Goodell Wins Post-NFL Lockout Communications War

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Brad Chase

“If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn’t do it.  I hate him and will never respect him.”

– James Harrison (July 13, 2011)

 

The most improbable NFL season in history is over.  Tim Tebow transcended the sport, attracting new fans to the game.  Drew Brees rewrote history books.  And the Super Bowl rematch of the Patriots and Giants was an exhilarating show as good as anything at the local cineplex.  It’s easy to forget how close the NFL came to losing it all last year when players and owners were deadlocked in a bitter labor dispute and a last-minute deal saved the season.  While these storylines dominated the public’s attention, a quiet war was being waged the last few months:  the public relations fight over who gets credit for saving the season.

In football, the story usually ends when the clock runs out.  But in business and politics, the narrative never ends with the deal or an election.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFLPA have a responsibility to their constituencies, and that means the second they finished a deal, they started planning for the next contract.  But it was Goodell – a lightning rod for criticism who has alienated players and fans alike with his authoritarian approach – who was better prepared.  He recognized that the sport needed strong reputation management, launching a strategic, sustained public campaign to show fans who was really on their side during the lockout.

Looking back over the course of the season, a few key points of comparison in the communications of the Commissioner’s office versus the NFLPA:

  1. Goodell flew under the radar: He wisely picked his battles and avoided controversy, particularly with disciplinary matters.  Maybe players were just on their best behavior, but the volume of public discord over player suspensions and fines was far lower than in past years.  In past years, Pacman Jones, Albert Haynesworth and James Harrison dominated headlines.  This year, the suspension of Ndamukong Suh was the only such blip.  But Goodell acted with restraint, allowing Suh’s disgustingly unnecessary behavior to take center stage and drown out anti-Goodell rhetoric by players and the union.
  2. The fight for ownership of the player safety issue: The need to better protect players reached a tipping point this year when former players filed lawsuits against the NFL.  But no one from the union stepped up to own the issue.  Meanwhile, Goodell spoke at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting, spearheaded a $100 million investment in medical research, placed an ad on player safety during the Super Bowl, and continued his tough talk on overly-aggressive hits on defenseless players.  He may not have solved the problem yet, but he took control of the debate as the premier advocate.
  3. The union self-destructed: When Giants players callously targeted a 49ers player specifically because of his history of concussions, the silence from the union was deafening.  By comparison, Goodell looks like an angel.
  4. The Washington factor: The NFL’s lobbying of the Congressional “GOP Doc Caucus” on HGH testing demonstrated the league’s public commitment, while making the NFLPA look intransigent and uncaring.  The union’s proposal was ludicrous – offering zero in-season testing and allowing players to opt-out.  Needless to say, Congress wasn’t impressed by the NFLPA.

But where Goodell really won the battle was with direct engagement with fans.  He’ll never please everyone (or anyone in Pittsburgh), but he’s made a lot of moves that help the league and owners while also enhancing fan loyalty:

  • Participating in fan forums:  His in-season fan forums added a degree of transparency and inclusiveness to a multi-billion industry.  He started his career on the NFL’s lowest rung as an intern for the New York Jets in 1983 – which he used to position himself as a man of the people.  Fans feeling the financial pinch of rising ticket prices found a way to relate to a guy who previously seemed more like a school principal than anything.
  • Opening national broadcast to all:  National games showcase the best in the sport, meaning that millions of fans never get to see their teams play under the lights.  Guaranteeing all teams get the national spotlight is a great gift to fans.
  • Proposing a mercy killing of the Pro Bowl: It’s risky to fly in the face of more than 70 years of tradition, but his candid admission that the game is a failure rings true with fans, who can now dream of all the fun alternatives that could be developed.

