Photo Credit: Giovanni Rufino / The CW © 2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Spotted, Tyra Banks attempting to play an actress getting ready for her movie premier with a few secrets being held by her publicist. 

Gossip Girl is one of my guilty pleasures (other than bourbon and Kentucky sports,) and this week’s episode was anything but settling. 

*Spoiler Alert* So here’s the gist on the PR prospective, Serena isn’t going to Brown and wants to prove her worth by getting a job.  She happened into a publicist’s job because she knew how to escape from the paparazzi through a back entrance of a restaurant. 

After Serena found her “dream job,” the publicist finds out Tyra’s character’s main scene is cut from the movie but refuses to prep her so she can cause drama on-site and in front of the cameras.  This causes a conflicted Serena to not tell Tyra and let her go on with the drama, shocker I know.  The publicists then reveals how her plot won and how this news will get better media coverage and then fires Serena.  Later on Serena gets her job back thanks to Tyra (how many times has a client fought for your job after you lied to them,) and all the world is happy, for now. 

Let me break this down and bring into reality:

• Socialite girl has never worked a day in her life and gets a job as a publicist on the spot because she knows how to escape a restaurant.
• Prior to movie premier said socialite girl turned publicist finds out from new boss her client is cut from her biggest scene in the movie that her client hasn’t seen and won’t until the premier.
• Socialite girl is told to lie to client/ actor about the news because it would “devastate” them.
• Client finds out the hard way and is upset in front of all cameras and media.
• Publicist is happy because her client is now going to be in all gossip magazines and then fires socialite girl.
• Client/ actor demands for publicists to re-hire socialite girl despite both of them lying to her.
• Everyone is rewarded for lying to client.

First of all, when did it become so easy to obtain such a high-profile position? Why do they insinuate the only thing a publicist does is making sure her client looks pretty and causes drama? There is so much more to the industry than paparazzi.  The episode also insinuated all PR people are about the spin, as we have had numerous posts on this topic alone (Yea…no, I don’t do that ,Yea, I do that  and Drop the Salesman Mentality.)

One of the biggest faux pas in the story line is the lying to a client.  No matter what industry you are in, is fibbing justified because you think it is better for the client? Little white lies can only amount to future trouble and your main focus should be building the relationship with the client instead of putting up little road blocks or foggy areas along the way.   Honesty will progress your relationship even if the timing doesn’t seem right.  I am confident Tyra’s character would have still shown up for her movie premier since she was in a few scenes, but would have been more prepared and poised for tough questions to transition the message to a relevant topic. 

In the world of Social Media, there is little room for error and could cause a major backlash on your client or brand.  We tweet, write, blog, and talk amongst peers about our industry, but we are forgetting about the general public. 

Therefore PR Industry, I challenge you to tell at least one new person a remarkable and unique experience or work item (outside of celebrities and movie premiers) that you accomplished in PR today!
Now run…
XOXO,
PR Girl

(CC) flickr // Thairms

While sipping my morning coffee and catching up on reading, I come across another article about football players abusing Twitter.  Clicking on the link and expecting to hear what happened to the Redskins player

I am shocked to see Texas Tech in the headline.  Seriously, another player has crossed the line on Twitter? Don’t they read or watch the headlines?

Apparently, Texas Tech isn’t having a good season to date.  (Yes, I love football but it’s the Big 12 and I’m SEC.) Two of the players have resorted to texting highly inappropriate comments about their head coach or their team, leading to a snowball effect with the media.

My question to the players – do you know your audience in certain Social Media outlets?  Not surprisingly it’s sports writers, journalists and fans.  It might as well be a mini press conference with the fans watching.

A rivals.com article quotes: “One of these days, players are going to realize Facebook and Twitter are public statements akin to sitting in front of a microphone or issuing a press release, and then we won’t know anything.”

This statement should be on a post-it on everyone’s computer while using Twitter.  Would you feel comfortable standing in front of cameras saying exactly the same thing you write on Twitter? How many times do we have to see people lose their jobs or players get fined before we think twice on what we post?

Controversy over this statement has been going on for quite some time, and even among our group of PR Breakfast Club members.  You shouldn’t feel like you are being censored, but there may be is a better way of expressing your opinions and not putting yourself in jeopardy?

Therefore, could football players learn from Social Media and PR pros or should we learn from their mistakes?

• 24 May 2012 : Value of a Facebook Fan – Still Worth Considering?
• 23 May 2012 : Why Viggle Will Change Television
• 22 May 2012 : 10 Ingredients to Make Your Event Execution Easy
• 21 May 2012 : Stop Being Idiots -or- NATO and Perspective
• 18 May 2012 : Facebook Research: Brand-Related Posts Drive Most Engagement

The other day… UGH! Writer’s block!

