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Media Relations and P&G’s What-If Plan

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Today’s post is a compendium of news about Fortune 100 crises. If you’ve watched this space, you’ll recognize these names – Nestle, BP, and Proctor & Gamble. Don’t know the crisis each is managing? Then perhaps you’ve not been consuming social and traditional media, for these corporations are in the news several times a day of late due to rain forests, oil and diapers.

To bring you up to speed, here’s the Soulati-‘TUDE! Nestle post. This week, my “Got a What If Plan?” oriented to the oil debacle paved the way for the next day’s post on diapers, rash and Procter & Gamble.

So great to see a sequential flow, and the only reason I re-introduced this content here is as a foreword to this article in Advertising Age “Inside P&G’s PR playbook: How Pampers Battled Diaper Debacle” about a behind-the-scenes look at the public relations machine for Proctor & Gamble. The internal team and its agency kicked into high gear at the onset of mommy complaints that the new Pampers Dry Max caused diaper rash and “chemical burns” on babies’ behinds.

For anyone in corporate or agency public relations, I strongly encourage you read this piece. It is a fascinating unfolding of a public relations machine in synch with product marketing, corporate strategy, and internal response to a brewing external crisis.

The story was written by Jack Neff after Advertising Age was granted an insider view of the marketing public relations team in action. He followed them for half a day to watch strategy and execution. I’ve not seen a story of this nature delivered smack in the middle of a crisis. If I were a stakeholder, you can bet my concerns would be alleviated after reading this piece.

In companies the world over, there is crisis. Social media has elevated these issues beyond comprehension and presented them to the consuming public on a silver platter. This trifecta is a textbook case for students, and I hope academicians and volunteer public relations professors are watching these three situations closely. There’s no better way to teach than by real-world example, and none of us are too old to keep learning.

Only one word of counsel for today:

It’s more critical than ever to shore up external messaging. When social media comes calling, one word gone awry can upset the entire apple cart.

Vehicle Buying Habits

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I’m impressed with my impression of how much a story (good old traditional media relations) in Fast Company has me eager to explore a Ford as my next vehicle. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected to say that; my grampa drove Ford (enough said!).

Back step a minute…

The quest is on for a 7-passenger SUV (not a soccer mom mini-van, please, although I do coach my daughter’s team) that may or not remain a Toyota. The more news I consume, the more confused I am about which direction to head. Factors strongly in the nay column are companies that accepted government bailout monies we taxpayers funded, as well as the overall  health of the corporation (GM? Nope).

I certainly won’t end up “like” Simon…

Simon Dumenco is (sdumenco@adage.com) The Media Guy for Advertising Age. In his opinion column April 12 he writes “What a pathetic, passive, compliant consumer I’ve become! Like, over there, in the kitchen: my incredibly easy-to-use Senseo coffeemaker, which I thought I loved. But it only accepts certain kinds of coffee pods. How devious! And my sleek Braun toaster: Sure, it can accommodate sliced bread and bagels, but could I cook a pot roast with it? No! Does it have a camera? No!”

I’m fiercely loyal to Toyota and have always loved my three-row Highlander from the get go. According to Advertising Age, Toyota sold more cars in March than it did in January and February combined. The “impressive bump” is a credit to the brand’s “almost fanatical consumer base and bargain hunters.”

Case Study with Self

I decided to use my own situation as a case study in consumer-buying habits. As I move through the steps toward this large purchase decision, I’ll share the various communications channels I’m using to get there.  To date:

