Media Happenings | Bill Byrne

BBPR - Targeted Lifestyle Communications

Archive for the ‘Media Happenings’ Category

Why Social Media Should Not Replace Real Journalism

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

If you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably seen the story of “Jenny Dry Erase” a woman who quit her job for various reasons that most people seemed to applaud her for (at least most of my friends on Facebook). And if you’re like many of my friends (and myself included), you thought the piece was real… or almost real.

Well, it wasn’t. See here for Tech Crunch’s follow-up.

Jenny was a hoax… like the Taco Bell buying the Liberty Bell (something a previous agency I worked at came up with – but I was not involved in the campaign). The company involved fooled a lot of us with “Jenny Dry Erase”. Or just me and my friends. I feel a little ripped off because they didn’t sell me something in the process… but I digress.

“Jenny Dry Erase” is a prime example of why we should never allow real journalistic-based media to go away. Media outlets that check sources, follow-up on leads and vet ideas for newsworthy-ness prior to even considering them for publication are incredibly important. Sites such as Wikipedia are great for looking things up, but whose to say that 10 minutes before you looked up “public relations” I didn’t go on there and make a post about BBPR or all of the great work we’ve done (some of which can be seen here).

What’s real anyway? Many people agree that you should support “official” charities rather than say, give money to a homeless guy on the street.

But how do we know this guys family really wasn’t killed by ninjas? Ok, they probably weren’t. But how do you know guys with more believeable signage are really homeless veterans or are going to spend the money you give them on food instead of booze, etc.? You don’t. But at the same time, we’ve seen in the news that not all charities are what they appear either… but since they seem more official, some people are more comfortable supporting them.

Now I’m not saying that everything media outlets publish is factual or without slant. There are things to consider, such as personal agendas (CNN is very different than Fox News and Transworld SURF is different from Surfer, etc.), advertisers and the influence of PR people (ahem). BUT, before you begin citing what’s on the SLAP message boards or Joe Blog.com as fact, keep in mind that you may really know where this information is coming from or if the person behind the writing has a personal reason for creating the content. What’s their track record for reporting the facts, embellishment and/or glorification of sensationalistic stories?

BTW – this is NOT a slag on bloggers. We work with online media… bloggers and others… regularly. Just wanted to draw attention to this recent example of how something posted on the Internet was assumed to be true… because it was posted on the Internet and looked “nice.”

If you believe this JPG, we have a $20,000 a month retainer contract just waiting for you to sign…

Tags: Action Sports, facebook marketing, PR, social media, wikipedia
Posted in Action Sports, Big Ideas, Marketing, Media Happenings, social media | No Comments »

Making the Most of Networking Opportunities

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

First, a blatant plug. BBPR is once again working with group Y on the Action Sports Conference. We’ll be helping them with copy as well as reaching out to media (shred, non-endemic, social, the works) on what’s going to take place and the value it has to marketers who attend.

Do you go to networking events? I do when I can, which is rare because I’m <<insert excuse here>>. However, I’ve heard some people don’t like them, for various reasons….. some justified, some not so much. Since I’m a man who has made millions a few mistakes in my incredibly fulfilling enviable varied career, here’s some advice if you’re new to the networking scene or are thinking of giving the group Y Action Sports Conference a shot.

1. Show early. It’ll be easier to get settled, mingle, etc. Seriously. It’s not cool to stagger in late anymore. Actually, it was never cool.

2. Act like you give a shit. Smile. No one is going to want to talk to you if you look like your boss made you go.

3. Sit next to people you don’t already know. I love bro’ing down… wait, no I don’t. You may though. Regardless, try to meet someone new. Unless you work at another PR agency… then please don’t bother attending. This event is closed to all other PR agencies.

4. Listen. Put the Blackberry and iPad down.

5. Be open minded about the people you meet. That guy you met from the Faber Castle pencil company may not seem like a great connection now… but later you’ll find out his brother-in-law is launching a new energy drink and looking for brands to throw sponsorship dollars at. Or maybe he’s got an interesting marketing story to share… one of the biggest values we bring to our clients in action sports is that we’ve worked with a lot of brands outside the arena. Lots of key learnings regarding battery and vacuum marketing that actually do translate to the action sports world.

That’s it. Basic stuff, but they’re good things to keep in mind. Unless you work for another PR agency… in which case, you’re not invited to the party.

Tags: action sports conference, action sports marketing, group y, Marketing
Posted in Marketing, Media Happenings | 1 Comment »

Issues in Media Manipulation – Does Disclosure Make it Ok?

