Always Wear the White Hat

Mark Raper, Chairman and CEO

I had one boss that I always tried to impress. As I hurriedly addressed each task, he would inevitably caution me by saying: “Slow down. Do you know the ‘why?’ What more could you know to make it even better?” Although it frustrated me at the time, it continues to bring new meaning to my job. That same boss also used to tell me to “always wear the white hat.”  Some pretty solid advice from a pretty great boss.

I worked within an advertising agency – providing PR services to clients. It was a little like being a red-headed step child. One older ad guy once told me: “If you present yourself as only a PR person, you will always be only a PR person. If you diagnose a problem and can explain all the tools necessary to deliver the best solution, you become a valued consultant.”

Be Thankful for the Difficulties

Patrice Tanaka, Co-Chair, Chief Creative Officer and whatcanbe Ambassador

Be thankful for difficult assignments, bosses, colleagues, clients, business partners, journalists/bloggers and others you may work with, because this is where you’ll learn the most. Don’t be afraid of challenges or regard them as annoying obstacles in your work life. The degree to which you can embrace difficulties in your job as valuable learning experiences, is the degree to which you will become highly seasoned PR counselors whose advice is sought by colleagues and clients alike.

For more pearls of wisdom from Patrice, read her book, “Becoming Ginger Rogers: How Ballroom Dancing Made Me a Happier Woman, Better Partner, and Smarter CEO.”

Anticipate a Client’s Needs

Mike Mulvihill, APR, President

My very first boss would always ask me when I brought a draft to him,  “Are you really sure this is ready for me to review?” This would then prompt me to ask myself if I had done the best job I could on it. The first few months, I usually said I would give it one more review and be back. Later, I had already completed that assessment before I came to him. It was my first lesson in anticipating a client’s needs.

Take Ownership of What You Want

Brian Ellis, Executive Vice President/Crisis Consultancy 

A life tip my father gave to me, which has applied to all of my careers: Don’t let life (career) just happen. Make it happen. Don’t expect anyone to hand you everything you want. If YOU take ownership of what you want (career, life’s wishes, friendships and so forth), you usually get what you desire. You just have to be willing to work (and sacrifice) for it.

PR advice: Define your personal brand. Where do you excel? And don’t be afraid to do your own PR.

Think Like a Reporter

Debbie Myers, Executive Vice President/Health Practice Director

I came into PR after 10 years as a broadcast journalist. The best advice I ever got came from the first boss I ever had in radio. He said never stop thinking like a reporter. Always be curious, ask lots of questions and don’t get sucked into the PR talk. I have always tried to keep my reporters hat on when writing messages for clients and when advising them on how to communicate honestly and genuinely.

Be Curious

Michael Whitlow, APR, Executive Vice President/Corporate Practice Director

Be more curious than anyone you know. If your friends are always looking at you with a bemused and befuddled expression that says, “How did he know that,” you are succeeding.

Be aware of the massive importance of business-to-business sales and marketing in the economy. You can learn a lot about what motivates companies by looking into how their products come to market, and there is a lot of business to be done with companies who primarily or exclusively sell to other companies rather than to consumers.

Learn at least one new skill a year.

Happiness Lies Within

For my advice, I leave you with this quote from an unknown author: “You are responsible for your own happiness. If you expect others to make you happy, you’ll always end up disappointed. Happiness lies within your heart and soul.”

To my fellow PR practitioners, what “best advice” can you add for PR newbies?

Also, check out 15 Tips to Land That First Job in PR.

This is a refresh of a previous blog post. I’ve come up with a few more insights about the parallels between crisis management and college basketball.

Forget the Super Bowl or the World Series. For me, the most exciting time in sports is March. That’s because it’s almost time for college basketball’s March Madness! I love that every team in the NCAA basketball tournament – big or small – has a shot at greatness, at least for “one shining moment.” After all, I am a sucker for a good Cinderella story.

I’m always amazed by how much teams must endure to make it to the Final Four and ultimately win a national championship. It’s like being in constant crisis mode. Which got me thinking, are there crisis management lessons to be learned from March Madness?

Keeping with the theme of five – since five players from each team must be on the court at all times – here are my top five crisis tips learned from March Madness:

1.  Prepare for the Opposition. All great coaches know that in order to beat your opponent, you must prepare for your opponent. The same holds true in crisis management. Organizations should conduct crisis audits to identify all the crises they could face and prepare for them accordingly. Unfortunately, far too many organizations neglect crisis planning in favor of other initiatives. While it can take years to build a reputation, it only takes a few minutes to destroy one. You should never be caught without a good playbook during a crisis.
2. Have a Deep Bench. As part of your crisis management planning, it’s important to assemble a crisis response team that represents every department that may be impacted by a crisis and train them. Simulate various crises and run drills at least once or twice a year. Use these training sessions to determine how your crisis plan should be updated or modified.
3. Control the Ball. During a crisis, it’s imperative that you control the flow of information. For the sake of my March Madness metaphor, I’ll refer to this as “controlling the ball.” Particularly when dealing with the media during a crisis, be very clear about when you will provide updates. This is extremely important for making sure you “feed the media beast” with the pertinent information they need, while not becoming completely consumed with responding to the onslaught of media inquiries.
4. Quickness Counts. In basketball, quickness counts. It also counts in crisis management. The first 48 hours of any crisis are the most critical. The reason many companies fail to manage a crisis properly is because they don’t react quickly, especially with communications. If you don’t communicate quickly, a communications void will be created. If you don’t fill it, someone else will. However, the information they provide may be inaccurate or incomplete. It’s better to say something quickly during a crisis than to say nothing at all. It may be tempting to delay communicating during a crisis by saying “no comment” or just staying silent. All that does is make it easier for the media and the public to assume the worst.
5. Shoot From the Outside. The three-point shot revolutionized college basketball. Former Tulane Coach Perry Clarks said that the three-point shot has allowed the mid-majors to better compete with the big guys in college basketball, because players who shoot from the outside can often offset the size and athleticism of their bigger opponents. In crisis communications, shooting from the outside means seeking an outsider’s perspective. Internal politics tend to take over during a crisis. Good leaders anticipate internal politics and counter that by bringing in someone from the outside who can look at the issues without bias. The outsider’s role is not to call the shots or coach during a crisis, but to provide counsel and give an organization a perspective that few company insiders can offer.

Want more crisis management tips? Check out this white paper by Brian Ellis, CRT/tanaka’s executive vice president and leader of our crisis consultancy.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Don’t call it a comeback. We’ve been here for years.

There was a time – not so long ago – when many of my colleagues wouldn’t go anywhere without their BlackBerrys. After all, BlackBerry was THE smartphone of choice for the serious-minded business executive.

Even when the iPhone made its triumphant debut in 2007, loyal BlackBerry users scoffed. While iPhone users were off playing around with apps, BlackBerry users were “handling their business.”

A CNN article from 2010 said it best, “The BlackBerry is the get-things-done phone. It’s not designed to run flashy applications, for playing games or for uploading pictures to Facebook and Twitter. It started out a business-minded device, and RIM has continued to market it as a business-friendly device.”

But a funny thing happened on the way to the boardroom; iPhone found a seat at the table.

And iPhone’s growth has been nothing less than meteoric. In the fourth quarter of 2012 alone, Apple sold a record-setting 47.8 million iPhones, helping the company report a staggering $13.1 billon, the second highest profit ever earned by a U.S. corporation.

And it’s not just the iPhone luring away business users. The first Android-powered phone was sold in October 2008. And now, Android is “the world’s most widely used smartphone platform and the software of choice for technology companies who require a low-cost, customizable, lightweight operating system for high-tech devices without developing one from scratch.”

Back to the Future

But could BlackBerry (formerly known as Research in Motion) be poised for a comeback?

In January, the company announced two new smartphones – the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry Q10. Both will run the new BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system. The phones will launch in the U.S. in March. The BlackBerry Z10 looks a lot like iPhones and Android devices. And the Q10 has the keyboard that hard-core BlackBerry users still covet.

But the question remains, will the new BlackBerrys be enough to lure back business customers who defected to other devices?

So far, the BlackBerry 10 has gotten mostly high marks from early reviews. BlackBerry 10′s features include separate work and personal profiles, time-saving ways to multitask without closing applications, video chat with live screen-sharing and more than 70,000 available apps.

However, BlackBerry has a tough hill to climb.

“(BlackBerry) faces steep challenges in launching the new OS. Accounting for just 4.6% of the smartphone field in 2012, the BlackBerry platform has hemorrhaged so much of its once-considerable market share that there’s little ground left to cede,” writes Michael Endler for InformationWeek.

A Full-Court Press

BlackBerry has put on a full-court press to launch its new phones, even buying air time during the Super Bowl – a first for the company. However, its first foray into Super Bowl advertising was received with a bit of a head scratching from the advertising community.

AdAge writes, “Really, BlackBerry? ‘In 30 seconds, it’s quicker to show you what it can’t do.’ Really!? You’re in a battle to the death against feature-laden phones from Apple and Samsung. You’re releasing a phone that got some half-decent tech-world buzz last week. And you’re going to drop millions on a 30-second spot that doesn’t offer one gee-whiz feature that would separate you from the smartphone pack?”

Take a look at BlackBerry’s Super Bowl ad and judge for yourself.

Even iPhone has had to work to hold on to its coolness factor, trying to fend off advances by Samsung and its Galaxy S III. Some of my co-workers who first defected from BlackBerry to the iPhone have now defected to Samsung.

Not satisfied with just taking pot shots at iPhone, Samsung has now set its sights on BlackBerry’s business customers.

“There are those who make cruel jokes about BlackBerrys. They suggest that people who still use them are the sorts that listen to CDs,” writes Chris Matyszczyk for CNET. “For myself, the only people I still see with BlackBerrys in hand are those who haven’t stopped focusing on climbing the corporate ladder since 2004 – and are still in middle management positions.”

Ouch!

Here’s Samsung’s pitch to business users.

But don’t count BlackBerry out just yet. Some early sales data suggests that BlackBerry may be seeing some strong demand for the Z10.

“According to channel checks conducted by Jefferies & Co., pre-orders in the United Arab Emirates and Canada have so far been ‘solid.’ More encouraging, though, are early reports from the U.K., where Z10 sales are evidently off to a good start,” writes John Paczkowski for All Things D.

For now, I’m holding on to my iPhone 5, but I can promise you, I’ll be keeping my eye on BlackBerry – just in case everything old is new again.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Like many other news junkies and PR, marketing and branding professionals, I’ve watched with great fascination the unraveling of the Lance Armstrong brand over the past several months. His undoing culminated with his admission to Oprah Winfrey that he had, in fact, used banned EPO, testosterone, cortisone and human growth hormone and engaged in blood doping throughout his cycling career, helping him win a record seven Tour de France titles.

While commentators and pundits have speculated about the potential legal ramifications that may come with Lance finally coming “clean” about his transgressions and the millions of dollars in endorsements he’s lost, my thoughts are fixated on the organization that, until recently, bore his name – the Livestrong Foundation.

Formerly known as the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Livestrong is a nonprofit organization that provides support to people affected by cancer. Based in Austin, Texas, the Foundation was established in 1997 by Armstrong, a cancer survivor.

I, too, am a cancer survivor.

In 2009, just one month before my 39^th birthday, I was given a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which is used to screen for prostate cancer. A PSA test usually isn’t given to men until around the time they turn 50. My doctor – on a whim or perhaps through divine intervention – ordered the test during a routine visit for another ailment.

When she called to give me the results and asked if I was sitting down, I already knew the diagnosis. Cancer.

Luckily, the cancer was detected early, and after consultation with numerous doctors over several months, I elected to have a prostatectomy, to have my prostate removed. This made sense for me, because as one doctor put it, “your prostate has figured out how to make cancer.”

Three years later, I’m still cancer free.

This is why I’ve been so interested in the new direction Livestrong must take. For all his deception, Lance Armstrong has done some good by founding Livestrong, which has raised $500 million for cancer research and services and has given hope to many. The organization also has become synonymous with its signature yellow wristbands, with some 80 million sold.

