So I've mostly written about cases in which good PR helped a company, but today I'm going to talk about how bad PR can tear a company apart.
The documentary Blackfish was released in July of 2013. The film underscores problems within the sea-park industry, while specifically targeting SeaWorld. Ever since the release of the film, SeaWorld has received tremendous backlash both verbally and financially. The company's stock went down 33% in August of 2014 when it announced that attendance at its San Diego park had slowed in the second quarter as a result of the documentary.
Obviously, the film posed a great threat to SeaWorld, but if the company would have handled the situation in a better manner it might not be facing the financial hit that it is today. After the release of the film, SeaWorld chose to ignore it, which was a bad move on the company's part. Now that SeaWorld has addressed the film, it only seems that it did so because SeaWorld did not want to lose any more money as a company.
In response to the negative media attention the company started to receive because of Blackfish, SeaWorld set up an entire page on its website entitled "Blackfish: The Truth About the Movie." The page essentially debunks the movie as propaganda, and tries to disprove every fact that was portrayed in the film. This PR tactic did nothing for the company except make it look like a bunch of money hungry executives that are in denial about the nature of the sea-park business.
In another response to the film, SeaWorld also announced that it has pledged to implement mass upgrades to the habitats of its Orca whales. SeaWorld promises among other things to nearly double the size of the tanks in San Diego and eventually in Orlando through 2018. It also plans to build “water treadmills” to foster exercise for the marine giants. This tactic basically makes the company look like hypocrites. By completely denying that Blackfish has any clout, and then making habitual changes to its parks in response to the backlash from the film heightens the money hungry persona of the company that was actually portrayed in Blackfish.
So, nothing has seemed to work for poor old SeaWorld, and it's mostly because its PR team did not take the right steps to help the company come out of the mess. One thing the company did get right, however, is promising to improve the environments of its animals. Instead of setting up an entire website page denying the facts presented in Blackfish, the company should have first immediately addressed the film in a statement recognizing that some of the facts are actually true, but that the company has since taken steps to fix the mistakes that it has made. This would not have made everyone happy, of course, but it would not make the company look like a bunch of hypocrites either.
Then, it would have to take steps to implement the mass upgrades that the company already pledged to make. Afterward, it would have been best for the company to not draw anymore attention to the film than it already has. Over time, the backlash would eventually seize once it's no longer an issue that's in the public eye. That's just how the media cycle works.
In the case of SeaWorld and Blackfish, SeaWorld is sort of digging its own grave by using these PR tactics. Unless SeaWorld changes the way that its handling the Blackfish issue, I won't be surprised if this just runs the company right into the ground.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Friday, November 21, 2014
Queen Bey is here to STAY
See what I did with that title? Anyways, it was around this time last year that the Queen dropped an album that NO ONE knew was coming. It was simply titled Beyoncé. Without any marketing or promotion, the album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart and went on to sell more than 5 million copies worldwide.
On the other hand, Lady Gaga preceded the release of her third album, ARTPOP, with plenty of marketing and promotion. However, the album only went on to sell 2.3 million copies. So, how did Beyoncé manage to double the sales of her album with absolutely no marketing initiatives leading up to the release? Well, I've come to the conclusion that Beyoncé's team is comprised of marketing and PR geniuses. Like, seriously, these people are insanely smart.
When I analyzed the release of Beyoncé, I realized that the Queen's team specifically paved the way for the album's release without us even realizing it. THAT'S how genius they are.
So, in order to see where it all started, we have to go back all the way to January 2013 when Beyoncé released an album with her gal pals of Destiny's Child. In the same month, she sang the National Anthem at none other than President Obama's second inauguration. We later on came to find out that she actually sang along to a pre-recorded track because she happened to be sick that day. This, unfortunately brought a lot of scrutiny, but everyone quickly moved on when she put on one of the most amazing Super Bowl half-time performances of all time. Side note: I sort of freaked out when Kelly and Michelle of Destiny's Child came out. Actually, I completely freaked out.
