Does Trusting Transparency Work?: PR Crisis Management Case Study

Even if NYT columnist and CNBC commentator Andrew Sorkin might not consider himself a crisis mgt/PR guru, his column today profiling investment firm Jefferies Group efforts over the past several weeks to combat rampant [negative] rumors circulating throughout the investment industry provides good subtext not only for securities industry firms, but any firm whose reputation, and in particular, perceived financial viability is evaluated by its customers/clients on a daily basis.

For those familiar with the chain of events leading to the collapse of various financial firms back in 2008 & 2009 (sic Lehman, Bear Stearns, Refco, and more recently, multiple closings of once-esteemed 'major hedge funds', we're in a 24-hour news cycle world where a rumor-fueled "run-on-the-bank" can destroy a company and thousands of jobs within a matter of days, if not hours.

This is exactly why even  the most altruistic PR crisis management strategies need to be well thought out, and vetted by objective, experienced experts--and perhaps even "tested" on a control group before anyone lets the CEO take pen to paper and hit the 'send button'.
Click on the title link to read in between the lines.

Marketing Marijuana Goes Mainstream:Sex Sells

Courtesy of Bloomberg LP:

"..There are currently 16 states that allow some form of legalized medical marijuana, but so far, only Colorado allows marijuana businesses to operate as such. It’s the first, and for the moment, only, for-profit marijuana marketplace in the U.S.."..and per the Bloomberg article, these entrepreneurs are taking best-of-breed marcom and sponsorship strategies one would expect from cutting-edge consumer brands..

At least one interesting take-away: sex sells..click on the title link for the full article..

Marketers Embrace Last Laugh: Comedy Sells

When times are hard, a soft sell can often work better than a head-on approach.
Good article from today's NYT:
Comedians, stars of situation comedies and actors known for being funny have long been mainstays of advertising, on the theory that laughter can sweeten a sales spiel. Recently, their popularity as pitchmen and pitchwomen seems to be increasing — sometimes to the point that television viewers or magazine readers may feel that they are sitting through a set at a comedy club. 

During the Depression, advertisers turned to funny radio performers to peddle their wares, among them Fred Allen, for Bristol-Myers brands like Ipana toothpaste; Jack Benny, for Jell-O; Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, for Chase & Sanborn coffee; and Fibber McGee and Molly, for Johnson’s Wax.

Another reason for the prevalence of laugh makers is their ability to woo consumers into paying attention to ads. That is important in an era when DVRs and remote controls make it easy to avoid commercials and marketers seek to attract visitors to Facebook fan pages and YouTube video channels.

#Borrowed-Interest: Betting on 11-11-11

Per today's NYT, Ads that hinge on a special date are an example of a marketing tactic called borrowed interest, in which advertisers try to involve themselves in big, topical events that the proverbial “everyone” is talking about. It is the hucksters’ equivalent of candidates far down on the ballot attempting to win by riding the coattails of those at the top of the ticket. The article profiles only a handful of the tens of dozens of major brand campaigns seeking to leverage 11-11-11

The take-away reminder for marcom guru's is merely a reminder that thought leadership strategies are driven by topical news events. Today's smart marketers are the ones that also peel off every major headline story and come up with an angle to use the latest events to subliminally promote their company products/services.  That's the beauty of Twitter; although I still don't understand their purported valuation on SecondMarket

Big Brands Low-Cost Facebook Strategy

WSJ Nov 3:

The centerpiece of Ford Motor Co.'s online campaign for the 2012 Focus was a free Facebook page hosted by an orange-colored puppet that in a few weeks won over a new, younger audience for the once-stodgy compact.

Ford spokespuppet "Doug" drew crowds to online conversations and videos that starred him clowning around the new Focus. Doug inspired more than 43,000 Facebook users to click "Like," the icon that broadcasts to friends a thumbs-up approval of a brand or product.

