Airfoil Public Relations

Dealing with crisis in the social media era… Can we operate fast enough?

2009-12-22T10:51:24-05:00

Last week, I joined fellow PRSA Detroit members at Lawrence Tech University to listen to Tim McIntyre, vice president of communications for Dominos Pizza, present, “We sell pizza. What could go wrong.” - a firsthand crisis case study of how the company handled the infamous YouTube incident of 2009.

The way the crisis was handled has been both praised and ridiculed by the public relations industry, and McIntyre was recently named Crisis Manager of the year by PR News.

Before McIntyre’s presentation, my opinion was that in today’s world of 24/7 news and social media, 48 hours to respond to this crisis was too long. After listening to him explain how those 48 hours worked, I still don’t completely agree with how the crisis was handled, but have a better understanding. I do not believe they were slow to react, but rather that they underestimated the power of social media.

The first 24 hours

Within 45 minutes of the video being posted on YouTube, McIntyre was aware that it was there. The first 24 hours were spent attempting to identify where the store was, who the individuals were and contacting local authorities once they were identified.

Dominos also contacted YouTube to take the video down, in which they were told they needed permission from the person who put it on there. Even after permission, videos that are 90 seconds or less remain because YouTube only considers videos that are more than 90 seconds to infringe on copyright laws.

So why didn’t Dominos immediately address the video publically? According to McIntyre, he said they were focused on the internal audience, and didn’t’ want to “put out a candle with a fire hose.” At this time the video had 250K views (vs. the 307 million people that live in the U.S.) The company didn’t want to bring it to more people’s attention by issuing a press release or holding a press conference. Instead, they addressed Web sites like the Consumerist that posted the video to their blog.

The Next 24 hours

In the next 24 hours, Dominos launched social media tools including Twitter and a Facebook page (which the said was scheduled to be launched the following week). They also posted a public response to Dominos.com. When 250K views turned into 500K, they decided to respond to the crisis through the same medium it was created. They quickly put the president of Dominos on camera and put it on YouTube within one hour.

End result

While posting the response via YouTube was new to Dominos and the PR industry, would it have been more effective if it was done 24 hours earlier or if communication had been opened sooner via social media? Should Dominos already have had statements prepared to address the situation while other measures were being taken? If they were already active on Twitter, would they have been able to reach this audience directly and immediately?

McIntrye and Dominos handled the situation the best way they knew how. They took all the steps we are taught to take in dealing with a crisis. What other PR professionals can learn from this is that social media is a strong force. It is something that is becoming stronger than traditional media every day and should not be ignored or taken lightly. Companies need to be active in social media so they can address these types of issues immediately instead of catching up later.

-- Deana Goodrich

Online content: not so fast

2009-12-21T13:23:42-05:00

Recently, I came across an article on TechCrunch that really struck a nerve.

In a nutshell, it talks about how the rise of “fast food content” is threatening to destroy the livelihood of content creators on the Web. (It’s worth noting that the people most at risk are the same people who benefitted from the struggles of traditional news media.)

There’s no doubt that the online content model is evolving. Even the Miami Herald recently announced it is accepting online donations for digital content.

However, the TechCrunch story envisions a day when people will be forced to consume cheap, mass-produced, search engine-driven content up to five times a day.

What this statement fails to take into account is one very important factor … our intelligence.

Sure, we can all justify a fast food indulgence every now and then (e.g., celebrity gossip).

And in virtually every category, the natural evolution of business includes providers who grab the audience’s attention for a period of time with low cost, low quality products.

What’s happening now is this trend has finally reached the news and information sector, where it’s further empowered by the lower "publication" costs of digital channels.

Eventually, I believe readers will see “fast food content” for what it is … something that might briefly satisfy a hunger, but lacks in essential nutrients.

Because when the issues being reported actually matter to the reader, there is absolutely no substitute for quality - whether we’re talking about news and fresh insights on a particular topic, product reviews, or the best place to find locally grown fruits and vegetables.

The challenge we face as storytellers is to better define and understand our audience – who they are, what they like, and how they like to consume information.

The rest is just noise.

-- Janet Tyler

Auto shows: don’t forget social media

2009-12-18T10:40:45-05:00

It’s been a few weeks since the LA Auto Show press days have come and gone. It’s become obvious over the past few years that social and non-traditional media are continuing to gain respect and attention at traditional events and trade shows – but it became most apparent to me during, and especially, following the LA Auto Show. Traditional media, automakers, suppliers and their representatives were all following the social media highlights surrounding the show – more so than I have noticed in previous years.

