The Bailey Blog

The first foray into live blogging and tweeting from a major conference went well.

One of the key decisions we made about three-quarters of the way through the planning process was to walk before we ran. I’m referring to the original idea that we would be posting photos and videos and podcasts, oh my!

The biggest concern I had was the availability of wireless connections and cell-phone signals on Mackinac Island, and I was right to be concerned. I was pleasantly surprised to find so many unsecured wireless connections at businesses around the island, but the signals were definitely limited in strength and reach.

As for cell phones, well, you might be able to make a phone call or get your email or send and receive text messages on Mackinac Island, or you might not. I found that it wasn’t the provider or the model of cell phone that mattered – it really seemed much more dependent on which way the wind was blowing.

So, suffice it to say, thank goodness we decided to scale back what we planned on offering to blogs and tweets – sticking with text only saved us a lot of headaches and embarrassment the first time out.

Looking back, I think we could have done more by providing additional bloggers to expand upon what we were seeing at the conference. I’ve bugged my colleagues to write post-event blogs now, sharing some insights they may have that I didn’t.

Another big test involved in this concept was the idea of being able to flood Twitter with an almost constant stream of information. All-in-all the site performed well. I think I only received the “sorry, too many tweets at once” error three times in four days. That’s not too shabby considering how many tweets hit www.twitter.com at any given moment.

I’ve heard from a few people so far that they thought the service we provided was worthwhile and should be tried again. I think it was a big enough success that we will.

Of the comments I received, this one summed it up best: “It was great for those of us who were stuck here in Lansing to keep tabs on what was going on.”

Hey, go figure. That was the whole point!

PRWeek magazine just released its 2008 Media Survey and it includes some intriguing numbers regarding reporters and their interaction with companies and their on-line presence.

Eighty-nine percent of respondents said that when conducting research for a story, they use a company’s Web site while 74 percent said they use Google or a blog search. When pushed for more detail, respondents said that a company’s Web site (65%), recent press releases (63%) and a company’s virtual press room (51 %) were “extremely important” or “very important” to their research.

Seeing those numbers should make you think two things immediately: “What’s on my Web site right now?” and “When’s the last time anyone from our company did a Google and blog search on our company?”

I’ve blogged before about the need to keep up with Google searches on yourself and your company and hopefully you heeded my words of advice.

Stop and think – no cheating – how many of you can tell me what’s on the front page of your company’s Web site right now? What links are available? What documents are linked? What’s the status of your staff directory? What is the latest news item you have posted there for visitors to see? Do you even know what color your site is? Do you know the address? You do know your company has a Web site, right?!?

OK, sorry about getting carried away, but let’s face it – it’s a brave new world out there and what you don’t know can hurt you.

… TOO LATE!

It’s April 1. This would be a day to celebrate fools. (Note that there was no comma between “celebrate” and “fools.”)

And, yes, 80’s “singer” Rick Astley would apply. But he is getting the last laugh at your computer’s expense.

Let me set the stage here to save you a bit of grief…

You’re welcome, in advance, by the way:

You get a link from a “friend” accompanied by text that says something like “Check Out the Leaked Trailer for Iron Man” or “News Flash About Led Zeppelin’s Summer Tour!”

And, then you are “Rick Rolled.”

Yes, baby - bask in the some of the greatest dance moves of the 80’s by a red-haired guy with one hit…and then hit yourself in the head repeatedly with the claw of a nearby hammer after 30 seconds of it.

See, what happens when you click that link is Mr. Astley and his “hit,” “Never Gonna Give You Up” …play on…repeatedly. Non stop. And it - the video with lyrics provided - bounces all over your computer, avoiding your attempts to turn it off. The damn thing actually moves like a cockroach avoiding your stomp in your apartment.

The thing has gotten out of control where people are “Rick Rolling” live at basketball games and office conference rooms. Think singing telegram with dance moves. Bad ones.

Personally, I think it was all part of Al Gore’s masterplan when he invented the worldwide Web.

It was PR brilliance to promote a guy that dances worse than he and Tipper.

Talk about your product placement, let me tell you. Here’s the deal: Dr Pepper—yeah, that Dr Pepper—just sent out a press release that, I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams; neither could you.

They, the makers of Dr Pepper, will give a beverage of the same name to everyone in America—free of charge, if Axl Rose releases the infamous, dozen-plus-years-in-the-making Guns N’ Roses album, “Chinese Democracy“, sometime in 2008.

Ok… everyone except former GNR members, including poodle-haired guitarist, Slash, and his one-time replacement guitarist, bucket-headed Buckethead, will receive a free soda to celebrate this way overdue event in rock history.

My point is simply, what a great idea…and, if it’s part of a larger Dr Pepper sponsorship for a comeback tour that just might finally come around in 2008 for the Axl-lead GNR, well, that would be even better. With a dash of P.T. Barnum showmanship and a bit ‘o Pepper thrown in for good measure, that’s a good recipe for how to cut through the clutter.

I say “huzzah” for some creative PR!

Click here to read Axl Rose’s response to the Dr. Pepper Challenge.

Warhol said everyone gets 15 minutes of fame; now, you can buy it by the hour.

