The Pollack PR Marketing Group Blog

The Pollack PR Marketing Group Blog http://www.pollackblog.com The Pollack PR Marketing Group, based in Century City, CA, is a 24-year old mid-sized, multi-specialty agency that develops communication platforms and programs, manages corporate reputations, launches new products and services and promotes consumer brand engagement for clients ranging from innovative start-ups, to Fortune 500 companies, with a focus on consumer products, technologies and services Tue, 11 Jun 2013 21:23:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 ppmghttp://feedburner.google.com iGen, The Next Consumer http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/j1wEc164vT8/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1465#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 15:23:33 +0000 Noemi Pollack http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1465

In the summer of 2012, as we sat around our conference room one afternoon, we were jolted by an “aha” moment. We realized that the coming of age of the newest generation, the iGen (or Z generation) is right now and that there would be another disruption similar, but different, from the one of the past decade. It was time to hustle and really scrutinize this generation, which turned 18 in 2012. So we examined deeper… iGen is a generation born with consumer-driven capitalism at its core and altruism at its heart. Never before has there been a generation so globally plugged in and so informed. We learnt that their patterns and behaviors are opposed to anything that has come before them and that they basically ignore messages from brands, unless those brands have earned admittance to their infinite touch points. It is simply in their DNA to listen to their trusted network, rather than controlled messages from brands. We recognized that iGen-ers only care about information if it is relevant to them and, since the power of brand-engagement is in the hands of the consumer, they will serve as their own gatekeepers, awarding relevant information by sharing it with their trusted network of peers and burying irrelevant information so it will be invisible to their peers. This trend is already evident in early studies: 60% of iGen expects relevant advertisements and 46% prefer funny advertisements. We noted that an acceptable bypass into iGen's circle of trust is to leverage influencers that already have access to iGen's touch points. These influencers can be anyone from individuals active on social media to just people with a lot of friends or it can also include the professionals in the communication industry. If a brand can ethically earn favor from influencers, then Brian Solis' one-to-one-to-many process of communication is leveraged. iGen may not listen to brands, but iGen will listen to influencers they trust when they talk about brands. But that trust easily disappears if a voice is perceived as not genuine. iGen-ers do not like to be duped and, if they sniff it out, a brand could find themselves in a full-on public relations crisis. The result of that “aha” moment is a newly launched book, authored by veteran PR pro and president of our agency, Stefan Pollack, titled Disrupted, From Gen Y to iGen: Communicating with the Next Generation. It illuminates strategies and tactics on how brands can navigate this new consumer demographic and avoid pitfalls in doing so. “Disrupted” is available now online including direct from the publisher at pacificcoastcreative.com, Amazon.com, IndieBound.org and in all major bookstores including Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million. To learn more about “Disrupted” and Stefan Pollack, visit the book’s website, www.disruptedbook.com. It is a time to brace ourselves -- and become very, very smart.

]]> http://www.pollackblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=1465 0 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1465http://www.pollackblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/disrupted-cover-small.jpg What happened to CSR? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/QHSSobXBEW4/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1457#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 17:01:57 +0000 Noemi Pollack http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1457