Last offseason, the season was on the brink and there was no one more certain to shoulder the blame than Goodell.  But this offseason, he’s laughing all the way to the bank with a five-year extension that keeps him in office until 2019.  If he needs something to do with his break, maybe he could go work in the communications office of the NBA.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Young America Unimpressed by State of the Union

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Brad Chase

The flagging economy has forced 77 percent of young Americans to delay major life decisions.  They’ve been forced to bury their heads in the sand and delay marriage, having kids, and even moving out of their parents’ houses.  Groundhog Day isn’t until next week, but the President’s State of the Union address was an opportunity for the 45 million members of Generation Y to come out of their shelters and see what the future looks like.  It’s one of the highest-rated TV programs of the year and a rare opportunity to reach young Americans who generally tune out politicians.  Unfortunately, Generation Y only saw shadows and a long winter ahead.

The President’s speech focused on the widening wealth gap in America, a critical topic for young Americans suffering through unemployment, underemployment, low wages and staggering student debt.  As expected, Obama touched upon several points critical to Generation Y, including higher education and job creation.  But rather than deliver anything substantive, he offered only a few minor concessions – as well as a few curious promises heavier on rhetoric than practicality.

A breakdown of the sections of the speech relevant to young America:

  • More job training. The President is famous for his reliance on the teleprompter, which might be the reason he seemed to miss the irony in calling for job training for young Americans while also pointing out the fact that Americans owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt.  The average American college graduate left school in 2010 with more than $25,000 in debt.  As bills pile up, the last thing they want is more training and education.  It would be interesting to see how pushing job training for young workers goes over in a room of recent graduates.
  • Pressure on states to focus on education.  Calling on states to “do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets” is one of the most fantastical statements of the night.  Twenty-nine states projected budget shortfalls for fiscal year 2013 of $44 billion.  California alone faces a deficit as high as $13 billion.  Until MIT or Caltech finds a way to engineer a money tree, there’s no place in state budgets for more spending on higher education.
  • Tuition tax credits and interest rate stabilization.  Extending the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which offers $2,500 a year to students pursuing a college degree, is a no-brainer.  So is keeping the interest rate on subsidized student loans from a scheduled July increase.
  • Putting colleges “on notice” on rising costs. Threatening to pull funding from colleges that can’t reign in skyrocketing tuition prices is smart.  But the President said nothing about the metrics or mechanisms for making it happen.  There isn’t much space to get technical in a speech like this, but enforcement on this is easier said than done.
  • More work-study jobs. This isn’t a bad idea in principle given that students are hungry for jobs.  But work-study jobs generally pay little more than the federal minimum wage.  Students won’t turn them down, but doubling the number of work-study jobs amounts to little more than a token gesture.  With a price tag of $1 billion, it’s a low-cost investment but might be better spent elsewhere.
  • Protection for young illegal immigrants. A controversial low point of the evening came when the President declared that it “doesn’t make sense” to deport illegal immigrants after they’ve gotten a college degree here.  But a little more than half of Americans between 16 and 29 have jobs.  Not everyone will agree on such a politically charged issue, but shielding young illegal immigrants so they can compete for jobs adds insult to injury for many young Americans fighting to survive a tight job market.

In a speech about wealth disparity, the President’s blindness to the plight of young Americans is shocking.  Households headed by Americans aged 65 and older increased in wealth by 42 percent from 1984 to 2009.  Meanwhile, households headed by Americans under 35 decreased in wealth by 68 percent compared to 25 years earlier.  It was a huge tactical mistake to ignore the audience most attuned to the President’s key message.

Obama’s willful ignorance of an important demographic brings up memories of his predecessor.  In 2005, Kanye West – the self-proclaimed “voice of this generation” – famously declared on live TV that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” The statement was criticized, West later expressed regret, and Generation Y snickered at his egomania.  But the quote is memorable to millions of young Americans.  After watching last night’s display, many in Generation Y may think the time is right for someone to stand up and say that “Barack Obama doesn’t care about young people.”

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Eight Things President Obama Is Too Scared to Say Tonight

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Brad Chase

With Labor Day, the school year starting, and the Republican Presidential debate all over the news this week, it might be easy to overlook the most significant event of the week.  It’s not the kickoff of the NFL season or even the somber events of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  President Obama’s jobs speech tonight before a joint session of Congress is overdue, and he faces an uphill battle in winning over a public that’s increasingly moving from skeptical to cynical.  The President must inspire the 9.1% of Americans currently unemployed and give hope to American entrepreneurs and business leaders that he has the right plan of action to turn around a struggling economy.  There are no easy answers and Americans are frustrated.