Ford was even posting Twitter messages on a giant board as it unveiled its new North America version of the Ford Fiesta. Attendees could get the latest updates, news, highlights and excitement surrounding the vehicle launch not only on their mobile devices, but also on the big screen while they made their way through the LA Convention Center. Large companies have finally recognized the benefits gained from engaging with non-traditional audiences, communities and media and even making it easier and more convenient for them to access updates and news bits.

Some of my favorite sites to check motor show coverage are the CNET Reviews Car Tech blog (click here for a cool wrap up on interesting innovations Brian Cooley saw at the LA Auto Show), the MotorTrend blog site and autobloggreen. While these outlets are some of the largest Web sites out there in terms of auto and technology, I like that their blog writers and podcasters include some of the quirky, behind-the-scenes tidbits on auto shows.

These kinds of outlets give a good mix of hard news, commentary and reviews, so keep them and others in mind when trying to find out what’s “hot or not” at the auto shows, and when putting together a complete and robust public relations trade show media plan and approach.

What are your favorite news outlets (traditional or non-traditional) for getting the scoop on major trade shows?

-- Jenn Korail

Michigan Solid State Lighting Association keeping the lights on in Michigan

2009-12-15T10:22:49-05:00

A few weeks ago, a few of us ’Foilers attended the 2009 Michigan Solid-State Lighting Association Symposium at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The event, which was attended by business leaders across the state, discussed the latest advancements and insights into the benefits of Solid-State Lighting (SSL).

For those who are not familiar, SSL refers to the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as sources of illumination, rather than electrical filaments, plasma or gas. Benefits of solid-state lighting include an environmentally friendly design that is mercury free, contains reusable parts and provides a long-term energy-efficient source of light.

The Michigan Solid-State Lights Association (MSSLA) had just announced its formation a few weeks prior. The MSSLA was established in a collaborative effort with Michigan-based corporations, universities and state agencies engaged in manufacturing, research or development of solid-state lighting products.

Being at the symposium and seeing so many companies that could easily be viewed as competitors, all joining together in effort to make Michigan a global leader in SSL manufacturing, research and development, was quite honestly a breath of fresh air. With so many jobs being lost in the state of Michigan, there is such a great opportunity for this association to truly move our state, and the industry, forward by banning together.

By leveraging the intellectual properties and technical expertise of its membership, the MSSLA intends to promote environmentally friendly lighting options in the state and to advance the companies it represents. A presentation by Mike Bergren, former assistant field operations manager for the city of Ann Arbor showed how much SSL can save money and cut energy costs for municipalities across the state and the country.

Tom Henderson from Crain’s Detroit Business wrote a great article announcing the launch of the MSSLA. In his article he highlights companies including ilumisys (Airfoil client), DTE Energy, and Relume Technologies Inc., who are all founding members of the association. It was great to read about the tremendous success all these companies are experiencing, to see them collaborating first-hand and to walk away excited to see the industry grow and prosper here in Michigan.

--Deana Goodrich

No time left for procrastination in cleantech industry

2009-12-14T11:56:10-05:00

Procrastination. It does us no good. Even as I’ve contemplated this blog post, I procrastinated writing it. But, there is no better time than the present to act.

One of my favorite sayings, framed on my desk, reads: “This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind ... let it be something good.”

Now is the time for me, you, Detroit and Silicon Valley (and everywhere in between), the auto industry, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, the state of Michigan and the U.S. Government to do “something good,” to make the investment in our future, right here, right now. There certainly are pockets of success, but too often entrepreneurs, small- and midsized businesses (SMBs) and suppliers right in our backyards who are smart, can really make a difference and are agile are often overlooked, not funded, and end up closing up shop.

We all lose, the days pass and the procrastination continues. We are then left with the old, slow, stodgy companies that say they are reinventing themselves, bringing innovation, branding themselves as “new” and looking for “outsiders” to reinvigorate the company. Been there. Done that. Again, some pockets of success, but at General Motors for example, outsiders were brought in the 1990s, but ended up resigning, or as the years passed, they have become an insider. Today, GM is looking once again for an “outsider,” this time to fill its CEO position.

How much longer do we have to wait for efficiencies, innovation, for alternative energy that will become mainstream? Having just attended the LA Auto Show with client Faurecia and in anticipation of the “Electric Avenue” display at the North American International Auto Show in January, I’m hopeful that in time we will get there. There are some promising moves toward green, cleantech and alternative energy vehicles, but we’ve been waiting too long.

