PR 101: Bank Spokesman Should Refresh Message: #BofA Case Study

I don't know Bank of America spokesman Jerry Dubrowski, I don't have any position (long or short) in BofA stock (NYSE:BAC), and I certainly don't expect BofA to retain my services re: public relations advice. So, I'll offer it pro bono, even if Uncle Sam has plowed plenty of taxpayer money (mine included) into this company. The 2-rule advice is pretty simple:

1. PR people should take their Asperger meds before responding to the media.

2. If your PR person has not been tested/diagnosed with Asperger's, the rule of thumb would be to test them for this syndrome before giving them the keys to the "publish" button.

In today's NYT article profiling investment advisory Tangent Capital Partners' focus on small banks and eschewing the behemoth banks such as BofA, Times reporter Bill Alden quoted BofA spokesman Dubrowski with the following statement: [the bank is] “a stronger company today than it was during the height of the financial crisis..” 

Aside from the fact the phraseology used by Dubrowski is as ubiquitous as the phrase "toilet paper," it is the exact same, questionably-credible statement Dubrowski has used on prior occasions (most recently August 2011). Not coincidentally, but sort of funny anyway, these are the exact same words uttered last year by Angelo Mozilo when referencing BofA. For those not aware, Mr. Mozilo is the former Chairman of Countrywide Financial, the mortgage issuer acquired by BofA "during the height of the financial crisis."


While this blogger (who happens to include the financial services space within my firm's practice area) doesn't take exception to spokespeople sticking to certain types of corporate statements, one could argue that financial service companies in particular need to be topical and circumspect, and should certainly update their auto-reply messages to media.

Rule 1. Avoid the "duh!" factor. One would like to think hope that a company such as BofA would necessarily be a stronger company within no more than 3+ years after receiving $45 BILLION in government (taxpayer) bailout funds, especially after using much of that money to acquire, among others, one of the industry's biggest and profitable investment banks (i.e. Merrill Lynch). Further, one would think hope that the $4bil +/- BofA employees received as compensation courtesy of the bailout would have been a big incentive for those employees to help make BofA a better business.

Rule 2. Get the Facts Straight--Unless You're a Presidential Candidate.Alas, per the image below, BofA's stock price doesn't exactly support the contention that BofA is any stronger now than it was at the height of the crisis. If judging from the chart, it would appear this company is noticeably less strong than it was during the height of the financial market's fiasco. (Note: the handicap of acquiring Countrywide has undoubtedly hampered BofA's balance sheet, and, as Warren Buffet has proven more than twice, stock prices don't always reflect the internal strength or the potential break-up value of a company.)

For PR professionals catering to the financial services space, or any other PR professionals, two additional lessons to be learned are self-evident:

1. BEFORE PROVIDING THE MEDIA WITH A STATEMENT OF ANY KIND: Make it a practice of revisiting prior statements made and the context in which they were made.

2. Unless your slogan or tag line is truly "multi-tasking" (i.e. can be seamlessly incorporated into a PR statement to the media), keep your corporate comments to the media on point, in context, and appropriately topical.

To Jerry D at BofA--I necessarily apologize for spotlighting you in particular, and I am thankful that I don't have a mortgage, a line of credit or credit card issued by BofA-if I did, I'm sure it would be yanked as a result of this posting, leaving me in a lurch!

#Protecting Privacy: #Email Disclaimers Leveraging Levity

New rule: those cute disclaimers below your signature are often overlooked, rarely carry any real legal recourse, but can be used to insert a subliminal message that will endear you to recipients who appreciate a bit of refreshing levity

We noticed this one that reads:

Notice & Disclaimer: This e-mail is supposed to be a confidential communication and in theory, is intended solely for the recipient(s) named above. But people forward sh*t all of the time, and I can't really stop you from doing the same. This communication may contain information that is proprietary, privileged, trade secret (real or imagined), or might be protected by law in some country or a distant planet against unauthorized use or disclosure.  This message and any file(s) or attachment(s) transmitted with it, are transmitted on a reasonable expectation of privacy. Reasonable is subject to interpretation, and I've given up trusting people to conform to basic requests of privacy. If you have received this message in error and you are not the named recipient(s), please immediately notify the sender

Digital Dilemma Debate: #SOPA : IP, Privacy v. Productivity

Al Gore purportedly once claimed that he helped invent the Internet, and if he actually maintains intellectual ownership, if not parenthood (a DNA test might address the latter), given the spike in stories profiling the ease by which virtually any/every form of digital communication can be easily hijacked or hacked, I extend my personal thanks to Al for inspiring my latest idea; one that might resolve the entire debate surrounding SOPA, the ill-conceived legislation intended to mitigate online piracy.

Background: Last week the 24/7 news cycle was a flutter with the arrest of Megaupload senior execs  [for those of you that might have suffered from an electrical brownout and weren't able to access news stories on the net and have since stopped subscribing to cable TV and print publications because you're now a 100% Webbie] this is was one of several leading e-file sharing platforms that enable users to electronically ship (or simply store) content, whether it be copyrighted, patented or simply private/proprietary information. Despite denials from government officials, the arrest of these executives was precipitously part and parcel to proponents' efforts to push through SOPA legislation.

