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.

Becoming a Better Writer

What makes a good writer? What is it about a blog post, story, letter or column that makes it engaging, that makes someone want to continue reading? How can I become a better writer?

If you’re in the public relations, marketing, investor relations and/or strategic communications world, perhaps you’ve already asked yourself these or similar questions. I know I have.

The snap answer, of course,  is to write. I’ve heard and read that answer more than 100 times — “If you want to be a better writer then you have to write.”

Okay, duh! But in my experience writing alone is not enough, especially if you’re not a particularly good writer to begin with.

I believe that the most important part of improving your skills as a writer, to becoming a better writer, is to have a good editor (or a good teacher, as the case may be).

In other words, I want someone who is better than me looking over my metaphorical shoulder prompting, prodding and pointing out specific examples of how and where I can improve my writing.

This point was brought back home to me this morning when a long-time friend asked me to review something he had written, and for the record, he told me I could “let him have it from every angle.” So here, in part, is what I wrote to my friend.

•  
  • new,
  • unexpected,
  • controversial,
  • insightful,
  • thought-provoking or
  • out-of-the-ordinary.

Are the items I mention above hard and fast rules? Of course not.

But I know they helped me to become a better writer - that and having a good editor.

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!

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.

Don’t Apply to Utah State: Do sarcasm and reverse-psychology actually work in marketing?

On October 1, 2008, a viral video hit the Internet urging Americans not to vote. The satirical “5 Friends” video displayed big name influencers and celebrities spewing off facts and reasons why citizens should not vote in the then-upcoming 2008 presidential election. The original video, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, garnered nearly 3.4 million views (combined views of “5 Friends” and “5 Friends uncensored”), while many viewers re-uploaded the video to their own Youtube accounts or created parodies. DiCaprio & Co. were obviously onto something good.

Four weeks later, on  October 29, Appian Way released a second viral video, “5 More Friends” (censored and uncensored). To date, the powerful, comedic and compelling viral videos urging Americans to vote using reverse psychology and sarcasm have received more than 5 million views.

Telling your audience to do the exact opposite of what you really want them to do? Well, apparently it works. The historic 2008 presidential election brought out more than 130 million voters.

Taking a page from Appian Way, the admissions office at Utah State University (admittedly, my Alma mater) put its own spin on that “don’t vote” message in hopes of having a similar effect on perspective students. As part of the university’s 2009 recruitment campaign, students rallied together to film a video explaining to each interested high school senior, college transfer or adult seeking higher education, all the reasons he or she should not apply to Utah State.

So check out the “Don’t Apply to Utah State” viral video below! To say I’m proud of my school for fully understanding and utilizing the power of viral video and trends in marketing is an understatement. It also probably doesn’t hurt that I know a few of the students/alumni in the video

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.)

Becoming an Expert

PR practitioners can easily transition from advocates to experts if they’re knowledgeable and available. The media need experts who can speak about their industries to constituents simply yet explicitly. And they need them when they call.

Knowing how to simplify tech industry speak and being a readily available resource has helped my boss, David Politis, become an expert in his field. For nearly 20 years, he has been the president of a PR firm that specializes in demystifying technology (Politis Communications). David has also been a self-syndicated columnist for Utah Tech Watch since 1994, and he always, always stops what he is doing to take a reporter’s call. Reporters know who David is and in the past week have quoted him on three different occasions.

Utah-based radio station KSL recently called upon David’s ability to distill language about consumer technology in two separate segments. On Monday, February 16, KSL quoted David in a piece about “VOIP technology creating problem with 911 services.” In this segment, he used a personalized example to convey the implications of a problem dealing with a highly technical product. On Thursday, February 19, David offered his perspective to a KSL radio reporter on “Engineers work to reinvent the Internet” and made the prospect of a “new internet” relevant to the common user.

Even within the PR industry David has established his expert voice. Ragan, a publisher of corporate communications newsletters, used an example from David’s early career to exemplify why employers should be sympathetic when communicating pay cuts. The February 19 article, “Dos and don’ts of communicating pay cuts,” amalgamates the advice of several PR professionals, and further positions David as an expert.