It has come to my attention - which is significant because I really don’t get out much - that you can buy a gaggle of paparazzi to follow yer boyz or gal pals around for a night on the town.

These rent-a-nag services are getting ink and tape nationally as the latest craze for that night out.

“Look - is that someone!? It must be…look at all the photographers.”

Now, wait a minute… haven’t I been taught by Entertainment Tonight that nearly every celeb out there in rehab, embroiled in a recent scandal or just walking through JFK really just wants to be left alone, treated like a normal schlub, or simply dreads their inability to go out in public without being hounded by these gang of photo-popping profiteers?

Didn’t we get the whole “Princess Di Died Because She was Chased by Photographers” memo?

Some of the most common images that grace many a screen or tabloid usually resemble someone’s palm because they are holding up a hand up to ward off the blinding glare of flashing bulbs.

But now, we commoners are so desperate and vain - we need to feel like a “somebody” so badly that we will pay good money to experience the annoyances that go along with being a celebrity.

The cynic might say, “hey, you hermit, celebs would wither away without that type of attention - they LOVE it; they only complain as part of the act.”

Ok. I get that…after all, it would seem the “PR” phrase associated with my job title over the years does not mean that I grew up in “Puerto Rico” but that I’m in “public relations.”

At its heart, PR seeks exposure in the media for clients. But, it is different since as PR folk, we attempt to harness the third-party credibility of the media by putting forth experts who are also credible in their fields.

It’s that credibility - their messages that are valid, true and factual - of the spokespeople we represent, that allow the PR person to provide the service of getting “someone’s story out there” to a journalist and ultimately to a target audience. In other words, these people do more than show up at a bar.

But, this faux celebrity stuff? Just seems a bit showboat to me and smells of not of teen spirit, but big ego and small self esteem. Oh, and the whole thing can cost up to $1,500 from some “services.” If you have $1,500 bones to throw at fake photographers — some who don’t even carry FILM?! In my book, you, babe, my hip, funky-fresh one, are now famous…or famously something.

You may say they have a great PR firm to get this kind of attention. Perhaps.

But, my point is that this service goes way beyond having pictures taken of ourselves at events since the idea is to conjure up a fake situation that manipulates people into thinking that they need to pay attention to what you are doing.

This is not the same as renting a limo for an event - that could actually have a function of getting a group - who could be less than 100 percent tea-toting, shall we say - home safely… and likely, us home safely, too, if they aren’t behind the wheel.

So now we have completely devolved into beings who need to manufacture attention for…well…just being there.

Talent isn’t the issue; why work for it when you can buy it?

C’mon…wasn’t karaoke enough? Can’t sing, don’t have a band, just downed your fourth shot and feel brave enough to warble through “Come On Eileen”?

Hey…we’ve seen how that horror movie ends, people. I have two words - “William Hung.”

It seems all the public relations efforts surrounding global warming have finally resulted in a very large increase in money being spent on…marketing.

“We’ve come up against a brick wall with Americans,” Lee Bodner, executive director of ecoAmerica, an environmental group based in Washington, D.C., told USA Today.

Apparently, the Alliance for Climate Protection is about to drop more than $100 million over three years to convince people that global warming is an urgent problem.

Maybe the most urgent problem is the burgeoning number of environmental groups trying to tell the public they need to change their ways. Global warming has become the banner hanging off the Environmental Tower of Babel.

Over the past few years dozens of environmental interest groups have started shouting at the top of their lungs to be heard. I know you’ve heard them but, as my mother used to ask me, “Are you listening?”

I guess she knew all along what a lot of people have to be taught: that communication is about the receiver, not the sender. She would make sure not just that I heard her, but that I was actually listening and if I wasn’t she’d find another way to get through.

Hopefully, before the Alliance for Climate Protection spends $100 million shouting at us, they’ll spend a little time and money to find out if we’re listening.

Ok.. I’ve decided.

My ultimate dream account; the product I must represent, and would have clearly devoted my four years of university learning… well… let’s just say the “time I was in college,”… the zenith of my professional career would be…. “Peeps.”

I will give the pure magnitude a moment for the idea to settle in.

The Peep is that yellow, smooshy, apparently chick-shaped, eraser-like substance in an Easter Basket near you. Oh, and it also made the cover of today’s Life Section of USA TODAY.

Wait —Van Halen restarts its tour after some hidden medical condition involving Eddie Van Halen. THAT gets “news brief” status, a sidebar in the section.

But Peeps? Peeps anchored the entire bottom of the page with four columns and an illustration dedicated to delicious, sugar-fused foam.

What gives?

To be cliché, “timing is everything,” or at least, nearly everything.

This is a great example of what we always stress to clients; simply, a company needs to take full advantage of what they do and how what they do fits into everything else that’s happening in the outside world.

Often, the people inside companies get tied up in what they think is important… downright vital… in their eyes.

However, let’s say a new glue to hold two widgets together is cool, but how much is it saving the world — or the customer?

Is there a trade show coming up to provide the right backdrop and to give the reporters an excuse, as it were, to cover it? Heck, is April National Sticky Month? We need a hook to go with the message — this is the point.

So, today ya gotta hand it to the peeps behind Peeps. With the Easter Holiday on the horizon, they nailed a sweet spot that should make even Van Halen jealous.