Specialized Thinking

Bank of America Tweets Its Customers Well

2009-02-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

Our New York City-based public relations firm is a strong advocate for using the new consumer-generated, or social, media to build connections, rapport and trust. In fact, our specialized Online Fluency practice, headed by EVP + Partner Robbin Goodman, is devoted entirely to the art and science of social networking with stakeholders. So I was intrigued to read an interesting piece on one of my favorite blogs, The Consumerist, about how Bank of America is using Twitter to resolve customers’ problems.

The bank has appointed an official BofA Twitter rep, David Knapp (screen name BofA_help) to “help, listen and learn from our customers.” Knapp handles inbound requests and scans Twitter for people talking about their problems with the financial services giant and reaches out to them.

One customer reported trying to contact Bank of America “a dozen different times and three different ways,” but one tweet to BofA_help put him in directly touch with executive customer service.

Another shared his story about how Bank of America helped fix his problem: “I got the fee I was disputing canceled, and they promised to send me a gift certificate. We'll see,” he said. “… if they keep up this level of customer service I might not switch banks when I move this spring.”

It’s early days yet, but the initial response to this social media experiment is very positive. The Consumerist reports: “If you're listening to the elevator music on the phone with Bank of America, why not shoot a tweet over to twitter.com/BofA_help? Maybe he'll solve your problem before you get off hold. It'll only cost you a few seconds and 140, or less, characters.”

Fie on Your Green Buzzwords

2009-02-02T07:08:00.000-08:00

Last month, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) published its 34th annual list of “Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness”. At the top of the list for 2009 was “green” and all of its variations (e.g., “going green,” “green technology” and “green solutions”).

Other words condemned by the word mavens at LSSU include two more environmental terms — “carbon footprint” and “carbon offsetting” — plus “maverick,” “first dude,” “bailout” and “Wall Street/Main Street,” among others.

The List of “Words to Be Banished” was originally conceived in 1975 by former LSSU public relations director Bill Rabe and his colleagues. The LSSU PR office receives thousands of nominations every year from people targeting pet peeves from common parlance, current events, politics, technology, advertising, sports and entertainment. A committee makes the final selection of “Words to Be Banished” in late December.

Technorati Tags: Lake Superior State University", LSSU, Words to Be Banished, green technology, green solutions, environmental terms, maverick, bailout, Bill Rabe, , business, communications, public relations

Tough Times Ahead for the Healthcare Sector?

2009-01-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

According to a report published recently in Health Affairs, national health care spending grew at 6.1% in 2007 — its lowest rate of growth since 1998 — mainly as a consequence of slower spending on prescription drugs.

What’s more, IMS Health, a leading provider of market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, reports that it has cut its estimate for growth of U.S. pharma sales to two percent or less this year … a significant decline from earlier forecasts of four to five percent.

The main causes of this deceleration in growth: fewer blockbusters, more competition from generics and consumers on a tighter budget.

But there’s no reason to throw a pity party for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies just yet. According to an article by Robert Pear in The New York Times, “In recessions, when the economy contracts, health spending usually continues to increase. “ Therefore, it’s likely that healthcare expenditures will increase their share of the nation’s GED during the tough economic times that lie ahead.

A Global Crisis of Confidence in US Financial Markets

2009-01-22T11:39:00.000-08:00

There’s a comprehensive and fascinating article in the January 3 issue of The New York Times that should be must-reading for all public relations (PR) and investor relations (IR) consultants who serve financial services companies, including private equity firms and commercial and investment banks. “The End of the Financial World as We Know It,” by Michael Lewis and David Einhorn, begins with a provocative statement: “Americans enter the New Year in a strange new role: financial lunatics. “

As proof of their thesis, authors cite “the strange story of Harry Markopolos,” a former investment officer who tried, for nine long years, starting in 1999, to explain to the SEC that Bernie Madoff, the man who engineered the biggest global Ponzi scheme ever, couldn’t be anything other than a fraud. In response, the SEC undertook a slapdash investigation of Madoff and pronounced him free of fraud.

