Social Media Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year.  Great food, decent-enough football, quality family time, some good Friday bargains…it’s a terrific time.

Well, I won’t be celebrating a traditional Thanksgiving this year, since Marisa and I will be in Thailand for our Honeymoon!  Definitely a good reason, no?

This is going to be my last post here for several weeks, and I couldn’t think of a better topic to write about than giving thanks.

Obviously, I’m thankful for:

My Wife:

I'm a lucky man

My puppy:

Balki!!!

But from a social media standpoint, here are a few additional things I’m eternally grateful for:

- Stacey Kane, Director of Marketing for California Tortilla, who, about a year ago, made me get on Twitter.  You can blame her for my Tweets.  Without her, I wouldn’t be a Director of Social Media.  Thank you!!!

- David Teicher who allowed me to guest post on his site, which inspired me to start this blog.  You can blame him for this blog.

- The PR Breakfast Club – The first site I read every morning.  I learn something from them every single day.

- My company’s clients that let me play with their online identity! National Museum of Crime and Punishment, YoGen, Ping Pong, ZBurger, with more exciting projects launching soon!

- The #SportsPRChat community!  I can’t believe how far this has come in just two months.  I appreciate everyone’s contributions, even the people that just follow the chat or read the transcript.  There are some incredible sports PR minds out there!  (Extra-special thanks to my awesome Fall interns who help put this together every Thursday at Noon EST [cheap plug] – Lane Errington, Ashley Rittenhouse, Torrey Winchester, Nathan Riehl)

- The Community that makes me laugh and/or think every day (I’ll let you guess who does what!) – Sasha Muradali (the secret project will happen…one day), Lauren Fernandez, Danny Brown, Ryan Knapp, Sheema Siddiqqi, Meghan Butler, Sarah Evans, Allie McKenna, Cheryl Hackley, Jay Keith, Christina Khoury, Andrea Rizk (I’ve claimed you as a mentor!), Arik Hanson, Rachel Kay, Keith Trivitt, Nicole Van Scoten, David Spinks, Kasey Skala, NicolePRExec, PR Cog (We should have our significant others start a Twitter Widows Club!), Larissa Fair, Roger Johnson, Katie Wall, Sonny Gill, TJ Dietderich, Kate Ottavio, Heather Dueitt, Beth Harte, Niki Murray, Valerie Simon, Colby Gergen, Jen Wilbur, Tom O’Keefe,  Colleen Campbell, Mack Collier, Jeff Esposito, Sangeeta Rao and Amanda Oleson (Alf will come back soon, keep up the work!) – not to mention the people mentioned above already.  Thank you for enriching every day! (I know I forgot important people.  I’m sorry!  My brain is somewhere in between Washington, DC and Bangkok right now!)

- For playing guitar and singing beautifully at my wedding, Andy Tran

- This blog and the brave souls who read it!  Thank you got putting up with my silliness, such as:  Publicists as Muppets,  Sports Man-Crushes, PR Lessons from Balki and other random pop culture-infused quasi-PR related topics!

Again, thank you so much, and I can’t wait to get back to work mid-December.  That’s a lie.  I’ll still want to be on a beach in Phuket or whitewater rafting in Chiang Mai.  But you get the drift.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!!

Redskins “Owner” Convicted???

Check out this fun viral video we made for the National Museum of Crime and Punishment!

Go easy on my horrible acting skills!  (But be very generous with praise for my interns who rocked it here!)

PR Buzz – Don’t Be Like The Ultimate Warrior

Growing up in the 1980s and early 1990s, one of my favorite professional wrestlers was the Ultimate Warrior.

Not familiar?  Take a look:

You can see why a little kid would be magnetized to him.  Action figure physique, off-the-charts intensity, frenetic energy…a really fun presentation.

But at the end of the day, the Ultimate Warrior was an extended flash in the pan.

