Royalty A-Twitter

By Jeff Nussbaum (WWW)
May 7, 2009 – 3:14 pm

It’s usually not a good thing when a member of a royal family has everyone a-twitter, but in this case, we’re not talking about providing tabloid fodder. 

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, who last year broke new cross-cultural ground with her “Send Me Your Stereotypes” endeavor on YouTube (and won YouTube’s first Visionary Award for her efforts), is now using Twitter as well. 

It looks like President Obama isn’t the only world statesperson to have mastered social media.

As a speechwriter, I prefer (and, frankly, make a living from) messages that run just a bit more than 140 characters, so I’d also advise you to check out Her Majesty’s recent speech on global education at last month’s Global Philanthropy Forum in Washington.

 

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College Presidents Sweat Out Essays

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
May 6, 2009 – 3:24 pm

The Wall Street Journal turned the tables on ten college presidents for an article appearing today, asking them to complete one of the essays from their respective schools’ applications:

The “applicants” were told not to exceed 500 words (though most did), and to accept no help from public-relations people or speechwriters.* Friends and family could advise but not rewrite. The Journal selected the question from each application so presidents wouldn’t pick the easy ones. They had about three weeks to write their essays.

The exercise showed just how challenging it is to write a college essay that stands out from the pack, yet doesn’t sound overly self-promotional or phony. Even some presidents say they grappled with the challenge and had second thoughts about the topics they chose. Several shared tips about writing a good essay: Stop trying to come up with the perfect topic, write about personally meaningful themes rather than flashy ones, and don’t force a subject to be dramatic when it isn’t.

Not bad advice for speeches, either.

See the whole story, including all ten essay responses, here.

 

* This requirement was specific to the Journal‘s task and should not be considered general advice.

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PR Angels (and Demons)

By Mark W. Davis (WHWG)
May 5, 2009 – 9:12 am

Leave it to Forrest Gump to remind us that modern public relations rests on candor. 

The reality check function of PR has been a truism of management theory from the beginning of the 20th Century.  Now actor Tom Hanks is publicly praising his PR agent . . . for simply telling him the truth about himself.

It is tempting to ask if the entertainment industry is so full of toadies that a candid PR person is news to Hollywoodland.  Given the recent behavior of corporate America, however, perhaps it needs to be restated that a critical function of PR is to manage the truth.  After all, when the car company executives late last year, in the immortal words of The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, flew to Washington in their corporate jets with tin cups in hand, what were they being told by their PR advisors?  Have a nice flight, sir?

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Veridian Dynamics v. Obama

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
May 3, 2009 – 12:15 pm

When President Obama requested prime network time yet again last week, it meant some TV shows got bumped. Among them, Better Off Ted, a new ABC comedy struggling for ratings.

Better Off Ted is a funny look inside the fictional Veridian Dynamics, a mega-industrial company in the GE mold, but with highly questionable ethics. Each week’s episode features an ad for Veridian related to that week’s storyline. With no show last week, Veridian fought back against President Obama.

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Bullying Business

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
May 1, 2009 – 1:17 pm

Yesterday’s auto announcement from the White House highlights why it’s imperative that private-sector companies doing business with government-backed enterprises employ a well-calibrated public message strategy. 

In announcing that Chrysler would enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, President Obama praised various stakeholders – unions, management, creditors, etc. – for making “sacrifices” to keep the company out of court. But then he used the bully pulpit to lash some others:

In particular, a group of investment firms and hedge funds decided to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout.  They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices, and they would have to make none.  Some demanded twice the return that other lenders were getting….  I don’t stand with those who held out when everybody else is making sacrifices.  And that’s why I’m supporting Chrysler’s plans to use our bankruptcy laws to clear away its remaining obligations so the company can get back on its feet and onto a path of success.

Later he added: “[I]t was unsustainable to let enormous liabilities remain on Chrysler’s books, and it was unacceptable to let a small group of speculators endanger Chrysler’s future by refusing to sacrifice like everyone else.”