Anyways, Mrs. Carter didn't stop there. On February 16 of that year, she released her full-length documentary on HBO, Life Is But a Dream. In April, Beyoncé embarked on The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, which was comprised of 132 dates and lasted almost an entire year. Lastly, in May, she lent her voice to several tracks of the 2013 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, which became hugely popular when the soundtrack was released.
In the months leading up to the release of Beyoncé, the wonder-woman was featured on several other artist's albums including her husband Jay-Z's album Magna Carta. She also managed to stay in the spotlight by parading around NYC and LA with little baby Ivy. All the while, us commoners had no idea that Queen Bey was recording tracks and filming music videos for the amazing piece of work that is Beyoncé.
So, the secret to her album's successful non-promotional release? Avidly keeping Beyonce in the spotlight the entire year. There is no way that the album would have had a successful non-promotional release if Beyoncé was not relevant. Beyoncé's team kept her in the public eye by doing all of these things I described above along with red carpets, occasional interviews and talk shows, and so on. The most important aspect of this was to keep her doing exciting work. Lady Gaga, on the other hand, came out of left field and just started promoting her album. She had been out of the spotlight for a while, and people started to lose interest in her.
Queen Bey's PR and marketing team geniusly managed to promote the superstar without actually promoting the product, and that's just amazing.
On the other hand, Lady Gaga preceded the release of her third album, ARTPOP, with plenty of marketing and promotion. However, the album only went on to sell 2.3 million copies. So, how did Beyoncé manage to double the sales of her album with absolutely no marketing initiatives leading up to the release? Well, I've come to the conclusion that Beyoncé's team is comprised of marketing and PR geniuses. Like, seriously, these people are insanely smart.
When I analyzed the release of Beyoncé, I realized that the Queen's team specifically paved the way for the album's release without us even realizing it. THAT'S how genius they are.
So, in order to see where it all started, we have to go back all the way to January 2013 when Beyoncé released an album with her gal pals of Destiny's Child. In the same month, she sang the National Anthem at none other than President Obama's second inauguration. We later on came to find out that she actually sang along to a pre-recorded track because she happened to be sick that day. This, unfortunately brought a lot of scrutiny, but everyone quickly moved on when she put on one of the most amazing Super Bowl half-time performances of all time. Side note: I sort of freaked out when Kelly and Michelle of Destiny's Child came out. Actually, I completely freaked out.
Anyways, Mrs. Carter didn't stop there. On February 16 of that year, she released her full-length documentary on HBO, Life Is But a Dream. In April, Beyoncé embarked on The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, which was comprised of 132 dates and lasted almost an entire year. Lastly, in May, she lent her voice to several tracks of the 2013 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, which became hugely popular when the soundtrack was released.
In the months leading up to the release of Beyoncé, the wonder-woman was featured on several other artist's albums including her husband Jay-Z's album Magna Carta. She also managed to stay in the spotlight by parading around NYC and LA with little baby Ivy. All the while, us commoners had no idea that Queen Bey was recording tracks and filming music videos for the amazing piece of work that is Beyoncé.
So, the secret to her album's successful non-promotional release? Avidly keeping Beyonce in the spotlight the entire year. There is no way that the album would have had a successful non-promotional release if Beyoncé was not relevant. Beyoncé's team kept her in the public eye by doing all of these things I described above along with red carpets, occasional interviews and talk shows, and so on. The most important aspect of this was to keep her doing exciting work. Lady Gaga, on the other hand, came out of left field and just started promoting her album. She had been out of the spotlight for a while, and people started to lose interest in her.
Queen Bey's PR and marketing team geniusly managed to promote the superstar without actually promoting the product, and that's just amazing.
Friday, November 14, 2014
How is Kim Kardashian so famous?
Ok, so I'm pretty sure you've seen Kim Kardashian's spread in Paper Magazine by now. If you haven't, you're probably living under a rock. Anyways, this thing showed up everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. I couldn't get away from it, no matter how hard I tried. This lead me to re-ask myself this question for the 1000th time: Why is Kim Kardashian famous???!!!!
