Culture Jamming the Crackberry

Wowza! Have I been swamped these past few days...I haven't blogged in a while! But I must say that some good came out my time away from the blog, because I got a part-time job! Yup, I am now once again employed, well at least for a few hours a week. The position is a marketing position with a really small company - 3 people plus me to be exact. It's cool because I get to oversee large marketing projects from beginning to end.

But anyway, the other marketing guy who is also a new hire owns a Blackberry which is ALWAYS buzzing and which brings me to the reason for this post. I would say that I'm a pretty savvy technology user and probably a 'heavy' computer user. Let's just say that between writing papers, researching, blogging, Facebooking, watching-tv- shows- I missed -because -of- class, occasional graphic designing and an assortment of other random timewasting ventures I'm online ALOT. But for some reason I have not yet fallen prey to the Blackberry monomania (Google that word!) *sidenote*! HA...I'm watching Conan and he's talking to Jerry Seinfeld who's talking about why he doesn't have a Blackberry! What a coicidence...LOL. But I digress...I've been reading this book entitled Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn who is the founder of the Adbusters magazine. 'Culture Jamming' as I understand it from that most revered source Wikipedia *wink* is the individual rejection of all forms of herd mentality usually asociated with popular culture. So does my Blackberry rejection make me a Culture Jammer????? Probably not, I know.

I think the reason I don't have a Blackberry is because I'm afraid to be a slave to something else. Honestly, I feel like my email and I should be getting married soon, because we've been together for about ten years and we converse several times a day! Then there's Facebook, which I'm proud to say has been relegated to a much lower position in my hierarchy of internet time-wasting. I read blogs and news like it's my religion which is sad because I don't even read my Bible as much! And there are a whole host of random other internet things I somehow feel obligated to check in on at least once every day. It's not a prety picture. When did I become so tied to my technology? There was a time when I could sit and read for hours, whole nights depending on the book actually. But now I sit to read for leisure and within 30 minutes I kid you not, I'm distracted by an idea I have to post about, a revelation I have to research, a historical fact I need to Google. It's really crazy and sometimes scary.
As a non-Blackberry user I often wonder what's really happening on that little Blackberry screen of the users I cross paths with. Their emails must be more important than the ones I receive if they elicit a Pavlovian response everytime the darned thing buzzes right? And you know, I can concede that for business owners, managers and decision-makers who travel alot a Blackberry can be very useful, but do the rest of us normal folk really need it? It's one of the questions I ask myself whenever phone envy hits me. So I guess for the time being, or until I become the owner of a multi-national corporation I'm ok with being a Crackberry culture jammer.

The week of publicists

Haven't blogged as much as I'd have liked to this week. Between celebrities, octo-mom and government it's not like there wasn't alot going on. But this was a hectic school week for me. Journalism class, one of my favorites, was pretty interesting this week. We talked about news and it's story-telling or narrative qualities and whether or not this affects its proclaimed objectivity. Then there was Qualitative Research...REALLY interesting discussion this week about the execution of Daniel Pearl and his actual body as a rhetorical artifact being used by both Islamic militants and the U.S. in nationalist discourse. Also had to submit a rhetorical analysis to this class, I'll wait until I get my grade to post about it :) Then yesterday I had my class on Public Opinion & Attitude Change and somehow between all the classes I managed to submit my paper to NCA (National Communication Association) for their conference in November. School is very interesting this semester I must say. After that class I went to a bar to play a game of Quizzo...first time playing and I'll be playing again, cuz we won!

But I had to post a link to this blurb which appeared in the NY Post on Wednesday about celebrity publicists. Interesting that they talk about Rihanna's publicist lying to protect her clients when I just blogged about this same issue earlier this week. It would be good to talk to a celebrity publicist to find out what ethical guidelines, if any, they use in defending their clients' interests. Maybe I'll find a publicist somewhere that would be willing to give me a brief interview. So that's all for the post tonight as I'm off to bed now.

Strategic Silence and the Chris Brown/Rihanna fiasco

Well, the blogosphere is all abuzz about the Chris Brown and Rihanna debacle, so I guess I have no choice but to put my two cents in on the issue :)
Celebrity publicists have interesting jobs (no duh)...but seriously, they tend to have a little more freedom than do PR folk who represent companies. Where lying and covering up is dangerous for the PR agency, publicists can generally utilize under the belt techniques when protecting their clients. So it's interesting that when news first broke about Chris Brown and Rihanna not performing at the Grammy's, the story being told was that they had been involved in an 'accident'. Of course, keeping things hidden in celebrityland is almost near impossible when the paparazzi is involved and with stars as big as Rihanna and Chris Brown, the story was bound to get out eventually. And so we know what we know now: apparently an argument turned physical which led to a police report, which led to Chris Brown turning himself into the authorities on charges of allegedly roughing up the Bajan singer.