The problem here is that the president is deliberately misconstruing the position of some creditors who were not looking for additional taxpayer money, but who were convinced they were getting a raw deal from the government – reportedly 33 cents on each dollar of debt they hold. 

They’re not speculators, they’re investors. They’re seeking the money they loaned Chrysler in the first place – and they think they may have a better chance of getting it if the company is liquidated or goes through a court-directed bankruptcy, rather than being shepherded through a government-mandated debt restructuring. Read More »

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America’s Obama-Related Attention Span Slips

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
May 1, 2009 – 8:41 am

According to Nielsen, the ratings company, nearly 29 million people watched President Obama’s prime time press conference to mark his first 100 days in office. Pretty impressive. 

But compared with his own earlier star power, Obama’s wattage appears to be slipping. His second prime time presser, in March, drew 40.4 million people. His inaugural foray before the East Room cameras — way back on February 9 — was watched by nearly 50 million.

This seems like a natural decline. Given the saturation coverage of the Obama presidency, and the constant torrent of information from the White House, fewer people feel the need to tune in at a particular time to hear what the president has to say. They’re already pretty familiar with his policies and with his personality, and they can be sure they’ll hear something about him or from him every day.

Wednesday’s news conference wasn’t designed to make news — and didn’t. The challenge for team Obama will be finding fresh, compelling ways to package the president when they actually do want to penetrate their self-generated fog of information.

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Hollywood on the Potomac

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 30, 2009 – 11:29 am

Here’s a calendar-worthy event for Washingtonians and visitors planning to be in the city next weekend: Politics on Film is the first-ever film festival to award jury prizes to movies that focus on themes of politics or policy.

And if you think making movies about politics and policy is sort of like dressing up an ugly prom date, think again. The tradition of American political cinema includes some of the best pictures Hollywood has ever produced.

That was the conclusion of a panel convened last night to chew over what makes a film political.

Among the participants were Dan Glickman, the head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA); Ann Hornaday, movie critic for the Washington Post; and two filmmakers – Jason Pollock, a young guy who used to work with Michael Moore and recently completed a documentary about 18-21 year olds running for elected office; and Sig Libowitz, an actor, lawyer, and writer/producer of a short film based on transcripts of trials at Guantanamo Bay.

So what makes a film political? It’s a matter of perception, of course. But the panelists favored a broad approach, agreeing that any movie in which someone attempts to transform an aspect of government, society, or his or her own life is, in some sense, political.

Our understanding of politics, the panelists made clear, shouldn’t be confined to what happens in Washington. The business world is rife with politics (especially these days), sex is often a political topic, and local communities, schools, churches, and workplaces have their own political architectures that can be compellingly depicted on film.

The godfather of DC film critics, Arch Campbell, asked the panelists to name their favorite political films. Responses: Election, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Manchurian Candidate (original version), Bulworth, Primary Colors, and The Truman Show. Not a snoozer in the bunch. Read More »

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May It Please the Court – Supremely

By Vinca LaFleur (WWW)
April 28, 2009 – 4:00 pm

ruth-bader-ginsberg2

I’ve posted on Maira Kalman before because I think she’s so clever and creative, and because I love the way she uses her art to illuminate her ideas.  Check out her latest piece for the New York Times — a tribute to justice, brave women, spring in Washington, and self-confidence.

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Keeping Tweets Kosher

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 27, 2009 – 10:11 pm

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the potential SEC pitfalls of corporate Twittering. The thesis: Companies that are using Twitter to talk about financial information need to be sure they’re not running afoul of SEC guidelines pertaining to communications with potential investors. Meanwhile, the SEC looks for ways to make its investor relations mandates more accommodating to ultra modern communications.

The Journal article says that 23 of the Fortune 500 are currently Twittering, in addition to dozens more that are blogging. Though even some tech-savvy companies, such as Intel, are cautious about blogs and Twitter because of the potential legal ramifications and the prospect of providing a forum for critics.

