Canuckflack

Your ad is turned down. The advertising department has decided that it pushes the boundaries of the community’s standards. Matador Records dealt with one mag:

“Finally, we’d like to offer a shout-out (ie. “fuck you”) to the cowards and thought-cops at the Ad Dept at Paste Magazine who have deemed our proposed advertisement for ‘Face The Truth’ to be beyond the bounds of “good taste.” God forbid that anything might challenge the sensibilities of Paste’s Yep Roc-loving, Starbucks-guzzling, Wes Anderson-worshipping readership. Seriously, if there’s anything we or SM have done that is a poor fit with Paste’s Ad Dept’s narrow worldview, that is the highest compliment we’ve been paid since the last time Spin refused to run one of our ads.”

Thanks to stereogum for the pointer.

Some thoughts about radio, the forgotten medium:

In Washington, the latest ratings period was a shocker for talk radio:

WMAL lost nearly 30 percent of its core audience (adults ages 25-54) from the preceding three months, when the election was the dominant story. What had been an up-and-coming station a few months ago (WMAL ranked 11th among all stations during the fall) is now a middle-of-the-pack afterthought (it tied for 16th in the latest survey).(WPost)

Thought for PR: Unless you can nail down a targeted radio program with a clear (and large) audience interested in your policy/products/issue (like the Car Guys), is the effort worth it?

Over in the U.K., radio sales (and profits) are beginning to drop.

“The consensus is that radio has lost the sexy image it gained with the trebling of its take of the advertising cake between 1993 and 2000. Much of this can be attributed to the rebirth of the internet as the new growth medium … ‘Radio has got into a bit of a pickle,’ admits Julian Carter, group sales director of GMG Radio. ‘It lacks the visual identity of TV, press and outdoor, so it has to be sold harder to advertisers. Consolidation has seen the industry take its eye off the ball; we have become more reactive in our selling.’”(Marketing, sub. req.)

Thought for MarCom: Reactive in your selling? Reactive in everything - formats, technology, content. As Mark Ramsey and others are noting, Nokia is preparing the technology to eat your lunch.

Still in the U.K., new technology promises to measure exposure to numerous forms of media - not just radio or television.

“The introduction of electronic meter audience measurement in 2007 should boost confidence, and will enable the calibration of listening through digital stations on platforms other than radio. Carter believes this new media area presents radio with a big opportunity for advertising growth.” (Marketing, again)

Thought for advertisers: Digital tagging will allow advertisers to better track impressions across a range of media - outdoor, transit, in-store, muzak - which force planners to radically rethink their media strategies: what if in-store music channels prove to be the ubiquitous medium (especially if a company like Clear Channel strikes a bargain with Simon or another massive mall developer)?

In another medium: Washington television is getting ready for the Nielsen people meters, which will begin to roll out in the District in May:

“You need to get people aware of you every single day,” Bill Lord, WJLA vice president of news, said about the new ratings system. “Their behavior is going to be recorded,” he said, so the ratings won’t be based on what a viewer thought he watched last week via a diary.

“There will be more pressure to consistently be good,” said Darryll Green, WUSA president and general manager. “We have to be good every single day.”(WPost)

Thought for news consumers: It means a radical revision in current ratings strategy. Ratings will be measured more than four times a year. No more “Shark Roams Local Forest” teasers during the 8:17 ad block. No more periodic interest in consumer issues and retirement homes.

Unfortunately, local TV isn’t chasing an integrated approach to news delivery as fiercely as cable news networks. If research demonstrates that news consumers are pulling information from a number of broadcast, print, online and personal sources, why isn’t local TV trying to build better links with their audience - through channels they prefer?

Or will new ventures like ourmedia be eating their lunch as well?

But take heart, because we are all being freed from the tyranny of adult contemporary radio programming. Jack (a Canadian idea) is propagating like furbies in markets across the United States. What’s Jack? Take a/c, add some Ska, 80s Britpop, 70s country rock and Grunge rock every once and a while - and continually express disdain for programmed music.

The CBC, in the course of a budget exercise, recently decided that there wasn’t a sound business case for keeping their in-house staff of publicists. Instead, they are going to outsource to standalone PR firms.

Now, the CBC is partially funded by the government. It produces made-in-Canada programming that has to compete with American programming broadcast on our other networks. And it has to raise profile for this programming in dozens of tiny markets with a limited quantity of MSM.