“The $1 bracelets, which are sold at sporting goods and bike stores, have become a cool symbol of either supporting Lance, or a cure for cancer, or both. Businessmen wear them with their suits, cyclists with their spandex, moms with their jeans. Senators John Kerry and Harry Reid wear them, and Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Lindsay Lohan and Tom Hanks have all sported them,” according to an article in the Boston Globe.

But now, what will become of those yellow wristbands? And what will become of Livestrong?

In October, Armstrong stepped down as chairman of the organization after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency accused the cyclist of taking part in a lengthy, sophisticated doping scheme. In November, the Foundation dropped Armstrong’s name from its moniker.

But is that enough?

When I hear Livestrong, I immediately think Lance Armstrong. Removing his name from the Foundation’s official name doesn’t change that. The Foundation, the man and the name Livestrong are inexplicably linked. And these latest revelations about what “living strong” actually meant to Lance, don’t sit well with most of us.

My colleague, Kelly O’Keefe, who is CRT/tanaka’s chief creative officer and professor at the acclaimed Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter, says that a name change is definitely in order for Livestrong.

“The problem is that, now if you see someone in a coffee shop wearing a Livestrong t-shirt, you would assume they’re an Armstrong supporter. And if you’re disgusted by Armstrong’s sociopathic behavior, you just aren’t going to wear the bracelet. So I’d be advocating for a brand overhaul to save the organization and make a clean separation from Lance,” Kelly said.

All is not lost for Livestrong. Nike, which was one of Armstrong’s long-time sponsors, severed ties with the cyclist, but said it “plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.” Anheuser-Busch, which used Armstrong as a spokesman for Michelob Ultra, also no longer supports Armstrong but continues to support Livestrong.

In the end, let’s hope that Livestrong can face the challenges ahead with the same grace and dignity as the people it supports. And do so without Lance Armstrong, his brand or his name.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

One of the many reasons why I appreciate living in Virginia is the fact that we’re a swing state. In the presidential election of 2008, I really felt as though every vote in the Old Dominion counted.

As a swing state, Virginia – along with Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – finds itself once again thrust to the forefront of the 2012 presidential campaign. Visits to these states by President Obama, Vice President Biden and challenger Mitt Romney and his newly anointed running mate Paul Ryan have become weekly occurrences.

However, one unfortunate side effect of having swing state status is the inordinate amount of political ads – mostly negative – that are permeating the airwaves. And no doubt, the onslaught of mudslinging will only be heightened the closer we get to Election Day.

The International Business Times reports that local television ad spending skyrocketed in the second quarter of 2012, fueled by the astronomical spending by the Democratic and Republican political campaigns and the super-secretive Super PACs.

Already, 2012 campaign spending on TV and radio advertising has reached more than $500 million; about the same amount spent on advertising during the entire 2008 general election. Almost half of that political money – an estimated $238 million and counting – has been spent by the Super PACs, which have names like Restore Our Future and Priorities USA Action.

And it’s only going to get worse.

A study by the research firm Borrell Associates projects that election spending in 2012 will reach an astronomical $9.8 billion vs. about $7 billion in 2008. These figures include some 13,000 statewide, congressional and municipal races, as well as the big prize – the presidential election.

With political ads airing 24/7, and often times running back-to-back-to-back, it begs the question – are you suffering from political ad fatigue?

I certainly am.

Most voters profess to hate negative political advertising. In fact, research funded by the Knights of Columbus, claims that almost 80 percent of Americans are frustrated by the increasingly negative tone of political ads. Two-thirds of Americans said they felt that candidates spent more time attacking their challengers than addressing the issues, while 64 percent said that negative ads harm the political process significantly or a great deal. And 56 percent of respondents went so far as to say that the tone of political ads is uncivil and disrespectful.

With such distain for negative political advertising, why do the campaigns continue to run them?

Because they work.

“Studies show that negativity doesn’t affect voter turnout. Nor does it sway those who are already convinced one way or the other. Instead, the power of negativity may lie in its ability to compel people to seek out more information about candidates, in turn influencing the undecided,” writes Emily Sohn for Discovery News.

“Advertising matters at the margins,” said political scientist Erika Franklin Fowler, director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political advertising at Wesleyan University in Conn. “We never see ads that take a candidate from 20 percent to 70 percent of the vote. But when you have a country that is divided 50/50, every percentage point counts. That’s where advertising makes a difference.”

Politics has always been a dirty business. And the mudslinging is just making it dirtier. But with so much as stake, we can expect the mud to keep slinging, as long as the purple states keep swinging.

Graphic Credit: Examiner.com.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue of gay marriage, there’s no denying that the recent Chick-fil-A controversy has left us with an endless amount of food for thought. CEO Dan Cathy’s statements have brought a range of additional issues to the table over the past month – from free speech to religious rights to civil rights and more. And with social media’s ability to spread news faster than ever before, politicians, celebrities and other public figures and organizations wasted little time in announcing their support for one side or the other. You have to wonder whether Cathy had any idea what a Pandora’s box he was about to open.

Yet open it he did, causing public relations folks across the country to collectively cringe. So where did Chick-fil-A go wrong, and how has it done since the crisis first broke? Let’s take a look.

Chick-fil-A has always been open about the fact that it is a company founded on Christian values; to this day, the Atlanta-based fast food chain remains closed on Sundays. But aligning a brand identity with religion can be a risky business. Although its position on gay marriage goes with its religious beliefs (and therefore its brand), its image has now been tarnished in the eyes of many consumers who didn’t previously have a problem purchasing fried chicken from a company with religious values – including gay Christians. As support for gay marriage continues to grow nationally, this aspect of Chick-fil-A’s brand identity may not fly for long.

Many people believe that Chick-fil-A simply is standing by its beliefs and exercising its right to free speech. But remember: when it comes to a crisis, the court of public opinion is just as powerful as the court of law. When a company’s beliefs intersect with controversial social issues, sometimes the best way to protect the brand – and the business – is to just stay out of it. A few days after the uproar began, Chick-fil-A’s VP of Public Relations, Don Perry, released the following statement in a valiant attempt at damage control:

“[Chick-fil-A’s] culture and service tradition is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 restaurants run by independent owner/operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”

Then there’s the issue of corporate giving. Beyond simply being founded on/aligned with Christian beliefs, what many people are angry about is the fact that Chick-fil-A has donated millions of dollars to anti-gay groups over the years. The importance of carefully choosing where you donate your corporate dollars can’t be emphasized enough. As Chick-fil-A is now learning, choosing to donate to controversial organizations will almost certainly come back to bite you. Had it been Cathy’s personal funds – as opposed to corporate dollars – it may have been a different story, but it’s still a danger zone.

Finally, the Chick-fil-A situation reminds us of the importance of maintaining transparency – especially during a crisis. One day after the Jim Henson Company announced its decision to end its partnership with Chick-fil-A because of its stance against gay marriage, Chick-fil-A coincidentally announced that it was “voluntarily recalling” all of its Jim Henson kids meal toys because of a “potential safety concern.” When a company is already in trouble with the court of public opinion, opening the door for allegations of lying is never a good idea. Then, to make matters worse, tech blog Gizmodo accused Chick-fil-A of creating a fake Facebook account to help counter the bad press. The account, supposedly owned by a teenage girl named “Abby Farle,” was allegedly created just eight hours before the online conversation began, and used a stock photo as its profile picture. While Chick-fil-A later released a statement denying that it had any connection to the Facebook account, the accusations certainly didn’t help the situation.

Only time will tell what sort of effects the past month will have on Chick-fil-A’s brand – and sales – in the long run. The debate continues both online and at Chick-fil-A locations across the country, where many continue to protest. Either way, it’s safe to say that the Chick-fil-A controversy will likely be talked about as a cautionary business tale for many years to come.

What do you think of the way Chick-fil-A has handled this situation? Do you think it’s wise for businesses to take a stand on controversial social issues? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Photo credits: The Washington Post and Social Fresh

Note: The recent events at Penn State University have shattered the image of the school’s legendary football program and its storied coach Joe Paterno. The impact on the university’s reputation will be felt for years to come and will impact more than athletics. Following is a blog post from one of CRT/tanaka’s summer interns, who gives a college student’s perspective on the situation.

The NCAA’s stiff sanctions imposed on Penn State’s football program on Monday are a clear indication of the governing body’s disapproval of the cover up of child sex abuse allegations at all levels of the university for many years. If you’ve somehow missed the almost yearlong uncovering of allegations, charges and conviction of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, here’s a timeline of the events as they unraveled at Penn State.

On June 22, a jury convicted Sandusky of 45 counts of sexual assault involving 10 boys over 15 years. An FBI investigation released a few weeks later revealed that top Penn State officials, including legendary football coach Joe Paterno, as well as other coaches, janitors, psychologists and campus police were aware of the allegations against Sandusky. This report was the most damaging piece of evidence to the university’s reputation, credibility and integrity, as it demonstrates the administration was aware of the incidents, but failed to take action.

Monday, the NCAA slapped the Penn State football program with sanctions including:

• A ban from bowl games for four years
• The loss of 10 football scholarships per year for four years
• $60 million in fines to benefit a fund for victims of child abuse
• Five years of probation

The scandal and the subsequent sanctions are impacting Penn State well beyond the loss of 40 scholarships over the next four years and the four-year bowl ban. It is destroying (or has destroyed) the football program’s brand and the millions of dollars associated with it. High school coaches and parents, who influence the decisions of high school standouts, will most likely discourage the best young athletes from attending a school plagued by such a horrific scandal. The loss of these high school recruits will have a major impact on the success of the program – measured in wins and losses – for years to come.

But more than the football program will suffer at Penn State. Enrollment at the university as a whole could very well suffer, as fewer freshmen may choose Penn State. In this job-tight economy, high school students may overlook Penn State, not only because of their personal opinions about the school’s recent scandal, but because of fears of how future employers and future graduate schools might perceive a Penn State degree.

Unquestionably, Penn State has gone from having a reputation that focused on high academics, a  student-oriented atmosphere and the famous “WE ARE” mantra, to being known for something they may not be so proud of – lying.

Reputation damages of this magnitude have significant financial implications. The football program is ranked fifth highest of all college programs in the country, with revenues of $72 million. Add to that the $24.1 million in revenue that stem from sponsorships and merchandise sales linked to the football program. Well, you can pretty much kiss that goodbye. When you factor in the $60 million of fines, legal fees estimated in the millions and the potential dollars lost associated with future civil lawsuits, Penn State’s fiscal future starts looking dismal.

So what is next for Penn State? That is a question that goes beyond my knowledge of crisis communications and brand management. Penn State has a rough road ahead, full of nasty potholes in order to rebuild its brand and bottom line.

Even with strong alumni support, I think the Nittany Lions’ culture is forever damaged and may never fully recover from this horrible event.

Photo credit: http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/joe-paterno-statute

Corporate responsibility…corporate social responsibility…cause marketing…cause-related marketing…corporate citizenship…corporate giving…corporate philanthropy…community involvement…community relations.…………….HUH???

Confused? Feeling the slow creep of a migraine setting in? You’re not alone. With so many different terms being used today to represent an array of increasingly important initiatives, it’s easy to get lost in this overwhelming forest of phrases.

Fortunately, one thing is consistent: being a good corporate citizen once a year on Earth Day is no longer enough. A successful and valuable corporate responsibility platform should be a part of your company’s business plan, taking into consideration how you impact not only the environment, but your employees, their families, the community and society-at-large. And underneath the umbrella of corporate responsibility is where you should find cause marketing and the rest of its befuddling friends.

So while definitions may vary, here’s how we define them at CRT/tanaka:

Corporate Responsibility:  There’s a reason why we’ve dropped the word “social” when talking about our corporate responsibility platform: there’s much more to it than the social aspect. Corporate responsibility refers to an organization’s recognizing and taking responsibility for the impact of its activities on stakeholders, society and the environment. Others have begun to drop it as well: you’ll notice that the link to Tiffany & Co.’s platform says “CSR,” but all the copy simply says “Corporate Responsibility.”  

Corporate Citizenship: Refers to the business strategy that shapes the values underpinning a company’s mission and the choices each day made by its executives, managers and employees as they engage with society. Four core principles define the essence of corporate citizenship: minimize harm; maximize benefit; be accountable and responsive to key stakeholders; and, be accountable for financial results. 

