Sorority Sisters Turn Selfie "Sin" Into PR "Win" [Abbott PR Blog]

Video of some sorority sisters who attended an Arizona Diamondbacks game but spent the entire game taking "selfies" of themselves and their food went viral this past week, but the episode turned into an excellent PR lesson.

The girls' actions went viral on social media when FOX Sports announcers caught them taking selfies of themselves and their food during the game, repeatedly pointing the camera on the sorority sisters as they continued to NOT watch the Diamondbacks play the Denver Broncos, instead making "duck faces" and laughing at their own camera phones throughout  the game.

When the video went viral on TV news shows and on social media, the Diamondbacks offered to give them all tickets for a "re-do" - and attend yet another game.

But the sisters, on their facebook page, said "thanks, but no thanks." And then turned their gaffe around by posting:

"Alpha Chi Omega at Arizona State University would like to thank the Arizona Diamondbacks and Fox Sports for reaching out to the chapter after last night’s game and subsequent media frenzy. We appreciate their generous offer of tickets to tonight’s game. However, instead of chapter members attending the game, we have asked the Diamondbacks and Fox Sports to provide tickets to a future game for families at A New Leaf, a local non-profit that helps support victims of domestic violence."

Whether the ingenious and socially responsible response was their own idea or that of the organization's PR team is unknown - and not really relevant. The fact that someone was smart enough to capitalize on the sorority's instant fame from their sports "sin" of not paying attention to the game to do some good for an organization is a PR "win."

[See also: the original story on Mashable]

#PR Isn't About "Happy-Talking" Customers [Abbott PR]

I’m sure it’s happened to you before. You drive by a business, and, perhaps not even noticing it at first, you cringe.  

"It’s funny," you may think to yourself, "but I haven’t been in the place since last November." Maybe you can't even remember why.

One way or another, you were put off by the place, and never went back.

Then you drive by a second business, and you almost want to invent a reason to stop and go back in, even though you may have no business to transact there. 

How does that happen? And (you might be thinking) how can I make THAT happen for MY business?

Some people view public relations as the domain of glad-handing, back-slapping "yes-men" or pretty faces who tell clients whatever they want to hear. But the  truth is, this kind of PR person wouldn’t be much help to the client who cringed, above, or to that client’s business. These efforts instead could be an expensive distraction; or worse, a waste of money. Simply trying to distract customers from a bad experience doesn't fix the underlying reasons for the bad experience. And it won't change perceptions if they have new bad experiences if they return.

Changing a negative reputation into a good one, or at least a neutral one, or reinforcing a business’ already-positive image, is really what public relations is all about. 

In the negative example above, becoming aware of the company's problems - whether it's poor service, shoddy merchandise or even the bad odor of the establishment - by using customer feedback effectively, then making sure that current and past customers know you are aware of their past bad experiences and are taking steps to correct them, are the first steps to changing bad perceptions.

Perhaps a sign out front, reading, "Newly remodeled," touting a new product line, or, even better, new management, would help entice disgruntled customers back into the door. But of course, real changes will have had to have been made. Customers are savvy, and can see through the old "new paint job" or "new signage" approach, IF there aren't real changes made along with them.

An ad in the paper and a mailer to past customers trumpeting a totally new approach to customer service, may help, too, as long as that claim is then TRULY backed up with EXCELLENT service and products and a clean environment when customers begin to return. (Because, again, savvy customers can not and will not be fooled - and you should not try.)

For the business with an already good reputation, but with little repeat business, a company e-newsletter, mailed every other month to regular customers and containing special deals to reward their loyalty may help remind them why they liked the business so much on previous visits. 

A Facebook page is also a great way to interact with customers on a daily basis, posting specials, customer and employee profiles and promoting new services and products.

Special programs to reward regular customers solidify that important base, and increase word-of-mouth buzz about a company. And of course, an effective social media presence on facebook and twitter, with perhaps a video element on YouTube, also backs up a company's reputation and are channels for effective and immediate feedback.

A paid advertising campaign highlighting satisfied customers may also be necessary to let people know that they, too, can have good experiences there. Advertising - online and in print - can also reinforce the good work you've done to improve customer experiences.