John Doyle, the television columnist for the Globe and Mail, asks: “Why is CBC shooting the messengers?”

“… it’s called an “asymmetrical outsourcing model,” a phrase that is easily the outstanding bafflegab of the year so far. Essentially, it means that in the key, concentrated markets for Canadian TV, freelance publicists will be hired to promote CBC programs.

No offence to freelance publicists, who contact me daily, but CBC managers must be out of their minds. This is how it sometimes works with the freelance publicists and me. Long before the show airs, I’m pestered with calls and e-mails about the show, which I haven’t seen. Before a tape or DVD is provided, I’m asked to commit to writing about it …

The freelance publicist, if reachable, can’t answer, must make numerous calls and gets back to me long after my deadline. Sometimes they can’t be reached at all, having long since moved on to promoting some other project. The result is that somebody who worked on the program I review gets busy composing the angry letter about his or her efforts receiving no mention.

Among the now-redundant CBC staff are people I’ve called at home, late at night or on weekends, when a news story needs to be written — by me or another reporter — and in some cases I’ve often spoken to their spouses and children. They never complain because they’re helping to get attention for Canadian-made television. They are an essential part of the fabric of a homegrown TV industry. They’re the messengers. Getting rid of the messengers, at a time when the CBC and Canadian-made TV need all the help they can get, is worthy of an Air Farce skit.”

(Globe and Mail, sub. req. )

Medical Meetings’ Capsules has some comments about doctors allowing pharmaceutical companies to peddle research papers under their names.

Hits a little close to home for PR folks, doesn’t it?

Well, I’ve always said minor league baseball has the best promotions. Take a look at what the Lake Elsinore Storm thought up for their promotional schedule on April 21:

“TAKE THAT MICHAEL: During its homestand last weekend, Lake Elsinore hosted a “King of Pop-Beat It Night,” at The Diamond, poking fun at recording mega star Michael Jackson. Fans that passed through the gates on Friday night received a medical mask and white glove. The Storm’s mascot, Thunder, was dressed in classic Michael Jackson attire, and fans could visit the “Neverland Ranch” petting zoo, set up in the concourse.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The idea for the night started to form some time in February during one of our midweek brainstorming sessions. With Jackson’s trial happening so close to us we felt that we had to do something to recognize (don’t you mean capitalize -ed) the situation.” — Lake Elsinore Director of Media and Public Relations, Casey Hauan.” (MLB.COM)

Now, in the past I’ve written some internal communications materials related to restructuring, and the “Translation From PR-Speak to English of Selected Portions of Adobe’s ‘FAQ’ Regarding Their Acquisition of Macromedia” from Daring Fireball is accurate - and funny.

Q: What happens to the Macromedia brand?

Adobe A: Adobe recognizes the strong equity of the Macromedia brand. That said, it makes great business sense for a company the size of the combined company to align behind a single corporate brand. Over time, Macromedia products will transition to the Adobe brand. Adobe expects to keep and continue investing in key Macromedia product brands.

Translated A: The Macromedia brand is dead.

Thanks to Doc for the pointer.

Just noticed something shocking while wandering through Canadian Tire today: the Coleman 15′ 6″ Journey Canoe has cup holders - lots of them. The ad copy may try to mask this very suburban feature (my minivan has 8 cupholders) by calling them “rod and cup holders,” but let’s get real. Any fisherman worth his/her salt will own a fishing boat with electric trolling motor and built-in beer - I MEAN FISH - cooler.

Oh - and if you’re wondering why I linked to a Sam’s Club site for a Canadian-made canoe, it’s because the Canadian Tire site doesn’t do a very good job of actually selling the canoe - it’s more like an upload of an Excel description with a photo.

There’s a hint of Harlequin romance novel in how the folks at the NASA Earth Observatory have described the latest iceberg to threaten Antarctica:

…At 122 kilometers (76 miles) in length by 28 kilometers (17 miles) in width, the bullying iceberg charged with great momentum towards the ice tongue, threatening to shatter the floating extension of the Davis Glacier …

In the weeks that followed, the iceberg rotated free, until finally it began to drift past the ice tongue into the Ross Sea. Just when it looked as if Drygalski might escape a collision, B-15A delivered a glancing blow, knocking the end of the ice tongue loose …

Judging from this photo, Prime Minister Blair has hit the campaign trail touting a solid “for war, not Bach” agenda. Reminds me of the song selection on the President’s ipod. I wonder what’s on the PM’s ipod? Maybe some Billy Bragg?

