The Bailey Blog

Okay, fuel economy, sales, customers, leases and new models are seemingly foreign concepts to the current owners of Chrysler.

But, apparently, communications may be making a comeback.

Well, for a limited engagement.

The company in the last couple weeks has had to employ an old technique that used to serve it pretty well - that little thing called PR and communications.

Chrysler was a benchmark in the car industry and beyond for executive access and openness in the 90’s. Well, right up until the company was purchased by a private equity firm a year ago.

Going private, executives then said, meant financial info could be secret since they no longer would be issuing statements for shareholders.

Now, with rumors of bankruptcy and billions in financial muck stuck to the Pentastarred tower off I-75, the top brass have realized the power of communicating to try and end "a lot of speculation, false speculation" that is "rumbling around about" the company. So Jim Press - company president and vice chairman, went out on the stump to talk financials and set the record straight. I don’t know if anyone is buying the words so much - with U.S. sales still in the car crapper, down 23 percent this year; however, that isn’t the point.

The Chrysler crux is two-fold:

1. See? Communications is vitally important to an organization. Those "rumors" and "speculation" come from one side of the story being told - if you don’t take control of the message, someone will. And, they may not have your best interest in mind. It is critical to be proactive, willing and available to discuss key messages and issues with the target audience - find that channel, use it often, openly and honestly.
2. Now, here’s the problem that Chrysler has discovered…or will very shortly … and, unfortunately, they aren’t alone: Communications isn’t a light switch.You can’t use it just when you want to "fix" a waxy negative build up. There is a bank of goodwill that can be formed through regular, ongoing communications with the targeted audience. It’s like calling someone you haven’t seen in 10 years and your first call to them is to borrow money. Build the relationship, work it, listen to the audience as part of communications and respond quickly, often and honestly to it.

Don’t believe the PR putz? Listen to the smart dude quoted in today’s Detroit Free Press (so it must be true):

"They (Chrysler) made it very clear a year ago that they weren’t going to do the things that normal businesses do and that this was a privately held company and the press was going to have to go away because they aren’t going to disclose what’s going on in the company," said Gerald Meyers, a University of Michigan business professor. "This is a break in that. What’s surprising is that this sets a tone and precedent. Once they do that, they’re going to have to do it again."

Based on their recent history, bet you a Dodge Ram-sized tank of gas they won’t.

Photo by Mandy Jouan

Salon.com’ s Sarah Hepola has posted a lovely, decadent ode to that crack of the meat world - bacon .

It is a fabulous food forum worthy of Penthouse….I’ve heard.

Anyway….to cut the fat…

In this ultra healthy world in which we live - where calories, cholesterol, sugar, sodium are calculated more than a Hillary Clinton response - bacon should be this massive no-no.

Fact is, cooks, cook books, movies and cartoons have banged the celebratory gong for this greasy goddess according to Hepola.

What’s being communicated here? Are the health police losing their grip on your insides?

Ads are out there bragging that one “energy” drink is better than another because of less calories and sugar content. Clearly we’ve gotten so health aware in this country that even the legal speed we ingest has to live up to a healthy standard? Only in America.

But, a look at the mid sections of the mid-West clearly shows that we say we are out to be fit and healthy with the same mouths that get filled with Quarter Pounders and…bacon.

Is being “healthy” becoming like the tarnished halo of claiming to be “green?” Is all the enviro hoopla out for the same fatty fate?

“Yes, I do shut off the lights in my vacant rooms and buy energy efficient bulbs when I drive to the Home Depot to get them in my Hummer!”

Is the public getting tired of - or more accurately jaded by - being mothered by what has replaced the “Religious Right ?”

The “But It’s What’s” Right.

I’m not trying to minimize the long-felt apathy toward our environment and the horrid effects into the cheesy camp of false health-hood.

I mean, I’m as happy and, gosh darn it, relieved that Valerie One Day At A Van Halen can fit into jeans. Thank GOD for you Jenny Craig, you defender of justice!

I’m saying there’s got to be a better way to communicate with the masses to make the important stuff out of fad status and into everyday practice.

Now, for me, my father’s techniques worked fine as a lad: “Do this or I will take you out of this world much easier than when I brought you in it.”

But, I don’t think our Dr. Phil nation can fully, as Jack said in A Few Good Men, “Handle the truth.”

Maybe it comes down to one of the simplest of stand-bys:

Everything in Moderation.