The Madoff scandal is just one example of a systemic problem … and it’s not just a matter of insufficient oversight of the financial services industry.

According to Clusterstock, many of Madoff’s investors were well aware that his returns were impossibly good, so he had to be cheating. However, they never considered the possibility of a Ponzi scheme. They thought that the scam involved insider trading … and that’s precisely why they chose to invest with Madoff!

In many cases, the Wall Street swindler’s investors willfully chose to become complicit in their own defrauding by ignoring the old adage that “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. “

10 of the “21 Dumbest Moments in Business”

2009-01-14T10:16:00.000-08:00

I don’t know anyone who wasn’t happy to see the back end of 2008. It was a tough, tough year. There was, however, at least one bright light in the dismal landscape: The “21 Dumbest Moments in Business – 2008”, Fortune magazine’s annual list of the year’s “most laughable corporate moves.” As Fortune reports, it “proves that, even in moments of crisis, stupidity lives on.”

What I found particularly interesting is the number of these crises and scandals that could have been averted if the parties involved had taken a moment to conference with their chief communications officer, public relations firm or PR consultant about what our CEO, Ken Makovsky, calls a “PR bailout.”

Here’s an abbreviated version of the top 10 business gaffes of 2008. Check out the complete list for a look at all 21 of last year’s monumentally dumb moments.

1) Detroit execs flying to D.C.
2) Detroit execs driving to D.C.
3) Henry Paulson's initial $700 bailout proposal:
4) The final bailout
5) The Mozilo e-mail
6) The iPhone 'I am rich' app
7) Paulson's 'bazooka'
8) Tough talk from Fannie Mae
9) Scandal at the Department of Interior
10) GM's Lutz on global warming

Is Nothing Private in Today’s High-Tech Environment? Apparently Not.

2009-01-06T06:45:00.000-08:00

Crisis management, public relations, investor relations, financial communications and technology consultants, like those in our New York City PR firm, often talk about the ways in which the Internet has opened a window on private lives. There was a perfect example of this phenomenon this week on the Apple website, where Steve Jobs addressed a new flurry of rumors about his health.

In his open letter, Jobs wrote: “… my doctors think they have found the cause — a hormone imbalance that has been ‘robbing’ me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. … The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. … I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.”

In 2004, the media breathlessly followed Jobs’ successful battle against pancreatic cancer. In June 2008, his gaunt appearance gave rise to new speculation about his health. More questions were raised when Apple announced a few weeks ago that, for the first time ever, Jobs wasn’t planning to deliver the keynote address at Macworld.

While there are clear standards for disclosure of material financial information, disclosure concerning matters of health has typically been left to the discretion of the company’s board of directors. Not any more, apparently. According to Henry Blodget, co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of the Silicon Alley Insider, “Steve's health is NOT just a ‘private matter.’” He adds, “Steve Jobs is arguably Apple's single most valuable asset. If he's seriously ill, shareholders have every right to know this.”

Technorati Tags: makovsky, Crisis management, public relations, investor relations, technology, Internet, Steve Jobs, Apple, health focus, Silicon Alley Insider, financial communications, business, communications, public relations

The Sorry State of the Nation’s Health Care

2009-01-05T10:51:00.000-08:00

Did you know that 67 percent of Americans are overweight? That 40 percent get no exercise? Or that a whopping 96 percent of Americans don’t eat enough vegetables? Even more frightening is the fact that the current generation of American children may be the first ever to have a shorter life span than their parents.

Americans paid out a record 16 percent of our GDP (or $2 trillion) for health care in 2008 … making us the world’s biggest healthcare spender, on a per capita basis, according to a recent article by TIME reporter Alice Park. Notwithstanding the huge sums we throw at the problem of health care, the U.S. is ranked 19th — last! — among industrialized nations when it comes to preventable deaths.

