Orange Slices

Last night, at the annual PRWeek Awards, RLF Communications’ campaign for the International Civil Rights Center & Museum’s grand opening won the Promotional Event of the Year award. RLF’s campaign was recognized over successful campaigns from much larger agencies.

One of the judges noted that the RLF team “hit it out of the park” with the opening.

The event drew 3,000 spectators; more than 200 members of various media; 500 VIPs; and elected federal and state officials – far exceeding the museum’s objectives of attracting between 2,000 and 2,500 diverse attendees to the ceremony.

With 192 million media impressions and 700 broadcast stories nationally, coverage included ABC World News and CBS Evening News, as well as a USA Today cover, among others. The museum’s Facebook fan page attracted more than 11,000 fans in the six weeks before and immediately after the opening.

This is not the first time RLF’s work for the International Civil Rights Center & Museum has been recognized. For more details about the PRWeek award, go to PRWeek’s website.

The New York Times’ recent article about manipulating Internet search engines was a fascinating glimpse into the world of search engine optimization. Most companies want their products and services ranking high in online searches, particularly a Google search. There is an ongoing cat-and-mouse game between the search engines (which do not disclose their specific ranking formulas) and the individuals\companies who make a living trying to move clients higher up the search rankings.

As The New York Times story points out, something had clearly gone very wrong (or very right, depending upon your point of view) when J.C. Penney popped up as a top site for items ranging from dresses, luggage, skinny jeans, tablecloths, comforter sets and furniture. Those results didn’t happen by accident; they were part of a deliberate and well-executed “black hat” strategy over many months to raise J.C. Penney’s rankings. Google executives called it the most ambitious attempt they had ever seen to game their system.

I’ll leave it to others to debate if the strategy was “ethical” or not. What I found most interesting was the denial by J.C. Penney that the company had engaged in any deliberate attempt to manipulate the search engines.

“J.C. Penney did not authorize and we were not involved with or aware of the posting of the links that you sent to us, as it is against our natural search policies,” said a spokesperson. I feel for the J.C. Penney public relations team. The search engine results did not happen accidentally. It took time, effort, resources and money to systematically create thousands of artificial links to the J.C. Penney website.

Evidently, the Internet marketing team at J.C. Penney did not consider it important to get the input of public relations professionals about the potential negative fall-out from engaging in this type of activity.  I am sure they were very proud of the results they achieved, right up to the day when The New York Times called Google to ask about this jury-rigging, resulting in a painfully long story in the Sunday Business section.

The bottom line is that actions have consequences, and public relations professionals provide the most value to organizations when they are in the loop BEFORE decisions are made and executed. Marketing and public relations are complimentary, but different, disciplines within the corporate structure. Neither should control the other, but they must be at the table at the same time so that all voices and perspectives can be evaluated and weighed.

Twenty years ago, I confidently entered the business world with a freshly minted master’s degree and doe-eyed optimism. Over the next few years, stints in politics, business and the recession of 1991 slowly adjusted my view of the world.

It only took one week in Shanghai recently to reshape my perspective.

Much has been written about the opportunities emerging in China. It is a country pulsing with energy, determination and focus. You are engulfed in it the moment you step off the plane into an airport that defies your expectation of what an airport can be – spacious, clean, beautiful, efficient – and hurtled into the city at 263 mph on a magnetic levitation train. China may still be a communist country, but there is some form of beauty in the trains running on time and every person you encounter taking pride in their work.

My focus in China was two-fold: develop relationships with agency leaders from communications firms throughout the globe and gain perspective on what opportunities might exist in China for my own agency. I was successful on the first front. I am uncertain about the latter.

But from a communications and marketing perspective, the China market is not so different from the world we know.

In the keynote address for the conference I was attending, James McGregor, an American expat who has been in China for 20 years, offered sage advice for those seeking to do business. Be patient. Demonstrate that what is good for your business is also good for China. And above all, think about the people you deal with as individuals, not as bureaucrats. If you take time to understand what can help them be successful – what matters to their boss, and their boss’s boss – then you are more likely to be successful. Listening is learning, and that is sound advice for communist and free market systems alike.

During our trip, we visited the World Expo (the modern day version of the World’s Fair) with hundreds of countries hosting giant pavilions to showcase their culture, music, food, art, history and commerce. There were fascinating exhibits, but they all paled in comparison to the stunning visual of more than 300,000 people a day crowding through the gates. Most pavilions had lines that made Disney at spring break seem like a ghost town, but without the reward of rides or games. The reward was knowledge and understanding, the desire to be engaged in a way that is not possible via television, radio or the Internet. The allure of touching, tasting, hearing and seeing a different world come to life was worth every minute that people experienced standing in line for two, three or four hours to enter a single pavilion.

