Tiger Woods Sets New Crisis Communications Standard

Golfer Tiger Woods at press conference 19 February 2010. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images).

Although he waited three months to publicly address the rumors and allegations of marital fidelity, Tiger Woods today set a new Crisis Communications standard for others to follow. (Here’s a link to Tiger’s complete statement.)

Here’s what Tiger did well:

• The press conference was held in a public forum open to the media.
• He controlled the environment (no questions were allowed).
• He admitted his mistakes (he stated clearly the he “was unfaithful”).
• He apologized for his actions — to his wife, family, employees, partners, the PGA, the PGA Commissioner, his fellow golfers and fans.
• He said he was sorry (multiple times).
• He called himself out: “I was wrong. I was foolish. I don’t get to play by different rules.“
• He called his behavior “irresponsible” and “selfish.”
• He explained that he has been in “in-patient therapy” receiving treatment (treatment that he will return to tomorrow).
• He chastized the paparazzi for chasing his kids and the media for disclosing the location of his 2 1/2-year-old daughter’s school.
• He also strongly stated that his wife Elin had “never hit” him on “that night or any other night” — that “There has never been an episode of domestic violence in our marriage, ever” — and that “Elin deserves praise, not blame.”
• He strongly denied allegations of using performance-enhancing drugs.
• And he asked that someday those who had believed in him in the past “to one day believe in me again.“

Here’s what Tiger did NOT do well:

• He waited almost two months before addressing the public and media.

That’s it, seriously. I think he did quite well today.

Now . . . the proof will be in the pudding:

1. How long before Tiger plays golf again professionally? (If he plays in the Masters, will today’s apology be seen as sincere? Does he need to take all of 2010 off from golf? Personally, I think not, but that’s me.)
2. Will he and Elin be able to reconcile?
3. Will Tiger be able to stay faithful? {Hopefully, he understands that he now has a Gary Hart-like target taped squarely on his back and journalists of all types will be looking to catch him straying again.}
4. Will he do anything to try and provide a level of public restitution, a penance if you will, such as a donation to a non-profit that supports abandoned wives and families?

But these questions and more are queries for the future.

For now, I believe that Tiger Woods (and his public relations team) have set a new standard for issuing a public apology in a Crisis Communications setting.

Keep Your Profiles Updated

I had a significant change in my life on December 31, 2009, as that was the day my family and I sold off our ownership positions in SOAR Communications to my former business partner.

Interestingly, it didn’t hit me until two days ago that I needed to make changes to all of my various public Internet-based profiles (and biographies) to accurately reflect my new reality. Which leads to the point of this blog post:

When was the last time you reviewed and/or updated your public profiles (and/or bios)?

For me, it had been WAY TOO LONG.

In taking a personal accounting, I realized I’ve got profiles on

• Facebook,
• LinkedIn,
• Plaxo,
• Google,
• Flickr,
• Twitter, and (of course)

on two blogs/Websites:

• Politis Communications, and
• The Betty Factor.

So I’ve now started that process (as shown in the photo above), and I plan to spend this morning reviewing and updating ALL of my public profiles/biographies.

And if you haven’t done so lately, I recommend you do the same:

Review and update each of your public profiles and biographies today.

I’m going to add this as a once-a-quarter task to my calendar to make sure I stay on top of this task in the future. I hope you do so too.

iPad Name Equals Apple PR Blunder

Early indications are that Apple made a mistake using the term iPad to name its newest product (an eBook-reader).

The Apple iPad (photo courtesy of iLounge)

Within minutes of the official disclosure of the iPad name, the first negative missives began to hit the Internet, equating the term “pad” within iPad to a feminine hygiene napkin.

Soon the term iTampon began appearing on Twitter, with many tweets chastising Apple’s public relations and marketing department for not contemplating that at least some women might be offended with the iPad name. Other tweets provided indecorous comparisons between a feminine pad, the iPad and a tampon — hence, the emergence of the mocking, farcical term: iTampon.

In fact, by 4:30 p.m. (PST), iTampon had supplanted iPad in microblog posts on Twitter and had become the No. 2 “Currently Trending” term on Twitter (according to Tweetstats).

Look, it’s bad enough that my wife makes me buy feminine hygiene products for her and our girls at the grocery store. But iPad?!?! Are you kidding me?

I’m surprised someone inside of Apple’s distortion reality field didn’t stand up and say,

“Steve, ya know, half of the potential customers for this product might think of a sanitary napkin when they hear the name iPad.”

But maybe that’s just me. Am I off base here or not?

I think not. I’m convinced Apple made a major PR faux pas with the iPad name, a real marketing blunder.

