Community Coffee to the media: Fill this out and wait!

As co-founder and publisher of BoomerCafé – the online magazine for baby boomers – I was checking Community Coffee‘s website the other day for a contact, and what I found instead was a corporate online fortress — “To access this area, you must enter the password for media professionalsin the field below.” Yes, it said, “professionalsin.”

I thought, okay … I’ll explore where this takes me … and found a form that asked for all kinds of information that’s really none of their business if they legitimately want to respond to media inquiries.

Before Community Coffee would give me any access to their online “press” (sic) center, I had to provide information, including name, phone, email, “publication, station or company” (online news sites and blogs were not included), city, state, zip, circulation or estimated audience and a bio.

You cannot find out anything about the company or download an image without registering and waiting. Like a medieval walled city.

I dutifully completed Community Coffee’s form … and waited … and waited … and waited. I am still waiting. No response from the company. What if I were a reporter on deadline? I’d be out of luck.

Community Coffee’s site didn’t even generate an automatic acknowledgement … like, “Thanks, you’ll hear from us.” Nothing.

Ford's media form: Don't waste your time.

Now, don’t get me wrong … I really like Community Coffee and prefer it to the burned taste of Starbucks. In fact, I’m hoping to see “CC” coffee houses coast-to-coast. But, to intentionally encase a company in such a protective wall in today’s open and transparent online environment seems naive and provincial. It doesn’t help the company’s image.

Makes me wonder how many media opportunities Community Coffee loses because journalists are put-off by such an insular website.

Community Coffee is not alone. There are a handful of other companies that foolishly attempt to overly control or rebuff media contact, sometimes at the expense of their brand image.

I am reminded of a blogger who was disrespected by a corporate communications guy at Target Stores who haughtily informed that blogger that the company did not consider bloggers part of the media and, consequently, would not bother to respond. That made national media, although not too kind to Target.

Ford Motor Company continues to have one of the most insular online newsrooms, form and all. But, of course, none is worst than Dell Computer where many media inquiries are just dismissed by the company’s army of PR people, reflecting poor leadership in the digital era.

Here’s a headline for the PR people at Ford, Dell and Community Coffee: You cannot control today’s news media which is 24/7 and every minute in between. Every second of every day, including weekends, is the news cycle. Times have changed. Roll up your sleeves and get to work!

The best way to manage the reputation, image and brand of your company or organization in today’s media environment is to be expeditiously responsive, 24/7. Don’t attempt to parse who you might think is or is not the media, especially because if you make a mistake, your mistake may hurt the reputation of your company and ruin your day.

The last chapter from “Making News in the Digital Era” by David E. Henderson.

When actor Rainn Wilson wanted to find a way to introduce Soul Pancake, his new spiritually based social media Web site, he signed up on Twitter, joined in the discussions and attracted more than a million followers within six months. Today, 20 months later, Wilson has more than 2-million followers on Twitter.

Actor Rainn Wilson, co-founder of SoulPancake.com.

Twitter fans around the world all of a sudden had instant, interactive access to a top star of NBC’s popular television program The Office, and he openly “tweeted” about his new online endeavor and got into online conversations with his fans.

Unlike other celebrities, Wilson smartly left open the direct message feature of Twitter, allowing fans and friends to send him personal messages. Wilson readily responded to many, often using a Twitter application on his iPhone. That small gesture of accessibility greatly enhanced his online credibility and reputation for transparency and openness.

For Wilson, bringing his motion picture and television celebrity to Twitter dramatically boosted awareness about Soul Pancake, making the Web site even more successful. Each time Wilson acknowledged a message from a follower or reposted — “retweeted” — someone’s mini-post on Twitter, he knew he was making even more friends who might spread the word about Soul Pancake. It worked as a win-win for everyone: Wilson, Soul Pancake, and Wilson’s fans and Twitter followers.

Every day, people in all walks of life, from movie stars and CEOs to members of the media and ordinary people, are using Twitter and other forms of online social media to discuss, share, announce something new or just to listen. It is the ultimate level playing fi eld and is fair to all.

Tony Hsieh is also quite a success story in the online world. While attending Harvard in the early 1990s, Hsieh earned money by selling pizzas. Then he got an idea for an online advertising company, and he eventually sold the company to Microsoft for $265 million.

In 1999, Hsieh became involved in a concept that would revolutionize how shoes are sold, using the Internet. The company is called Zappos, a derivation of the word zapatos, which is Spanish for shoes.

