Bon Jovi PR

“You Give Love a Bad Name” is a timeless anthem of heartache and angst.

Some agencies give PR a bad name. There is the selection process, the excitement, and the promise of what can be. Then the boilerplate letter of agreement arrives. If you’re in PR, there is a flavor long since out of vogue (think the bubble and $25,000 monthly retainers) that you might want to take out of your toolkit. While certain offerings may help provide steady monthly income, they ultimately do little for the client and lead to a breakup.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

• Press Tour - $10,000 to $15,000
• White Papers - $3,000 to $5,000
• Media Training - $5,000 to $8,000

No mention of what these items entail. No mention of hourly rate (blended or otherwise). No mention of much.

Valuable and proactive PR has worked in my career (including cover stories for a small wireless startup on InfoWorld and eWeek, clips with the BBC, Forbes and New York Times). If you can, find a small practice (or solo practitioner) with a strong partner or two. Give them great content. Let them prioritize and sell embargoed stories (the kind that journalists want) to hand-selected key writers and editors. Prepare a case study while your at it to leverage on the marcom side after the story is published and press release issued (for general consumption and investors if you’re public).

Be patient and execute.

Most good PR happens over the telephone. Most without an expensive press tour. And probably 99.9% with nary a white paper.

Journalists (and bloggers) who matter to your business want one thing: to be first. They don’t want to be left behind chasing a story or trend. They want something new. It’s your job to find them and help get the new covered in a variety of ways.

You can run a strong PR program with a telephone, email and good contacts. If a journalist really finds your company to be remarkable, he or she will be happy to come visit you. There’s little you can accomplish in a hour when they are on deadline and trying to make editors happy.

It doesn’t sound as impressive up front.

But it works.

Attention Crash

Are attention spans linked to age?

This post by Steve Rubel poses the question in a Gen-X and-Gen-Y context.

Are we busy looking at what others are saying, trying to stay up with the latest buzz? Or are we OK with the amount of material we’re reading to stay current?

There’s multi-tasking. Then there’s time spent, time gone that can’t always be easily tracked.

What kind of time do you like?

The web allows us to search and connect. Magazines deliver some level of predictability. And books offer the promise of a longer-term experience.

Cellphones, Buttons and Steering Wheels

As I wound through Rancho Santa Fe during a nice training ride before sunset, I noticed the same thing over and over yesterday: drivers talking on cellphones. Talking in sports cars. SUVs. Sedans. You name it, they were on the cell talking in it.

Multi-tasking is no big deal. We all do it (I’ve seen plenty bicyclists talking on cellphones while riding–very bad idea).

But here in Southern California, the use of cellphones by motorists takes on a whole new legal twist come July 1.

The law is an opportunity for Bluetooth headset makers and cellphone service providers to help consumers understand how to avoid trouble.

Here’s just a snippet of some highlights of the new law (pulled straight off the California DMV website) that applies to those 18 and older (an entire set of different regulations apply to those under 18):

Q: Does the new “hands-free” law prohibit you from dialing a wireless telephone while driving or just talking on it?
A: The new law does not prohibit dialing, but drivers are strongly urged not to dial while driving.

Q: Will it be legal to use a Bluetooth or other earpiece?
A: Yes, however you cannot have BOTH ears covered.

Q: Does the new “hands-free” law allow you to use the speaker phone function of your wireless telephone while driving?
A: Yes.

Q: Does the new “hands-free” law allow drivers 18 and over to text message while driving?
A: The law does not specifically prohibit that, but an officer can pull over and issue a citation to a driver of any age if, in the officer’s opinion, the driver was distracted and not operating the vehicle safely. Sending text messages while driving is unsafe at any speed and is strongly discouraged.

And on it goes…

Somewhere along the way, the act of talking into a cellphone while holding it your hand became more distracting than dialing or texting, which can take as many as two hands for the less nimble and inclined?

If I were a cellphone service provider, I’d have my campaign out now in simple and straight-forward language and pictures that consumers would not find threatening.

Don’t leave the messaging to the DMV. Using all-caps to emphasize any word is for people who don’t market or sell anything. If the DMV did, we’d already have drive-through license renewal and vehicle registration service.

How Good is Your Memory?

Quick sports quiz: Who won golf’s U.S. Open Championship last June?

A: Not Tiger Woods. No, Angel Cabrera of Argentina was the victor at Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh, PA.

What golf brand logo did Cabrera wear on his cap, the most valued of sponsorship spots?

Ping not Nike.

So did Ping get its money’s worth? Surely. But so did Nike, especially since Tiger Woods, the most recognizable player in the game, was just off the lead in the final round.

In a few weeks, Tiger will be the talk of the U.S. Open again. This time not only because of his popularity, but because he’s coming off knee surgery and he’s playing a course where he loves to win. Because of that, Torrey Pines South Course in San Diego will win a week of terrific exposure on cable and network television.

The Pacific Ocean, dramatic bluffs and municipal golf course that local hackers can play for about $45 on a weekday. A great recipe for Summer fun.