Phillip Roth's famous book, The Human Stain, speaks about an irreconcilable mistake in judgment that left an irrevocable “human stain.” Last week there was a “corporate stain” that will surely prove to be an irrevocable judgment call on companies that, in their rush to distance themselves from any involvement in Bangladesh's garment factory disaster, forgot that corporate reputations depend on consumers that buy their products and that the voice of consumers demanding a corporate social responsibility (CSR) from the companies whose products they buy, has become increasingly vociferous, and as such, it will be the consumer who decides whether they want to consume the product of a company that has left a “corporate stain.” In other words, companies have come under scrutiny by the very consumer that buys their service or products and it is not easy to wipe a corporate reputation clean. There were clothing brands that issued stark denials that they authorized work at those factories in the building -- even when their labels, such as Benetton’s, were said to be found in the rubble. A few remembered that today’s world is, after all, transparent and that the consumer rules. These acknowledged their connections to the tragedy and promised compensation such as Britain's Primark and Canada's Loblaw Inc. But my sense is that even this was thinly veiled as a calculated way of minimizing damage. With several deadly disasters and fires in Bangladesh's $20 billion garment industry in the past six months, possibly the only way retailers and clothing brands can protect their reputations is to visibly and genuinely work to overhaul safety in Bangladesh's garment factories. As costly as that may be to a company, it is a pittance when compared to the loss of consumers who care deeply enough not to buy, no matter how cheap the product. Just consider the profits reaped to the foreign garment industry over the past decade from Bangladesh, where a minimum wage of about $38 a month has helped boost profits in a global business worth $1 trillion a year. Spain's Mango said it hadn't bought clothing from those factories but acknowledged it had been in talks with one factory to produce a test batch of clothing. German clothing company KiK said it was "surprised, shocked and appalled" to learn its T-shirts and tops were found in the rubble. The company said it stopped doing business with the Bangladesh factories in 2008. It promised an investigation. Walmart said there was no authorized production of its clothing lines at the collapsed Rana Plaza building, but it was investigating whether there was unapproved subcontracting. The Walt Disney Co. needs to be lauded. Apparently it pulled out of Bangladesh production altogether after last year's fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory, where its branded clothing was found. Any marketer knows that a global corporate reputation is carefully built over a long period of time, but can also be lost in a very short period of time -- and not easily regained. Companies should not count on the consumer’s short memory. A corporate stain is just that…

]]> http://www.pollackblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=1457 0 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1457http://www.pollackblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/the-human-stain.jpg The Suspended Coffee Movement http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/9SjWVWgcuPQ/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1448#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:00:44 +0000 Noemi Pollack http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1448

It is said that the tradition began in the working-class cafés of Naples, Italy almost 100 years ago… Apparently any person in need could come into the local café and ask if there was a “caffè sospeso” (suspended coffee) available, meaning a free a cup of coffee. It started with a neighbor or local, who were having a coffee at the local café and wanted to “pay forward” for a local needy person to have a cup of coffee. Neighborly… Suddenly, the same “suspended coffee” idea that started back in Naples, gained traction and has today been embraced by hundreds of cafés around the world. Locals don't have to 'prove' anything to claim one. The scheme relies on the good faith of everyone involved. It has been growing in popularity. You may have seen the “suspended coffee” meme going around on Facebook or other social media recently. According to Snopes.com, it is becoming a huge viral hit on various social networking sites as well. It is a movement, a community effort that seems small, but neighborly. The idea of entering your local café in the morning on your way to work and buying someone else a cup of coffee is an act of generosity, of caring for someone else. If it were extended to include buying a cupcake or sandwich, (some places in Europe already do that) then imagine the impact the little personal “feel good” contribution would have, were millions to participate. It may seem that this concept would only work in small local cafes. Not true. For sure there will be a lot of naysayers about the logistics of keeping track of coffee credits, having lots of down-on- their-luck people wandering into cafés and more. Still, the concept involves people helping people and therefore outdoes the benefits of simply writing a check to a charity for any food and beverage corporation. It’s about neighbor helping neighbor – directly, and offering customers the opportunity of doing something on the spur of the moment and feel good about it. The rest? If it matters, it can be figured out. One UK café simply uses a chalkboard to track the suspended coffee credits. In the present marketplace climate, people want to do business with companies with which they can interact directly and that visibly care and have like values. It falls under corporate social responsibility (CSR). “Warm and fuzzy” fosters loyalty. Amazing how the more things change, the more they stay the same. A tradition started 100 years ago, in what was then a small city in Italy, seems worth adopting and adapting to today’s world, and on a more massive scale.