Part of the reason for Zappos’ meteoric success is that it got the economics and operations right. Th e company off ers customers a huge selection of inventory — four million pairs of shoes (and other items, such as handbags and apparel) — which is housed in a warehouse in Kentucky next to a UPS shipping hub. Furthermore, Zappos offers free delivery … and free return if you don’t like the shoes.

Zappos has grown to more than 1,400 employees, roughly half at corporate headquarters near Las Vegas, Nev., and the other half in Kentucky; has been recognized as one of the best companies in America to work for; and, with more than ten million customers, sells more shoes than any other company on the planet.

Zappos has become a billion dollar business, and much of it has been done online, from taking orders and customer service to Hsieh having daily conversations with his customers through his CEO blog and on Twitter.

Hsieh has used the Internet not only to connect with his public and customers, but also to drive broad awareness. Sure, there has been tons of mainstream and online media coverage about Hsieh and Zappos — from Oprah and 60 Minutes to BusinessWeek — yet the catalyst that caught everyone’s attention was how Hsieh communicated his authentic, sincere and open style online.

Early on, Hsieh recognized the importance of investing time personally to establish and build relationships with everyone from customers and employees to reporters and people who are just curious and in the process. He is respected as a business entrepreneur and thought leader who is accessible through his blog, personal e-mail and online social media sites, such as Twitter.

When I asked Hsieh to name the three most important elements of business in the digital age, he responded, “I would boil it down to just one thing: Embrace transparency.

“With the digital revolution,” Hsieh e-scribbled, “all companies are becoming more transparent, whether they like it or not. The ones that choose to embrace transparency will be the ones that gain more trust with their employees and customers, and those are the ones that are much more likely to be successful in the long term.”

Aside from his being a smart visionary with a keen sense for the online environment, I asked what made him see the importance of connecting with audiences through social media.

“At Zappos, our number one priority is our company culture,” says Hsieh. “Our belief is that if we get the culture right, most of the other stuff , like delivery, great customer service and building a long-term enduring brand, will happen naturally, on its own.”

“Could the Zappos business model be transplanted to revitalize such old institutions as General Motors or Amtrak?” I asked.

“In other words, could the Zappos magic be cloned successfully?”

“I don’t think the Zappos culture can be or should be cloned, but I do think the idea of being transparent and running a business based on core values and a meaningful vision that’s not just about money and profits can work for any organization,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter what the core values are, as long as the entire organization commits to those core values. Th e most important thing in any large organization is alignment [around values and vision].”

His company’s 10 core values are short, direct and posted online, naturally, for everyone to see. Th e core values deliver power through simplicity and clarity:

1. Deliver “wow” through service.
2. Embrace and drive change.
3. Create fun and a little weirdness.
4. Be adventurous, creative and open-minded.
5. Pursue growth and learning.
6. Build open and honest relationships with communication.
7. Build a positive team and family spirit.
8. Do more with less.
9. Be passionate and determined.
10. Be humble.

These are not core values that a management committee, badgered by someone in human resources, labored for days to develop, as is often the case at most organizations. There’s consensus among the people at Zappos about these ten values. They believe in the meaning of these values, and they live them at work.

Continuing with our interview, I asked Hsieh why most companies and organizations are slow to embrace the new online world as a way to connect with and engage audiences, preferring instead to continue using Web sites to sell, market and promote in a one-way manner.

“I think it’s because there’s a disconnect between the internal culture of the organization, and the core values and image that the organization wants to project. It used to be that it was okay, and perhaps even expected, that a company’s culture and brand were not in sync. I think we’re entering an era where a company’s culture and a company’s brand are really just two sides of the same coin,” Hsieh responded.

Then the CEO of the world’s largest online shoe store turned the reality of the entire concept of public relations upside down:

PR used to be about who you say you are. I think today it’s much more important to focus on who you are rather than who you say you are, and that really just comes down to whether every employee is committing to and living the core values of the organization.

When you think about it in the reality of today’s online digital environment, Hsieh’s insight is almost like holding a mirror up to the traditional public relations business as it’s been known for decades, and seeing nothing but a vanishing ghost of things past. Times have changed. Th e world has changed. Styles have changed.

The Internet came along and matured as the world’s most powerful of communications. As the Internet’s infl uence has grown, so too has a need for enhanced clarity, openness, credibility and collaboration.

The whole manner by which we communicate, share and exchange news, ideas and information has been altered. We build trust when we connect in terms that are timely and relevant. But we must earn trust too. We must listen, join conversations and be mindful of protocols.

As I said at the beginning, audiences do not care to hear an organization talk about itself. People only want to know how an organization’s products or services benefit them and bring value to their lives.

