Great Communicators-Blog

Largesse And Brand Loyalty

Posted on May 17, 2011 by David StiefelApril 30, 2014

When a company does something good for the community, the resulting reputation enhancement is good for business. This axiom is as old as the public relations industry itself. In fact, charitable gifts from corporations and cause-related-marketing campaigns are so frequent these days that few pay much attention to them anymore.

Yet, every once in a while, a smart business unveils a new approach to corporate largesse that is so original and potentially meaningful that even the most cynical among us are impressed.

Panera Bread Co. is celebrating the one-year anniversary of a “pay what you can afford” restaurant in Clayton, Mo. The object of this bold experimental project is to operate an establishment that attracts a normal clientele, while giving the poor and homeless access to meals within their financial means. Customers pay the amounts they choose for their regular menu items, ideally based on their own financial circumstances.

According to a recent Associated Press report, 60 percent of the restaurant’s customers choose to pay normal prices as posted, 20 percent pay less and 20 percent opt to pay more to support the community-spirited concept. The idea has become so popular that Panera plans to open similar “pay what you can afford” eateries in additional cities.

In a time of shrinking public-sector support for the needy, this type of innovative corporate thinking is both important and impressive. It appeals to many consumers and creates strong feelings of brand loyalty. In this case, it also has generated amazingly positive national publicity for a rising fast-food industry competitor.

Now, please excuse me. I’m heading out to my local Panera for a sandwich.

By: David Stiefel

Groundhog Day: A Test of Business Resolve

Posted on May 11, 2011 by David StiefelNovember 20, 2020

Every day is Groundhog Day for public relations and marketing firms, particularly during the current slow financial recovery. By this, I am not paying tribute to the great Bill Murray film, as much as I am referring to legend of Punxsutawney Phil.

According to Pennsylvania folklore, Phil the groundhog pokes his head out of his burrow in Punxsutawney every year on February 2. If he sees his shadow in the sunlight, he retreats back into his hole in fear, signifying six more weeks of winter. On the other hand, if he does not see his shadow, he leaves his burrow, indicating an early spring.

Current signals of economic improvement are driving many businesses to review their public relations and marketing campaigns to attract new customers. They want to benefit from increased spending ahead, improve their own financial conditions and get a jump on competitors. So they seek proposals from PR and marketing professionals to create campaigns that promote their companies.

However, like Punxsutawney Phil, too many of these businesses rush back in fear without initiating any new promotional initiatives because they perceive this retreat as the safe move. They reason that this may not be the right time to spend and rationalize that they can always do something later.

Those too timid to promote their own businesses will discover that their competitors have gotten ahead of them and have seized market share through more aggressive tactics. Branding, reputation and image are qualities that cannot be turned on and off. They must be dealt with systematically and aggressively, if you hope to reap their benefits. Informed companies in nearly every industry already are asserting their presence through public relations and marketing campaigns, knowing that today’s investment will pay for itself in the long-term.

And those that hesitate will suffer their own form of prolonged winter. So come on out and overcome your hesitation because spring is nearly over.

By: David Stiefel

Tracking Apple’s Response

Posted on May 2, 2011 by David StiefelMay 2, 2011

For the past few weeks the media and iPhone/ iPad users alike have been demanding to know the truth- whether or not Apple tracks consumers’ locations. Even the Federal Government has gotten involved; Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) chair of the privacy panel went so far as to personally send a letter to Steve Jobs inquiring about the controversy.

This past Wednesday Jobs and two executives sat down with the New York Times to discuss the phenomenon and dispel the myths:

“We haven’t been tracking anybody,” Mr. Jobs said in an interview on Wednesday. “Never have. Never will.”

When asked about Apples’ public relations response:

Mr. Jobs defended the timing of Apple’s response to the controversy, saying that “rather than run to the P.R. department,” it set out to determine exactly what happened.

“The first thing we always do when a problem is brought to us is we try to isolate it and find out if it is real,” he said. “It took us about a week to do an investigation and write a response, which is fairly quick for something this technically complicated.”

He added, “Scott and Phil and myself were all involved in writing the response because we think it is that important.”

Being an avid Apple user (I own a Macbook Pro, iPhone, and iPod) and a relatively new public relations practioner, I was honestly a little shocked by Apple’s lack of response. I can understand its need to hold an investigation into the issue but to not say anything publicly for weeks is unacceptable. The first thing I learned in the crisis management section of PR101 is that when you are facing a media crisis one MUST SAY SOMETHING.

Apple did not have to dispel the rumors right off the bat but at least acknowledge that the people are concerned and let them know that Apple is “working on it”.

On the other hand, I must admit that when Apple did finally speak up, it did so remarkably well. The company provided the public with a complete question & answer document addressing most of the concerns. Along with making contentions that they messed up.

Overall Apple handled the publicity fiasco well, just a tad bit on the late side.

By: Jaclyn Larkin

@jlarkinpr

Lessons from Donald Trump

Posted on April 27, 2011 by David StiefelApril 27, 2011

Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Donald Trump knows quite a bit about public relations and marketing. In fact, he is a branding wonder.

Public Radio’s Marketplace recently aired a segment about “The Donald,” noting that no one really knows how much he really is worth or how successful he really is.

As a private company, Trump International does not disseminate its financial results. Yet he has aggressively projected an aura of wealth and confidence throughout his tumultuous real estate career. His highly watched television reality show is just icing on the cake, a small ingredient of Trump’s long-time, heavily financed campaign of self endorsement.