For the sake of the country and his own political future, the time has come for President Obama to step up and sacrifice a few sacred cows regardless of the consequences within his party.

The $800 billion stimulus package didn’t work.  Some people argue that it wasn’t enough, while others say government spending is the problem and the $800 billion made the situation worse.  As for extending jobless benefits, that’s not a solution, just a band-aid.  Solutions require more than shifting money around, they require sacrifice – even collateral damage – from some of the things that matter most to the party faithful.  In no particular order, here are eight ideas he should start from:

1 – Approve the Keystone XL pipeline: Daryl Hannah is free to exercise her right to free speech and get arrested in protest, but there are 100,000 Americans who will never make in a year what she makes for a single movie.  That’s a lot of jobs at risk and it’s a no-brainer even if the economic outlook for the country weren’t so bleak.  Posturing for the sake of environmentalists isn’t going to win any extra votes next year and it’s only delaying a critical economy-boosting engine.

2 – Stop ignoring the science of Clean Coal Technology: Fossil fuels may not be the long-term solution to the nation’s energy needs, but without truly viable alternatives, efforts to create clean coal technology have yielded results that can’t be ignored.  A study by researchers from Yale suggests the EPA’s crushing restrictions on the industry will only translate in a 20 percent switch from coal to gas.  That’s not a win for the environment, and a huge blow to the Americans who proudly work in one of the nation’s oldest industries.  The President put the brakes on a major EPA initiative last week and he should do it again with this one.

3 – Support shale gas fracking: The uproar over fracking is another example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  A federal investigatory panel – created by the President himself – found that fracking can be safely performed in an environmentally-responsible manner.  What’s not responsible is letting fear mongering and hysteria ignore the science.  Doing nothing to reduce reliance on foreign powers for energy and simultaneously restricting U.S. job creation is wrong.

4 – Stop insurance companies from dumping dialysis patients onto Medicare: Dialysis is the only medical condition that is provided under Medicare to Americans regardless of age.  After a 30 month “coordination period,” patients and their families with private insurance are all dumped onto Medicare rolls.  Many of these patients are productive middle-aged employees with private insurance who don’t want to switch to the federal program – but have no choice.  The President and Congress can change this – and it’ll ease pressure on Medicare, reduce bureaucracy and create jobs.

5 – Regulate medical marijuana: It’s effectively legal in more than a dozen states and it’s the largest cash crop in the U.S.  The tax revenue would create a windfall, the burden on law enforcement and prisons would be lessened, and most importantly, small businesses will flourish.  It’ll take time to hammer out the right policy, but the number of new businesses and new jobs that would be created in the short and long-term by legalization could be immense.

6 – Fund public transportation: The President’s national transportation plan is admirable, but it’s useless.  It’s embarrassing that states are rejecting billions in federal funds.  Many recent studies demonstrate what types of transportation projects are best for creating jobs, but the plan doesn’t take into account the fact that 50 different states have 50 different priorities.  If the President wants to make an impact, he needs to find an example to create as a template for the rest of the nation.  By scaling back on ambition and focusing on one or two public transportation-hungry states – like California for example – results will be quicker.  Transportation construction still has the same power to create jobs as it did during the Great Depression but it’s not just a jobs initiatives, it’s about traffic and saving energy costs.

7 – Invest in nurses: When 1 in 11 Americans are unemployed, why is it that there is a nationwide nursing shortage that could reach as high as 500,000 by 2025?  There are plenty of reasons for the shortage, but few acceptable ones.  The President should create a coalition of for-profit educational and healthcare institutions to rapidly create a pipeline for feeding hospitals with qualified nurses.  Tax breaks and other incentives may be derided as gifts by some but hundreds of thousands of open jobs need to be filled.  Putting more people to work can provide the spark to improve patient outcomes and reduce errors.

