Risë Birnbaum and "the buzz"

Elbow, Elbow, Wrist, Wrist

With the looming nuptials of the Prince and soon-to-be Princess, the world is buzzing with wedding preparations. The Royal Public Relations Services have been working hard to fill our screens with pictures to play on our childhood fantasies of one day being Princess and get us excited for the big day.

But with the exception of Philadelphia native Princess Grace, who showed us our Princess dreams can come true, it’s not likely in the cards for most of us.  Why?  Mostly, because we chose to leave our British ancestry behind a wet trail of tea leaves, along with pretty much any chance of becoming a Princess. 

After reading (and reading…and reading) about this wedding, I’m starting to think being a Princess is not all it’s cracked up to be. Princess Catherine has lots of work ahead of her to be a royal. At first it just seemed a bit odd that she will no longer be Kate Middleton, but rather Princess Catherine and then I learned it will officially be "Her Royal Highness Princess William of Wales." No royal blood, no royal title.

All in all the wedding is exciting and has shown what a lot of good publicity can do. Between pre-game shows and celebrities in large hats eating appetizers and sipping champagne, the media frenzy itself is enough to entertain for hours.  

I haven’t seen a social media campaign executed so well since the presidential election. Did you know you can send a video message of congrats to the couple on the official YouTube Wedding Book?

With Twitter followers hanging on every word, a live stream of the wedding on YouTube, a Royal website … this is not your typical fairytale wedding. This wedding is going viral. Using all of today’s communications and social media tools to distribute their news, England is showing it’s not all cricket and scones. 

Thanks to the Twitter feed, we now know:

• The Royal Invitation List (complete with Kate’s local bar owner and postman)
• The Royal Seating Plan
• And, The Royal Flowers

With all the hype, is there any place on the planet not planning a royal banquet to watch the royal wedding on the royal screen? And, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.  So, yes, we at zcomm have developed a royal contest, too. As regal as the royal party is, America has a special brand of ruling class all our own. Check it out to vote for these American “royals” and win $100 restaurant.com gift card.  And for the record, we will be holding a high tea and ordering in some scones here at zcomm to celebrate the wedding.

HARD TO MAKE HEADLINES

With today’s headlines centered on global issues such as Japan’s earthquakes, a shutdown in the US government, school shootouts in Brazil and, of course, the upcoming Royal Wedding, PR professionals’ jobs are getting tougher by the day. While finding your way into the news fold has always taken finesse, global turmoil has made it nearly impossible to get the latest survey, product launch or company announcement into the mainstream limelight.

So, what’s a PR professional to do? Here’s what -- let the earth-shattering, breaking news dominate the print and broadcast media, and take to the digital streets. Go where the people are – online! Need some numbers to convince you that online is where it’s at?

According to the Pew Institute’s  2011 State of the News Media Report:

• 34% of respondents said they read news online within the past 24 hours as opposed to 31% who favored newspapers
• 41% said they get most of their news online, 10% more than those who said they got most of their news from a newspaper.
• The 18-to-29-year-old group overwhelmingly cast their vote with the web; 65% said the Internet was their main news source.
• Only 40% of people in the study said they read the news in an online or print newspaper, a 12% drop from five years ago.

And now, think about it logically, not only do blogs and online news sites not suffer from the “space” constraint of a 30-minute newscast, but your story doesn’t go away at the end of 30 minutes either. The Internet is a bank of information that never disappears. Your story becomes part of the archive, the longtail of the web that keeps stories alive. For better or worse, what happens on the Internet stays there for life!

And consumers aren’t the only ones getting their news online, journalists also search the sites for their next big story. Can’t get your story on the New York Times Online?  Try one of the hundreds of niche blogs that attract the right audience as well as reporters who are interested in the topic.

PR professionals are no longer locked into a handful of outlets. We now have access to millions of sites that are a better fit for our news and will generate more attention for our client. Sometimes the sites may reel in smaller audiences but they carry a lot of weight with their fans.

Ssssso, take a tip from the Bronx Zoo Cobra, if you want attention go out and make some noise ! If a venomous snake on the town can make headlines with all the breaking news, so can your story!

Climbing the Best Practices Summit

Nothing says spring in NYC then 40 degrees and windy.  No wonder all those New Yorkers (and I’m a native) walk at like a 5mph pace.  It’s just to stay warm in March.