All of this underlines the seriousness of the profession of public relations. It involves the art of effective communication, writing skill, and  the ability to determine a course of action that will truly be effective in widely varying situations and appealing to diverse publics.

PR isn’t just happy talk, it’s a profession that helps make companies more successful through an approach of identifying positives and negatives and creating plans to addressing them in a systematic way.

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Stephen Abbott is a public relations consultant and political messaging specialist, and the principal of Abbott Media Group, specializing in helping political candidates, business leaders, groups and start-ups craft effective messages. Visit Abbott Media Group for more information.

4 Keys to Building a Positive #Reputation [Abbott Media Group]

Your reputation - how you're perceived by others - is bound up in a host of factors, the most important of which your clients or customers are observing when they interact with you, or when they interact with people who have had dealings with you.

And in this Internet age, even millions who have never dealt with you can form an opinion of you based on what OTHERS who have never heard of you are saying!

So it's more important than ever to take control of your reputation and mold it in a favorable way, because uninformed people and forces well beyond your control will take hold of it if you don't. An like a boat that's left un-moored at the  dock, it will be drawn out by the tides and tossed with the winds whichever way they choose.

What factors will help "tie down" your reputation so these capricious winds can't get hold of it?

1. First to consider is the quality of your service or product. No amount of PR can paper over a consistently horrible product. The job of PR isn't to make a bad thing look great, because people can easily see through a snow job. And that snow job boomerangs back onto you rather quickly. But a great product, well conceived, unique and useful to customers, speaks for itself. The core of a good reputation is something of good repute to give to the world.

2. Similar to the first, the second point is to ensure that the way in which you deliver products or services is professional. It's not enough to have a great product or service. If you deliver it without passion, care and true professionalism, it will still be seen as a "negative." Having great food will bring them back to the restaurant. Once or twice. But a rude wait staff will cause them to forgo the experience again, and lead to bad-mouthing online.

3. How you treat your clients and customers is the third point that can make or break your reputation. Not only will an overworked and under-appreciated staff be less productive, they'll fall down on points 1 and 2 - the quality of the product and the professionalism of how it's delivered to the customer or client. You'll also experience heavier turnover of staff, and dozens or thousands of unhappy former employees again will not bode well for your company's reputation.

4. The final point of reputation is how the public perceives the good you do in the community. Good works is a plus and definitely has value in Public Relations and reputation-building efforts. In fact, it's seen by many as the key tool in the tool bag of Public Relations. While it can be over-used and its value overstated, good works done in the community is counted as a positive and helps "move the needle" towards a good reputation. However, as noted in 1 above, no amount of good deeds (charity and other things that are unrelated to your business model) can paper over a horrible product, poorly delivered, by unhappy or disgruntled employees. And doing charity work as a way to paper over some bad press is transparent, and is easily seen for the fraudulent effort it is.

All of these keys to a good reputation work together to create a positive reputation among your "publics." This includes your current customers, your past customers, your future customers, your employees, local and regional news media, these publics and others online, and those these various groups happen to encounter second- and third-hand.

A professional Public Relations person who is skilled in how to build a positive image for you and your business can reach out to these groups, tailoring just the right messages for each.

Let Abbott Media Group's PR division help you present these to publics that need to hear more about what you're doing!

The Value of Bad News and Negative Feedback

Justin Bieber has a tattoo of his mother's birthday (1975) to show how much he loves her. How sweet.

The tat, which he got in January, 2013, joined 15 others, including a crown, an Indian head (his high school mascot) and an owl, a Jesus portrait, along with LOVE spelled out on his knuckles. How bad-ass of the boy.

But there's a tiny problem with his inky tribute.

The tattoo reads: "I IX VII V" which is NOT the year 1975, but simply "1, 9, 7, 5" - a mere list of numbers. The year 1975 in Roman Numerals is ACTUALLY rendered "MCMLXXV." M = 1000, CM = 900 (or 1000-100) LXX = 70 (50 + two 10s) and V = five.

So, yeah, that was unfortunate. And it received heavy and snarky coverage online when he first revealed it. (see here, and here, and here.)