Corporate Philanthropy/Corporate Giving: Generally refers to a company’s contributions to non-profit organizations or causes, including monetary contributions, grants, in-kind donations and providing company expertise to address specific needs. The term also is used to describe a company’s overall giving philosophy and activities. 

Community Involvement: A corporation’s community involvement platform is simply a framework for its activities in the community. It provides structure and definition to the priorities and interests specific to that corporation. 

Community Relations: Refers to the various methods companies use to establish and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with the communities in which they operate. Community relations isn’t exclusive to corporate responsibility; it can be a vital part of many marketing efforts, from launching a new product to crisis management and more.

Corporate Volunteerism: Refers to businesses that support, encourage and incentivize employees to take part in volunteer activities in their communities, which can include company-sponsored volunteer projects and programs as well as employees’ individual volunteer experiences that are supported by the company in some manner.

Sustainability: Most people immediately think of environmental sustainability, but business sustainability is just as important. Companies must adhere to sustainable business practices that facilitate growth – without it, there are no means (financial or otherwise) to give back in the first place.

Cause Marketing/Cause-Related Marketing: Possibly the biggest cause for confusion relates to the difference between corporate responsibility and cause marketing. Generally speaking, cause marketing (or cause-related marketing) refers to a marketing approach that links a company, brand or industry with a social issue or cause for mutual benefit. A company’s cause marketing program should complement and support its corporate responsibility platform, not act as a separate entity. And a big differentiator here is the word “marketing,” which is what makes the efforts mutually beneficial to both parties – an important part of cause marketing’s definition. Examples:

• Tying product sales directly to donations, such as the Dawn Saves Wildlife campaign, which donates $1 to wildlife foundations for every bottle purchased.
• Seeking to generate awareness or educate the public about an issue, like Tyson’s Know Hunger campaign.
• Encouraging consumer and/or employee engagement, such as Nature Valley’s Trail View, a microsite dedicated to expanding the brand’s commitment to preserving national parks.

 Note: be sure to choose your partnership carefully, or you could become this year’s “what-not-to-do” example.

So, have you got it all figured out? I’m guessing no – and that’s okay. Because at the end of the day, the terminology is less important than the actual efforts you make. And remember – it’s not just Millennials who expect you to have a corporate responsibility platform. Today’s senior leadership increasingly recognizes the importance of being good corporate citizens. So the way I see it, you can call it whatever you want – as long as you’re doing it, and you’re doing it right.

How has your company, brand, etc. handled the confusions/misconceptions around terms like corporate responsibility or cause marketing? Share your thoughts or questions in the comments below.

Photos: nabeel-ci.blogspot.com, blog.bird-rescue.org.

By Kelly O’Keefe (@kellyokeefe)

It was a rare moment in the history of retail branding. Two giants in the field had come together to forge a new path for a tired old brand. Their approach was well researched and brilliantly executed with flourishes of creative genius. So why has it been such a complete failure?

That’s the question many industry analysts have been asking about the re-launch of the JCPenney brand. On January 26, CEO Ron Johnson, the man behind Apple’s unprecedented retail success, and Michael Francis, the former marketing chief who made Target one of the most valuable brands in retail, stood together onstage to deliver a pitch-perfect presentation on the future of the JCPenney brand.

With a keynote said to channel Steve Jobs, the pair took investors through a case study of their brand re-launch, so well composed that it has already been put to use at graduate marketing programs across the country. Their work was a demonstration that creativity and innovation can be used to remake even the most forgotten brands. But just a few months later, the management team was facing hostile questions from investors, trying to explain one of the biggest declines in sales in the company’s history and a 24 percent drop in the stock’s value in one quarter.

What did these branding giants miss in their blueprint for JCP’s brand revival? The same thing the brand managers at Coca-Cola forgot when they attempted to re-launch their aging brand as “New Coke” in 1985 – that brands are fueled, not only by creativity, but by predictability.

The truth is that for any brand, the most loyal fan is the least likely to appreciate radical change. Logic dictates that after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to encourage shoppers to love the old JCPenney, a wholesale shift might ruffle the feathers of those same shoppers.

But JCP’s makeover was even more jarring than a new look, new merchandise and new advertising. After training the consumer for years to flock to the stores whenever coupons came their way, the company abruptly cut off their coupon program. With the interruption of the coupon’s Pavlovian shopping signals, many shoppers simply stayed home.

Now it’s far from game-over for this intriguing experiment – the company is moving fast to reconnect with loyal fans and clearly communicate its new discount pricing approach – but the lesson remains. Consumers want consistency from their brands and radical change is more likely to destroy brand value than create it.

Coke learned this lesson a long time ago when they changed their formula; Netflix learned it more recently when they attempted to split their company into two, only to do a mea culpa after consumers rebelled and their stock lost half its value. Discount king Walmart learned the same lesson when they scrapped an ill-fated entry into high fashion, their Metro 7 line of clothes that was launched with ads in Vogue magazine. In each case, the company’s changes tampered with the very attributes their consumers had learned to love.

For marketers, the lesson is simple: Evolution works better than revolution when it comes to brands.

Read more about Kelly and CRT/tanaka here.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Of all the sporting events I watch, March Madness has got to be my favorite. I love that every school in the tournament – big and small – has a shot at greatness, at least for “one shining moment.”

I’m a sucker for a good Cinderella story. And I almost always root for the underdog.

As I prepare to watch Kentucky take on Louisville, and Kansas take on Ohio State tomorrow, it reminds me just how much teams have to endure – in such a short period of time – to make it to the Final Four and ultimately to win a national championship. It’s like being in crisis mode.

Which got me thinking, are there crisis management lessons to be learned from March Madness?

I submit to you, my Final Four of crisis management.

1. Prepare for the Opposition. All great coaches know that in order to beat your opponent, you must prepare for your opponent. The same holds true in crisis management. Organizations must identify all the crises they could face and prepare for them accordingly. Unfortunately, far too many organizations neglect their crisis planning in favor of other things. While it can take years to build a reputation, it only takes a few minutes to destroy one. You should never be caught unprepared during a crisis.
2. Quickness Counts. In basketball, quickness counts. It also counts in crisis management. The first 48 hours of any crisis are the most important. The reason many companies fail to manage a crisis properly is because they don’t react quickly, especially with communications. If you don’t communicate quickly during a crisis, a communications void will be created. If you don’t fill it, someone else will. But the information they share may be inaccurate or incomplete. It’s better to say something quickly during a crisis than to say nothing at all. It may be tempting to delay communicating during a crisis by saying “no comment” or just staying silent. All that does is make it easier for the media and the public to assume the worst.
3. Shoot From the Outside. It goes without saying that the three-point shot has revolutionized college basketball. Former Tulane coach Perry Clarks said that the three-point shot has allowed the mid-majors to better compete with the big guys in college basketball, because players who shoot from the outside can often offset the size and athleticism of their bigger opponents. In crisis communications, shooting from the outside means seeking an outsider’s perspective. Internal politics tend to take over during a crisis. Good leaders anticipate internal politics and counter that by bringing in someone from the outside who can look at the issues without bias. The outsider’s role is not to call the shots but to provide counsel and give an organization a perspective that few company insiders can offer.
4. Prepare for the Comeback. A basketball team may be down at the half, and things may look bleak. But there’s always a second half … and an opportunity for the comeback. In business, smart leaders understand that in the midst of crisis, there are always opportunities. Don’t be afraid to seize the moment. Yes, there are risks involved. But the greater the risks, the greater the rewards.

For the record, I’m predicting Louisville to upset Kentucky on Saturday to face Kansas in the Finals. I told you I root for the underdog.

Note: Special thanks to Brian Ellis, CRT/tanaka executive vice president and leader of our crisis consultancy, for helping with this blog post. Read more crisis tips from Brian on the CRT/tanaka website.

 The following article originally appeared in the “Five Tips” section of the Fall 2011 issue of Comunicas: Revista de tendencias en comunicación de Grupo BPMO (Communicate: Review of Trends in Communication) from Spain.

1.       Be Descriptive

In many ways, the best designs – whether for a collateral piece, website or video – are the ones that look effortless.

They hit the mark when it comes to clarity of message, interpreting the brand and connecting with the audience. It all begins with the brief. When constructing the perfect creative brief, be sure that you are as descriptive as possible when providing the most pertinent information for the designer. Some basic questions that the creative brief should answer include: What is the goal of the project? What is the client trying to communicate and why?

2.       Include Project Specifics

Each creative project is different.

While the creative brief shouldn’t completely restrict the creativity of the designer, it should include specifics of the project. For example, is the company logo required for the piece? Is there a specific color palette for this project? Are there fonts that must be used or avoided? Also, include a description of the brand personality, positioning statement, tagline and any other information, such as the web address and phone number. The more specific you can be in the creative brief, the more pleased everyone will be with the product.

3.       Keep the Audience in Mind

 When constructing a creative brief, first and foremost, always keep the intended audience in mind.

Go beyond age and gender and provide demographic and psychographic information. What does the audience already know about your company, product or service? How does the audience currently think, feel and behave in relation to your product, service or company? What unique or focused message should the audience walk away with after reading or seeing the piece? A design piece can be creative, but if it doesn’t connect with the right audience, it’s useless.

4.       Provide a Timeline

From the start, the designer should be aware of pertinent deadlines.

To ensure this, the creative brief should be as explicit as possible with a reasonable timeline. When are the initial creative concepts due? When will revisions be done? At what point will designs be shared with the client? When will the piece be completed? When will the piece be ready for publication or viewing (in the case of advertising), ready for print (for collateral pieces) or uploaded (in the case of websites)?

5.       Explain Measurement Criteria

The last and arguably the most important part of the creative brief should be some criteria for measuring success.

Measurement criteria are not only essential for determining whether or not the creative piece has succeeded, but they also focus the designer to consider how the creative piece is expected to work. Ask yourself, what are the objectives that the design solution will be measured against? These metrics should go beyond sales. They should also include how effectively the piece has captured the brand’s personality and equity.

Here are some links to other articles about writing effective creative briefs related to advertising, PR and logo design:

•  http://www.adcracker.com/brief/Creative_Brief.htm
•  http://breezycreativedesign.com/2010/01/26/10-most-important-questions-to-ask-in-your-client-creative-brief/
•  http://freelanceswitch.com/clients/the-ultimate-design-brief/

Note: Today’s guest Buzz Bin post is written by Gaby Alban, Co-Founder and CEO of Conexión (www.conexionagency.com), a full-service marketing firm specializing in the Hispanic market with offices in Los Angeles and Miami.

By Gaby Alban

What’s one part public relations, one part customer service, one part advertising, one part digital programming and one part marketing genius?

Answer: The perfect social media campaign.

Effective social media campaigns that successfully target Hispanics and deliver solid results are hybrid campaigns requiring a broad range of skills. In fact, the biggest pitfall of such campaigns is that the person or department who developed the idea far too often wields total control over the project, from budget allocations to the delegation of individual tasks. Digital departments may see social media as a reason to build a new app or implement a new tracking system. Marketing views it as an extension of existing ad campaigns and budgets it primarily as a media buy. Customer service departments value the direct customer interaction and assign staffing for rapid response. Most importantly, managers underestimate the challenges of reaching Hispanics in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner in this intimate marketing channel.

Here are 10 Dos and Don’ts for effective Hispanic-targeted social media campaigns:

1. Do divide the jobs of community building and community management

Creating a social media fan base is a different job than maintaining one. The job of creating a vibrant Hispanic online community from scratch requires knowing how to target fans in the appropriate language for each social platform, then advertising and then optimizing to discover what engages them. Once a community is up and running and the social media voice is established, the job becomes more about encouraging existing fans and friends to spread the word to keep the community growing. Make sure you staff each phase appropriately.

 2. Do have a separate community manager

Fans and followers are the building blocks of any social media campaign. A community manager speaks to them in a tone and language that is engaging and keeps their needs and interests at the forefront, fueling their enthusiasm, and thereby encouraging rapid growth of the community. Part customer service representative and part marketer, the community manager monitors and responds to the day-to-day needs and interests of the community, gleaning information that can impact ads, content and timing.