On a more intimate scale, I witnessed the power of personal engagement. We heard before going to China that blonde-haired, blue-eyed children were popular. But nothing prepared us for the throngs of people who crowded around our young daughters, stopped them for pictures, reached out to touch their hair, gave thumbs up signs and watched until they disappeared into the next throng. It was wonderful, even if at times it was almost overwhelming.

Those experiences reinforced for me that even in an age when likely every person we met had seen blonde-haired children on television, magazines or billboards, there is something magical about connecting with them first-hand. The sight of my daughters stopped thousands of people in their tracks, and the ability to interact with them – for a photo, a smile, a touch – opened up their eyes to the world in a new and wondrous way.

Corporate brands need to harness that same type of power. To connect with people in a way that transcends words or images in an advertisement. Brands stand for something. They bring experiences, emotions and expectations to life — not just in China or the US, but around the world.

Even in a deep recession, the public relations profession is turning out amazing and meaningful work for clients.

That thought has resonated for me during the last month, since I attended the SABRE awards dinner at the gorgeous Cipriani building across from Grand Central Station in New York City in May. More than 1,000 public relations professionals had gathered for one of the big three awards shows to honor the best campaigns and teams in our industry (the PR Week Awards and Silver Anvil Awards are the other two major national awards).

Paul Holmes, the organizer of the SABRE Awards – which stands for Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation – set the tone for the evening when he remarked that despite all of the economic troubles that have challenged our industry, the number of entries for SABRE recognition set a record (1,700) and the quality had never been higher.

As Paul noted, public relations has demonstrated that reach and frequency are not enough to create successful outcomes in today’s world. There must be engagement as well, and public relations has taken a leadership position among the communications disciplines in creating engaging, meaningful campaigns. This is particularly true in the realm of social media, which our profession has done a remarkable job of weaving into the overall communications mix.

Over the course of five hours (from the first cocktail to the closing coffee), Aleasha Vuncannon and I had the opportunity to talk with fascinating professionals from around the country, review the lists of finalists for the awards in each category, and enjoy the pageantry of an event as a participant (instead of as a behind-the-scenes organizer, which is our normal role!).

And when our time came, when the finalists for the top campaign in the category of Educational & Cultural Institutions were announced, we were thrilled to hear that our work in partnership with the International Civil Rights Center & Museum had been recognized as the best in our business. We had felt like it was worthy of this recognition. We knew how hard our team had worked and how much had been accomplished. Yet, we still held our breath in anticipation as the winner was announced, because every campaign that had made the finals had strong results.  It felt good to scream when we heard the results.

Here is a brief glimpse into the work that we did for the grand opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum:

After the dinner, Aleasha and I walked through Times Square at midnight, dressed in our best clothes, carrying a deceptively heavy trophy and reflecting on the evening (not surprisingly, no one batted an eye at us or thought we were out-of-place in the crazy scene that is Times Square). It feels good to do great work for clients, to create campaigns that generate meaningful results and advance our client’s objectives. We do this work not for awards, but when we strive to be one of the very best agencies in our industry, it is evenings like this that provide the mileposts to let us know that our agency is on the right road.

Photo Credit: EatItAtlanta.com

A self confessed foodie, I am not an easy dinner companion.  I wince at the idea of going to Outback with the girls, I eschew bar and grill chains and I hold a particular distaste for restaurants that seem incapable of allowing anything remotely healthy to appear on their menus.

I’ve been fortunate enough to dine at some wonderful places over the years – La Masseria in Las Vegas, Mozza in L.A., and Magnolia Grill in Durham being some of my favorites.  That said, I don’t require an expensive meal.  Chick-Fil-A makes an excellent chicken sandwich and The Biscuit Factory in High Point is home to the best biscuit I’ve ever put in my mouth.

So imagine my excitement when, this fall, a local upscale restaurant approached RLF about PR opportunities.  Highly regarded as one of the city’s best dining establishments, they still struggled with top-of-mind awareness from the community and the region.  One look at their Web site and our mission was clear:  Web overhaul was the number one priority.  If the Web site and story was even half as good as its food, the reservation list would always be full.

Clients still underestimate the value of a good Web site.  It is the public face of a business. It needs to exude the same experience a customer will have with the actual product or service. In the high end restaurant world, having an appealing Web site should matter just as much as having an aesthetic presentation or an appetizing menu

While researching restaurant Web sites, I was shocked to learn how few establishments actually have an appealing site.  The Web is littered with mediocre restaurant sites that have template layouts and unappetizing colors. Even high end, celebrity chefs have sites that are pedestrian. Where is the creativity that reflects their menu and philosophy on food?

Out of all my disappointment came one bright shining star. Kudos to chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller. The site for his internationally recognized French Laundry is a paragon of great restaurant presentation. Not only is it visually appealing but it tells a wonderful story; a marriage of culinary passion and purveyor partnerships.