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

I strongly believe that to really execute a solid marketing campaign, you need to have a mix of tactics. Grass roots, PR, advertising, events and some new fangled thing called “social media” which we don’t know much about here, but LinkedIn tells us there are trillions of experts willing to assist you on.

When it comes to editorial, we constantly tell clients there are going to be things out of their control. Sometimes doctored photos make better news and… well, here’s where it gets interesting.

Steve Casimiro from The Adventure Life (a site worth reading for sure) pointed this out recently that the new cover with Lance Armstrong has been doctored, but at the same time, the adjustments were revealed.

Lance Armstrong Outside cover manipulation action sports media BBPR

Right off the bat, I didn’t realize what 38 BFD meant… which is a shocker, since I speak in acronyms all day long.

We’ve seen similar things happen to clients in the past, but without the disclosure on the cover.

Sooooo… who is in the right here? Steve & Lance aren’t feeling the cover. But Outside did disclose the manipulation, on the cover itself, that the photo was doctored.

Tags: Action Sports, cycling, lance armstrong, media, outside magazine, photo manipulation, PR
Posted in Marketing, Media Happenings | No Comments »

PR = No Control (sometimes)

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

PR-No-control

Know what the worst thing about PR/media relations is? The lack of control.

Ask anyone who is realistic and reputable in the public relations game and they’ll tell you that they can’t guarantee coverage. If they guarantee you coverage, they’re evil gnarly humans lying. Personally, I’ve got a ton of long-standing relationships with media, some of them even positive, but regardless, what a reporter or editor writes about a brand that pays BBPR millions of dollars for little results that partners with us is out of my control.

From time to time, media will miss something in the fact-checking portion of their story production. That could include putting a typo in a brand’s URL or using the word carbon instead of Kevlar. That’s disappointing, but it happens. People make mistakes. I make a ton just walking from my office to the coffee shop around the corner.

What’s tough to stomach for PR people, and even tougher for clients, is when media omit facts or manipulate them with an agenda.

Take for example, ABC News’ coverage of what’s going on with Toyota and their accelerator issue. If you’ve read Gawker recently, you may have seen their story uncovering of some interesting things about Brian Ross’ piece.

GAwker ABC Toyota I GAwker ABC Toyota II

I’m not saying that Toyota’s recall isn’t warranted, but staging visuals is a little suspect, at least in my book.

With project BLUE, we’ve recently had an incident with the guys over at Drift Surfing. Nothing was staged, but facts were not officially checked and some feedback left on their comment section by Vipe Desai (project BLUE’s founder) was deleted.

Last week we saw this article by Howard Swanwick about conscious shopping in the surf industry. He makes a small, erroneous mention of Billabong in relation to project BLUE.

An inconvenient truth | Drift Surfing (20100307)

(note: at Vipe’s request, he has since updated it to say “Take Billabong’s involvement in Project Blue.”, which is more factual since project BLUE is a collaboration between numerous brands)

Howard’s is entitled to his own thoughts on project BLUE, but he missed a lot. A simple visit to the About section of project BLUE’s site would have given him more info. A Google search may have revealed a lot more, including that more than $140,000 has been donated to Surfrider as a result of the project BLUE partners, answering his question about “What has this much-shouted-about project achieved since its launch in 2007?”

When an online article is published with some information that’s either wrong or you don’t agree with, a brand can either opt to let it slide or provide feedback. Vipe opted to provide feedback, elaborating on the initiative and $ donated. Drift opted to delete Vipe’s comments because, according to Drift, they did not meet the two criteria the site abides by, specifically:

1. They have to be constructive, whether they’re critical or complimentary.

2. They do not constitute commercial promotion for brands.

Vipe tells me there was some back and forth between himself and the people at Drift, but in the end, the article remained intact and Vipe’s comments deleted. It’s their site and they can do what they want. project BLUE doesn’t support them in advertising and even if they did, that doesn’t always mean you can get your agenda across in editorial.

Short story long, these things happen in the world of PR/media/editorial relations. Not every piece that’s come out about project BLUE has been to my liking and there was one year that it seemed every journalist (ok, maybe four) who covered Rome SDS in the non-endemic media titled their article “When in Rome…” or “Rome, if you want to… The guys @ Rome let it slide and so has Vipe.

As PR people, we have to be truthful with our clients in counseling them that negative pieces may appear and sometimes, there’s very little we can do about them. Besides a long post on Experts & Insiders.

