Altyrian View

Perhaps one of the reasons that CompUSA didn’t make it was because of their customer service. Luckily, the store near me was pretty nice, and I always thought that I was getting good service. Based on posting on the ‘Net, however, good customer service was not part of their corporate culture. Engadget posted the layoff letter that the CompUSA employees got for their holiday gifts (it’s below - click for a bigger version).

Disgusting. First, one would hope that a letter like this would come from the president of the company. Second (and more importantly), the letter should have been written by someone in public relations! If they’ve all been fired, at least someone with a heart. Hey CompUSA, here’s a freebee:

Dear Team Member:

It is with great sorrow that I inform you that CompUSA will be closing its store at … We value your contributions as well as the contributions of your fellow employees in making this location a great store to work and to purchase electronics. Thank you.

We expect your last day of employment to be between February 8, 2008, and February 22, 2008. Your team leader will be able to give you an exact date sometime in January. Unfortunately, our CompUSA stores across the country are being closed so we will not be able to transfer your job to another location.

I understand that this news might come as surprise and that the coming weeks will be difficult. If you would like any additional information about the closing or how this closing might affect you, please call me at … Good luck in your future endeavors!

Sincerely…

Put the legal stuff in small letters in the footer of the page. I’d send an invoice, but …

If you live in a state that doesn’t have an early primary vote for party presidential candidate, you haven’t seen any of the ads yet. No HIllary or Obama ads. No Huckabee or Rudy. Indeed nearly every opinion we have of the candidates is based on word of mouth or media reports. For us, the media is playing a much more important role in your decision for president.

And what’s getting press these days? Unless you haven’t turned on a TV or opened a newspaper, you’ve heard about Oprah’s speech for Obama. Nearly 30,000 people came out to hear Oprah. Obama was there too. This morning I heard a commentary questioning whether Oprah would translate into votes. Ummm yeah.

Everyone reading these words has heard a speech delivered by someone with whom they have disagreed. Regardless of how strongly you disagree, if the speaker is strong enough, you are impressed, and in some cases, you begin to see his or her point of view. I think that simply getting people to listen is a big step for any of the politicians running. Today, Obama has Oprah to help facilitate that listening.

At the end of the day, advertisements will shape your opinion of the presidential candidates, but isn’t it exciting that PR is playing such a vital role at this point in the game?

As if we aren’t teased enough, Apple is poking fun at our industry.

Ok, it’s funny.

Sometimes lawyers need to give way to good common sense. I just bought a Nintendo Wii for the kids (forget that I now have more games for me than “kids” games). It’s amazingly fun. As you will recall, there was some bad press a while back from some people who were accidentally letting go of the controller (called a “remote”) during gameplay and throwing it through the TV. There is even a Web site that chronicles the damage.

Now we have yet to cause any damage from tossing our remote, but it’s clear that Nintendo is taking this very seriously. Every singe time you start a game, you have to acknowledge a warning to put on the supplied wrist strap. To me, it’s annoying to have to view this screen every single time that I play. While annoying, I get over it. What takes the cake is that yesterday I get an email from my good buddies at Nintendo. Instead of exciting news about new Wii games, I get a reminder to wear the wrist strap.

Nintendo, we got it. Now let me the kids play.

I read an interesting post at PR Studies about the press release. It got me thinking about why I think media types hate press releases.

I think the problem with the press release is three fold:
- Everyone *thinks* they can write them
- People have forgotten who the audience is
- It isn’t news

Point number 1: Press releases *look* so easy to write that everyone thinks that they can throw a few words on a piece of paper and send it to the media. This often results in tons of junk that the reporter has to wade through to get to the *real* media releases. Often these “written by myself” press releases are too long, lack focus, aren’t written to be published or produced, have pathetic grammar, aren’t really news, etc. No wonder media hates press releases – so many of them are junk.

Point number 2: Too often releases are ads with “For Immediate Release” written at the top. They are focused on sales and not on providing news. Again, it’s a wonder that any release ever gets read by the media.

Point number 3: That one’s pretty self-explanitory.

Doug Fisher at Common Sense Journalism got his hands on a memo from the executive editor and the managing editor of the Washington Post talking about story length. Below is the rough overview of article length. Check out the post for the full memo.

• A small event, or an incremental development worth noting can be a digest item. The digests are important for readers.
• A day story, significant enough to write for our readers but based on one event or development – 6 to 15 inches. We frequently end up with 12-inch holes in the paper. Let’s use them to the best advantage.
• A single event with multiple layers or levels of information, 18 to 24 inches.
• A more complex news feature of ambition and altitude–25-35 inches.
• Major enterprise, involving in-depth reporting or narrative story telling–40 to 50 inches.
• Extraordinary long-form narrative or investigation, magazine-type stories–60 to 80 inches or, rarely, more.