Here are ways you can avoid being like the Ultimate Warrior as a publicist:

Diversify Your Moveset - Here is how an Ultimate Warrior match would…correction…how EVERY Ultimate Warrior match would go:  Warrior would run to the ringside area.  Warrior would run around the ring a few times.  Warrior would shake the ropes.  Warrior would give an array of clotheslines and shoulderblock tackles.  Warrior would deliver a Gorilla Press Slam.  Warrior would finish his opponent off with a splash.  1-2-3.  See it once…it’s cool.  See it a hundred times…not so much.

PR Application – Keep your eyes peeled to new trends in the industry.  Always be willing to try new tools and applications to promote your clients.  Just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean you should keep using the exact same methods every time.  Stay fresh so your presentation doesn’t get tired.

Communicate Clearly – Where to begin???  The Ultimate Warrior umm..spoke like this:

Don't be like the Ultimate Warrior, PR Pros!

Sentences were incomplete, the message was kinda sorta lost.  I mean, it was plain to see where he was headed, but you had no idea how he got there.  I’m fairly certain he didn’t like Hulk Hogan in that interview.  Not 100%, tough.

PR Application – Whether it is a phone call, e-mail, Tweet, telegram, Pony Express, cave-painting, or any other form of communication, figure out what you want to express and then do it as clearly as possible.  Leave as little to subjective interpretation as possible.  Earn your audience’s respect by allowing them to understand your position, even if they don’t agree with you.

Have Steak With Your Sizzle - The Ultimate Warrior, as explained above, was all about excitement.  While his energy was nuts, he rarely told a satsifying story inside the ring (with the exception of his clashes at Wrestlemania 6 and 7, nothing stands out whatsoever).  This left fans excited to see him at the start, but ready to move on to the next match when he left.

PR Application - Always deliver on the deliverables.  Nobody can guarantee media hits.  But if you promise your best efforts and outline a plan of attack, follow through!  Send the client your releases, build their online profiles.  If you made a good plan and you execute it properly, you will have delivered what you can.  Obviously, if you get tons of coverage, you REALLY did your job!

So there you have it…three ways to avoid being like the Ultimate Warrior…and three ways to be a better publicist!

Television Preview – Not what it seems…

Tonight, my wife and I were set to participate in what we were told was a preview of TV content to be shown nationwide.

The presentation was put together by a company called “Television Preview.”

It was NOT what we expected.

——————————————

We were instructed by the tickets to arrive at the hotel by 7:30pm for the 7:45pm program start.  When we got in line at 7:20, there were at least 120 people ahead of us.

Red Flag #1 – A well-dressed man in his mid-20s came out to inform us that the program would last until 10pm.  We were going to watch two TV pilots and answer questions about them.  If we started, we would have to stay for the entire time.  There would be no food, just water.  The chairs wouldn’t be comfortable.  The strangest part, though: he told us that he would NOT stay,

We stayed in line, entertained by the chatty young woman behind us telling tales of her “douchebag ex-boyfriend” that keeps re-friending her on Facebook after she de-friends him.  Oh, the drama!

Another slick-dressed man reminded us that we would have to stay until 10pm, without food.  He was very excited about the door prizes, though.

We grabbed our folder of information and found two seats in the middle of the room.

Red Flag #2: The cover of the first pamphlet was a form for contact information, to be used for the door prize drawing.  However, the inside portion was much more interesting, as each page had 8-10 similar products, like combs, tissues, chocolate candy and chewing gum – different brands, shapes, package and sizes were all included.  We were instructed to circle the one we TRULY wanted.

The second man who greeted us was the host for the evening.  He seemed very outgoing, if somewhat slimy, which wasn’t unexpected.  A natural charisma capitvated most of the 200 people in the audience.

The first order of business was the ground rule – basically, keep your opinions to yourselves, so everyone could judge

Thank you for being a friend, Rue. Television Preview was all about the ads.

the “TV pilots” fairly.

Second, the contact information forms were collected and a little show took place where a guest was chosen to select randomly three door prize winners (with more promised to come later).

Red Flag #3 – My wife peeked at the post-viewing materials, which had more product selections.  There were also images of “stars” of the show, with a VERY old photo of former “Golden Girls” star Rue_McClanahan and a barely-recognizable young Kim Raver.

