The Wax Blog

We’ve had some juicy celebrity crisis’ lately that make writing this post lots of fun. When your company, product or personal brand encounters a crisis it’s important to decide what ‘voice’ you’re going to use.  Choosing the right approach is one of the reasons little-known (but uber-powerful) flacks like Marty Chalmers and Eliot Mintz make the heavy wood.  Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics of voices being used most recently – as well as a few thrown in from the past.

Above It – How can I write this post without addressing Tiger Woods’ current situation? As I write this, he has refused to meet with the police and has posted a note on his website thanking his well- wishers and telling everyone the rumors are all lies and he wants to keep this ‘private’. First of all, not cooperating with the police right away sends the message that the guy has something to hide. Second, he doesn’t tell us what happened. Apparently we aren’t privileged enough to hear the real story. How would we feel if Oprah showed up 50 pounds thinner and refused to tell us how she did it? This voice implies arrogance and an attitude that Tiger’s above it all. Not a good move for America’s favorite sports hero and NEVER a good move if the law is involved. (more…)

NOT Lance's assets

Once you start dabbling in the world of PR you hear the question “what’s the back story” quite a bit. In fiction the back story is the character’s history – it’s key to how much we identify and care about that person.

For news stories, and particularly for talk shows and feature ‘packages’ the back story is often more important than the actual product or service. Lance Armstrong is perhaps the best example of a great back story. Before he battled cancer, Lance was just another racer in a sport Americans cared little about. After winning his battle with cancer and subsequently becoming the Tour de France champion umpteen times we cared a great deal (as did the sponsors.) It’s the classic story of winning against all odds. We love it!

I had a client once that developed a beautiful card game based on the idea of teaching kids how and why to do random acts of kindness. Very nice product, but the reason behind that product was compelling.  This woman had experienced the loss of a baby and was devastated. She finally was able to overcome her depression by practicing random acts of kindness.  When she recovered she felt so strongly  she created a way for others to learn about the powerful benefits of practicing random acts of kindness. Although sad, it’s an inspirational story, one that Montel Williams picked up on right away. Although she was hesitant to use it, people totally connected with her story.

It’s so important to put forth your STORY…editors and producers get tons of pitches on products and books and services all day long. If they fit into another story they’re developing you might get lucky. If you can create your own back story you’ll have a much better chance. Here are some steps to create a great back story:

• Think about your own history. What obstacles have you overcome in your life? Illness, divorce, bankruptcy? What drove you to create your product or service in the first place? Be careful here…many people are quite humble and don’t realize how interesting they really are. Facing and overcoming a huge obstacle is always a great story.
• Re-write your bio so that it covers all the struggles you’ve faced and your accomplishments, and make sure you include your volunteer work. Many journalists look at a bio first to see if there’s anything unique. Remember, news stories and features are about PEOPLE not THINGS.
• Find research to support your story. For example, everyone knew statistically few survive Lance’s form of brain cancer. This made his story that much more dramatic. For the random act of kindness project, we found research that explained positive psychology.  Editors and producers want FACTS to back up their stories.

Now write your pitch using the back story as the general theme, with supporting facts from reputable academics or foundations. Add the product or service as a footnote, not as the main idea.  You might be surprised at what happens next!

(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Sorry old school journalists, savvy advertising experts and prickly control-freak publicists but it’s time to realize something. To survive you can no longer be storytellers – you have to be information managers.  Here are some examples:

Rachel Maddow is an information manager. She takes the current news trends, analyzes them and offers up her opinion. She translates and disseminates information using a liberal, celesbian lens. We know it, we’re fine with it, we’ll watch her if we like that slant – and her numbers are through the roof.

Katie Couric is a storyteller. She takes the current news, tells the story she thinks we will find most interesting (called a HOOK or ANGLE) and puts a pretty package together hoping no one else has that same ANGLE.  Boring, yawn, her numbers are in the toilet.

Jon Stewart is also an information manager. He takes the current news, translates and gives it to us with using the funny lens. His numbers are great. Even Perez Hilton, as much as we love to hate him, is  an information manager. Perez takes the celebrity news and translates it with a snarky, ‘I used to be a geek and now I’m more powerful than you’ lens. His traffic numbers are still incredible.

Just try to ‘package’ a story or launch a brand these days with a clever message and a nice dose of spin. What happens? The public’s immediate attitude is that ‘WE WILL TAKE YOU DOWN, MOTHERF*&#ER’. (Remember Motrin Moms?) Today’s social media/citizen journalists love nothing better than to debunk a story, expose an exclusive, steal a headline from a print paper, or do whatever else it takes to prove they can get there faster and more provocatively than traditional media. And guess what? They’re winning the race.

