Sometimes Gimicks Still Work to Generate Media Coverage

We've been working on a corporate social responsibility initiative for several weeks, and have generated some decent coverage. The client asked us to get morning show coverage, and we worked up a number of different approaches. But before we could pitch the angles to morning show producers, the client used a gimmick that communicated a simple key message during the talk-to-the-crowd segment on "The Today Show."

It was a far shorter message than we were looking to get by pitching a segment on this CSR initiative -- but the gimmick got the job done.

Sometimes we overthink things when trying develop killer story angles. The gimmick was not rocket science or ground breaking. It wouldn't be appropriate for every client, but it was basic, easy to manage (in other words, it did not involve significant cost or other complicating features), and it worked.

Congratulations to the client. And here's to a reminder that not every solution to a PR goal is complicated or needs to be Web 2.0ified.

New York Times Magazine Article Looks at McCain's Campaign: The Making (and Remaking and Remaking) of the Candidate -- fascinating

Our agency's slogan is "Why the Story Matters," and has been for eight years because we think our clients' stories important -- important as a part of their brand, important as a component to their messaging and positioning, important to generate interest among reporters. We spend a lot of time upfront and at regular intervals to refine clients' stories.

I bring this up because there's a fascinating article in the New York Times Magazine about the McCain Campaign: "The Making (and Remaking) of McCain" by Robert Draper. The premise of the article, supported by quotes from senior McCain advisers and anecdotes, is that a big challenge that McCain campaign has had is in developing the right narrative to use in describing McCain and the reason to elect McCain as president.

This article is not a look at his personality, experience, political record, ideology, fund raising, etc. Instead, the article could almost be a look at a troubled marketing campaign.

Which is why I think it's instructive to PR and marketing pros.

Here are some relevant lessons:

• Develop a story that defines the candidate/company/product, but also gives you room to adapt. With the McCain campaign, they kept picking messages that didn't necessarily connect to the previous messages; claiming the surge is working in Iraq did not connect to the message that Barack Obama is the world's biggest celebrity but isn't ready to lead.
  
• Changing the story line makes it difficult to develop traction in the minds of voters/consumers/shareholders.
• You need a story and messages that give people a reason to buy your product/company -- not just a reason to not buy the competing product/company.
• The story has to make sense to key stakeholders. With the addition of Palin to the ticket, the McCain campaign changed its message from readiness to change. The selection of Palin certainly meant change, but voters may be feeling that McCain's been in Washington, for too long to represent change. (One might make the case that in selecting Joe Biden that Obama was picking the status quo and was not making the case for change. I'm surprised the McCain campaign did not make more of that.)
  
• Brands live or die by their integrity -- or in the case of the McCain campaign, but the character of the candidate. Savvy marketing organizations, like Procter & Gamble, spend a great deal of effort on brand management, making sure that their brands stands for something, and that all consumer touch points reinforce the values and personality of the brand. The article makes the case that the McCain campaign was desperate enough to score points, that it decided to launch negative ads -- even though McCain had renounced negative ads after his failed 2000 campaign had been beaten by the negative campaign ran by George W. Bush (and Karl Rove). If a brand is to have meaning, it needs to consistently reinforce the brand value; launching negative ads undercut the meaning of McCain's brand.

A lot of good lessons for brand managers, marketers and PR professionals.

Christian Science Monitor to Cease Publishing Print Edition, and the Latest in Bad News for Newspapers

The Christian Science Monitor, founded 100 years ago by church founder Mary Baker Eddy, has announced that it will be the first national newspaper to cease publishing a print edition. The last printed regular paper will be published in 2009.

Some of the coverage, including the AP's "Christian Science Monitor to end daily publication," read like obituaries. I kept expecting to learn that survivors include the Christian Science Church and a diminished newspaper sector.

Meanwhile, the Audit Bureau of Circulation announced the latest circulation figures for U.S. newspapers -- and the figures are not good for the country's top 10 papers by circulation.

Only USA Today and Wall St. Journal boosted circulation -- by 0.01%.

• The New York Times: -3.58%
  
• Los Angeles Times: -5.20%
• New York Daily News: -7.16
• New York Post: -6.25%
• Washington Post: -1.94
• Chicago Tribune: -7.25
• Houston Chronicle: -11.66
• Newsday: -2.58

The Audit Bureau looked at 507 newspapers, and the average circulation drop was 4.6%.

Sunday circulation dropped faster than weekday circulation -- which is unusual.

So the question is: when will other papers stop publishing print editions? And if they stop printing hardcopy versions, should we stop calling them papers?

