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Guerrilla PR- Chapter One

THE NATURE OF MEDIAThirty years ago, They shouldn't be. Publicity is only one
Marshall McCluhan, the father of modern manifestation of P.R.-specifically,
communications, wrote the immortal achieving notoriety through accumulated
words, "The medium is the message." press exposure. A publicist knows
Today I would amend that to, "The newspapers, magazines, and TV talk
medium is the media." Our civilization is shows. Public Relations is much more
than that. The Public Relations expert
utterly dominated by the force of is as well versed in human nature as
media. After our own families, no in
influence editorial and sound bytes.P.R. can be as
holds greater sway in shaping the macro as a campaign to persuade foreign
text of our being than do the media that governments so buy
cloak us like an electronic U.S. soybeans, or as micro as a warm
membrane.We all think of ourselves as handshake. The notion that P.R. is
unique, unlike any person past or simply a matter of mailing press
present. releases is nuttier than a squirrel's
Indeed, what gives human life its breakfast. As producer, manager, and
divine spark is the distinct quality of publicist Jay Bernstein says, "P.R. is
every getting a front table at the right
individual. Yet in many ways we are restaurant, getting you invited to the
all the same. The task of market right
analysts, pollsters, and demographers party, and getting into first class
is to identify those characteristics we with a tourist ticket."A man who has
share, and group us accordingly. If greatly affected my thinking, the
you are in your early forties, male, esteemed business author
Caucasian, a father of two, earn and lecturer Tom Peters, tells the
$50,000 or more, and listen to a Top 40 story of a visit to a neighborhood
radio station, there are total convenience store. "American Express
strangers out there who know an awful lot was being a little user-unfriendly,"
about Tom recalls, "and it took a good
you.That's because they understand a lot three minutes for my AMEX card to clear.
about your upbringing. They know
you watched "The Mickey Mouse Club" in When it finally did, the cashier bagged
the fifties, "The Man From my purchase, and as I turned to go
U.N.C.L.E." in the sixties, "Saturday reached into a jar of two-cent
Night Live" in the seventies, became foil-wrapped mints. He pulled one out,
environmentally conscious in the dropped it in my bag, and said, 'The
eighties, and were probably sorry ABC delay you experienced was inexcusable.
canceled "Thirtysomething" in the I apologize and hope it doesn't
nineties. They've got your number happen again. Come back soon.' For two
because cents, he bought my loyalty for
they understand the role the media have life."This story is about one small
played in your life from the moment business owner and only one customer, but
you Boomed as a Baby.Today, in America, it's
we tune in to over 9,000 commercial radio a perfect example of good P.R. But what
stations, 1,100 about bad P.R.? I doubt there's
television stations, 11,000 periodicals, anyone on the scene who has mastered
and over 11,000 newspapers with a that dubious craft better than
combined circulation of nearly sometime-billionaire Donald Trump.
seventy million. These are the sources of This is a man who has lost control of
our his own gilded ship. His lurid
opinions on everything from nuclear infidelities, his profligate spending,
disarmament to Madonna's love life. his
Nobody likes to be told what to precipitous fall from fortune, and,
think, but all of us, every single day, worst of all, his attempt to exploit the
are told Mike Tyson rape tragedy to promote a
precisely what to think about.As prize fight, collectively paint a
Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson show portrait
in their insightful book, Age of of a thoroughly vulgar mind.The Donald
Propaganda, the mass media are most doesn't care what you say about him, as
effective in terms of persuading the long as you spell his
public for two primary reasons. name right. True, whenever he opens his
First, they teach new behavior and, mouth or makes a move, the press is
second, all over him. But his massive celebrity
they let us know that certain has made him only a famous fool. You
behaviors are legitimate and appropriate. are not likely to achieve the degree of
So, if fame that Mr. Trump has, but, given
the media are encouraging certain his shameful image, I would congratulate
buying patterns, fashion trends, modes of you on that.P.R. VS. MARKETINGWith
Guerrilla P.R. (and P.R. in general), you
thinking, the unstated message we do not tell the public that your
receive is "It's okay for me to like new digital fish cleaner is the greatest
that, invention since the dawn of time. You
do that, feel that." In this way, our could easily do that in an ad. Your goal
culture evolves, is accelerated, and is to lead people to draw that same
disseminated.Like the transcontinental conclusion for themselves. Otherwise,
railroad of the last century, the media you're engaging in good old-fashioned-
link every or is it new-fashioned?-marketing
city, gully, farmhouse, and mountaintop strategy.Companies often relegate public
in North America. Regionalism is relations to their marketing departments.
fading. The American accent is more
uniform; our penchant for migration That might make sense from a
and blending in is like the smoothing corporate point of view, but there's a
out of a great national blanket. We are distinct
fast becoming one.A common difference between P.R. and marketing.
grammatical error occurs when people say Going back to the "science vs. art"
"The media is" rather analogy, whereas P.R. is the art,
than "The media are" ("media" being the marketing is the science.Bob Serling,
plural of medium"). Yet I sense President of the Stratford Marketing
people who say "the media is" are on Group, an L.A.-based
to something. They perceive the many marketing firm, has written,
arms of the media-TV, newspapers, radio, "Marketing is everything you do to make
etc.-as part of one monstrously sure
monolithic creature. The media are "one" your customers find out about, and
too.Consider "Baby Jessica" McClure, buy, your products and services." That's
for whom my firm donated public a tall order, and to go about filling
relations services. Jessica was the it, marketing executives lug around a
toddler from Midland, Texas, who fell hefty bag of tricks.To a large
down degree, they rely on surveys, demographic
a narrow pipe in her backyard in 1987. analyses and
For thirty-six hours, America was established sales and advertising
mesmerized by press coverage of her procedures to accomplish their goals. But
rescue. Acting as a concerned
neighbor, the media conveyed in Public Relations, intangibles play
Jessica's light to the nation. The a far greater role. How do you measure a
private agony feeling? It's not easy, but in P.R.
of the McClure family became the we trade in the realm of feelings every
anguish of all America.Think of it: the day.
temporary suffering of one We may use the media as the vehicle,
"insignificant" little girl stopped but the landscape we traverse is
the world's most powerful country dead contoured by human emotion.Marketing
in its tracks. (Then, to canonize the often goes hand-in-hand with advertising.
experience, the TV movie version of The undeniable
Jessica's story made it to the small advantage with advertising is that
screen within a year.)Without those the advertiser retains full control. He
cameras there to catch it, and those TV knows exactly what his message will
stations to broadcast say and precisely when it will be seen.
it, Baby Jessica's ordeal would have But remember this little fact of
made absolutely no impact on anyone life: most top ad agencies consider a 1-2
other than her family and those who
saved her. Because of the media, all of percent response rate a triumph.
That's all it takes to make them happy.
America for two days became part of And, like it or not, most people
Jessica's family.CONTRACTION AND don't take ads as seriously as
EXPANSIONJournalists and talk-show hosts advertisers
like to claim they're in the information would like. Everybody knows they're
bought and paid for.I prefer the odds
business or the news business. But you with major media exposure. True, you do
know and I know they're in the lose a large
money business just like everyone else. measure of control, and you never
Because practically all media are know for sure when or how your message
privately held profit-making will be conveyed. But the public is
ventures, they behave much like any other far likelier to accept what it gleans
from
enterprise, looking for ways to the news media over what it sees in
increase the bottom line.To do that they commercials. If Dan Rather says a new
must expand their consumer base, that is, sports shoe is a daring innovation,
their audience. people will give that more credence than
They must give the customer what he if company spokesman Bo Jackson says
or she wants. So if your local news it. The news, indeed the truth, is
station runs a few too many five-part what Dan Rather says it is.So who tells
specials on the illicit sex lives of nuns Dan Rather what's news? The media like to
boast they rely on
during "Sweeps Month," remember ace newsgathering staffs; but in fact
they're only trying to please the they depend a great deal on public
viewers.Creating a successful product relations people. That doesn't mean the
means citizens may not always get the journalists of America are saps.
information they need. A Harvard They're just looking for good stories. A
researcher found the average network hungry reporter and a smart publicist
sound byte from presidential is a match made in heaven, and it's been
campaigns dropped from 41.5 seconds per that way since the dawn of the
broadcast in 1968 to just under 10 Communication Age.FROM THE GUERRILLA
seconds in 1988. That translates into P.R. FILEIn Amarillo, Texas, you'll find
roughly sixteen words a night with which the Big Texan Steak Ranch, where the
to make up our minds on who owner
should run the country. We absorb more issues the following challenge:If you
information, yet understand less can eat a seventy-two-ounce steak in an
than ever before.This is a logical hour, you get it free. News of
consequence of big media. Their existence the deal traveled far and wide, even to
depends on the skies where I first read about it
keeping the audience tuned in. If TV in
station "A" covers candidate "B" an airline magazine.GLORY DAYS: THE
droning on about farm subsidies, most of FOUNDING OF THE P.R. INDUSTRYThe public
the audience will probably switch to relations industry flourished with the
station "C" running a story about the growth of twentieth-century
stray cat raised by an affectionate mass media, although sensitivity to
pig. public opinion on the part of public
Station "A" would be wise to ditch figures
candidate "B" and send a crew out to is nothing new. Even Abraham Lincoln got
film into the act, declaring once, "What
Porky and Tabby.Along with this kills a skunk is the publicity it gives
contraction of information is a parallel itself." The fathers of modern P.R.
expansion of media. knew
Because social scientists have us so the value of simple images to convey
precisely categorized, outlets targeted powerful messages.Edward Bernays, founder
to of modern P.R., defined his mission as
specific groups flourish. Lear's caters the
to mature, high-income women. engineering of consent. He was a
Details appeals to middle-income, nephew of Sigmund Freud, and he strikes
fast-tracker men. Essence aims for black me as having been just as perceptive
women.Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul, and about human nature as his esteemed
Mary, tells a great story in his stage uncle. Bernays displayed a genius for
show concocting indelible images, something
to illustrate how narrowly focused we've good P.R. campaigns require. In one
become as a society. In the 1940s early triumph, he arranged for young
and 1950s we had the all-encompassing debutantes to smoke Lucky Strikes
Life magazine. Then, we cropped our while strolling in New York's 1929 Easter
vision down to People magazine in the
seventies (all of Life wasn't good Parade. What Bernays sold to the
enough anymore). Things tightened up press as a bold political statement on
even more with Us. Now we have Self. women's rights was no more than a
Somewhere, there's just gotta be a gimmick to sell cigarettes.Pioneers like
magazine just for you. I can just imagine publicist/film producer A.C. Lyles set
the pace for generations
it: on sale now, "Fred Morganstern of publicists to follow. Another
Monthly."Not only do we see more media innovator, Ivy Hill, is often credited
outlets, but the flow of information has with
likewise increased dramatically the inventing the press release. Hill
past few years. Fax machines, cellular believed telling the "truth" in
phones, modems, fiber-optic cables, journalistic
Low Power TV, satellite down-links, all fashion would help shape public opinion.
have reshaped the way we get our He sensed editors would not
information, when we get it, and what we dismiss press releases as ads, but
do with it.During China's "Goddess of rather would perceive their real news
Democracy" protests in 1989, the value. He was right.The publicist's
students ability to appeal to newspapers proved
kept in touch with the outside world via invaluable to captains
fax. Instantly, China seemed to leap of industry seeking to shore up their
forward from feudal empire to modern images. Back in the 1920s, Hill
nation. Vietnam was the first "we'll masterminded industrialist John D.
be Rockefeller's much-ridiculed habit of
right back after these messages" war. As handing out dimes to every child he
napalm rained down on the jungle, met. Ridiculous but effective in its
we saw it live as it happened. We had no time.
time to process information or (Imagine T.Boone Pickens trying that
analyze events as we were barraged by today.)Occasionally, clients got less
them. Because of improved than they bargained for. In the late
communications, the Gulf War had the 1950s, the
same effect, only with infinitely more Ford Motor Company hired P.R.
drama.The media may have accelerated the trail-blazer Ben Sonnenberg to help
process of dissemination, but as we overcome
found out in the days of the first the negative fallout from the Edsel
supersonic jets, breaking the sound fiasco. He charged Ford $50,000 for a
barrier foolproof P.R. plan, and after three
did not, as some scientists feared, days submitted it in person. Sonnenberg
cause planes to disintegrate. Likewise, looked the breathless executives in
instant news did not cause us to the eye and intoned, "Do nothing." With
psychologically disintegrate.There's no
way to assess what this means to society. that, the dapper publicist pocketed his
To be carpet-bombed check and walked out, much to the
by information must have far-reaching slack-jawed shock of the Ford brain
consequences to our civilization, but trust.Even nations sometimes need help.
that's for future observers to sort out. During the 1970s, Argentina developed a
Today, we face an intimidating media- little P.R. problem when its
driven culture. Anyone looking to government kidnapped and murdered
succeed in business must first master thousands
the of its own citizens. Buenos Aires
fundamentals of navigating the media. To hired the high-powered U.S. firm of
reach customers, donors, or Burson-
investors-to reach the public-one Marsteller to tidy things up. For a
must rely on the media as the prime cool $1,000,000, the firm launched an
intermediary. The methodology to extensive campaign involving
achieve this is known as Public opinion-makers from around the world: a
Relations.THE NATURE OF PUBLIC stream of press releases stressed,
RELATIONSHalf the world is composed of among other things, the Argentine
people who have something to say regime's record in fighting terrorism.
and can't, and the other half who have Sometimes the truth can be stretched
nothing to say and keep on saying it.-- until it tears itself in half.I don't
Robert FrostI'm often asked whether wish to give the impression that P.R. is
public relations is a science or an art. strictly a polite version of
That's a lying. That's not the case. As I said,
valid question. In science, two plus two P.R. is gift-wrapping. Whether
equals four. It will always equal four delivered
in fancy or plain paper, truth is truth,
whether added by a Republican from Iowa, and the public ultimately comprehends
a shaman from New Guinea, or an it. The trick is packaging the truth on
alien from Planet X. However, in public your own terms.How often have you read
relations, two plus two may equal four. about a big movie star storming off the
set of a film
It may equal five. It may equal zero because of "creative differences" with
today and fifty tomorrow.Public relations the director? We all know the two
is an art.Like an art, there are rules of egomaniacs probably hated each other's
form, proven techniques, and standards of guts. But if the papers printed that,
we'd perceive the situation very
excellence. But, overall, it's a differently. By our soft-pedaling the
mercurial enterprise, where instinct is row with
as words like "creative differences," the
legitimate as convention.Public movie star's reputation remains
relations was once defined as the ability intact,
to provide the answers before even though intuition tells us he's
the public knows enough to ask the "difficult."MORE THAN ONE PUBLICThus far,
questions. Another P.R. pundit once when referring to the public, I've
stated, "We don't persuade people. We generalized to mean the
simply offer them reasons to population at large: We the People.
persuade themselves." I define what I The sophisticated modern art of P.R.
do as gift-wrapping. If you package a encompasses many more "publics" than
bracelet in a Tiffany box, it will that. In fact, selective targeting is a
have a higher perceived value than if primary tactic in sound P.R.
presented in a K Mart box. Same strategies. As you will see, bigger is
bracelet, different perception.PERCEPTION not always
IS REALITYDon Burr, former CEO of People better.Depending on the goals, a
Express Airlines, once said, "In the publicist could target any one of various
airline business,
industry, if passengers see coffee consumer, or governmental communities.
stains on the food tray, they assume the An investor seeking financial backing
aims for the financial press and
engine maintenance isn't done right." relevant trade publications. A rock
That may seem irrational, but in this musician
game, perception, not the objective zeroes in on the local music rags. A
truth, matters most.How one comprehends lobbyist might need nothing more than a
given information is all-important in
public relations. friendly article in the Washington Post,
For decades, baby harp seals were a retailer only the residents of his
bludgeoned to death by fur hunters, but immediate neighborhood.Though I've found
until the public saw the cute little a few clients easily dazzled by quantity,
critters up close and personal and in P.R. quality is
perceived the hunt as unacceptable, what really counts. A seven-inch stack
the problem didn't exist. Before that, it of press clippings means nothing unless
was a matter of trappers preserving the objectives of the campaign have been
their hardy way of life. The seals met. The scrapbook makes a great
ultimately hired the better Mother's Day gift, but I'd rather see
publicist.This also works in negative my clients' careers advanced in the
ways. The congressional check-bouncing right direction.Figuring out which
scandal public to reach is one of the most
was a case in which individual critical decisions a
congressmen's visibility skyrocketed, publicist makes. My orientation-and,
while I hope, yours-is geared toward the
their credibility plummeted. The Tobacco most significant audience vis-à-vis
Institute, a Washington-based your objectives, which is not necessarily
lobbying and P.R. outfit, spends its
time and money claiming cigarettes are the widest. You may want to target
okay. Nothing they do or say will the people you buy from, the people you
ever make that true, but they may go a hope to sell to, the people you work
long for, the people that work for you, and so
way in changing public perception of
their product. A few years ago they on. It's a big world full of little
sponsored subliminally that worlds when you look closely.In most
no-smoking regulations infringe on our cases I spell out precisely who and what
basic I'm going after, and then
liberties. How's that for a P.R. proceed aggressively. Don't go for the
stretch?Ultimately, the goal of any moon all at once. Set a goal, achieve
public relations campaign is to either it, then build on that base. Any good
reorient, planner knows the advantages of
or solidify, perception of a product, thinking three steps ahead while
client, policy, or event. From there, proceeding one step at a time.FROM THE
nature takes its course. If the public GUERRILLA P.R. FILEThe history-making
perceives the product as good, the movie August 1991 revolution in the former
Soviet Union
star as sexy, the pet rock as began when then-president Mikhail
indispensable, then the public will fork Gorbachev left Moscow for a vacation on
over its the Crimean Sea. Because the whole
money. As the brilliant business author affair had a happy ending, everybody
Dr. Judith Bardwick explained, "To be laughed when, only a few days later,
perceived as visible increasingly means the president of an outdoor billboard
one is perceived as successful."Some may company in Detroit ran a series of
charge that stressing perception as large ads all over town reading: "Welcome
reality is tantamount to
sanctioning falsehood. I disagree. As Back, Gorby! Next Time Vacation in
the great historian Max Dimont argued, Michigan."MICHAEL LEVINE'S TEN
it didn't matter if Moses really did COMMANDMENTS FOR DEALING WITH MEDIANever
have a chat with the Lord up on Mount be boring. Never!Know your subject
Sinai or not. What matters is that thoroughly.Know the media you contact.
the Jewish people believed it and carved Read the paper, watch the newscast.Cover
their unique place in world you bases.Don't just take "yes" for an
civilizations because of it. Perception answer. Follow up, follow
became