me too, I go by eventpromoter).  I am always looking for people, shows, events, and venues from our world.  To my surprise, I am still not finding that many.  What is up with that?  Twitter is the perfect PR tool.  For example, I follow Starbucks.  Why, not quite sure but I thought a big brand like them might be a good social experiment.  I am not the only one following Starbucks.  They have almost 30,000 followers.  Think about this.  You can send out any number of PR messages you want for free and your potential customer will see it.  They want to see it. That is why they follow you.   I also use Twitter to get to know a brand.  For example, I am working on a wine cruise featuring wine guru Gary Vaynerchuk (by the way, he also has 30,000 Twitter followers).  What goes with wine, but cheese of course.  So, I am following Cabot Cheese.  Everyday, I get messages from them. Each one tells me something new about them that I did not know before.  That is good PR, don’t you think?  Many brands conduct contests for their followers.  What a perfect place to give away a few tickets.

I have discussed several times the use of Facebook.  They already own the high school and college crowd.  Now their fastest growing segment is the 30+ age group.  Check out these stats: 
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
.   As a PR person, you should always be able to find your niche group to spin your story.  If you are a sports team you have all kinds of groups for that team.  If for some reason you don’t, then start one.  The same goes for concerts, family shows, etc…

If you do your homework you will find all kinds and types of social sites.  Many cater directly to your target demographic.  If you are trying to reach moms then go to momslikeme
http://www.momslikeme.com/
.  You can actually pick the state and city that you are trying to connect with.  Want to reach the African American community?  Join
http://www.blackplanet.com/
.  They have over 15 million members!  Want to reach the business community then you need to be part of LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com
. Even if you are not trying to promote to the business world you need to join LinkedIn just to network for yourself.

Look at the world of blogs.  More people are reading them everyday.  You are reading one now.  There are blogs for almost everything.  Anyone can start a blog.  If you handle PR for a venue, show, sports team, etc.. you should have a blog.  What a perfect place to put all your press releases.  You will be very surprised who and how many people will read it. 

Next time your boss sees you just staring at your computer, tell him you are just playing the game of PR.

Good PR Is All In The Timing

A lot of what makes PR work is the timing.  Every PR person wishes for the “slow news” day.  Of course nobody can know for sure when this is going to happen.  But you can pick opportune times that may help. 

Last week the Boston Bruins had this opportunity and it worked.  They hosted their 2nd annual development camp for rookie and developing future players.  This camp did payoff last year for the Bruins with the biggest stand-out being Milan Lucic.  He had a great first season with the Bruins and is now a fan favorite.  Their timing as PR goes was great.  Of course the Red Sox is the number one sports story this time of year.  All the other major Boston sports teams are quiet at the moment.  So the Bruins development camp was the perfect PR event.  When I first noticed the coverage, I asked myself if the Bruins had a new PR person?  It was a refreshing change for them.  They are moving in the right direction.  Because it was a relatively slow sports PR week (except for the Red Sox), they were getting a lot of media coverage.  They were in both major dailies everyday that week.  They got TV coverage on all the local stations.  They even had radio jocks talking hockey in July.  This development camp event may have been good for the hockey operations department, but it was also a vital part of the marketing development for the 2008/2009 season.