If only other restaurateurs knew what Keller does. The site must be edible – worthy of consumption and 30 seconds of someone’s time. If the site is unappealing, people assume the establishment and its food are as well, no matter what menu is posted online.

Advice to restaurants – cook up the same excitement on your Web site that you do in the kitchen. Bon appétit.

I recently attended a rousing discussion at the Critical Issues Forum hosted by the Council of Public Relations Firms in New York City. The Council is the leading industry association for just over 100 of the country’s top public relations agencies (and RLF is proud to be a member) and they convened some 200 agency and corporate communications professionals on the roles and responsibilities of our industry in getting the country back on track. I jotted down a number of comments that struck me as particularly insightful, misguided or just plain intriguing. I’m not the best note-taker so don’t quote me verbatim, but here are some insights shared by some top public relations professionals who participated in panel discussions, and my brief reactions.

• One of the panelists quoted management guru Peter Drucker that “underneath the world’s problems are a raft of entrepreneurial opportunities.” A great perspective for all of us as we plan ahead for the next 3-5 years.

• Another panelist commented that “let’s not confuse the fact that people may understand something, but really not care.” So true. If we think about levels of engagement in what we strive for – it is awareness, understanding, caring, acting.

• One panel member strongly urged taking your communications staff to see Michael Moore’s movie Capitalism. Regardless of how people feel about the politics of it, it is a stark reminder of the gap that exists between corporate America and citizens. Might be something worth doing one afternoon.
• The panel moderator commented that in an age of so many competing media streams, do we really know what “truth” is? Can PR professionals really make a claim on this front? Truth is influenced by context, and our job is to help give people more context.

• The head of marketing for General Electric was great. She said their research is pointing to a new reality that people want “experiences not stuff.”  Our client Byron Carlock from CNL Lifestyle Properties has been talking about this emerging trend for years and it is right on the mark

• David Gergen, former White House advisor, warned corporate America that they are not out of the woods in being held accountable to the public. With more than 10 percent of Americans out of work, a fact that will not change anytime soon, the mood is still fragile and that has implications for communications. He relayed the story about President Obama summoning nine CEO financial services executives to the Oval Office and telling them that he was the only thing that stood between them and the “mob with pitchforks.” Gergen’s point was that while the pitchforks have been put away, the mob didn’t toss them in the river. They are “in the closet, and it will not take too many missteps by corporate leaders for the mob to pull them back out if trust is not restored.”

• On exactly that point of restoring trust, the head of communications for Morgan Stanley was completely out of touch. Perhaps it was just me, but his comments that “the financial crisis was caused because of irrational behavior” and that bank executives “deserve all of their bonuses despite the public bailout” came across as bitter. On the issue of bonuses, he lambasted another panel member who suggested that banks make contributions to help people in need rather than dole out all of the bonus money to executives. His response was something like “that is a cuckoo way of thinking. It’s like Bono thinking he can solve problems in Africa by just dumping money on the continent.” Does Morgan Stanley really think they have the moral high ground over Bono leading charity efforts in Africa?

• Margie Kraus, CEO of APCO Worldwide, had one of the best comments of the day for leaders (and PR people). She said that we can all acknowledge that trust in institutions (corporate and political) are at all time lows, and for good reasons. She urged folks to not think this was going to change on its own accord. “If you want to earn back trust with the audiences that matter to you, then stand up and earn it. Find ways to reestablish the social compact.”

Let’s face it, sometimes bad news happens. Despite all your safety investments, there’s a deadly plant accident. Though you’ve worked hard to generate new business and cut nonessential costs, the weak economy forces you to lay-off employees. And, sometimes, someone sues you just because they can.

Even before the TV crews show up outside, you know you’re probably in for a rough time. However, if your company or organization is one of those quiet, under-the-radar companies that has eschewed publicity, that rough time is likely to extend far beyond the duration of the actual crisis.

Your organization’s reputation is based on what people perceive about your organization, based on what they see in the news media, what they hear from their friends and neighbors, and the results they get when they search Google for you. If there hasn’t been anything – good or bad – about your company until the crisis occurs, then whatever messages are sent during the crisis become your reputation. And that may include negative messages you send unintentionally by being too reticent to comment, too slow to take action or too unwilling to address community concerns.

Smart organizations communicate when times are good and there’s not a crisis brewing. It’s not bragging. These companies are investing in consistent communication that strengthens an organization’s reputational immune system. Smart organizations never stop communicating to key audiences, including the news media, their employees and leaders in their communities. They’re constantly communicating their character and as a result, these companies are in a better position when a crisis hits because they have more goodwill to fall back on. It also helps, by the way, to keep Google’s search results from being dominated by the latest, most negative news.

Steady, ongoing communications doesn’t make you immune to a reputation-threatening crisis, but it at least mitigates the impact of that crisis. If your company isn’t doing this kind of routine outreach and communications now, you’ll probably regret it when the next crisis hits.