That includes with messaging on products and when dealing with the public’s tolerance for issues.

Inform me. Don’t lecture me.

Teach me. Don’t force me.

Communicate with me. Don’t dictate to me.

Show me how. Don’t just say “you should do it now.”

In the meantime?

Pass that triple bacon double Swiss cheese burger here in the Styrofoam container, while I figure out whether I believe you.

If you don’t know what that stands for, pull aside an unabashed person under the age of 25 and they’ll fill you in.

Or you can ask the commissioner at the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. He’s heard about it all too often recently. See, apparently, WTF is going around a lot in North Carolina these days on, of all places, the state’s license plates .

Apparently, it was the first random letter combination that popped up when North Carolina changed its plate design. Some teenager filled in a grandparent on why they thought the plates were so funny and, boom, it’s suddenly a major catastrophe within the bureaucratic ranks.

But they didn’t go quite far enough when alerting the state’s population on how to get a free replacement plate. You see, when you check out the N.C. DMV’s Web site, you also might find that letter combo as the state’s sample plate. Heck, they even used it as a sample plate for the DMV spokeswoman to carry around when talking about the new plates.

If you’re going to make a public spectacle of something as innocent as a three-letter combination on a license plate, as least have the wherewithal to cleanse your own stock first.

Of course, a better question is why make it an issue in the first place?

So what if someone sees a three-letter acronym used on instant messaging and text messaging programs as potentially offensive? Who says we all have to see the license plate through their distorted view?

Besides that, why open a giant can of worms that is going to lead to banning a lot of letter combinations because other people will find them offensive, or at least offensive enough to try to stir up trouble for the DMV – an agency that is not the favorite of most people in any state.

What about the atheists? They certainly can’t stand to see OMG on any plates.

What about the broken-hearted? They’ll break down crying every time they see ILY pop up on the bumper in front of them.

Certainly those who have just had a rift with a lifelong friend couldn’t bear watching BFF go down the road.

The list here could go on ad infinitum but I think you get my point. Kneejerk reactions by bureaucrats rarely lead to anything good. I say let those things that could be innocent stay innocent. We all need to lighten up and getting to LOL at a funny double-entendre on something as mundane as a license plate might just be the thing we need on the overly tense highways of America.

This Potential Client Could Have Been “Sheet” Outta Luck

We can Tweet.

We can Twitter.

We can Text.

But to Joan Rivers’ point, “Can we TALK?” Seems that last one is a lost art…at least it almost was to a cold-call prospect I got this week.

The guy owns a fine European linen shop in Birmingham, Mich. If you ain’t from here, couple bucks in that town…very high end on the demographic meter.

In other words, I know “fine Euro linen” about as well as Keith Richards does about doing decathlons.

But, this shop owner wanted to learn more about PR. Now that I know…most days.

He went to the phone book, and called four local firms to ask them what they do. We were one of them.

I went out to meet with the owner recently. We hung out for an hour or so to discuss what he did, what he wanted to do, what we did and how we do it.

Bottom line is the guy probably can’t afford some of our services on a regular basis.

But, I gave him some ideas that he really liked, promised I send over a menu of some ideas/tactics with fee ranges if he wanted to go to the next step or get some counsel in the future.

He was very appreciative.

We were the only firm to come out to meet him.

Others assessed his lack of full PR knowledge …and budget to some extent…and treated him like one of those guys that call you during dinner to find out if you need your gutters cleaned.

Here’s what those other PR firms forgot:

1) We are in “communications” - not a lot of people really know what that is outside the field. By making the assumption that “everyone gets it” we miss the opportunity of allowing potential clients to know how we can help or that certain services/products are even available.

2) I learned what “fine Euro linen” means. It means this gent works with people who are cool with spending $100,000 plus on interior decorating projects alone. Heck, maybe even just one room. They are movers and shakers in this town that during business hours, do other stuff. That stuff could be a business in need of PR services and products.

When our shop owner works with these well-heeled individuals and hears about some potential PR need a customer is dealing with at work (see? now the shop owner has a way to determine what a PR issue is because someone told him), who will he suggest to his customer? The firm that blew them off for lack of budget…or the guys who took an hour out of their day to “talk” and do a bit of brainstorming?

