Dana Perino, in her farewell schmooze with the White House Press Corps made a wish that is worth as the next administration moves up behind the podium.
“America needs more reporters, not fewer, so let’s hope someone figures out a business model that will keep you in your seats for a long time to come.”
Her final statements were interrupted by the likes of Helen Thomas –she who grilled any Press Secretary— whom Perino never seemed to like, but is of the journo caliber this country needs more of.
The president elect is taking a leaf off the social media marketing book to gather ideas from citizens.
Starbucks‘ MyStarbucksIdea has been around for several months, basically asking people to “Help shape the future of Starbucks.”
Now the Obama people have launched the Citizen’s Briefing Book –part of Change.gov. To contribute to the ‘book’ that will be printed using the best ideas and given to Obama, you have to sign in with your full name, email address and zip code.
People are sending up their ideas in droves. More than 9,500 on the Economy, and about half that on Energy and Environment, and a little less than that on Education. Ideas could be voted up or down, like Digg. Gives you –him– and the country a sense of the hot-button issues.
This kind of governance will radically change opinion polls, focus groups and political consultancy forever. And it’s only just begun
I have seen many open letters, and wondered, how many of these could Barack really read, if he ever gets to that dossier.
To make it easy, Mr. Obama, here’s a selection you could read at leisure.
“Resuscitating a dead guy — particularly one whose yearning for peace has been used to sell everything from diapers to ice cream — never works in your favor.”
“Social Media is right-hemisphere brain function…which is why the left-hemispherical ROI evangelists have a hard time understanding it.”
“It can be a trivial and childish realm, filled with blather about bodily functions, pet excrement and what users had for breakfast, lunch or dinner.”
“Health care is one of the best messengers of peace between nations.”
“I have decided that my goal for 2009 and beyond is to be famous for relevance.”
“You have proven that Wikipedia matters to you, and that you support our mission: to bring free knowledge to the planet, free of charge and free of advertising. You’ve helped make and keep Wikipedia available for the whole world.”
We said goodbye to some extraordinary people this year.
PR disasters and signs of the times
Milestones:
2008 brought some sweeping changes to marketing, journalism and PR.
But as PR got tight with marketing, technology and media, the old, timeworn, definitions had to be reworked, as the practice of PR changed. I found a thought provoking definition by Parry Headrick of Shift Communications) who called PR still about fishing, but:
“once there was but an ocean filled with a certain type of fish, today there are channels leading to different bodies of water, where the fish exhibit unusual behaviors and don’t respond to the old bait.
It’s PR’s job to find out what these new fish in these unusual waters like to eat – before ever casting the first line.”
The use of word ‘channels’ is not accidental. The angling metaphor brings up interesting analogies.
Key issues were the blocking of PR Spam, and the assault on the ’embargo‘ that closed out the year.
You better watch out, you better not cry, you better rein in your PR spammers I’m telling you why…
TechCrunch‘s Michael Arrington has launched a missive a la Chris Anderson, saying PR firms are out of control. Specifically, it’s the PR people for the tech industry that have raised his ire. Now, he’s mad as hell and … will be putting a lump of coal in your stocking.
But it’s not just about PR spam, it’s about the abuse of the embargo. TechCrunch is now launching a sort of a fatwa against the embargo. See Death to the embargo.
“We’ve never broken an embargo at TechCrunch. Not once. Today that ends. From now our new policy is to break every embargo. We’ll happily agree to whatever you ask of us, and then we’ll just do whatever we feel like right after that. We may break an embargo by one minute or three days. We’ll choose at random.”
Arrington also warns that his blacklist is coming. Is this drastic, or has this been coming?
Cross-posted to ValleyPRBlog. Join the discussion there!
No amount of media training can prepare a president for a media assault like this.
Bush’s shoe attack in Iraq this week reminded me of another attack on a head of state visiting a country he was not exactly welcome.
In July 1987, a soldier in the ceremonial guard hit then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the shoulder with a rifle. The soldier was protesting India’s involvement in Sri Lanka. The context of this state visit was controversial, too. The buzz this created –before camera phones and viral videos– was damaging to Gandhi’s stature.
When the history of the Iraq was and the failed strategy is written, the journalist’s shoe will surely become a metaphor of protest –fit for the Newseum.
A great way to gain attention is to stage a guerrilla event, and have a great pitch. But yellow crime scene tape never fails to get attention, as in this case of activists who “took over” the Washington DC office of Environmental Defense.
They taped off the entrance with yellow tape that read “global warming crime scene” for added effect. The tape has been used before, against BofA and ExxonMobil. The latter’s headquarters were declared a ‘crime scene’ by protesters who also used a truck. More commonly, activits have appropriated advertising tactics such as billboards and posters. This one by an animal rights group took that even further.
Oh, my!
It’s not just the attack ads that affect your reputation. It’s also the sum of the comments and hyperlinks Google’s elephant memory leaves there for posterity.
Motrin Moms – the backlash
ABC network’s slant –why 12,300 comments matter
Rush Limbaugh‘s attack on Michael J. Fox – bad Google junce from 2006
These are brand-names, but you and I could also take steps –pre-emptive ones– to avoid the whiplash of the long tail.
Hoipolloireport 