Want a piece of marketing you can have total control over? Then buy an ad. In fact, please do buy ads… they’re a valuable piece of the marketing mix and one I’ll get into justification for later. Heck, I actually wanted to work in advertising when I graduated college!

If you want to get into the PR/media relations boat, welcome aboard, just don’t think you’re always going to be able to steer the ship.

Tags: advertising vs. PR, bad PR, fact checking, journalism, PR, toyota
Posted in Marketing, Media Happenings | No Comments »

The IOC Wants Snowboarding Dollars, but Not Snowboarding Companies

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Well, this is lame.

Boardistan IOC

According to the International Olympic Committee’s rule 41, competitors who participate in the Olympics can’t have their person/likeness be used for advertising purposes during the Olympics.

Wow. Thanks IOC for letting snowboarding scratch your back but not the other way around.

True, snowboarding in the Olympics gives it a presences on television that no other event does. But without their sponsors, ranging from energy drink brands to actual snowboard companies, these guys wouldn’t be where they are today.

That private half-pipe built for gold medalist Shaun White, paid for by Red Bull, helped Shaun train and compete at the level he did at the games. Other brands’ support of their team riders is equally important, not only to the riders success, but the activity of snowboarding itself. These brands support the media that support snowboarding and with that, the culture. Heck, those brands that support snowboarding or other super gnarly extreme uber-radical action sports support BBPR, and we’re incredibly thankful for that.

While I’m not personally entrenched or knowledgeable in activities such as bobsledding or skiing aerials, I’d argue that there’s less of a global community and media presence surrounding those two sports… at least here in the US. Is that because the activities are harder to become a part of? Possibly… there aren’t very many bobsled tracks compared to ski resorts.

So what’s your take? Should the IOC let the brands that have helped snowboarding promote their efforts during the Olympics? Maybe the IOC should start paying royalties to the athletes, then we could eliminate the sponsors altogether?

BTW – if you’re looking for a neat take on action sports in general, check out our friends at South of the North. Tell’em BBPR sent you and you’ll get a 15 percent mark-up tacked onto on their new t-shirts. Oh, the earlier image came from the fine folks @ Boardistan, which is also a good read, but lacks a presence in the t-shirt market.

Tags: action sports endorsements, Marketing, olympic snowboarding, olympics, shaun white, snowboarding
Posted in Action Sports, Marketing, Media Happenings | No Comments »

Olympic Snowboarding And the New York Times

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

The Winter Olympics is around the corner and with it, the most important event in the history of Extreme Sports. Ever.

Ok, I kid, but snowboarding and the Olympics are a big deal. It may not be “core” or whatever the hot word of the moment is that describes core, but it will put snowboarding, for better or for worse, in front of gazillions quntillions zebrillions… a lot of eyeballs.

Former BBPR collaborator and eyewear marketing ninja, Liz “Bill, You Ride Too Slow” Randall forwarded me this piece from the NY Times about snowboarding progression and the Olympics. Here’s a quick snippet if you don’t want to click the link:

What we found really interesting was this call to action:

Love it or hate it, it’s an interesting way for the NYT to try to capture a younger audience. The paper is no stranger to running stories about extreme athletes snow-skaters radical dudes people who ride boards for a living, but this effort may bring an interesting mix of user generated content into the mix and possibly a new audience for the New York Times.

From our own experiences on this end, sourcing quality videos for a user generated video campaign is less than easy, so we’ll be interested to see how many videos are uploaded/entered into this. The reach of the times is massive, so anything (or nothing) is possible.

Side Rant:

Like many who make their living in the world of action sports, I have mixed feelings when it comes to how the riders and activities are portrayed in the mass media. I’ve worked on the non-endemic side of snow-shredding since 1997 (as a part of Burton’s Cohn & Wolfe PR team – thanks again Ann!) and as a rider and marketer, I’ve seen some interesting things go down.

While it’s common place to rag on contests we think are kooky or riders who may have a more jock than rock image, think about this: If the only people who bought <<insert your favorite brand>> products were hardcore <<insert your favorite activity>>, we’d have a lot fewer jobs in this industry.

We need to find a balance between posers fans and what we consider the core consumer, and then market to both. Not everyone who wears a Yankees hat plays baseball and not everyone who watched the Super Bowl last Sunday actually plays the game. Non-endemic brands are almost a necessity to keep this industry going. Turn on a baseball game and count the number of Rawlings or Wilson banners in stadiums and 30 second spots vs. how many come from baseball’s non-endemic sponsors.

