PR

Melrose Jewelers, Rolex and Owen Wilson ? The Sequel

Faces of Denial Before I start this post, I just want to apologize in advance if it gets a little lengthy – it’s my response to a Cease and Desist letter I received last week.

Recently, I wrote about Melrose Jewelers and a press release they had issued. The release discussed actor Owen Wilson’s suicide attempt and said that his Rolex watch had played a major part in the actor being alive today.

At the time, I personally found the release to be crass and in poor taste – it smacked of taking advantage of someone’s personal problems for gain (in this case, to sell more watches by Melrose Jewelers).

The comments in the post seemed to agree, as did numerous other views of the same press release. To get you up to speed, I’ll wait while you read the post, if that’s okay.

Last week, I received a Cease and Desist letter from the Law Offices of Peter D. Cole, who is based in Los Angeles and represents Melrose Jewelers. The letter made a number of claims against my post and requested that I remove it. Failure to do so would result in Melrose Jewelers “pursuing other alternatives to mitigate any damages”.

To save time, I’ve scanned the attorney’s letter and transferred it to a PDF file, which you can read here. Again, I’ll wait until you’ve read it so you can compare it to the post in question, if you like. The letter is “as is” – there is no letterhead or registered business numbers on it (which I had to request from Peter D. Cole for clarification). I’ll let you read the letter before continuing.

The attorney for Melrose Jewelers is ultimately saying that I’m causing his client loss of business; that my post is “inciteful rhetoric”; that I’m associated with another Internet watch sales business; and that I wasn’t stating facts. I find that a slight on my character and transparency. Additionally, the request to Cease and Desist under threat of further legal action is never pleasant.

Therefore, obviously, I felt a need to respond. This is it (taken from my emailed response to Peter D. Cole today, and with Cole’s points in bold).

Hi there Peter,
Thanks for you response, appreciate it.
With regards your client’s “claims”, I would respond with the following:
1. “You had conversations with unnamed Rolex executives, to incite Rolex to take actions and/or make comments about my client’s advertising.” There is nothing in the comments that says this. I mentioned I was, and I quote, “speaking to someone today about Rolex’s awareness. He’s in the jewelry industry and was at a big meeting last night where the CEO of Rolex was also attending.” That’s a big difference from knowing Rolex executives. FYI, the person I was speaking to is a director of a pearl company – quite the different market from your client.
2. “…If you yourself are somehow associated with an Internet watch sales business, as my client is informed and believes”. As I mentioned, my “relationship” is with a pearl company – hardly a competitor. Your client’s statement also seems bizarre. I’m guessing if he knows someone that owns a fast food restaurant, he can’t say that he doesn’t like McDonald’s, as that would be seen as “unfair business practices”?
3. “You describe my client as little more than a second hand watch shop”. By your own words, you say that people who “cannot afford to purchase them new, to obtain them pre-owned at a significant discount in price”. So, they’re not new? Which makes them second-hand.
My whole post was about whether or not the press release was crass (by taking advantage of someone’s personal situation for gain), as well as the editorial process that allowed it to be published. The comments that followed from my readers bore this out. Additionally, there are many more sites and blogs that offer a far more disparaging account of your client’s release than I do.
My post was not to “incite Rolex to take actions” – more, it was to question what passes as acceptable PR and why it’s important for brands to be aware of what’s being said in the name of their company.
I have some questions for your client. Did Rolex authorize this release? Did Owen Wilson authorize this release? Can it be factually proven that Owen Wilson’s watch turned him back from the precipice of despair?
Unless your client can answer “Yes” categorically to these questions, then the release (and the original blog post it stemmed from) are merely opinion, and not fact. Something which separates a news release from an opinion piece. Which is exactly what my blog referred to.
Therefore, I will be leaving the post as is.
Best,
Danny.

There are a lot of things wrong with the PR industry. There are a lot of things good about it as well. Like any industry, there are good people and not-so-good people.

One thing that is apparent is that releases like the ones Melrose Jewelers issued don’t help to repair the view that PR professionals are uncaring and will say anything for a fast buck. If there is no concrete proof that Owen Wilson’s watch helped him during some dark times, then saying that it did suggests sensationalism in order to sell more watches.