This raises a couple of questions. Who got this wrong - was it the tattoo artist? Unlikely. Even an artist who's been in business for a week would have known better.

Or did he come up with it himself? Well, that's possible. He might have looked in a book and seen the numbers, and put this together himself, presenting it to his friends and then to a tattoo artist.

But the most important question is: If he showed this list of Roman Numerals to others and to an experienced tattoo artist, why didn't someone tell him it was not a rendering of the year?

If he did show others, it's entirely possible that they simply were too afraid to tell him it was wrong - a case of "The Emperor's New Clothes," in which no one will tell the emperor that he's not wearing an invisible cloak, but is simply naked - out of fear of offending the emperor.

In the case of Bieber, is he surrounded by sycophants who were afraid to say "no, you're plan is wrong" to the Star who may send them packing for scuttling his poorly laid out plans?

If this is true, he’s not alone. Business owners and political leaders are often presented with “bad news,” by their advisers, including their public relations consultants. 

Sure, negative feedback is not always welcome, and not always fun to hear. It also should be offered tactfully and presented gracefully.

But it must be presented, and should be welcomed. 

To demand that, “We want only positive feedback here,” is a remarkably bad policy, which can lead to something far worse than a tattoo, which can in most cases be fixed.

As Elon Musk said recently, "I think it's important to take as much feedback as you can from as many people as you can about whatever idea you have. You should seek negative feedback, especially from friends." This is a lesson Justin Beiber needs to heed, as do we all.

What those in business and politics (as well as the arts, the military and any other institution) can take from Bieber’s tattoo flub is that it pays to listen to your consultants in good faith. They are not simply paid to be “yes men” and sycophants, but to give honest and frank advice designed to both avoid reputation-damaging mistakes and help to claw your way back when you make them.

Another problem is that often, consultants are not included in major decision-making meetings, and are left out of the loop. That’s a huge mistake, because they are there to prevent major screw ups and poor ethical decisions that can quickly come back to haunt them — like Bieber’s tattoo.

Sadly, either no one has told young Mr. Bieber that he made an error or he didn't care, because a recent photo shows the same erroneous numerals on his chest.

Don't likewise ignore the good advice of your PR professional when it's offered. Even if it's "negative."

Martha Stewart's latest misstep (and how to fix it)

Martha actually has been in an Apple Store, back in 2010.

On Thursday, Sept. 26, Martha Stewart, apparently distraught at breaking her iPad, went on a tirade against the Apple Corporation and risked damaging her brand and her own public reputation and image.


As Business Insider (and many others) reported, Stewart dropped the iPad - which was given to her personally by the late Steve Jobs - and the glass shattered.

Her tweet, "I just dropped my iPad on the ground and shattered two glass corners. What to do?does one call Apple to come and pick it up or do I take it?" made her come off as completely detached from the millions of average Joes and Joans who have to get off their butts and go to the Apple Store to have it fixed or replaced.

She noted, in a clearly exasperated tone even detectable on twitter, "i cannot believe that Apple Public Relations is mad at me for tweeting about my Ipad and how to get it fixed! steve jobs gave it to me!"

She later explained it was a "silly joke" but the following day, was still at it, noting that "Let's now talk turkey: Ipads addictive,awesome,expensive. Glass should /could be unbreakable. That the iPad works with cracked corners-great. ... But the cracked glass is sharp and can cut. I was just upset that I(someone)was clumsy and let the iPad fall out of the car. To fix is time..."

Leaving aside the fact that the billionaire Stewart has many assistants who could have not only explained this to her or could have taken it themselves (or, God forbid, that could easily have quietly bought another iPad!)

She continued to rant and rave about it on twitter until, apparently, Apple’s PR department stepped into tell her to stop talking about it. And yet, because they didn’t solve the problem, she continued to rant about the incident and Apple’s failure to act, making the perception of her detachment even worse — even though her atrocious spelling does bring her a bit down to earth a bit.

Stewart is no stranger to either controversy or potential career-ending moves. In 2004, Stewart was convicted of charges related to the ImClone insider trading affair and there was speculation that the incident would effectively end her media empire.

