Going out on top - happy new year

I’ve always been a sporadic blogger so it’s not that big a stretch to become a non-blogger - at least in this forum. Business has been booming - taking an increasing portion of my time. We’ve re-designed our website, re-calibrated (I love that word) our business and I can’t pay attention to this blog anymore. But, everybody likes to go out on top, so I find some small degree of solace knowing I am STILL the #1 Sidewiki comment on the Twitter homepage!

Blogging less here means I have more time to read blogs I enjoy. My favorite blog: 3QuarksDaily.

Blogging less here also means I can pay more attention to my theatre blog, where my heart is these days: markrosenyc.com

All bloggers should support the struggle for freedom in Iran. Image below from Tehran 24 | also check FRONTLINE: Tehran Bureau for updates and THE LEDE, The New York Times

Five PR bloggers worth following, derived from random scans of intelligence, original thinking and personality in the PR blogosphere: #1 tomforemski - leadoff batter | #2 occamsrazr - the Leonard Cohen of PR bloggers | #3  [chrisbrogan.com] - the merry prankster of social media | #4 Richard Edelman - the Philip Roth of PR | #5 Loren Feldman - incendiary pupeteer

Some favorite posts:

• Alex Rodriquez Comes to His Senses - What Next?
• MLK & RFK Brothers In Battle
• Google Sidewiki is PR Game Changer
• Kristen Revealed
• So you want to break into public relations?
• What is Your Wikipedia PR Strategy?
• Mahatma Gandhi & Business

HAPPY NEW YEAR. Peace. Health. Freedom. Prosperity.

PRBlogNews, launched June, 2005. Archived, December 30, 2009.

PR/Media Week in Review 12-14-2008

It was the week of the swindler, the thief, the profane, double-dealing Governor, the blood sport of Illinois politics and the sociopathic Wall Street money manager. Marc S. Dreier, “one of New York’s most accomplished lawyers, brazenly swindled some of the city’s savviest investors,” (NYTimes), while Bernard Madoff was perpetrating the largest fraud ever (Wall Street Journal), $50 billion, making Dreier’s $100 million damage seem like chicken feed, while Blago Blagojevich was peddling Senate seats on the open market like bogus flat screen TVs (Washington Post). 

It was a week to celebrate unrepentant greed and corruption as the tightening vise of a deep recession forces dark dealings to the light of public scrutiny. As U.S. auto makers and the unions will attest - this is a great climate for crisis communications.

PR JOB: Seeking “spirited” PR pro who has handled media relations and strategic PR for premium wine and spirit account. Work with creative team of agency vets on high visibility brands. Seeking home-based, flexible, highly motivated, digitally proficient individual who can embrace the ‘new PR’ built for the digital age. Background & Links to: spiritjob@prblognews.com

PR WANNABES NEED NOT APPLY to the Spring Associates database assiduously compiled and analyzed for the The Official PR Salary & Bonus Report©. Spring queries nearly 20,000 credentialed PR corporate and agency professionals nationwide for proprietary insight into salary ranges, billing rates, geographic breakdowns, etc. 2009 Edition, the 13th annual, is available January, 2009.

The Drama of Public Relations continues through the week with performances of WHITE NOISE to December 22 at H-B Playwrights Theatre in New York City. Performances for the “Waiting Room” series of 10-minute plays are free. Comment by Karasma: PR and cruising on the traitorous sea meet in a therapist’s office…PERFECT!

Maintaining good relationships with donors or their descendants is not only good public relations but also could help avert legal messes down the road. … See San Antonio Express-News story

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Link Whores Unite

My blogging is commensurate with my success in business. The busier I am with billable hours, the less I blog. You have to sacrifice something and for me the choice is clear. And you become more cautious. You have clients to protect, an image to convey. The less said the better. Why say anything? We are being pummeled with bad economic news and that sets a foul mood and taints everything anyway.

I empathise with Phil Gomes, Steve Rubel, and all the other bloggers whose names are below Richard Edelman on the Edelman site. They’re not going to blog about their mercurial boss or rail against a cruel and punishing God. The best we can do is link to others and let them speak for us. 

Bill Slezdick of Tough Sledding hits on a touchy though increasingly relevant subject that in the past was referred to as the “Feminization of PR.” Too many women in PR? Some agencies have outstanding orders for “anything with balls” to fill out professional staff.

The Queen of saying nothing is Aedhmar Hynes, CEO of Text 100, who has not posted to her blog since May, 2006. As Abraham Lincoln reputedly said, better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

I was touched by Jim Horton’s recent post on the death of his father. I am always impressed by the consistency and intelligence of his posts. Ike Piggott at Occam’s RazR has one of those brains that scramble up like a fritzed out ham radio and then come into sharp focus long enough so you think at least he knows what he’s talking about.