A story appearing on E! news yesterday before the real story broke had Rihanna's publicist Amanda Silverman saying very succintly that the singer 'is well. Thank you for your concern and support'. But today, with the story all over the airwaves, Rihanna's rep. had no comment. And neither did Brown's rep. This tactic of not saying anything is referred to as 'strategic silence' and Silverman's initial quote would probably fall under the umbrella of 'strategic ambiguity'. Strategic ambiguity, so labeled by Eisenberg (1984) I believe, is undeniably a very useful tactic for both organizations, celebrities and politicians, as it allows for multiple interpretations and preserves future options. Don't you love it, they aren't lying..but they aren't necessarily telling the truth. Quite a few studies have looked at the ethics of this practice with regard to organizations but I think it would be fasincating to look at how the public perceives this practice with regard to celebrities and their credibility. Does employing this maneuver affect how the public views these stars? In a case like the Chris Brown/Rihanna story, does Brown's silence help or hurt his image? The chewing gum manufacturer Wrigley, for whom Brown was a pitchman, has suspended all marketing campaigns tied to the singer while they wait to see the outcome of these 'domestic abuse' allegations. A smart move I think. But would Chris have fared better had his publicist issued a statement as soon as the news broke? Did the legal ramifications of making a statement during an ongoing investigation influence this decision?

Admittedly, Chris Brown being violent with a female isn't the same as Michael Phelps smoking marijuana but Phelps' sponsors have more or less stood by him, was his quick response/apology to the photo helpful in keeping his endorsers' backing? Yeah I know my parallel is a bit off, but I believe it does merit some thought. What is the benefit of strategic silence in this instance (Chris Brown)? How does it affect his credibility? The public seems to have already passed its judgement on Brown if the blogs and comments are anything to go by. As the story develops, we'll see how and when Chris Brown's publicists will address the issue...but I think it's safe to say that as more time passes without a statement from his camp, the image repair will undoubtedly become more difficult. Think Rod Blagojevich.

I survived a mock press conference! Still not ready for the real thing.

I know I was supposed to post about my Crisis Comm. class yesterday but after class I went to the Philadelphia Car Show with 'B'. Who knew looking at cars could take 4 hours. I fell in love with a Mercedes Benz though and I saw a $487,000 Rolls Royce...no seriously.LOL.
But the class was very cool yesterday. For the first part of class we formed mock agencies and came up with our own crisis plans for a fake beverage company. Then after lunch we had to develop a statement in response to a crisis and conduct a mock press conference. Well developing the statement was ok but the press conference was a different story altogether.
I really felt like I was in front of a firing squad. The rest of the class fired off questions at us about everything under the sun and our team had to remain calm and hold our own while defending the integrity of our client. Answering questions under pressure can be very intimidating especially in this 24 hour news cycle world we live in. And this mock conference was no different.
In a book by Timothy Coombs on planning, managing and responding to crisis he talks about how to handle tough questions. Difficult questions include long and complicated questions, multiple choice with unacceptable choice options, questions based on erroneous info and tricky questions and one long question with many parts. Coombs suggests some responses to these types of questions:

• For long, complicated questions, ask for them to be repeated and explained. In this way you get more time to formulate a response while the reporter clarifies.
• For multiple questions in one question, you can either select which part of the question you'd like to respond to and it should be the part of the question which fits best with providing your company's key message. Or you can number your responses to all parts of the question.
• For tricky questions, be tactful. It's no problem, to explain that the question is tough and requires a longer than usual answer.
• Don't be afraid to challenge and correct questions based on erroneous information. After all it's your job to make sure misinformation is not transmitted.
• For multiple choice questions with no right answer, explain that the answer choice are unfair and develop your own option.

I guess the key is really practicing before, at home in the mirror. Develop questions on your own and decide how you would best answer the questions while focusing on composure and body language. Being in front of journalists and answering questions impromptu, in a way that doesn't jeopardize the client is something that gets my adrenaline pumping (am I a nerd?lol) but it is undeniably something that requires practice.