We have all been there, the client or boss needs a document by the end of the day and you can’t even complete a full sentence.  Pressures are swelling and you feel stuck.  The blinking curser or ink spot from your pen resting on the paper are staring back at you with remorse.  What to write about? Where to begin?

How many people have been in this situation time and time again?

Wikipedia’s definition of writer’s block is enough to scare me:

Writer’s block is a condition, associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task in hand. At the other extreme, some “blocked” writers have been unable to work for years on end, and some have even abandoned their careers.

Abandon my career, it was only one article or blog post, I promise.  With the constant pressures of new media, are we expected to write and have an opinion to share every day?  Some topics I am passionate about and can write for days but let’s be honest, in our profession you have to write some things you are not as emotional about.

In true writer’s block passion, I will keep this post short and leave the floor open for discussion amongst fellow PR pros.

What are your daily tactics to pull you out of a rut?  What is your advice for the not-so-eager writers?

• 24 May 2012 : Value of a Facebook Fan – Still Worth Considering?
• 23 May 2012 : Why Viggle Will Change Television
• 22 May 2012 : 10 Ingredients to Make Your Event Execution Easy
• 21 May 2012 : Stop Being Idiots -or- NATO and Perspective
• 18 May 2012 : Facebook Research: Brand-Related Posts Drive Most Engagement

Now most of you may know, I’m a spicy Southern gal who eats, breathes and sleeps SEC (Southeastern Conference) College sports (Read: drinks Bourbon.) If you follow me on Twitter, I’ll apologize in advance for real-time Tweeting about the games. Upon making the trek across the Mason-Dixon line, I have had to explain to many the depth of tradition around College sports. Earlier this week a funny e-mail hit my in-box (see below) and made me think how different cultures can be at different colleges, regions and better yet companies.

How many of us work out of NYC and have clients in the South or other regions where you are not originally from? The two cultures and work mentalities are completely different and can even hinder your client relationship if you don’t understand each other.

(CC) photo credit: David Reber

For example, and hear me out of this:
NYC agency calls a client in Alabama, talks very fast and can sometimes be a little pushy. (Don’t start yelling at the screen, I’m in NYC and have done this even being from the South.) NYC agency thinks they had a great call.

Alabama client hangs up the phone, confused and thinking NYC agency doesn’t have enough time to talk about their product, project, etc. If the NYC agency understood the client they would maybe take a few extra minutes to talk with the client, therefore making them happy.

Let’s reverse this situation:
Alabama agency calls NYC client and takes 15 minutes to ask one quick question.
NYC client hangs up the phone frustrated that it took Alabama agency so long to get their point across, will possibly screen calls next time.

Alabama agency hangs up the phone and moves on to the next call.

I have been and am guilty on both situations. So this brings up a few questions, should a client hire someone to represent their brand from the same region? Should we conform to our client’s work/life culture (and no, I’m not making everyone drink Bourbon?)

Excerpt from SEC Football Traditions E-mail:
College Football Time…
Planning for the fall football season in the South is radically different than up North. For those who are planning a football trip South, here are some helpful hints.

Women’s Accessories:
NORTH: Chap Stick in back pocket and a $20 bill in the front pocket.
SOUTH: Louis Vuitton duffel with two lipsticks, waterproof mascara, and a fifth of bourbon. Money not necessary – that’s what dates are for.

Fathers:
NORTH: Expect their daughters to understand Sylvia Plath.
SOUTH: Expect their daughters to understand pass interference.

Campus Decor:
NORTH: Statues of founding fathers.
SOUTH: Statues of Heisman trophy winners.

Heroes:
NORTH: Rudy Giuliani
SOUTH: Archie, Peyton & Eli Manning

Getting Tickets:
NORTH: 5 days before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus..
SOUTH: 5 months before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus, make a large financial contribution and put name on a waiting list for tickets.

Friday Classes After a Thursday Night Game:
NORTH: Students and teachers not sure they’re going to the game, because they have classes on Friday.
SOUTH: Teachers cancel Friday classes because they don’t want to see the few hung over students that might actually make it to class.

Parking:
NORTH: An hour before game time, the University opens the campus for game parking.
SOUTH: RVs sporting their school flags begin arriving on Wednesday for the weekend festivities. The really faithful arrive on Tuesday..

Game Day:
NORTH: A few students party in the dorm and watch ESPN on TV.
SOUTH: Every student wakes up, has a beer for breakfast, and rushes over to where ESPN is broadcasting “Game Day Live” to get on camera and wave to the north who wonder why “Game Day Live” is never Broadcast from their campus.