It’s all happened while mainstream media and the public relations industries were dozing.

As I said earlier, today’s professional communicators must learn how to skillfully balance on lily pads in order to merge — in open, transparent and meaningful ways — the communications disciplines we have always known, together with the exciting online world in this digital era.

© David E. Henderson. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used in any form without permission of the author.

~~~~

“Making News in the Digital Era” by David E. Henderson is available at book sellers everywhere.

Glen Nowak, CDC Director of Media Communications

What’s more was the pleasure to share a forum with Glen Nowak, the CDC’s very impressive Director of Media, to field questions from the audience..

I spoke about creating influence in the digital era and listed six points:

1. Cast off old bad habits, like having that trivial “about” boilerplate on news releases, blasting out emails of press releases to everyone and their uncle and avoiding interaction with the media.
2. The practice of online brand journalism to create distinction for a company or organization is journalism, not PR or marketing.
3. Sharpen your focus to achieve more impact. Your audience is not everyone in the world but those people who really care and benefit from products and services.
4. Deliver constant updates, develop trust and always be transparent online.
5. Brand journalism online requires news style writing, storytelling, photos and HD video b-roll.
6. Drive traffic to your news relentlessly. It’s a team effort involving everyone in an organization.

My thanks to Atlanta-based photographer Edward Zeltser for sharing images he took during the conference.

I promised a lot of people that I would make my presentation available online promptly … so here it is. It’s a 4MB PDF – Click here to download.

It’s one thing to have Twitter and Facebook accounts; it’s quite another to really know how to use them … and the spectrum of other social media tools … to achieve results.

Online social media works best when an organization invests the effort in developing a comprehensive and focused communications strategy. Consistent and effective messages that connect with an organization’s audiences requires the work of skilled, accomplished people who know the online and communications environments.

Postings on Twitter and Facebook are largely meaningless when they lack value and meaning for audiences. Most so-called social media “gurus” I’ve met are amateurs and lack authentic, established skills or accomplishments.

Effective social media that creates valuable results for companies and organizations is not the purview for beginners who have no track record.

This digital era – as I have written in “Making News in the Digital Era,” my latest book – is unquestionably the most exciting period of my career as a journalist and strategic communication adviser. But as an early adapter of online and blog technology, I believe it’s only going to work for us on a sustained basis when we stop long enough to embrace the core elements of effective strategic communication to drive any social media or online communications initiatives.

Strategic planning, storytelling and clear messages have always worked to point us forward. They will do so in the digital era, too. Today’s online social media is just another in a long line of tactical communication delivery tools that stretches back to storytelling around the tribal fire, epic poems, books, postal mail, the fax machine and e-mail. In fact, think back to when e-mail first hit the big time. Pundits predicted world-shaking possibilities. Nobody predicted spam.

Brooke Gladstone of the “On the Media” program on National Public Radio says, “Journalists are taught to talk and write in human terms. Tell me a story.” It’s been that way forever, and it’s no different in countries, cultures and communities around the world.

We share an infinite variety of stories about the human experience, and often the best stories are repeated over and over. Storytelling is an opportunity that’s often missed by a PR and communications players who seemingly obsessed with traditional press releases, a perceived easiness of social media and predictable promotions.

Storytelling cuts through competitive clutter far more effectively and with greater influence than anything else in an organization’s marketing or PR arsenal. It gets to the heart of what’s special about your organization and what you have to say.

My colleague Anne Bell at PBS NewsHour says it best: “A great story has legs that in today’s world can travel many miles per hour.” Anne is correct. Consider how a great story can sprint the globe today in a nanosecond.

We are living in a world where new and not-so-new tools collide, merge and morph, all with the intent to better connect with audiences. To do that, we must use all these advanced technologies to do something ancient: tell stories that people want to hear and will be motivated to share.

I mourn the loss of quality local radio in most cities around the country. Most stations are owned and run by large corporations that have stripped away any authentic connection with the communities they serve. In many cases, the programs, weather, news and other content is delivered by radio broadcasters not even located in the cities. It’s just piped-in and non-stop formula programming that all sounds alike, and is largely trivial.

WWL's legendary talk show host Garland Robinette

For example, the Washington, DC, area – my hometown – has been reduced to partisan and agenda-driven radio. Take it with a grain of salt and hold suspect what they claim.

The all-news station in Washington, WTOP, serves up little more than ten-second soundbites and superficial news coverage. It’s far from in-depth or informative.