The biggest problem with the U.S. health-care system, Park reports, is that it has been designed to respond to illness rather than prevent it: fully half of U.S. adults in 2005 did not receive recommended preventive care. “When we do get our cardiac health checked, too often it's because we've been rushed to the emergency room suffering from chest pains. When we do get a cancer evaluation, too often it's a diagnosis of advanced disease that has spread beyond the initial tumor site,” she writes.

If our ailing healthcare system is to recover, more attention needs to be paid to education, prevention and early treatment. It’s a strategy which has been shown to deliver promising results — for example, half of adults ages 50+ and older received a colon scan, meeting the colon cancer screening targets established by the Department of Health and Human Services in its Healthy People 2010 report.

President-elect Obama is said to rank health-care reform third on his list of top priorities, just behind addressing the financial crisis and passing an energy bill. From his mouth to our legislators’ ears.

Does the USA Need a Branding Firm?

2009-01-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

The issue of America’s image abroad was a campaign platform for Barack Obama, who said in a foreign policy speech in April, “We all know that these are not the best of times for America’s reputation in the world.”

That’s not to say that the last administration was unaware of the nation’s image problems.

According to New York Times writer Jim Arango, shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, a number of very senior media executives, including the heads of every major studio, met several times with White House officials to discuss how the entertainment industry could help improve the image of the United States overseas. One of the best ideas to emerge, the participants agreed, was to distribute American TV shows and movies to foreign audiences — especially in the Muslim world.

It worked … sort of … but not the way they expected. “In the last eight years, American pop culture, already popular, has boomed around the globe while opinions of America itself have soured,” Arango writes. The latest (2006) data from the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows that the image of the United States remained negative in the 24 countries in which Pew conducted its surveys.

Bryce Zabel, a TV producer and participant in the 2001 meetings with the White House, argued then that the United States needed to regard itself like a consumer brand.
“Products like Coca-Cola are far more effectively branded around the globe than the United States itself,” he wrote in a memo that was circulated around Hollywood.

Maybe the next administration should consider a pro bono partnership with an experienced branding firm or a public relations/marketing firm with expertise in corporate identity campaigns to do for the USA what has been done for other long-term quality brands that care about their image and reputation.

Inventors: Leverage the Power of Specialized Thinking

2008-12-16T08:42:00.000-08:00

Apparently, there’s never been a better time to be an inventor. According to Doug Hall, in his recent BWSmallBiz column, “Inventors, Pick Your Industry,” big companies are desperate for new ideas. Procter & Gamble, for instance, now gets more than half its ideas for new products from outside inventors. Five years ago, that number was closer to 20 percent.

Like our founder, Ken Makovsky, Hall believes that a specialized, sector-specific approach is the best. Here is his list of the top 10 industries that provide the “most fertile ground” for inventors:

1. Finance, credit, commercial banking and other financial services head the list, with gross margins topping 50%. (“Of course,” says Hall, “recent events show this may not be a good time to enter the financial-services industry.)
2. Landlords (47%)
3. Recording/movie industry (more than 40%)
4. Computer software publishing (40%)
5. Specialized manufacturing equipment (40%)
6. Bakeries and tortilla makers (31%)
7. The “sin” industries, such as breweries and gambling (30%)
8. Soft drinks (27%)
9. Publishing, both the online and old-line (27%)
10. Pharmaceutical and healthcare industries (25%)

Hall’s list was based on research undertaken by mathematician Greg Lemmon, who evaluated the profit margins in more than 200 industries. Those sectors with the highest margins, he reasoned, should offer the best opportunities for people who are interested in licensing an idea, innovation or invention in return for a royalty payment, which can be 25 percent of the gross profits.

Technorati Tags: inventor, businessweek, Doug Hall, Procter & Gamble, Ken Makovsky, Finance, Greg Lemmon,credit, financial services, Landlords, Computer software publishing, Soft drinks, Pharmaceutical, healthcare, business, communications, public relations

High Tech: Reporting on the Crisis in Mumbai

2008-12-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

First, speaking for everyone at Makovsky + Company, let me say that our hearts break for India and the people of Mumbai, both residents and visitors. Like New York, Mumbai is the financial capital of the nation. Like Mumbai, we in New York are unfortunately all-too-familiar with the consequences of terrorism.

Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time channel surfing the news networks on cable TV, trying to get a coherent perspective on the deadly terror attacks, with little luck. Coverage was brief, often contradictory and peppered with commercials. Finally, I turned to the social media, which were rich with raw, up-to-the-minute information and images.

For example, as the mainstream media struggled to catch up with fast-breaking news, the technology-empowered social media, including users of Twitter, were posting real-time accounts of the crisis to their friends and family worldwide. (Twitter is a free micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ brief text-based updates — or “tweets.”)

While it’s true that there were lots of rumors and false reports on Twitter, bloggers like Amy Gahran, a self-employed media consultant, worked hard to separate the facts from the hokum by checking out rumors.

We’re all citizen journalists today. I just wish we didn’t have to be combat journalists.

Finally … Some Good PR in the Banking Sector

2008-11-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Talk about bad public relations! Only 21% of affluent consumers are confident in U.S. banks, according to a recent Gallup survey — the lowest level of consumer confidence in banks in three decades.

The growing financial crisis is taking its toll on everyone. According to a recent Wall Street Journal piece by Robin Sidel, 7.3 million American homeowners will default on their mortgages between 2008 and 2010, about triple the usual rate. Some 4.3 million of those will lose their homes.

The essence of good crisis management is doing the right thing and doing it quickly. Chase did precisely that when it announced its aggressive plan to modify the terms of $70 billion in mortgages for as many as 400,000 borrowers who are — or may soon be — behind on their payments, by moving them into loans with lower interest rates, smaller principal amounts or other more-affordable terms.

Said Charlie Scharf, CEO of Retail Financial Services at Chase: “It doesn't make sense for us to wait [to address the problem]. … We've heard loud and clear and are listening to what some of the thought leaders around the country are saying.”

John Taylor, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, called Chase’s announcement “a gutsy move.” We couldn’t agree more. Not only is Chase doing the right thing, it’s demonstrating and increasing the pressure on other lenders to help take some part of the burden off distressed borrowers. It’s a terrific example of proactive public relations and crisis management.

High-Tech Temptation: Leaving the Laptop Behind

2008-11-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

For most public relations professionals, technology is not just a helpful tool; it’s a driver of our business. So, as a PR person, I was initially surprised when I read the headline of a recent Wall Street Journal blog by Nick Wingfield: “Time to Leave the Laptop Behind”.

Wingfield explains: “For years, mobile workers have been ditching their desktop computers for laptops that they can take wherever they go. Now road warriors are starting to realize that they can get even more portability — and lots of computing punch — from smart phones.”

Wingfield cites a recent survey by market research firm In-Stat which revealed that more than half (52%) of technology users said they could envision using a high-tech smart phone in the future as their sole computing device … provided that manufacturers could improve keyboards, screens and applications so that they work like those that come with a PC.

We’re not there yet —Chiclet keyboards and teeny-weeny screens can be mighty frustrating for PR consultants like me who are copious note-takers — but we can see the High-Tech Promised Land that lies just ahead.

Whether smart phones get bigger or laptops get smaller makes no nevermind to me. I just want the technology in place that will let me have my office with me wherever I go!

Making the Most of Search Engine Marketing

2008-11-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

New York-based Advertising Age recently released the 2008 edition of its Search Engine Marketing Fact Pack, an overview of the top search engines, keyword use and “everything else marketers need to know to connect with consumers.”

It’s filled with interesting data. For example, a recent survey of advertisers revealed that they were robbing Peter to pay Paul. When asking which budgets they were diverting to fund search marketing programs, “magazine advertising” was the number one answer, accounting for 32 percent of replies, followed by “website development” (22%) and “direct mail” (17%).

Also worth checking out in the Fact Pack are the industry-specific rankings of the top websites and search terms. Among the sectors addressed: business information, banking, stocks and shares, telecommunications and healthcare. … all valuable business intelligence for branding and marketing firms and public relations consultants.

