Valentine's Day PR

Poor Valentine's Day is annually overloaded with soundbytes, garish graphics and vulgar copy from anyone with a trinket to push. Forgive me, PR brethren, but you're beating Saint Valentine to a second death (perhaps less painful than his first).

"Chocolate?"

But not every idea is dreadful - some do seem in the true spirit of Valentine's Day (Oh, there is a true spirit, ye cynics) instead of exploiting it. From the PR family's notoriously mixed bag, here are your Valentine's Headlines:

Lavalife Unearths the Secret Sexiness of Bold Women

End Your Relationship with Tobacco this Valentine's Day

Dove erects Valentine's Day tweet screen

The aphrodisiac pie (the secret ingredient is love... and bull testicle)

New Zealand radio station's controversial "Win a Divorce" contest

Tuesday's Mission: Save a Life

You can save a life this Tuesday.

Actually, you can save a life any day by donating blood. The bonus to doing it on Tuesday, November 20th is you'll be joining some of the most fun people this side of the Manitoba escarpment - the great team behind Red River Radio's Rally for Red.

All day long, Red River Radio will be bringing you up to speed on Canadian Blood Services in Winnipeg - who they are, what they do and how a little prick (giggle) can save a person's life.

Get on board folks - it's gonna be a par-tay.

Reflections on the Newsroom

No, not this newsroom...

THIS newsroom.

This summer I peeked behind the curtain of the great and powerful Winnipeg Free Press, working as a copy editor on the night shift (editing the "news" segments of the paper, as opposed to sports and arts). Now it's autumn and I've returned to school, it's time to talk smack about my former employer, right?

Wrong - I'll leave that to the buzzing horde of online commentors who live to criticize (abide to deride, remain to disdain...).

Because I think the Free Press usually does a pretty good job covering the many, many events shaking up Winnipeg and/or Manitoba. Do they miss sometimes? Widely. They'll admit they do. But they regularly are the leading (if not the only) coverage of breaking news, political subterfuge and artistic events.

So the following is not a townsfolk-with-a-pitchfork-style rant. It's just three nuggets I picked up that might come in handy if you ever need to interact with a newsroom yourself.

Downtown, viewed from the distant offices of the Winnipeg Free Press.

1. The newsroom is in a rush

There may be moments when a reporter is waiting to hear back from a contact, an editor is waiting to hear back from a reporter, a copy editor is waiting to get a page from the editor (etc). But in the meantime, everyone is following up other leads, scanning the competition's tweets, reading the wire. The newsroom is always busy - and it switches to a rush in the evening as the print deadline looms (10:50 PM for the Free Press). It gets super quiet in the newsroom as everyone races the clock to put in the best performance possible.

Moral: Don't waste the newsroom's time. I witnessed a PR person call at 10 one night to deliver some not very important news. As soon as he was hung up on, he was cussed out for calling near deadline. On the other side of the coin, I've heard editors muttering under their breath, "Please be writing the story on the road, please be writing the story on the road," as they wait for a photographer to drop a reporter back at the office. (They were often disappointed.)

A newsroom, sans power, is a tense room. Happily, the sun was still up.

2. The newsroom is depressing

Newspaper people are stereotyped as cranky, cynical, angry, or just bitter. And it's true.

OK, OK, it's not totally true. But when a person wades through murders, thefts, stabbings, beatings, dismemberments (which happened a LOT this summer - eep), abuse and cataclysms on a daily basis for their work, it takes a toll. For me, the most depressing aspect of the newsroom was the police scanner. Every media outlet is equipped with a scanner to listen for breaking emergencies; it's kept on all night, at a high volume. The most frequent call? Young female with lacerations to wrists.

Moral: Cut news people some slack if they're grumpy; you don't know what story they just covered.

Hey look - it's tomorrow's newspaper, today!

3. The newsroom loves a great story

News people got into the business because they're junkies - they love a good story, they love a scoop, they love uncovering the truth and sharing it with the world. Even on the busiest day, a really great, well written story would cause colleagues to gather around a computer and quickly read. If you've got a story - as a journalist or a PR professional - with emotional impact that affects a wide audience, it will get picked up for love of craft alone.

But that isn't the only factor. The truth is, many days of the week the Free Press looks for content to fill its pages. The wire services (Canadian Press and Associated Press being the biggies) have been noticeably cutting back on staff and resources - they're no longer a reliable source for "filler" stories. Local reporters are being trimmed down to keep costs low, while the advertising department is trying to keep the page count up to maintain salable space. The result is any night there isn't a murder, fire, high-profile legal case or emergency, the newsroom is hungry for a good story.

Moral: If you have a story to pitch, especially one that isn't time sensitive, you can probably get it in the paper. Read the stories that do get picked up - the ones with legs, the ones with impact - and see if your story can be framed the same way. Controversy can be a good thing to include (so long as it doesn't hurt your organization deeply, of course). Struggle, sacrifice and resilience in the face of opposition - throw in a cute dog (if you can) and you're the front page.

Utah Undie Run 2011

Nate and Aimee Porter were sick of Utah's deeply conservative politics (restrictive liquor laws/adoption laws/anti-equality legislation). They were tired of Utah being perceived - both in and outside the state - as an uptight, religious enclave. They wanted to do something about it. So they ran 5 miles across town in their underwear.