Since Twittering and blogging are formats that encourage informality, authenticity, and personality over corporate dogma, figuring out how to join the public conversation without entirely checking your brand at the door is an ongoing dilemma for corporations.

EBay, which is featured in the article (and whose Twitter stream can be found here), has apparently reined in its resident blogger/Twitterer just a bit — raising eyebrows but not ire among readers.

As far as the SEC issues, eBay insists that any investor info, even on Twitter, be prefaced with a standard disclaimer. I wondered how this would work in a Twitter stream, since postings are limited to 140 characters. Had eBay’s lawyers really found a way to condense paragraphs of legalese into such a concise message?

No. Instead, the Twitter stream directs people to the company’s blog, which includes this page of legal CYA.

Still, as communications tools continue to evolve and eliminate barriers between messenger and receiver, top businesses are proving adept at reaching customers however they choose to communicate.

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6 Ways to Make a Commencement Speech Soar

By Jeff Nussbaum (WWW)
April 24, 2009 – 4:05 pm

“Commencement speeches,” the cartoonist Garry Trudeau once quipped, “were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.”

As commencement season rolls around, this post falls (once again) into the category of shameless self promotion. 

But as two of the many who have suffered through some mind numbing commencment speeches, my colleague Vinca LaFleur and I decided to put together several tips for those commencement speakers who may not have the opportunity to make history with their commencement speeches, but can at least make a lasting impression.

Our thoughts appear in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education.  And while their site is usually a subscription service, they’ve been nice enough to make available a free link to our article.

So give them some love and some page hits, and, if you’ve been invited to speak at a commencement,  maybe even give yourself a shot at — if not immortality, at least inducing in your audience something more inspired than morbidity.

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Obama’s Cabinet Challenge

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 20, 2009 – 4:30 pm

President Obama today urged his Cabinet members to find $100 million in savings from their departmental budgets.

It’s easy to harass the president about such a miniscule figure compared with the kind of spending he’s enacted and proposed of late. But he rightfully recognized that $100 million is a “drop in the bucket” compared to overall government spending and debt — and that, frankly, you have to start somewhere.

Plus, from a communications standpoint, $100 million does sound like a lot of money to people whose lives aren’t routinely saturated with references to “billions” and “trillions.”

I did some very quick math to figure out how tiny a drop that $100 million is. If you take FY2008 federal spending of around $3 trillion, $100 million is about 1/30,000 of total outlays. Translating that to a family budget, a person or family with $90,000 a year in income would have to find $3 in savings to meet the president’s goal.

Pretty easy, right? So maybe the president’s team can use similar numbers to inspire government. If the average family can find three dollars in savings over the course of a year, surely the government can match that rate, no?

Furthermore, maybe President Obama should encourage families to actually find the savings in their budgets. Many already are. Granted, saving doesn’t necessarily help the economy now, but if people put a few bucks more toward, say, paying off credit card debt or paying extra principal on their mortgage, that would help their personal financial situation and help credit issuers reduce their exposure.

(Yes, I know the people most likely to behave this way are the people least likely to default, but no plan’s perfect.)

By playing up the Cabinet Challenge, the Administration (and others) could turn some drops in the bucket into a rivulet of responsibility.

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The Curious Case of Pushing the Right Buttons

By Mark W. Davis (WHWG)
April 20, 2009 – 1:21 pm

The Obama administration’s versatility in using social media is reshaping the way the government contracts.

The bonanza called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act–$137 billion for infrastructure, $20 billion to modernize health records, $43 billion for energy initiatives–is being transparently run as a social media function on www.recovery.gov.

Interestingly, making the most of a corporate profile on this site is the subject of a piece in PRWeek, which notes:

“Companies eager to participate must therefore establish credibility in the marketplace and raise their profile among a vast group of stakeholders, beyond just traditional political and procurement personnel. By working with the media, enlisting the support of third-party experts, and engaging with civic and business leaders, companies can showcase their expertise and experience.”

What does this mean for PR firms?  Those that understand social media are poised to prosper along with the winners they develop.