Tailgating:
NORTH: Raw meat on a grill, beer with lime in it, listening to local radio station with truck tailgate down.
SOUTH: 30-foot custom pig-shaped smoker fires up at dawn. Cooking accompanied by live performance from the Dave Matthews Band,… who come over during breaks and ask for a hit off bottle of bourbon.

Concessions:
NORTH: Drinks served in a paper cup, filled to the top with soda.
SOUTH: Drinks served in a plastic cup, with the home team’s mascot on it, filled less than half way with soda, to ensure enough room for bourbon.

Commentary (Male):
NORTH: “Nice play.”
SOUTH: “Dangit, you slow idiot – tackle him and break his legs.”

Commentary (Female):
NORTH: “My, this certainly is a violent sport.”
SOUTH: “Dangit, you slow idiot – tackle him and break his legs.”

**Disclaimer: This doesn’t include NFL traditions**

Scene 1: Camera One pans to girls at door.  A faint voice states “thirty seconds till we air.” Final checks in place, Louboutins (check), black dress (check), clipboard (check), stern look (check.) Let’s roll, 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . air.

Camera Two pans to X celebrity arriving in the black sedan and walks up to red carpet; she stops to pose for a few photos to hear cat-calling from paparazzi in the galley.  Cut to second scene.

Scene 2: Louboutin-wearing girls hovering around a VIP table having a cocktail (yes, at their own event) and hanging out with their friends they snuck in.  Drama begins to unfold.  Cut, end scene.

Okay, how many of us have watched reality and primetime television shows where this act is played over and over again? (Pause for all PR people to verbally grunt at the computer.) Exactly.

Recent turmoil has been unleashed in response to Kim Kardashian’s announcement of a PR reality show appropriately reported on People.com.  My immediate reaction was frustration and defense of the PR industry as a whole.  Then I wrote this blog post.  While my first draft is lying nicely in my trash can, I came to a realization that I can see the glass half full on this matter.  Please hear me out.

As Lauren Fernandez eloquently pointed out in her blog post Monday, Publicity is different from PR. I concur on this matter with a footnote that publicity is still a form of public relations and has proven successful for corporate clients as well as the entertainment industry.

As I was emotionally ranting of the frustrations that PR is not just red carpets, designer duds, and celebrities, I found myself being a hypocrite.  Currently I finished a publicity/PR event that involved step and repeats while wearing a designer dress and shoes, clipboard in tow, and there was a celebrity involved.  How is this any different?  No, I am not having cocktails with J-Lo and having Versace designers knocking on my door with free gifts, but in some form I am producing the same type of a publicity event and exceeding the client’s expectations in the process. While my background primarily lies in events and launches, my day-to-day public relations duties consist of social media, writing, networking, and all the normal corporate communications.

Publicity events for corporate clients with celebrities, red carpets, and features in magazines are only the icing on the cake for this form of public relations.  Sure, the drama surrounding the on-site events holds the sex appeal to draw millions of viewers, but as PR professionals we all know where the REAL drama lies: behind the scenes.   I believe this is the sore spot with everyone in this industry.  Where are the cameras when the nuts and bolts to the campaign or event are being born?  Brainstorming sessions conducted a la Mad Men style (in no reference to Sunday’s episode), ideas being pitched to clients, hundreds of creative design ideas for invitations, step and repeats, Web sites, logos, press releases being written (and the twenty revisions), media lists compiled, talent negotiations, do I really need to keep going?  I think we understand all the hard work that happens behind the scenes that makes PR and publicity campaigns work.

So, one may ask, “Why are these scenes edited?” My guess: viewers, money, advertisement dollars, and TV executives.  Outside of the PR industry, we would lose the general public on the first draft of a press release.  The producers, and general public, want the glitz and glamor.  Is this necessarily the “right” thing to do? No, but PR isn’t the only industry in the same boat.  What about “Making the Band” and “Project Runway?” Is it really this easy to get a record label or a four-page feature in a major fashion magazine for up-and-coming artists? Are all the steps and dirty laundry revealed? No! Why? Million dollar word: viewers!

Bottom Line:

While some view publicity as Louboutin-wearing blondes with a clipboard obsession, publicity is a form of media relations that has proven successful for many clients.  Our problem lies more in the lack of education to the public on the different sectors that lie within the PR industry.  Trust me that a successful publicity event uses as much communication as a traditional press release launch, plus a few side orders of event logistics.  Now, I can’t say the individuals participating in Kim’s reality show hold these same standards, but they shouldn’t be held as the poster children to the Publicity ring either.

Therefore, PR flacks, I challenge you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the drama that someone else will be experiencing and revel in the fact you are sitting on the couch when their talent says the wrong name of the product!