3) Marketing one’s firm isn’t only checking the boxes when about buying an ad in the PRSA directory or golf outing program. It’s not even just about a cool blog or website. It’s about getting out in the community where you not only work, but live. It’s about seeing PR as a true service…one where “counseling” and “consultation” is involved. It’s about “relations” with the “public.”

Are we doctors curing cancer or even lawyers upholding constitutional principles?

Well, no….are britches aren’t quite that big.

However, when a firm forgets that the word “service” doesn’t start with a “$,” they are already communicating.

But the message isn’t as pretty as fine Euro linens.

And, that smell isn’t potpourri.

And, Now In the “We Needed A Study for THAT?” Department

The school of business at Duke wants to help you with that little problem of finding a fuel-efficient vehicle in these energy strapped times. Well, let me let them tell you what they’ve done, those creative little dears:

Gallons Per Mile Would Help Car Shoppers Make Better Decisions
DURHAM, N.C., June 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Posting a vehicle’s fuel efficiency in “gallons per mile” rather than “miles per gallon” would help consumers make better decisions about car purchases and environmental impact, researchers from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business report in the June 20 issue of Science magazine.

Inspired by debates they had while carpooling in a hybrid car, management professors Richard Larrick and Jack Soll ran a series of experiments showing that the current standard, miles per gallon or mpg, leads consumers to believe that fuel consumption is reduced at an even rate as efficiency improves. People presented with a series of car choices in which fuel efficiency was defined in miles per gallon were not able to easily identify the choice that would result in the greatest gains in fuel efficiency.

For example, most people ranked an improvement from 34 to 50 mpg as saving more gas over 10,000 miles than an improvement from 18 to 28 mpg, even though the latter saves twice as much gas. (Going from 34 to 50 mpg saves 94 gallons; but from 18 to 28 mpg saves 198 gallons).

These mistaken impressions were corrected, however, when participants were presented with fuel efficiency expressed in gallons used per 100 miles rather than mpg. Viewed this way, 18 mpg becomes 5.5 gallons per 100 miles, and 28 mpg is 3.6 gallons per 100 miles — an $8 difference today.

“The reality that few people appreciate is that improving fuel efficiency from 10 to 20 mpg is actually a more significant savings than improving from 25 to 50 mpg for the same distance of driving,” Larrick said.

hmmm…or should I say, in honor of the Duke’s School of Business, “What the Fuqua?”

I’m sorry but did I miss that executive summary that says “Big car, truck, uses more fuel and takes you less places between fill ups; little car, scooter, bike, unicycle, skate board, feet, probably uses less for potentially more trips.”

Well, I’m inspired.

Because obesity among youth is such an issue, I’m doing my own study on weight loss and health. It should be done in …oh, wait it’s done. Here’s the key finding:

Eat less; do more; finish your veggies, get your butt outside and if you want to be a real guitar hero, learn how to play a real guitar, Chubby.

Could work for adults, too, but I need to research it a bit more…OOP! ….yup, works for them, too.

Done.

With the PR goggles on, I can see why Duke would send this now; of course that rationale and my insight on it ranks right up there with their “drive-less-in-smaller-things-to save-more” cure.

It’s all about taking advantage of newsworthiness, aka “news pegs,” to apply one’s expertise to a gaining media attention.

But, watch the line between opportunist and insightful here, you little Blue Devils - we’ll call you when it’s basketball season, k?

Bloomberg News recently reported that Ford and Chrysler chopped their ad buys and expenses by more than 30 percent in the first quarter while GM and Toyota spent MORE as the industry continued to dirt nap.

As Austin Powers may say "But…what does it all MEAN, Basil?"

Which approach is "right?"

The root of what is right is an integrated approach that doesn’t necessarily overdue one element of communications over another. Think of the approach as to what tools you may carry in a tool chest. Certain jobs need a hammer, others no more than a glue gun.

And, as a shameless plug for PR agencies, if you don’t know what to do - the best tool your box is the phone number of a good fix-it-man….an agency to counsel and guide you. Not even to be hired to DO the work, but at least hired to point in the right direction.

Oh, that was quite shameless…but I’m ok with that.

For the longest time, the flawed mentality was "buy some ads, sell something."

Well, ads certainly help with brand awareness. But what do you do when you flip through the magazines? Or the pop up hits that website you need or are reading? You stop for a second and move on to what you really want. Sometimes that second is all you need.