]]> http://www.pollackblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=1448 0 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1448http://www.pollackblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/suspended-coffee-cup.jpg The End of Soda-Nonsense http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/VsBRy6C-l1k/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1441#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:17:16 +0000 Noemi Pollack http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1441 It took a long ten months -- from the time that Mayor Bloomberg proposed his plan to ban large sugary drinks of 32 oz. from restaurants, movie theaters and other establishments, ostensibly to curtail obesity, to NY’s State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling’s verdict, which came down yesterday invalidating the proposed law, calling it "arbitrary and [...]]]> It took a long ten months -- from the time that Mayor Bloomberg proposed his plan to ban large sugary drinks of 32 oz. from restaurants, movie theaters and other establishments, ostensibly to curtail obesity, to NY’s State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling’s verdict, which came down yesterday invalidating the proposed law, calling it "arbitrary and capricious.” What? We cannot do the simple math? In my blog of June 1, “…Size Matters,” I argued that if we could not buy a 32oz. soda, we could just get two 16 oz. ones, obesity be damned. Our choice. Not Mayor Bloomberg’s. It is absolutely incredible that the proposed plan was taken seriously in the first place; incredible that it got so far as to have businesses such as Dunkin Donuts, hand out information cards to its customers in preparation of having to comply with the potential upcoming law; incredible that it wasted the time of lawmakers, judges, city clerks and, of course, Judge Tingling’s; and incredible that this nonsense might have become a law today. Just imagine all that would have been accomplished in that time, had the focus been on what really would impact healthy eating. A law could have been proposed and implemented by now for public schools to get healthier lunch menus; for public education and community centers to dig deeper into needy neighborhoods that do not otherwise have access to health seminars and dietary information; for restaurants to list calorie counts of dishes they serve, no matter how upscale they may be; for movie theaters to do likewise with their snacks (if they don’t do so already); and for public health centers and clinics to re-double their efforts to promote healthy diets. It’s a clear case of a misguided personal quest to leave a legacy of healthier New Yorkers. A personal quest at the cost of businesses’ profits, of sending a message to the obese community that cutting out large sodas is an easy answer to loosing weight and of mocking the real causes of obesity -- health issues that go far deeper than soda. It gets worse…It seems like he had all loose ends tied up to support his plan. He had the city's mayor-controlled health board approve the ban last fall, improperly sidestepped the city council's legislative authority, and had a new city study released the day before the law was to go into effect that showed that neighborhoods with the greatest obesity, also consumed the most sugary drinks. Unfortunately, the city’s chief lawyer plans an appeal. More waste of time; much ado over nothing…

]]> http://www.pollackblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=1441 0 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1441http://www.pollackblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/77938679sodabancrop.jpg NY Times/Tesla Motors Battle http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/GL8c3E2DMak/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1434#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:52:52 +0000 Noemi Pollack http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1434

Somebody was asleep at the virtual wheel… So Tesla finally did produce the vehicle logs that ostensibly contradict the New York Times' reporter John Broder’s recent account of a test drive road trip he took, driving Tesla’s electronic car Model S, which resulted in a scathing negative review in that publication. But there was a lag of three days, which allowed for the rancorous back-and-forth to continue and escalate, pitting one of the nation's most influential newspaper against one of the most successful entrepreneurs. To begin with Tesla’s CEO Musk’s knee jerk response to the negative review was ill conceived. His blistering response in a blog post vociferously countered Broder’s account and said that data pulled from the Model S's onboard computer would more clearly account for what really happened. But no data was released to support that blog statement until three days later. Apparently, for those who did not follow the public rants that erupted surrounding a bad review of the car, there are discrepancies in the nature of the trip as to how fully charged the car was at the outset, whether or not the car deviated from the planned route and took a detour and at what temperature the car was held – all directly responsible for the car’s performance. This is clearly a case where data and PR intersect. One would think it critical for a communication team to create a scenario where success can happen, and have plans and precautions in place should there be a hiccup in the process -- especially so when you have the Goliath of a newspaper covering the trip. As such, it would seem tantamount to success of any road trip to be able to follow it in real time, know where it is going at all times, keep aware of dashboard data in real time and act upon it. Minimally, the car was surely tracked via its GPS and at least that could have showed them any deviation from the agreed upon course, allowing the communication team to react as it happened. What is puzzling is that Tesla’s communication team and engineers had several phone conversations with Broder throughout his trip. So how is it that they could not track the trip’s progress and counsel the driver of the vehicle in real time as to detours, charging and temperature gage, all directly impacting outcomes? And why was Musk not counseled as to his call with Broder last Friday, before the article appeared online, in which he offered regrets about the outcome of the test drive? Really? What regrets? Or what about this one? According to Musk, "When I first heard about what could at best be described as irregularities in Broder's behavior during the test drive, I called to apologize for any inconvenience that he may have suffered and sought to put my concerns to rest, hoping that he had simply made honest mistakes. That was not the case.” Apologized for any inconveniences?? Irregularities in Broder’s behavior not tractable in real time??? It would seem that this could have been easily course-corrected if someone was sharp at the virtual wheel. Opinions of what happened are flying, with even the NYT’s blog refuting every single point made by Tesla. Maybe the result will be a David and Goliath story, where the NY Times (Goliath) will not recant and where Musk’s (David) electronic data will not lie. With the difference being that the marketing disaster of Tesla’s own making is a misstep that may find “David” at the wrong end of the stick. Hard to combat missteps...