  • Word-of-mouth marketing — Twitter helped direct me to Ford and Volvo 90. After taking a look, I was impressed by both and swayed by the Volvo brand.
  • A comment on this blog directed me away from Volvo because it’s being sold (don’t want to be stuck like Saturn owners).
  • Upon reading the April Fast Company story, “Ford’s Big Reveal, The next generation of Ford’s Sync technology will turn its cars into rolling, talking, socially networked, cloud-connected supermachines. Introducing America’s most surprising consumer-electronics company.” (And that’s merely the headline!)
  • In a nutshell, Ford’s alliance with Microsoft is bringing leading-edge connectivity to its now pared down and more manageable line of vehicles.  Voice- enabled and hands-free phone dialing and answering, music selection, navigation, climate control, and so much more are putting Ford vehicles ahead of the curve.  
  • Worth looking at, don’t you think? Then again, perhaps the thought of owning a talking car like David Hasselhoff in Knight Rider is what’s compelling.
  • Two soccer moms sat in their Toyota Sequoia monstrosities (I think they were matching). Upon walking up to them (windows were down) I queried them about Toyota. Immediately, they both said, “I’d buy another Toyota in a heartbeat, the problem has been fixed already!”

Indeed.

Storytelling and Dolls

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Photo by Jamie Chung, Fast Company

A story in the April Fast Company has me thinking three ways:

When Mattel’s Barbie celebrated her 40th birthday, and my colleague and I represented the American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons as its public relations firm for three years, the opportunity was too good to pass up.

My idea was to issue a press release on PR Newswire blasting Barbie for still wearing high heels every day through her fourth decade. The podiatric surgeons were none too pleased the media preferred to invite comments about Barbie’s footgear over their technologically advanced titanium implants.

Because my daughter was an early adopter of all things Bratz (those too sexy dolls that rivaled Barbie), and I followed progress of the legal battle between the two companies for intellectual property rights (Mattel won), I was eager to learn more about the new Liv dolls by Spin Master Toys.

I tore the Fast Company story for future reference. Upon a second glance at the headline, I was struck — “Watch Your Back, Barbie!!! How Spin Master Toys created the hit Liv dolls, a thoroughly modern marriage of tech, storytelling and 21st-century marketing that has industry giant Mattel looking over its shoulder.” (And, that’s just the headline.)

Storytelling! Forget about Barbie’s high heels and Bratz. Storytelling!

Spin Master Toys offers a perfect example of the role storytelling plays in brand development prior to product launch.

The new team hired by Spin Master developed a narrative for the four dolls in the collection BEFORE the dolls had a name. The team created an imaginary high school, and characteristics for each girl doll were inspired from teen behavior observed at surf shops, malls and frozen yogurt stands. Diversity was added to the story (rather than just in the skin tone and facial features of the dolls themselves) which directly aligned with toy industry trends about how little girls play. The back story for each Liv doll was a critical component of the go-to-market strategy.

Enter media relations.

With storytelling on the marketing and brand side of things aimed at the end user, public relations can pick up and add that rich flavor to content we develop to tell a story to a middle gatekeeper of news (in essence, we’re selling the story with a pitch).

Seeing this reference to storytelling prominently in the headline of a major business publication is a thoughtful exercise in looking at products differently. While public relations may not engage in consumer storytelling when pitching the media, you can bet we will engage in consumer storytelling within the realm of social media.

What examples might you have about how storytelling impacted a product launch, media relations situation, or social media opportunity? While you’re thinking, I’m going to take another look at Liv dolls at Target today.

PepsiCo And Its Earth Day Trifecta

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Had another post all ready to go, and then I opened today’s Wall Street Journal which changed everything.

PepsiCo (and Waste Management) announced yesterday a recycling program called Dream Machine with kiosks that reward users. I didn’t know this until just now. Back track to earlier this morning when I was scanning the morning paper:

Full-Page Advertisement

PepsiCo announced a new recycling program today that I first learned about in a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal in section one.

  • The ad appealed to me because our family voraciously recycles down to a worry about #4 plastics and how we can properly dispose of them.
  • I wondered how I could participate, get a dream machine for me, and whether I had to drink Pepsi to be on board (no pop consumed in my home).
  • The ad piqued my interest on the first viewing; great stats for ROI.

Social Media

The link in the ad referred me to the Dream Machine Facebook page. I tore the page to reference the url later. (I just visited the page and became a fan; 355 members to date — not too many, but enough, considering the program launched April 21. The page is incredibly well done with multi-media.)