That’s why I’m giving Apple a “Sad Betty Award” for launching this new product as the iPad.

Last thought. Expect the late night hosts to start joking about the iPad as early as tonight, but no later than tomorrow for sure!

Betty Benton Mann, the “Betty” Behind the Betty Factor, Died Friday Morning

Betty Mann (of "The Betty Factor" fame)

Betty Benton Mann, my 83-year-old mother-in-law and the inspiration behind The Betty Factor, died in her sleep early Friday morning, December 4, 2009 of health matters incident to old age and having her gall bladder removed earlier in the week.

Here is a copy of her obituary.

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After 83 wonderful years on earth, Betty Benton Mann returned home to her Father-in-Heaven, the Savior, Jesus Christ, many loving family members and friends, and her beloved husband, Ray, on December 4, 2009, nearly two years to the day after Ray’s passing.

Born July 3, 1926 in Boise, Idaho to Mamie Thompson and Otto G. Benton, Betty was the fifth of nine children. She was raised in Boise, Twin Falls, Idaho and Redondo Beach, California.

From the day she first walked herself to services as a young child, Betty was a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). As a teenager, she was president of her ward Golden Gleaner organization and helped plan and run the first ever LDS Youth Conference in southern California.

After graduating from Redondo Union High School, she moved to North Salt Lake to help her oldest sister, Wanda, care for her children, and it was there that she met her future husband, Ray Elwood Mann.

Betty and Ray were married in the Salt Lake Temple of the LDS church on May 4, 1948. They settled in Bountiful, Utah where they raised three daughters and two sons, while she also worked as a dental assistant for many years. Betty was active in the PTA in Bountiful where she ran the Halloween Carnival for three years and served as PTA president for two year.

After their youngest children graduated from high school in 1975, Betty and Ray spent an adventurous year in 1976 in West Germany for Ray’s employer, Chicago Bridge & Iron. The next year, Ray was transferred to world headquarters in Chicago where they lived until 1984. During their time in Naperville, Illinois, Betty filled an eight-year volunteer assignment with LDS Social Services working with out-of-wedlock mothers, including service as a counselor to birth mothers and transporting newborns to adoptive parents. She also served for a time as a member of the Relief Society presidency in the Glenbard Ward in Illinois.

Betty and Ray moved to Sandy, Utah in 1984 where they made their home for the rest of their lives. In Sandy, Betty served for 18 years in the LDS church’s Data Entry Program in the Canyon View Stake. She and Ray also served a one-year LDS Service Mission in 1994 near Bakersfield, California for the Home Management Department.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, five siblings, her husband, and one son, Clyde. She is survived by four children, Linda, Pam (Harold) Egginton, Todd, and Allisha (David) Politis; 18 grandchildren (evenly divided between boys and girls); and 14 great-grandchildren.

A viewing will be held at Mountain View Mortuary at 3115 East 7800 South in Cottonwood Heights, Utah from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tues., Dec. 8, 2009. The funeral will be held at the same location at 11 a.m. on Wed., Dec. 9, preceded by an additional viewing from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Interment, on site, will follow immediately after the funeral.

The family extends its heartfelt thanks and admiration for all of the fantastic doctors and medical providers who worked with Betty in addressing her health concerns during the past few years. In addition, Betty (and Ray) loved living at South Towne Ranch in Sandy, Utah where they made many wonderful friends.

Betty had a sharp mind and wit her entire life, and she loved studying the gospel of Jesus Christ and learning about LDS church history. She was a devoted and loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend, and although she will be missed, we are happy she has “graduated” from this life to be reunited with her husband and best friend, Ray.

Goodbye for now, Betty.

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Although we had some initial son-in-law / mother-in-law challenges early in the 28 years of our relationship, we both grew to love and respect each other over time, and I’m grateful Allisha and I were able to have both Betty and Ray live so close by as we raised our five children.

She was a good person and taught me much, not the least of which was to always remember to work and work and work to make sure what I wrote could be easily understood by anyone, even my mother-in law.

To that end, I will always use the phrase “The Betty Factor” as a shorthand reminder of that lesson. I will also keep this blog alive in her honor and as a way of continuing to teach about the importance of keeping all marketing messages simple and on-point.

Thank you, Betty, and for now, goodbye. 

More Than 50 PR Tips and Counting

I mentioned two weeks back that we’re crafting a free list of Politis PR Tips on the Politis Communications web site.

Well . . . we’re still at it and we’re now at 50 tips (and counting).

They cover a whole raft of topics, ranging from media relations to news releases and from research tips to social media / social networking.