The Role of Blogging in Financial Communications

2008-11-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

For PR and IR professionals interested in the role of blogging and the social media in financial services, private equity, and investment banking communications, check out the article by Davis D. Janowski in InvestmentNews that addresses the conflicting views of blogging held by financial advisors, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FIRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Financial advisors see their blogs as “a harmless, inexpensive technology” that facilitates communication with their clients. FIRA views blogs as ads that require supervisory review. And the SEC contends that blogs should be treated as a company statement.

The bottom line? To avoid compliance problems, be aware of what you are saying in your blog. Keep your communications general and avoid mentioning specific transactions, products or equities by name. For more information, check out these links:

• Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards’ recently updated Standards of Professional Conduct
• “FINRA Provides Guidance Regarding the Review and Supervision of Electronic Communications”

• The SEC’s “Commission Guidance on the Use of Company Web Sites”

Kindle’s Powerful Branding Strategy: Word-of-Mouth

2008-10-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

Abbey Klaassen wrote an interesting article last month about a public relations/branding strategy that enables Kindle devotees to become ambassadors for Amazon’s wireless reading device.
This brilliant branding strategy takes social networking and consumer product reviews to a whole new level … to the real world!
None of the Kindle enthusiasts work for Amazon, nor do they receive any remuneration for their efforts.
Klaassen describes one such ambassador, Cindy Longo, who has shown off her Kindle to about 15 people in the Chicago area. She has even set up a special email address to handle requests for demos. Longo reports that she not just motivated by the urge to be of service. “I love my Kindle,’ she had said, “and if demand remains strong, authors/publishers will be motivated to make their books available in Kindle format.”
According to Drew Herdener, senior PR manager at Amazon, some Kindle owners reported that they couldn’t use their Kindles in public because strangers were asking to see it. Meanwhile, prospective Kindle buyers were asking where they could see the product. Amazon message board put the two together.

Even those of us at sophisticated, successful New York branding firms can learn a thing or two from this savvy Seattle-based online retailer.

Election Resource for Pharma + Healthcare PR Pros

2008-10-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

Blogger John Mack, who also publishes Pharma Marketing News, has been keeping track of information about the views of presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama with respect to healthcare and other issues of importance to the pharmaceutical industry. He’s been posting this information on a special discussion forum devoted to the presidential campaign.

If you have a vested interest in pharmaceutical public relations, healthcare PR or health crisis management, check it out. You can subscribe to the forum and receive daily or weekly email updates.

Mack invites you to post your own stories, sources of information and opinions to the forum. “Just keep it relevant to the political issues of importance to the pharmaceutical industry,” he says.

You don’t have to register in order to post your opinions, thus preserving your anonymity.

Thought Leadership in Action

2008-10-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

Thought leadership is an important strategy in the tool box of virtually all PR practitioners, whether they work within a corporation, or as a consultant in a public relations firm. At Makovsky + Company, we define “thought leadership” as “building and promoting the expertise and/or image of an individual regarding the issues, trends or personal qualities that key constituents are most concerned about.”

At this point in time, the issues, trends and personal qualities that most concern the American public are 1) the current financial crisis and 2) the personal qualities of the candidates for president and vice president of the United States.

If you’re a senior corporate executive, you probably want to steer away from commenting on the presidential race. (Whatever you have to say automatically runs the risk of alienating half your constituency.) But you can certainly address the upheaval in the credit markets.

Procter & Gamble Co. Chairman-CEO A.G. Lafley did precisely that, when he urged congressional passage of a financial rescue plan in his op-ed — “How [the] Financial Crisis Affects You, and Why You Should Sound Off” — which ran in the October 1 issue of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Lafley notes that “consumers are feeling the credit crunch very directly” and some P&G suppliers are “hampered by the inability to get the capital they need to run their businesses.” He calls on Washington to come up with a proposal that Americans can support and urges folks on Main Street “to let our legislators know that it’s impacting them.”