Media Relations

Jump to Wall Street Journal in  “Corporate News.” Here’s the light bulb…PepsiCo in Recycling Push, a corner, above the fold story about the Fortune 50 company (along with NYSE: WM), announcing its new Dream Machine program.

  • “Up to 3,000 kiosks are to be put in high-traffic places this year, with incentives for consumers,” says the story call out.
  • “Every time you recycle with a PepsiCo dream machine, we’ll make a donation to help disabled veterans start their own businesses,” says the full-page advertisement.

Why is this significant? Take a look at timing with Earth Day. Look at the integrated marketing strategy with the blending of advertising, public relations, media relations, social media and thought leadership, among many others I’ve not discovered.

I applaud the marketing, advertising, public relations teams (corporate and agency) for their integrated and highly strategic work to launch what impresses me as a campaign exactly right for the time. Review its audiences (disabled vets, eco-conscious consumers, future consumers, Facebookers, corporate partners, stakeholders, and so many more). There’s something in this campaign that resonates with a plethora of audiences.

Nicely done, PepsiCo; nicely done.

Dow Jones and the Media Relations Ad Pitch

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On April 2, 2010, a display ad in the Wall Street Journal caught my eye; the words “perfect pitch” stood out in the headline, and that being my language, I paid closer attention. The advertisement headline “Engage journalists and bloggers with the perfect pitch” declared that Dow Jones Media Relations ManagerTM was the right tool for media relations professionals to “connect with writers who are receptive to their pitch.”

The half-page below-the-fold advertisement to media relations practitioners was the first I’ve seen in a national daily. I read the ad several times because it struck me how odd it was for Dow Jones to waste ad spend targeting me and corporate “flacks” aka publicists. I was intrigued enough to tear out the ad and save it for my later response during which:

  • I attempted to hit the download url for a complimentary e-book called “Monitor and Engage.” There was a typo in the url. The last word “today” was in bold and appeared to be part of the link to access the book; however, it was part of the ad.
  • The download link url included “PRSA” and everyone knows the Public Relations Society of America is our profession’s venerable certifications and standards group.  My initial thought was “Oh, PRSA is collaborating with Dow Jones to offer this new media relations tool.” Oddly, the url re-directed to a Dow Jones url with NO PRSA mention. After Googling the product, there’s still no mention of PRSA on the Web page. Apparently, it may be a hidden affiliation?
  • I downloaded the e-book expecting to learn more about Dow Jones Media Relations Manager. I didn’t really need a dozen pages of tight, cluttered, repetitive information I already knew to ease me into the sale.
  • After hitting the e-book link, I remained confused. The e-book title was “How to Win Friends and Influence Audiences in the Age of Conversation,” although the words Monitor and Engage did match. The ad’s sales pitch told me I could “pinpoint influential writers and keep your executives singing the right tune.” Somewhere along the way, the creative team responsible for the ad lost site of the copywriting for the book. Seems like another disconnect to me.
  • After skimming the e-book, the product is mentioned with nice charts, but what I failed to see is any marketing collateral (e.g. how much does the dang thing cost already?).

Other Thoughts

I’m surprised I learned about the existence of this media relations tool via advertising; although, my take-action-on-the-first-viewing response should be an exciting statistic, eh?

I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal; these guys know my reader profile. Why wouldn’t they pitch me direct via e-marketing?

Dow Jones, you’ve got a boatload of marketing dollars in your budget. If you’re pitching PR people why don’t you treat us like influencers and sell the product like IT people do? Give some bloggers a beta and have them tweet and blog the heck out of it? (Or, perhaps you’ve already done that and I missed it. Or, perhaps we smaller fry can’t afford your product anyway.)

For my first time being pitched by a Dow Jones print ad in a Dow Jones sister publication for a media relations tool I probably need and would like to consider buying…I think a C- is in order. Let’s hope the product performs way better than the grade.