In today's Times (which I read after initially writing this post), David Carr's article, "Mourning Old Media’s Decline," makes an important point:

The paradox of all these announcements is that newspapers and magazines do not have an audience problem — newspaper Web sites are a vital source of news, and growing — but they do have a consumer problem.

Stop and think about where you are reading this column. If you are one of the million or so people who are reading it in a newspaper that landed on your doorstop or that you picked up at the corner, you are in the minority. This same information is available to many more millions on this paper’s Web site, in RSS feeds, on hand-held devices, linked and summarized all over the Web.

“The auto industry and the print industry have essentially the same problem,” said Clay Shirky, the author of “Here Comes Everybody.” “The older customers like the older products and the new customers like the new ones.”

In other words, there's still a need for newspapers -- but the delivery mechanism is outdated. Unfortunately, so to is the business model, which depends on print advertising. But there's no doubt that more papers will join the Christian Science Monitor and will stop printing hardcopy issues. I still think there'll be a demand for print editions for another five years; after that, who knows? But I do believe we still need branded journalism -- at least online.

NY Times' Stuart Elliott Writes Follow-up Article on Advertising & Hollywood -- mentions two movies mentioned here

In his email to me following his New York Times article about the number of movies or TV shows set in the glamorous world of advertising, advertising columnist Stuart Elliott said he might write another column about the movies and TV shows he left out of the original column. (See, For 60 Years, the Ad Game Has Been Fodder for Scripts -- Why not PR?)

In today's Times, "A Cultural Affinity for Madison Avenue," Elliott wrote his follow-up article that mentioned two of the films I suggested, "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" and “Good Neighbor Sam.”

Meanwhile, I am still looking for other movies or TV shows involving a PR executive. In the NBC sitcom, "Mad About You," Helen Hunt's character was a PR exec., but her job was not a sustained focus of the show.

Let me know if you know of other PR-inspired movies or TV shows.

Robert Scoble on How Tech Can Save the Newspaper Industry

I've written a lot about the problems of the newspaper industry. Tech blogger and Fast Company columnist, Robert Scoble, wrote an interesting article, "What Newspapers Can Learn From the Tech Industry: Technology has caused many of the newspaper business's woes. Here's how it can play a role in the industry's survival." It worth reading.

How to Leverage Media Placements

There's a lot of advice on how to generate media coverage, but a surprising lack of information on how to leverage the coverage once you've generated it.

The process doesn't end with the clip itself. There are ways to make your media coverage continue to payoff.

Here are some ideas to expand the impact of your media coverage.

• Update your website to include the list of coverage. The coverage can showcase expertise and depth of experience, which may be important to clients and prospective clients, partners and employees. Another reason to post links to your website is that people may miss the article when it was originally published; this way, it’s available long afterwards.A growing list of coverage can help raise your website rankings because search engine algorithms like links. Please note: due to copyright issues, it's best to provide a link to the original URL where the story appeared rather than posting the article directly to your website; you should also check with the copyright holder to find out its reprint policies.
  
• Consider reprinting articles, and including them in your printed marketing materials. Article reprints can be good tools to include as part of any direct mail campaigns or leave-behinds at speeches or meetings. Some organizations, especially community organizations or nonprofits, may consider highlighting their name and post the articles on community bulletin boards in libraries, supermarkets, etc. However, please note: if you are reprinting articles, you should check with the copyright holder (typically the media outlet that published the article) to find out its policies, costs, etc.)
  
• Frame your great media coverage for others to see. This is another way to enable prospective clients, partners and employees to see the coverage. Seeing these articles on the walls of your offices may help impress visitors.
• Mention recent coverage to others. When talking to prospective clients, you can mention that you were just quoted in the media about a relevant topic. The next time you’re speaking at an event, ask the group’s presenter to mention the article, or work it into the speech if it's on the same topic.
• Include “As Seen In…” Signature lines on emails, brochures, newsletters, cover letters, etc. can include a list of recent coverage cited “As seen in…”
• Mention in advertising. If you do any advertising, consider mentioning your coverage. This might be easier to do in print advertising, where you might be able to reprint headlines in the background. But it also may make sense for online advertising as well.
  

For additional ideas, check out "7 Ways to Milk Your Media Coverage Get the most out of your publicity, long after you've left the spotlight," published in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Why Andrew Sullivan Blogs: Interesting Article in The Atlantic

Andrew Sullivan wrote an interesting long article about blogging. "Why I Blog" is worth checking out.