This is thought leadership at its best. It serves to underscore the fact that consumer understanding is one of Lafley’s — and, by extension, Procter & Gamble’s — core strengths.

“Bailout”: A Failure to Communicate … Accurately

2008-10-06T08:13:00.000-07:00

Words matter. That’s especially true for public relations professionals in industries subject to regulatory oversight, such as investment banking, financial services and insurance.

The legislation that was originally introduced under the title “Troubled Asset Relief Program” and evolved into the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008” was more popularly referred to by the average citizen — and quite a few legislators — as the “Wall Street Bailout.”

According to Wikipedia, “bailout” is a term used to describe a situation in which “a bankrupt or nearly bankrupt entity, such as a corporation or a bank, is given a fresh injection of liquidity, in order to meet its short term obligations.” Please note: a “bailout” would not be available to a consumer swamped by debt. And that may be at the crux of the overwhelmingly adverse reaction of American citizens to the initial proposals for averting the financial crisis.

In an article entitled “Main Street's Rage at the Financial Crisis,” BusinessWeek quotes Carol Madura, a waitress in her 50s, on the topic: “I brought up my kids to work hard and save money. Now what? The rich are getting bailouts. … The government just keeps taking our money and giving it to people who don't deserve it. We should be worried about those who are really struggling.”

If you’re involved in financial services public relations, insurance PR or investment banking PR, I’m sure you’ll agree that “bailout” is an altogether inadequate way to describe a proposed solution to a complex economic problem that threatens the financial well-being of all Americans.

Investment Banking: PR Hits the Skids at Lehman Brothers

2008-09-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

Talk about bad investment banking public relations: Lehman Brothers was caught red-handed, having plagiarized parts of a Sanford Bernstein report on virtualization technology, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Susanne Craig. Known for its research excellence, Bernstein is headquartered in New York.

A research report produced earlier this year by a Lehman analyst — who has since moved on to greener pastures — contained passages that were surprisingly similar to several notes written earlier by Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi.

In a letter sent last week to its clients, Lehman acknowledged the plagiarism. “The material was not sourced to Bernstein and was used without the firm's permission,” Lehman wrote. “We sincerely apologize to Bernstein, the authors of the reports, and our clients for this incident.”

The apology was accepted, but this was a crisis that should never have happened.

Because Mr. Sacconaghi is an extremely well-regarded analyst, whose work is closely followed and widely quoted, it was almost inevitable that this misappropriation of intellectual property would be uncovered. What makes this an especially unfortunate PR issue for the investment banking sector is the fact that this scandal comes at a time when Wall Street firms are trying to rebuild the public confidence in the credibility of their research departments.

High Tech PR Is Facing a Sea Change

2008-09-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

The IFA fair in Berlin— one of the world's oldest consumer electronics shows — moved into new territory last month by making room for washers, dryers, stoves and other household appliances, alongside the more customary flat-screen TVs, digital video cameras and state-of-the-art mobile phones.

There are a number of good, sensible reasons for this change in the short-term, but the longer-term implications for high tech public relations practitioners are profound.

Today, many retailers (the IFA’s target audience) sell both types of products and many major electronic manufacturers (which underwrite the IFA) make both kinds of devices. What’s more intriguing — and this is what may make a difference ultimately in the practice of high tech PR — hybrids of the two kinds of devices are already in the works (e.g., refrigerators, with built-in LCD televisions, that send you your shopping list by email).

In high tech PR, we’re just beginning to wrap our minds around the concept of mobile marketing to cell phones. What about a future that promises DTF (direct to fridge) marketing?

Poor Jobs is Dead … Not!

2008-09-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

I hope Apple has a crisis management firm on retainer. It seems that an electronic misstep last week at the Bloomberg news outlet accidentally released a partial obituary for Steve Jobs. And the Apple CEO was still very much alive. Oops.