I know that I personally ask myself this question every time she shows up on my Facebook news feed, or as the subject of a front page story on the Huffington Post. She's not famous for being talented, obviously. However, she is still one of the most recognizable faces in the world. Now, how does that happen? Well, in my opinion, Kim K's "success" is due in part to genius management and PR.
Yep, it was her management and PR team that took Kim from sex tape infamy to world-wide superstardom. How did they do it though? Let's go back in time to 2007 when Keeping up With the Kardashians first aired on E!....
It was October, approximately 8 months after Kim's sex tape leaked on the internet, when one of the most successful reality shows first aired. No one knew who the Kardashians were, nor did they care. The only things attracting viewers were: Some people who knew that the late Robert Kardashian was O.J. Simpson's lawyer during the whole "O.J. Simpson controversy," and a whole bunch of people who heard of "that girl who had a sex tape earlier this year." The producers of the show were smart in showcasing Kim as the star of the show, mostly because she was the only semi-familiar face in the entire family besides Bruce Jenner.
E! promoted the show well, and people were genuinely interested in the Kardashians. The show immediately became a hit, and now it's been around for seven years! I know, I don't get it either. The Kardashian family's fame could have come and gone just as fast as any other one hit wonder, but they've been milking it so much that it actually kind of made them actual A-listers.
Kim's first step was succumbing to becoming the person everyone thought she was. Since her sex tape, people thought of Kim as a sex symbol. So, her management/PR team pitched Playboy, and she ended up being on the cover of a 2007 issue of Playboy. So, it's safe to say that 2007 was the year that launched Kim Kardashian.
The reality show remained successful and Momager Kris Jenner, along with the rest of Kim's team, came up with the idea of monetizing everything they could by sticking Kim's name on EVERYTHING. By everything, I mean everything. Like, there's a fricken video game with her name on it. Anyways she started charging for everything: club appearances, tweets, endorsements, etc. The more things she put her name on, the more people started to recognize her, which in turn caused an upward ascent on the price of the Kim Kardashian name. If your company wants Kim Kardashian to show up at a party or talk about your product, it's gonna cost you upwards $750,000.
So essentially, Kim's team did what any other PR professional does. They saw an opportunity, and they TOOK IT. Despite the fact that I strongly dislike every member of the Kardashian family, I do have to give props to the team that made her as famous as she is today.
And now, to the Paper magazine spread. So here's an example of a perfectly planned publicity stunt, and Kim's camp has crafted plenty of those. Pretty much anytime Kim is no longer trending on Twitter, something super crazy happens involving Kim Kardashian. What a coincidence right???? If you guessed that it's not a coincidence, you're most definitely right. Her televised wedding to Kris Humphries? PR stunt. Kim's Instagram post where all she's wearing is a teeny weeny white bikini? PR stunt. And of course, Kim bearing it all in this month's issue of Paper Magazine? DEFINITELY a PR stunt. She's been trending the entire week, and I'm sure that's just the way she wanted it.
I know that I personally ask myself this question every time she shows up on my Facebook news feed, or as the subject of a front page story on the Huffington Post. She's not famous for being talented, obviously. However, she is still one of the most recognizable faces in the world. Now, how does that happen? Well, in my opinion, Kim K's "success" is due in part to genius management and PR.
Yep, it was her management and PR team that took Kim from sex tape infamy to world-wide superstardom. How did they do it though? Let's go back in time to 2007 when Keeping up With the Kardashians first aired on E!....
It was October, approximately 8 months after Kim's sex tape leaked on the internet, when one of the most successful reality shows first aired. No one knew who the Kardashians were, nor did they care. The only things attracting viewers were: Some people who knew that the late Robert Kardashian was O.J. Simpson's lawyer during the whole "O.J. Simpson controversy," and a whole bunch of people who heard of "that girl who had a sex tape earlier this year." The producers of the show were smart in showcasing Kim as the star of the show, mostly because she was the only semi-familiar face in the entire family besides Bruce Jenner.