In my original post, I shared my view of that, and of using PR in this way. I also asked the question what it would do for a company’s reputation that was happy to use PR in this way.

The Cease and Desist letter from Melrose Jewelers gives me their answer. I feel it’s only fair to offer them mine. Which is why the original post will remain.

Thanks for reading. I’d be interested in your take. Is there more than PR and brand awareness being questioned here?

photo credit: narek781

How Social Media Can Help Save Lives

This is a guest post from communications professional Arik Hanson.

I’ve come to respect and know Arik pretty well over the last couple of months and I was curious how his work in the health-care sector could benefit from social media. Here Arik kindly obliges with his views.

When you work in PR in most industries, you go home at the end of the day and wonder, ?How did I make a difference today??

The answer, unfortunately, most often is you helped sell more widgets. Or, you helped the stock price go up just a bit (not lately, obviously). Or, you helped shape public perception or attitudes around an important issue or problem.

Very rarely, do you get to say, ?I helped save a life.?

But in the health care industry, you have the opportunity to do just that. OK, usually, it?s not a direct correlation and you don?t actually ?save lives?, but the point is you work for an organization that makes a huge difference?each and every single day.

You work with physicians, nurses and other patient care staff that DO save lives?and our work as PR professionals is to support them, help them tell their stories and assist them in communicating more effectively with their key stakeholders. In my book, that means I play a part in saving lives (even if it is a small one).

Now, that?s a big deal. I think most in the health care industry take that pretty damn seriously. And most days, I think we feel like we?re doing a pretty good job. But, here?s the thing: we could be doing so much more.

We could be doing more to connect with and educate our patients.

We could be doing more to share the tremendous stories that originate from within our hospitals and clinics.

And we could be doing more to help our patients with their basic health care needs and questions they have before, during and after they visit our facilities.

Here?s an idea. What if we changed the model using social media and online tools?

What if, to complement our existing health care model, we used these tools to help us develop a completely new model of care?

One that would not only be more convenient and potentially more effective than the care models of today?it might actually cost less.

That?s right, by using some of these tools, I?m convinced we can create a model that will allow us to provide quality health care outcomes for our patients at less cost. Sound crazy? Hear me out:

What if you had online access to a cadre of physicians that you could ask questions of for basic needs? You could connect with these docs online via instant messaging or video (Skype calls, perhaps?) and get practical, real-time advice on your immediate health care concerns and issues. I broke my pinkie in December?how great would it have been to connect with a doc in real-time on my Mac, show him my pinkie via Web cam and get some quick advice on a best course of action? Now, that?s meeting my needs and being patient-centered.

What if clinics and hospitals responded to patient questions and concerns in a different way online in real time? Twitter might be a good solution. Couldn?t health care organizations use Twitter the same way Comcast and others use it to address patient concerns before they escalate and start to affect their perceptions and attitudes of your hospital or clinic? The tool could even be used to direct patients to the more appropriate facilities for care?for example, instead of visiting the ER for that sore throat, you could visit your neighborhood clinic for a quick throat culture (you might be surprised what some folks use the ER for these days).

What if health care organizations used sites like Facebook and blogs to enable patients to share their stories with the thousands of others who may be about to undergo that painful procedure or may have critical concerns about their cancer diagnosis? Wouldn?t that be helpful?and comforting?to patients and drive stronger brand awareness and loyalty to your particular hospital or clinic? (Just ask Lee Aase at Mayo Clinic).

What if clinics created a completely new model for care where patients, instead of coming to a brick-and-mortar facility, visited with their physician in a virtual world (think Second Life five years from now)? Once these virtual world tools evolve and advance (and I believe they will), this will open up a whole different opportunity for clinics. Again, health care costs should go down?after all, it must be more cost-effective to visit a virtual clinic than one that?s paying utilities, leasing space and maintaining the facility, right? And, it would be conceivable to think patient satisfaction scores would skyrocket because patients could visit with their doctor from the comfort of their own home instead of trudging out into the cold and battling traffic.

We might be a few years away from this scenario, but it has the opportunity to completely transform the way physicians deliver care–and the way patients receive it.