]]> http://www.pollackblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=1434 0 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1434http://www.pollackblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/0212-cold_full_600.jpg Coca-Cola “Wants you” http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/rKdDe7J1YfQ/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1426#comments Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:45:52 +0000 Noemi Pollack http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1426

Anyone who watched the Super Bowl ads of 2012, will surely remember Coke’s animated iconic polar bears who reacted to the action on the field throughout the full four hours or so of the game, coupled with a live feed during the game showing the bears watching. According to reports nine million people across various platforms checked in to see the polar bears. The Polar Bowl was creative and forward thinking, but it was still about watching… This time around Coke “wants you” to get involved in the narrative of their “Coke Chase” story -- which is about “three teams of people – cowboys, showgirls and badlanders – who are lost in the desert and see the mirage of a glistening bottle of Coke -- then vote in real time to decide who wins a battle for the Coke, and the result is revealed at the end of the game.” But here is the kicker in the game – players are pitted against other players. They can also sabotage—in other words, vote down—the teams they oppose. It triggers a competitive spirit geared to propel engagement. According to Coke executives, they want to “gamify the game” via a real-time television, web and social media campaign that taps consumers’ votes to determine the storyline of the spot. They hope that consumers are up for another game, while watching the Big Game. Pio Schunker, SVP of integrated marketing at Coke said, "People aren't going to necessarily interact with your product unless you tell a compelling story. This is the most engaging and compelling way in to talk about Coke as the ultimate thirst quencher." A bit promotional I think, but on point with the interaction part. It is clever. It is about cross-media storytelling and engaging players in a narrative. It is about extending the conversation through a host of platforms across Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram, for which custom content has been crafted. Additionally a press conference with the losers has been recorded for YouTube. It's a marked change from last year’s Polar Bowl that had a singular tactic for social-media channels. By the looks of the game Coke conceived, it is likely that they will beat their numbers of last year. It is also a very cool way for Coke to maximize their estimated $11 million investment. But more importantly, Coke may very well be responsible for permanently turning around expectations of the Super Bowl ads of 2014. It’s what we would expect from a market leader.

]]> http://www.pollackblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=1426 0 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1426http://www.pollackblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130123-084426.jpg Happy Holidays From The Pollack PR Marketing Group http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/4ccxrSlzcV8/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1422#comments Wed, 19 Dec 2012 19:10:57 +0000 ppmgblog2 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1422 ]]>