PR practitioners of all industries can position themselves (and their clients/employers) as experts if they will just take the time to make themselves and their lingo accessible to the media and consumers.

In other words, learn to speak to the Bettys everywhere and the media will speak to you.

On-the-Record? Yes, Always! And it Cuts Both Ways!

A few weeks ago I was at the monthly luncheon of the Utah County Chapter of the PRSA listening to Derek Garduno (a former Politis Communications employee), address the audience. (Derek’s currently the Communications Manager for the Utah Jazz.)

During his presentation, Derek shared a truism I had taught him years before when he was fresh out of college. Specifically,

“You’re always on-the-record.”

For those of you not trained in public relations or journalism, on-the-record is a term used by reporters and journalists that means that what you are saying (or doing) is fair game to be reported and can end up in the evening news, in tomorrow morning’s paper or in someone’s blog that’s getting posted in the next two minutes.

Sometimes it’s possible to go off-the-record to provide selected and trusted journalists with information - typically for contextual, background purposes - and not be quoted in a story.

However, not everyone can be trusted (journalists included).

So as a rule, we advise our clients and employees to simply adapt the attitude that you’re always on-the-record when speaking to a journalist, even if a reporter agrees that something is “off-the-record.” That way you play it safe and minimize the risk of getting burned by an unscrupulous and/or overzealous journalist.

So that’s the background. Now for the juicy parts of what happened earlier today and why I’m writing this specific post.

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In summary, after apparently not getting the help/information he wanted from a Toronto, Canada-based tech PR/marketing specialist, David George-Cosh (tech reporter with the National Post) went off on a phone call with said PR specialist.

At roughly 1 p.m. (EST) April Dunford, the PR specialist, posted the following on her Twitter account (@AprilDunford):

Reporter to me”When the media calls you, you jump, OK!?” Why, when you called me and I’m not selling? Newspapers will get what they deserve

[NOTE: Not counting the red text, this is exactly how the tweet appeared.]

Then began what can only be called a very public (and embarrassing) digital breakdown on the part of reporter George-Cosh, with the reporter dropping F-bombs onto Twitter directed at Dunford, and getting upset because of what she posted onto Twitter. (His Twitter handle is @sirdavid.)

Interestingly, Dunford did NOT disclose George-Cosh’s identity in her original tweet. It was apparently only after he repeatedly attacked her on Twitter that Dunford disclosed who the reporter was: George-Cosh.

For the record, if you look up George-Cosh’s Twitter account, it is (as of 9:30 p.m. EST) totally locked up with all of his updates “protected.” His blog also seems to be down: http://strangehold.com/blog/. His bio on the NP.com page is also missing.

However, you can read the blow-by-blow description here on Ian Capstick’s MediaStyle blog.

Learning a Lesson from a Twitter-based Têtê à Têtê Tornado

What’s the takeaway from all of this? It’s simple: You’re always on the record.

And in today’s Me Media world where literally anyone can become (and probably is) their own publisher, you have to be really careful about what you say and do when you’re around anyone.

And the higher profile you have (like being a tech reporter for one of the leading media outlets in Canada), the greater the likelihood your conduct will come under public scrutiny - and ridicule.

In other words, there is no such thing as off-the-record!

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UPDATE: At 6:18 p.m. (EST) today, the Editor of the National Post published the following apology on the NP’s Website:

“We hold — and will continue to hold — all our reporters to a higher standard in how they address anyone, in any forum.

Five Emotions to Watch for in this Year’s Super Bowl Ads

Each year, the most-watched sporting event in the United States is clearly the Super Bowl.

In spite of the fact that Super Bowl XLIII features two smaller market teams (the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers), I expect that there will be more people watching this year’s football extravaganza from Tampa, Florida than ever before. I also suspect that we’re probably in for a pretty entertaining game (but that’s a whole ‘nother subject).

One of the most fun aspects of gathering around the boob tube to watch the final game of the NFL season is getting to see the latest and greatest commercials.