But … radio in New Orleans, on the other hand, is terrific and best in the land. There are three stations, especially, in New Orleans that I believe are of the highest quality, professionalism and integrity for reflecting the people and the city they serve. Serving a community responsibly … isn’t that what local radio is all about?

WWL – a consistent icon for outstanding radio broadcasting in America, WWL has seasoned, knowledgable and engaging talk show hosts, like Garland Robinette and Spud McConnell, who are involved in the community and know what they are talking about. WWL’s local news is superb and exceeds network caliber. If you come to New Orleans, all you need to do is listen to WWL for about 15 minutes to know what’s happening in the Crescent City.

Spud McConnell and his wife Mo on WWL

WWOZ – Anytime of the day or night is a good time to listen to this station that reflects the heritage and soul of New Orleans. Blues, jazz and oldies, played by people who know the local music community. My gosh! They still even play scratchy records on WWOZ … and, it’s wonderful to hear. WWOZ also streams its programming online.

WWNO – I would rank this local NPR station among the top public radio stations in the country for its authentic connection with the city through local programming, involvement and special coverage. In the sometimes hubris atmosphere of local NPR stations, WWNO defies the norm by putting involvement in the community before itself, and as a result, engenders terrific community support.

Whenever I come to New Orleans … which is often … my only challenge is which station to switch to first. They are all fabulous, and they all have my respect.

Another note about New Orleans … I love Community Coffee and their coffee houses scattered around the city. Wonderful coffee, friendly atmosphere (“Good morning, hon…” is the usual greeting) and free WiFi. Wish Community Coffee would expand nationwide.

TVs on United 903, duct taped in place

I don’t normally write about such things but a couple of recent international flights on United Airlines were troubling, and raised questions in my mind about safety … how much is United cutting back on maintenance and pushing or circumventing the limits of repair standards? Ultimately, I believe it reflects poorly in United’s brand image.

Here’s the background – during a United flight to Munich from Washington Dulles, I noticed how shabby the interior of the 777C appeared. Seats were dirty looking and threadbare … plastic molding was chipped and broken.

I had splurged for business class – seat 13A – but even there, the TV screen was broken, and I noticed how glazed and old looking the windows seemed. Windows were in such poor shape that a clear photo would not have been possible. Both the TV screen and seat were broken at 13B.

Duct tape from the plane's security kit.

I have been flying United for decades but lately, their planes have a tired look about them.

Then, as fate would have it, my return home a couple of weeks later was on the same plane – nose number 2380 and tail “N” number N780UA. I was even in the same seat. And, guess what?! Everything was still broken and more.

Not only was the TV at my seat still broken but many other passengers were complaining that many of the seats in business class didn’t function. The footrest for seat 12B got stuck, requiring the passenger to move to another seat for landing.

Broken business class seat. One of many.

Here’s the troubling part … flight attendants told me that the TV at my seat had been written up in the repair log on my flight to Munich, but nothing had been done to repair it in more than two weeks. They called N780UA a problem 777 and told me of many things broken. The seat, for example, used for pilot rest periods was broken for so many weeks that maintenance people simply took it out of service permanently.

Two United flight attendants try to fix broken business class seat prior to landing. No luck.

They said that United has laid-off many domestic U.S. maintenance people in order to take advantage of cheaper aircraft maintenance in China. But, repairs are not getting done properly in China. In other words, United finds it cheaper to fly big aircraft to third-party maintenance shops in China rather than to use skilled American technicians.

The flight I was on, they said – United 903 – was short two flight attendants, raising safety violation questions.

And, what do the flight attendants do in order to help passengers who encounter broken cabin items? They provide a roll of masking tape. In my case, however, with the broken TV, the copilot had to raid the aircraft’s security kit for something stronger – a roll of duct tape – in order to hold the TV screens in place.

Makes me wonder … if that many things are broken inside N780UA, what about the engines and all the mechanical stuff that keeps the aircraft aloft for long flights over oceans? Scary thought.

A fellow passenger on United 903 told me he had flown to Germany on a Lufthansa flight and found it to be a night and day different experience from United. Lufthansa, he said, was clean, new and everything worked. He added that the Lufthansa plane was also quiet, referring to loud rattles and cracking noises on the United flight.

PR, promotion and marketing dwell on pushing self-serving messages and ideas at audiences. Brand journalism focuses on continually engaging audiences in news stories, features, resources and images they find appealing.

Brand journalism enables any company or organization to create and communicate it’s own news and to become the respected and trusted voice for an entire industry. In a time when press releases achieve little interest and are viewed as little more than self-serving promotion, brand journalism cuts through competitive clutter to capture attention … among target audiences and the media.