Happy Holidays From The Pollack PR Marketing Group

]]> http://www.pollackblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=1422 0 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1422http://www.pollackblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/holiday2012.jpg It’s That Time of the Year Again. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/Arkp20SMAYs/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1411#comments Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:00:36 +0000 Noemi Pollack http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1411 Around this time of the year, surprises happen and I am not talking about surprise holiday gifts. People become kinder to each other, more generous, show more care about the less privileged than they are and generally act in ways that they would never consider the whole year through. What else happens, are lists… Apparently, [...]]]> Around this time of the year, surprises happen and I am not talking about surprise holiday gifts. People become kinder to each other, more generous, show more care about the less privileged than they are and generally act in ways that they would never consider the whole year through. What else happens, are lists… Apparently, people have a thirst for knowing what are “the top anything” from the sublime to the ridiculous. These can range from the top ten innovators, newsmakers, films, video games, toys and music albums, to trending photos, best and worst dressed, movie headliners, mind-altering medications and more. Not too many lists though, are about memorable PR Moments... And so, three years ago we started our own annual list of Defining PR Moments, but we take a different stance on lists… For the third year in a row, we consider the top defining moments in PR not just for what they are – a moment in time or just a blip that made the news – rather for their implications, such as lessons learnt or the impact in our industry. And so we picked Apple’s apology about their maps product, as a defining moment in PR because it showed that perfection is hard to maintain. We considered the impact of pink slime, which caused a nightmarish public fear, but as it turned out, was fostered as such, by an overzealous chef. And how about the demise of the print edition of Newsweek, as a defining moment, that venerable magazine that had the loyalty of the news-hungry public for decades? There also was Facebook’s IPO, which should have had investors salivating, but didn’t. How about Bloomberg’s edict that large-sugar-sweetened drinks helped New Yorkers get fat and turned this into policy? And then there was the toppling of a sports icon, the doping scandal of Lance Armstrong; the sales fallout from the comments of Chick-Fil-A President, condemning gay marriage; and much to the surprise of many, the failure of SuperPac’s to produce outcomes despite obnoxious amounts of millions raised. Surely KitchenAid’s self-inflicted twitter wounds reached epic proportions, producing jarring fears among brands as to how easy this really is…. And finally, the rise of visuals on the web became a game changer in our industry – dramatically transforming how users engage with information online. There are, of course, many, many more PR defining moments, but these are ours -- our choices. Take a look… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbb6I6VeZhk&list=UUJV-rkbNIpXTJSrpXQZ4zfQ&index=1

]]> http://www.pollackblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=1411 2 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1411http://www.pollackblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Screen-Shot-2012-12-13-at-6.54.22-AM.png New E-Book: The Practitioner’s Guide to Social Influencer Engagement http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/T_8y3t65sUg/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1407#comments Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:05:22 +0000 Noemi Pollack http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1407

New E-Book: The Practitioner’s Guide to Social Influencer Engagement

Excerpt by Noemi Pollack from PRNewswire & Agility@Work's crowdsourced e-book, The Practitioner's Guide to Social Influencer Engagement Nielsen reported recently that consumers trust “real friends” and “virtual strangers” over newspapers, TV, magazines or ads.(1) This trend, coupled with the increased value of third-party endorsements and positive word of mouth, demonstrates a fundamental need to earn [...]]]>

Excerpt by Noemi Pollack from PRNewswire & Agility@Work's crowdsourced e-book, The Practitioner's Guide to Social Influencer Engagement