I was on my way to the 2011 Ragan Media Relations Best Practices Summit. It was a terrific Ragan Communications conference where I spoke with my colleague Robin Lane on integrating traditional and social PR tactics to create a successful campaign. We highlighted our own success with the Silver Diner restaurant group.

    

 

Of course Robin and I were sandwiched between Tim McIntyre, VP Communications, Domino’s about how they masterfully handled a brand-damaging video, and Carlos Dominguez, SVP, Cisco about what’s hot in the digital world and what’s coming down the pike.

Tim was great.  Guess is that you know all about the famous Domino’s employee video that caused a scandal for the company.  And while you heard the media’s take on it, it was quite different to hear Tim’s. Despite the criticism Domino’s received for the campaign, their response was actually incredibly thoughtful. No, they didn’t race online with their response, but rather investigated the video and searched out the culprits before they could do more damage.  The team discovered it was a hoax and put its president on YouTube to remind us how much Domino’s cares about its customers. 

And Carlos was super cool.  From his witty intro showing his Cisco ID photo’s gradual increase in quality as he climbed the corporate ladder…to his “controversial big ideas” on what’s in store for the tech side of things.  First, a mind blowing idea – email will be dead.  Yup, Carlos predicts that this time-suck way of communicating will be replaced by customized finite communities.  For example, we will collaborate on projects in secure professional communities rather than through individual email.  Everything will take place in these communities.  No more email updates.  Can you fathom that?  At least I won’t wear out my delete button as much. 

The second “big idea” was that intent marketing is about to explode.  All the research points to the value of consumer reviews and online feedback in people’s purchasing decision. And according to Carlos, the marketers are not going to just dabble at taking advantage but throw themselves in head first. Say I want to buy a small car around $25k with great gas mileage.  In today’s world, I’m more likely to ask my social network than rely on consumer reports and test driving 8 different models.  By simply stating my intent, I will find myself targeted and sold to by all the car dealers online. Companies and brands will track you online and come to you. 

Just these two new thoughts have kept my mind spinning since the conference.  Not sure about email biting the dust so fast, but intent marketing is already happening.

Hats off to Mark Ragan who put on a great show.

TWO AND A HALF MEN

Who knew Charlie Sheen was the “half” in Two and a Half Men? Half man and half wingnut. The sitcom star is on a roll with winning lines including “I have Adonis DNA and Tiger Blood.” “Yeah, I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen! It's not available, because if you try it once, you will die.” “People can’t process me with a normal brain.” And the ever-popular, "I'm underpaid.”  

However, with the amount of publicity he has drummed up, including several morning shows and coverage from Perez to People, maybe he is underpaid. TV hasn’t had this much fight since Shannen Doherty took on Beverly Hills. Charlie, if you could try for controversial instead of insane you may just get this PR stuff right. 

In the PR biz you book TV or radio interviews so your celebrity spokesperson can deliver message points to millions of viewers and listeners.  In Charlie’s case, his message is loud and clear – he is crazy!

It’s evidently not enough that CBS fired the guy and closed up shop for the popular show this season, but now the celebrity partyer has gone above and beyond. He would like a raise!  Yup, you heard right.  Charlie now wants $3 million an episode...and he’s demanding CBS gives a public apology.  And this is after he trashed-talked show producer Chuck Lorrie, CBS, AA...you name it. He believes that CBS is taking away his money and that’s where he draws the line. When asked if he was angry, his answer was “no, just passionate.”

This is almost better than the Tiger Woods controversy and definitely better than the Academy Awards.

Speaking of PR types, Charlie’s longtime publicist just resigned. Can anyone blame him?  I think we are past the point of salvaging this guy.  Best bet now is to just keep playing out the crazy man routine and own it!

Usually when there’s a celebrity PR crisis, the celeb in the crosshairs manages to humbly apologize and go into rehab.  But not Charlie!  He’ll continue to do back-to-back interviews where you can almost see the steam coming out of his ears (I bet there’s a lack of gray matter in between to hold it in).

How will this end?  He sure is funny on the TV show and, according to him, has several movie offers on the table.  But, here’s my guess:  Charlie is destined to find himself the subject of SNL skits, South Park plots and Family Guy jokes- but the damage will be short-lived.  Because crazy as he is, the man sure can make a funny sitcom.

