The Wax Blog

I got so involved with answering comments on my Toyota post I neglected to write a new post before I took a long weekend. Interestingly enough, that’s the time I’ve gotten the most comments! Thanks to everyone who is reading this blog – please don’t hesitate to ask if you’d like to exchange links or do a guest post. I am grateful and honored by your interest in the Wax blog. Back at it tomorrow…I’m going to dump all my secrets now. I promise!

Bonnie

100 million years ago I worked as an executive at a publicly held tech firm. We knew that in order to bury bad news (ie a poor quarter) we would send the release out at 4 pm on Friday. By the time Monday rolled around there would be two to three more days of news covering ours.   Now more companies have become much more ingenious ways at burying their bad news – rather than addressing it properly. (For more on that, read my post on  “Crisis Communications in a 2.0 World“)

Wondering how they do it? Here are just a few methods I’ve seen. Comment with more examples, please!

1) Flood the Internet with alternative messaging. Piling on the social media releases, blogs and Twitter posts can help bury a negative opinion or story quickly by using SEO. Studies show about 60% of Internet users click on a result in the first page. Keeping that page inundated with positive information – particularly if it appears to come from sources that are not your own – can easily bury negative opinions. I agree with the Online Marketing Blog, though, that using this to address a real crisis is not a long-term fix.

2) Bury it on a holiday. At the end of 2009, a story came out about Goldman Sachs selling mortgaged-based CDO’s to clients and at the same time  selling the securities short themselves. Goldman Sachs supposedly made it quite hard for reporters to reach executives for comment and further blocked the story so that it came out Christmas Eve in the New York Times. Thereafter it’s received little press.

3) Make it impossible to fact-check the article. Although bloggers can write pretty much whatever they want, traditional media still needs to check facts in order to run with a story. Keeping CBS or as in Goldman Sachs “allegedly” keeping the New York Times from verifying aspects of a story can bury it too.

4) Divert the issue.  Although most of the messaging surrounding the Toyota recall focuses on sticky floor mats, the real problem may be the pedal or as Steve Wozniak asserts, it could be a computer glitch. (If you haven’t heard, the Woz ’s Prius gets stuck at 97mph while in cruise control) Although Toyota states there “may” be a problem with the pedal in its latest update, much of what we’ve seen in our media is concerning the floor mats. The Woz asserts its a software problem, not a pedal or mat issue. Since the main issue is sudden acceleration – something we haven’t seen in any of Toyota’s messaging – this is probably a good example of a diversion tactic.

5) Lie. It almost worked for Martha and it definitely worked for OJ.

Bottom line is that the organizations with true investigative journalists are dwindling. TV and print media no longer has the budget to spend months on uncovering stories ala Watergate. Companies have learned the game and crisis communications firms have become much more adept at the spin.  And that could be a very bad thing for us.

Toyota announced a recall of more than 3.8 million vehicles last week and today announced it was halting production on eight models.  Ah, responsible Toyota, right? Think again. This is a great example of how a powerful public relations teams, with the weight of advertising dollars behind them, are able to smother news that the public really needs to know. Toyota’s PR department has been pumping out misinformation on this issue for months now and it makes me ashamed of my profession. In December, the Los Angeles Times reported that Toyota had been covering up these problems way back to 2003.

The issue is that the accelerator on these models can stick. Here’s a bit of background on this stuck accelerator…the problem has been apparent to Toyota since 2007, according to USA Today and other publications. Toyota issued a statement yesterday that said the problem had not resulted in any deaths. Yet tell that to the family of highway patrolman Mark Saylor, killed with his family last August after his accelerator stuck on his loaner Lexus. That story was all over the news, as were four other incidents resulting in deaths. Even yet, in November of 2009 Toyota issued statements that blamed the problem on bad floor mats.

But we really aren’t hearing about that too much until this week when national TV news picked it up- could it be because network news relies so heavily (or did) on car manufacturing advertising? It’s not a stretch. Back in 1993 a Dateline producer rigged a Pinto to explode for a segment. Well, that’s been happening for a long time according to Walter Olson and the National Review. It’s part of the ‘magic of TV’. But with the Pinto, unfortunately GM decided to pull its weight with NBC. The producer was exposed and fired for something the rest of his colleagues had done for years.

