PR Buzz that’s Out of This World

Source: Disney (originally uploaded by Daniel Terdiman)

There are certain PR “truths” that one hears in this biz solemnly declared as gospel, e.g. “Oprah is impossible to get on without a celebrity spokesperson” or “Being a big advertiser in [insert magazine of your choice] doesn’t guarantee you lots of editorial coverage” or “It’s impossible to get branded exposure anymore by doing Today show window stunts.”  This stuff gets drilled into your head when you’re coming up through the PR ranks and one day your find yourself, jaded and gray, using one of these truths to crush the enthusiastic ideation of some bright young AE during an agency brainstorm.  

[whispered aside: you do realize that NONE of these statements are true, right?  Just checking.]

Well, shame on me because another one of these truths I’ve spouted in many a meeting is that you can’t touch NASA for PR stunts — you know, be the first lipstick launched in space by having the space shuttle crew wear it, that kind of stuff?  Well, look who’s partnered with NASA to help launch a new Disney theme park attraction — none other than Buzz Lightyear. 

Is the lesson here, never say never?  Or, more cynically, that PR pros should seek government agencies who have lost all relevance and are desperate to reclaim their share of the collective popular consciousness when contemplating PR stunt partnerships?  Or, more probably, if you’re Disney/Pixar you can do whatever the hell you want?

You be the judge. 

How to Bridge

An incredible debut dominated the airwaves this past week, captivating media and audiences alike. After months of leaked information and tantalizing previews that tickled our collective fancy and whipped up a frenzy of anticipation, the moment finally arrived this week…how delicious to welcome back to our TV and computer screens one of the most efferescent, irrisisistible, endlessly fascinating cultural figures of our time…

Wait…you thought I was talking about her?

No, no, no.  I’m talking about the return of former White House press secretary Scott McClellan who, you might have heard, just wrote this little book called  “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.” I’ve been glued to his various media appearances as I’m sure many of my PR brethren were — regardless of your personal politics, how fascinating to watch one of the masters of spin defend himself in the glare of the public eye — again, and again, and again.  I knew it would happen at the back-end of his appearance schedule but finally, McClellan made it to the set of the “Daily Show” last night — and oh, Jon Stewart didn’t disappoint.  Fake news anchor or not, there’s nothing fake about Stewart’s interviewing skills.  I will go on record as saying that he and Howard Stern are two of the great and most underrated interviewers of our time.  (Yes, you heard me correctly.  More on my Stern obsession later.) 

I wouldn’t be surprised if the various McClellan clips become part of media training curricula everywhere — want to teach a client how to stay on message and bridge?  Just watch how many times McClellan was able to bridge back to his core message (I’m assuming) of “the point of my book was that we need to change how things are done in Washington.”  All this while enduring character attacks from past and present White House colleagues. 

Now, if only he had remembered to powder down before the interviews…surely the former press secretary knows that sweating in hi-def isn’t pretty?  Carrie Bradshaw would NEVER have made that mistake.

How to Get Ahead in Business: Marry Yourself

And I Do So Want Him to Get Ahead

Originally uploaded by Charm and Poise

 

 

A Flickr user by the name of “Charm and Poise” regularly uploads fascinating and utterly fabulous scans of vintage ephemera — ranging from cookbooks to linoleum ads to beauty self-help guides. They tend to date from 50s, 60s and 70s so for a “born too late” vintage junkie like myself, each photostream update is like a little trip to nirvana. “C and P” has a whole bunch of covers from an Amy Vanderbilt “Success Program for Women” (1964) that are priceless. Perhaps someone could do a revised edition on this particular one and call it “How to Help Your  WIFE Get Ahead”…a-hem? 

Though I have no right to complain, married as I am to an amazing man who does in fact help me get ahead (if indeed where I am at the moment is “ahead”) by caring for our son, household, bills, garden and incontinent dog.  He even cooks Russian food (borscht you wouldn’t believe) and picks up my drycleaning.  I’m not being smug about this, I’m truly giving thanks — publicly.  A very smart and senior (female) beauty industry executive responded once when asked how she did it all: “Great husband, great nanny, great assistant.”  Now, you may have one or two or if you are spectacularly lucky, all three of those things but I suspect most women in the Sisterhood of Working Moms do not.  And while I count my domestic blessings, I send karmic wishes to all of you working moms out there for either a) your own stay-at-home husband or at the very least, a husband who participates actively in the running of your household or b) a cloned version of yourself to help you get through your harried days with the grace and efficiency that undoubtedly you uniquely posess. 

Creativity 101

Another dispatch from my never-ending quest for more effective harnessing of inspiration: “How to Have Kick-Ass Ideas,” Chris Barez-Brown’s  new book about jump-starting your (hopefully) innate creativity. Title’s a little goofy and there are a few too many full-page cartoony bits, but there are two sections in particular that I love:

1.  Barez-Brown sets up a nifty framework for the idea generation process: Insight (what is your issue) +Ideas (what to do) +Impact (choose the one that creates energy and “let it rip”).  Am thinking that one reason some of our agency brainstorms go awry is that the meeting organizers are looking for “what to do” solutions, but the attendees are swirling and twirling trying to come up with the “what is your issue” solution. Which leads to frustration all around.

2.  Barez-Brown talks a lot of about the capacity of the subconscious as a font of information and insight, and how to better access it.  Validated one of my personal tricks, which is to meditate on a work problem as I’m drifting off to sleep. More often than not, flashes of insight come out of that chilled-out space that’s neither awake nor asleep.  And sure enough (aided in part by the nighttime cough syrup I’m taking right now), I was drifting off with this book in my hands last night and flashed on the solution to a work question I’ve been puzzling over all week.  Bless you, subconscious! (Then the only problem was rousing myself to grab the pad and pen from my nightstand to capture the thought before it rippled away on a babbling brook of codeine and fatigue…)

Am inspired to approach idea generation this week through the Insight+Ideas+Impact framework.  We’ll see how it works.

 

Shiny Balloons

The June issue of Inc. is a treasure trove of inspiration and practical advice on the subject of innovation and I’ve been scarfing it up like Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch (infantile guilty pleasure, won’t let my son eat it but it’s okay for me apparently…) Big part of my job is overseeing our agency’s Strategy and Innovation team whose primary function is to be a non-stop idea factory. That probably sounds more lightweight a purpose than in fact it is — the idea is to support the 100+ account team staffers we work with to bring non-stop creativity and strategic thinking to their PR planning and execution.  Easy, right?

I wish.  I’m learning that the most brilliantly creative idea in the world doesn’t get you diddly — certainly not the affection of your co-workers who rely on the consistent output of your “idea factory” — unless you can wrestle it to the ground and refine it into something that can be translated into tactics and presented credibly to a client.

So I read with great interest the terrific article co-authored by P&G’s A.G. Lafley* and Ram Charan about scaling P&G’s sophisticated and disciplined innovation approach for smaller companies. It’s a genius piece because it doesn’t talk about innovation in the abstract, it tells you in gnat’s-ass detail how to practice it and build it into your culture.  For example, how to add substance and shape to those ideas that “have the brightness and weight of balloons, [but] lacking ballast…will tend to drift off into the ether.”

Oy, have I seen too many damned shiny idea balloons drift off into the ether.  This article gives me new resolve, and will help you too if you are in the business of translating inspiration into action.

*DeVries client alert