The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Publicity Hound Marilynn Mobley of Atlanta, Georgia writes with this comment about my advice two weeks ago to stop staging boring check-passing photos:

“AMEN to your advice about how dreadful ‘passing the check’ photos are. I thought you might be interested to know that they can actually be dangerous as well.

“Recently, I picked up a magazine to find the cover contained the most boring check passing photo I’ve ever seen. While laughing about it with one of our security experts, he said, ‘Wow, look at that!’ He was responding to the fact that the check being passed was an actual check. To prove a point, he showed me in less than 10 minutes how to use the account number and routing number (which was visible because it hadn’t been blurred or removed) to access the bank account of the company giving the check. While we, of course, didn’t actually move any money, we could have. The photo contained everything we needed to move money from one account to another, or to make ‘legitimate’ online purchases.

“Admittedly, people in companies like mine (an Internet security company that protects corporate networks from hackers) have a heightened sense of awareness about this issue. Still, it may be helpful to your readers to know that the criminal mind looks at photos very differently from those of us who think only pure thoughts.

“Oh! Did I mention the publication was a security magazine?”

The Publicity Hound says:

That’s one more great reason to stop passing checks. Dan Collins, media relations director for a hospital, says there are all sorts of interesting events you can create to draw the media, rather than having to rely on boring cliche events like ribbon-cuttings that the media hate—and often refuse to cover. He was my guest on a teleseminar called “Fun Alternatives to Boring Ground-breakings, Ribbon-cuttings and Check-passings.”

Posted In: Newspaper Publicity, Nonprofits, Pitching the Media
posted On: 6/21/2005: 6:27 pm: By Joan
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A reader wrote this week and asked:

“We are looking for some advice on when to send a media notice to our contacts announcing a press conference. A week prior to the press conference? Two days? Or is it best to hit them a couple of times?”

The Publicity Hound says:

Why do you think it’s so difficult to lure the media to news conferences? Here are five reasons:

—They’re almost always boring. Sometimes, they don’t even result in news.

—If there’s a nugget of news to be found, all media walk away with the same story. They hate that. Each media outlet wants its own story, or a different angle on the same story.

—Reporters and photographers often have to battle rush-hour traffic getting there.

—Photographers would much rather photograph events with people, color and motion instead of a bunch of talking heads behind microphones.

—Much of the same information the media can get at a news conference can be emailed to them just as easily.

The short answer: Skip the news conference and instead think of several different angles to pitch to different media outlets.

Or, instead of a news conference, sponsor a clever event. Or think of a way to get the media involved in your event. Several weeks ago, I was part of a teleseminar panel sponsored by Bulldog Reporter. One participant wanted ideas on how to pitch a news conference announcing workshops in which students would learn about nature and the environment. I suggested that instead, they invite reporters to join in one of the activities–building bat houses.

Sandra Eggers, APR, who was my guest on a teleseminar titled “Creative Alternatives to Boring News Conferences” says you should steer clear of these cliche events and, instead, create an exciting event that will pull the media like a magnet. The one time when you SHOULD call a news conference is when the news is bad and you want to be the first one to release it. It might save your butt and it might even save your job.

Posted In: Pitching the Media, Special Events
posted On: : 6:20 pm: By Joan
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I shake my head in disbelief every time somebody who has just been sued is quoted in the newspaper as saying, “We can’t comment because the case is in litigation.” I saw that quote again this morning.

Some people actually think there’s a law somewhere that prohibits them from commenting on lawsuits filed against them. Others even think their attorneys have given them good advice by prohibiting them from talking to reporters. They think that if they say nothing, the silence will help them rather than hurt them.

Fat chance.

Let’s say it’s a product liability case. By the time it winds its way through the court system, which could take two years or more, the defendant might, in fact, win the lawsuit. But that could mean two years of plummeting sales and stock prices that eventually force the company into bankruptcy.

Think it can’t happen? Media coach Clarence Jones sees these kinds of situations all the time. In fact, he has found himself in verbal sparring matches with corporate attorneys who insist their clients must zip their lips.

In one instance, when a CEO called him in during a crisis, Clarence told the CEO and the attorney who wanted to remain silent that if they didn’t comment, they should both start tidying up their resumes because their names would be splashed all over the front pages of newspapers for months.

In the end, he won the argument. The CEO did media interviews and the bad story quickly went away.

Clarence was my guest during a teleseminar titled “In a Media Crisis Your Lawyer Will be Wrong.” If you’re the type of person who has unfailing confidence in your attorney, you’ll be surprised at what Clarence has to say. He explains why a lawyer’s job doesn’t mesh with a P.R. person’s job. He even suggests something that will give your lawyer a heart attack: that it’s often beneficial to bring reporters into your decision-making process while you’re dealing with a crisis. That’s what Johnson & Johnson did during the Tylenol murders, and they’re still rated the Number One company when it comes to consumer confidence.

Posted In: Crisis Communications
posted On: : 5:54 pm: By Joan
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The 10 tomato plants in our garden, including two heirloom tomato plants, are wilting. And the basil just sits there looking helpless.

If this newsletter is late today, it’s because I’ve been in the garden for the last several days giving a hearty drink to the green beans, beets, carrots, radishes, peas, spinach and three rows of lettuce.

The perennials get a good soaking almost every other day.

“Crank up the sprinkler,” says the headline on Page 1 of this morning’s paper. The story says this spring is the fourth driest since they’ve been keeping records.

The story, of course, was probably written because this is the first day of summer. I couldn’t help but notice that three Publicity Hounds offered great quotes for the story.

From Bill Minor of Minor’s Garden Center:

“We just had a guy come in here a few minutes ago–he watered his sod once a day for a week and it died.”

From Brian Zimmerman, golf operations manager for the Milwaukee County Parks:

“What a difference a year makes. Last year, you would have thought Noah had come through here.”

From Phillip J. Pellitteri, a University of Wisconsin-Madison entomologist, commenting on the absence of mosquitoes:

“It’s not normal to go out at dusk or grill and have a glass of wine on the porch and not get stung.”

So what can Publicity Hounds learn from this story? A few days before the official start of fall, winter, spring and summer, mark your calendars and remind yourself that you might have something to offer reporters who are doing stories on the start of the new season. They’re always looking for an angle for these evergreen stories, and commenting on how the weather affects you just might be a great way to sneak into the newspaper or onto the TV news. Read about more ways to piggyback onto weather stories in “Special Report #37: How to Tie Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue to the Weather.”

Posted In: Business Promotion, Newspaper Publicity, TV Publicity
posted On: : 5:46 pm: By Joan
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The best publicist is one who understands that the media is their first client, says Carole Willcocks, Los Angeles bureau operations manager of Entertainment Weekly.

If the publicist’s other client happens to be a hot-shot entertainer, that can be difficult.

If you represent entertainters who want to get into Entertainment Weekly, read this interview courtesy of PR Newswire. It’s loaded with pitching tips.

Posted In: Magazine Publicity, Newspaper Publicity
posted On: 6/18/2005: 12:12 am: By Joan
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