But, if you want to get people talking about you, and more importantly, believing in what you are, you need to hit them with key messages in a variety of mediums that matter to them. That’s a media relations effort; that’s a spokesperson that’s a face to the company and product (a credible face obviously is key - one that knows the product and the audience); and, yes, some targeted ad buys where your specific wish-list audience is and what they are reading, viewing, using to get their info.

And, your employees better believe in what you are doing as well. They are your greatest ambassadors and sales people. The greatest backyard conversation between neighbors is when an employee of a company can say over the fence or at a bbq - "this is what we do..this is what ‘it’s’ all about" in referencing the communications outreach of his/her company…and the messages are the same. Be sure to put some budget aside to educate the workforce on what your are, your goals and the keys to your products.

You’re in this together, people.

Here’s the simple rule - kinda like McCartney sang the sappy ballads and Lennon did the acidic rockers - when it comes to advertising and PR: let each play to their strengths.

Advertising
Shapes an image of a product or company through paid spots which are controlled (hence paid for) by the company; you buy the space, you say what you want with whatever visual/text you feel is appropriate to say "This is the brand." You’ll never see a Dodge ad or vehicle in pink, for example. That brand tries to highlight it’s performance and "bold" nature. Red is its color. Richard Simmons won’t be a spokesperson for the brand. If he is, those guys at Chrysler have bigger issues than Nardelli’s supposed bad back that strategically keeps him from attending major media events.

PR
Third-party credibility is gained by a journalist writing ABOUT your product or company. The credibility is based in the fact that you have no control as to what that media outlet might say about you. But if it’s good because your messages were bullet proof? You get a free ad that would have cost you three or four times that if you tried to purchase an ad of equal space in the publication or outlet. You get a story in the Wall Street Journal or USA Today that’s positive and is x amount of column inches long? BAM! Now go upstairs to the CEO and tell him/her you want $$ to buy the same amount of space in one those? Prepare to get the ol’ parent speech that starts with "What….am I MADE outta money,here?"

The power of ads vs. PR
Major studios pay for previews and ads for movies to make everything look like something you should see. Result: you are smitten and now curious.

Then, you read the review in the daily paper that a reporter wrote giving the same flick one half star out of 18 and you blow that movie off for another. Doesn’t matter if you like the reviewer, but it makes you think twice as to where you are going put hard earned cash for it and your Raisinets.

So, again then, which approach is "right?"

Being "out there" when times are tough is vital. When a consumer is limiting choices as to what services or products they are going to buy/"need," the messages they hear clearly through the clutter are the ones that regularly touch THEM.

But, the key is developing a strategy that takes the budget available and maximizes it with more than just the same-ol-same-ol elements.

PR is the duct tape that can cost-effectively complement any tool in the box.

It seems rather apropos that the passing of journalism giant Tim Russert offered an opportunity for learning about the news industry.

As a certified news junkie and a guy who has to teach MSU students and clients about what makes the media tick, I’m always interested not just in the news but how it’s delivered.

When Russert died last week, I was one of the first people in my circle of friends and colleagues to hear about it. So I spread the word via email and that’s how much of the world’s news is now delivered. What’s more interesting, however, is where I originally heard it from. There was a post on Twitter that caught my attention, followed minutes later by news alerts from Yahoo and USA Today .

Now, the post on Twitter provided a link back to an Associated Press story, so the original news didn’t come via Twitter, but it certainly aided in the rapid distribution. That says something for all forms of online networking. There are times when even a cheerleader like me gets fed up with having to stay connected and keep up with all the various forms of networking out there – but then a moment like being the first to hear about Russert’s death makes up for it.

Another lesson learned from Russert’s passing is that often people end up in the news because they are available.

I often tell clients that you have to build relationships with reporters so they’ll call you. The second part of that lesson is that when they call, you have to answer.

I was quoted in the MSU State News for a story about Russert’s death. As my fiancé put it, “Why did they call you?” Gee, thanks, honey, I’m sure you meant that in the best possible sense!

But, let’s be honest: the plain and simple truth is I was available. I’m an adjunct instructor at MSU’s School of Journalism and I have almost two decades of experience working with the media. Sure, I have some opinions that might matter to folks. But the bottom line is that reporters were looking for someone to speak to for a story on deadline. That meant calling folks on a Sunday afternoon – and on Father’s Day to boot.

So, why was I quoted? Why do people get to hear what I have to say? Because reporters have my number and when they call me, I always pick up the phone.

Rest In Peace Tim Russert, 1950 - 2008