Enjoy!

35 PR Tips and Counting

Call it a sales/marketing ploy; call it an altruistic effort to give back and/or pay it forward; either way, it doesn’t matter to me what you call it.

But I started a little effort a few months ago on the Politis Communications Website called Politis PR Tips. And I’ve now got 35 different tips published there.

Not a ton, but not insignificant either.

Topics covered so far range from writing tips and ideas to research recommendations, and from social media/networking suggestions to etiquette rules.

Anyway, I hope you’ll check ‘em out the Politis PR Tips, and maybe you’ll even find one or two tips useful. 

PR Hoax Hurts Integrity of National Press Club

Whether you work in the field of Public Relations or just happen to be a news junkie, chances are you already know about the PR hoax perpetrated this Monday to call into question the stance taken by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on climate change.

In fact, a quick search of Google news for the terms “chamber commerce climate change” (not inside quotation marks) finds several hundred news stories on the subject.

The event was staged at the National Press Club (in Washington, D.C.) by an activist organization that calls itself the “Yes Men,” and it’s a group that has punked the news media before. As reported in the New York Times, the fake press conference also featured fake journalists and fake press materials designed to look as if they were produced on Chamber of Commerce materials. And a number of major news outlets were fooled by the hoax, notably CNBC and Reuters (both of which later corrected and retracted their stories).

However, lost in all the hubub, hoopla and news coverage about the hoax is one critical point: I’m convinced that the Yes Men organization have also attacked and hurt the integrity of the National Press Club. Call it another example of the Rule of Unintended Consequences.

Certainly there are widespread examples of biased news organizations or media outlets that lean one political direction or the other. I get that, and I hope that most people are savvy enough to understand this fact too.

Regardless of one’s viewpoint on any subject (including climate change), the United States of America was founded on several key principles, one of which is freedom of the press.

The National Press Clubbills itself as “The World’s Leading Professional Organization for Journalists,” and none other than noted CBS commentator, Eric Sevareid called the NPC the “sanctum sanctorum of American journalists.”

By choosing to hold its fake news conference at the National Press Club, the Yes Men organization have besmirched the good name and integrity of the National Press Club.

Please note that I am NOT suggesting that the Yes Men were wrong to stage a fake press conference. I’m only suggesting it should not have been held at the National Press Club.

And for that, I bestow a Sad Betty Award on the Yes Men for choosing to stage their PR hoax at the National Press Club. 

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P.S.  To get a sense of what happened during the press conference when it was interrupted by a real representative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, you might check out this YouTube video. It’s about six minutes long.

Can PR Campaigns Boost Credibility vs. Ad Campaigns? Yes, by as much as 76 Percent, Nielsen IAG Study Suggests

The headline from a recent news release from The Nielsen Company says

“Advertising Builds Confidence for Financial Brands in Crisis, Nielsen IAG Study Finds.”

In a nutshell, 55 percent of the study respondents said they had “complete confidence in the financial health and soundness” of  their banks, insurance companies and investment firms IF “they had seen more advertising for their financial institution” during the previous six months.

This is a very exciting finding! I especially think it’s cool news for those in the advertising and marketing fields, especially since one of the main advantages of advertising is that you can completely control the content, delivery and timing of your messages in an advertising campaign. This is NOT the case with a PR campaign!

In addition, I also found what I consider to be an interesting nugget of information mentioned near the end of the release. Here’s the paragraph in question:

“When asked what factors would increase confidence in the safety and soundness of their financial institution, respondents cited:

• Seeing regular advertising for that institution (25%)
• Receiving regular mail or email offers from that institution (25%)
• Regularly seeing internet offers/advertising from that institution (21%)
• Reading positive stories in the press about that institution (44%)”

Note the last bullet point : 44 percent of the respondents said that “reading positive stories in the press about that institution” would (to quote from the opening sentence) “increase (their) confidence in the safety and soundness of their financial institution.

I’m not a math whiz by any means, but I know that 44 percent is greater than 25 percent. How much greater you ask? Seventy-six percent (76%) greater. [The difference is even greater vs. Internet ads/offers (109% greater), but I'll stick with the advertising comparison for this blog post.]

To me this seems pretty straightforward: PR changes attitudes and perceptions for more people.

Please understand – I am NOT advocating that companies stop advertising. As stated in the third paragraph above,

“. . . one of the main advantages of advertising is that you can completely control the content, delivery and timing of your messages in an advertising campaign.”

Unfortunately, when it comes to public relations (specifically media relations or publicity efforts), companies do NOT have such control — at least not in societies where a free and unfettered press is the norm.

