The Funny Marketing and PR of The Interview

Sometimes you get an unexpected marketing and PR boost. Just look at The Interview, a comedy that made the headlines for unexpected reasons.

The Interview is a comedy about talk show host and producer finding out that their show is a favorite of Kim Jong-un of North Korea. Once they land a live interview with him, the CIA recruits them to take him out.

Although the movie is mediocre to say the least (movie critics panned it), it got an unexpected boost from an unexpected source - hackers! They hacked Sony (the producer of The Interview) demanding to stop the release and threatened with violence if their demand was not met.

Needless to say, this put Sony in an awkward position. The movie studio decided to pull the release. MoviestarClooney and President Obama reacted, crying wolf.

In the end, Sony decided to release the movie online, with great success. The Interview is a bestseller on YouTube and Google Play. With more than 2M downloads, it generated $15M before Christmas 2014. The movie was also made available on Xbox Live and PlayStation.

According to the latest reports, the hackers do not hail from North Korea. It seems that it was an inside job.

No matter where the hackers are located, they did the movie a huge favor. They gave The Interview some serious marketing and PR that is worth its weight in gold!

Nissan’s Perfect Reaction to a Cheeky Advertisement for Selling an Old Nissan Maxima

Luke Aker wanted to sell his 1996 Nissan Maxima. The car was not only old, but also was quite battered. He put the cat on Graigslist which was not successful.

Being a filmmaker and owner of Ikonik Films, Aker came up with a great way to sell his car – making a cool ad!

His tongue-in-cheek advertisement is brilliant. It’s a witty parody of your average car commercial. The voiceover states that "It not only brings more admiring stares than any other car I have driven it also has seat belts! Amazing!" Furthermore, it’s pointed out that the car has amazing features such as "wheels" and "tires”.

The footage is gorgeous, lovingly showing the car's torn seats and weathered paint job.



Nissan became aware of the advertisement, the company reacted perfectly. Nissan USA tweeted:

”Hey @IkonikFilms: SOLD! Had us at "land-yacht" and this hilarious '96 Maxima ad: http://nssn.co/ut8g8m - We want to make you an offer. DM us!”

Luke Aker quickly responded. The following day, he sold his old Nissan Maxima to the automaker. Nissan went even further: it made a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Needless to say, Aker was touched and tweeted:

“Just got off the phone. @NissanUSA Will be Purchasing the car AND Donating $1000.00 to Wounded Warrior #SoAmaze #wow “

What can we learn from this case?

1. Be creative in your marketing and sales
   (Aker was able to grab the attention of one of the world’s largest automakers with his sales ad!) 
2. Have a sense of humor
   (Creating spoofs or parodies is great for getting exposure in our social media age – especially if you can go viral via YouTube, Facebook, etc.) 
3. Leverage a PR opportunity when it comes your way
   (Nissan grabbed the opportunity for some amazing (and low-cost!) branding and PR) 
4. Use any PR or branding opportunity that comes your way to make a donation to a mainstream charity (The PR and branding you will get out of it will be priceless!)
5. Be gracious
   (Aker paid respect to Nissan for its classy reaction)

ReedPOP’s PR Snafu - Using Attendee Twitter Accounts to Post Tweets Praising New York Comic-Con (NYCC)

Recently, the New York Comic-Con (NYCC) took place in the Javits Center. It’s a convention dedicated to comic books, movies, TV shows and video games.

Event organizer ReedPOP wanted prevent entrance using counterfeit badges and monitor the visitor flow. That’s why NYCC opted for visitor badges with radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips inside. Since RFID chips use radio frequencies to transfer information between the chip and a receiver, NYCC could learn where visitors spent their time at the event, as well as how long they stayed at NYCC. Needless to say, this kind of information is essential for evaluating the event’s success.

Attendees were invited to link their badges to their social media accounts. ReedPOP came up with the following clever enticement:

“Your registration number can easily be found on the reverse side of your NYCC 2013 badge. Enter the code printed on the back of your badge into the space above and press Register Me. […] Your NYCC experience is about 100x cooler! For realz (sic). Plus, when you’re done registering our friends at comiXology want to give you 50 free digital comics. You heard us right, 5-0! Kick-ass!”

Any attendee who would not sign up, would not be eligible to receive a replacement badge in case of loss. So far, so good….But what happened then, not so much! The social media accounts of fans, celebrities and press attending New York Comic Con were used to send tweets and Facebook posts telling the world how great NYCC was. The problem was that the tweets and posts were not sent out without their permission or knowledge of the account owners! The published tweets and posts looked authentic, being written in conversational language. Kudos to the copywriter at ReedPOP!