As a kid in the 1970s, due to the oil crisis, I remember the long lines for gas and having to wait a day before you could get gas based on your license plate number. It was just last year that gas hovered at $4 a gallon and sales of pickup trucks and SUVS tanked. There was suddenly renewed interest in smaller vehicles.

Surprised? Did we not see this coming? Have we just been procrastinating? Ford’s EcoBoost™ is a nice short-term approach and there’s certainly a lot of talk about alternative energy vehicles on the horizon by all the major automakers, but when will we see natural gas, diesel, electric vehicles and hybrids become mainstream?

I don’t blame supply and demand. We’ve just been putting off the inevitable, relying on the big guys to carry us through. Procrastination.

-- Rich Donley

Time to Turn the Chairs

2009-12-11T10:52:39-05:00

“The difference between an audience and a community is which way you turn the chairs.” – Chris Brogan

Author, blogger and social media maven, Chris Brogan, spoke at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York City last month on the topic of conversations and the social Web. Check it out here.

One of the key messages I took from Chris’s short presentation was that using social media isn’t really all that different than what we’re used to doing as PR professionals or marketers.

To succeed, we have to become great conversation facilitators.

This plays right into the core strengths of PR and our proven abilities to connect messages with audiences. The challenge is … to adapt these skills in a landscape where:

1. The public now talks back. (More than 200 million blogs exist right now!)

2. News media credibility has plummeted.

The first was inevitable due to the rise of social media tools that gave consumers the instant ability to share opinion.

The second change stems from news media channels becoming increasingly more fragmented as people today place higher degrees of trust in news that aligns with their particular point-of-view and lifestyle (see Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart, The Huffington Post to mommy blogs, environmental blogs, etc.).

So how does PR adjust to this new world order?

Just as Arm & Hammerrealized leveraging the core strengths of their products could make a difference when applied to other areas of the home, PR needs to leverage its natural ability to facilitate conversations in the new two-way dialogue that’s happening within our client’s communities.

Yes, the world of communications has changed. But the strengths that have made PR effective remain every bit as vital as before … we just need to apply them in a different way.

-- Janet Tyler

The elephant in the "green" room

2009-12-10T13:37:54-05:00

In recent years, there has been a worldwide push for companies and consumers alike to go green. But to most this means buying reusable shopping bags, recycling paper, plastic and aluminum materials, responsible disposing of toxic waste, and lowering emissions of greenhouse gasses. All of these activities are important for creating a greener world, but there's a 73 million ton elephant lurking in the "green" room: e-waste.

A recent Pike Research survey of Americans found that the average consumer has 2.8 pieces of unused, broken or obsolete electronics equipment in his/her possession. And, Pike Research reports that by 2010, the amount of e-waste entering landfills will reach 73 million metric tons. To put that into perspective, 73 million metric tons is equivalent to the weight of 1.8 million eighteen wheelers or 18.25 million adult female elephants.

The good news? The awareness of e-waste and its threat to the environment is rising. The Pike Research survey also found that 76 percent of consumers recognize recycling is the most effective way to handle e-waste.

An Airfoil client, Paragon Green, is one of the leading IT asset recovery and e-waste recyclers in the country. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to tour their warehouse facilities where they collect and sort an estimated 50 million pounds of e-waste for recycling each year. It was only when I saw their warehouse packed with keyboards, computer mice, computers, monitors, televisions, printers and copiers being processed that I fully realized the seriousness of the issue.

The global e-waste crisis is more than the volume. Hazardous e-waste is a big cause for alarm, particularly the lead-based glass found in cathode ray tubes (CRT) of televisions and computer monitors. CRTs cannot simply be dumped in landfills. Working CRTs are most often reused, but broken ones must go through glass-to-glass processing. E-waste also emits greenhouse gases. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that 1 million computers release an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases to that of more than 17,000 cars. According to the Computer Industry Almanac, Inc., in 2008 the U.S. had 264.1 million personal computers in use.

There is a lot to be done to solve the global e-waste crisis. Legislation and regulations must be put into place by governments to drive the responsible handling of end-of-life electronics equipment. Companies and consumers must also take an active role by recycling their electronics equipment responsibly. So, before you simply toss your old cell phone or outdated computer in the trash, be greener by finding a local electronics collection event in your local area.

-- Jennifer Wilt

This is it … or is it?