8 - End the tech talent shortage: Just as there’s a shortage in nursing, there’s a huge demand for geeks in Silicon Valley, the Research Triangle and other tech hotspots around the nation.  Computer science majors are in high demand and get impressive salaries out of college but there still aren’t enough of them to meet the demand.  Rather than waste time trying to get students interested, efforts need to be focused on retraining the job force for the tech industry.

A little over a year from the next election, both parties have become paralyzed by the need to appease their disparate factions.  The gridlock has led to the President’s and Congress’ approval ratings to slip to historic lows.  The President’s indecision, lack of leadership and desire to please everyone has disappointed many within his own party.  Soon those “Hope” bumper stickers and t-shirts may be more like ironic kitsch than historic mottos of action.

America has long been the world’s leader in supporting ingenuity and entrepreneurship.  Silicon Valley and Hollywood have been successful in growing multi-billion dollar industries from nothing.  The best way to spur job creation is to let Americans create and think and take risks.  President Obama can lead the way by taking a risk of his own.  There isn’t much further he can fall, so he better do something now while it can still make a difference.

 

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Where Were Disney’s Communications People?

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Brad Chase

Trademarks make for a funny subject, particularly since pretty much anyone can apply for one for pretty much anything.

It wasn’t so funny though when Disney applied recently for a trademark for “Seal Team 6″ – the highly-trained US military team that dispatched Osama bin Laden.  Any individual or organization could have filed the paperwork, and it was only a matter of time before someone did make a seemingly no-brainer decision to apply for a trademark that is certain to be worth millions.

But business decisions always have implications on an organization’s reputation, and sometimes the net effect of a good business decision can be negative if the risk to reputation is higher in the end than the initial “bump” in financial outlook.

By being the first to jump, Disney looks like the villain.  They may have good explanations and maybe the media has been trumpeting the horns prematurely.  But anyone with half an ounce of communications savvy would have advised Disney to better address the decision to file for the trademark.

Instead of controlling the message and announcing their intentions for the trademark if approved, news reports have filtered out, the facts have gotten skewed, and Disney is being vilified for capitalizing on the US military, a historical event, a man’s death and lots of other things that make this decision seem to out there.  The news was going to get out – reporters don’t miss big filings with the patent office – but Disney missed the boat.

Disney is a great organization for the most part, that’s why this is so surprising.  They should have made the announcement themselves, announced their plans to honorably own the trademark if approved, assuages concerns about profiteering, and made a nice gesture to the armed forces.  As is so often the case in large organizations (even ones like Disney that have solid pros across the board), the communications team was probably left out of the loop on this one.

Unfortunately, too many people will start sharpening their pitchforks and making Disney out to be pure evil without hearing anything more.  Fortunately, this flap won’t damage the bottom line, but the Mouse House is going to be a butt of jokes for a long time after this communications misstep.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Trump and Seinfeld: A Match Made in Political/Entertainment History

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Brad Chase

The news that Donald Trump and Jerry Seinfeld are feuding is certainly disappointing for the St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital, but the rift could have more important consequences – including ruining the American public’s ability to have any fun during the 2012 Presidential election.

As most Americans know by now, Trump is running for President.  But they probably don’t know that Seinfeld is the only man who can run the campaign.

Seinfeld is the master of “the show about nothing.”  Trump is running a campaign about nothing.  But the similarities don’t end there.  Just as it was virtually impossible for TV critics to parse the plot of an episode of Seinfeld, political pundits are still puzzling over how to describe Trump’s political philosophy.  The comedian and real estate mogul are two of the most successful, well-recognized billionaire celebrities in New York.  And they also have low-rated TV shows that wouldn’t survive five minutes on a network other than NBC.  It’s a match made in political/entertainment heaven.

Jerry has the brilliant mind.  The Donald has the hair.  Somehow, Trump’s bizarre public persona is the perfect amalgamation of the four original cast members of the show.  He has the follicular flair of Kramer, the self-involved egotism of Jerry, the tactless neuroticism of George and the awkward aggression of Elaine.  While he hasn’t eaten an éclair out of a garbage can or marketed the “manzier” (yet), his unique personal habits and business ventures aren’t too far removed from the Seinfeldian universe.