In other words, once you

• get off the phone with a reporter,
• leave a journalist’s office,
• send out a news release,
• deliver a product for a review/evaluation,
• push “send” on your email to an editor,
• etc.

you have absolutely no control whatsoever that any story is going to be published about you, your company, product, service, issue or what-have-you, let alone whether said story will be positive.

You also have zero control over whether or not a story is going to be published at all. Or when or where said story might be published. Or its size/length. Or if it’s going to include artwork. Or anything at all — you have NO CONTROL!

However,

• if/when said story runs, and
• if it’s a positive story,

I believe that such media coverage generates significantly greater credibility than what you can produce through advertising.

How much so? Well . . . the Nielsen IAG study suggests that the difference could be as high as 76 percent greater.

[NOTE: There is no guarantee that the data from this research study can be extrapolated across industries other than the financial world.]

Nevertheless, if your goal is to boost credibility, public relations may be the way to go.

That said, please recognize that PR is not the right discipline for achieving every marketing and/or sales objective. That would be like recommending that the only tool you needed in your garage or toolshed is a hammer.

That’s why we always recommend examining all potential vehicles in the marketing communications mix and choosing the best mixture for the goals and objectives at hand.

Part of what’s got me so psyched about finding this Nielsen IAG study, however, is that I’ve been telling people for years that PR has a higher “credibility factor” than advertising (with a counterbalanced lower “control factor” than advertising). And for the first time, I now have some independent data that appears to support my claims.

Should anyone reading this blog post know of other studies/articles that similarly support such an idea, I’d love to know about them. Thanks.

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DISCLOSURE: SOAR Communications is the PR agency of record for three Nielsen properties: Outdoor Retailer, Interbike, and Health+Fitness Business Expo.

Want Better Media Coverage? Just Ask.

Sometimes getting media coverage is as simple as not being afraid to ask.

Today I attended the “Governor’s 3rd Annual Utah Economic Summit 09.” It was a good gig, with roughly 1,200 business leaders and government workers in attendance at the event held at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City.

With keynote addresses given by Ed Catmull, president of Pixar Animation Studios, and Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., there was (as I expected) a large contingent of journalists in attendance covering the event.

So . . . in between the last morning session and the official start of the luncheon portion of the event, I noticed KSL-TV reporter, Carole Mikita, interviewing one of the attendees outside the main ballroom.

“Hmmmm,” I thought, “I wonder what story she’s working on?” (I didn’t recognize the person she was interviewing as a governmental official or business luminary.)

Moments later, her interview segment completed, I walked by, said hello, and asked what she was working on. She responded by asking who I was representing at the event, to which I replied, “Just myself.”

I went on to explain that I supported what Gov. Huntsman was doing, and thought attending the event was a good way to network and learn what others were doing.

Moments later I was in front of the camera being interviewed by Carole. Shown below is her final story which ran tonight on the 5 p.m. newscast. (That’s me about 50 seconds into the story.)

Sometimes if you want better media coverage, all you have to do is ask. (Ask the right question, of course, but ask nonetheless.)

Hoping for the best: AIG and transparency

As of today, nearly $200 billion from tax-payers’ money has been given out to AIG in order to save them from a financial crisis.

 In October last year we learned that in return, some of its executives went on a $440,000 retreat to a luxurious resort and spa.  At the time, and after reading those headlines I wondered how their public relations department was going to handle such a communicational crisis.

A couple of months have passed by, and we now find that AIG is giving out $165 million in bonuses.  Now I start wondering if there is such thing as a PR department at AIG!

Why is it that nobody told AIG that after misusing bailout money the first time they were not supposed to do it again? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, and AIG is doing it again!

After a flood of news, comments expressed by top government officials, and even comedian Stephen Colbert asking for a mob against top executives at AIG, I ask myself: what could AIG do different.

In my eyes the answer is simple yet difficult: Transparency. AIG and its communications team have to come out and tell the American public what their plans are for those billions and billions of dollars. If they proceed to misuse bailout money over again, they will in turn have even more negative coverage by the media, and even worse government regulation.

Americans are not asking for a “tweet” for every single penny AIG spends. Americans are expecting honesty and trustworthiness from a company that is surviving on their tax money.

AIG’s communications team has to step up and do something about this. As experts they ought to give their top executives crisis communication and prevention training.

With transparency, AIG will not only regain some of its lost public image or sympathy, it will be able to regain the trust of investors and the government.

AIG has to be accountable for its actions, and then, maybe then it will be able to emerge clean out of this whole mess.

The ball is now on AIG’s side, and we hope they make the right move this time…