3. Do have a separate content coordinator

If content is king, then content coordination is surely queen. Tweets, Facebook posts, recommendations and comments come from many people in an organization, as well as partners and agencies. Some posts will be in Spanish, some in English, but all of them need to stay “on message” and appear in a timely manner. The full-time job of the content coordinator is that of a good PR manager, keeping everyone on message, keeping them culturally relevant and encouraging participation, all while taking feedback from the community via the community manager to evolve the message.

4. Don’t ignore the value of advertising

Facebook and YouTube users are accustomed to seeing ads that are part of the conversation. Don’t fall into the trap that social media campaigns are exclusively about earned media, while ads are a separate item controlled by marketing. Ads on Facebook grow the fan base and increase fan interaction. Good ads reflect current community interests, inform users of new ideas and keep them connected with their friends’ likes and postings.

5. Do make sure ads are adapted and optimized quickly

Ads are entertainment content in social media. Facebook and YouTube ads need to be fun and encourage participation by new and current fans. Just remember, the ad cycle is quick in this environment, requiring weekly refreshing and optimization.

6. Do respond to fans and customers in appropriate language

It’s extremely important that everyone on your team is speaking the same language in your campaign. Be sure to set a clearly defined voice — whether it is in Spanish or English, formal or informal — for posts. Once your campaign is in motion, be flexible and respond to comments in kind whether people respond in a different tone, language or even Spanglish. Most importantly, be friendly and respond appropriately.

7. Do involve marketing early when developing new apps and technology

When developing new technology apps, customer service and marketing are your best resources, not your programmers! A brilliant but slow-loading application is a waste of money, so trust your team’s connection to the customer when looking for the “next big thing.”

8. Don’t rely too heavily on automated tools to track sentiment, particularly in Spanish or bilingual campaigns

Measurement in social media changes monthly, and there are new tools that promise to automate many jobs, but tracking sentiment in Spanish and bilingual communities is still a job best done by hand. Even in English, understanding context, slang and regional differences is difficult for software. In Spanish, the ability to accurately measure those factors is still a few years away. Using your community manager to understand the true nature of the conversation is your best option and will ultimately determine the value of the intelligence you derive from your campaign.

9. Do define your success metrics at the start so everyone is watching them during the campaign

While social media metrics seem vague in general, avoid relying on arbitrary metrics like total number of fans or followers. The best metrics are based on business objectives. Some good examples are:

• Market research data
• Lead generation or sales
• Usable content, such as comments, posts, tweets or likes for a website or other marketing program
• Increased awareness

These will be more significant in shaping your social media campaigns than the number of fans or followers you acquire. Relying on these business objectives to guide the development of your social media campaigns will help your business achieve real results and a useful ROI.

10. Do make sure the campaign is managed by someone who knows the audience and the platforms being utilized

Social media is made up of fast-moving conversations that are filled with slang, irony, daily events and culture. Make sure the campaign manager has a rock solid understanding of the Hispanic contingent on the platforms being utilized — Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others. A solid foundation in these platforms will allow you to adapt quickly to the changing conversation and use it to reap solid ROI and long-term results. 

Photo from Hispanically Speaking News

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

I admit it. I’m slow to embrace change. The older I get, the more that seems to be true.

Case in point, text messaging. I text. Not because I particularly like it. It’s out of necessity. I have friends and family who refuse to pick up the phone to talk, yet will respond to text messages almost instantaneously.

Which makes me wonder, is the old-fashioned phone call becoming a dinosaur?

Not yet, but it could be heading that way.

According to a study released in September by the Pew Research Center, nearly three out of four Americans send text messages, and among those who do, 31 percent prefer texting to talking.

Not surprising, young adults are the biggest “texters.” The study states that cell phone owners between 18 and 24 exchange an average of 110 text messages a day, which works out to more than 3,200 texts in a given month.

Free Texting Coming to a Phone Near You

The one drawback to text messaging has been price, with wireless carriers still charging up to 20 cents to send a text message and another 20 cents to receive it. But even that could soon become a thing of the past.

“There are now a growing number of ways to bypass text-message charges using an Internet connection — much as Skype allows people to make calls without relying on a traditional telephone line. If these services catch on in a big way, analysts say, they could take a big bite out of the profits that text messages generate for wireless carriers,” The New York Times reports.

The launch of Apple’s new iMessage will allow iPhone users to send messages with text, photos and video to other iPhone owners over a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection. The service, part of an update to Apple’s iOS mobile operating system, will automatically handle messages sent between iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users who have upgraded to the latest software free of charge.

The Apple Insider calls iMessage Apple’s answer to the popular Blackberry Messenger (BBM) application that allows BlackBerry users to instant message each other.

Samsung and Google also are reportedly working on similar services that would allow Android users to communicate via free messages instead of pricier SMS texts. Meanwhile, Microsoft is said to be readying its own instant messaging system for the Windows Phone platform, according to Apple Insider.

The Pitfalls of Texting  

While the ability to text more without added charges is a good thing, we should still remember the pitfalls of texting.

Texting – or emailing – while driving slows reaction time and makes drivers more likely to miss a flashing light, according to new research from Texas A&M University’s Texas Transportation Institute.

In the study, 42 drivers between the ages of 16 and 54 drove on an 11-mile test course while sending or receiving text messages, and again while focusing completely on the road. The researchers asked the drivers to stop when they saw a flashing yellow light and recorded their reaction time.

The typical reaction time without texting was between one and two seconds, but while texting it increased to three to four seconds, regardless of whether the driver was typing or reading a text. The researchers also found that a texting driver was 11 times more likely to miss the flashing light.

The Loss of Interpersonal Connections

Don’t get me wrong. Texting is good. It’s convenient. And it isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

But I do wonder about this upcoming generation of kids I see with heads down and fingers feverishly texting away almost constantly.

Are they losing some interpersonal communications skills? If so, how will this impact them in the future, particularly in the workplace?

Only time will tell.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (wilson0507)

With the start of the fall semester upon us, I’ve started receiving invitations from local colleges and universities asking me to speak to some of their PR classes about what I do and how I do it. Inevitably, I’ll receive questions from eager, young PR minds about social media and public relations.

I’ll talk about how social media has completely revolutionized the public relations industry. And inevitably, I’ll share cautionary tales of the “dark side” of social media, recounting countless incidences of PR upstarts who have not gotten jobs or lost their jobs because of what they’ve posted on Facebook and Twitter.

“With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”

Social media can be wonderful and powerful communications tools. But like most great tools, social media also can be abused. I usually offer some simple – if not obvious – advice to young people about using social media in the workplace, such as:

• It’s okay to have pictures of yourself on Facebook having a good time with your friends. It’s not okay to have pictures of yourself on Facebook in a near-alcoholic coma after the big game.
• If you’re lucky enough to land a job in PR, don’t sit at your desk all day complaining of being bored at work or lamenting about what idiots your bosses, co-workers and clients are.
• While we live in a free country, and you have the right to voice your opinions openly, be mindful and tactful of posts and tweets expressing your political and religious views or views on other controversial topics. You never know how your rantings will be taken by your colleagues.
• And if you can’t help but post outrageous photos or say outrageous things on social networking sites, think before you decide to “friend” your supervisors and co-workers in the first place.

The issues surrounding social media and the workplace aren’t just germane to public relations. Many other professions are grappling with how to deal with employees’ comments on social media networks.

Doctors, Teachers and Facebook

Take doctors for example. In July, the British Medical Association issued new guidance to physicians advising them not to “friend” current or former patients on Facebook. The BMA’s recommendation is primarily targeted at protecting physicians from having their personal information accessed, thus possibly compromising the physician-patient relationship. At the same time, the BMA thinks it’s best that doctors also avoid getting too involved in their patients’ personal lives. The American Medical Association’s policy on Professionalism on the Use of Social Media doesn’t go as far as to say “don’t friend,” but it does warn physicians to use caution when posting and sharing information online.

Online relationships between teachers and students can be even trickier. The State of Missouri tried to enact a statewide law that would ban teachers from directly communicating with students on sites such as Facebook. The law, which aimed to protect students from sexual abuse, prohibited teachers from having accounts on Facebook or other social networking sites that allow “exclusive access” with students. A state judge struck down the law this week after the Missouri Teachers Association filed suit to have the law declared unconstitutional, arguing that the law violated their First Amendment rights to free speech.

Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem issued an injunction banning the state from enforcing the new law for at least 180 days. In his ruling, Beetem declared that “social networking is extensively used by educators,” adding that the law is so far-reaching that it “clearly prohibits communications between family members and their teacher-parents using these types of sites.”

Not a Cut-and-Dry Issue

And yet, for many companies, regulating employees’ use of social media or terminating them for violating company policies may not be as simple as it seems. Companies need to carefully consider whether they’re breaking the law by firing someone over his or her use of social media, according to a recent analysis by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of 129 charges recently filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) involving social media and the workplace.

“The issues most commonly raised in the cases before the Board allege that an employer has overbroad policies restricting employees use of social media or that an employer unlawfully discharged or disciplined one or more employees over contents of social media posts,” according to the Chamber.

According to the analysis, employees have been reprimanded or terminated for posts they’ve made on social networking sites related to wages, firing of co-workers and disparaging comments about their company and its management.

“A Brave New World”

The NLRB has only just begun to address these issues. As the Chamber notes, it’s hard to speculate as to how the NLRB will rule as these cases develop and whether those decisions will withstand judicial scrutiny.

In any case, for employees, it’s always best to air on the side of good judgment. What’s posted on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites can have lasting ramifications. So think before you “tweet” … and post.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

It seems that every few months there is a new social media darling that becomes all the rage. Right now, it’s Google+. While folks are starting to set up Google+ “circles,” there has been another social media player that has stealthily been invading my Facebook newsfeed.

Slowly and steadily many of my Facebook friends have begun asking me to BranchOut. Launched about a year ago, BranchOut is a professional social network that allows you to find jobs through your friends on Facebook.

“BranchOut’s Facebook app lets you search for companies and then shows you all your friends who either work there or know somebody who does. The application does what LinkedIn hasn’t done with Facebook – it unlocks the massive amounts of career data about your social graph on the world’s largest social network that was just impossible to get to before,” according to TechCruch.

But does BranchOut have the muscle to take on Linkedin – with its 100 million users – and make a name for itself in a crowded social media landscape?

Several investors seem to think so.

BranchOut recently raised $18 million in Series B funding led by Redpoint Ventures with Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Floodgate also participating in the round. This investment brings BranchOut’s total funding to $24 million.

If You Build It, They Will Come

But it’s not just investors flocking to BranchOut. It now has more than 3 million jobs listing, including 20,000 internship opportunities, and 3 million users, according to Rick Marini, founder and CEO of BranchOut.

But long term, the verdict is still out on whether people will want to mix their business and personal networks.

“If BranchOut can overcome this concern, it could become a viable alternative for those who are comfortable using Facebook for professional networking or don’t want to build a new professional network on LinkedIn,” reports Forbes.

And don’t think LinkedIn is taking this new threat lightly. Once, LinkedIn was criticized for being too static. For most users – like me – it was a place to maintain a resume and view other users’ resumes. But that was it.

But the company extended its offerings to better engage its users, most notably with the runaway success of LinkedIn Groups in August 2008 and more recently the launch of LinkedIn Daily in March of this year. The user base interacts more frequently on LinkedIn now, reports ere.net.

LinkedIn is so confident in its future, that it launched an initial public offering (IPO) in mid-May, where its shares jumped 80 percent. So far, so good. It’s stock was trading at $95.52 yesterday.

Besides trying to take on the well-established LinkedIn, another issue that BranchOut – and all the other new social networks face – may be “social media fatigue” from users. Personally, it can get pretty time-consuming having to update my status and create posts on so many different platforms.

Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. YouTube. Foursquare. Now Google+. The list goes on and on. Do we have time for BranchOut, too?

Marini is optimistic.