Tags: olympics, snowboarding, super bowl marketing
Posted in Action Sports, Big Ideas, Marketing, Media Happenings, social media | No Comments »

80 Percent of Good PR is Showing Up

Monday, October 19th, 2009

The title of this post is somewhat of a joke, it does have some merit in terms of media relations.

You’ve probably come across more than a few articles about social media strategy and how some brands respond to consumers and some don’t (another rant for later, but the short answer is a) you should have a strategy for response and 5) that disgruntled customer who had a bad experience just launched “Comcast Must Die” … there’s a lot in between a and 5 though). This little post is more about responding to journalists instead of consumers… traditional PR, if you will.

I’d like to think the crew @ BBPR is excellent at what we do. But despite the team here being game-changing PR pros incredibly lucky in love with our incredibly newsworthy clients so excellent, sometimes we score great media placements just by being responsive.

Disclaimer: I can’t actually prove that PR is more effective than advertising, but it’s in my best interest to say that it is.

While I don’t necessarily agree with Woody Allen that 80 percent of success is showing up, I’m usually shocked when I hear from reporters that someone at a particular brand hasn’t gotten back to them about a story. In the last two months I’ve heard three times from reporters/editors at widely distributed, national publications that brands were unresponsive to media requests.

I once read an interview (wish I could find the link) where a well-respected executive in the surf industry voiced his disappointment about how a certain men’s lifestyle magazine did a piece on surf fashion, using products made by non-surf manufacturers. He was bummed about the magazine’s feature of brands that didn’t have authentic ties to surfing. Rightfully so, but it may not have been the editor’s fault. It could simply be that the other brands, while not first in surf, were great about returning the editor’s call.

Note: Done correctly (not just in terms of creative execution, but media buy as well), we do think that advertising and other marketing initiatives outside of PR are extremely important and relevant. Watch for more on that later.

Tags: issues in PR, social media
Posted in Marketing, Media Happenings | No Comments »

What’s Your Non-Endemic Story – Or Holy CR*P Quiksilver is Good at PR

Monday, October 5th, 2009

When it comes to public relations, having a good story is key. Even if you’re just a t-shirt brand, having a compelling reason for an editor to at least check out your art besides “it’s really good” or “I skate” can go a long way towards getting coverage. And you don’t need an overpriced PR firm to make it happen (or even a moderately priced consultancy, such as BBPR).

I mentioned digging for unique stories in the action sports world a while back on the BBPR blog, but since USA Today did a piece again last week, I’ll bring it up again.

Quiksilver is really good at non-endemic PR.

Yes, they sponsor some guy named Kelly Slater who is supposedly really good at golf, but that’s an easy story to pitch. I’m talking about all the coverage they’ve scored on Clay Marzo, such as this USA Today piece.

USA Today Marzo

Before the hate emails start (are they called “hemails”?), let me say that Clay is a talented surfer and deserves all the coverage he gets. Likewise, I don’t think that Quiksilver is being horribly opportunistic by highlighting his Asperger’s Syndrome as a pitch point for media coverage. Now if they went out looking for surfers who had various syndromes and ailments to sponsor, with the goal of building a a super team of media-genic athletes, that’d be something else. However, based on the article, I don’t think that is the case.

I take that back. I base my opinion on the ARTICLES covering Clay. ESPN The Magazine, their online extension, and Outside magazine. Holy CR*P did Quik get a lot of coverage out of this pitch.

I realize not everyone has an incredible surfer such as Clay on their team, but what I’m trying to circle back to is that most of the brands in our industry have stories to tell and you don’t need to have a world champ, squeaky clean image or million dollar budget to tell them. For example, Erik Ellington’s appearance in Inked.

Inked-Magazine-20091002

I’ve found that the non-endemic media are very open to pitches about kids in the extreme world, but we can’t expect them to come to us. The brand or event you work for probably has a great story to tell, but sometimes you have to point it out to others before they’ll tell it for you.

Tags: Asperger's Syndrome, PR, Quiksilver, Surf
Posted in Action Sports, Marketing, Media Happenings | No Comments »

BBPR - Targeted Lifestyle Communications

Archive for the ‘Media Happenings’ Category

Issues in Media Manipulation – Does Disclosure Make it Ok?

PR = No Control (sometimes)

The IOC Wants Snowboarding Dollars, but Not Snowboarding Companies

What’s Your Non-Endemic Story – Or Holy CR*P Quiksilver is Good at PR

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