But she launched a rather successful comeback campaign in 2005 - begun when she deplaned from the flight from her prison wearing the now-famous poncho that was made for her by her fellow prisoners - and her company returned to profitability in 2006. She rejoined the board of directors of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2011 and became chairman of the company again in 2012. [wikipedia]

But this misstep, while seemingly small compared to insider trading, reignites the image that she is a privileged, out-of-touch multimillionaire who doesn't, and can't, relate to readers and viewers of her online, print and television productions.

I don't really believe that's true, frankly, but the perception is clearly driven home by the tweets, which are bound to be retweeted many, many times and - if the writers at SNL are still on the ball - will surely be the subject of a rather nasty, and even possibly funny, skit.

NEXT STEPS
Were I her PR consultant (and call me, Martha! I’ll even come to your house!) I’d advise her to come clean and admit that she was clearly distraught over the situation and tweeted without considering her next steps to make the situation right. This means she abandons her first reaction, which was to claim the entire thing was a “joke” which wasn’t the case, clearly. The fact that she was distraught over losing a precious memento is understandable. We can all relate.

Then I’d find a way to make “iPad” and “Martha Stewart” more than a punchline when they are Googled together. (Hint: Elementary schools need iPads, even in Connecticut. Perhaps not in wealthy neighborhoods, though.) While this seems crass — and gets PR people in trouble — if it is meant from the heart, and isn’t a ‘stunt,’ people will at least give her credit for honoring the legacy of Steve Jobs, and the intention of his gift to her.

Press photos (or even iPhone photos posted online by average Joes and Joans) of her standing in line at an Apple Store would also go a long way to repairing not only the damaged iPad but also her once-again tarnished image.

I have no doubt Martha Stewart will bounce back. She is a remarkably resilient woman and businessperson and she always seem to be able to do so. And that, of course, is a “good thing.”

Nutella Goes Nutty, Bans Fan's Celebration of Its Brand

Fans of the hazelnut-flavored spread Nutella are going nuts over the company's lawyers sending a "cease and desist" letter to fan Sara Rosso, who, since 2007, has sponsored an unofficial "World Nutella Day" on Feb. 5th each year. (See Time magazine reports.)

While I'm not a fan of hazelnuts, or hazelnut spreads, sending out the lawyers to attack an unofficial FAN holiday celebration of your product is a rather NUTTY way to handle a fan base. 

As Gawker notes, "Many brands would kill for a hugely popular, entirely fan-fueled International "holiday" dedicated to expressing affection for their product by buying it by the boatload."

A post on Rosso's facebook fan page notes that the factory in Italy doesn't even have tours. The company clearly is missing out on generating a lot of goodwill here, and may not know how to reach out to customers properly.

This is all the more amazing when we learn that Russo had frequent (though unofficial) contact with the company's PR department to coordinate activities. In her farewell address on the fan page, she writes,

The cease-and-desist letter was a bit of a surprise and a disappointment, as over the years I’ve had contact and positive experiences with several employees of Ferrero, SpA., and with their public relations and brand strategy consultants, and I’ve always tried to collaborate and work together in the spirit and goodwill of a fan-run celebration of a spread I (to this day) still eat.

Let's hope the company comes to its senses and realizes the massive PR error it's making by deliberately antagonizing its huge fan base across the globe.

Why I Believe The Jay Leno/Jimmy Fallon "Spat" Was Faked (at Least in Part)

I don't believe in the old saying "any publicity is good publicity."

As a Public Relations consultant, I'm naturally averse to it.


Is being arrested good publicity (unless you're a rapper)? No. Is being recorded spewing racist epithets during your stand-up routine good publicity? Not at all. Is dying good publicity for a superstar? Only for the heirs.

But there's always an exception to the rule, and the recent Late Night "spat" between Tonight Show host Jay Leno and future host Jimmy Fallon WAS, I believe, that exception.

For about a month, both stars traded barbs about yet another messy Tonight Show host transition. Well, it was mostly Leno, a living legend and comic genius, appearing to vivaciously attack his own network's executives in his monologues.