E! promoted the show well, and people were genuinely interested in the Kardashians. The show immediately became a hit, and now it's been around for seven years! I know, I don't get it either. The Kardashian family's fame could have come and gone just as fast as any other one hit wonder, but they've been milking it so much that it actually kind of made them actual A-listers.
Kim's first step was succumbing to becoming the person everyone thought she was. Since her sex tape, people thought of Kim as a sex symbol. So, her management/PR team pitched Playboy, and she ended up being on the cover of a 2007 issue of Playboy. So, it's safe to say that 2007 was the year that launched Kim Kardashian.
The reality show remained successful and Momager Kris Jenner, along with the rest of Kim's team, came up with the idea of monetizing everything they could by sticking Kim's name on EVERYTHING. By everything, I mean everything. Like, there's a fricken video game with her name on it. Anyways she started charging for everything: club appearances, tweets, endorsements, etc. The more things she put her name on, the more people started to recognize her, which in turn caused an upward ascent on the price of the Kim Kardashian name. If your company wants Kim Kardashian to show up at a party or talk about your product, it's gonna cost you upwards $750,000.
So essentially, Kim's team did what any other PR professional does. They saw an opportunity, and they TOOK IT. Despite the fact that I strongly dislike every member of the Kardashian family, I do have to give props to the team that made her as famous as she is today.
And now, to the Paper magazine spread. So here's an example of a perfectly planned publicity stunt, and Kim's camp has crafted plenty of those. Pretty much anytime Kim is no longer trending on Twitter, something super crazy happens involving Kim Kardashian. What a coincidence right???? If you guessed that it's not a coincidence, you're most definitely right. Her televised wedding to Kris Humphries? PR stunt. Kim's Instagram post where all she's wearing is a teeny weeny white bikini? PR stunt. And of course, Kim bearing it all in this month's issue of Paper Magazine? DEFINITELY a PR stunt. She's been trending the entire week, and I'm sure that's just the way she wanted it.
Friday, November 7, 2014
Wait what?
Ok, so I know I said that this blog would be about public relations, but this post is a tad off topic. I thought that this week, I could discuss how to develop a voice as a writer.
When I was 19, I interned for a local newspaper and I wrote several articles for the publication. My boss would edit my articles before they were published, but I would always be somewhat offended when she edited my articles because she would unintentionally take out my personal spin on the topic I was writing about. I was too scared to actually say something back then, and it's a shame because I'm sure she had no idea what she was doing. She was altering my voice as a writer.
As someone who still writes in her spare time, I have found it to be extremely interesting to analyze the way that others choose to write. So, what dictates someones voice? I have chosen to analyze a popular blog in the world of public relations: Peter Shankman.
Peter Shankman is a world renowned entrepreneur, speaker and author. His expertise is in business, communications and public relations. In his blog, he writes about his opinions and thoughts, while also giving advice that can help those who work in the business and communications fields.
To show you his voice, I'm going to analyze two of his most recent posts and dissect his writing in each post.
1." Follow Them: People Who Piss Me Off, Volume 2!"
In this post, Shankman is talking about people who essentially piss him off. According to him, there are two types of people that piss you off: the annoying pests (mosquitoes) and people who motivate you. He chose to write about the people who motivate him and piss him off at the same time - if that makes any sense?
Let's take this excerpt from the post:
"Ryan Shell, you piss me off pretty much every damn day. You took an idea you had and turned it into a company. OK, I've done that. You've made it successful. Well, I've done that too. But you do it with a level of number-crunching, testing, and data-analysis that this ADHD poster child couldn't even DREAM of. I treasure our morning bike training rides together because I get to spend 90 minutes working out and learning more during my ride than I could ever learn by getting an MBA. Thank you."
There are several instances in the post where Shankman's voice shines through. For example:
"On the same note, I’m writing this from a plane on my way to Thailand for a speech and then boomerang back to NYC. I think I have three days there. It might be four, it might be two. I don’t know, because Meagan decided to go on damn VACATION THIS WEEK, and I don’t even know my name."