Popular Mashable published the story which quickly went viral. As damage control the powers at ReedPOP / NYCC announced:

“As you may have seen yesterday, there were some posts to Twitter and Facebook issued by New York Comic Con on behalf of attendees after RFID badges were registered. This was an opt-in function after signing in, but we were probably too enthusiastic in our messaging and eagerness to spread the good word about NYCC. We have since shut down this service completely and apologize for any perceived overstep. Please accept our apologies and have an absolutely excellent time this weekend. -Your friends at NYCC”

This case illustrates how careful companies and entities must be when leveraging social media.

My advice:

• Be transparent
• Be honest
• Be accountable

Subway Foot-Long PR Nightmare

Once you make a claim – make sure you can stick to it. That’s the hard lesson that fast food chain Subway is learning. (Shame on its legal team!). Subway sells a sandwich called the “foot-long sub”. Needless to say it is suppose to be a food long.

As always, an overzealous customer popped up who ordered the sandwich and measured it. (Yes, we are talking about a male customer – pun intended).

 

Mr. Matt Corby of Perth (Australia) measured his food-long sub and found it to be 11 inches long. Needless to say, in this social media age he vented his outrage on Facebook, where he also posted a photo of his sub alongside the tape measure on the company's page with the caption: “Subway, please respond."

The page received more than 131,000 likes and thousands of comments, ranging from "I think they [Subway] owe us some," to "there are way more thing in life to worry about then 1 inch of sub."

The New York Post launched its own “investigation” and found that most New York Subways serve foot-long subs that are less than a foot. According to the NYP, four out of seven "five-dollar foot-longs" purchased at Subways in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, measured 11 or 11.5 inches.

Subway attributes the discrepancy in length to the fact that the bread is baked fresh daily in each of their 38,000 restaurants, which makes sense in my humble opinion. The chain went on to state that they are looking into the matter.

The company stated: "We are committed to providing a consistent product delivering the same amount of bread to the customer with every order. The length however may vary slightly when not baked to our exact specifications. We are reinforcing our policies and procedures in an effort to ensure our offerings are always consistent no matter which Subway restaurant you visit."

The story made the rounds and was picked up by major news outlets such as Fox.

How can Subway overcome this PR nightmare?

1. Check the reasons why one foot is not one foot, and post it on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
2. Issue a press release explaining the discrepancy and thanking Mr. Corby for his due diligence.
3. Make Mr. Crosby a Subway ambassador and award him perks.
4. Encourage customers to help improving products and service.
5. Last but most least: use humor! A funny video or picture will be a healthy antidote!

A Steve Jobs action figure - just what Sheldon Cooper et al want….

It only took three months after the tragic passing away of Apple’s iconic founder Steve Jobs for a company to come up with merchandise. The company “In Icons” is going to launch Steve Jobs action figures.

The company’s website has pictures of the poseable Steve Jobs figure on its website. The figures are expected to be shipped in February and will cost $99.

The Chinese manufacturer believes that the 12-inch-high Jobs doll will become a collector’s item. They might be right; there is a lot of viral buzz and the item already appears on eBay for around $135.

If you take a close look at the doll, you will see that it is rather eerie. The level of detail is too much, including pores on Jobs' forehead, subtle wrinkles under his eyes, and veins on his hand. According to the company, the item will come with 2 pair of extra hands; 1 in case the original set goes AWOL and one set with pointing index fingers.

In case you wonder, the Steve Jobs action figure comes with a whole set of clothes and accessories that would make Barbie green with envy. Items include: 2 pairs of glasses, 1 black turtleneck, 1 pair of blue jeans, 1 pair of sneakers, 1 black leather belt, 2 apples (one with the iconic bite) and 1 bar stool.

Needless to say, Apple, Inc. is not amused. According to The Telegraph, the conglomerate is allegedly threatening to sue the toy maker unless they cease trading.

It would not be the first time; back in 2010, Apple blocked M.I.C. Gadget from selling a Steve Jobs action figure on Ebay, stating that the action figure was a violation of its copyrights and trademarks.

FAQ that Companies Have for Their PR Agencies (Part II)

This post is the continuation from the previous one that you can find on my precious post.

7. Companies must have a dedicated (and charismatic) spokesperson

For startups, putting the CTO or VP R&D without any media experience in front of journalists and the media is disastrous. In many cases, the interview will result in a monologue about all the cool features of the amazing technology/product/service, peppered with tech lingo.

The journalist needs to write something cool that everybody can easily understand. Listen to the PR agency and your marcom; they will tell you who would be good for the interview and prep them accordingly. Technical information, including diagrams, should be sent upon request by email.

Please note that there is no such thing as “off the record”. Any information you share about upcoming investments, major deals or product developments will be covered by the journalist. Also make sure that all information submitted is accurate. A good journalist will do his or her homework and will know if you fibbed.