Our host reminded us that we were about to watch two shows, commercials and all.  We were going to start with a drama and finish with a comedy.  I assumed they would ask us questions after viewing BOTH programs, but that wasn’t fully explained.

He told us again that we were watching TV pilots, which are used to test potential new TV shows.  The drama, he explained, was part of a 3-chapter mini-series that took place in different times.  Of course, the first section was in the late 1980s or early 1990s, with additional scenes coming from World War II.

Well, the program started, and there was Kim Raver, but 15 years younger than she is today!  I pulled out my Blackberry and Googled the show’s title “SoulMates.”  Turns out that it was a made-for-TV movie…from 1997!

Not ready to spend a Friday evening watching horrendous “new” programming, we left 3 minutes into the show.  We demanded to have our parking paid for.  My wife said that it wasn’t hard to get the stamp…the people knew exactly what they were running, so they knew we were probably the first of many to leave early.

——————————————————–

Here’s the thing – if they had been up-front about testing commercials and found some old programming to surround it with, maybe we’d be more apt to stay.

However, we felt deceived by the event.  You don’t promise a TV pilot and show a failed TV movie from a decade ago.  That’s just wrong.

I’m sure many people stayed for the duration.  The event was well-run…it was fun, it was different, it was energetic.

After re-reading the text of the flyer, they TECHNICALLY were correct, stating that they were testing new TV programming (consider anything you watch on TV as a “program,” even ads) for a nationwide audience.

I hope the advertisers get the information they wanted out of the session tonight – my wife and I weren’t upset…we thought it was funny!  We went home and watched a movie.  With no commercials.

 

 

 

 

Is Targeted Advertising Insulting?

This may come as somewhat of a shock to you, but I like to watch NFL football.  (Please, pull your jaw off the ground, you’re making a scene!)

I love the action, the passion and the gamesmanship.  It really is terrific theater.

The NFL target market appears to be Macho Men...oooohhh yeah!

The only issue I take with enjoying an NFL Sunday is the slate of advertisements directed towards me.

Here is what the advertising world thinks I am, with the truth in (parentheses):

- Single or Married to significantly better looking woman (The latter)

- Beer-guzzler (I prefer a glass of Malbec, or a Vodka-Cranberry)

- Attracted to hot women (guilty)

- Only interested in driving big trucks (I happily drive a hybrid)

- A HUGE fan of subs (blech)

- A do-it-myselfer (I’ll pay an expert)

- Suffering from…uh…performance issues (all good down there, thanks for asking!)

- A super-tech nerd, despite the love of trucks (I’m fairly middle of the road…)

All-in-all, I am a huge NFL fan, but there is a discrepency between who I am and who, I assume, they want me to be.

Of course, advertisers are going after their “target market,” but I have to ask: does that exist?  Is it possible to attract a critical mass of a homogenous audience with one program?

Are we suppossed to think less of our manliness if we don’t fit into the definition set out in front of us?

It’s not just the “football” crowd.

Watching “Gossip Girl” with my wife has led me to believe that advertisers think young women only care about:

- Skincare

- Haircare

- Text messaging

So do you find hyper-targeted advertising insulting?

Mike Tyson in “The Hangover

(for #SportsPRChat)

You’re so money!

Best scene from “Swingers,” one of my all-time favorite movies.  Enjoy!

The Fantasy Football Effect

Disclaimer: For the sake of this post, “Fantasy Football” is a FREE activity that anyone can participate in.  The Buzz! does not support illegal gambling.  Legal gambling, like the blackjack tables at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City at 6:45am, is A-OK!

I started playing Fantasy Football in the late 1990s.  I vividly remember drafting Daunte Culpepper in the first round and being openly and sharply mocked by my so-called “friends.”

(Quick note: I won the league outright that year and Culpepper amassed the

My Fantasy Workshorses: Randy Moss (now) and Daunte Culpepper (a decade ago)

most points of any player.  Mock away, but this guy is all about championships!)

 

Here is what it boils down to.

The NFL has a primary product: games.  You consume the NFL by watching games.