“LinkedIn is a great service. [BrandOut is] addressing a different market. LinkedIn tends to have the top 10 percent, white collar, managerial roles. We’re trying to address everyone else. The other 90 percent. The college students. The hourly and temporary workers. Nurses. Teachers. Fireman. Military coming back and getting into the workforce,” Marini told ABC News. “We’re trying to address a market that really has never been spoken to before. All of these users aren’t on LinkedIn. They’re on Facebook. And we have the ability to give them a professional voice on Facebook.”

In the end, BranchOut isn’t focusing on fun and games. It’s about networking and getting jobs. And in this economy, that might just be the hook to make it a hit.

By Natalie Smith, APR

Does “giving back” get you anything back?

This is the question that often plagues companies as they establish and build their corporate social responsibility (CSR) platforms. Inevitably, battle lines are drawn not only over whether or not giving back provides a good return on investment, but over how to measure to determine whether ROI exists.

The liberal-leaning side of me would like to think that companies give back to the community because it’s simply the right thing to do. But I’ve been in business long enough now to know that’s not the case – and in fact, I’ve come to believe that it shouldn’t be. There is a long, long list of needs in this world and as much as we’d like to help resolve them all, we can’t. We have to choose – and as businesses, our decisions should be smart, make sense to our stakeholders (including our employees) and should support the other parts of the business that we work so hard to build.

Let’s start with the measuring (more on choosing later). Measuring ROI on CSR can range from basic and surface to very complex, depending on the importance to the company and the resources it is willing to commit to measurement. On the minimal end, companies can choose to measure outputs generated by CSR activities, such as the number of dollars donated or volunteer hours logged. Admittedly, this approach doesn’t actually tell you the return on that investment, but it at least lets companies understand what they are contributing – something a surprising number of businesses don’t bother to track.

Companies willing to put more time and resources into measurement may choose to measure outcomes in areas that have more direct impact on the business or the activity, This could include increases in customer satisfaction, employee morale or referrals,  or favorable media coverage or social media sentiment.

Metric-driven companies with strong, long-standing CSR programs often choose to take measurement even further by examining the social return on investment (SROI), which analyzes the effectiveness of CSR programs. In general, these models lead companies through a process of establishing inputs (what the company will invest), measuring outputs resulting from the investment and measuring outcomes (changes that have occurred over a longer period of time) to determine the overall impact of its investments (outcomes minus an estimate of what would have happened anyway). The London Business School recommends this approach, while Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship and the University of California/Berkeley Haas School of Business also provide sound advice on measurement.

Whether your CSR measurement efforts are simple or detailed, don’t forget to take that most-important first step: make sure your CSR program has clear objectives that align with the company’s business goals, brand and culture. Failure to do so leads not only to wasted time and money but to a disconnect between your well-intentioned efforts and your internal and external stakeholders. And that’s definitely a bad investment.

By Christian Munson

Last week, we tapped the economic recovery brakes big time.

Unemployment ticked up to 9.1 percent. Manufacturing stalled, home prices slumped and Congressman Anthony Weiner reaffirmed the public’s confidence in our elected leadership when he tweeted his own stimulus package.

As recovery screeched, however, one of my colleagues pointed me to a recent survey from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (one of our firm’s clients) that indicates not everyone sees doom and gloom at the next exit.

AASCU represents nearly 420 public colleges and universities around the country in communities large and small. Member institutions, such as the University of Central Florida, Wayne State College in Nebraska and Eastern Oregon University, share a “learning- and teaching-centered culture” dedicated to providing access and opportunity to underserved student populations. For the most part, they are not national research or football powerhouses, but they’re critical growth engines in the communities they serve – providing jobs, developing workforce skills and advancing local economies.

Their presidents are voicing some optimism.

Sixty percent of college presidents surveyed said they expect to see job growth within the community served by their institution over the next 12 months, and 63 percent believe their regional economies also will see growth.

AASCU institutions also are often strong shelters from economic storms. Seventy-one percent of presidents surveyed said their institution was among their community’s top five employers (84 percent said they were among the top 10). And, based on their schools’ economic impact statements, AASCU presidents report an average local dollar impact of more than $533 million.

And behind the immediate swirl of current economic data, AASCU institutions are making contributions to tomorrow’s economic wellbeing. Ninety percent of presidents report that their school provides training and educational opportunities to community residents who are not necessarily traditional students, helping local people learn new skills and pursue new options. Ninety-six percent of presidents report taking roles to improve K-12 educational infrastructure and student outcomes within their communities.

For a PR guy dialed into national headlines, reviewing AASCU’s findings last week was refreshing. Many college presidents are expressing optimism, and they are seeing to it that their institutions play a leading role in moving their local communities forward.

More power to them.

Anyone else see rays of light out there? Gene Marks over at Forbes doesn’t think things are as bad as they may seem. What about you?

For more on the AASCU survey, click here.

Photo credit: Rick Monk via Flickr

 

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Over the past several weeks, there have been several reports indicating that Americans are working more and are more stressed than ever.

A report released this past week by Expedia.com stated that the average American worker earned 18 vacation days in 2010, but only used 14 of them. Conversely, workers in France got 37 vacation days and used 35, while the average worker in Great Britain received 28 vacation days and took 25.

Altogether, Americans gave up 448 million earned but unused vacation days in 2010, equaling $67.5 billion worth of unused time.

Couple that with another recent report by CareerCast that proclaimed public relations officer as the second most stressed profession in the U.S., and that leads me to believe there are a lot of stressed-out PR professionals out there.

“This highly competitive field and tight deadlines keep stress at high-levels for [PR] specialists,” according to CareerCast.

Note the irony that this blog was completed at midnight, because there wasn’t time to finish it earlier!

By no means does PR have the monopoly on stress in the workplace. In these recessionary times – where corporate culture is demanding that we do more with less – the need for greater work-life balance could be a national epidemic.

Joe Robinson, work-life trainer, speaker and author, calls work stress “a national health tragedy that is all but invisible, hidden behind the game face of workers who have been trained to take it in silence, part of the mettle-testing battleground of the bravado workplace.”

But it’s about more than just mental health. Johnson contends that stress at work is having profound physical effects on employees. Robinson writes that more than three-quarters of the 956 million visits to physicians each year are estimated to be the result of stress-related problems.

Wasn’t technology supposed to make our work-life easier? Instead, technology may be contributing to our 24/7, workaholic culture. With smartphones, iPads, laptops and a plethora of social media channels at our finger tips, we are now more connected to work than ever before.

So what is a stressed-out worker to do? Here are a few tips from WebMD and the Mayo Clinic to create better work-life balance.

Build downtime into your schedule. Track everything you do for one week, including work-related and personal activities. Decide what’s necessary and what satisfies you the most. Cut or delegate activities you can’t handle. Make it a point to schedule time with your family and friends and activities that help you recharge. If a date night with your spouse or a softball game with friends is on your calendar, you’ll have something to look forward to and an extra incentive to manage your time well so you don’t have to cancel.  

Take advantage of your work options. Ask your employer about flex hours, a compressed work week, job sharing, telecommuting or other scheduling flexibility. The more control you have over your hours, the less stressed you’re likely to be. The PR agency where I work, CRT/tanaka, was founded on a set of Nine Shared Values – one of them being, “Keep a balance between family and work.” That has allowed our company to offer many of the flexible work options the experts recommend, including part-time employement, flexible work schedules and telecommuting options. All of this has helped increased employee productivity and allowed us to keep valuable employees on staff.

Learn to say no. Whether it’s a co-worker asking you to spearhead an extra project or your child’s teacher asking you to manage the class field trip, remember that it’ totally accepted to respectfully say no. When you quit doing the things you do only out of guilt or a false sense of obligation, you’ll make more room in your life for the activities that are meaningful to you and bring you joy.

Get moving. It’s hard to make time for exercise when you have a jam-packed schedule, but experts say that it may ultimately help you get more done by boosting your energy level and ability to concentrate.

Leave work at work. This is easier said than done. With the technology to connect to anyone at any time from virtually anywhere, there may be no boundary between work and home — unless you create it. Make a conscious decision to separate work time from personal time. When you’re with your family, for instance, turn off your smart phone, put away your laptop and leave the social media behind. Those work emails aren’t going anywhere.

Remember that a little relaxation goes a long way. Don’t get overwhelmed by assuming that you need to make big changes to bring more balance to your life. Set realistic goals, like trying to leave the office earlier one night per week. Even during a hectic day, you can take 10 or 15 minutes to do something that will recharge your batteries, such as going for a walk or listening to music.

Remember that creating greater work-life balance is a marathon, not a sprint. It won’t happen overnight. It will take a concerted effort, but in the end, greater balance creates happier and more fulfilled employees.

THE BOOZE BIN

By Brian Ellis (@onegator)

I consider myself a fan of the booze business having cut my teeth in the liquor world right out of college as a liquor store manager. Great job for a recent college grad by the way! Having built a new bar in my house recently, I tasked myself with stocking the shelves with only the finest. Not to give away my age, but back in my liquor store days I could count on one hand the number of premium brands on the shelf and most were collecting dust.

Yet while on my recent bar stocking excursion, I was blown away by how much the top shelf has changed. Perhaps I’ve been on cruise control to the bourbon section all these years but for crying out loud, it’s getting confusing out there. As a marketer I understand the value of launching new products and brand extensions so I started contemplating if our tastes had really change over time and could these new premium brands unseat the established icons I had come to admire.

Certainly my insider’s perspective of the premium brand category could not be wrong! My search led me to MSNBC, where I stumbled upon a recent study conducted by the Luxury Institute on premium brand preferences. They asked 1,771 Americans with an average net worth of $4.3 million (not the 21-year- old set) to rate wine and liquor brands based on quality, uniqueness and exclusivity. Most I had heard of but several were new to me. So I dug a little deeper to see how new this next generation of high-end brands had achieved the unthinkable.

To make this fun, I listed the top brands identified in the study within each category, but I’ve mixed up the dates when the brand was first launched. First try to pair the dates with the appropriate brand then move on to the second half of the post.
Bourbon Woodford Reserve 1989
Scotch The Macallan 1794
Vodka Grey Goose 1996
Gin Bombay Saphire 1824
Rum 10 Cane 1997
Tequila Patron 2005
Champagne Dom Perignon 1885
Wine Far Niente 1987
Cognac Grand Marnier 1880

To my surprise, only two of my top brands had survived the battle. Two I had never heard of and the others had been replaced by new entries into the category. Three hit store shelves between 1986 and 1989 (clearly a vintage period for premium brands). Perhaps my biggest shock was in the rum category where a relative new comer had claimed the top spot. In six years, 10 Cane had pushed aside a host of more senior players to take the prize.

While I’m sure Bacardi is still cleaning 10 Cane’s clock in total sales, it does demonstrate that well established brands can become vulnerable if they rest on their laurels. By the way, below you will find the correct answers to my little quiz. I leave you with this one piece of wisdom, no matter your favorite brand; it’s always best when shared with friends and savored responsibly. Cheers!

ANSWERS: Woodford Reserve 1996; The Macallan 1824; Grey Goose 1997; Bombay Saphire 1987, 10 Cane 2005, Patron 1989; Dom Perignon 1794; Far Niente 1885; Grand Marnier 1880.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Last night, Tina Fey and the gang at “30 Rock” celebrated the show’s 100^th episode. The episode was full of the standard anniversary clip montages and the ubiquitous lineup of guest stars including Michael Keaton, Rachel Ray, Matt Lauer, Brian Williams, Tom Hanks and Dean Winters, the actor who stars as Mayhem in the cool series of Allstate commercials and formerly of “Oz” and “Law & Order SVU” fame.

It was a pretty good episode, which got me to thinking, why do we place such emphasis on anniversaries and other milestones?

Art Markman, Ph.D., a cognitive scientist at the University of Texas, says that we impose a psychological order on the world using numbers that doesn’t really exist.

“Numbers are a mathematical construct,” Markman writes. “Yet, our perception of numbers is affected by our experience with them.”

He goes on to say that focusing on round numbers gives us a reason to mark landmarks in our lives by those numbers.

“We measure the performance of new Presidents by the activity in their first 100 days in office. We go to class reunions after 10, 20 or 25 years. In fact, many of the days, weeks and years in between landmarks may feel like a blur,” according to Markman. “We mark landmarks in time like birthdays and anniversaries as a way of remembering what we have done in that time period. They make the passing months and years more memorable.”