8. What you said is not always what you get

Journalists and the media can use received information as they see fit. A journalist might write about your technology under a funky heading that make you cringe. Journalists might even misquote or relate incorrect information. There is not much you can do about it, except asking your PR agency or professional to contact that journalist, thank him or her for the great article and gently correct the mistakes. Don’t expect a correction though.....The only way you can do damage control is on your own corporate blog, Facebook, or Twitter account.

9. Social media for PR entails more than harnessing the power of Facebook and Twitter.

Many countries outside of the US have there own social networks (and search engines). China uses Baidu, Russia Yandex, and the Germans prefer Xing over LinkedIn.

PR agency (or in-house professional) should also target the most influential bloggers in your industry, such as Technorati or the Huffington Post. Using op-eds is also useful, such as offered by the NYT are effective.

10. Professionals have been trying to come up with a “calculator” - without success
The best way for companies to get a grip on results is to ask for reports on progress and exposure. It is important to realize that exposure might take time. To give an example, the CEO of Curapipe was interviewed at WATEC on 19 November 2011. An excellent article appeared in the Mexican media on December 27; more than a month later. Due to the power of going viral, articles can be reposted and blogged about for a long time!

(Image courtesy of Jeff Bullas)

FAQ that Companies Have for Their PR Agencies (Part I)

Companies and clients often ask a lot from their PR agencies or marcoms. Not without reason - since PR agencies work on a monthly retainer, the company wants to get maximum results.

As anyone in PR can tell you; it’s a tricky field. You have to put in a lot of effort and networking that is not visible to the company or client. In the end, it’s the results that count. Any company that hires a PR agency asks the same main questions.

In this post and the next one, I will address these FAQ.

1. No agency is in contact with all relevant journalists.

Yes, journalists of trade magazines and broadsheets relevant for you must be targeted - in the Americas, Europe, and the Far East depending on your business. But is it unrealistic to expect your PR agency to be on first name basis with all of them. They do have their own database and network though and will try to get you as much targeted exposure as possible. Please note that journalists don’t always bite. Yes, that is chutzpah considering how cool your company and product/service is, but that's life in the media lane.....

2. The location of a PR firm or professional is not that critical anymore.

However, if you are considering investor relations, it helps to be in or near the main financial centers, such as New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris or Tokyo. If you are targeting governmental agencies in the US, finding a PR agency near Washington DC helps, as does finding one in Brussels if you want to target EU-related governmental bodies and influencers.

3. Think local.

No PR agency is truly global. Many have partner agencies in other countries, which makes them highly effective. To reach journalists in Europe, you do need to communicate in the local language. No journalist of La Stampa, Le Monde, or Die Zeit will communicate with you in English.

4. You do need to send out press releases, but they must be newsworthy.

Publicly traded companies must put out a press release on any change that could influence investors’ decision to buy or sell stock (e.g., appointment of a new C-level manager or board member). Private companies can (and must) be far more selective. A new product release, major contracts, deals and partnerships, as well as received investments are all worthy of a press release.

To get the news out, I strongly recommend using one of the major paid distribution companies. My favorite is PR Newswire, which also takes care of translations and distributes to all media channels (including social media) in any region and industry you want.

5. A PR agency is only as good as the input they receive.

It is therefore crucial that you as a company or client share your goals, competitive information, and yes, all the relevant skeletons in you closet. Any publicity based on faulty or incorrect information, will backfire big time.

6. Some PR goals are unrealistic.

“Get me on Oprah” is a mantra that companies have been singing for many years. Chances are very slim, to say the least. Sending out (by email) and uploading B-roll footage (e.g., to YouTube) to be freely used by the media is cheaper and far more effective. Cold calling the media is a waste of time (and money), trust me!

To be continued in Part II - keep posted!

(Image courtesy of Jeff Bullas)

Is the SEC killing the press release – not likely!

On July, 30 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published its recommendations for public companies in their efforts to comply with the securities laws “while developing their Web sites to serve as an effective means for disseminating important information to investors”.

It sparked a hot debate among IR and financial PR professionals, who are trying to figure out what the impact is. Many IR/PR agencies make good money writing and distributing press releases on behalf of public companies. Since a public company must announce any change in ownership and significant deals as well as notifications, earnings, profit warnings etc. to the public at large, the financial press release was the only way to go.

By opening the possibility of posting all of the above on a corporate blog, it could mean the “death of the press release” as one PR professional put it. IR and PR circles were abuzz with speculations how the major new distribution agencies such as PR Newswire would take it.

Public companies have been weary of using the Internet as a public space for the dissemination of material information, not in the least since they need to comply with Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg-FD) and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) rules. The SEC is now opening the possible for companies to adhere to regulatory policies without using some of the more traditional methods such as financial press releases. If public companies would opt en masse to use the Web for information distribution, particularly for earnings disclosure, it would have a huge impact on IR and financial PR agencies as well as the newswires.