Starting with Apple Computer’s now legendary 1984 commercial, to the often on-the-edge ribald humor of the most recent GoDaddy.com spot, many advertisers (and agencies) recognize the Super Bowl as a once a year opportunity to grab BIG visibility from the live viewing audience, as well as from post-event media coverage.

As detailed in this article by Advertising Age, more than two dozen companies have purchased spots during this year’s gridiron rumble (at roughly $3 million per 30-second commercial).

The purpose of this post, however, is NOT to suggest the specifics of what to expect in the forthcoming ads; rather, I’m hoping to provide today a list of the type of emotions the advertisers will likely invoke with the viewers and reviewers as the commercials play out in surround sound in family rooms around the country (whether such emotions were intended or not).

Here then are the Five Ad-Invoked Emotions You’ll Feel This Super Bowl Sunday.

1.   Warm & Tender Feelings: The Heartstring-Pullers

Some advertisers feel the best way to connect with their consumers is through the heart. Hence, they look to Super Bowl as a way of creating warm and fuzzy feelings about their products/services.

Anheuser-Busch and Coca Cola are notorious for such spots (think Clydesdale horses and the “I Want to Teach the World to Sing” commercials, respectively).

Coke is supposedly going to redo its classic Mean Joe Greene spot using current-day Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu, which is cool, particularly since Polamalu is one of the most fun players to watch play the game.

That said, wouldn’t it be cool (and unexpected) to have Coca Cola re-run the original Mean Joe Greene spot?

2.   Humor: The FunnyBone-Ticklers

Is humor actually an emotion? Probably not.

Nevertheless, one key effort of many advertisers in their ad efforts is recall:

• The ability of the average consumer to both remember the ad itself, AND
• To recall what product/service/company was being marketed by the commercial.

Planter’s did a good job of this last year with its ads where a homely looking young woman stopped men in their tracks because she dabbed a Planter’s Cashew Nut on various body parts as if she were applying a perfume. Guys walked into walls, ran into cars and generally fell all over themselves for her because of the Planter’s Cashews. (Yeah, I still remember the commercials.)

Look for several companies to go for the funny bone with their ads.

3.   Shock & Awe: The Testosterone

Think cars racing on windy roads or on long, flat highways. Think spies jumping out of planes or crashing through windows. Think movie-in-a-minute movie trailers, complete with musical scores and eye-numbing cuts between action sequences.

Anything designed to get the heart pumping, that’s what the advertisers are looking for with these types of spots.

And, no pun intended, advertisers will also look to get the testosterone flowing with sex-starved males by appealing to the more base-minded among us. (Think GoDaddy.com.)

Of the two ads Founder/CEO Bob Parsons is considering for this year’s GoDaddy.com Suber Bowl spot, I think the “Shower” ad is the funniest. It’s also the tamer of the two, but that’s just me.

4.   Strange/Offensive: The “What the Heck” Ads?

Remember the racially and culturally insensitive Sales Genie ads from Super Bowl XLII? If not, check out this bone-headed cartoon spot featuring two Giant Panda Bears done in a Chinese motif.

UGH!

Unfortunately, each year some CEO who thinks he/she knows better than the head of marketing and the agency will insist that “this commercial” gets run.

And run it will — right out of town on a rail!

5.   Boring: The Nothing New Here/I’m Falling Asleep Ads

Last but certainly not least, I guarantee you that some company will play it safe with their $3 million ad buy and run an existing commercial.

Sure, they’ll reach the biggest one-time audience that 30-second spot will ever reach. But by taking this approach, these companies will absolutely waste a golden opportunity to make a statement and grab additional positive media coverage for their brand, products and services.

All because it was expedient or safe or less expensive. Or because they were too stupid to see the real benefits of buying time during the Super Bowl.

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Anyway, those are my thoughts on the types of emotions you’ll feel while watching the game within the game . . . the Super Bowl ads.

Did I miss any? Feel free to add your two cents by commenting below.

And the game? I think St. Louis wins in a squeaker: 30-28.

Then again, don’t be surprised if Pittsburgh’s Polamalu runs back an interception for the winning score either.