Given that we inherently find comfort in round numbers, it makes since that major numerical milestones, such as 25^th, 50^th or 100^th anniversaries can be important occasions for reflection and celebration for companies and other organizations.

My agency, CRT/tanaka, has considerable experience helping companies and organizations make the most out of anniversaries. We helped Mount Rushmore commemorate its 50^th anniversary in 1991 and the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ historic first flight in 2003. We even helped Eskimo Pie celebrate the brand’s 75^th anniversary in 1996. Currently, we’re working with the Council of Better Business Bureaus to mark the organization’s 100^th anniversary in 2012.

So what are some of the rules for making the most of corporate or organizational anniversaries? Here are five simple tips to consider.

1. Tie the anniversary to business goals. While milestone anniversaries can be wonderful opportunities to throw a great party for employees and other stakeholders, companies also should use the anniversary as a chance to re-enforce strategic business goals and objectives. Announce future growth plans or new initiatives. Carefully plan what strategic messages about the company will be conveyed in anniversary celebrations.

2. There is no substitute for meticulous planning. As the old adage goes, “the devil is in the details.” Planning for a major anniversary takes time. Some companies begin planning a year or two in advance. Remember that anniversaries are pretty commonplace. Everybody has one. So when planning, consider the types of corporate stories, information and events that will capture the attention and interest of the media in order to generate positive media coverage and engage stakeholders. Often, companies will tie anniversary celebrations to cause-marketing efforts, as an extension of their overall corporate social responsibility initiatives.

For example, as Eskimo Pie approached its 75^th anniversary, CRT/tanaka helped promote the company through a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. CRT/tanaka orchestrated a formal donation of more than 500 items to the Smithsonian amid a news conference and ceremony that became part of an exhibit on the history of ice cream titled “America’s Romance with Ice Cream.” Along with garnering major national media coverage, an estimated 10,000 people visited the National Museum of American History the day of the event. The Smithsonian requested that the Eskimo Pie artifacts be made a permanent addition to its archive collection, thus sealing Eskimo Pie’s place in history.

3. Don’t think of the anniversary celebration as just one day. Use the anniversary as an opportunity to plan commemorative events throughout the year. For the Centennial of Flight celebration, we used the year leading up to the actual anniversary to plan and promote events across the country. The actual Centennial celebration – which included a reenactment of the Wright brothers’ first flight in Kill Devil Hills, N.C. – was used as the culminating event of a year of celebrations.

4. Carefully consider appropriate commemorative marketing material for the anniversary. Is it feasible and cost effective to create a special anniversary logo to be used on all marketing material throughout the year? The commemorative logo should adhere to the already-established brand standards of the organization, and if possible, incorporate the existing logo into it. This anniversary logo can be used on collateral material, the company’s website and other commemorative items and gifts. The logo also should be incorporated into any company advertisement throughout the year. Some company’s even commission books or documentaries to commemorate significant anniversaries.

5. Money is an object. It’s very easy to get caught up in planning anniversary events and thinking of elaborate gifts for employees, investors and other stakeholders. Establish an anniversary budget as part of the planning process and stick to it. Remember tip #1 and make sure that everything planned and all expenditures allocated for the anniversary re-enforce strategic business goals and objectives.

When planning milestone anniversaries, it’s okay to celebrate and commemorate, but remember that an anniversary is just as much about the future of your organization as it is the past.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

If you live in Richmond, Va., – or know someone from here – it’s evident that the place has been caught up this week in a haze of excitement about Virginia Commonwealth University’s improbable berth in the NCAA Final Four.

Tuesday night, as I was watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, he did a “Pros and Cons” bit about “playing basketball for VCU.” I immediately went to Facebook and posted a comment about the fact that Richmond has arrived because our team was mentioned on Late Night.

The clip also was posted on Late Night’s website, which has been passed around the Internet. That reminded me just how social media savvy Jimmy Fallon’s show is. Mashable proclaims Fallon as one of the first talk show hosts to take social media seriously.

Are there lessons that businesses can learn from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon? Consider the following.

Engage stakeholders in online conversations.

Fallon is a master at starting a bit on his show, then involving the show’s audience via social media. Probably the best example of this is his weekly use of Twitter hashtags. He gives a topic on Tuesday night then asks the viewing audience to Tweet responses the following day. He then reads the best ones on the air Wednesday night. In honor of April Fool’s Day, this week’s hashtag was #bestprankever. Regularly, Fallon’s Twitter topics trend worldwide.

For businesses, the application is simple – use social media for what it was created for – to engage people in dialogue and build relationships. Too often, businesses merely throw out factoids on Twitter with links to news releases instead of using Twitter to really get to know their followers and engage with them.

Don’t stick all your eggs in one social media basket.

Businesses shouldn’t be afraid to try multiple social media outlets in concert. Fallon has mastered the art of using just about every social media avenue at his disposal.

“From Late Night hashtags to viral video mashups, to LNJF, a mobile app featuring clips and joke-apps, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has staked its ground as a tech-friendly kind of show,” according to Mashable.

Another great regular bit is “Remix-the-Clips,” a segment where Late Night band leader, Questlove from The Roots, mashes together viral videos to form a song.

Using Social Media for Social Good.

Smart businesses know that social media has become an important competent of cause-related marketing and corporate social responsibility. Late Night gets that too. Also this week, fellow late-night host Stephen Colbert, Jimmy’s BFFSM (best friend for six months), donated $26,000 to the DonorsChoose charity and also pledged that Fallon would do the same – supposedly without Fallon’s knowledge. So Fallon – claiming not to have the money to pay – once again enlisted the help of his audience to go online and help raise funds. Fans raised more than $50,000 and tonight, Colbert has to perform Rebecca Black’s “Friday” on Late Night with The Roots. It’s all good fun for a good cause.

So, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon may be in the business of comedy, but they take their social media seriously. The business world can learn a thing or two from them.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

About this time of the year, our agency, CRT/tanaka, gets inundated with resumes from eager, young college students inquiring about internship opportunities and entry-level positions. Because of the economic downtown over the past few years, the outlook for new college graduates hasn’t been very good, which certainly includes jobs in public relations.

But signs of change and economic recovery seem to be in the air. I’m noticing more listing for jobs in PR at all levels. And recent research seems to support that assertion. A December 2010 article in U.S. News & World Report listed public relations as one of the top 50 careers for 2011. The article predicts that employment of public relations specialists is expected to increase by more than 66,000 jobs, or 24 percent, between 2008 and 2018, according to the Labor Department.

With that optimistic news in mind, I thought now was a good time to reprieve my 15 tips for college students hoping to land their first job in PR, which I share when I speak at universities, particularly with students involved in PRSSA.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and the things included on the list are not rocket science. Hopefully, they offer a little insight to PR students about how they can stand out in a crowded job market. Here goes:

1.  Get Internship Experience. Nothing is more impressive on a resume than experience. Get valuable internship experience while you are in college, and be willing to take an internship after graduation. It could lead to a full-time position.
2.  Volunteer. Along with internships at corporations and PR agencies, consider interning or volunteering for non-profits. These organizations always need help, which offers interns great opportunities to get hands-on experience. While many non-profits may only offer unpaid internships, the experience you gain will pay dividends in your career.
3. Write, Write and Write Some More. Most employers in PR place a premium on strong writing skills. Find every opportunity to add writing samples to your portfolio. Join the student newspaper. Create a newsletter for a student organization or non-profit. Practice writing emails flawlessly. And get to know the AP Stylebook like the back of your hand.
4. Proof Your Material. Make sure that your resume, cover letter and supporting material are error free. If you aren’t the best proofer in the world, have someone review your material who is.
5.  Network. Attend local PRSA, AMA, IABC, Social Media Club and even Advertising Federation meetings. Join your college’s young alumni and/or alumni association, and utilize professional social networking sites such as LinkedIn. You never know when or where a job opportunity might present itself.
6. Ask for Informational Interviews. Ask for informational interviews at companies where you think you’d like to work or that you want to learn more about. The company might not be hiring now, but could be two weeks from now. If you’ve made a good impression, they’re likely to remember you for the job. Or, they can refer you to others who might have a position that is a good fit for you.
7. Do Your Homework. Research the PR opportunities in the area where you want to work. Pay close attention to the work environments (agency, corporate, government, non-profit, etc.) and the type of work you will be asked to do as an entry-level employee to make sure your skills and interests match the job requirements. Understand the company’s products, services and breadth of work. Integrate this knowledge into your cover letter and interview whenever possible.
8.  Customize Your Resume. Present your experience in a way that is tailored to each job opportunity. Demonstrate to prospective employers how you would be an asset to their company and their PR team.
9. Show Your Passion. Make yourself stand out from the crowd by demonstrating the passion and personal dedication you have for the specific type of PR for which you are interested. Also articulate your desire to learn and grow. Sincere interest and passion for your work can help make up for a lack of experience.
10. Ask Questions. You should never be afraid to ask questions while interviewing. It shows you are interested and want to learn as much as possible about the prospective company. Ask questions, even if you think you know the answers.
11. Be Willing to Relocate. You might have to leave town to find that dream job – or any job – in this economy.
12. Be Flexible. Your first PR job may not be your dream job, but look at it as an opportunity to gain valuable, real-world experience. 
13. Create a Support System. To land internships and that first PR job, professors and guidance counselors can serve as great references and help guide you down the right career path. Also, rely on friends and classmates in your job search and share leads with one another. A classmate may already have a position in the company you want to work for, and may be able to provide valuable insight and a way to get in the door.
14. Embrace Social Media. With PR 2.0 and the increasing importance of social media, it’s essential that you have a grasp on new technologies and trends in this space. Increasingly, companies expect you to have experience and an understanding of social media – in fact it’s almost a job requirement for entry-level positions these days. Your knowledge of tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, online communities, etc. will help demonstrate your worth to your prospective employer.
15. Send “Thank You” Notes. Don’t forget the lost art of writing “thank you” notes. If a prospective employer has taken the time to interview you, take the time to send a “thank you” note or email to express your genuine interest in working for that company.

 While the job market is tough right now, it’s not impossible to land that first job in PR. It will require some perseverance and patience. Hopefully, these 15 tips will help with that job search.

Are there any other great tips to add to our list?

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

I love to cook. I would never describe myself as a “foodie,” but I enjoy cooking. I find it mildly therapeutic.  After a long and stressful day at work, I enjoy going home and whipping up a tasty meal. On weekends, when I have more time, I enjoy cracking open a few cookbooks and planning out a few meals, then heading down to my favorite grocery store for my weekly shopping.

In these belt-tightening economic times, cooking is more than a hobby, it’s a necessity.

 To reiterate, I’m a guy. I like to cook. And I like to grocery shop. And apparently, I’m not alone.

A Yahoo! study I read about a few weeks ago found that 51 percent of men surveyed now identify themselves as the primary grocery shoppers in their households. The study – based on interviews of 2,400 U.S. men ages 18 to 64 – contends that dads in particular are roaming the aisles of America’s grocery stores, with about 60 percent of them identifying themselves as their household’s decision maker on packaged goods, health, pet and clothing purchases.

The Yahoo! study also indicates that men are avid information seekers, and they conduct much of their product research online. For men, product review sites and ads were the top two online resources for finding out about products and services. And much of the information men researched online related closely to home life.

According to a June 2010 Kelton Research study, the top three topics men research online are technology (60 percent), food or cooking (55 percent) and how to build, repair or care for things in the home (53 percent).

For decades, conventional marketing wisdom has relied on the fact that grocery stores and most other shopping destinations are the domains of women. But men’s changing roles in society may be calling some of that conventional wisdom into question.

“The Great Recession has thrown millions of men in construction, manufacturing and other traditionally male occupations out of work and by extension into more domestic duties. At the same time, gender roles were already changing anyway, with Gen X and millennial men in particular more likely to take an active role in parenting and household duties,” according to an Ad Age article.

Anecdotally, I know tons of Gen X and millennial dads who see themselves as equal partners with their wives when it comes to taking care of household duties and childrearing. Couple that with the number of single men, who are taking longer to get married, and divorced men, who must now take care of households on their own, it’s no wonder more than half of men surveyed consider themselves the primary grocery shoppers.