Selecting Seinfeld as campaign manager would be an inspired choice for the Trump for President campaign, which has been on life support the last few weeks.  He adds the vitality and wit needed to bring Trump back to relevancy – or at least as much relevancy as a guy with no political experience and obscenely bad hair can have.

Why should we care if these two rich white men patch up their differences?  Because the American public demands its political parties parade out a class clown or village idiot to perform in political theater.  Whether it’s just so we can feel better about our actual choice or just to keep things interesting, we need a lovable goof to win one of the major party nominations.  There’s no denying the interest Sarah Palin brought to the 2008 election, and for better or worse, that type of populist energy is needed in 2012.  Trump is America’s only hope right now.

With election season heating up, who else is out there besides Trump?

Michele Bachmann?  She’s Palin Lite.  Mitt Romney?  The Book of Mormon on Broadway has more laughs.  Newt Gingrich?  Just as boring as he was in 1994.

Trump and Seinfeld are masters at manipulating the news and entertainment media to their advantage, so let’s hope that they’re only posturing for headlines and not in serious conflict mode.  The fate of the free world may depend on it.

Posted in Hollywood and Entertainment, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ranking Communications Response Time to Epsilon Security Breach

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Brad Chase

In a crisis, it’s critical for an organization to be both complete AND quick in their public response.  In the case of the massive Epsilon data breach – which has been a national news story – there are dozens of blue-chip companies that have inadvertently put their customers at-risk of spammers and scammers.  Even though truly critical information like credit card numbers or bank accounts weren’t lost, it’s a scary thing for consumers to hear their data has been breached.

By and large, the threats are overstated and it’s unfortunate these companies are forced to defend themselves, but that’s the nature of the beast.

No company looks forward to sending an alert like this to customers, but it’s essential and every one on the list of affected organizations has made sure to do it – in part because they’re required to do so.  Nonetheless, my own inbox flooded with warnings from six major brands, all saying pretty much the same thing because they’ve had holding statements in the can to prepare for rapid response.

What I found interesting was the timing.  Here’s a breakdown of when I received emails (all times PST):

4/1, 2:15pm – Kroger (Ralphs)

4/3, 9:38pm – Best Buy

4/4, 6:03am – Chase

4/4, 1:52pm – Citi

4/4, 4:08pm – Hilton

4/4, 5:45pm – Target

This isn’t meant to be critical of any of these companies – all had rapid responses that should be considered adequate.  There’s no slow poke in the bunch and the clustering of times is good evidence that most companies have similar processes in place to handle such issues.  Kudos though to Kroger for leading the pack.

N.B. I’ve had the pleasure of providing communications counsel on issues/crisis for two of these companies.

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Chrysler’s Social Media Overreaction

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Brad Chase

It’s said that you should never make an important decision when you’re angry.  Or drunk.

Considering Chrysler’s decision to dump their social media agency – the unimaginatively named New Media Strategies – it wouldn’t be surprising if the former or latter were true.  The situation for those of you not familiar, an employee of NMS accidentally sent out an offensive tweet from the Chrysler Twitter account while mistakenly thinking he was still logged into his own account.  It’s a rookie mistake but one that can happen and not one that’s worth firing the agency over.

While a story on the Forbes blog suggests this was just the last straw in a contentious relationship that had gone downhill after NMS’ mishandling of the account, the timing of the decision to fire the agency right now is a no-win scenario for Chrysler.  Already the company has been forced to fire off a blog post, tweet and numerous phone calls to reporters to explain the backstory behind the decision.  They didn’t just say “oops,” they blubbered on and on, and didn’t know when to call it quits in their own defense.

The problem is that the details are irrelevant.  Less is more with this kind of a story and the best response is to simply apologize, say that the statement was clearly not representative of the company, then reprimand the agency, reduce their funding and quietly let them go once the story died down.  The story would have lost all interest with media inside of a few news cycles, and while letting the agency go next month might or might not raise some interest from reporters, there’s no way it would get the negative coverage Chrysler is taking right now.