Online brand journalism news sites require:

• Constant updates and news stories. The influence of brand journalism online news sites is driven fresh, new material every day. By contrast, there is nothing as boring as yesterday’s news.
• News style writing, aka USA Today and the Associated Press stylebook. PR writing does not deliver the needed credibility and looks shallow by comparison.
• Journalists and other people with actual working news experience.
• News style photos and images that grab attention.
• News b-roll HD video viewed from YouTube and available via a special FTP site for television news outlets.
• No press releases. Nothing kills the credibility and appeal of a brand journalism news site quicker than a typical press release.

More than anything, brand journalism enhances and favorably differentiates a company’s reputation as a leader, qualities that ultimately influence a unique image that is brand.

Few things are more effective or economical than brand journalism in today’s digital era when traditional PR, promotion and marketing tactics are either broken or have less impact.

When did online brand journalism begin? Possibly in 2002 when I was working with a team of attorneys in Washington to represent 12 Kuwaiti citizens who had been hauled off to the prison at Guantanamo even before anyone knew of their innocence. In order to underscore the much larger issue of denial of due process and human rights as well as to present background on the 12 Kuwaitis and provide legal documents, I developed the web site – www.KuwaitiDetainees.org (no longer online) – which achieved world prominence.

Some good current examples of online brand journalism are:

Imperial Sugar Company’s online newsroom – www.iscnewsroom.com. Imperial Sugar’s news site has been widely acclaimed as one of the best examples of contemporary online brand journalism.

Louisiana Seafood News – www.louisianaseafoodnews.com

Los Angeles Kings Hockey – http://www.insidesocal.com/kings/

Hayward sailing into the sunset? Photo by AP.

At the same time, I have watched BP executives – led by CEO Tony Hayward – make a nonstop string of really outrageous and downright looney gaffes. Hayward’s leisure cruise in his yacht yesterday off the coast of England was perhaps the worst.

Mark Sappenfield, a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, has chronicled BP’s series of major public relations mistakes that, as he writes, “have at times cast BP as bumbling, ill-informed, and callous.” Perhaps “incompetent,” as well?

Mark has given me permission to excerpt his article here:

1. Who’s in charge?

On Friday, BP board Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg presented the news that many Americans had long been waiting for. Hayward was being shunted out of his lead role in the Gulf oil spill crisis, to be replaced by BP Managing Director Bob Dudley. On Saturday, BP media relations personnel said the chairman of the board was wrong. They said Mr. Svanberg was suggesting that BP was merely beginning a long-planned and gradual transition of authority to Mr. Dudley “over a period of time.”

2. The ‘small people’

It was not the first time Svanberg misspoke. After meeting with President Obama, Svanberg said he shared Mr. Obama’s compassion for the “small people” in the Gulf. Needless to say, the comment did not go over well. Spoken by a man who owns a yacht in Thailand, the phrase “small people” smelled of rank class condescension. Swedes, however, note that the word “småfolket” in Svanberg’s native Swedish has a positive connotation with undertones of egalitarianism.

3. ‘I want my life back’

Six weeks after the Deepwater Horizon blowout, Hayward uttered these words: “We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused their lives. There’s no one who wants this over more than I do. I’d like my life back.”

Moreover, it has now become the prism for Hayward’s yachting excursion. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday: “Well, to quote Tony Hayward, he’s got his life back, as he would say. And I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting.”

4. ‘Very, very modest’ impact

On May 18 – a month after the blowout – Hayward told the BBC: “I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest.” Four days earlier, he told the British newspaper, the Guardian: “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.”

5. ‘A trickle’

On June 8, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said that the spill “should be down to a relative trickle by Monday or Tuesday.” According to the best scientific estimates, between 10,000 and 35,000 barrels of oil (420,000 to 1.5 million gallons) are still leaking into the Gulf daily.

6. 5,000 barrels a day.

Part of the reason for the continued leak is that BP low-balled the flow rate from the well and then refused to try to amend it. For a short time after the blowout, BP estimated that the well beneath the Deepwater Horizon was spewing 1,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf. That was swiftly changed to 5,000 barrels daily. Last week, scientists suggested that the real number could be as much as 60,000 barrels a day – and no less than 35,000.

In the early days, when 5,000 barrels was the working estimate, BP said: “We’re not going to take any extra efforts now to calculate flow there at this point. It’s not relevant to the response effort, and it might even detract from the response effort,” a BP spokesman told The New York Times.

As a result of that decision, BP didn’t put enough oil-collecting capacity on the surface. It is now rushing to bring in more to collect the excess 10,000 to 35,000 barrels a day of leaking oil.