Nielsen reported recently that consumers trust “real friends” and “virtual strangers” over newspapers, TV, magazines or ads.(1) This trend, coupled with the increased value of third-party endorsements and positive word of mouth, demonstrates a fundamental need to earn trustworthy endorsements from influencers in today’s increasingly consumer-driven environment. The challenge for brands, however, is not just finding an influencer – it’s finding the right influencer. Measuring Influence Influence is a commonly used word with a very broad definition. Without dissecting the etymology of the word, suffice to say it refers to the act of compelling someone (or a group of people) to a particular opinion or behavior. In other words, a successful influencer would be one who can incite others into converting, whether that means purchasing a product/service or agreeing with an idea. Since influence is more than merely being heard, one must look beyond metrics such as audience size, friends/fans/followers, website visitations and impressions. There should certainly be a baseline expectation of a person’s network size, but that should not be the only metric. Influencers should be weighed more in the quality of interactions they have with their audience, the amount of responses they earn with their interactions and, perhaps most telling, the evidence of positive conversions. For example, looking at the number of Facebook friends is not enough. Do the friends interact and engage with the influencer? How many comments/likes does an influencer produce with each post? Is there evidence of conversations in which the influencer has swayed the opinions and/or behavior of audience members? This information can be found through an influencer’s blog, through Twitter mentions and any other platform on which he or she is active. Qualifying the Influencer’s Audience Determining whether or not a person is influential is not enough, alone. Your brand advocate could have sway over millions of people all over the globe, but if those people are not the right people for your brand, that influencer may as well be shouting in a vacuum as far as you are concerned. Age-old market research tactics can ensure that the right person is saying the right message to the right audience. Vetting a potential influencer’s audience need not be time-extensive and costly. One can simply research his or her online network and view their profiles. What types of organizations do they like/follow? Do they respond in a positive way to brand messages similar to yours? Would they buy your product or be influenced by your ideas? The influencer’s offline audience can be researched as well. What organizations is the influencer involved with? Do their affiliations and offline activities support or conflict with your target audience? If you had the budget, would you pay to advertise to this influencer’s audience? Aligning Personalities If you are engaging an influencer to become a brand advocate, or even if you are paying them to be, be clear that on many levels you are relinquishing control of your brand to this person. Therefore, it is paramount that the influencer personality and the brand personality be aligned. If the influencer’s communication style, general personality or personal opinions greatly conflict with your brand, then you could have tremendous exposure and heightened risk of negative word of mouth. In essence, influencers behave as brand spokespeople – but unlike real spokespeople, brands don’t have direct control over their message. So a brand should be comfortable with an influencer’s voice, style and public positioning. In a Nutshell When actively pursuing influencers, take the time to gauge their level of influence, as well as their target audience and public persona. When there is a perfect match, then brand advocacy is effective and far-reaching. 1. Nielsenwire. 2009. “Global Advertising: Consumers Trust Real Friends and Virtual Strangers the Most.“ Retrieved from http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/ global-advertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-and-virtual-strangers-the-most/

]]> http://www.pollackblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=1407 0 http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1407http://www.pollackblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/eBook_contributorBadge.png ICOA and Google: The Impact Of News, That Wasn’t… http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ppmg/~3/EnJdq7VGgxI/ http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1403#comments Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:52:09 +0000 Noemi Pollack http://www.pollackblog.com/?p=1403

ICOA and Google: The Impact Of News, That Wasn’t…

The shady individual who put up a faux press release on PRWeb about Google acquiring ICOA, the “neutral host” broadband wi-fi provider, for $400 million, got away with it long enough for several news organizations, now red-faced, to have picked up the fake news release and distributed it. Also, long enough for a short-lived, but significant bump (a fivefold increase), in ICOA stock and for someone to pocket the profits before the stock plummeted again very quickly upon discovery. In the wake of it all, ICOA said the story was a hoax, Google declined to comment, several high profile news publishers got egg on their faces, among them Associated Press, TechCrunch and The Washington Post -- publications that ran the story and later had to issue retractions and PRWeb was forced to issue a mea culpa of sorts, an embarrassing apology after posting false news. Curiously, PRWeb’s parent company, Vocus, called it “identity theft.” I am not sure I get that, other than using this to declare innocence of any wrongdoing in posting this. According to them, "Even with reasonable safeguards identity theft occurs, on occasion, across all of the major wire services. Maybe I am naïve, but it’s news to me… It looks more like a financial crime than anything else. In reviewing the release, there were clear signs of fraud within it, for not only did it lack details, it was pretty unbelievable that Google would purchase a penny-stock company with a total market cap of less than $1 million, for $400 million. Somebody profited off bogus news, which was probably written in the first place by the person who had schemed to profit from it, and get away with it. According to a Buzzfeed follow-up report, that somebody could have earned six digits’ worth of easy profits. Incredulous how everybody could get it wrong. Whatever happened to fact checking a story? The PR industry needs to question as to who bears the responsibility for this – journalists or a service such as PRWeb? To me it has always been journalists. A PR service can offer the platform for posting releases, but it is the journalist in the end, who needs to vet the story. After all, it has always been, and will always remain so, for them to check out – “from whose mouth the story comes.” In other words, the source…Their very credibility depends on it. Two lessons can be learnt from this: not everything posted is an unvarnished truth and good journalism requires an investment of time. What ever happened to the journalist’s nose for truth in news?

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