Jason McCabe Calacanis always has a lot to say, sometimes about topics other than himself. Mahalo is producing its own daily video  by Veronica Belmont and that’s cool. Maybe Jason is taking a page from Loren Feldman at 1938 Media  but Jason is going more WallStrip than burn down the house, re-enact the French Revolution of Loren.  We want personality baby!

I am glad that Eric Starkman is tackling the important issues in his post on The Dehumanization of Britney Spears but I don’t get the connection between the Brit and Kitty Genovese. Britney invites TMZ and X17 photogs into her house, she endlessly cruises Hollywood with trailing packs of paparazzo, she sleeps with the enemy and bares all her weirdness for us scandal-starved masses to take in. Kitty Genovese was a real victim, Brit is complicit in her own demise, no matter how tragic it may seem. I suspect that Eric is passing through the Britney story and he is not fully immersed in the daily (minute to minute) details.

more link whoring later …

Review of the Jew - so long ‘07, hello ‘08

EPIPHANY OF THE YEAR - You Don’t Need to Blog

November 19, 2007 broke like any other morning with one big difference - the thought of blogging made me ill. I had plenty to say, just didn’t feel like saying it, at least in this forum. And so it was for more than a month, a blissful break that could reactivate at any time. During my hiatus I discovered that we as Jews involved in the grand conspiracy to control the media, entertainment and banking businesses of the world, sometimes need to take a break, especially after such a fruitful year. I need to read the Talmud and go to shul, I don’t need to blog. So what I need to do right now is to celebrate Jews (and a couple of goys) who have had an exceptional year in creative and clandestine media manipulation.

VICTORY OF THE YEAR - Feldman Defeats French in Epic Battle

Loren Feldman is not only a Jew, he is a New York meshugenah who enoys good food and women with ample bosoms. His 1938media videos were entertaining and often hit on uncomfortable truisms driven by the force of Feldman’s Stanley Kowalski personality. In 2007 Feldman was making his mark in a tight little circle, and then he unknowingly picked a fight with the Frenchies and took the whole thing to a higher level.

For a few days in December as Loren banned the French from his site (you can ban country-specific entry to your site) and the French Seesmic people tried to ban Loren in some pathetic display of ‘retaliation,’ we were witnessing real time prime video theatre that showed why unabashed French baiting is now a divine right of all Americans. It also showed that Loren is one tough Jew.

It started with the Seesmic Review, 12/16/07, but the heat of battle lasted more than three days through a torrent of videos on both sides of the Atlantic. Loic Le Meur CEO of Seesmic had run into the Feldman buzzsaw and he was completely Frenched. The lame-o videos that the Seesmic-ites produced to counter Feldman confirmed every French cliche going and created a few more.

Loic made two critical errors: he thought Loren was racist and he thought he was serious. And because of that Loren decided to get real serious and to taunt and antagonize and mock and humilate the French. It was amazing how many others wanted to join in. 1938Media attracts a sometimes rabid gang.

Vinny Says:
December 16th, 2007 at 10:59 pm

I love all the people calling Loren a racist. I know him personally. NONE of you do. The man is OBVIOUSLY not a racist so get the hell over yourselves.

Secondly, he made some valid points in the review. If your stupid asses watched it instead of looking for something to be offended for, you’d realize he was pretty much right. The interface sucks, the quality is dreadful, and the idea of having to watch multiple RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE: videos to see a reply.

Oh, and the Flash use on the entire site? SUCKS, and it’s slow as ass.

So maybe all you wounded Frenchmen should pay better attention and stop venting your inferiority complexes as cries of racism.

Pay attention, and learn.

VIDEO OF THE YEAR - Jew Hip Hop /Crank That Kosha Boy

BUG OUT OF THE YEAR - Jason McCabe Calacanis / Goy Wonder 

Baby faced Greek thumb sucking serial entrepreneur and dog face licker JasonMcCabe&Mrs.Miller CalacanisOuzo III (left, at NYC dim sum orgy) bowed out of a scheduled face-to-face one-on-one basketball showdown in a New York City schoolyard with Feldman the Mad Bald Jew. Bloated and surly from a dim sum fest in a dowdy Chinatown emporium with lowlife hackers and blogger wannabes, Calacanis blamed his bow-out on the weather and an over stuffing of kalamata olives.  In ‘07 Calacanis aggressively hawked Mahalo, the first human powered search engine. Can it work? I question the following in its Guide Notes on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto: “Although shots were fired at her, she died of a fractured skull from hitting her head against the sun roof of her car.” Is that true or Pakistani government propaganda? Does the “human” in the Mahalo equation simply cut and paste “facts” from unreliable sources and further solidify a false story? ‘08 will be a dangerous time in Internet communication as questionable sources gain credibility with unquestioning distribution channels. Calacanis is from Brooklyn. He should know about this.

PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR - Brian Connolly & Friends

Actually Brian (right) is runner up, third, fourth, fifth and sixth place in this category. “So, when I get an email from Amanda it’s really Brian?” somebody asked me, perturbed by the various genders and shadings of Brian. “Actually,” I said. “That is one of Brian’s personalities. And then Brian himself has several personalities. These days it’s best to keep a scorecard before responding.” One of Brian’s personalities likes to confront adversaries in postings, email and on the phone. That is the Brian that over-thought Strumpette into oblivion and then resurrection. Where does Strumpette go in 2008? I couldn’t venture but now at least my cell phone minutes are down 50% since I started talking to only one Brian. Despite the name that implies a long line of patronage in the Chicago police force and prominence at St. Patrick’s Day beer bashes, Brian actually claims Orthodox Judaism in his immediate family. Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote about Connolly and one of his personalities in Sex and the Shtetl.

PRBLOGNEWS POST OF THE YEAR - Psychedelia baby 

See PR & LSD - a long strange happy tradition

MOST CHASTENED - Steve Rubel

I apologize for calling Microconfusion blogger Steve Rubel a shiny head Yoda and incorrigible link whore. Now that he has admitted that everything he has been frantically flogging for the past two years is bull he can only be accused of being the latter. 

MOST STALWART - Richard Edelman

Talk about a big shot Jew. Richard has his name on hundreds of doors all around the world. This year he finally admitted that we don’t need the established goy media and we can manipulate the masses directly through social media. My mother Shirley, God rest her soul, would be in love with this man. Plus, he blogs consistently even when he has nothing to say except that he had drinks with a journalist and commissioned a new study that will prove a greater need for his PR services.

MOST IMPROVED - Eric Schwartzman

He got a haircut and picked up his pants. Bravo.  But the goofball video he has on iPressroom looks geeky and dated … but maybe that sort of thing works in L.A. Is he a Jew?

BEST LOBOTOMY - B.L. Ochman

It has to be why she is like that.

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.

Read more

No More Strumpette?!

How will I sleep tonight? I have a bad habit of waking at four in the morning, seven, eight, whenever, rolling to the computer and logging on to Strumpette.  The rare times when the server has been down I get a hollow feeling - forced to consider how diminished life would be without Strumpette. This time it’s not a server glitch. It seems like Strumpette is down for the count. Amanda Chapel, whoever she is, resigned today, Columbus Day. A sign of discovery and a new world, or simply the end of a web experiment that flamed up and petered out? Who knows. The future, like Strumpette itself, is murky. I get that sinking feeling.

I first posted about Strumpette on PRBlogNews 3/6/07. Here’s an excerpt:

… Strumpette really defines and domiantes its own space. Strumpette is a free fire zone where you want to spend time. That in itself is incredibly valuable and a virtually unique experience - to want to spend time at a blog. I am a natural speed reader and the Internet lends itself to the quick consumption of information and the proliferation of blogs spewing nonsense on the web is dispiriting. Strumpette is like The New Yorker of PR blogs - something brilliant is going on here even if you don’t know what it is.

Strumpette was a revelation, proof that there was intelligent life in PR.  It was proof that artistry, creativity and spontaneity do not have to be abandoned when entering the toxic gates of the PR business.

I posted my first Week in Review on Strumpette on April 30, 2007, my last one yesterday.  Recently, I felt like I was just beginning to hit a comfortable stride. Also, the posts on Strumpette in the last couple of weeks were some of the best ever.  On the edge. On the news. Coming from many perspectives. Insightful. Beautifully crafted. Courageous. It was true last March as it was last week - if you came to Strumpette you came heavy or you got smacked down.  We lost a lot today.

Why was Strumpette an important era in PR? Let me count the ways:

Writing: The writing on Strumpette was some of the best on the web and certainly the best writing by far that the PR business has ever seen or likely deserves. A good deal of credit for that goes to Brian Connolly, who has a keen nose for news and a keener sense for developing the story that should be written, not necessarily the one that people think they want. Give the audience what they want but not how they expect it, is a maxim of successful screenwriting. It was true of Strumpette.