I would characterize this gaffe as rising to the level which requires intervention by a crisis management firm because, not so long ago, when Jobs was battling pancreatic cancer, he had kept it secret for months while he researched alternative treatments — a material issue for a publicly traded company, according to some. Then, according to CNET, “When Jobs appeared onstage at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, his thin appearance led some bloggers and company critics to speculate that he was ill again. … So given a CEO whose health has been discussed so speculatively in the echo chamber of the blogosphere, and whose company's stock has been shown to be far from immune to the influence of the rumor mill, the appearance — however brief — of a Jobs obituary online must certainly have been disquieting for those who stumbled upon it.”

There was no animus in this crisis … no partisan battling … just an electronic glitch. But a crisis management firm can help anticipate and ameliorate the negative effects of even the most innocent of accidents.

Brilliant Banking PR: Not Just Found in NY

2008-09-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

The New York banking industry has not cornered the market when it comes to creative marketing and public relations initiatives.

GOOD magazine ran an interesting story recently about Committed Action to Reduce and End Smoking (CARES), a savings program offered by the Green Bank of Caraga in Mindanao, Philippines. Consumers who want to quit smoking open a deposit account with a minimum of one dollar. For the next six months, they make deposits equivalent to the amount of money they would otherwise spend on cigarettes. At the end of the six months, depositors take a urine test to confirm that they haven’t smoked recently. If they pass the test, they get their money back. If they fail, the account is closed and the money is donated to a charity. Research has shown that opening an account increases a would-be non-smoker’s likelihood of success by 53 percent. Not even a nicotine patch has such a high success rate!

This is banking public relations that does well by doing good. It’s the kind of tactic that should be considered from New York to Los Angeles.

There Is Nothing like a Nap

2008-08-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ken Makovsky, the CEO of our public relations firm, has written about the benefits of “power napping” on his blog, My Three Cents. He passionately believes that naps enhance information processing and learning, reverse information overload and increase productivity. He’s definitely not alone in his views.

If you too want to deploy a napping strategy to become “smarter, healthier and safer,” it’s worth checking out the Boston Globe feature, “How to Nap.” It’s not just a great in-depth look at the myriad health benefits of naps and how to attain them, it’s also a great example of how to use a well-designed visual to effectively communicate complex information quickly and easily.

Just How Respected Is Your Company?

2008-08-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

Careful reputation management is an absolutely essential component of any corporate identity campaign. After all, we’re all more likely to work for, buy products and services from and recommend companies we respect and trust.

In June, the Research Institute (RI) released the results of their third annual “Global Pulse” survey, which is designed to measure the overall respect, trust, esteem, admiration and good feelings consumers have towards the largest 600 companies in the world, including the 150 largest U.S. corporations. The top-line results of this study are published annually in Forbes as a ranking of “The World’s Most Respected Companies.”

Google ranks #1 as the most highly respected company in the U.S. in 2008.

Consumers are most influenced by a company’s delivery of high quality products and services, accounting for more than 18% of a company’s reputation, according to RI; but governance and citizenship together account for more than 30% of a company’s reputation.

Here’s a complete list of the top ten most respected American companies:

1. Google
2. Johnson & Johnson
3. Kraft Foods Inc.
4. General Mills
5. Walt Disney
6. United Parcel Service
7. 3M
8. Xerox
9. Colgate-Palmolive
10. Texas Instruments

Very High Tech: Sky-High Tech, to Be Exact

2008-08-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

In his Personal Technology column in the Wall Street Journal, Walter Mossberg reports that inflight WiFi is on the way. A new system called Gogo will make it possible for any passenger with a WiFi-enabled laptop, PDA or cell phone to surf the Web, use email or IM texting and download files, including streaming audio and video, once the aircraft has reached 10,000 feet. A data-only system, Gogo will not enable phone calls and will block all services involving voice communications.

The new service — priced at $12.95 for flights of three hours or longer and $9.95 for shorter trips — is already available on a trial basis on select American Airlines flights between New York and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. It will shortly be available also on Virgin America.

It’s a mixed blessing, this new technology. We’re either going to be more connected and productive public relations professionals, or we’ll lose one of the last opportunities left to sit quietly for a few hours and just … think.