7. ‘Top kill’: 70 percent chance

The underestimation of the flow rate mirrors the repeated overestimation by BP of its own capabilities. Hayward said that the failed “top kill” procedure, which would have stopped the oil, had a 60 to 70 percent chance of working. It failed.

8. ‘We have turned the corner.’

Earlier, on May 17, BP stuck a siphon into the ruined riser pipe – collecting 1,000 barrels a day – leading Hayward to say: “I do feel that we have, for the first time, turned the corner in this challenge.” That siphoning effort was later abandoned.

9. What spill?

When BP share prices recently plummeted, BP intended to convey the idea that it could handle the costs of the Gulf oil spill. Its statement, however, was obtuse to the point of absurdity: “The company is not aware of any reason which justifies this share price movement.”

10. Waste of money?

Six weeks after the spill began, BP started a $50 million TV ad campaign, promising to restore the Gulf. Obama said the money would have been better spent on relief efforts and damage claims.

Let me add #11. BP is spending $50-million buying newspaper ads in major newspapers to tell us how wonderful they are. I join Louisiana Governor Jindal and many others in suggesting that BP’s $50-million would be better spent on the fishing communities of southern Louisiana.

Read more at the Monitor’s website.

(l-r front) Quynh-Luu Ha, of Imperial Sugar's marketing team, and Brand manager Hyuna Lee, (l-r back) The News Group Net's writer Gordon Curry, founding partner Ed Lallo and Imperial newsroom editor Springfield Lewis, celebrate two Bronze Quill awards from IABC Houston for strategic online communication.

Developed with Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor and run by my firm, The News Group Net, the ISC Newsroom won an “Award of Excellence” for strategic communication processes and an “Award of Merit” for electronic and digital communication.

“The partnership between Imperial Sugar and The News Group Net has produced a one-stop source of news about the company and the sugar industry,” said Imperial Brand Manager Hyuna Lee. “The ISC Newsroom offers a broad perspective on industry developments, as well as credible news about the company’s business to internal and external stakeholders.”

The ISC Newsroom was developed originally to ensure Imperial Sugar’s brand reputation and point of view were well-represented as the company restored its business and reputation after an explosion struck one of its sugar refineries in early 2008. It has evolved into a one-of-a-kind online news site that blends Imperial Sugar’s market leadership with up-to-date industry news, creating a unique category of “brand journalism.”

My business partner and co-founder of The News Group Net, Ed Lallo, joined Lee and Quynh-Luu Ha of Imperial Sugar’s marketing team in receiving the Bronze Quill Awards. Ed credited senior management’s ongoing commitment to the website, combined with the spirit of the company’s employees, for the newsroom’s success.

In less that a week, News Group Net developed an online site – www.LouisianaSeafoodNews.com – filled with legitimate news stories about the fishermen, chefs and the seafood industry, along with high resolution photos and HD video. The site is being updated on a daily basis with new stories.

“It is an authentic online news resource,” said the News Group Net’s David Henderson, a former television network correspondent. “We avoid press releases to focus on timely, legitimate news stories together with many visuals that present the scope of the impact this crisis is having on Louisiana fishermen and all those in the industry.”

News Group Net LLC – based in Washington, DC, and Austin, TX – has developed similar sites for Imperial Sugar Company, Cargill and Louisiana Sugar Growers. The firm has a team of journalists who research and craft the stories.

“The dynamic online newsroom is similar to that of a daily newspaper,” said Ed Lallo, a former People Magazine and Associated Press Photographer. “It is important to tell the story of the Louisiana seafood industry through the voices of its members; the fishermen, processors, marketers and chefs.”

News Group Net’s signature is creating online news sites quickly to manage communications during crisis situations.

Imperial Sugar Company's real-time online newsroom

Imperial Sugar Company’s online newsroom succeeds where many others do not. The site surpasses typical newsrooms and media centers, functioning as a vibrant news portal for the sugar refining industry.

Imperial’s newsroom is guided by journalistic style and dynamic content, which is central to its success.

David Henderson, author of “Making News in the Digital Era” and partner in The News Group Net, a strategic communications and corporate journalism advisory, helped create Imperial’s newsroom. He encourages communicators to return to journalistic roots when developing news for online consumption and insists that newsrooms are not only for the media.

“The core audience for an organization’s newsroom includes shareholders, business partners, customers, donors and volunteers in non-profit instances, employees and, then, the media,” Henderson says. “Static newsrooms are the least-visited part of a Web site because most are just graveyards of old press releases. Your newsroom needs to present the spectrum of all the things that your company is doing within its industry, and hanging press releases there kills credibility.”

It comes down to identifying and understanding the people who care about your company, according to Henderson, who advises clients and practitioners to develop journalistic writing skills. To reach your audience, replace formulaic writing with a style that draws interest.

