PR/Media Week in Review 11-18-07

Oracle from Omaha Reading PRBlogNews?

I am not saying that Warren Buffet, the second richest man in the world, avidly reads PRBlogNews. I will say that when Alex Rodriguez called him for advice the Omaha Oracle told A-Rod to dump his punk agent BorAss and go to Tampa and have a face-to-face with the Steinbrenner family to make amends and hammer out a contract. Two Goldman Sachs execs reportedly brokered the peace and now Alex Rodriguez is set to receive his second MVP in three years and simultaneously announce a 10 year contract with the Yankees so the best player in baseball can set his records with the most successful franchise in sports history. He’s following the playbook we outlined here last week, complete with apology for the crude and disrespectful way Boras treated the Yankees and all baseball fans. What a turnaround. Hail the conquering A-Rod.

Contrast A-Rod’s situation with the continuous pounding that Barry Bonds gets in the media and you you can see how big a role PR plays in baseball today. “Big Fat Liar” is what the NY Post calls Bonds. It’s not that Bonds took steroids (the evidence that he did is impressive) it is that he continues to evade questions about it and carries an attitude that is bigger than his bulging biceps. The only place Bonds is liked is in San Francisco and they won’t hire him next year. Will anybody?

Alex Rodriguez taught a baseball clinic yesterday at the South Miami Boys & Girls Club where he spent a good deal of his youth immersed in the healing powers of baseball. This is what he told the kids:

“When you see me on television, when you see me here, know I am the most humble and blessed human being on this earth. And that’s why I think it’s a responsibility for me to be here. You don’t even have to thank me. It’s my duty; it’s my obligation. Now it’s your job to try to live your dreams and play with me in the Major Leagues.”

Rodriguez said that once he became a touted prospect in high school, he would joke among his friends that if he could ever play five years in the Majors and make $1 million, “I’d be the happiest guy in the world.” One of the smart aleck kids said: “Are you saying that you are 275 times happier now?” Brilliant!

Wall Street Journal Online Soon Free … or what?

The New York Times, Economist, and Slate gave up their paid online subscriptions, and soon so will the Wall Street Journal, according to Rupert Murdoch musing out loud. Why then did I get an email from the Journal yesterday asking if I would like to re-up my online subscription at a reduced rate? Of course I said no! Do they want to see how many suckers they can reel in before making a decision? The options are fairly simple - do they want a million paid subscribers or 15 million eyeballs they can charge for advertising. Whatever, the Journal Online needs an extreme makeover. It is ponderous, boring, and poorly organized. For many of us it is a “must” read but they don’t make it easy.

Paris Does Not Like Drunken Elephants

Brian Connelly sent me a link to a story last week that had all the elements of a Strumpette satire. It was an AP story (reputable source?) about Paris Hilton’s charitable efforts to save farmers from rampaging elephants who were becoming drunk on a local concoction. Sounded weird enough to be almost true. A couple of days later, AP issued a correction. Never happened and the quotes were fabricated. The story ran in dozens of newspapers across the country. Nice hoax, whoever perpetrated it, and proof once again that mainstream media is just as susceptible as us lowly no-account bloggers to false information.

GAUHATI, India - In a Nov. 13 story, The Associated Press incorrectly reported that Paris Hilton was praised by conservationists for highlighting the problem of binge-drinking elephants in northeastern India. Lori Berk, a publicist for Hilton, said she never made any comments about helping drunken elephants in India.

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Hillary Pulls Straight Flush in Vegas

The odds were that Barack Obama and John Edwards were going to score major points in the Presidential debates in Las Vegas last night. There were chinks in Hillary’s armor and this was the moment they were going to exploit her weaknesses. What happened? She smoked ‘em.

Get used to it. Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic Party candidate for President and she will defeat whoever the Republicans run. This video snippet will show you why. She is smart, she can be tough, she knows how to manage a campaign, she has been through the mill and then some and she is still smiling and thriving, and she can play the crowd (now, where did she learn that from?). See Clinton’s Winning Fight Night, Slate, 11/16/07

Alex Rodriquez Comes to His Senses - What Next?

Did I call it , or what? There was only one way out of this mess for Alex Rodriguez and he is taking that route. To understand America you must understand baseball. And there is no baseball like Yankee baseball in high drama, historic, elevated, pressurized, steeped in the media and finance capital of the universe. Apparently Alex Rodriguez, once tasting the smothering scorn and unfettered love of New York, does not want to languish with the “Toledo Mud Hens,” as Yankee owner Hank Steinbrenner refers to every basball team but the Yankees. The Yankees don’t have to win the World Series to get all the attention. The most successful franchise in sports history has manifest destiny on its side.

Alex Rodriguez did the honorable thing (see Stay-Rod? Alex Rodriguez tells New York Yankees he wants to stay with the team, USA Today) because he would have been hounded and scorned the rest of his living days if he did not. No amount of money is worth that sort of public derision, especially days before you are about to be named MVP.

I bet that Derek Jeter had something to do with this. I bet that A-Rod called Jeter and he got a lesson in Yankee loyalty and pride, tradition that cannot be traded, bought or disrespected. “Part of it is obviously him proving he really wants to be a Yankee, and I think he’s doing that,” Hank Steinbrenner said today of A-Rod’s approach to the Yankees sans punk agent BorAss. “We know there are other opportunities for us, but Cynthia and I have a foundation with the club that has brought us comfort, stability and happiness,” A-Rod said in a statement.