It’s time to admit what we haven’t wanted to admit for a long time -  information is  too real-time and too accessible for us to believe the ’stories’ any more. We want to pick our chosen lens and get our information there.

Who’s your favorite information manager?

We were all sad to find out  America’s favorite pitchman, Billy Mays, had passed away suddenly last month. From a sales perspective ( face it marketers, PR gurus, social media experts – you are ALL in sales) we can learn a lot from Billy Mays. Why of all people was HE so popular? I don’t think it was the products in particular, although I admit I’ve never tried Oxiclean. And TV pitchmen aren’t usually our favorite celebrities. Look how much fun they make of Suzanne Somers on The Soup – her incessant hawking just makes me like her less.

I watched a bunch of Billy Mays videos on YouTube – there’s even a Billy Mays gangsta remix – to find out what made him so loveable as the quintessential salesman. Here’s a short list I’ve come up with – these are all things we can incorporate every day as we either promote our own products, or work to promote others.

• Billy Mays was full of unstoppable ENERGY.  Some people believe we all “vibrate” at different levels. If you hang out with high energy people, their zeal will tend to rub off on you.  Every time we see Billy he is pumped up and ready to sell. I wonder what life would be like if we took a moment to gather at least a tenth of that energy before we sent a tweet, made a phone call, or wrote that important email? Billy brought our spirits up because he was irrepressible.  After watching a half an hour of his work, I could definitely feel my mood lifting.

• Billy Mays was no bull*&$. I know that sounds weird, given he was selling stuff on TV, but when you really listen to what he says in his pitches it’s all about what the product can do for YOU. Adjectives are used sparingly and Billy doesn’t spend much time on the aesthetics of the product (like our friends on QVC – think about how much they love to admire the cosmetic bottles, rather than the actual cosmetics!) When Billy sells, he’s got a short list of powerful features and he shows you over and over the problems they’ll solve for you.  No one has any time to spare these days – why are we all trying to frame our products or services with flowery introductions and clever taglines. Say it like it is! Say it like Billy Mays would.

• Despite the fact he was always selling someone else’s product, Billy Mays had a strong personal brand. He delivered messages in his own unique style and he never wavered from that style, although I would bet you $100 many marketers tried to change him.  His own brand became a kind of credibility stamp for any product. Imagine as a publicist, marketer or social media expert, how  a strong personal brand could become part of the package a client would pay for? I would love to have a newsman say – “if Bonnie is pitching this, it must have merit” I would be thrilled to hear that even just a couple of times. (Hopefully people are saying it but don’t want my head to get fat.)

• We liked Billy Mays. He was one of those guys that always made you smile even if you didn’t care how white your shirts were. It got me thinking about what my own “likeability factor” was. How do you determine that? I actually found The Likeability Factor a great book that discusses what the “l-factor” is and how to improve yours. I’ll bet Billy’s was off the charts.

We’re always trying to find the science behind more sales for our products or services. That’s important but really, it’s the BASICS that we tend to forget about. Billy Mays knew those basic rules and he lived and sold by them. I’m always saddened to see a great salesman pass on. Thank you Billy, for reminding us what really matters. My condolences to your friends and family . I’m sure you were not only a great salesman, but a great man. You see, I liked you too.

Okay for everyone who just wants the EMC tool you can download it here.

I’ve heard the term digital footprint used a couple of different ways. Technically speaking, it’s the electronic evidence left online (or on your hard drive) when you use a computer. In social media terms your digital footprint shows up wherever you interact with others, on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, forums…well you understand. We know that creating and managing your personal brand is an important key to professional success. Having a strong digital footprint in the right places is an important part of that brand.

For the technical folks out there, again I want to emphasize I’m talking about a general footprint, not the actual data collected by others when you go to a website or visit a blog. (For a rather paranoid measurement of a technical digital footprint you can use the Discovery channel tool. But be warned it’s a bit scary with all the references to Big Brother and such.)

Of course the easiest way to check is to do a Google search on yourself and any other related terms like your business name. EMC has a tool that asks a long series of detailed questions regarding your use of email, photo uploads, social media and all kinds of activities resulting in a measurement of your digital footprint that goes way beyond what Google will show you. Although it’s a little dated, the post about online data trails is good too.