With so many men professing to be their household’s primary grocery shopper, why do marketers continue to marginalize us? According to Yahoo!, only 22-24 percent of men surveyed felt that advertising in packaged goods, pet supplies or clothing speaks to them.

For marketers, some of it is out of habit. Some of it is laziness. The Monday following the Super Bowl, the “Today Show” had advertising executive Donny Deutsch on reviewing the advertising winners and losers from the Big Game. In an almost throwaway comment, he mentioned how some of the ads continue to portray men – particularly young men – as hapless buffoons or the punch line.

Perhaps it’s because marketers may not be buying that men are spending more time in supermarkets and department stores, or perhaps men weren’t completely truthful in the survey when it comes to their roles in the home.

Lauren Weinberg, director-research and insights for Yahoo!, acknowledges that could be possible. But she said the fact that so many men now see themselves as primary grocery shoppers not only reflects real societal shifts but also means any stigma once attached to men as shoppers is fading fast.

In the immortal words of Bob Dylan, “The times they are a-changin’.” It’s time for marketers to change too.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Last year, I celebrated my 10^th anniversary with my agency, CRT/tanaka. I was hired as a member of our then-Tech Practice, right at the height of the dot-com bubble. It was a heady time for PR. In many ways, we were meandering through an unchartered territory – much like the Old West – where the normal rules of engagement, business practices and marketing didn’t necessarily apply.

It was during that period that I was introduced to vaporware – a word that I grew to despise, because for me, vaporware was synonymous with “nothing.” In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many tech companies spent far more time, money and energy promoting and selling products than actually creating them.

Companies were forming and issuing IPOs at lightning speed on little more than a wing and a prayer, certainly not based on solid business plans.  And like a lot of PR firms, we went along for the ride. Fortunately, our agency has always been diversified, so we didn’t lose our collective shirts the way many tech-focused PR firms did when so many dot-com clients went belly up.

When the tech bubble burst, it burst hard, leaving a long line of casualties in its wake.

Fast forward a decade. Today’s dot-com bubble is being fueled, in large part, by the social media giants. Take Facebook. It’s been widely reported this week that the company has been valued at $50 billion, thanks to recent influxes of cash ($500 million to be exact) from Goldman Sachs and Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies.

Almost as astonishing is the recent news that Groupon, a two-year old “social coupon” site, recently rejected a $6 billion takeover bid from Google. Twitter also raised $200 million from investors, giving the company a valuation of nearly $4 billion.

Just yesterday, it was reported that LinkedIn could make an initial stock offering in the first three months of the year. The size of the offering is not known yet, but it is expected to be small relative to the company’s value. LinkedIn’s implied value on the private trading marketplace SharesPost is $2.2 billion.

With so much money flowing to Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media companies, are we headed for another dot-com bust?

Perhaps.

“If history is any indication, it seems most of the elements that shaped the 2000 dot-com bubble are present and accounted for in the current environment, including but not limited to, rapidly increasing valuation, market over-confidence and speculation, and excess liquidity,” writes Dian L. Chu of Daily Markets.

But there are some marked differences between 2000 and 2011. This year’s tech bubble is different because – for right now at least – all the major players involved are private and don’t seem to be in any hurry to go public with the exception of LinkedIn.

GigaON’s Matthew Ingram writes, “There have been no moon-shot public IPOs that flame out within days or weeks, no Pets.com or similar issues to raise warning flags.”

Ingram continues that that the only ones who would arguably suffer from a tech-bubble popping are the so-called “sophisticated investors” who take part in secondary-market trades – the kind who will be invited to join the special vehicle that Goldman Sachs is setting up to invest in Facebook.

So what does this all mean? And what will happen next? Your guess is as good as mine. I guess we all have to sit back and hang on for the ride.

In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “This is déjà vu all over again.”

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

In September, my PR firm – CRT/tanaka – brought together the employees from our five offices for a corporate retreat. Along with providing quality professional development and strategic planning sessions, the retreat was a great way to interact with co-workers outside the confines of the office or a conference call.

The retreat also allowed the company to articulate our brand promise and help employees understand their roles as corporate brand ambassadors. As Jenny Schrade aptly points out, an organization’s brand is one of its most valuable assets. It’s what differentiates it in the marketplace. The brand promise an organization makes to its stakeholders is not only delivered through products and services or PR and marketing, but also through the actions of its employees who represent the brand in every engagement with the public.

A company should strive for employees to not only understand the corporate brand, but also to live it.  But converting employees into brand ambassadors doesn’t happen instinctively. It must be encouraged and nurtured. Here are five tips to help with that process.

1.       It starts with leadership.

For the rank-and-file employees to believe whole-heartedly in a company’s brand and advocate on behalf of the company, they must see a concerted effort from senior management to do the same. To paraphrase an old adage, not only must senior management “talk the talk,” they must also “walk the walk.” And it starts with the CEO, who must be seen actively demonstrating his or her commitment to the corporate brand in actions and words. This can be achieved through personalized communications about the brand promise via a CEO blog, e-mail communications and dialogue with employees at staff meetings or town hall sessions. For inspiration, here’s a list of 10 Popular CEO Blogs Worth Reading.

 2.       Communicate the brand promise at every opportunity.

The company brand promise should be articulated in every company communications, either implicitly or explicitly. Employees also should understand how the corporate brand promise relates to the company’s mission and long-term strategic goals. They also should understand how their job performance and contributions to the company impact the brand promise.

The corporate brand promise should be evident on the company’s website and re-enforced in internal communications vehicles, such as a company intranet and newsletter. When applicable, it also can be incorporated into speaking engagements by company executives, which can be shared with employees. Information about the corporate brand also should be included in the onboarding process for new employees and ongoing training for all employees.

3.       Celebrate and reward standout brand ambassadors.

It is important to recognize and reward those employees who are bringing the brand promise to life. This encourages brand ambassadors to continue their efforts, and it illustrates concrete examples that may inspire other employees.

For example, at CRT/tanaka, we articulate our corporate brand in the aspirational and life-affirming concept of whatcanbe. It speaks to the imaginative spirit at work in the collective minds at CRT/tanaka, which seeks endless possibilities for our clients, our agency and our communities where we live and work.  One way we re-enforce our brand promise is through our annual “whatcanbe Awards.”  

In 2008, we established an employee recognition program to honor our colleagues who best exemplify the whatcanbe brand. A panel of internal and external judges select winners in three categories – agency, client and community service, which directly relate back to elements of our brand promise. Each recipient receives a monetary stipend and a one-week sabbatical to create a personal whatcanbe experience. Nominations for the three awards can be made by any employee, and all employees are eligible to win.

4.       Embrace employees’ use of social media to promote the brand.

It’s a fact of life: employees are talking about their jobs through social media.

Steve McAbee writes that “employees now use social media outlets such as Twitter, blogs and Facebook to continuously update their professional and personal networks on what is going on in their daily lives. Why not use their powerful voices to become agents of the brand? The thinking goes that if a company employs intelligent, happy and satisfied people, then that adds to the overall competent workforce and positive reflection on the corporate brand.”

McAbee points out that employees should never be forced to blog, tweet, post on Facebook or chat online about the company, unless they mean it. Forcing employees to say “nice things” about the company will come across as insincere and could even have a negative effect – leading to disgruntled employees. Employees’ communications online must be organic and authentic.

Zappos is a great example of a company that empowers its employees through social media. The company helps its employees spread its “Happiness mission” through Twitter.Zappos.Com.  Not only does it showcase all Twitter mentions (positive and negative) of Zappos, the portal also displays all tweets and twitpics by its employees.

5.       Evaluate progress.

It is important to establish metrics for a brand ambassadors’ initiative. Questions to gauge employees’ understanding of the brand promise – along with the company mission, vision and strategic goals – should be incorporated into employee surveys to allow for the benchmarking of success from year to year. Focus groups and other small group meetings also can help determine what communications vehicles are working and which ones are falling flat.

It’s important to remember that transforming employees into brand ambassadors requires clear, concise and constant communications.

Are there any other tips to help convert employees into brand ambassadors?

Photo credit: sgursozlu

By Jeff Wilson, APR (wilson0507)

I returned Tuesday evening from Washington, D.C. invigorated after attending the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) International Conference. The conference offered great learning and networking opportunities with my peers in the PR industry. However, this year, the most intriguing session I attended wasn’t actually listed in the official conference guide.

I had the privilege of participating in an invitation-only focus group, jointly hosted by PRSA and the Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) to discuss public relations measurement. The participants in the focus group represented a diverse geographic and demographic cross-section of the PR industry and included practitioners from the corporate and agency worlds. We were told that we were among the first to see and evaluate the new metrics that are being developed for practitioners to measure the value of public relations referred to as the Barcelona Principles.

The Barcelona Principles

These seven Principles were crafted this summer at the second European Summit on Measurement by a consortium of international public relations organizations, including the Global Alliance for Public Relations, the Institute of Public Relation’s Commission on Measurement and Evaluation, PRSA, AMEC and the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO). Following is a synopsis of what the Principles recommend:

1. The importance of goal setting and measurement

2. Measuring the effect on outcomes is preferred to measuring outputs

3. The effect on business results can and should be measured where possible

4. Media measurement requires quantity and quality

5. AVEs are not the value of public relations

6. Social media can and should be measured

7. Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurement

Taken on face value, the Principles don’t seem contrary to what many of us are already doing in PR. However, suggesting these Principles as a global standard for how to measure success in public relations could be far reaching. Our focus group was a way for PRSA and AMEC to get feedback from PR practitioners about the Principles and how they might be used in general practice.

Outputs and Outcomes

The Principles point to the need to measure more outcomes in conjunction with outputs. Probably one of the most widely used outputs in the PR industry is the calculation of media impressions. While media impressions can serve as one good data point, alone they do not help tie PR to an organization’s key performance indicators (KPIs) or outcomes. Preferably, the outcomes that should be measured include shifts in awareness, comprehension, attitude and behavior related to purpose, donations, brand equity, corporate reputation, employee engagement, public policy, investment decisions and other shifts in a company or organization.

Social Media Measurement

The Principles also contend that social media can and should be measured. Evaluating quality and quantity for social media are just as critical as with traditional media. Media content analysis should be supplemented by web and search analytics, sales and CRM data, survey data and other methods.    

End of AVEs?

Probably what is getting the greatest “buzz” among the Barcelona Principles is the notion that advertising value equivalents (AVEs) are not the value of public relations. They only measure the cost of media space and should be rejected as a concept to value PR. The Principles state that where a comparison has to be made between the cost of space from earned verses paid media, validated metrics should be used, stated for what they are and reflect:

* Negotiated advertising rates relevant to the client, as available

* Quality of the coverage, including negative results

* Physical space of the coverage, and the portion of the coverage that is relevant

Multiplers intended to reflect a greater media cost for earned verses paid media should never be applied unless proven to exist in the specific.

Adoption

The question remains whether the PR industry is ready to universally adopt a standard set of measurement principles? Perhaps, with time.

Many of the practices used to measure success in PR – such as AVEs – have been around for a long time, so moving beyond them will probably occur gradually. Asking public relations professionals to better align PR campaign goals to an organization’s business goals (outcomes), instead of just relying on such measurements as media impressions (outputs) will not only take time, but will require more money for more comprehensive research, such as benchmark surveying.

From the agency side, it means getting more money for clients to conduct more comprehensive research at the beginning stage of campaigns and research money at the end of campaigns to truly determine if a change in opinion, behavior or attitude has occurred. From the corporate PR professionals, it means finding more budget internally to support more in-depth research.  From everyone, it will require more time to properly conduct this research and to give the campaigns enough time to truly measure change. True campaign success may not be determined in three months, six months or even a year.  

In the end, these shifts in measurement proposed by The Barcelona Principles are important to the continued well-being of the PR industry. PRSA has done a good job this year of promoting the Business Case for Public Relations, which is an initiative to drive PR industry recognition and growth by helping PR professionals educate key audiences about public relations’ roles and outcomes, demonstrate its strategic value and enhance its reputation.

As PR continues to seek a “seat at the table” with other management functions, having concrete and measurable results showing PR’s impact on an organization’s success will go a long way in making that happen.

