Murphy's Law

When I try and explain to the uninitiated how PR in different industries can often be a different profession with different requirements, people don’t understand.  But I have found a great illustration of the differences.

Working in the murky depths of business-to-business PR in the Technology industry, I will probably never have to deal with my CEO getting upset about the size of his head! I don’t want to tempt fate, but I doubt it will be an issue.

Spare a thought for Steven Huvane, Jennifer Aniston’s publicist who according to Media Life is fighting the good fight with Redbook magazine.  The magazine has printed Aniston on it’s cover and Huvane claims that the photo has been doctored and Aniston is questioning whether the body parts in question are her’s at all.

The magazine admits to changing the color of her shirt and lengthening her hair, but that’s all.

You know feature tracking isn’t that bad after all.

Flush from the furore around Microsoft’s iLoo problems, another technology company is having real reputation problems.  But in this case these problems could be terminal.

SCO (the company formerly known as Caldera) has recently been doing it’s very best to alienate itself from every software vendor bar Microsoft.

First off, the company initiated a lawsuit against IBM. Now they are threatening to sue anyone selling, developing or using Linux, the popular open-source operating system. 

Whatever the merits of SCO’s case, and many observers think it’s dubious to say the least, one thing is clear.  SCO’s unilateral action against the industry is seriously damaging their reputation.

Based on how SCO is handling this issue, it would appear that are listening to  their legal team’s advice and not taking the counsel of their Public Relations folks.

Even if SCO were to win these cases, do they think it will help their future customer acquisition plans?

The software industry has a problem with any corporation that is perceived to be acting in a heavy handed manner, and SCO, by threatening the world at large is being as heavy handed as possible.

Regardless of the merits of their case, from a PR perspective they are harming no one but themselves.

I’ll leave the last words to Dan Gillmor…. “It’s amazing to watch the speed with which SCO is turning itself into the most hated company in the technology business. The company’s claims that its “proprietary” property has been stolen are, on their face, questionable. But the way SCO is now threatening all Linux users goes far beyond any reasonable approach to the supposed problem.”

RELATED LINKS: Computerworld | Information Week | The Register | Linux Journal

According to The Motley Fool, the iLoo mishap is “one of the biggest and funniest corporate public relations nightmares ever.”

Read it here.

In the dark era that was known as the Internet boom in the late 1990’s, Internet entrepreneurs sold us a vision that never again would we have to leave our bedrooms.  Instead, we’d wake, jump out of bed (remember it’s a vision, you don’t crawl grumpily from slumber in a vision..) turn on our PC, log on, do some work, order our shopping, connect with friends and pay some bills, all without having a shower.

Trillions of wasted dollars later we know this is rubbish.  The vision was predicated on the premise that the Internet would destroy what went before.  But just as Radio didn’t kill print, and TV didn’t kill Radio, the Internet supplements our existing media – it doesn’t supplant it.

In the same way, I fundamentally disagree that blogs or weblogs will replace traditional journalism.  It will supplement it for sure, but it will not replace it. Full stop.

Although blogs are growing in popularity they still only reach a tiny proportion of the population.  While they provide useful information and opinions, they are personal opinions with none of the ethics or objectivity that is inherent in journalism. I am a weblog fan, but we need perspective on this issue.

Dave Winer is a weblogging pioneer.  His Scripting News weblog is extremely powerful in the weblog (and Search Engine) world.  But his belief that weblogs are removing the need for journalists and specifically technology journalists is in my humble opinion misplaced.

This blog is created using the wonderful Radio software Dave created.  I read his blog every day.  But his blog itself, although very enjoyable and informative, is a great example of the inherent weakness of weblogs as a mainstream media.

He feels passionately about certain subjects and this agenda dictates much of the content of his weblog. 

The vast volumes of information flowing around the Internet mean that people continue to need trusted sources to sift through what’s going on and providing some independent, objective views on events. That’s why we have journalists.

Weblogs are a fantastic media for opinions and there is no doubt that they will continue to become an increasingly important audience for PR professionals in every field. But it’s not supplanting journalism, it’s supplementing it.

You can read Dave’s back-and-forth debate on this topic with Jon Bonne of MSNBC here.

“Frankly, I�ve tired of techno-evangelical proclamations that one or another technology is so revolutionary it will destroy the old models. ” – Jon Bonne

Agreed.

One of the key elements of successful PR is the creation of systems which quickly and effectively let you communicate with your key audiences. But what happens when the wrong information accidentially infiltrates the system?

