Learning PR the Justin Bieber way

Justin Bieber wants you to know he's not the next Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears or Corey Feldman. Even though these celebs probably achieved less than Justin and probably get far more publicity.

The 19-year-old pop star has been making headlines with erratic behavior that includes showing up late to concerts, passing out backstage, threatening paparazzi, wearing gas masks, going shirtless in freezing temperatures and allegedly spitting on a neighbor during an argument.

Bieber hasn't taken the negative press sitting down, and has fought back via Twitter and Instagram rants about fake stories and "countless lies." Now, after being accused of battery, the pop star is striking back again, telling Us Weekly that he's not on the verge of a breakdown, as reports suggest.

Crisis 101 in today’s social media world – the right place to fight negative press is in the same place/medium that it appeared. It’s the simple things that are easily forgotten.  Each newspaper, blog author, social media platform, etc have a following.  If I hear something bad in the LA Times, then I’m an LA Times reader. If I hear it on Twitter, then I clearly use Twitter to get my news.  Justin, mate, only fight negative press where you see it (despite your youth and obvious social media prowess), don’t take the fight to the social media airwaves if it’s not there already.

"The biggest misconception about me is that I'm a bad person," Bieber told US Weekly. Well, no one was saying that (actually), and do you know any bad people that admit to being bad people?  This seems to be one of the worst quotes I have heard in a long time.

It's clear that Bieber (or his team) has grown very uncomfortable with the amount of negative attention that he's been receiving lately, and though he's on the defensive he does admit that he's far from perfect. "I'm young and I make mistakes. That's part of growing up," he told Us Weekly. "I mess up sometimes. It's part of growing up."

I love this!  I think I will use it in my next press interview. 

Yes Mr Business Editor, I know my company did wrong, but you know what, we’re a young company and we messed up – that’s part of our company growing up.

Perhaps the bigger PR question should be – can Justin continue to get quality media coverage without causing problems?  It’s clearly difficult to continue to attract positive media coverage. Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears et al know the problem and went the ‘all publicity is good publicity’ route… even if it includes unflatering pictures, drunk driving and theft.  What will Justin do and how will that effect his still intact ‘good boy’ image.

p.s. If anyone has any tickets for Justin’s upcoming tour my 5-year-old daughter wants to know!

12 Crisis Communication Interview Tips

Our good friends at Beuerman Miller Fitzgerald put out a great newsletter this week.  As they say:

One thing we hear a lot from clients with potentially hostile or dramatic media challenges is that "media interviews are a losing proposition." "They are a 'no win' because reporters are out to get us."  "No matter what I say they'll make me look bad."  For these reasons and many more, some clients make a potentially bad situation even worse by making interviews far more difficult and complex than they should be.
 
12 quick tips to help clear the clutter and focus on those things that really matter in an interview:   

1. Interview the interviewer.  How much do they know?  Who else are they talking to? What, specifically are they looking for?  Interviews are a two-way street.  Communication should flow both ways.
2. Put yourself in the reporter's shoes?  If you were them, what would you ask?
3. Place time limits on your interview right up front.
4. Place topical limits on the interview as needed: "I can talk about several of these issues but I'm not at liberty to discuss X at this time."
5. Be conversational.  Treat the interview as a guarded, cautious conversation, not an inquisition.
6. Keep the pre- and post-interview chit chat at a minimum.  The reporter is always listening and the camera is always on.
7. Rehearse your key comments with a colleague as much as possible in advance.
8. Know your strengths but also know your vulnerabilities and how you'll deal with them.
9. Be brief.  Make your point and STOP!  Interviews are like a tennis match. Their turn...your turn. Their turn...your turn.
10. Practice "framing" your most important points so the reporter has no choice but to recognize that they're key.  "Here's what's most important...."  "What I really want you to understand is...."  "If I could stress one key point it would be...."
11. Don't speculate and don't ever say or confirm anything you're not fully certain of.  There's nothing wrong with: "I don't have that information" or "I'm not certain of that and can't comment on it."
12. After the interview ends, make a quick, graceful exit.  Do not hang around.

Doing the right thing - a smart PR move

It’s always great to see when a sensible business gets their PR so right in a proactive manner.

For anyone that ever spent 5 minutes in a car in Southern California, they are (without doubt) bound to have heard the rather dodgy sounding radio commercial for 1-800-GET THIN and their revolutionary lap-band procedures that will have you dropping 125 lbs and whizzing around shopping malls in no time. Oh, and your insurance will cover it. But hurry – this offer won’t be around forever.

OK – so the commercial is really, really tacky and their jingle sounds no better when my 9 year old suddenly starts humming it.  You listen to this advert and you know, instinctively, that something is wrong. Somehow you visualize yourself walking into a very dirty and smelly waiting room and being helped by personal that don’t look qualified to take your temperature – let alone open your stomach up.

California has some very large people, and when you live in a city that chooses to wear sweat-pants and do yoga on the beach, you know you got to look good. It therefore stands to reason that there is some very serious amount of business here.  And as any savvy businessperson has probably already worked out, 1-800-GET-THIN is really only a marketing company – that in turn provides leads to independent clinics that in turn provide surgery using Allergan’s Lap-Band weight-loss device.

