Public Relations

Are your “Message-force multipliers” working for you?

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

A ‘message-force multiplier’ is a fancy way of describing a person who is highly influential, especially within the media. They have been employed by the Department of Defense, which has practically embedded these influentials to get a certain narrative across.

It is shocking to think that this happens in the normal course of the news media, but it isn’t. Like product placement, the branding tactic to get favorable impressions through a medium, this happens all the time.

Let’s sidestep the political and ethical implications of this for a moment and see what we could learn from this. Who are your message-force multipliers? Could they be already ’embedded’ and ready that all we need to do is empower them, without having to resort to cloak-and-dagger tactics?

Networked audience. At the university where I work, students, not Communicators, are the real voices. They are highly networked in both analog and digital realms. Their channels (dorm room discussions, text messaging, study groups etc) carry our brand personality further and faster than any advertisement or press release; they ‘multiply’ the impact of the message.

Motivated audience. Not everyone who’s connected and networked is highly motivated. Walmart has a group of Mommy Bloggers who are passionate about the brand. These ElevenMoms, have their own ‘beats’ as it were –frugal living, product reviews etc. One is “a suburban subversive, plotting to reinvent the way we stay-at-home-moms think about keeping up with the Joneses.” Customers who ‘plot’ on your behalf? That’s worth a lot.

Peer-to-Peer. Dell’s Digital Nomads group (see my comments earlier) is an amazing place where the brand is very low profile, and the members basically help each other. It’s not just a web site. Members reach out to each other via a Facebook group, LinkedIn, Twitter, and a YouTube channel.

Quotes for the week ending 18 October, 2008

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“But let me tell you one thing straight away — I’m envious of plumbers.”

John Brown, of Georgetown University, in his Public Diplomacy and PR blog.

“social capitalists”

What NBC calls the target audience for its local ‘TV web destinations’ as reported by Mike Walsh, at Online Media Daily

“a mortadella sandwich”

Fabio Betti Salgado, an IABC member and blogger from Sao Paolo, quoting Brazil’s presidentLuis Inácio Lula da Silva on his definition of the financial crisis.

“If you look at it holistically, marketing is social media. It’s a two way exchange – value exchange.”

Mike Kujawski on the TwistImage podcast.

“Our little brains were never in a position to handle that much infomation.”

Fabrice Florin, or News Trust, quoted in a New York Times article on rumor in the digital age.

“This is a Google cache link, because the picture of the disgusting T-shirt…”

Article on misogyny aimed at Sarah Palin frm an Obama-Biden campaign web site.

“Oh wait. This is advertising. Reality is irrelevant. All that matters is cool art direction and great photography.”

AdRants, commenting on a inane Pepsi ad that involves a lifeguard and a woman on the beach.

“Copyright law is a mess …Complain to Dub-ya who signed another bill this week on copyright law.”

Steve Jones, commenting on Larry Lessig’s blog post about McCain-Palin campaign complaining to YouTube about meritless copyright claims that have a chilling effect on free speech.

“You don’t ask a cosmetic surgeon how many hours it will take. You don’t really care about the cost. It’s an abstraction, but your face is not …As a writer, you’re a sort of surgeon yourself-a word surgeon.”

Art Spikol, at Writers Digest, on Flat Fees vs Hourly Rates.

“The idea of online cannibalizing print is not just wrong, it’s the opposite”

John Ridding, CEO of Financial Times, whose newsstand sales rose 30 percent in the US, and 20 percent in Europe.

“True enough, it is a special rule. But isn’t it appropriate?”

Lawrence Lessig, on the McCain-Palin campaign asking YouTube to   give special consideration to video take-down complaints. Critics believe the politicians should stick by the free-market model!

“Bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium.”

Ingredients found in brand-name bottled water, which, it turns out to show is no more pure than tap water!