Preparing for Crises before they happen

So this weekend I'm taking a one-credit course on Crisis Communication. Very appropriate at this time wouldn't you say. With everyone from the U.S. government right down to the peanut corporation going through some sort of 'crisis', knowing what to do at times like these is key to maintaining the reputation of your company and ultimately its bottom line.

I guess what it all comes down to is being prepared for anything. In class tonight we talked about 'strategic blindness', the idea that you can't see what you can't see. Interesting stuff. As we go through this undeniably rocky economic period there are a few ways we as PR people can help companies prepare themselves beforehand:

• Position papers: Most large corporations have these. They are basically multi-purpose documents that you have on file which state your company's stance on certain topics. They can be given to the media for clarification on issues and can be useful in a crisis as they're prepared statements which can help you to stay on message.
  
• Fact sheets and company history: These documents should always be on hand and updated regularly! You don't want to go scrambling around for accurate names and numbers when the media is digging around for information. In this way, you can somewhat control the firestorm.
• Stock photos and video: Again, you may not be able to control the news (especially in this the age of cell phone cameras) but at least you can provide the media with positive images of your company, instead of that picture of your truckdriver with his pants down below his butt parked outside the corner store on company time.
• Identify vulnerabilites.
• Look at the issues the competition has dealt with and prepare for those.
  

I must say that I find most large Trinidadian and indeed Caribbean companies to be at least cognizant of the importance of reputation...but I'm afraid the same cannot be said for Trinidadian government and politicians. I sometimes wish I could call in a 100 person crisis communication contingent specifically to deal with T&T politicians who in my humble opinion could ALL benefit from a good dose of image repair, because frankly their credibility is non-existent! But I'll take it one step at a time :) My crisis course continues tomorrow, we'll be doing mock press conferences on such, so I'll have another crisis post tomorrow. Bye!

Should I take an unpaid internship?

In the past few days I've had some opportunities present themselves to participate in interesting career related projects. However, none of these interesting projects happen to be paid *sigh*. As a college student without a job I'm sure you can all appreciate my desire for paying gigs...I mean what's a girl to do in an economy like this? In addition to not having a job at the moment, I'm slowly becoming swamped by papers and school projects which will soon occupy the better part of my life. So should I take on these unpaid projects?

I've already signed on to do the marketing for the Miss Caribbean U.S.A pageant here in Philadelphia. You can check out the website here: www.misscaribbean.info. It'll soon be undergoing a brand overhaul. The other project is an internship which will give me the chance to work on behalf of a non-profit company in New Jersey as they begin planning for their fundraising event in June. I'll be working in the capacity of PR point person on that one. And lastly, I'm trying to help a Caribbean internet radio show and artist management company with sponsorship and marketing. So many projects, so little time!

The bigger issue for me though is having no income come in while I put out all this time and energy doing something I admittedly love. What do you PR folk who stumble across this blog think? Should (poor, unemployed) college students take unpaid internships? Jane Smith, who blogs from across the pond in the U.K. thinks that unpaid work experience is wrong, as it's unhealthy for the long-term diversity of our country. But this article from Bankrate.com, outlines all the positives of an unpaid internship.

It's a hard call for me as I rent my own place and am responsible for all that comes with that but on the other hand...in this economy it's a chance to make contacts so that when I do get out of school it may be easier to get a full-time position.

Pro Bono work and Public Relations

From time to time I reflect on the career path that I've chosen for myself and wonder what good it will bring to humanity. Seriously. People choose to become doctors, nurses, psychologists, scientists, lawyers, judges, and all these careers help individuals in some way. Advertising and PR on the other hand can sometimes appear to be all about helping a company make a profit. Sometimes I see it that way too...
But it's not my fault that my talents lie in the ability to craft persuasive messages, in understanding pathos, logos and ethos and their effects, is it? I mean, not everyone can be a doctor!
As a soon to be college graduate, the simple solution would be to seek out companies that I view as standing for those things I believe in, those companies that in someway help people who need help. But of course this is easier said than done in an economy where beggars can't be choosers.
All PR agencies, in my humble opinion, should try to do pro bono work for small organizations on an ongoing basis. I know...there are only 8 hours in a working day (supposedly) and staff should focus on clients, but as a profession sometimes seen as the bad guys/the spin doctors...PR should do a little repuation mangement of its own sometimes.