YOGA-PHOBIC

Like many PR professionals, I’m Type A.  So, in the last few years a bunch of folks have strongly recommended I take up yoga:  all my friends, my daughter, sister, mom, all other relatives, every doc, my colleagues, everyone in my apartment building and every facebook friend (so basically everyone I know).  Meantime, I’m about ready to shoot anyone I see toting a yoga mat looking really relaxed and serene on their way to drink chai tea and read some 650 page book for book club.  I mean, how many yoga mats can there possibly be?  I’m obviously in the wrong biz.

I’m athletic and fit, but am also stressed to the max so I seem like the perfect candidate.  So, why won’t I give yoga a try?  Because I know there’s no way I can figure out all these oddball positions.  I’d be the one in the back of the beginners’ class about two positions behind everyone else in the class and that just doesn’t sit right with me.

And the poses…downward facing dog, mountain, pyramid, triangle, warrior…  what masochist came up with these back-breaking, pretzel twists? 

When she’s in town from LA (yoga central) my 24 year old daughter comes back from hot yoga dripping, healthy and calm to find me on my bed watching The Food Network or In Treatment eating my frozen Snickers or dunking Oreos into a cold cup of milk.

I can handle tennis, volleyball, hiking, the treadmill and weights, but the thought of having to unfurl my mat and contort myself in time with a room full of yoga maniacs gives me goosebumps.

My hat’s off to anyone who can go from downward facing dog to the warrior pose without a glitch, but it’s not me.  Give me 30 minutes with a tennis pro to beat the hell out of a Wilson 2 and then a really good burger and fries and my needle moves from Type A to Type B…at least temporarily.  So much for yoga.

2,300 Feet Down

Every time I start thinking about those first 17 days (not to mention months to come) for the Chilean miners I get goosebumps.   Guess is they were doing lots of praying.  Given two spoonfuls of tuna and half a cookie every two days, they sure weren’t doing much eating.

And then the miracle happened.  The drill bit through the rock and the desperate miners stuck a note to the bit saying they were all alive.  Speaking of rock, that kinda rocked the world.

For the next chunk of time, they were funneled food, medicine and even soccer videos to help them stay physically and emotionally fit until the workers above cleared the path for the NASA designed rescue “rocket” to ferry them up the 2,300 feet to the surface.

And up they came, one after one into the xenon light to hug Chile’s ever-present President and their wives, families and even mistresses.

I was watching the first miner come up….the fittest in case he had to deal with falling rocks or sudden drops.  It played out live on Anderson Cooper’s show at about midnight.  As I watched the miner emerge and hug his wife and the President as the crowd roared and air horns blasted, I thought that this could be the biggest PR boost that Chile has ever seen.  It also felt like a terrible invasion of the privacy of these miners (though they sure looked no worse for the wear).

Think about it, live TV cables, reporters, politicians, family members…yes, even mistresses…all whooping it up as the shade-wearing miners surfaced one by one.  Lots of people win – the world in need of good news, the government of Chile that produced “the greatest show on Earth,” the families and the miners who will probably ink a deal for a TV movie within 48 hours.

What’s lost?  I think a bit of humanity.  These guys were 2,300 feet down for 69 days.  Who needs the world watching as you emerge, blinking, from a near death experience?  I felt a bit vindicated in my thinking when Anderson said out loud exactly what was on my mind.  Great TV story…too public a re-entry.

Bullies

What’s wrong with this country?   People still have this undeniable urge to bully others.  Is it a small ego thing…a small brain thing?  Something is definitely small ‘cause no one who feels good about him/herself would care if someone else were short or skinny or fat or gay.  Why does it matter?

I felt sick when I heard about the Rutgers incident.  It is like a bad movie, the handsome and popular boy rigs the quiet, different boy’s room with a video cam and then broadcasts a live stream, invading this talented kid’s privacy and humiliating him to the point of suicide.  Can you imagine thinking you’ve got no way out but to jump off the GW bridge?  And this kid had such promise.  How many other promising kids are suicidal because of what others say and do?

I hope they throw the book at this techie kid and his partner in crime.  And if he doesn’t get punished enough by the legal system, I hope every employer in America remembers this story and refuses to hire them.

What do we need…a PSA campaign to remind Americans not to bully?  I think we do.

