The Wax Blog

1. Stay positive.
2. Don’t stray from your message.
3. Only endorse brands that fit yours.
4. Use your dog in your TV show.
5. Do pushups the RIGHT way.

RIP Jack LaLanne – we’ll miss you!

Photo courtesy of ABC.com

President Obama has one of the worst communications team I have ever seen. It frustrates me to no end..I mean c’mon, even George W. Bush looked good sometimes.  This latest ABC interview with Barbara Walters sent me right over the edge. Obviously concerned that people think he’s a Muslim, Obama’s response is to get Barbara Walters to ask him about his family’s prayer time. I can’t articulate the frustrated sounds coming out of my mouth right now..I think it’s a combination of “oy vey” “for god’s sake” and a couple other words that aren’t printable.

That’s why Obama should fire his staff and hire me. Here’s what I would do to clean up this guy’s reputation.

1. First of all, I would train the crap out of the guy. He’s stiff, awkward and snooty, in my opinion. Sure he’s smart, but right now we want Rambo not Professor Higgins. I would make sure this guy could take on Bill O’Reilly if he had to, and stand his own. He’s obviously afraid to step out of line and it’s hurting him. Frankly, I liked him better when he was making bad jokes about the Special Olympics. (more…)

First, I wrote about why parents needed to think like publicists.  Next, we saw the  implications, real and predicted,  of what happens when a parent DOESN’T think like a publicist, in My Son is Gay.

Now this poor mommy blogger is not only having to defend herself, she’s fending off experts on CNN. Her latest response? From LGBTQNation: Sarah defended her actions saying that first of all in her estimation the word ‘Gay’ hade two meanings, one being “happy” and that from the picture of her son that was displayed in the blog post you could tell that he was “thrilled.” In the PR world we call this tap dancing. And she’s doing it badly.

Since hindsight is 20/20 and because I don’t know this unfortunate woman, I  feel ok using her plight for my own blog purposes.  Here are some basic tips for becoming a Mommy Publicist for your kids. No, I’ve never been a mom. But I am a publicist and I have been a kid that was…well, you try going to 5th grade in a brand new school with red hair and buck teeth. Parents, here’s my advice.

1. Don’t let emotions drive what you write, video, or podcast. It’s really obvious “my son is gay” mom was mad at the other moms for judging her. Therefore she decided to make a point of her son’s choice by taking a righteous stand. Like so many blog posts, her post was a rant based on anger. As a publicist, I spend quite a bit of time with clients who are anxious to fight back out of a strong emotion. It’s never a good thing. Wait and choose the appropriate action when you’re calm. However long that takes!

2. Use the bigger picture for your message. If you use a personal story and/or family member as the ENTIRE foundation of your argument, it always comes off as self-serving even if it’s not. If this mom is so avid about tolerance, she should write about gay marches, research on cross-dressing among children, or a host of other things.  Perhaps this mom could have said “an incident at my son’s school made me look into the issues of gender-bending costumes…” or something, and written a piece I would have wanted to read and one that would have driven home her point. Then she could have emailed it to all her friends, ensuring those nasty judgmental moms saw it. Wait there’s always five points in publicity…read on… (more…)

A couple days ago Forbes’ Caroline Howard wrote yet another blog post about the “My Son is Gay” post written by CopsWife. CopsWife apparently didn’t like my comment on this post and has only allowed a few of what I assume to be the least negative, negative comments to appear. (Which tells you a little bit about her right there). I agree with pretty much all of what Howard has to say but the comment I found to be the most insightful was this one:

[stextbox id="alert"]Children are not characters in a blog’s storyline. They are real people, with feelings and their own lives–and, like the Internet, have a long, long memory.[/stextbox]

What is much more interesting to me than this initial post, however,  is the ignorance of many of the dissenting commentors on the nature of their own medium. I hope Howard will not mind that I lift a few of those comments so that I can continue to make the point from my previous post that parents need to think like publicists. Parents who blog about their children MUST understand the internet, the ramifications of what they’re posting and the lifetime digital footprint they are creating for their children – without their consent. It’s obvious from the comments that many, many of them don’t. Let’s dive in to some of those comments so you can see what I mean  – and show you how a publicist thinks… (more…)

I was bashed by a gossip columnist in our local paper once and a kind client sent me an email that said “Remember, bad press is like bad breath. It’s better than no breath at all.” Though at first I was embarrassed (particularly after she called me out yet again  on live TV) the next day I began to get congratulatory emails from Twin Cities media and others in the community. Apparently, this woman is so loathed that by hating on me, she unwittingly gave me a stamp of approval.

It’s a common conversation with my clients, many of whom are new to the media and concerned about their reputations. Should they be overly concerned with a bad review or just be glad they made it into XXX magazine?

Now we have proof that bad press may actually be good, particularly if you’re not well-known. (more…)

You’ve probably read tons of blogs about the survey that came out this month reporting that 92% of toddlers have a digital footprint. My first thought on the survey was kudos to AVG, the security company lesser known but highly superior competitor to Norton, that came out with the study. I wish I’d thought of that, clearly an incredibly clever and successful publicity stunt.

But then a local reporter called to interview me about the study (“Are cute babies too exposed?”)  and I started thinking about the implications for a child whose photos, behaviors and even routines are documented on a weekly if not daily basis on the Internet. Few blogs I’ve read have done more than quickly mention the problems with photos on the Internet…and the potential problems for parents who don’t fully understand that their child’s image is a simple right click away from being used without their knowledge. Both illegally and legally.

Part of a publicist’s job is to carefully monitor how their clients’ image is portrayed publicly. We know that an old quote lifted out of context or a poor photo could be damaging to the client’s current campaign. But sometimes parents don’t understand what they post  could affect their child’s future in much the same way. Let’s forget about the  cyber bullying that could occur from an old poopy diaper photo used for nefarious purposes by a middle school mean girl. Further along, think about the autism activists that have forever stamped their child as “disabled” as he or she tries to enter the working world 15 years from now. Or, as I told this reporter, how even a humorous story about child rearing might come back to haunt that kid later on. Read on… (more…)