“… One leap forward, two leaps back,
Will politics get me the sack?

Here comes the future and you can’t run from it
If you’ve got a blacklist I want to be on it … (Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards)

From a reliable source:

CNN’s Vatican bureau chief, Alessio Vinci, holding up a copy of L’Osservatore Romano (the official Vatican newspaper) referred to the front-page picture of new pope Benedict XVI waving from the balcony at St. Peter’s as “the money shot.”

Of course, the coup would be much more impressive if L’Osservatore wasn’t one of several in-house Vatican organs.

Fantastic redesign of the conventional pill bottle by Deborah Adler. Improved packaging, clearer instructions and less waste. Maybe that’s why Target’s adopting the design for their pharmacies.

Amy’s Robot, Xblog and Seth have all picked up on this as well.

Sheer laziness, that’s what it is. If there’s some sort of ethical barrier to pimping products during syndicated television appearances, journalists just haven’t made the effort to create an elaborate enough buffer between their “reporting” and their paycheque.

The WSJ reveals today that several “tech editors” recently featured on national morning or cable shows supplement their income by soliciting major product placements to be featured during national satellite media tours. Naturally, the promotional patter they repeat ad nauseum during SMTs with third tier morning news hosts tends to spill over into their national appearances.

And to the manufacturers, that’s pure gravy, baby!

So - what’s an ambitious young telejournalist with a car payment and antsy consumer products clients to do? Look to the medical marketing industry! Learn to skirt the ethical swamps by no longer providing direct reporting on the products: instead, you’re now a continuing consumer education specialist!

As a new CCE, you’ll provide refresher training for media companies on the latest consumer trends! You’ll:

- provide in-house training video with remarkably lit product shots, descriptive commentary and sample testimonials from carefully screened users;

- set up technical briefings for reporters with free bagels, juice and pens;

- guide seminars and hand out free golf balls for producers - to be picked up at Sea Island, Georgia;

- drop by production offices weekly to restock the “sample” bins: especially effective when repping electronics firms;

- produce online video conferences - hosted by Jesper Parnevik and Maria Sherapova.

- monthly educational meetings at Cipriani’s. There might be $500 under that 24 ounce sirloin, there might not be - knowwhatImean?

You get the idea. You don’t take cash DIRECTLY for pumping up a product: you create a positive environment where the product can be examined carefully and fruitfully.

It’s all about the relationship with the customer, after all.

Let’s face it - you and I are likely in public relations because we’re not very good at math. We don’t often cop to this weakness when asked to deal with financial data, survey results or mathematical analysis.

There’s one article, in quite blunt bullet form, that sets out the dozens of ways we can mistakenly characterize statistics and arguments of logic:

Professor I.J. Good, “A classification of fallacious arguments and interpretations,” Technometrics, Volume 4, Number 1, Pages 125-132, 1962. (made available on the web by the American Statistical Association)

There’s also an illustrative thread running on Edward Tufte’s forums.

Do you have a brooding and overly intellectual child in the house? Is your house littered with half-filled journals? Are YOU a brooding intellectual? You may find value in Walrus Magazine’s POETSMART program:

“POETSMART’s professional Poet Training Instructors can help you teach your poet a variety of skills, from the basics of good behaviour to complicated tricks and everything in between. Developed by the world’s leading poet trainers and behaviourists, this gentle and effective approach is fun for both poets and their families. Regardless of your poet’s age or skill level, we have a course that will help him learn new, desired behaviours.”

Rather unfortunate coincidence today. Callers in New Brunswick dialing up the local Office of Boating Safety toll-free line are hearing a 45 second come-on for a US-based phone sex operation. A Transport Canada spokesperson, Steve Bone, says they’re looking into blocking the number.

I doubt that’s the same Steve Bone quoted in an unrelated 2002 CBC story: “English amnesiac may be porn star“

Apparently, the business model for blogging (and podcasting) is this equation:

unpaid author + beta software + blogads + t-shirt sales = 1/2 bandwidth costs + x

where x = cool-sounding, but not nearly well-paid enough, job

This must be why six apart is selling “my other shirt is rebuilding” t-shirts.

When will I see “my other hobby is euchre” t-shirts?

A topical post, given the impending election rumours floating around Parliament Hill here in Ottawa. ASDA, the UK food chain, has announced a line of custom beers to celebrate (mourn?) the latest trip to the polls. They include Lib Dem Lift-off Bitter, Labour Landslide Bitter, Tory Triumph Bitter, and Plaid Cymru and SNP Independence Ales.