When I was in Jr. High School, a classmate once ran after me with a four inch hatpin.  Needless to say, I still remember the incident and probably broke a track record or two that day.

Take Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg.  My guess is they weren’t picked first for baseball, but look at what they’ve achieved as adults.

Everyone’s different and we need to revel in the difference, not demean it.  And if we do, what a better world this would be.

Women Rule

Leave it to SmartCEO magazine to put on the hippest party in downtown DC. There were women CEOs everywhere schmoozing, toasting and celebrating the honor of being tapped one of SmartCEO’s Brava 100.

You walked in and there were disco lights flashing, giant screens flashing video of the winners, a bar lining the right side of the wall and hors-d’oeuvres everywhere.

What a change from when I was the only woman network radio correspondent in the newsroom banging away on my Royal typewriter trying to avoid the Marlboro fog.

SmartCEO seems to have tapped into what women CEOs are looking for: resource-swapping, networking, awards and the ultimate feel-good party. Women sharing business stories with women is networking at its best. Everyone knows how empathic, protective and embracing we are, so it goes without saying we do our best to lend other women a hand.

I met several women I know and haven’t seen in a while, and many who were new to me. If I can’t personally do business with some of these ladies, I can sure introduce them to others who might be a better fit.

So, here’s to my colleagues and here’s to SmartCEO for the kudos. It’s great to be proud and have fun at the same event!

LeBRON: PUT A RING ON IT

I shouldn’t even be writing about this, but need to vent.  First, why should a pro ball player get all the hype (and I know from hype) vs. teacher, firefighter, cop, fisherman and every other hard-working, low-paid guy/gal out there?  Yeah, I know the answer – ticket sales.  But, it’s all so backwards.  Check out the news – oil gushing in the Gulf, consumers not spending, guns back on the streets, Greece going under, Somalia under siege and still not enough new housing in New Orleans.

Not only are we rewarding the wrong folks, but we’re tuning in (not me) to a TV spectacle out of Connecticut to see this as-of-yet NBA champ turn down his hometown Cavs to turn up the Heat.

I say put a ring on it.  If LeBron is going to cash a check for over $19 million a year (not counting endorsements) shouldn’t he already have some NBA jewelry? Is he really King without bling? 

So he’ll make a smidge less than he could have with the Cavs or NY.  He can still spend plenty on South Beach clubs, hot cars and the greenest golf courses with no state income tax.

LeBron said “I’m going to take my talents to South Beach…that was the conclusion I woke up with this morning.”  Oh, give me a break.

Somehow our country needs to get a new perspective on all this stuff.  Sports is a guy with big sneakers and a basketball and a teacher shapes the next generation.  Basketball in one hand…brain in the other.   Not a tough choice.  Can you imagine the numbers of teachers we’d be recruiting and landing if we paid them what LeBron is getting paid?

So, bottom line, even with a ring it’s wrong.  If kids stopped looking at the pros as heroes and Wheaties stopped putting them on their box we’d all be much better off.

Daughter Goes Hollywood

What’s with all these Hollywood bosses?  Just because you make money young gives you the right to send interns out for lattes and bottled water?  And god forbid the foam isn’t just right on the latte!

How do I know this?  My Ivy league daughter went straight from college to LA to become a TV writer.  As part of her passage into nutso-land she was screamed at by several producers when the salad dressing wasn’t just so or there weren’t enough ground beans on the top of their latte supremos.

We have interns here at zcomm and I can count on one hand the times I’ve ever asked an intern to grab me a coffee.  And I’ve NEVER asked anyone to pick up my dry cleaning or clean out the fridge.  I’d be too embarrassed.

Don’t know if this is an east coast/west coast deal or just a bunch of arrogant airheads with big bank accounts but low self esteem.

I would love the chance to call one or two of her former bosses and let them have it, but as a PR “pro” I recognize that’s not the best tactic to help my daughter climb the TV ladder.

Is it that drama is just part of the Hollywood scene or that paying your dues in La La Land means sucking up to a bunch of egomaniacal wing nuts?

I have a friend who says that money changes you.  It probably does.  But in Hollywood land, I’m guessing that the power players are probably all 5’6” and under…unless they stand on their wallets.  And when they stand on their wallets, they feel tall enough to chew out anyone lower on the food chain.

OK…I’ve vented enough.  Off to get my own coffee.