“Nobody cares what your company does unless you tell them in a way that adds value,” Henderson says.

Newsrooms need to sustain a supply of articles, photos, videos and industry observations. Imperial employs freelance writers and photojournalists who post two or three stories daily. The company understands that its audience seeks credibility and transparency, so stories often cover competitors and include information that challenges the industry, such as an American Heart Association report examining the negative effects of sugar.

Think like a journalist
Ed Lallo, News Group Net partner, says that a newsroom’s tone should not be directly about your organization. Instead, he suggests that you view your newsroom as a daily newspaper covering the industry.

“If something runs in The New York Times almost everyone else picks it up to some degree,” Lallo says. “So write stories for your core audience, which can include media who may take them whole or use pieces to expand on an idea.”

Building on the right foundation is also critical. Henderson and Lallo say that WordPress has evolved into an ideal content management system. Even The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal use it for their blog networks.

Other essentials for your online newsroom include:

• News articles (300-500 words)
• Short videos (HD for B-roll)
• Links to company facts and contacts
• Search capability

Crisis on BP's main home page

A keynote speaker at last week’s combined International Association of Business Communicators/Public Relations Society of America conference in Salt Lake City said BP (British Petroleum) was doing a good job of managing crisis communications as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf by using online social media. I do not agree.

Here’s the biggest problem … and a practical solution:

BP is attempting to manage its crisis communications by singularly using the company’s main home page, a tactic that may undermine the oil corporation’s overall image by creating a lasting impression linking BP with one of the world’s biggest oil spills.

When disaster or crisis hits, any corporation or organization must act swiftly to create special and separate news update online sites. It’s easy to do in today’s online environment. Here’s how:

1. Register a special domain name or URL, such as (Company Name)News.com.
2. Create a news update site, using blog technology like WordPress.
3. Fill the news site with a constant flow of news updates, photos, video and contact information, 24/7.
4. On the main home page, have a link and merely say, “For news updates, click here.”

A special news update site can be online and operational within a few hours.

While neither BP not  TransOcean, the people who built the oil platform, have any meaningful presence in online social media, especially Twitter, special news update sites can be meaningful first steps toward rebuilding corporate reputations.

A boat amid the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico

Headlines shout, “BP, Transocean Lawsuits Surge as Oil Spill Spreads in Gulf” and “BP’s Response to Oil Spill Lacking, Officials Say.” More stories … more coverage … of the worsening situation in the Gulf are being added to the first pages of Google and other search engines every few seconds, 24 hours a day.

BP’s attempts at branding itself as a “green” energy company are in shambles.

What the companies may not know is that these stories will dominate the all-important first pages of search engines for months or years to come … unless something is done, soon.

What’s lacking is any apparent attempt by BP or Transocean to aggressively manage their online images during the deepening crisis … a crisis that has global impact. A few corporate PR stories about the situation on the corporate home pages not only is ineffective, it has the adverse effect of linking everything about the corporate brands of BP and Transocean to the Gulf disaster. It’s the wrong action to take online. Attempting to manage a crisis from a corporate home page can cause self-inflicted brand damage.

What could BP and Transocean be doing online at this very moment?

They could launch and maintain special online corporate journalism sites … tangible assets as interactive places to share and constantly update all aspects of their action steps. While the Coast Guard desires to control press events, such online content management sites can focus, manage and provide the most timely, transparent and open connection with no only those involved along the Gulf Coast but everyone else in the world who is watching … and judging … how BP and Transocean behave. The special sites can be credible online assets to underscore corporate accountability.

The online crisis management team at The News Group Net – seasoned journalists and communications professionals – can have such operational newsrooms online within a matter of hours … for timely and instantaneous news updates, statements, photos, video and live coverage … far more influential information than press releases. BP and Transocean could become more reliable sources for the world’s mainstream and online news media. A single corporate Web site lacks the credibility and clout to do the job … especially to manage the fast-growing other media stories about the oil spill that are now dominating search engines.

Underground hike from tram to Concourse C

Dulles International Airport, located about 30 miles west of Washington, has once again lived up to its reputation that if there is a choice between doing something right – which means convenience for air travelers – or totally and expensively screwing something up, the airport’s federal government decision-makers will always choose the latter.