When I was 19, I interned for a local newspaper and I wrote several articles for the publication. My boss would edit my articles before they were published, but I would always be somewhat offended when she edited my articles because she would unintentionally take out my personal spin on the topic I was writing about. I was too scared to actually say something back then, and it's a shame because I'm sure she had no idea what she was doing. She was altering my voice as a writer.
As someone who still writes in her spare time, I have found it to be extremely interesting to analyze the way that others choose to write. So, what dictates someones voice? I have chosen to analyze a popular blog in the world of public relations: Peter Shankman.
Peter Shankman is a world renowned entrepreneur, speaker and author. His expertise is in business, communications and public relations. In his blog, he writes about his opinions and thoughts, while also giving advice that can help those who work in the business and communications fields.
To show you his voice, I'm going to analyze two of his most recent posts and dissect his writing in each post.
1." Follow Them: People Who Piss Me Off, Volume 2!"
In this post, Shankman is talking about people who essentially piss him off. According to him, there are two types of people that piss you off: the annoying pests (mosquitoes) and people who motivate you. He chose to write about the people who motivate him and piss him off at the same time - if that makes any sense?
Let's take this excerpt from the post:
"Ryan Shell, you piss me off pretty much every damn day. You took an idea you had and turned it into a company. OK, I've done that. You've made it successful. Well, I've done that too. But you do it with a level of number-crunching, testing, and data-analysis that this ADHD poster child couldn't even DREAM of. I treasure our morning bike training rides together because I get to spend 90 minutes working out and learning more during my ride than I could ever learn by getting an MBA. Thank you."
In this excerpt, Shankman is sarcastic and funny, but he also uses capitalization, punctuation and figures of speech. For example, he starts by saying "you piss me off pretty much every damn day," which is meant to be slightly sarcastic because as we find out later in the paragraph, Ryan Shell and Peter Shankman are actually friends. He then capitalizes the word "dream" so to emphasize how much he looks up to Shell and strives to be like him. He also pokes fun at himself by admitting that he has ADHD, but he exaggerates in a comedic fashion by saying that he is the poster child for the disease, which is obviously not true.
Throughout this post, he also uses slang words like awesome, hell, crappy, which makes his writing style more conversational and informal while still supplying valuable information to the reader.
In this particular post, Shankman discusses the ever present dilemma of balancing work with everything else in your life. He uses the writer of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin, as a prime example of this balance.
There are several instances in the post where Shankman's voice shines through. For example:
"On the same note, I’m writing this from a plane on my way to Thailand for a speech and then boomerang back to NYC. I think I have three days there. It might be four, it might be two. I don’t know, because Meagan decided to go on damn VACATION THIS WEEK, and I don’t even know my name."
In this excerpt he again uses capitalization to stress the fact that Meagan (who I'm assuming is his assistant) is on vacation and it has caused Shankman a little bit of stress. He's funny when he states that he doesn't even know his own name without her. Obviously, he is not so stressed that he can't remember his name, but he is using exaggeration to take a likely stressful situation and making it funny. Now let's take another excerpt from the same post.
"I know what you’re saying – “Dude – You’re actually OK with being so busy that connecting with your best friend on a Saturday on the damn subway is actually ok?”
"I know what you’re saying – “Dude – You’re actually OK with being so busy that connecting with your best friend on a Saturday on the damn subway is actually ok?”
In this sentence, Shankman uses the terms "dude" and "damn," which are both informal, despite that the post is aimed at entrepreneurs. Shankman's strategy of using a conversational tone in his posts could be one of the driving factors of his blog's success. In my opinion, I would rather read an informative blog that is easy to digest and relatable. I think most people feel the same way.
Shankman is candid and not afraid to say what he thinks, but he does so in a clever way by mainly using capitalization, slang terms, sarcasm and exaggerations. His tone is informative, yet conversational, which is the perfect balance for a professional blog such as his.
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