Thu, 12 Sep 2002 12:34:34 GMT

Why are they Dell-aying the job search?
One of the more intriguing corporate PR stories of the week has been reported in O’Dwyer’s PR Daily.

In an official statement from Dell, Tom Green, senior vice president of law and administration states that Dell have ceased their search for a global head of marketing and communications and that their existing VP, Elizabeth Allen is actually OK after all.

I hope Ms. Allen is taking full advantage of this situation with her senior management team. On one hand it is obviously very pleasing for her that they at last recognize her abilities, but it must be truly annoying that they initiated this in the first place.

Green’s statement reads: “At Dell, we periodically explore the outside market for strong senior talent that could potentially strengthen and enhance our internal capabilities. We recently initiated this process for a global marketing and communications leader. After completing an exhaustive review, we are convinced that our Vice President of Corporate Communications, Elizabeth Allen, provides Dell with the most effective and strategic communications leadership for the company. We know that to achieve our ambitious goals for the future, we need the experience, customer-focused leadership and passion that Elizabeth has brought to our senior team. Therefore, we have ended our external search.”

Well done Elizabeth Allen, now drive home your advantage!

Wed, 11 Sep 2002 11:59:25 GMT

“No legacy is so rich as honesty”
Mr. Shakespeare was never as accurate when it came to Public Relations. In a world that throws up an increasing number of anomalies, a world where the Internet has created a new democracy, where information (both true and false) flows faster and easier, with less control, than ever before, never has Public Relations had a more important role.

I’m not talking about spinning, lying or any of the other dark arts of our profession. Rather I am talking about the sensible, adult management of communications, good counsel to those who face difficulty from actual or percieved missteps.

O’Dwyer PR has an excellent piece by Fraser Seitel (you have to love his understated e-mail address: fraser@publicrelationsguru.com 🙂 on the benefits of being up front and honest about an issue. It’s a good read.

What worries me is that people still believe keeping their head down – or worse lying – will solve their problems.

When you dust off your old copy of PR 101, you’ll find it has always told us that you have to get the bad news out. (Unless there is some very good reason why you shouldn’t). As Phil Gomes points out, PR isn’t rocket science. Be honest, be accessible and show you regret the mistake(s) and that you are striving to fix the problem.

Keeping your mouth shut normally encourages a trivial problem to escalate out of control. Seitel’s piece does a good job of illustrating best and worst practice.

Jack Welch’s legacy is shrinking with every column inch – a good benchmark for silence – and an illustration that money isn’t the only measure of wealth.

Some more reading…
Yesterday, I received Ketchum’s Technology Practice’s newsletter, TechEdgenews into my inbox. It’s well put together and there’s some interesting stuff in there.

Tue, 10 Sep 2002 15:21:48 GMT

Catching up on some reading material…..
Instant Messaging (IM) has taken over as the technology de jour this week and there seems little doubt that IM has implications for anyone in the communications business. It’s permission marketing at it’s best.

There are two articles I came across, one from the Wall Street Journal (published on MSNBC) entitled “IM takes off in the corporate world” and there’s also a piece from the Internet Advertising Report at Internet.com on Using Instant Messaging for Marketing.

Network World covers a round-table from the Seybold Publishing Conference that looked at the impact of Weblogs on the publishing industry.

Fri, 06 Sep 2002 10:25:42 GMT

A new twist on the wire….
There have been a number of high profile cases where press release wire services have been used by third parties to distribute false information which has materially affected a company’s stock price.

Now a new case has emerged and this time there’s a twist.

In the previous cases the releases, which were sent across Internet Wire, were hoaxes designed to engineer stock price fluctuations. However this time, the company in question, eConnect, allegedly sent out false press releases themselves!

According to PR Week, eConnect’s CEO, Thomas Hughes, was indicted last month for attempting to increase eConnect’s stock price by issuing false releases.

David Armon, president of the Americas for PR Newswire, who Hughes used for distribution, is quoted as commenting: “Just as we sent out releases for Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, this one went out because our job is to verify the company issuing the release is really the company issuing it. We are just a distributor.”

I think that’s a fair comment, but if it’s true it’s another blot on the corporate landscape.