The result is a branding empire that probably can float his lifestyle without any further assistance. The “Trump” brand can be found on everything from spectacles to sportswear, even though Trump himself does not manufacture most of his namesake products. Instead, he sells his brand to others who want their products to benefit from his carefully managed image of elegance and accomplishment.

Of course, most of business persons do not start with Trump’s advantages and cannot access his media resources. We also lack his drive for shameless self-promotion, which has made him both a phenomenon and a frequent punch line. Nonetheless, we can learn a great deal from his branding approach.

A strong, recognizable brand is one of your business’s most powerful assets. If the public equates your brand with quality and success, there will be demand for your product or service. Manage your brand properly and it will open doors of opportunity.

By: David Stiefel

The Benefits of Unpaid Internships

Posted on April 25, 2011 by David StiefelApril 25, 2011

There has been a lot of debate within our industry, and the communications field in general, whether it is ethical to hire unpaid interns. The Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Board of Ethics even went so far as to produce a Professional Standards Advisory (PSA) that provides guidance on the use of public relations interns. It is the board’s belief that if interns are to be compensated in some fashion, should it be by college credit or otherwise. The board also believes that if an intern provides billable hours, you should pay him/her for those hours.

Within our industry, however, interns rarely get paid and, if they are offered college credit, they must pay out-of-pocket for the credit hours — an option most interns understandably avoid. Having been an intern myself at three different times throughout my college career, I can personally vouch that I have never been compensated for my work – technically. My internships have paid me in other ways: through knowledge, perspective, and the occasional free meal. I gained intangible experience that I could never reproduce in a classroom or by reading a text book.

I believe that internships not only benefit the students, but also the companies that employ them. While the student acquires hands-on experience, the company benefits from relieving the mentoring employee of some of the more routine, day-to-day tasks. This creates the opportunity to teach our next wave of colleagues and enhance productivity in the work place.

Regardless of whether employers pay their interns monetarily, I believe that the hiring of interns helps the public relations industry as a whole. Most professional industries hire interns – including accountants, lawyers and doctors (in the medical field they are called residents). Without current professionals teaching the next generation, industries would flounder. People would be stuck for weeks teaching new hires the basics of essential tasks.

The benefits of hiring interns far outweigh the drawbacks for all parties involved. Just make sure your interns learn from the experience. And don’t forget to take them to out to lunch occasionally.

By: Jaclyn Larkin

@jlarkinpr

Communicating Calm

Posted on April 8, 2011 by David StiefelApril 8, 2011

English internet entrepreneur Alex Tew finally has unveiled something that I understand – and applaud.

For those who don’t know about Tew, he was the creator of MillionDollarHomepage.com a site that sold online advertising at a rate of $1 per pixel. The result is a screen that is a 1,000 x 1,000 pixel collage of tiny logos that link to individual advertisers’ sites.

Why anyone would advertise in this fashion remains a mystery to me, but Tew combines showmanship and public relations skill to promote his project and power it to success. According to The London Telegraph, his earnings actually exceeded his $1 Million goal. So Tew proved to be a visionary and the rest of us learned another valuable lesson about new wave internet marketing.

In his latest venture, Tew has done a public service for all of us who worry about being connected 24/7. His new site, DoNothingfor2Minutes.com delivers exactly what its name implies. It is a beautiful, full-screen photo of a sunset about rippling waves, accompanied by the sounds of an ocean surf. There is a two-minute timer at the center of the page, followed by tiny letters on the page instruct the visitor to “Just relax and listen to the waves. Don’t touch your mouse or keyboard.”

If you fail to follow instructions, site admonishes you and starts another 2-minute clock. If you succeed, you are rewarded with a very British “Well Done.”

Of course, Tew couldn’t resist dropping in a sign-up box on the site for future projects to “aid relaxation,” but perhaps he has earned our trust for creating this very Zen experience.

By: David Stiefel

QUACK DOWN ON GILBERT

Posted on March 18, 2011 by David StiefelMarch 18, 2011

There has been much ado about the recent tweets of Gilbert Gottfried, one of the most caustic comedians on the standup circuit today. As a result of a series of morbid jokes about the Japanese earthquake, Gottfried was fired as the voice of the popular Aflac spokesduck.

The question facing Aflac is whether it has killed off an advertising and marketing icon rather than face the fact that Gottfried makes his living insulting people. It was inevitable that he would offend because that is his comic niche. Aflac executives should have known what they bought when they first hired him.

The fact that Japan is Aflac’s largest market is no coincidence. So the company became oversensitive when Gottfried’s tweets became public. By firing him, Aflac created a tempest in a teapot and brought greater attention to his unfortunate words. The action preceded any real public response to Gottfried’s ill-timed tweets, which only underscores the haste of Aflac’s decision.

From a public relations perspective, a tweeted apology probably would have made it all go away, but corporate panic mode apparently trumped reason in the decision.

Few Americans recognized the Aflac brand before the duck hit the television airwaves a decade ago. With Gilbert gone, will anyone remember Aflac a decade from now?

By David Stiefel

The Sound of Social Media

Posted on March 16, 2011 by David StiefelMarch 16, 2011

Social media can be wonderful communication vehicles or they can be a curse. It all depends on how you use them.

National Public Radio broadcast a story this morning about the current Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians’ strike and DSO managements’ attempt to attack its detractors through a Facebook post.

Reaction to the angry post was overwhelmingly negative with a majority number of responses suggesting that DSO management should have better things to do.

An old German expression advises, “The tone makes the music.” In this case, DSO management hit a sour note.

The lesson to be learned is that the wrong message on Facebook or any social medium can become a thorn in the side of any “responsible” organization. If you want to be seen as reasonable and balanced, avoid ranting or venting.

See article

By David Stiefel