Design: The design made you want to spend time there, made it okay to read longer pieces, was easy on the eye and was constructed with impeccable taste. The fact that there was handcrafted design, and a sense of style, made it unusual. Black and white in a kodachrome world made Strumpette new, in a traditional sort of way. All Brian Connolly.

Anonymity: Who was Amanda Chapel? Did it matter? Strumpette was satire, mostly, and the issues raised were more important than the true identity of the person raising them. Anonymity made for intrigue and levels of meaning hidden between the lines.

It’s sad to think of Strumpette in the past tense. Can Strumpette be reborn in one permutation or another?  Is there a need, a real desire for a PR forum that encourages incendiary thought, that challenges convention and demands accountability? Or is this the end, my friend?

PR Week in Review 10-07-07

Burson Digs Itself Deeper.

In the 80’s, 90’s and the earlier part of this century Burson-Marsteller had a stellar reputation. It was the gold standard, the McKinsey of PR. Burson execs were built of special stock, seemingly smarter, richer, working on cool, high-level stuff with big budgets. Burson was the perennial top-dog in billings, its prestige, even when attacked, unquestioned. If you had deep pockets and you wanted the best and the brightest, you hired Burson. What happened?

In the 9-30-07 Week in Review I commented on Burson’s flagrant Astroturfing for Microsoft. Not disclosing the client you are working for or its agenda or intentions is obviously unethical. Refusing to acknowledge, discuss or correct your misdeeds is bad, reputation-damaging PR and indicative of the sort of defensive arrogance that big PR agencies suffer from today. Sadly, Burson fits neatly in that category.

Harold Burson told the following to The Australian in 1998: “I’m totally opposed to front organizations that do not disclose where their funding comes from and to my knowledge - we’re a big company - we have never started or organized a group where the funding sponsorship was unknown.”Harold Burson has a blog that supposedly “discusses issues related to communications and reputation.” So, I left a comment on Mr. Burson’s blog last week politely asking if he could offer perspective on the news about Microsoft and Burson. I guess he has no perspective since my comment never appeared. So much for the new “transparency” or the conversation we are supposed to be having through blogs.

The bad news keeps piling up for Burson. In a story for Salon called “Countrywide puts lipstick on the pig, Andrew Leonard takes issue with Burson’s “crisis management” work for the giant, troubled mortgage lender. It seems that the CEO of Countrywide pocketed $138 million last year while 12,000 Countrywide workers were about to be fired. Burson’s response to this is an exhortation for Countrywide employees to fight back and stand strong in the face adversity. The talking points for the “Protect Our House” crusade that Burson concocted are so bizarre that it would make for interesting fiction if it were not true.

Blackwater has hired Burson to put a positive gloss on gun-toting, outside-the-law vigilantes who siphon off hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to wage a private war in Iraq. I am sure that Burson has a ready-made defense for accepting this client – everybody deserves representation, and all that – but the reality is that Burson is part of WPP Group plc and the parent company demands constant escalation of the revenue stream. And you can bet that Blackwater has very deep pockets, thanks to our tax money. The equation has a perverse elegance when you think about it: We pay Blackwater over $800 million to shoot first and ask questions later, and they pay Burson a few million to tell us what we should really think about it. Isn’t PR beautiful?

Burson’s refusal to take responsibility for its actions or engage the public threatens to overshadow some of its good work. Erin Byrne, Chief Digital Strategist for Burson, is a regular contributor to the Digital Perspective blog In a recent post, she noted the firms’ work on behalf of the new $5 bill.The website and flash demo expertly demonstrates how the web can be used to convey messages and images where words alone, and traditional media relations outreach, might fail. Burson should win an award for this work and the rest of us, if we’re smart, can learn a few things from the intelligent, web-based presentation of this news. Can’t somebody in the Burson digital group impress upon the rest of the firm that we are living in the digital age, the age of involvement and dialogue, the age of transparency? Or haven’t they heard?

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PR Week in Review 09-23-07

“Don’t Tase Me Bro!” became the rallying cry of disenfranchised college students this week as one slightly unglued academic took the zap heard round the world at a John Kerry speaking event. YouTube videos of the tasing became the subject of news segments, T-shirts went on sale the next day, designer tasers were hot items on eBay. That was but one sign of the return of radicalism in America. Other signals included arrests and riot police at a boisterous anti-war rally in Washington D.C. and a march on Jena, Louisiana that was reminiscent of Selma a generation ago. It harkens back to a time when all you needed to get out your message and attract the media was adept sloganeering and a willingness to confront authority. Only now we have the power and simplicity of the Internet to amplify and sustain dramatic local news. The video Jena Six, a photo story, has been viewed 260,000 times in the past two months. See the rest of the story on Strumpette.

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