Dig it, from the PRBlogNews Week in Review, Sunday, Nov. 4:

A-Rod has only one way out of this: fire his punk agent and make a deal with the Yankees, apologize to his teammates and the people of New York, and dedicate the rest of his career to earning his place among top Yankees like Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Mantle, and yes, Derek Jeter. Make the move, Alex, and you can go from being a hapless goat to a huge hero in the biggest media market in the universe. Otherwise your life will be purgatory no matter where you land, and a living hell in New York, no matter how esteemed your accomplishments. - BorAss Reamed in the Bronx, PRBlogNews, 11/04/07

Now, here’s what A-Rod should do next to repair his image:

• Cut a deal with the Yankees before he’s named MVP next week.
• Hold a press conference with his wife and profess deep unending love for New York and the Yankees. Say that if he is blessed to go to the Hall of Fame he is going as a Yankee. Dedicate his life to getting a 27th world title for the Yankees.
• If he manages to cry to during the press conference he could instantly take his place next to Lou Gehrig. He should not say that he considers himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth, that is going too far.

Related:

• BorAss Reamed in the Bronx, PRBlogNews 11/04/07
• PR Drives A-Rod & BorAss Money Show, PRBlogNews, 11/01/07
• BorAss PR Stunt Spits on Baseball, PRBlogNews, 10/29/07

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Lonerbook Launches - Nobody Notices

Lonerbook, an anti-social utility that keeps you from connecting with people around you, launched days ago, in case you haven’t noticed. “Finally, a web site for people like us” original members may be Larry David, J.D. Salinger, Theodore Kaczynski (right), Axl Rose and Bobby Fischer.

Benefits of Lonerbook:

• avoid photos or publish manifestos
• no profiles
• don’t worry about getting any news from acquaintances
• Don’t join any networks so you won’t have to see people who live, study, or work around you

Eric Starkman, originator of Lonerbook, would not comment on the rumor that AOL offered $6 billion for the anti-social non-network.

Pakistanis Join World Blog Resistance

Pakistanis are finding ways to break through the info-crackdown by General Musharraf and his gang by getting satellite dishes and becoming info warriors.  They are connecting to the Internet and outside news sources and they are blogging from inside the country and aggregating reports from other bloggers. As we have seen from crackdowns in other countries, information has a way of getting out because people are determined to be free. Lest we forget, this is most powerful and long-lasting pupose of the Internet and it is the obligation of all bloggers to support freedom of expression throughout the world.

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Rockumockumentary Premieres on VH1

Bex Schwartz wrote and directed her first documentary that’s sort of one part “Meet the Rutles,” one part “Behind the Music” and many, many parts of kickawesomeness - says Bex. It’s a mock-documentary, and it rocks. It’s a rockumockumentary. It’s about the most legendary band ever to rock out on plastic instruments. They’re not just any band … They’re ROCK BAND BAND.

The world premiere of ROCK BAND COMETH: THE ROCK BAND BAND STORY was yesterday on VH1. Narrated by Kurt Loder and featuring many rock and roll luminaries like Dave Mustaine, Dee Snider, Amy Lee, Mark Goodman (from MTV!), Anthony DeCurtis, Tesla, KT Tunstall, Andrew WK and many more, ROCK BAND COMETH chronicles the rise and fall and the subsequent additional risings and fallings of ROCK BAND BAND.  Check it out. VH1 air times:

   11/12/2007 04:00:00 P Monday
   11/12/2007 12:30:00 A Monday
   11/13/2007 06:30:00 P Tuesday
   11/18/2007 11:30:00 A Sunday
   11/19/2007 11:00:00 P Monday
   11/19/2007 02:30:00 A Monday
   11/20/2007 06:30:00 P Tuesday
   11/25/2007 10:30:00 P Sunday

PR/Media Week in Review 11-11-07

Can YouTube elect the next U.S. President? That question is much more viable today than last week as Ron Paul, the fervent, iconoclastic Congressman from Texas with two first names, raised $4.3 million in one day largely based on an amateur video posted on YouTube. See thisnovember5th.com for the video and the story. Ron Paul’s YoutTube channel is already the 40th most popular of all time and surely to rise in the rankings.

Although there is a large field of Presidential candidates from both parties, nobody has emerged as the new H. Ross Perot or John McCain when he was barreling around the country in his “Straight Talk Express.” Ron Paul may be that guy. He is a Republican who is passionately againt the Iraq war and wants to get government out of your face. He wants to abolish the I.R.S. (now who can’t support that?). He is a medical doctor who has some straight forward proposals about making healthcare sane and affordable. I suspect that he will now have a much more prominent role in debates and media coverage. Here’s how he presents his record:

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PodCampNYC2 Announced - It’s in Bklyn!

PodCamp NYC Wows The Masses , April 9, 2007, was a revelation for me. In one location teeming with idealists and raw talent I saw the personification of all that was wrong with the public relations business and why PR would fail at social media. Among the 1,000 or so scraggly masses I ran into at PodCampNYC there was only one other PR person and he was purely ‘underground’ - his day job was with a big agency in Washington D.C. If PR could recognize and harness this Podcast/Blogging/Video talent we would have a real revolution on our hands.

Fat chance. In the seven months since that seminal event social media for PR has zoomed like a rocket and fizzled like a Challenger o-ring disaster. Steve Rubel says we should try talking to human beings again. It is encouraging that Rubel is finally getting his head out of his Twitter but those of us who have heard him rant might prefer he stick to gadgets. It’s like Terminator when the circuits go haywire. What can you say? There is no ‘Second Life’ in the cutthroat PR agency business.

But now PodCampNYC2 is coming (I refuse to call it 2.0) and we have reason to rejoice.

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