Even with new blood at the helm, the company is still making decisions reflexively like one of the 20th century relics is used to produce.  Prospective car buyers and Detroit residents won’t care less about the story – they’re not so stupid as to hold an honest mistake against the company.  But the media is spinning its wheels because Chrysler stupidly gave the story legs, and investors have got to take notice of the bungling.  Rather than be smart, let the wave pass over them and move on, the company and its communications team backed their way into a guaranteed spot on the year-end list of biggest communications snafus.  Kudos to Chrysler for turning an ant hill into a mountain and then crashing an overpriced, gas-guzzling SUV headfirst into it.

Posted in Social Media, The Media | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

PJ Crowley’s Firing Shows White House Concern Over Inconsistent Messages

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Richard Grenell

It’s ironic that PJ Crowley went to MIT to talk about the power of new media on foreign policy issues only to find that a blog posting of his remarks ended his career as America’s top foreign policy spokesman.  It’s also ironic that although Crowley’s comments were immediately reported via twitter, Facebook and several foreign policy blogs, his boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didn’t immediately mind.  It was only when the new White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley learned about Crowley’s comments that the trouble began.

State Department insiders say Crowley’s MIT comments and his tweets comparing the “Middle East tsunami” over the last several weeks with Japan’s earthquake and tsunami were emailed around Foggy Bottom and the subject of many water-cooler conversations.  “Nobody thought he would be fired over this,” one State Department official told me.  But when ABC News’ Jake Tapper asked President Obama about Crowley’s comments during the President’s press availability on Friday, Obama said, “(I) asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards…(they) assure me that they are. I can’t go into details about some of their concerns, but some of this has to do with Private Manning’s safety as well.”  President Obama was being asked about inconsistent messages coming from his team and Daley was not happy about it.   Daley was upset that while the Pentagon was saying that Manning was being treated fairly in response to claims from the liberal left, State’s chief spokesman was questioning DoD’s truthfulness.

The conflicting and ambiguous messaging from the White House and its’ agency heads has up until now been part of the Obama Administration’s playbook.  The President has time after time used contradictory statements to at once please his democratic base and the far-left progressives that are growing increasingly disenchanted with Obama’s rhetoric.  Just last week, Hollywood actor Matt Damon spoke out about his frustration with Obama’s hope and change message saying, “I’m disappointed in the health care plan and in the troop build-up in Afghanistan.”  And Damon is certainly not alone in his irritation with the President’s action-deficit.  The left is filled with frustration for the President because he has turned out to be nothing like they hoped.  Barbara Streisand, Jane Lynch, Jon Stewart and MoveOn.org are all let down.  Obama has consistently been inconsistent on healthcare reform, taxes, the budget and most recently on the military’s Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell policy, the Egyptian President’s future, support for the opposition in Libya, a Libyan no fly zone, off-shore oil drilling, Israel, jobs, the UN and even on being President of the United States (see “it would be easier to be President of China”).

But now comes new White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley who is in-charge of making progress.  And getting anything done in Washington means getting comfortable with disappointing someone.  Daley wants to stop the Obama Administrations’ conflicting messages, empty rhetoric and personal opinion giving from staff members.  Crowley, a career foreign service officer who served President Bill Clinton at the NSC, has been allowed to give his own opinions without repercussions from his boss, Secretary Hillary Clinton, since he started as State Department spokesman at the beginning of the Obama Administration.  He was shocked to learn that there were new rules this week.  Crowley serves as an example of the new kind of White House we are getting with Daley in charge.

At the same MIT discussion where Crowley’s “stupid” comment got him fired, he also said, “But the most important thing I do every day is read the New York Times – it’s the national paper of record.”  It’s no wonder Crowley thinks punishing the Wikileaker was “stupid”.  The most important part of his day has been spent reading New York Times stories on leaked cables and where Julian Assange is considered a hero.  But thanks to Bill Daley, Crowley will now have lots of important things to do.

 

Posted in Politics, Social Media, The Media | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Social Media is Not a Panacea

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Brad Chase

Attention corporate executives and communications/marketing professionals!