Clearly, we?re at a crossroads with health care. Patients are demanding more, while hospitals are cutting budgets, asking staff to work longer hours and take on additional duties all while public scrutiny increases. We need to start making changes?radical, transformational changes. We can no longer settle for the status quo or incremental change. Now is our opportunity to act.

What other opportunities do you see us having to change the current health care model with the plethora of new online tools available to us?

Disclaimer: I work for Fairview Health Services, the second largest health care organization in Minnesota. The views and opinions in this post in no way reflect the thoughts, opinions or policies or Fairview Health Services.

Arik Hanson is a savvy communications professional focusing on issues in internal communications, marketing communications, public relations and social media. He currently works for the second-largest health care system in Minnesota. He also has a part-time consulting business, ACH Communications. You can read more at his blog or connect with Arik on Twitter.

photo credit: ThinkPanama

D E Alexander and 24/7 News Net Give New Meaning to Scum

I don’t often lose my temper but D.E. Alexander and his 24/7 News Net site brings new meaning to the word scum and lowlife. D.E. Alexander is allegedly an author and investigative journalist and 24/7 News Net is his alternative news site. Today, thanks to my close friend Gina, I learned that D.E. Alexander and his 24/7 News Net site is obviously happy to join the lines of human and media scum.

He has issued a press release of incredible poor taste – and I use the term press release very loosely – that is calling last night’s tragedy in Buffalo “The Friday the 13th Plane Crash”. D.E. Alexander then goes on to use the release as a reason to follow an alleged psychic who saw this happening. Funnily enough, the website of this *psychic* looks very similar to that of D.E. Alexander’s 24/7 News Net site – coincidence?

This is media and its lowest. This is nothing more than blatant capitalizing on tragedy for personal gain, notoriety, call it what you will. If D.E. Alexander thinks this is investigative journalism, he needs to think again.

If you look around D.E. Alexander’s site, you’ll see it has a Members Area where you can see “death pictures from the JFK assassination and Princess Diana.” This says all you need to know about 24/7 News Net and the *writer/journalist* that is D.E. Alexander.

It would appear that this may be a pseudonym, though, since going to Google brings up no results for D.E. Alexander. I wanted to contact him to ask about the release and his obvious lack of compassion and morality. No luck – and there’s no contact info on the 24/7 News Net website either.

There is some information about 24/7 News Net on WhoIs.net, that shows a registrant address in Philadelphia, with an admin address in Coral Springs, FL. Still, no contact number. Something to hide?

Tragedy happens all around us, as it did last night in Buffalo, and tragedy has to be reported. But using it in such an immoral and disgusting way – is there a place for that? Or is freedom of speech a given, regardless of how it’s used?

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Communication + Unity = Community

Yesterday on Twitter I made the comment that communication + unity = community. A simple play on words, it seemed to hit the target with a lot of people. This guest post from Cathy Browne, a Canadian PR professional currently based in the US, takes that sentiment further and looks at how we can all help our local communities.

It?s Martin Luther King Day here in the US, and President-Elect Obama has urged us all to honor Dr. King?s memory by performing good works for others. People all over the country have responded, and I?m thrilled so many have answered the call.

Today got me thinking how, as PR professionals, we can lend a hand every day, right in our own neighborhoods. In this brutal economy, local independent businesses from restaurants to dry cleaners have been suffering for months and will face even tougher times as the year wears on. It?s already happening to my favorite eatery, a Moroccan restaurant called Casablanca which boasts great food and a hard-working, caring owner/chef.

I?ve been doing what I can for them, and pass along some tips that might help a small business in your area:

If you value a service, and want to see them succeed, get to know the owners. Talk about the challenges they face.

Offer to take a look at their web site, and give them some suggestions on how they can improve the site to increase traffic. (Often it can be as simple as cleaning up typos, or suggesting they insert photos or a video clip.)

Suggest they give incentives for repeat customers in the form of a VIP discount.

Discuss how they can increase traffic on slow days ? with promotions such as ?15% Off Wednesdays?.

Help them design simple, inexpensive flyers to promote their business.