I’ve only had to lie like this once for a client.  I felt like crap and I’ll never do it again. Somebody needs to blow the whistle over at Toyota and it should be one of us flacks that does it. I realize that it’s the corporation’s responsibility to be honest, but in this case the messenger should bear a great deal of the blame as well. And that’s usually the public relations department.

Comments? Do you think Toyota covered this up?

Watching the Golden Globes last night and hearing all the references to Haiti made several questions come to  mind. Were they really “sad” to be there chugging champagne and getting awards? Did they really (like director Lee Daniels of Precious) think their work was suddenly ‘unimportant’? Or were most of them spewing talking points from their publicists so they didn’t look selfish in the light of a disaster? (more…)

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…)

Face it, people wouldn’t be going out on their own or running a small business without guts of steel – but that same tenacity can really mess them up in marketing. As a critical success factor marketing is second only to customer service. Over the past few years I’ve seen the same mistakes over and over again in terms of small business and marketing – I’ve made most of them myself too.

Here are the top five pitfalls for I’ve seen most often in the past seven years at Wax – I’d love to add on to this list of marketing’s deadliest sins so please comment! (more…)

This morning I was watching a spokesperson from Mattel talk about Barbie’s 50th birthday. She’d obviously been prepped by her PR people well…she had the core messages down nicely. Her outfit was suitable for TV and she looked neat as a pin. But I just cringed watching her.

Of course it’s important to know your talking points well and to pick something cool to wear. But there are some subtle things people should always do that make a HUGE impact on viewers. Frankly, if you practice these five things you can wear a burlap bag and talk about astro-travel and viewers will LISTEN.

1. Your hair, makeup is all important but your eyebrows are the frame for your face – have your brows professionally done to up your attractiveness and make people want to look at you onscreen. Men, I can’t tell you how many times I see a guy whose brows are obviously the width of a razor apart. (one swipe each morning maybe?) Women, I’m sorry a lot of us don’t know how to pluck your brows and in hi-def it looks AWFUL. Let them grow in and a week before your spot have them done by the esthetician with the best reputation in your town. (If it’s LA, that’s Anastasia)

2. There are three things people say that are incredibly annoying – UM, LIKE and YOU KNOW. Everyone goes after the ‘ums’ and ‘likes’ but to me, ‘you know’ is the biggest culprit. You would be astounded how many times people say “you know” in a sentence – just listen for it in a couple interviews. Take that out of your vocabulary and you are instantly more articulate. Tell your friends you’ll pay them a quarter every time you say ‘you know’ in a conversation. You’ll be broke before ‘you know’ it – but it should break the habit.

3. Stand/sit up straight. Unless you’re a yogi your posture is probably only so so and the more anxious you are, the worse it gets. No one trusts a person that slouches, sitting or standing.  If it’s a really bad problem, there’s even a posture alarm you can wear a week or so ahead of time to get in the habit. Also, you literally get more air in your body if you stand up or sit straight, which will help keep you more calm and relaxed.

4. Wear small doses of red, even if it’s just your underwear. (Except for ties – red ties are YUCK)  Red is an energizing color. A client of mine had a big meeting with a major corporation recently to see if they would hire her as a spokesperson. I told her to ask for 4x what she wanted and wear red underwear. It worked. Think I’m crazy? Ask any feng shui person – or the entire country of China for that matter – why red will help you deliver a zestier performance and bring abundance into your life. It also makes you more attractive – if you don’t believe me here’s a study from the University of Rochester.  Remember though, too much red turns it into an angry color. Wear just a bit if it’s on the outside.

5. Lean two inches closer toward your interviewer than you normally would. Don’t get too up close and personal, but those couple of inches break into the personal space of your interviewer and establish instant trust. Salespeople know this well – ever notice how they take a half step toward you when they shake your hand? When your interviewer has that bond, they’ll start lobbing you questions and get into YOUR rhythm rather than the other way around. Try it in your next important conversation or meeting. It’s unbelievable what happens.

Most of these are not common tips to the average person, but TV people often use them religiously. Believe me, you can get away with a ton of mistakes on camera if you incorporate these simple tips into your work. For some of the more traditional tips on being a TV spokesperson, Marsha Friedman has written a couple excellent articles.

I can’t say this any better than Ayelet Noff. Read this blog post at SocialMedia.biz to find out the most common misconceptions about social media.