High school seniors are probably the first to find out the downside of a bad digital footprint. Everyone has heard the stories of kids denied admission to their favorite college because of photos of not so desirable activity on a Facebook page. But beyond digital footprints that you leave “actively” there are  passive digital footprints you may now know about. Maybe the worst example was a client of ours who years ago posed as a lingerie model. Since we didn’t know her maiden name we didn’t search for any possible negative stories or photos online. However, just before she was to do a spot on national television we discovered a photographer who was selling these rather suggestive photos of our client as cellphone wallpaper. We  averted that disaster but my client ended up putting her PR campaign on hold and paying attorneys quite a bit of money to get the rights back for her photos.

I could go on an on here but instead I’m going to provide you with some great resources as you mull over the idea of reviewing, improving and perhaps (as in the case of my former client) fixing your digital footprint.

• For a simple 8-step plan to manage your digital footprint here’s a great post from TwistImage (has more tool suggestions too)
• A great post on the edublog Transparent Learning provides some government links and a bit of a personal story about this blogger’s attempt to figure out her digital footprint
• For jobseekers or college-bound kids here’s a great blog post on how your digital footprint might impact you
• And if you’re a conspiracy theorist, read this post and then do the Discovery tool and report back how we’re all going to lose every bit of privacy.

As for me, I’m glad to be one of the “people behind the people” – I’m sure there are a few things out there I don’t necessarily want others to see.  Although I doubt anyone would care too much about my skeletons in the closet.

Recently I’ve started seeing little spats between people on Twitter. Most of the time one “tweep” thinks the other “tweep” has cross a boundary in terms of political correctness. This of course has happened for years in chat rooms and on discussion boards. But a particular interaction this week caught my attention – I think it tells us a bit about why this social media tool is so different. And so much more powerful.

First of all, let me introduce you to @isweatbutter. Apparently he’s a chef somewhere who also happens to be hilariously adept at sarcasm. “Sweaty” as his friends call him is known for his “snarky” (that’s what sarcasm is called on Twitter) comments during American Idol.  Last Tuesday he made a reference to Adam Lambert and Liberace I think the tweet went something like “Hey Adam, Liberace called he wants his suit back” It caught the eye of another tweep who found it offensive, and called @isweatbutter a gaybasher.

What happened next was interesting to me. Instead of just two guys hurling insults at each other across the twitterverse, a whole host of people came to the defense of our Sweaty. One guy even re-read all of sweaty’s tweets that night to assure him that “there was nothing offensive in there.” One woman sent a photo in of a “team butter” t-shirt and people were talking about ordering it on Zazzle. @isweatbutter had 117 DM’s that night, most of which I’m sure were showing support for what eventually became the hashtag #isweatbuttergate.

This means Twitter is different. People were coming to the defense of someone they’ve never met, but someone they truly feel is their FRIEND. I cant think of another social media where relationships like this are being hatched purely online between people who have no other connection, not even a common interest other than communicating.  I don’t know if I would go as far as Ashton Kutcher has in his rant for Time on the topic, but I do think this is a difference that makes Twitter a much more powerful phenomenon than Facebook or other forms of social media.

What is also means is that marketers can’t just go in there and sell. I think Twitter is kind of a new age speakers corner, and when we all step down from our boxes we go have coffee somewhere. But the people who aren’t willing to spend time making friends and creating real relationships certainly won’t get asked to hang out later.

If you want to follow me, I’m @waxgirl333.  But watch out for my own juvenile humor on Tues/Wed.

I know it’s popular to thumb your nose at the celeb magazines. Who cares what Brangelina eats for a midnight snack? We are intelligent people who have no interest in digesting such worthless information – right?

WRONG – and here’s why. The average American consumer is influenced heavily by pop culture. Our fascination with celebrities is a huge piece of that pop culture right now. You can use this to your advantage if you’re smart.

Here’s a great example. I’m working on a campaign for Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The Rudd Center released some videos  to help raise awareness about weight bias. As I was blasting them all over the internet I found a rapidly growing story about Jessica Simpson’s weight.  A quick blog by the Rudd Center’s Dr. Rebecca Puhl about the story on Ms. Simpson and BOOM. I immediately got a massive acceleration in the spread of my story online.

Newsworthy is newsworthy, my friends. Whether or not WE think it’s newsworthy is irrelevant – the media decides. If  breaking news is making  headlines don’t ignore it because you think it’s stupid.  If there’s an angle to help create a hook for your message, use it. It doesn’t make you less of a person, I promise.

Besides, I know you read that stuff at the dentist’s office.

P.S. Watch the Rudd Center videos here.