Thus far, most companies have been leery of using websites to provide investors and other audiences with regulated information, such as earnings.
Beth Harbin, director of PR for Southwest Airlines, is hesitant about changing its current system with PRN, though she acknowledges the positive benefits, which have helped carve out a place for earnings on the airline's website.
"Since we started our... site, we've always had a vision of making it extremely robust," she said. "We currently have earnings up on our website, as part of a system developed through [PRN]," she said. "It also puts that release right in the hands of the reporters who need it."

It is at this moment not clear what the full impact will be. The SEC document seems to indicate that the SEC wants to open the use of public companies’ websites as part of the whole process of disclosing information in accordance with the Regulation FD.

The SEC stated that it “believes that company disclosure should be more readily available to investors in a variety of locations and formats to facilitate investor access to that information. Investors are turning increasingly to electronic media and to company and third-party websites as sources of information to aid in their investment decisions."

It seems that the SEC does recognize a company website as a channel of distribution. The information must be disseminated in such a way, that it is available to the securities marketplace in general.

How can a public company guarantee that? By taking more affirmative steps so that investors and others know that information is or has been posted on the company's website.
Trying to avoid the costs of issuing a financial press release (of which many companies complain), would not only incur alternative costs (e.g., mailing list and distribution + follow up, SEO, administration, legal & accounting department) but could also jeopardize compliance with SOX.
What would therefore be the best option for public companies to ensure the availability of their information to the investor and securities communities? Correct, by sending out their announcement as a press release!

Using (only) their website for announcements will be risky. Companies will need to consider whether the postings on their websites are “reasonably designed to provide broad, non-exclusionary distribution of the information to the public.” This would entail serious organic SEO or in-house website management with tracking and reporting capabilities.

Another issue is the requirement that the website's capability must meet the “simultaneous or prompt timing requirements for public disclosure once a selective disclosure has been made." This puts a strain on a company’s resources. For practical reasons alone, sending a financial press release via the newswire remains the preferred option, since it will be pushed to Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, MSN, CNNMoney, CNBC, Factiva, Forbes, Fox Business News, Lexis/Nexis, sites operated by major financial institutions and trading firms, blogs etc.

It relieves the public company from the burden to determine whether its website qualifies as a "recognized channel of distribution" and whether web posting achieves simultaneous disclosure. If you are the IR Officer, CFO, CEO or Legal Advisor of such a public company, you would have your work cut out for you, and the SEC doesn’t supply comprehensive guidelines or instructions to that effect.

The SEC's Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting states in its final report: "Of course, the increased use of corporate websites is not intended to affect the valuable role that newswires and other news vehicles play in disseminating important company information to investors and the public."

Despite the fear of many IR and PR professionals – the SEC is not killing the press release, it just hands us another IR & PR tool.

How will the current recession impact Public Relations?

Whether the current recession is real or perceived (depending who you listen to), the PR industry is looking at the impact it is going to have.

Possible trends to watch:

When media professionals will be laid off or move into other areas, PR professionals (both in house and at the agency-side) will lose established relationships – one of their core strengths.
Especially agencies will be hurt by contacts at leading magazines and news outlets that will have no more business value, and need to be replaced.
This requires heavy investments in time and effort.

The media organizations that are sizing down (also due to less advertising income) will have to figure out who will be cover their different market niches.
They might opt for merging some of topic areas (e.g. lifestyle and health) or cutting some areas in an effort to go back to their core business.
PR professionals might find that they cannot pitch their stories anymore, since that specific technology or topic is not covered by that specific media organization anymore.

Both media organizations and PR agencies might start cutting down on their high-level, high-salary employees and replace them with junior or entry-level people who will learn on the fly. This will come at a price – lower quality and less focus.
If this trend leads to fewer people and more newbies, readers might punish a media organization by canceling subscriptions. Some media outlets will close down, which will give PR agencies and professionals less opportunities to pitch their stories.

The competition for placement in the remaining media outlets will increase, and PR agencies will have a tough job explaining to their clients why they cannot be covered by certain news media.
In this highly competitive market, the strongest and most creative PR agencies and professionals will survive.
The media will be looking for quality to keep a competitive edge and to compensate for the loss of in-house resources. Receiving ready-to-print top-notch articles will help the news media to compensate for the lack of experience of newbies.

So is it all bad news? No, not really.
It could benefit experienced copywriters, editors, journalists working as freelancers. It could also make it easier for seasoned PR professionals to enter the market as an in-house PR person or at a PR agency.
In the US, being fluent in Spanish as well will become a major asset. It will extend the reach of a company or PR agency significantly.
For Europe, being multi-lingual is the key. Since most of the wealth in Western Europe is concentrated in the Germanic countries, German is the additional language to go for.
Fluency in French not only secures coverage in the French media, but also in all francophone countries.
Don’t forget: no matter how fluent journalists might be in English, they still have to write their articles in their native language……..