JASON DECROW/AP PHOTO

In case you missed it, ABC’s Terry Moran twittered a couple days ago that President Obama called Kanye West a “jack***” when asked how he felt about the VMA incident. (An audio of Obama’s comments are on TMZ ) Since then of course we learned that it was an off-the-record comment, the tweet’s been deleted, blah blah blah. There’s a good lesson to be learned from this.

PUBLICISTS AND HANDLERS ARE DE-HUMANIZING THEIR CLIENTS -  I  feel really strongly about this. When I heard about the Obama comment I thought to myself “there’s the guy I liked”. Publicists and managers try to control the message (and their clients) so much that we often lose our ability to be fans of those same people.  Why do you think we all follow our stars on Twitter? Most likely we’re hearing from THEM. They are humans with whom we can relate. And that  creates a bond. I’m not saying that our President should walk around calling people bad names. But a small glimpse into his personality like this is such a breath of fresh air – I think we needed it. (If you listen to the full audio, you’ll hear him talking about the fly incident too) He’s simply too over-controlled right now and we’re losing the guy we thought we voted in.

For example, I always throw up a little in my mouth  when I read the latest “what a star eats” article in People or US Weekly. I doubt every single starlet is having oatmeal with yogurt and strawberries for breakfast every day.  “And for a snack – almonds!” It’s obvious that publicists and handlers are writing this stuff for print. It’s the same old crap, meant to paint that celebrity in the best light possible.

Well guess what? I don’t want a lily-livered President who doesn’t speak his mind. I want to hear that he thinks some guy is a jerk, even if it might cost him a couple votes.  I may not agree with him but at least I know he has an opinion like any regular guy. If we knew this, we wouldn’t be so hungry to hear his off the cuff comments – they wouldn’t nearly be so interesting if they weren’t so hidden by whitewashed political mumbo jumbo.

I’ve said this before – the BEST interviews come when you let the subject and the interviewer bond. Publicists, prep your clients thoroughly and then get out of the way. There is nothing more you can do.  Interfering with comments like  “you can’t ask that” or “she’s not going there”  only make your client look like a total wimp. For a great example, check out this LA Times blog and video of the latest Tyra Banks interview. Now SHE looks like a jackass.

Next post – second lesson we can learn from this!

I grew up in the tech industry and I can tell you that industry is not ’solving problems’.  Instead, they create super cool sexy new technology – and then go find the problem it can fix (to justify the super cool sexy new technology AND all the money it costs). For that reason we’ve got to keep them away from our poor public relations people. No dears – technology will NOT make that editor or producer any more anxious to read your release no matter what those HTML programmers tell you.

I’m not talking about social media, lord knows that’s some of the crappiest, buggiest stuff I’ve ever seen. I’m talking about things like online press release distribution, ’smart news releases’, social media news releases, viral videos, and so on. All this extra stuff with a press release is just the digital equivalent of sending your press release in a great big box full of loose corn and a music box playing cheesy farmer songs. (Yes, I did this one year, I admit it) It will get attention but it won’t make your story any more interesting. Worst part – in some cases it further annoy especially if your slick “multimedia” won’t open on their computer. (Case in point here’s one from Ericsson. You tell me if you can get that video to play.) Plus, top media wants exclusive information – not videos and photos anyone can get off the internet.

If an article or release gets strong pickup online, the last thing you want readers to do is stay at the document. You want them following links to your site!  Set up a cool multimedia press center on your own site and  make sure it works.  If you want a good example of how technology supports public relations visit the news center of the Symantec website. Here’s why tech has NOT taken over here:

• Clearly labeled areas show you where the videos, podcasts, releases and other items are kept. It’s ORGANIZED.
• Releases have an RSS feed and a Share mechanism – easy for the user to subscribe to new releases and share them via social media
• Separate areas include a press center and social media center. Much of the same information is posted in different areas, but they’re presented in ways to suit the particular reader’s needs
• Although it’s not particularly fast, it’s not terribly slow either. I don’t have to wait for a snazzy intro in order to get to what I want.

Plain and simple, don’t fill up your releases, websites, articles and other media information with a bunch of junk. The media wants INFORMATION -  not cool jazzy widgidigits. Think I’m wrong? Ask an editor sometime.

Now excuse me, I have to go look at all the new Wordpress plug-ins.