Dulles recently opened a modern, new underground train to whisk passengers between the main ticket/check-in terminal and outlying terminals where passengers board and deplane flights. Until recently, Dulles has transported passengers via a fleet of aging 1960s-era shuttle buses.

Dulles underground train

When I saw a sign that the tram between the main terminal and outlying terminal C was operational, I thought, “Oh boy, I will get to C concourse faster.” Not so. The tram to C concourse does not stop anywhere near the terminal. Rather, it stops several hundred yards away, requiring a long, long walk just to get to C terminal.

Once inside C concourse, one of the airport’s busiest and 3/4 mile long, a traveler could face up to another half-mile walk to get to a gate.

Why the Dulles powers that be would approve an underground train design that literally does not run directly to the terminal defies any logical explanation. Perhaps it is just the stupidity of government oversight in action.

But it adds nearly 1/3 of a mile additional hike from the tram to the terminal, hardly a step into the future for Dulles, which once again earns its reputation as the world’s worst and most inconvenient airport.

Jeff Bridges

We can all learn something about image and reputation management, I believe, from the Web site of versatile actor Jeff Bridges. He’s been online - www.JeffBridges.com – at least seven or eight years with the same clever, low-key, personal and interactive online style … and his site ranking stats confirm his popularity.

The Amazon-owned online ranking service, Alexa.com, lists JeffBridges.com with a global ranking of 130,000 and 81,166th among of all Web sites and blogs in the U.S. … indicating that his personal site has better numbers and is visited far more often than the sites of most corporations and organizations.

On one hand, you could argue that the site is popular simply because of his celebrity, and that no doubt is true … partly. Bridges won an Oscar this year for “Crazy Heart.”

Bridges holds out Wide-Lux camera with his right hand to take photo with actor Colin Farrell

Yet, while his acting career has been up and sometimes down, his Web site has remained consistently popular … and it’s interesting to examine the possible reasons:

1. Jeff Bridges sends a clear signal that his site is not “about” him. While the owners of most personal and business sites (me included) have a need to say something about ourselves … for promotion, insecurity, vanity or needy reasons … the lack of anything about Bridges suggests a guy who is very comfortable in his own skin. It brings up the question why so many of us need to talk about ourselves online or in press releases.
2. Bridges personally writes about people whom he admires, respects and loves, revealing a man of character and integrity … and, the more he writes about others, the more we learn about him.
3. His passion for photography with a unique Wide-Lux film camera is prominent, together with his honest and clear use of words. He has taken us behind-the-scenes of many of his films through pictures and narrative for years, sharing moments with people that are important to him.
4. Bridges understands that he has a responsibility as a citizen of the world to give back and support importance causes and issues he cares about, from the End Hunger Network and Amazon Conversation Team to Trigger Street in support of screen writers.
5. The creative, understated and imaginative style of his site distinctively differentiates his brand … his stardom … from that of all others. Visit the site, and you get to know the man, not necessarily the Hollywood star.

Through his unique online approach, Jeff Bridges has transparently revealed humility, intellectual depth and maturity … signatures of his reputation. He’s one very cool dude.

More than that, it’s a good lesson in how to elegantly manage image and reputation – being understated often achieves greater favorable impact and lasting influence.

Current predictions are that the company may lose at least $2 billion in sales because of the recalls, and is also facing dozens of lawsuits.

Whatever the reasons for the apparently sharp decline in product quality, the damage caused by Toyota’s style of turning to lobbyists and lawyers is all self-inflicted. It is  the company’s insular way of handling things. Even today, the company has yet to launch an open and genuine dialogue with American car buyers and its customers.

The company is blanketing TV and online coast-to-coast with advertisements but is not engaging with or listening to customers. When there is no open communication in a crisis, underlying mistrust festers.

Rather than focusing on openly connecting with the car buying public to rebuild trust, Toyota is perceived as arrogantly going about business as usual to sweep problems under the rug.

According to the Associated Press, Irv Miller, group vice president for environment and public affairs for the automaker, wrote earlier this year: “We are not protecting our customers by keeping this quiet. The time to hide on this one is over.”

In an internal e-mail, Miller wrote:

“We better just hope that they can get NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) to work with us in coming (up) with a workable solution that does not put us out of business.”

The e-mail was addressed to Katsuhiko Koganei, executive coordinator for corporate communications for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.

“I hate to break this to you but WE HAVE A tendency for MECHANICAL failure in accelerator pedals of a certain manufacturer on certain models,” Miller’s e-mail began with several words in capital letters. Miller has since retired from Toyota … and there seems no end to the continuous series of recalls for safety issues at Toyota.