By Jeff Wilson (@wilson0507)

Lately, I’ve been thinking a great deal about religion in this social media age in which we live. Last week, someone I went to high school with – but hadn’t seen in years – sent me a Facebook request to “like” her church. At first, I was a little surprised by the request, but then it got me thinking … are churches and other houses of worship taking full advantage of social media as part of their community outreach efforts?

Most aren’t.

I’ve spent much of my career involved in community outreach and grassroots marketing. I’ve worked with churches, synagogues and other houses of worship as part of PR campaigns related to health issues, such as heart disease and diabetes, as well as financial management issues, such as affordable housing. Those initiatives were part of many churches’ expanded efforts to go beyond only considering the spiritual well-being of their members.

But as many churches are expanding their community efforts, most aren’t taking full advantage of what social media have to offer. John Saddington contends that, in general, churches and other religious institutions are still operating in a system defined by “traditional” media.

“Some ministries still see the ‘web’ and, as a result, social media as marketing channels, or places to promote their ‘services’ (pun intended) and get more people in the door. Social media are far more nuanced … Creating conversations and dialogue and empowering the people within the space around you is what it’s all about,” Saddington writes.

For some churches, it may be an issue of resources. Like other not-for-profit organizations, social media outreach for churches may come down to who has time to devote to it. Should the pastor, rabbi or other leaders be blogging? Can they rely on volunteers for social media or do they need to invest in trained, paid staff? Are there funds available to help measure results?

These are not easy questions for some churches – particularly small churches – to answer, but the investment in social media can be well worth it.

In his blog “Ministry Best Practices,” Bill Reichart contends that the time invested in social media offers churches and other religious institutions considerable return on investment related to communications, conversations and their call to action. 

Communications. Social media are ideal for helping churches effectively and efficiently expand how they communicate their message and mission to a larger audience. Social media tactics, such as blogging, Facebook, Twitter and live streaming, can give churches new forums to articulate a point of view beyond the traditional Sunday morning sermon, church bulletin, printed newsletters and television and radio broadcast. Social media also may offer churches new opportunities to reach out to a younger audience.

Conversations. Social media can help religious institutions create more conversations with the public instead of only relying on one-way communications. Not only can social media provide opportunities for church leaders to create dialogue more easily with their members and potential members, social media also create opportunities for members to talk with each other outside the confines of the church space.

 Call to Action. As previously stated, many churches and houses of worship have expanded their mission and have become more engaged in health, wellness and financial issues, even partnering with hospitals, banks and other community organizations. Social media are great ways to promote a health screening at a local church or financial management class related to home ownership. Social media also can be used to solicit volunteers for church activities. Many churches are involved in missionary work in impoverished places around the world and across the country. Can you image how inspiring it would be if more churches used social media to post pictures of this work on Flickr or Facebook, have video footage on a church website or on YouTube or have a missionary write a blog about his or her experiences? It could inspire others to join in these efforts.  

Engaging in social media make sense for churches. According to John Swanson, “Church is by definition about community and relationships. So are social media.”

It is a brave new world. Churches and other houses of worship can no longer rely solely on old methods of communications. Other civic groups and not-for-profits have found new energy with social media. It’s now time for churches and other religious institutions to do the same.

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

In Shakespeare’s classic “Romeo and Juliet,” it was fair Juliet who quipped, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” While this may have held true for star-crossed lovers in Shakespearean times, the same doesn’t hold true for corporations operating today.

Take BP for example. “The energy giant … which once packaged itself as an environmental visionary now confronts the future with a new identity: progenitor of the worst oil spill in American history,” writes Peter S. Goodman of The New York Times.

Even though BP has worked with the federal government to set up a $20 billion claims fund – which starting this week is being processed by the independent Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) – the damage done to the BP name and reputation may be irreversible.

Could an inevitable name change be on the horizon for BP? Perhaps. But a corporate name change is not something that should be taken lightly or done hastily. Corporate name changes can be lengthy and expensive propositions.

“BP needs to understand how the company’s name is impacting its respective audiences. There needs to be extensive analysis of the benefits of a name change to stakeholders,” according to Brian Ellis, CRT/tanaka executive vice president and leader of the agency’s crisis consultancy. “Even if the company decides to change its name, to suddenly think that the public isn’t smart enough to realize what they’re doing is preposterous.”

Consider one group of stakeholders – BP gas station owners – and how they have been impacted by the tragedy. They’re now saddled with the shattered BP image, which has led some consumers to boycott their stations. It’s worth noting that BP owns just a fraction of the more than 11,000 stations across the country that sell its fuel. Most BP-branded stations are locally owned and operated. News reports indicate that station owners are divided over whether a new name is warranted.

Some favor a return to using the name Amoco (which once stood for American Oil Co.) or some other name as part of reputation-building measures. Others say tampering with the already tattered company image would be risky, given all the marketing dollars already spent by BP during its environmentally friendly marketing campaign, in which it declared that BP stood for “Beyond Petroleum.”

Jamey Boiter of Fast Company takes the idea of a new image for BP a step further by suggesting that not only should the company change its name to Amoco, it should also change its primary color from green to blue.

“[BP has] tainted the color green now so it is meaningless. For some time, design experts (and environmentalists) have been asking green clients and consumers to consider alternatives for the overused color,” Boiter writes, suggesting blue instead. “Blue is the new green. Blue is sincere. Blue is honest. Blue is calming. Blue is American. Blue is the Gulf (or it will be again someday).” 

Although it’s interesting to speculate about whether a new name or even a new color for BP is warranted, don’t expect a new BP identity any time soon. Time would be better spent continuing to clean up the mess in the Gulf and making sure residents and businesses get back to achieving some level of normalcy as quickly as possible. Then, and only then, will it be time to consider whether the BP name is worth salvaging.

BP is not alone. Other companies have changed their names amid crises. Here is a brief look at three.

Valujet to AirTran. Probably one of the most memorable corporate name changes in recent memory is the discount airline carrier’s switch from Valujet to AirTran following the 1996 crash in which a DC-9 carrying 110 people plummeted into the Florida Everglades. There were no survivors. Time magazine contends that even by the standards of plane crashes, the Valujet crash was a grisly tragedy. “In a corporate disappearing act, the troubled airline bought a smaller rival and adopted its name, becoming AirTran Airways. Overnight, ValuJet shed its sketchy reputation and vaguely unsettling name, which suggested the company might be willing to cut a few corners in order to save a buck,” according to Time.

Blackwater to Xe. A more recent example of the corporate “name change game” is Xe (pronounced Zee). Readers may be more familiar with the company as private-security firm Blackwater. The name change was announced in February 2009 in an attempt to distance the company from the incident in which five of its guards were indicted on charges stemming from a 2007 shooting that left 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians dead. But with a new name comes old problems. Just this week, Xe agreed to pay $42 million in fines to settle alleged export violations between 2003 and 2009.

Anderson Consulting to Accenture. This name change actually didn’t occur amid a scandal, but right before one. However, the change is regarded by many marketing insiders as one of the worst corporate name changes in history. Andersen Consulting originated as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen. When the consulting arm split from the Andersen accounting group in 2000, Andersen Consulting was forced to change its name. An internal competition yielded the name Accenture derived from the phrase “accent on the future,” which was adopted in 2001. The name change cost Accenture an estimated $100 million, and while it was blasted as generic “corporate speak,” it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, when the now infamous Enron scandal escalated later that year, irreversibly tarnishing the Arthur Andersen name.

What other memorable or notorious corporate name changes have occurred during difficult times?

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

For a while now, I’ve been reading about Quick Response or QR codes and have been intrigued by the technology. What exactly are QR codes and what do they do?

The technology isn’t new. QR codes were first developed in 1994 by Japanese company Denso Wave and are stylized barcodes that can be encrypted with information accessible by iPhones, Droids and other smart phones with the properly installed QR code readers, many of which can be downloaded for free. Like a lot of technological advances, QR codes are widely used in Japan and other parts of Asia, but have yet to gain widespread usage in the United States.

On his blog, Mark Sprague describes QR codes as paper-based hyperlinks. A smartphone user simply takes a picture of a QR code and gets directed automatically to a mobile site. For example, some business cards are being enhanced with QR codes.  When someone hands you a card with a QR code, all you need to do is scan it with your smart phone and the person’s contact information is transferred to your phone automatically. On a much broader scale, Sprague points out an example of how McDonald’s uses QR codes on its packaging in Japan so consumers can access nutritional information and review the amount of calories, fat and carbohydrates in their meals.

QR codes also can be used electronically. You can attach a QR code to a Tweet or displayed on a web page to transfer information directly to the cell phone. The image above is a QR code, which links to Wikipedia’s website. Just last week, I received an online invitation for a networking event, which included a QR code. When I scanned the code with my iPhone, the code sent me to a link with pertinent information about the event, along with directions of how to get there.

While I’ve dabbled around with QR codes online, I hadn’t really experienced them in the “real world” until last week, and it happened at my mechanic’s garage of all places. While I was sitting there waiting for my car, I noticed a point-of-purchase display for a new tire by Michelin. I noticed that down in the bottom, right corner was a QR code. I scanned it and was directed to a microsite with information about the tire, photos of it and videos of it in use. While I didn’t get the tires, I did get excited thinking about ways brands and businesses could use QR codes.

With the widespread use of iPhones and other smart phones, are U.S. brands and businesses finally ready to embrace QR codes in a big way?

Consider the possibilities. I like to cook. Each week, I scour through a number of cookbooks, looking for recipes to try. This week was a tasty spinach casserole.  Image if I went to the grocery store where there was a sale on spinach along with a display featuring a QR code that took me to a mobile site with dozens of spinach recipes, videos of how to prepare them and coupons for 10 percent off spinach.

Here are a few other examples of how companies can use QR codes, including some tips from Mashable:

• Use QR codes for promotions and on collateral material. QR codes are made for billboards, posters, brochures, direct mailers and point-of-purchase displays. They can direct customers to your brand’s Twitter and Facebook pages, mobile sites about your products or YouTube videos demonstrating your brand in action. Check out how Calvin Klein used three QR Code billboards this month in New York and Los Angeles to launch a new jeans campaign. The code takes you to an “uncensored” video of extremely skinny young people wearing extremely skinny new jeans. In the fall of 2009, Dick’s Sporting Goods kicked off its new mobile site using a QR code on the world’s largest HDTV Jumbotron at the Cowboys Stadium during the Dick’s Sporting Goods Cowboys Classic (University of Oklahoma vs. Brigham Young University). The code directed fans to the company’s mobile site http://dsports.mobi for an exclusive offer of $10 off a purchase of $50 or more.
• Small businesses can use QR codes to drive traffic. Small retailers have long put quality stickers in their windows touting their membership to the local chamber of commerce or BBB accreditation, and restaurants love to display Zagat and AAA ratings, along with positive reviews from local newspapers and blogs. A QR code can be placed on window decals and other merchandise and used to encourage Foursquare check-ins or prompt customers to share photos and videos about your business on Flickr or YouTube. Google is even supporting the use of QR codes by designating some businesses with Favorite Places Destinations. For example, just last week in Richmond, Va., I saw that the Richmond Smile Center dental practice was recognized by Google with such a distinction. The Richmond Smile Center’s QR code takes the customer directly to the dentists’ Google Local page where they can learn more about the practice, get to its website, see its hours of operation and get directions to the office with Google Maps. There is even an opportunity to read reviews written by patients.
• QR codes can be used as part of a customer rewards or loyalty program. As Mashable suggests, businesses that place decals with QR codes in their windows can reward patrons who scan it with discounts off their purchase or some free merchandise to thank them for their patronage. The more the customer uses the QR code, the more opportunity for savings.  
• Get your customers to promote your brand or business with QR codes. I can image a bar or night club giving away T-shirts with their logo and QR code on them to customers and employees, in essence turning them into walking billboards. The same could hold true for cool brands with logoed merchandise.
• Track ROI via QR codes. Businesses could use QR codes to assess print-based media effectiveness, tracking which ad or direct mailer drove customers to their website or even to their front door.

The possibilities are endless. What other ways can brands and businesses use QR codes?

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.