If there is one thing that should be crystal clear to today’s C-suite, it’s that you can’t create a cover up without being smoked out.

I don’t need a Harvard study or a PhD to make my point. Enron, WorldCom, Martha Stewart, Tyco, Madoff and Bear Stearns, to name a few, have already done so.

The lesson from this – other than don’t cook the books – is that communication is powerful and permanent. The phone notes that implicated Martha Stewart, the shredded files of Arthur Andersen, the video of Dennis Kozlowski’s Sardinian party are communications that the guilty tried to take back, hide, ignore or deny. But there is no amount of privilege, fame, money or power that can keep you in total control.

I once held a highly coordinated press conference to announce a business deal between two companies. To the public and the media, everything went smoothly, but behind closed doors it was another story. Both companies wanted to cancel the press conference on the day of the event. One executive demanded another’s quotes be changed in the press release. Another threatened to lock up the event location a few hours before show time. Drama ensued at every turn.

Of course, none of these things happened. Why? Because they made decisions at a point where their power no longer held jurisdiction. CEOs must realize that there are stronger forces in the world than their executive orders. The media, bloggers, special interest groups, legislators and whistle blowers are powerful and mostly credible sources of information in our society. It’s not to say that executive orders don’t matter, but they must be thought of in a larger context than the company itself.

Faced with a situation that questions your decisions, the best option is to be truthful. If you ask me, the best thing that President Barack Obama has done in office was to admit his mistake in the handling of Tom Daschle’s Cabinet nomination.

This excerpt is taken from the FOX News story on the subject:

“I consider this a mistake on my part, one that I intend to fix and correct and make sure that we’re not screwing up again,” Obama said. “Ultimately I have to take responsibility for a process that resulted in us not having a (health and human services) secretary at a time when people need relief on their health care costs.

“So this is a mistake — probably not the first one I’m going to be making in this office, but what I’m absolutely committed to doing is fixing it,” he said.

What else can you say to the man? He admitted his wrong doing, promised to fix it and moved on.  Granted, President Obama may have learned the right moves by watching his predecessor being raked over the coals for the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ comment. Perhaps executives should take note of his honestly policy. You’ll find that the public is more forgiving and the media is less interested in dragging out continuing coverage when people tell the truth.

I recently attended the annual employee meeting at one of our client companies. Although I had no formal role in the process (their internal communications team does a great job organizing every facet of the event), I have been fortunate to attend the past five annual meetings. This year’s meeting – although smaller and more low key – may have easily been the best. The executives in this company focused on the core issues that employees are focused on in these turbulent times. With clear, compelling speeches and examples, they laid out the case that:

• The company was on the right track to navigate difficult financial times, and that there is  a clear path forward that will allow the company, and its employees, to be successful.

• The leadership of the company is committed and capable. At a time when corporate leaders are either being publicly ridiculed or jailed, it was critical for employees to see that their executive team is up to the task at hand.

• Employees are the bedrock of the company’s values and vision. The capstone of the annual meeting was an awards presentation (complete with crystal trophies and $1,000 checks) that celebrated teamwork, innovation, leadership and community service.

Our client, like virtually every company in the U.S., has faced many tough challenges in recent months. But the character that was shown in how company leaders address those issues and lay out a vision for the future goes a long way to ensuring that its employees are committed to tackling the challenges ahead.

A year ago, I sold my beloved Lexus GS 300 and bought a scooter. It is Carolina blue, gets 75 miles per gallon and can exceed the speed limit on my short one mile commute to work.

Most people thought I was nuts when I made the switch. My wife was skeptical about our ability to “share” a car.   The RLF staff took up an office pool to see how long it would last. Clients lobbed in calls to laugh when the temperature was in the teens.  But some 750 miles later, the scooter is still my primary form of transportation (although RLF employees have learned to hide their car keys when I look like I am running late to a meeting.)

Many people ask if I sold my car because of a commitment to “go green.” As much as I would like to claim that mantle, I have resisted the urge.  Yes, there have been environmental benefits, but I cannot claim to be a leading edge environmentalist. I don’t recycle very well. I waste energy in many ways. And I’m virtually positive that I will own a car again in the future, and it may or may not be a fuel efficient vehicle (although no car can have worse gas mileage than our current Jeep).

The point is, I do not want to hold myself up to a standard that is not true to who I am or motivates my actions. Over the long run, my reputation and credibility will be damaged.

That is the advice we give clients who want to get credit for their environmental friendliness. Companies should absolutely get credit for environmental efforts, but there are short and long-term consequences to overstating ones actions. Charges of greenwashing (the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue) are difficult and messy to fight.

So, as I embark on my second year of scooter life, I want to thank my wife, staff and Avis Rental Car for helping keep me on the road when I need more than 2 wheels.