2009-12-03T14:54:59-05:00

Around the office, we sometimes take moments to discuss the latest celebrity news and pride ourselves on our collective knowledge and love for pop culture in all shapes, sizes and scandals. But what does it all really mean at the end of the day?

Just recently, I had the privilege of viewing Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” with a few of my colleagues and, while enraptured with emotions of sadness, joy, frustration and relief, we couldn’t help but ponder the profound impact one person has had on the world in such a brief lifetime.

Despite the publicity-palooza that has surrounded Michael Jackson throughout his life and even more feverishly after death, I felt it a valuable exercise to reflect on the lessons we’ve learned from the King of Pop as applied to personal and professional life goals.

1. Remember the time – Keep it original and stay true to who you are. Know your limits, comfort zones and areas of expertise. Keep it simple and highlight your strengths to complement your teams, partners and the work you do. MJ underscored this trait eloquently when discussing with the keyboardist how a melody was to be played during the rehearsal. Simply put and staying true to himself, MJ requested, “I want you to play it how I wrote it.” No need for frills or jazzing it up – sometimes simplicity speaks volumes.

2. Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough – As the old adage goes, “Rules are meant to be broken.” The same goes for goals, both personal and professional. Despite this song’s intended meaning, don’t stop until you’ve met your goals (and hopefully exceeded them) and are satisfied with the results.

3. Man In The Mirror – To highlight two of my favorite personal motivational quotes, “Be the change you want to see in the world” (Ghandi) and “Only you can change you” (QBQ! author John G. Miller). The message from this song is no different. Whether improving the world around you or establishing a new best practice in your field, realize you have more control over your immediate environment than you realize and you have the power to make a difference in the world around you.

-- by Meg Soule

Ten ways to use your presentation content after the presentation

2009-12-02T15:30:30-05:00

Too often, presenters toss away their notes before they’ve reached their largest and best audiences. Whenever you deliver a presentation, consider the immediate audience–the 10 or 50 or 300 people in the room with you–as only a beginning. You can reach hundreds and thousands more if you apply public relations techniques to your speech content and roll it out beyond the meeting hall to the innumerable niches occupied by others whom you may wish to influence.

Here are 10 ways you can extend your presentation–and your reputation–to people in other corners of your region, country and the globe:

Use your presentation as the basis for multiple posts on your blog. Half a dozen good points can make half a dozen good posts.
Post your presentation content on your Web site and sites such as docstoc and slideshare as a resource and to increase SEO.
Transform your notes/script into a bylined article and submit it to a trade magazine for publication.
Write a news release, not on the fact that you will be presenting, but rather on what you said. Your comments and perspective may encourage a reporter to contact you for a news report.
Reach out to local radio and TV stations to pitch a local-news interview based on the subject matter of your presentation.
Use your presentation content to create a marketing brochure or newsletter that provides subject matter of interest to your mailing list.
Develop a short white paper incorporating your presentation content and offer it through your Web site. Publicize it through a news release and through social media, like Facebook and Twitter.
Record your live presentation and post the video on YouTube. Publicize the video by posting links to it on social media sites and your Web site.
Develop a podcast of your presentation that visitors to your Web site can download.
Submit your presentation as a topic for a session at an industry conference in which you can re-present the material in updated fashion.

-- Steve Friedman

Goodbye old friend

2009-12-01T15:59:00-05:00

A recent Pew Research Center Study generated some attention with its announcement that news media credibility in the U.S. had effectively hit a two-decade low point.

The study found that the American public has serious questions about news media accuracy, bias and independence – identifying such variables as budget cuts and increasingly fragmented news outlets as key contributors to this “climate of distrust.”

In my opinion, the results of this study shouldn’t really be news to any of us.

But rather than bemoan the fact that the communications channels we’ve come to know and love have lost some of their influence … we, as PR professionals, must adapt.

The good news is PR remains a story-telling business, so it’s not like we have to reinvent the wheel to successfully reach today’s ultra-wired, highly skeptical audiences.

However, one change facing us is a shift out of our traditional “news media-first” mentality to one where we become the proliferators of conversations … wherever and whenever they take place.

In some cases, this will happen through the media tactics that have defined our business for years.

In many other cases, brands will use integrated marketing and communications to facilitate these conversations in whatever channel is most relevant to the audience (e.g., social media sites, bloggers, community, etc.).

And just as “Web 2.0” reinvented how we use the Internet, you can imagine all the exciting opportunities that lie ahead in this new environment. Bring on 2010!

-- Janet Tyler