Video diaries to be used in Afghanistan

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With so much ‘video’ coming from terrorists who know only too well the media would give them airtime, it always made me wonder if there was not third way to counter this.

The first way would be to ignore them or prohibit their rebroadcast, which would be impossible considering the ability to self-broadcast, anyway.

The second way was the pathetic approach taken by the government, post 9-11, which was essentially a PR and advertising approach, creating happy-people video vignettes. Called Shared Values, and headed by much-respected ad veteran Charlotte Beers, the $11 million campaign was a failure, and an embarrassment. The videos were not inherently bad, but they came from the wrong source: The State Department! (Under the banner of an organization called the “”Council of American Muslims for Understanding.”)

Trying to solve “they hate us” with a Madison Avenue push tactic, that pretended to be a grassroots organization? Anyone could have seen why this was so wrong.

Enter the user-generated concept, from the government. Make that the British government. It’s a plan that has not yet been approved, but it involves getting NGO’s to hand out mobile phones to ordinary people in Afghanistan to create video diaries. The idea is to “deny the Taliban of a monopoly on this space” –meaning to counter hate-ridden, user-generated propaganda videos with other stories from the country. Given that this borders on citizen journalism, it has a better chance in the credibility department. Let’s just hope they don’t put an ad agency head in charge of this social media program!

Sidebar: This approach is not new. It borrows from similar experiments such as The Border film project, using disposable cameras given to people –migrants and Minutemen– on both sides of the fence in the US and Mexico.

I will be keeping tabs on this project, for sure.

Employee blog becomes safe harbor

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Great story at Ragan.com about an employee of a law firm starting a blog, Heller Highwater, to support other staff members as his company disbands and leaves them at (pardon the pun) sea.

The author (going by the name Heller Drone) puts it this way, keeping with the highwater metaphor:

“We don’t need to be rescued – we just need to be given the proper tools to get to shore on our own.  And those tools are that to which we are entitled and should expect to receive from the management of a once world-class law firm.”

The blog was set up as “a support site for the professional support staff of a global law firm in turmoil” and notes how what he is doing is “a reminder of … how a lack of preparation, forward-thinking, open communication and honesty led to the downfall of a workplace one could be proud of.”

Where have we heard this before? The lack of open communication leading to a crash.

What I like most is the policy they wish to uphold, that says the blog will not tolerate badmouthing or be a place for diatribes. It is after all a safe harbor.

Great job, Drone!

Farmer in the DELL no joke: milk, beef gets labeled, tracked

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The COOL standard is here. A short press release from the USDA announced that as of September 30th this year, all “covered commodities” involving beef, pork, lamb, goat, chicken, fresh and frozen fruit and vegetable, peanut, pecan, ginseng and macadamia nut) will need to have Country of Origin Labeling.

The idea is to provide us consumers with more information, so we know exactly where the lettuce and the meat on a hamburger came from. Will this be TMI? Apparently 92  percent of consumers wanted this. Might customers adjust their consumption patterns because they would be armed with this information? I think it could lead to new trends in branding, where some smart farms could create the equivalent of an ‘Intel Inside’ signature for making certain menu items more desirable at certain restaurants.

Speaking of smart farms, farming went high tech many years ago, but this story is far out! A cow with an embedded chip, a programmable robotic arm that gets to the udder, and lasers used to test the milk. And you thought a refrigerator that sends you a text message when it senses you have run out of milk, is a crazy concept!

Global warming, visualised, dramatized

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Offsetters, a Vancouver organization used an interesting guerrilla marketing tactic to make people rethink what global warming will include.

Including: a live ‘lifeguard on duty’ and lifejackets under benches on the street.

Guerrilla marketing doesn’t only depend on controversy and surprise to be effective.