Generations of fans sat down every Sunday to watch their local team’s contest.  They paid attention to what was going on in the league, and ESPECIALLY their division.  But if you were a fan of an East Coast AFC team, a West Coast NFC squad was probably not on your radar screen.

After the advent of fantasy football, fans were more apt to pay attention to the entirety of league play, not just the games directly impacting their favorite team.

How is this a PR topic, you may, correctly, ask?

By adding a new level to NFL fandom, the league became increasingly NATIONAL.  It is followed on a national level in ways no other sport really is.  (We discussed the consumption of sports here.)

More impressive that the nationalization of the league is the fact that fans now have a vested interest in every single game.

Sure, you may hate the Patriots, but if you have Randy Moss on your team, you’ll follow the game, either by watching it on TV or keeping tabs online.  Fantasy football players are involved in a dozen games a week!

Think about it this way.  A clothing store’s primary product is, obviously, clothing.  No shopper is ever interested in every department that store has, because they have different options for different needs, based on gender, age or style.

What the NFL has achieved is monumental in that EVERY game is important to fans.  That means there will be more attention paid to each game by a national audience, with an incredible ripple effect.

- More national sponsor dollars (either via additional sponsors, or more expensive packages)

- More league-wide media coverage in each local market

- An increase in TV rights fees

- Creation of a national NFL TV channel

It’s not ONLY because of Fantasy Football that all of these changes are in the works, but I think we can definitely agree that it played a significant role.

 

 

V: Controlling the Message

Last night, “V” premiered on ABC.  It is a remake of an early-1980s sci-fi thriller, where Lizard Aliens infiltrate our society, in order to eradicate all life!  Fun~! (Sorry for the spoiler there…but if they admit it in the pilot, it’s fair game)

To get you in the mood for this post, here is the song used in the promo videos: “Uprising” by Muse:

OK, that will be in your head for roughly the next 13 months.

But the key moment of the show was when news anchor Scott Wolf (you know him from “Party of Five!”) is sitting down for an exclusive one-on-one interview with Anna, the leader of the alien “Visitors.”

Less than two minutes before the global broadcast, Anna sternly asks the interviewer NOT to ask her any questions that would paint her in a negative light.

The anchor wanted to be more than just a news-reader.  He saw a future in which he was a respected global newsman, not unlike a Walter Cronkite or a Wolf Blitzer.   And he was backed into a corner.  Get the story of the lifetime, or stand-up for your morals.  Yeesh.

The Visitors were able to perfectly control their message, as the intrepid reporter played along.

So my question to you is this: What would you have done?  Are there any situations in which you would trade in your morals for professional gain?

 

PR Buzz – Be A Hero

This morning, while walking Balki (you couldn’t miss me…I was the guy wearing jeans, Ithaca College hoodie and flip flops, walking through our nation’s capital), I had my beloved iPod throw me for a loop.

It was set to a mix I like to work out to, hoping to get the blood pumping a little bit.

It gave me, honestly, these two songs back-to-back:

1) The Theme to “Greatest American Hero”

(Sound somewhat familiar, you might be more familiar with it from it’s stint on Seinfeld, which may be the single most awesome moment in TV history.)

2) Green Day’s cover of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”

Now, I was first stunned that in my 300 song playlist set to play randomly, I had two “hero” songs in a row.

Ready to be a Superhero?

But maybe my brain works a little funny, but I always figure out how to apply real-life instances to PR.  (OK, my brain DOES work a little funny!)

So what did I get from this?

These songs give the absolute ends of the spectrum on what a hero is.  One is all about super powers and doo-goodiness, while the other is about rebelling against the system.

In PR, we need to utilize BOTH portraits of heroism.  We need to both follow the rules and break them, when necessary.  We need to be both upfront and less-than-upfront.  We need to be a superstar and we also need to fade into the background.

Some may say we need to be Superman and Batman, or Captain America and Wolverine, depending on your comic book brand loyalty.

But above all, it’s critical to know both sides of the coin…and know which one to play at which time.

What do you think?  What type of hero are you?