What may not come through in the article is that this is not the kind of task your usual, large PR behemoth is equipped to perform.  The firms that will succeed at this unique form of networking will be more focused on public issues, government affairs, and be comfortable surfing the balmy waters of the great social media ocean.

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Do You Hear the People Sing?

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 19, 2009 – 12:46 pm

This is a bit off topic, but since it’s Sunday and Podium Pundits seems to have a predilection for British things, I thought I’d comment on the Susan Boyle phenomenon.

In case you missed it (and I doubt you have), Ms. Boyle is the 47 year-old amateur singer who charmed Britain – and then the world – with her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables on “Britain’s Got Talent.”

The woman is out of central casting – dowdy, unemployed Scottish villager who tells the show’s interviewers she’s “never been kissed.” When she appears on stage and begins to chat, the audience and the judges (including Simon Cowell, the Javert of talent competition television) are skeptical. Eyes roll.

Then she releases the first line of the song, and the room is transformed.

My favorite moment is when Cowell’s eyebrows shift ever so slightly up, signaling his shock and awe. And Amanda Holden, the striking female judge on the panel, is obviously pulling for Boyle throughout the song. (Sort of the way speechwriters pull for their speakers when they know a punchy line is coming up.) Read More »

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Something Nuevo and Diferente

By Vinca LaFleur (WWW)
April 18, 2009 – 8:00 am

Just a quick note to acknowledge another communications innovation from the White House — and this one long overdue, IMHO:  Dan Restrepo, senior advisor on Latin America, addressing the press corps in Spanish as he explained last week’s changes in policy toward Cuba.  Check out the video here.

Earlier this year, my former colleague Jamie Metzl wrote a smart piece for the Huffington Post, suggesting a number of ways for the U.S. to improve our public diplomacy.  The bilingual Restrepo briefing was right in line with one of Jamie’s recommendations:

Third, America needs to speak to the world in the languages the world understands. For some, those languages will be twitter-speak, but for even more, they will be actual foreign languages. Secretary Clinton should therefore appoint dedicated State Department spokespeople to give weekly briefings in Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. Some diplomats will rightly express concern that there can only be one official language for the careful expression of diplomatic communications. Because U.S. statements are being translated into local languages anyway, it seems far better for America itself to be doing the translating. Most countries have spokespeople who communicate officially in English. The time has come for the United States to demonstrate its respect for other language groups by holding regular briefings in foreign languages from the official State Department press room in Washington.

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How to Secede Without Really Trying

By Mark W. Davis (WHWG)
April 17, 2009 – 5:50 pm

At a tea party protest in Austin, Texas Governor Rick Perry drew the sharpest line in the sand since Colonel William Barrett Travis asked his men to stay and defend the Alamo. 

The governor, not usually known for inflammatory statements, suggested that if Washington’s big gummit ways pushed us too far, Texas could invoke a right to secede from the Union.  His justification?  Like Hawaii, Texas was once a sovereign nation.   Membership of a once sovereign country in the Union, some argue, can be legally revoked.

As someone who reveres Lincoln and the U.S. Constitution, I am appalled.  As the great-grandson of a young solider in Hood’s Brigade, my heart skipped a beat.

Think of the possibilities!

Freed from the Union, Texas could quickly organize its own foreign policy.  Should we join NAFTA?  NATO? Develop our own nuclear deterrent?  Re-invade Iraq, just for the hell of it?  I am not sure, but it would be fun to be a part of the Texas foreign policy establishment in mulling over these issues over Lone Star and in between sets of the Cotton-Eyed Joe in our new embassies in Washington, London and Brussels.

One thing is certain.  A sovereign Texas would finally be freed of federal interference to extend the border fence as far as it needed to control immigration . . . I am thinking here, of course, of extending the fence along the Oklahoma and Arkansas borders.  Then we could then keep out all the hordes of undocumented Americans, desperate people who don’t even speak our language, from streaming into our country in search of a better economy. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I do feel sorry for them.  But do we really need more people in Texas who pronounce every vowel in “nuclear”?

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