Jay Conrad Levinson (who wrote the books on Guerrilla Marketing) talks of commitment and patience, among other factors. Offsetters does have a few tools to help people calculate their carbon footprint, but how many organizations will add those tools to the mix? Even the ‘Climate Friendly’ link on its site with the option to book a climate friendly flight via Air France and WestJet, has a dubious explanation of why it makes the flight so good for the planet:

“…when the customer books their flight, the contribution made to Offsetters from participating airlines makes their flight “climate friendly”.

Meaning just contributing to Offsetters makes it a good thing in and of itself?  For all the drama created by the life saving metaphor, this is pretty lame. Levinson might be shocked!

Arizona PR practitioner ‘leases’ the sun

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Fellow IABC member and PR professional, Len Gutman, is one of the first people in the Valley of the Sun  to install solar panels on his roof. It’s an interesting tale of a PR practitioner getting involved in a word-of-mouth campaign with a sustainability edge to it.

SolarCity, the company with whom the Gutman family signed up, had suggested they hold a ‘solar party’ to tell friends and neighbors about the decision. “We thought that was a great idea and so we held one a few weeks ago and more than 50 people showed up,” says Len.

Sort of like a Tupperware party for the planet.

The investment was hard to beat – zero down!  Basically the panels are leased –the Gutman’s monthly lease payment practically offsets the cost they save on their electric bill.

And here’s the kicker. So far, seven of those who attended the party have also signed with SolarCity and the hosts will get a referral fee. Is this great PR for SolarCity, or what?

What happens when the 15-year lease is up? “We have several options – we can have them removed at no cost, we can re-lease them for five more years, we can upgrade to new technology and start a new lease, or we can buy them for the residual value,” says Len. “Just like leasing a car!”

Poorly timed ad for Merrill Lynch

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No amount of advertising can repair the damage for some financial institutions.

In this week’s The Economist magazine, the powerful cover image (left) shows the cyclone sucking up brand names like Fannie Mae, AIG, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers and … Merill Lynch.

But the bull got sucked into the swirl by another means. Its full page ad inside (probably scheduled and printed before the news stories were laid out) ran with this copy:

“Merrill Lynch connects capital to opportunity…”Our 94-year history of leadership in the financial industry has been a source of confidence for our clients in both good and challenging markets.”

Quotes form the week ending 27 September, 2008

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“Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where – where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border…”

Governor Sarah Palin, in response to a question by Katie Couric of CBS about her experience in international relations.

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.”

Barack Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, displaying a poor sense of history, on the Today Show. Roosevelt was not in office at that time, and, radio, not television, was the medium used.

“In what respect, Charlie?”

Sarah Palin, in her first media interview given to ABC News. Charles Gibson asked her about her stance on the Bush Doctrine, about which she didn’t seem to have a clue.

“Turn off the rumor mills, pull down the mocked-up artwork, and say goodbye to the blogger speculation.”

Announcement of Google’s Gphone, launched in collaboration with TMobile. It is the first mobile device built around a Android, Google’s Linux application.

“He wants to socialize Wall Street and privatize Social Security. Talk about upside down.”

Reader or The Arizona Republic, Roy Otterbein or Phoenix, commenting on Bush’s approach to the financial crisis.

“Our 94-year history of leadership in the financial industry has been a source of confidence…”

Copy from a Merill Lynch full page ad, appearing in the September 20th issue of The Economist, whose cover featured a cyclone sucking up brand names Fannie Mae, AIG, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.

“Talks are breaking down, I think McCain’s move just proved how important it was to be in DC.”

Tweet by one James Eiden about legislators and the White House hustling over the $7 billion bail out.

“McCain’s bluff called! Un-suspends campaign and attending 1st debate, even though $700B agreement not reached yet”

Another tweet by one Presceile, revealing how the pendulum swung.

“The US President has been wrong about so much during his eight years in office that it is tempting to dismiss his warnings of the impending financial apocalypse as yet more hyperbole – the boy crying wolf.”

Economics editor Edmund Conway or The Telegraph, on the need for the British to act fast too, and stop trying to give paracetamol to someone with a heart attack.