Social media is not a panacea to all your company’s or client’s communications problems. I repeat, if you employ social media programs, do not expect all the cool kids to come running, embrace your brand and evangelize about you and your products to anyone that will listen. Infusing social media ideas into your communications and marketings plans also cannot help you find your one true love, cannot cure cancer and cannot even help you save a bundle on your car insurance.

Just because social media is out there for the taking (and it’s generally cheap to implement), it doesn’t mean you need to take it. While it’s easy to watch new movies or brands like Nike and Burger King gain incredible traction with Twitter or Facebook, lightning in a bottle is just that – something that can’t easily be replicated for any old campaign, program or event. Too often, we companies ask what can be done with blogs and Twitter and Facebook and a million other trendy names, because they read about in the news. But just as we counsel clients on when and how to send a press release or announcement, it is imperative to help them understand when – if at all — it’s right to go with social media programs.

When an organization is overzealous, ignores common sense and refuses to take a step back in order to take a real, hard look at the online landscape, the results are never good. Putting a Facebook page up just for the sake of it is asinine and dangerous. A boring page about a boring product or company is worse than nothing at all; the only result is scorn, vitriol, laughter and maybe even worse — zero return or a loss on a tangible monetary investment.

The problem: social media is really nothing more than a new venue to share news and communicate with key audiences. This isn’t to say companies and organizations should avoid social media entirely. To the contrary, there’s little doubt that social media will continue to integrate more and more into our daily consciousness. But it needs to be understood that the shotgun approach to social media – blasting everything in your arsenal against the wall and seeing what sticks – is simply not going to bear any fruits.

So the next time you’re in a meeting, brainstorm or casual conversation and someone starts bringing up all these brilliant ideas about how to use Twitter and Facebook, take a step back and ask if you have something new, unique and valuable to offer. After all, you wouldn’t embarrass yourself, your company, or your client with a press release announcing you just scratched your butt. Because social media can offer new frontiers, it doesn’t mean your butt scratching story is any fresher than it was around the water cooler just because now you distribute it via brand-new Web 2.0 tools.

There’s great promise in social media and countless real success stories, but we need to embrace social media for what it is…and what it isn’t.

Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The CMP Briefing Room “Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down” – Charlie Sheen Edition

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Brad Chase

We’re going to start a new regular feature here called “Thumps or Thumbs Down” and it’s going to liberally borrow from the segments by your favorite TV pundits and commentators in which they give a 30-60 second statement with little to no support for their claim.  Well, we’ll try to give a little more background for our reasoning, but you get the idea.  We’ll look at critical issues in the media, politics, society, entertainment and the world and then cut to the chase.

Before we start, you should know we’re not going to make any moral judgments (ok, we’ll be a little moralistic) but rather will focus on whether the communications efforts of an organization/person/campaign/cause/government will help them reach their objective, or if they’ve just dug themselves a Mel Gibson-sized hole.  There is sure to be some disagreement about the verdict, but to really get this exercise, there’s only one thing that matters:  the objective.  So pay close attention to that part because at the end of the day, achieving that goal is the only thing that really matters.  And so now on to our first vivisection discussion:

Subject: Charlie Sheen

Objective: Shift control of his career from Hollywood executives to himself

Verdict: Thumbs Up

Rationale: His behavior certainly does raise some questions about his state of mind, but can you really blame him for choosing to do things his way?  The definition of the verb “to win” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “to get possession of by effort or fortune.”  You say:  1) he walked away from a big payday; 2) has ruined his reputation, and 3) is making a fool of himself.  He says:  1) he values his freedom and independence over the payday and has better options to work less and earn more; 2) his newfound reputation hasn’t derailed his popularity in the public eye or executives looking to work with him; and 3) we were all taught at a young age that you shouldn’t care what others think of you as long as you do what you think is the right thing.

Caveat: There are more than a few bodies left by the side of the road on this one.  Not Chuck Lorre or CBS, but the cast and crew who’s jobs are in limbo.  If Sheen takes the high road and pays out a sizeable chunk of change (to us, not to him) to help out the staff like Conan did, he’ll be able to walk away guiltfree.

Parting Thought: I have Tiger Blood but have too afraid to express that to the world until now.

Posted in Hollywood and Entertainment, The Media | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment