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November 22, 2004
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Knowing many people will be leaving early this week to travel
for the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S., we present you
with PR Fuel a couple of days early. Have a great holiday and
see you back here next week.
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PR Fuel Reader Survey Results - Part I
By Ben Silverman
I received a couple hundred responses to the first annual PR
Fuel Reader Survey
(http://www.prfuel.com/archives/000342.html), and going
through the responses has been an enlightening experience.
This week, we'll take a look at how PR professionals
responded to the first three questions on the survey. There
was a definitive consensus about who ran the worst PR
campaign this year, and not surprisingly, the best PR
campaign, by consensus, was run to counter the worst
campaign! I've also discovered that media credibility
doesn't matter much to PR professionals.
Since the majority of respondents asked that they not be
attributed (and a lot of people didn't indicate one way or
the other), I'm naming no names. All responses are in
quotations.
If you haven't taken the survey yet, you can check out the
questions at http://www.prfuel.com/archives/000342.html.
---
Question: What is the worst public relations campaign or
blunder you've seen this year?
Overwhelmingly, PR Fuel readers who answered the survey said
that Senator John Kerry ran the year's worst PR campaign.
Here's a sample of some of the responses:
"From his attempt to appear with his wife as a real couple
with common goals that would resonate with the American
voter to his pitiful attempt to appear a duck hunter. No one
told his wife that greeting everyone in several languages on
national television would not make her look cosmopolitan as
much as snobbish. No one told Mr. Kerry that duck hunting
isn't done on your belly in the weeds. Mr. Kerry shouldn't
have used Ms. Cheney's name in any way, shape, or form. He
could better have described himself as not feeling like he
had a 'choice' when it came to whether he became a
heterosexual adult."
"[Kerry] just couldn't keep the message simple and emotional
enough, except during the debates. He might have been able
to overcome his privileged background with his Vietnam
service, but his slow response to the swifties at the Swift
Boat Veterans allowed that ball to play far longer than it
might otherwise have."
"John Kerry going goose hunting."
"Kerry Campaign responding to the Swift Boat Vets in Ohio."
"Kerry's because it sucked up so much money and the message
was not articulated well."
"Theresa Heinz Kerry. She could have been spun into a strong
woman who was standing by her man, but instead just came
across as strongly overbearing. Somebody soften her image!"
"The Kerry Campaign. It was a lesson in failed messaging,
failed audience research and failed execution."
Others receiving a prominent number of votes:
Fleishman-Hillard's scandal involving the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power, the Abu Ghraib prison
scandal, the Merck/Vioxx scandal, Dan Rather and CBS News
for the Texas National Guard memo debacle, bloggers for
their use of questionable - and unattributed - exit poll
numbers, Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake/MTV/CBS/NFL for the
Super Bowl "Breasttacular," Ashlee Simpson for her "Saturday
Night Live" lip-synching performance, Kobe Bryant, Michael
Moore, and Howard Dean's "I Have A Scream" speech.
---
Question: What is the best public relations campaign or move
you've seen this year?
Respondents gave props to President Bush, Oprah Winfrey, and
even Martha Stewart. Mr. President, and Karl Rove, certainly
received the most votes. Here's a sample of some of the
responses:
"The best campaigns are the ones you don't really see.
There's suddenly a flood of publicity about someone or
something, and that causes the public to react and act. If
PR doesn't influence behavior, then it's just publicity."
"Oprah and the free Pontiacs."
"Martha Stewart's public apology and remorse ... and
requesting to do her time and get it over with. THAT
softened HER image."
"I think Google did sharp work in keeping up hype with the
Gmail rollout to the point where accounts were going on eBay
for some decent beer money. They attracted negative press
like a lightning rod, but it dissipated once people started
using it and even the media realized they were making a
story out of nothing."
"George Bush's re-election campaign and the Athens Olympics,
though the latter was a real reaction to our wrong
perception of how the Greek Olympics would be."
"Stem cell research across the world continues to gain
traction. Go researchers go!"
"Oprah Winfrey car giveaway. The PR campaign for the Movie
Ray - the way it is going, you are very aware of how good
Jamie Foxx is but barely aware that Ray is actually no
longer with us."
"Not 'BEST,' but 'MOST EFFECTIVE': Republican National
Committee leafleting churches and Sunday school classes with
literature linking Bush and 'moral values.'"
"Halliburton. Less is more. They never addressed the charges
[made against them] and quietly went about business. I don't
like it, or recommend it, but it's working for them."
"George W. Bush's political campaign. 'W' became a brand, a
clear and simple representation of a guy who keeps it simple
- not because he's stupid, as many people believe, but
because political details are convoluted and anything but
moral, and people just don't want to know the details."
Others receiving a prominent number of votes: Wal-Mart for
finally opening up to the media, bloggers for pushing the
medium into the limelight, Howard Stern for attacking the
FCC and lifting satellite radio, the Boston Red Sox (as one
reader said, "They got the best type of good PR: the kind
you earn"), and Sinclair Broadcasting Group.
---
Question: Has the credibility of the media taken a hit this
year? If so, do you feel this impacts your ability to do
your job?
Yes, the media's creditability took a serious hit this year,
but it doesn't impact how PR professionals are doing their
job. Here's a sample of some of the responses:
"I think the credibility of the media remains low. But
unfortunately, I think the credibility of PR professionals
remains lower. It doesn't make much difference."
"I think the credibility of the media has come into
question, but not as much as the credibility of Corporate
America, so it's all relative! There's been too much other
crap in the way, so media credibility isn't as big of an
issue as it should be."
"To some extent, yes. I'm not sure how much attention is
paid by the general population."
"The credibility of the media has probably taken the biggest
hit ever this year. From my perspective it means that the
facts have to be crystal clear, and you have to find a way
around the media to reach your audiences for some issues."
"It's taken another hit. Doesn't affect me personally any. I
think I'll do better if journalists want to make up news
stories. I can then make up PR success stories and get a
raise."
"Surely, especially considering Dan Rather and the disputed
reports about Bush's service record, and the very powerful
and disorienting documentaries 'Outfoxed' and even
'Fahrenheit 9/11.' I think the feeling the public is left
with is that the news is all partisan, that it's all biased,
that 'news' can't be trusted no matter who is delivering it.
They basically talk about the same things (the Iraq war) or
don't talk about the same things (voter fraud and its impact
on democracy) and spin it their way. Maybe most of us
involved with PR, even peripherally like me, already thought
so and use that knowledge to the advantage whenever
possible. I don't think it makes the job harder in that
media bias has always been a factor."
"[The media's waning credibility] has enabled me to do
better. With credible information, the media is willing to
sidestep the quagmire of 'big' or national news and let the
little guys get some air time."
---
I want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday weekend.
For our overseas friends (and friends north and south of the
border), we'll be thinking of you while we stuff our faces
with turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pie!
---
Visit the PR Fuel website at http://www.prfuel.com for daily
PR industry news and commentary.
---
Ben Silverman is a former business news columnist for The
New York Post and a Contributing Editor for FindProfit.com
(http://www.findprofit.com), an independent investment
newsletter. He can be reached via email at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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(c) Copyright 2004 by MEK Enterprises d/b/a eReleases.com
9403 Good Spring Dr., Suite P-3, Perry Hall, MD 21128
All rights reserved.
The opinions expressed by the writer are his own and not
necessarily endorsed by MEK Enterprises d/b/a eReleases.com
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