And, for those not aware, including US senators and Congresspeople who were lobbied with steak dinners to support the SOPA initiative, there's since been a whopper of a backlash; many of the leading internet-based companies that were caught off-guard as the legislation was being formulated, have since raised their swords to challenge government intervention of the Internet. They argue that the Internet is a public domain that should not be regulated, even if Al Gore influenced the US Government to underwrite and develop this now ubiquitous and most pervasive form of global communication/interaction.

Per today's prior posting here, we profiled the NYT story re: the easy-to-open back doors of  web-based video conferencing. Coincidentally, today's WSJ carried a separate story "Hackers-For-Hire", detailing the ease by which anyone (not just law enforcement agencies) can hijack email account passwords and capture insightful and potentially incriminating information embedded within just about any email correspondence.

OK, even if our latest idea might not be our own,  because our recent proposal to "shut down the internet for 6 hours a day" has been met with ridicule by those that have said "you can't put the genie back in the bottle", this idea is bound to be a winner, which is why we've acquired the licensing rights to, and will soon merchandise a device that will re-revolutionize the art of personal relationship marketing and business development.

This idea will not only reinvigorate the US manufacturing sector (until of course, the Chinese are outsourced to make the devices), but it will re-start the art of one-to-one, direct personal communication, which by default, will impact a broad spectrum of businesses that have found themselves disintermediated by the advent of communication applications that diminish the need to actually meet in person with the people that you do business with. This will be a boon to the travel, lodging and restaurant industries, to name just a few.

Here it is--and happy Monday!:

Online Video Corproate Conferencing 201: b4 Hackers hijack you, read the Instruction Manual

As a long-time proponent of leveraging video-technology apps for corporate conferencing, its no surprise that in the race to zero (i.e. low cost offerings), back doors for breaching are easily opened by uninvited viewers.

In today's NYT article by Nicole Perlroth, it seems that the actual problem is not necessarily with the respective 3rd party technologies that are popular, but network administrators /implementers are often forgetting to read instruction manuals that direct users on how to configure the applications, which are frequently set to the lowest security thresh holds to make it as easy as possible for viewers (and broadcasters).

The take-away for type A's that plug and play without first reading the instruction manual: Read the instruction manual. 

#ContentMarketing For Thought Leaders #SeekingAlpha

Excerpt from Propel Growth re financial industry marketing tactics for today's landscape-one that loves to exploit the hedge fund phrase "Alpha".

Caveat: remains to be seen whether many of those capital markets Alpha-types are prepared to put themselves out there with the suggested approaches (e.g. blogs); after all, financial industry regulators zero in on all that are outspoken in an effort to catch them saying/writing something that runs afoul of the regs.

That said, what was said by Propel Growth actually pertains to any company that aspires to be recognized as a leader among peers in a competitive space. This blogger would argue the rules below will help you swim in blue oceans (just make sure you take out cruise insurance!)

Content marketing is about creating educational content that helps your prospective customers understand their business problems, gain a vision of how to solve the problem, and build a business case to get internal buy-in. This content can take the form of whitepapers, blog posts, live events or video. As you provide the prospect with high quality content – information that they can rely on to steer their decisions, you’ll gain their trust and have a significant influence over the buying decision. To quote Ardath Albee, author of eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale, “Publishing compelling content builds credibility.” This credibility is what gives you competitive advantage.

High-quality content, strategically placed, that is found by prospects who are looking for it and as a result, are ready to engage with you. (talk about warm leads!). According to inbound marketing specialist HubSpot, “72% of companies who blog weekly have acquired customers through their blog.” As a new form of lead generation, inbound marketing is bringing in revenue for companies who have really dug in and focused on sharpening their marketing strategy.

#F-bombs and Other Ad Trends for 2012

After noticing today's WSJ article profiling ad trends for 2012, and then re-visiting observations made right here (in May 2010),  it seems that this blogger may be just ahead of the curve. But, I'd also acknowledge that when it comes to catching the curl of the wave in the blue ocean of advertising strategies, being too early is perhaps no different than being too late.

According to this morning's predictive piece by Suzanne Vranica, advertisers are expected to ramp up the use of racy narrative and tongue-in-cheek humor in an effort to leverage the increasing number of delivery channels and to rise above the ever-more crowded contest for eyeballs and mind share.

As much as I patted myself on the back for making similar predictions 18 months ago, trash-talk didn't get much traction in 2011.

CBS crapped out after purchasing the TV production rights to "Sh*t My Dad Says", Carol Bartz, the Queen of Potty, has yet to re-emerge in the ad world, Calvin Klein's half-hearted attempt to shock and awe even more than usual by using a subliminally-placed F-bomb within billboard ads in Manhattan was too subliminal to notice. Adding to the mix, Spirit Air's March 2011 email campaign: "F--ing Golden Fares" was a feeble attempt to exploit Oscar-winning actress Melissa Leo's February F-bombing at the Oscars, and clothing company Diesel took a dive into the murky waters last spring by exploiting the f-word in European fashion mag ads. [Given how f*cked up the EU's economic situation was at the time (and remains as of this writing), phrases like "F-ck This!" appear regularly on the front pages of newspapers, otherwise diluting the shock and awe of a clothing ad.

All of that said, if ever there was a time and place for F-bombing in ads, this year's Presidential election race provides the perfect opportunity. Stay tuned.