Public Relations / Public Affairs Ideas To Use

Getting A Little PR

Few stories remind us how not to approach public relations better than the news about Howard Castleman and his Castle Toyota/Scion dealership in Baltimore.  The story also underscores the difference between substantial public relations and flimsy publicity.

Castleman promised $2,100 scholarships to four graduating seniors from Baltimore's Patterson High School.  Checks would be handed out at the school's senior farewell ceremony, and Castleman wanted the media invited and his Castle Toyota/Scion banner hung for the event.  Not unreasonable.

During the week before the ceremony, the school's JROTC instructor had a heart attack in the school's parking lot and died.  The school felt the farewell ceremony should take a more solemn tone and acknowledge the deceased instructor, and they felt the media should not be invited.

The news - that is, the part about the media not being invited - did not seem to sit well with Castleman.

He rescinded the scholarships.

"We opted not to give it to them because of, quite frankly, attitude," said Castleman to The Baltimore Sun. He said if the press had been invited it would have helped increase donations to the school, paid a public tribute to the fallen JROTC instructor and "we would've gotten some PR."

But that's not all Castleman had to say.

"These people aren't going to buy cars from me.  We get a little PR out of it," Castleman told The Sun. "I'll never, ever, ever give money again.  This is it.  I'll never have another Christmas party for these kids.  It doesn't pay."

After the fallout from rescinding the scholarships - and likely his insightful remarks - Castleman reversed himself again, pledging to honor his original promise.

But others had already jumped in, pledging thousands more than Castleman to fund the scholarships.  The school's reply was a polite no thanks to Castleman.

Instead of viewing public relations as an ongoing process for communicating an organization's values, Castleman seems to view it as a quick shot at cheap publicity.  By rescinding the scholarships, Castleman appears to have revealed what may be his true feelings:  He doesn't care about the kids, only getting "a little PR" from his largess.

In that sense Castleman is right.  This type of "PR" just doesn't pay.

Here are links to The Baltimore Sun's coverage of the story:

• “Firm reneges on scholarships”  6/3/08
• “Car dealer renews scholarship offer”  6/4/08
• “To the point”  6/5/08
• “Strings on gifts a knotty problem”  6/5/08

Text Message Your Message

My cell phone beeps a lot in the summer.  As soon as baseball season begins, my phone alerts me to the latest Mets score.  Every three innings during each game, I receive a simple text message. When the message says, "Atlanta Braves 0, New York Mets 5," I'm feeling pretty good. When it says, "New York Yankees 0, New York Mets 10," I'm feeling borderline ecstatic.

Just as text messages keep me informed of the score, the cell network can also be used to reach constituents for issue advocacy and election campaigns.

Greenpeace Argentina used text messages to recruit 4,500 people to contact their local officials to support an urban waste reduction plan.

In the United Kingdom, more than 50,000 people used text messages to sign up for the International Fund for Animal Welfare's campaign against Canadian seal hunting.

During the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, protest organizers relied on text messages to inform demonstrators of protest travel routes and streets blocked by the police.  Text messages also alerted legal aid attorneys about where and when their services were needed.

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama offer text messages to supporters.  The Obama campaign goes a step further, offering issue specific text messages on health, education, Iraq, and jobs.  Supporters can also download ringtones and four different wallpapers to their cell phones.  (Obama text message page, Clinton text message page)

What do you need to start your own text messaging effort for a political or issue campaign?  You need to have access to a short code.  If you ever watched American Idol, you will recognize the short code as the five- or six-digit code you need to type into your cell phone to vote for the performer of your choice.

Getting your own unique short code can be expensive.  The alternative is to work with a vendor who will provide you with their short code.  The disadvantage of using a vendor's short code is that you will be sharing the short code with the vendor's other clients.  People responding to your campaign via text message will need to type a unique phrase in the first line of the message to distinguish it as a message for your campaign effort.

MobileActive.org is a good resource to learn more about text messaging and using cell phones for advocacy campaigns.  To download their papers, you will need to register with the site.  Another good source of information is MobileStorm.com, which has a very useful Mobile Marketing Tips page.  The mobile marketing grid is a great tool to reach thousands of users, but must be used appropriately.

Clemens Defends Reputation With YouTube Pitch: Too Little, Too Late?

Defending his reputation and once almost guaranteed induction into baseball's Hall of Fame, pitcher Roger Clemens today released a nearly two-minute video denying he used steroids or human growth hormones.

Clemens' video comes twenty days after his name surfaced in a report looking into the illegal use of performance enhancing substances by Major League Baseball players.

The video is the third response by the Clemens camp.  Houston attorney Rusty Hardin released a statement on December 13, the day the report was released.  Five days later, Clemens denied the allegations in a two-paragraph statement released by agent Randy Hendricks.

Clemens' YouTube response is the latest example of how online video is an important crisis communications tool.

Clemens would have been better served if his advisors issued a video statement from the pitcher within twenty-four hours of the report's release.  The video would have appeared on television news reports across the country and been linked to from news stories and blog posts on the Internet.

Within those impressionable twenty-four hours, the public would have seen Clemens personally refute the allegations and defend his honor; an infinitely more effective response than a printed statement issued by a lawyer.