Spread the word on community sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Chowhound and Open Table to let others know why you are a fan.

We have so much knowledge.? Let?s give back to the people in our own backyards.

A graduate of Canada?s prestigious McGill University, Cathy Browne is a PR professional with more than 20 years high tech public relations expertise. She has worked with more than 100 companies in Canada and the US, including Lotus, Sun Microsystems, KPMG and Deloitte Touche. She embraces social media as an invaluable PR tool and a critical component of any successful communications program. To learn more about Cathy, please visit her LinkedIn profile or connect with her on Twitter.

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Internal Communications: A Social Media Freshman Among Upperclassmen

This is a guest post from Jason Anthoine of workplace communications firm The Cohesion Group. It’s the result of an email Jason sent me asking whether I’d covered social media usage within organizations and a nice follow-on to an earlier post of mine looking at internal communication systems. I was intrigued by Jason’s email and asked him if he’d be interested in writing about it here. Enjoy.

Remember in high school how, as a freshman, you were relegated to the uncool tables where all the kids with braces, bad haircuts and square clothes sat? Freshmen weren’t allowed to mingle with the upperclassmen, even the sophomores, since they were still just kids.

In my job as an internal communications consultant, sometimes I feel as though I’m dealing with a whole bunch of freshmen all the time. Let me tell you why.

About four times a year I conduct a workshop through the Advanced Learning Institute about the impact social media is having on internal communications for companies and government agencies. I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert when it comes to social media. But I know more than your average bear, I guess, especially as it pertains to internal communications, which is something I do know a good bit about.

One thing I do before the workshop is conduct a short survey of the participants to find out where they are on a social media scale. They rank themselves as being either a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, teacher or principal. This gives them a chance to plant a flag in the ground about their own capabilities, and it gives me the opportunity to fine-tune the workshop based on their responses.

The vast majority of them rank themselves as freshmen. True, they probably wouldn’t be at the workshop if they were more advanced in their usage of social media at work. But this number has remained rather steady over the past couple of years I’ve been conducting this informal poll.

Mind you, these are, for the most part, mid-level to senior internal communicators at corporate and government positions, meaning they have roughly 15 years experience in communications. Most have direct line reporting structures to senior human resources, corporate communications or executive leadership positions. And most of them freely admit that they’re scared to death to go on Facebook and haven’t the slightest clue what Twitter is or does.

We spend the bulk of the morning’s time going over the basics of blogs, RSS, Facebook, podcasts, Twitter, Yammer, LinkedIn and wikis, as well as measurement of these tools. We also spend some time on the many open source tools that allow you to quickly create communities like Kick Apps and Ning.

Despite a slow and plodding pace, I feel as if I’m asking them to drink from a fire hose as we go down this list of social and new media basics. By the end, we’re all a bit exhausted and there are dozens of questions in addition to all the ones we’ve discussed along the way. We usually run out of time before we run out of need for time.

I’m afraid that these folks are the norm within most organizations. There are a few organizations that are doing social media internally very well, namely IBM, Nortel, Microsoft and British Telecom, among others. But most are still stuck with one-way, decidedly unsocial ways of communicating with their employees, i.e. newsletters, bulletin boards, email and static intranet sites. Of course, none of these tools are irrelevant. They may just be outdated as they are being used.

As I’ve said before, it’s a shame that we have so many of these new, wonderful communication tools we can use internally yet they are so underused. People leave their jobs and join and participate in social communities while at home, where they learn and grow and share and better themselves and others. Then they return to the office and it’s 1993 all over again. Or 1973, depending on the location!

The good news? We didn’t have to sit at the freshman lunch table throughout high school. Eventually we moved up to being sophomores, juniors and seniors, and earned entrance into the cool section of the lunchroom.

Internal communications is slowly growing up and will eventually join its cooler siblings in advertising, marketing and public relations when it comes to social and new media usage. It may take a while, but the wheel is turning.

It could be worse: we could be stuck at the same table with human resources.

Jason Anthoine is head honcho with The Cohesion Group, the workplace communications firm. You can find and connect with him on Twitter and at his blog plaintalk. He runs slower than your average bear.

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