If those are the “rules” for length in newspaper articles at the Washington Post, should we not try to follow those same rules when we send releases to them? I find it increasingly annoying when I review a release that is much, much too long for the subject. We should make our press releases as long as the news requires.

Yesterday, I read a post on the Making News blog where David Henderson posted an entire release from Apple. This is the whole thing:

Cisco and Apple(R) today announced that they have resolved their dispute involving the “iPhone” trademark. Under the agreement, both companies are
free to use the “iPhone” trademark on their products throughout the world. Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been
granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark. In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for
interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.

Wow. No boilerplate. No quote. Nothing but the news. Can we get away with sending out releases like that for our clients? Will our clients accept releases that are that short or do they feel like they need more from their public relations agency?

Last week I started a “PRSA / Public Relations Pros” (I had a character limit on the name) group in Second Life. I invite you all to join. Just do a search for “PRSA” in the groups window. You can also drop me an email for an invite. Just be sure to include your SL avatar name.

Obviously, this doesn’t replace the SL Business Communicators group that I am also in. While they focus on communicating in Second Life, I want this group to be communicators who happen to also be in SL. I hope that someday we can have programs and such so that the group is active and provides some benefit.

Right now, this is not an official PRSA chapter. I’ve sent an email to PRSA to get their feedback on our group. I included PRSA in the name to make it easier for PR pros to find us. I was also going to include IABC in the name, but I ran out of characters.

According to an article in the New York Times as posted on this blog, only two CEOs from Fortune 500 companies blogs – only one of those blogs on a regular basis. So, is CEO blogging at these huge companies ever going to happen?

I asked my good friend, Jesse Moore, who is a retired marketing / PR guru, what he thought. Jesse’s not a big fan of the blog. He said “the more effective CEO is going to be the one that’s walking around and not sitting in front of his damn computer blogging.” As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. Although he’s right, I think that we are going to see more and more CEOs blog on a regular basis.

The job of the CEO is as much communicator as anything else. (more…)

Managing a crisis is never an easy task (although many of us enjoy the challenge). I always tell my clients to address the issue quickly and “fix” the problem (or address the steps that will be taken to resolve the problem in the future) in the initial statement.

Whether or not you like Mel Gibson, he’s given us a good example of quickly quelling a media crisis. Let’s break down his statement. First, and most importantly, this was released less than 36 hours after the incident. He also released it over the weekend. Typically, timing like that is good because coverage will be lighter over a weekend since many news outlets have fewer staff available to cover stories.

After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed. I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the L.A. County sheriff’s. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person.

Mel retells the story. A good idea where rumors could get started around facts in an incident. He immediately admits shame and remorse. He’s admitting that he did something wrong right up front.

I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said.

Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry.

Mel really put it out on the line here. He outlines his mistakes and is upfront in calling his actions “despicable.” Ok, John Q Public, disagree with those last two paragraphs. You can’t. Nearly everyone reading that statement agrees 100% with Mel. It’s hard to be angry with someone that you agree with.

I have battled the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health.

Finally, Mel tells us how he’s going to address the problem. He’s a little weak here by just saying “already taken necessary steps,” but we can all assume that he means he’s going to some sort of rehab.

In all, I think Mel handled the situation well. He covered the issue and told us what he is doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again. If I’m a reporter, what can I say on Monday? Not much. Mel has covered the story and unless he makes more news (gets arrested again or publicly checks into a clinic), this story is dead. That’s a win for Mel. When we have a crisis, that our job too. To cover the story so that by the end of the day, the story is covered completely and, most importantly, is over.

The Second Life Relay for Life is over. That’s the even hosted by the American Cancer Society that found its way into the virtual world of Second Life. You can read all about it here and here.

The headline is (as it should be), the event raised nearly $40,000. But, I think that the $40k is just the tip of the iceberg for the event. Of course, everyone who has ever mentioned Second Life in a blog has a post about the SLRFL. Think Wired will say something about it? How about the Wall Street Journal? The press that the American Cancer Society will get from this single event, will far exceed the $40k that it made. Now, across the country, people who have never heard of the Relay for Life (it is a real event after all) will now be aware of it. When they hear about their local Relay (yup, there is probably a RFL in your home town), they will be more likely to participate. This is a huge win for the ACS. Or course, it’s also a huge win for Linden Labs and agencies that are working to get companies to look at SL for marketing opportunities.