What do you do when you provide the devise that according to lawsuits is central to five Southern California patients whom have died since 2009 following Lap-Band surgeries at clinics affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN?  You do the right thing.

Allergan today announce that they will no longer sell its Lap-Band weight-loss device to companies affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN marketing company. In a business where everyone is chasing the dollar and making their next quarterly goals for financial pundits, this is the right thing to do. From a business perspective, while it’s never easy to turn down sales, in this instance the PR team is handling what could be a PR crisis very well.

Good luck to Allergan Inc – smart PR move.

Now hopfully my 9-year-old can stop humming that stupidly anoying jingle.

Power is nothing without Control

...according to the tire manufacturer Pirelli. And so it is with public relations. Gone are the days when an organization can fully control their corporate message to the media.

In days gone by, it was normal for an organization’s employee handbook to strictly dictate that no employee could speak to the media without prior approval and spokesperson media training. No problem.

Then a few years ago social media popped up. According to a recent piece of research by Altimeter, companies average an overwhelming number of corporate owned accounts – about 178. That is a bunch of people from different departments and around the globe that are speaking on social media platforms, that the media are seeing. And that’s before we count the personal SM accounts of employees who happen to mention their job. So what’s to be done?

NettResults recommends three levels of corporate communication development:

1 - Relinquish a mindset of control - instead ‘enable’. In business school we were taught to foster message control and encourage all corporate representatives to stay on message. Yet today, as multiple business units from support, sales, HR and beyond participate in social technologies, communication is spread to the edges of the company – not just from the PR department. As a result, PR groups have changed their mindset to safely enabling business units to communicate, based on pre-set parameters they put in place through governance, coordination, and workflow.

2 - Roll out enterprise workflows - education programs at four levels. We’ve found that savvy corporations have detailed workflows, including sample language in which employees should respond. Beyond creating these workflows, they must be distributed throughout the enterprise through education programs, and drilled. We’ve found savvy corporations have up to four types of education programs spanning: Executive team, social media team, business stakeholder teams, and finally all associates. Even if the mandate is for rank and file employees to not respond in social on behalf of the company, reinforcing education is still required.

3 - Run mock crises. Lastly, we’ve found a closer relationship with media relations, social media and crisis communications. Savvy corporations are working with agency partners such as NettResults to setup mock crisis drills where they approach a week-long crises in a number of hours in private. Not only does this test the mettle of the organization it provides useful training so companies can respond faster, in a more coordinated approach. We have already witnessed health organizations receiving ‘social-crises-ready’ compliance notices and we expect compliance programs to spread into other industries.

Get ready – take control.

Who are the key decision makers and are the spokes people media trained?

Every company has a organizational chart - a ladder of power, but how this structure functions during a crisis must be clarified with all the stakeholders in the company; particularly the communications department. A crisis can hit at any time, and the company needs to determine secondary command structures in case key decision-makers are unavailable at the time.

Not only is it important for those to know who need to spring to action (and how those people are contacted) - it is equally important that everyone else in the organization knows they can not speak on behalf of the company or to the press. Something that is best handled in a company employee handbook.

Organizations also need to decide which situations warrant which spokes person, and plan accordingly.

Most importantly, the spokes people need to be media trained in advance. Effective spokes people should receive professional media training and should be well versed on how to deal with the press. An organization's spokes person need not necessarily be the most senior staffers. For example, in some cases, the CEO is not the most efficient spokes person due to experience, knowledge or geographical location.

7 Tips for Tony Hayward to Survive the BP Oil Spill Congressional Hearing

If Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP, and ultimate person responsible for the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf wants to survive the present Congressional panel (heckler disruptions aside), he needs to not only get his message straight, but also get the delivery correct. Just like in any crisis communications situation he needs to work on:

1. Credibility – so that the panel has confidence in the message and believes in him.

2. Appropriate context – for the panel and ultimately the population of the US.

3. Right content – which is appropriate for the population of the US (and no doubt the viewers of the countless other international media following this event).

4. Clarity – so that the message is unequivocal.

5. Continuity – with previous and proposed BP marketing activity.

6. Simplicity – so that the message cannot be misunderstood or misinterpret.

7. Impact – so the media cover the story from BP's angle.

We also know from previous news reports that Mr Hayward is not a night owl (OK, I get he needs to be up early to do business back in Blighty). If I was him, I'd be spending a lot of long evenings anticipating what the panel (and journalist) are likely to ask and prepare my response and messaging in reply. I'd be spending my time exactly how a crisis communications spokes person should be preparing:

Anticipate – Prepare – Rehearse
Anticipate – Prepare – Rehearse
Anticipate – Prepare – Rehearse

While Tony may be one of the most hated people in America (has anyone run him head-to-head with Joran Van der Sloot?) if BP can get their crisis communications right, they could emerge a stronger and more profitable company.

What do you think?