While Ford shelled out an estimated $95 million to advertise the new Focus across a broad range of media, it spent just pennies on the dollar for Facebook ads.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204294504576613232804554362.html#ixzz1cYU8picK

#HedgeFund Marketing: Its all about the #Brand

courtesy of HedgeCo.net –
Since the market correction of 2008, a vast majority of hedge fund net asset flows have gone to a small minority of hedge funds with the strongest brands, marking a change from the pre-2008 environment. A brand is an investor’s perception of the overall quality of a hedge fund based on multiple evaluation factors that evolve over time. A high-quality brand takes a long time to develop, but once achieved, it significantly enhances a firm’s ability to raise capital and retain assets during a drawdown in performance.

Branding is a critical issue for all hedge funds, because the marketplace has become increasingly competitive. Most agree that there are over 10,000 hedge funds in the market place. Hedge fund investors are inundated with requests for meetings, with some receiving hundreds of phone calls or e-mails per week from investment managers. To filter through the overload of information, investors are turning more and more to a firm’s brand when choosing which funds to meet and ultimately invest with.

#Jobs : The Icon

A genius marketer who epitomized the meaning of "blue ocean" was only one of many of Steve Job's attributes. He'll be remembered as a visionary unlike all but a handful of men throughout the past 200 years who have so noticeably, and so productively influenced modern civilization. He was the King Neptune of Blue Oceans.

Among the many phrases that will be used to describe him, the best might be human force majeure, a truly great force, and someone who was unique in his ability to influence, inspire and incite fireworks across the broadest spectrum of human intellect.

We can only hope that he left behind the blueprints and the user manuals to the many products and technology innovations that he left on the drawing board, or at very least, that he has left a legacy that will inspire those that aspire to be like him!

#Computer Fraud & Abuse Act: New Boon for Criminal Lawyers

GWU Law Professor Orin Kerr's op-ed in today's NYT  "Should Faking a Name on Facebook Be a Felony?", and his take on how far the US Department of Justice wants to take this 1986 legislation is a must-read.

Unknown to most, that legislation has been quietly broadened over the years, and unless anyone raises a voice, its about to become a felony to write/post anything that "exceeds authorized access" to any computer, including writing/posting anything that's not true.

Sounds crazy? Well, the DOJ is planning to exploit the definition of "exceeds authorized access", the ubiquitous 'terms and conditions' that are part and parcel to the very tiny fine print displayed in every software application, and a condition to virtually every third party website, including social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Aggressively over-promoting the benefits of a soft drink?Are you doing the Alec-Bloviator-Baldwin thing, and stating on your Twitter account or FB page that "the barrista at Starbucks purposefully gave me bad service and didn't know what he was doing!"?  Boom: Potential 3 year jail sentence in a federal slammer.

Marcom 202: Fired CEO Don't Call Board Members #Doofuses"

Who can't resist reading about Carol Bartz? This is a gal that's been at the tiller of major corporations, and at the same time, drops f-bombs faster than a machine gun. When she gets fired from her latest gig as CEO of Yahoo!, what does she do? She calls the board members " a bunch of doofuses"..

If ever there was a lesson not to be learned about how to control the messaging from a global brand's corporate HQ corner offices, this one might even trump the lessons that should not have been learned from the countless HP stories over the past number of years.

1. Firing a CEO over the phone is a very bad idea.

2. Which means that Carol is right, the board of YHOO! is a bunch of doofuses. Hiring Carol to run this company was a doofus move in the first place, but firing this firebrand over the phone takes the cake.

3. If they had the common sense to bring in a crisis management expert before someone was allowed to call Carol, one that would have also been fluent with marketing communication best practices, and who would have known how to pre-empt PR disasters like the one that happened today, 2 billion fewer people would have found out how munch of a doofus they are. 

#SocialMedia Sites Fail To Stir Conversions

On the heels of warning about government clampdowns on social media sites, lo and behold, research shop Outbrain issued a report that indicates social media sites trail far behind search engines when it comes to delivering traffic to websites and content sources. What does this mean? Read the report!


2011 Q2 Outbrain Content Discovery Report