Each snipe - like the St. Patty's Day snipe about NBC execs being the very same "snakes" that Patrick drove out of Ireland - was repeated eagerly on the news the next evening, and even before that, was breathlessly tweeted out by millions who love to follow the foibles of late night TV, as well as by the Tonight Show itself.

Finally, on April 1, Leno and Fallon got together and, with the help of some talented tenors, who contributed their voices for the voice-over, taped a long-distance duet about the "feud" via telephone in an extremely popular segment, which aired on Fallon's show the next night. The video has had over 790,000 views on YouTube, to date.

The next day, it was announced that Fallon was indeed going to take over for Leno in Spring, 2014, ending Leno's 22-year tenure on the show - excepting, of course, the abortive stint of Conan O'Brien hosting it for seven months in 2010, which ended in Leno's triumphant return to his position.

Ratings soared during this little "spat" between Leno and Fallon, as the entire nation tuned into hear Leno's feathers get ruffled by ruffling the NBC Peacock's feathers. And ratings are the bread and butter of television.


Which got me thinking: Something's not quite right, here, this time. And while I have NO inside information, I believe my hunch is right.

While the tension between Leno and the network during the 2010 abortive retirement fiasco was demonstrably real, and tangible, this latest event didn't have the same feel.

Sure there was animus, and some of that has clearly built up over the years between the likes of NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt and others who reportedly were angry with Leno.

Clearly, some TV execs don't understand that late night comedians have to regularly "snark" at their employers to retain credibility, and because it is enormously funny when Leno attacks his own network's often horrific programming! (He said of NBC: "The Biggest Loser isn’t just a TV show anymore; it’s our new motto. It’s so bad, NBC called Manti Te'o and asked him to bring in some imaginary viewers.”)

But the key for me in comprehending the brilliant publicity tactics used during Leno's latest, and likely last, retirement was the timing of that Leno-Fallon duet.

The fact that it was done at all means that, at least by April 1, both knew that a peaceful, friendly transition was going to happen. But the fact that attacks on NBC were being spewed by Leno right up until that last day (he said on April 1: "NBC and I have reached a peaceful, amicable agreement that is both beneficial to both sides.... April Fools! I got nothing to do with that! Silly! Silly! Ridiculous! [Will] never happen!") tells me that, unless a (literal) last-minute rapprochement was reached between NBC and Leno that night, he knew, likely a week or two earlier, that this was going to happen.

So my question is: What did Leno know, and when did he know it? Did he and Greenblatt, or others at the network, plan this all out together, months ago, to milk the ensuing "controversy" and ratings that could be garnered from it?

And another question: Is Leno the most Machiavellian, clever, comedic and timing genius on the face of the earth for pulling off a ratings coup as his last, great act on the American Television stage?

Now, THAT wouldn't surprise me one bit. And if so, well played, Jay Leno! Well played!

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Stephen Abbott is a public relations consultant from New England. He can be found online at abbottpr.com. He founded and edits world politics news, a blog covering politics throughout the world.

English-Language Signs in Cyprus Shows PR Savvy

I have to commend those protesting the Cyprus bank account levy for creating protest signs in ENGLISH. From a PR point of view, this is just smart.

Protest signs written in English allows UK and American news cameras to capture the anger in a way that appeals to news consumers in the UK and US, and even Europeans, most of whom read English.

It instantly transforms what could have seemed a far-off problem - with signs written in Greek, which is literally "Greek" to most Americans and Britons - to something close, easily understandable and "real."

Signs legible to hundreds of millions of people around the world allows the protest to be "branded" as something of international, not just local, interest. And that makes it far more valuable as a news story.

I'll also note that most of the signs look like they are from a single protest. The lettering on on "Hands off Cyprus" sign looks the same in several (meaning: dozens) of wire service photos that have been used for four days in a row now (this coming from an informal Google image search.)

This is even more amazing, since a small number of signs have been effectively transformed into the LOOK of this story for days now. This shows the power of the idea of non-English-speaking protesters appealing to English-language readers.

I often wonder why protesters in Middle Eastern nations like Egypt and even in the Palestinian West Bank don't use more signage in English, and adopt protest techniques proven to be successful in Western nations. My advice to them is to watch the Cyprus experience and learn from it.