With 2,268 other runners.

The 2011 Utah Undie Run was a "Protest Against Utah Being So Uptight" (their words). It started quietly enough with Facebook invitations to 500 people. But those people started inviting other people, until the I'm Attending list reached over 12,000 people. Local businesses that were tied up in quasi-religious red tape came on board as sponsors. Participants were given a dress code (no thongs, nothing see through) to help avoid tickets from the waiting police. And they were invited to write whatever slogan they wanted on their bodies. While the Porters had particular issues that motivated them to launch the event (their stated hope was to register 3,000 new young voters) this was an open source protest.

All 12,000 people didn't run, but 2,270 did, setting an official Guinness Record for Largest Gathering of People Wearing Only Underpants/Knickers. The event received local, national and international press. 1,500 clothing items were donated by runners to a local charity.

Why was did this event succeed so well?

1) Shared Cause + Open Cause   The restrictive, conservative nature of Utah's politics was a banner to rally around, but Undie Run 2011 let people own the event, inviting them to bring their own personal cause

2) Breaking a Taboo  Running around in your underwear is scandalous, sexy and silly all rolled into one. Offering Utahns a chance to break the rules without breaking the law worked.

3) Financial Support   The Porters connected their event to like-minded businesses, receiving the financial support necessary for Undie Run 2011's framework to rise.

4) Massive Media Attention   A Guinness Record is catnip to journalists. A Guinness Record of people running around in their underwear is crack cocaine (maybe even brown-brown). It titillates to see people in their underwear, whatever culture you come from. And the increased coverage would have helped increased participation. And so on...

Undie Run 2012 has already been set for August 25, 2012. Are you interested in taking a trip?

After all, you can pack light.

Chatting with Crazy

I arrive at the Princess Campus Tim Hortons this morning to observe the line for a college project. I sit down at a table; there's one, roughly 50 year old man sitting there, reading his paper.

He starts talking about the upcoming Grey Cup. I assume he's talking to the people at the table behind us, but no, they get up and leave. And he keeps talking and giggling...

The following are highlights of the ensuing (mostly one-sided) conversation I had with Rick the Prick (as he called himself)

***

"So what are you doing?"
"I'm doing a survey for a project."
"Oh yeah, well I'm going to get you arrested! (walks to officer in line) Hey cop! This guy is doing a survey!"

"I'm just waiting here until 9am. That's when the bar opens. I get my coffee buzz, then I get my beer buzz."

(bringing over young girl who was waiting in line) "This girl will fill out your survey for you."
"No, it's okay, I'm just counting people in line."
(to girl) "You're very pretty." (girl flees)

"Oh, it's gonna be a great Grey Cup. The Lions are so bad, they can't even suck!"

"I'm 25. (giggles) I've been 25 for years."

***

This post is dedicated to a fellow CreComm first-year (sorry, I don't know your name - you have pink streaks in your hair) who I saw gracefully twist out of Rick's attempt to kiss her hand. Nice move, girl, nice move.

Edward Bernays; The First Spinner

Who's your daddy PR? Who is it? Edward Bernays! Yeah!

A brief look at one of the key figures who shaped what we know as modern Public Relations - Edward Louis Bernays. Not only will this post give you a bit of knowledge of Bernays, it will link you up with two fantastic CreComm students, Chantal Verrier and Corinne Rikkleman for parts two and three of the history lesson.

Credited as being the father of modern public relations, Austrian-American Edward Louis Bernays was born in 1891. The double nephew of psychoanalysis pioneer Sigmund Freud, he combined the emerging field of psychology with advertising to create persuasive, targeted “public relations” campaigns on behalf of his clients.

Bernays' father was the brother of Freud's wife. Bernays' mother was Freud's sister.
You can bet that came up in therapy.

Bernays had been engaged by the Woodrow Wilson administration’s Committee on Public Information, tasked with convincing the world that America’s primary goal in World War I was “bringing democracy to all of Europe.” Drawing on the teachings of his famous uncle, as well as the crowd psychology studies of Gustave LeBon and Wilfred Trotter, the “democracy” campaign succeeded beyond Bernays’ expectations. He pondered the application of his technique during peacetime, believing the public to be a “herd” in need of guidance; rather than use the term propaganda, now tainted by its association with the German war effort, Bernays coined the term “public relations.”

Bernays was the originator of the Press Release (staging scripted events for the benefit of free media coverage) and Third Party Advocacy (obtaining unpaid product endorsement from community leaders and professionals). His notable campaigns include convincing magazines to write articles promoting ballet as fun (on behalf of the 1915 Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes American tour), promoting the idea of African-Americans as important community contributors in the deeply racist southern states (for the NAACP’s 1920 Atlanta Convention), holding soap-carving and soap-floating contests (for Ivory Soap), promoting the idea that only disposable cups were sanitary (on behalf of Dixie Cup) and branding democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman a dangerous communist (on behalf of United Fruit Company’s efforts to overthrow that leader).

Part Two - The Torches of Freedom Campaign
Part Three - The Green Ball Campaign