And good memories.

Talked About Tuesday: The “C” Word

News of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s brain tumor today made me think of one thing: Livestrong.

Marketing a product or cause around the subject of cancer is difficult.

But the bright color yellow, the inspirational wrist bands (tens of millions worldwide), and the broad support of family and friends elevated cancer survivor and 7-time Tour de France champion — Lance Armstrong — as a symbol of hope for those fighting the disease, those helping loved ones fighting the disease, and volunteers who want to help.

If you are thinking about a cause to support, Livestrong is a great one to consider.

Microbrand Monday: Bend, Oregon

Think of your favorite big city.

Chances are it has a brand, due in part to history and icons:

• New York (Statue of Liberty)
• London (Big Ben)
• Paris (Eiffel Tower)
• Beijing (Tiananmen Square)
• Prague (The Castle)
• Rio De Janiero (Cristo Redentor)
• Sydney (Opera House).

For each branded destination city, there are dozens of microbrand cities like Bend, Oregon.

Bend draws visitors from Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Spokane and Northern California. It’s a shortened version of “Farewell Bend” ranch, named by settlers in honor of the last view travelers had of the Deschutes River as it bends through the valley.

In the summer, Bend provides Seattle and Portland residents greatly improved odds of seeing the sun, a fact which was not lost on developers of a nearby resort: Sunriver.

If Bend is a microbrand for the Pacific Northwest, Sunriver is one of its sub microbrands. They are intertwined.

Weld Your Own Website

Originally developed to showcase photography portfolios, SiteWelder is not so bad for other forms of creative work either

I set up a pilot site earlier this month (took a couple hours) to see how things render on the page in a series of non-custom templates that you can experiment with during a 30-day trial. I eventually landed on the style called Reston. While it can’t match my website for colors, originality and brand, it’s nice for photographers and businesses that don’t need a web designer or serious does of branding. Also great if all you want is a minimalist approach.

Unlike WordPress, it has a monthly charge (hosting, storage, email accounts, search engine optimization). Still, the costs are not much to have an instant web presence and display your work in a clean design that keeps things simple. The back-end interface is intuitive and easy to use.

Have you come across a similar service? Would love to compare.

Urgency is Lazy

Deadlines in the news media business are legendary. And real. They’ve always ensured that content (news, especially exclusives) is edited on time and feeds the news hole. A reporter who misses deadline risks:

a) Seeing her/his byline story replaced by wire copy (think outsourced)
b) Disappointing her/his editor and publisher
c) Spending a career on the back pages of the local section, never to see A1

True deadlines are non-negotiable.

What passes for deadlines today in many business environments are “soft” or arbitrary. You’ve seen this: a person — or team — moves a mountain to make the critical “deadline,” only to see things bog down before flaring anew into another urgent deadline.

We lit our hair on fire for what?

Urgency is a word that should only enter your head to make a true deadline. Examples: filing your taxes by April 15, paying your mortgage, showing up for your wedding. Miss a deadline, suffer the consequences.

Lack of planning in the marketing world masquerading as “urgency” does little for the process or result. After re-reading this brilliant post from 37 Signals, I had to jot something down, if just to rant for a moment (sorry).

If you are a marketer awash in urgent deadlines — and silliness that comes with them — be honest. The word is abused by people who have forgotten (or never knew) the meaning.

Urgency in marketing isn’t so much a need to act (drop everything now!), as it is more a reaction by others who believe they must act. Unless you or your group is tied to printed materials like graphics for a trade show booth, collateral for a product launch, or the perfect pitch for that booked analysts tour in New York and Boston, try rational over urgent. Take calm over fear. Deep breaths over adrenaline.

If you can’t live without urgency, maybe it’s time to become a member of the paparzzi. Or a cop. Or a firefighter (a real one). Or a criminal defense lawyer. Or a news reporter chasing scoops.

Urgent in marketing is not a fuel for greatness. Creativity is. Urgent in marketing is usually just a byproduct of something else: lazy.

Brand Tags

This website that lets you plug in single-word associations with brands is a clever and unoffensive way to introduce you to (you guessed it) a marketing firm.

A more meaningful take on global brands is this report that attempts to measure the value of brands based on financial performance and more.

Emotions / associations are but one part of the brand equation.

Sprint and Its CEO

Last week’s announcement of $3 billion deal among big players like Intel, Google and Sprint to push WiMAX in the market is a nice press release.

Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO and now head ad pitchman in a national campaign (a variation thereof predicted on this blog in late 2007), has his hands full. Pushing WiMAX has been an Intel priority for much of the last 5 years. And yet it hasn’t taken off.

Big ideas and big headlines provide only temporary cover while companies try and figure out what to do. Could WiMAX be such a story? Google needs to sell more ads and leverage Android applications. Intel needs to sell more chips. Clearwire needs to break even and grow beyond rural markets. And Sprint needs help.

What’s missing from the WiMAX news? That Motorola stands to sell a good amount of equipment for any WiMAX infrastructure builds. News isn’t so much who is in the press release but who’s not.