Microsoft have in my opinion, humble or otherwise, one of the most effective PR machines on the planet.  The company’s success has been built on a passionate belief in the power of Public Relations.  As a result they have put in place a PR system which ensures they communicate successfully with all their audiences.  Just look at the widespread coverage of every single Microsoft announcement. 

But the recent iLoo incident illustrates the problems that arise when the wrong information manages to slip into the machine.

Although certainly not commercially damaging the iLoo incident is embarrassing and is a timely reminder to all PR professionals that we need to carefully manage what is within our control.  The situation isn’t made any easier by the fact that the Internet is rapidly removing any element of control we might have over information.

In case you missed this whole iLoo saga here is a quick summary.  A couple of weeks back, Microsoft’s MSN team in the United Kingdom announced the iLoo, an Internet enabled portable toilet.  The announcement, which took advantage of Microsoft’s PR muscle, was widely covered around the globe – to the surprise of Microsoft staffers in Redmond, Washington.  They quickly briefed the media that the iLoo was in fact a hoax – again through the PR machine.  And this rebuttal was widely covered.  Finally, Microsoft recanted the hoax line and stated that while the iLoo had been a planned project it was now being canned.

All these various versions were covered by the world’s leading new organizations. It was confusing and a little embarrasing (maybe). And it all occurred because internal communication systems broke down.

I did some work with Microsoft in the dim and distant past and I can testify that they have terrific internal PR systems.  If their systems broke down, it could happen to anyone.

The Online Journalism Review has a strong-worded analysis of the episode and believes that this comes down to an issue of trust.

More information, less control and the Internet are presenting new issues for our profession every day. No one is immune. 

RELATED LINKS: San Jose Mercury News | San Francisco Chronicle | The Register 1 | The Register 2 |  Mac Daily News |  CNET |

An interesting story in the Jeffersonian about how a group of twenty small PR firms are taking to the web to pool resources and enhance business development using their combined online presence.

Their portal website called the Independent Public Relations Collaborative is here.

There’s a lot of new content online about how blogs can assist organizations in communicating online. 

Allan Karl, founder of Wirestone believes that weblogs might succeed where corporate websites have failed, namely in communicating in a voice that is clear and representative of the organization. [Thanks to Adrants for the link]

Rich Karpinski’s piece in BtoB magazine echoes these sentiments in a story on Weblogs and E-mail, again reinforcing the benefit of a human voice.

And sharing in the view that weblogs promote the ideals of the Cluetrain Manifesto, Opt-in News has an article from Todd Brehe on how blogs can work with corporate newsletters.

The message that blogs serve a useful purpose in connecting with your audience is gathering momentum.  Now might be a good time to see how they might assist your organization. 

I came across an interesting press release on a (non-scientific) survey of 120 Financial journalists that investigated how they are using the Internet. (92% visit web sites, only 37% visit press rooms).

I thought they might have more information on their web site, so I went up to Thompson Becker International [FLASH Warning]. Not only is there no more information on the survey, not only are they using a horrendous Flash intro – and Flash for navigation, but there is no mention of the survey on their web site…. This is not good communications practice. If you’re putting out a press release make sure you have it on your web site with any additional information. This is not advanced PR advice here.

I am delighted to add Thompson Becker to the growing Flash Hall of Shame.  Today, I am also adding Cordiant, Incepta and In Context. 

Just in case you thought things were getting back to normal, recent results from some of the major advertising-PR conglomerates make for difficult reading. 

Of course these results could be indicative of a fundamental flaw in the belief that bigger is better – particularly in the PR agency business – but all the same it’s a lot of practitioners who have lost their jobs.We’re not out of the woods yet.

Interpublic have made over 1,400 people redundant and today Larry Weber has stepped down not to mention their recent loss for Q1.

Incepta [FLASH Warning] has made a loss of �30 million.

Cordiant [FLASH Warning] has troubles of it’s own with debts of �250 million.  As reported yesterday, it looks certain that Financial Dynamics will buy it’s way out of the group and the UK Guardian has an interesting timeline on Cordiant’s downward spiral.

FYI…Meanwhile here’s an interesting piece from last year in the UK’s Daily Telegraph on the PR industry’s difficulties. 

The Hill, a newspaper for US congress is running an interesting PR supplement. Articles cover topics like media relations, Activism and the Washington DC PR test.

Hong Kong has hired a US-based PR firm to address the negative effects of SARS. PR Week has a feature on the impact of SARS.

Financial Dynamics’ MBO from it’s parent Cordiant (FLASH warning) is imminent. More at PR Week and the FT.