BTW - the ASDA press centre SUCKS! For instance, you can’t hyperlink their news releases. What sort of functionality is that?

Oh - wait. ASDA is owned by Wal-Mart. That explains a lot.

The Guardian tells us the BBC will be expanding its trial podcast offerings, including the Today show’s 8.10am interview, and another 19 BBC speech radio shows.

“Simon Nelson, boss of the BBC radio and music interactive unit, told delegates at Music Radio 2005 that the BBC’s download trial is being extended to explore the editorial, technical and distribution issues involved.” (Guardian, r.r)

Some snippets from things I’ve been reading:

“After these a pretended Printer was brought to the Bar, he had been convicted upon two several Indictments, the one for Exercising the Mystery of Printing, not being of the same, (but formerly a Scrivener) and the other for Printing Scandalous Libels …” (The Proceedings of the Old Bailey Ref: t16750707-9, 07 Jul 1675)

“Friendly wagers aside, the press box is a joyless place to watch a game. The writer standing next to me—a Boston columnist who shall remain nameless—audibly groans each time an inning gets extended. “God, throw a strike!” he moans at Yankees reliever Felix Rodriguez. “It’s 7-1, the game’s fucking over!” Later, he mutters, “There we go,” as Johnny Damon pops up.” (Slate)

“At the end of a testy press conference with Gordon Blair last week Tony Blair reproached uppity reporters for being obsessed with their relationship. “I know we’re in a sort of interactive state, but let’s keep it interactive within limits,” he pleaded.

This from a man so interactive that, within five minutes of getting back from his Big Trip to the Palace on Tuesday, he found time to fire off thousands of cheery campaign emails. We all got them in the press gallery at Westminster. So did many Labour voters, some of whom appear even less well disposed towards him than most of Fleet Street.” (Guardian, r.r.)

Looks like the PRSA has moved its PRCOnline listserv in-house. Intended as a PRSA member benefit, the listserv had built up a number of non-member subscribers. A message late Friday afternoon announced to all that the list would be migrating to a different (more difficult) platform for members only - and then it went dead.

Ian Lipner ably deals with many of the issues around the move.

I can understand how the PRSA would want to capitalize on every one of its member benefits, but they are a professional organization. How does this move demonstrate commitment to reach out to the community of public relations professionals?

And I second Ian’s recommendation of the YoungPrPros Yahoo Group listserv. Well worth the admission price.

Mark Ritson, an LBS professor, notes three overused concepts in marcom agency pitches that “instantly signal a lack of expertise and strategic naivety”:

- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: “He sounds foreign and therefore clever, and big words such as ‘hierarchy’ imply some form of scientific rigour. If you are walking into a client pitch with nothing more than a first in history from Oxbridge and a dodgy big idea, you’ll take what you can.”

- SWOT analysis: “They currently teach SWOT analysis as part of the GCSE in business. I have to question its efficacy for 15-year old schoolchildren, let alone corporate clients.”

- Brand definitions: “It may only be semantics, but there is a very high correlation between the number of different concepts a marketer uses to describe brands and their actual knowledge of the topic.”

(Marketing, sub. req.)

You can put a swoosh on Tiger’s hat, his chest, his bag, even the back of his shirt - but that one little ball will deliver unimagined ROI for years to come.

Tiger’s shot on the 16th hole at Augusta was Carl Spackler-like. It must be heaven for Nike’s marketing team.

Schoolhouse Rock + Mass Storage Breakthrough + Slashdot = Massive Viral Campaign for Geeks.

Hitachi’s released a flash animation in support of its breakthough in perpendicular recording - dependent upon overcoming the superparamagnetic effect, didn’t you know.

What does it mean to you? How about an mp3 player that holds 30,000 songs, in the same space?

On the other hand- can you imagine the garbage songs you’d carry around? William Shatner’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” David Hasselhoff”s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Anything by Celine Dion. Ugh. Imagine that popping up during your shuffle.

Too bad there isn’t an mp3 of the Hitachi song, though. It’s really catchy.

GM’s decided to pull their advertising from the LA Times “for the foreseeable future,” in part as a reaction to a harsh column Wednesday about poor management at the stumbling automaker.

I wonder if LA-area GM dealers have anything to say about this? Kinda hard to move Hummers, Suburbans and the new Equinox out the door when gas is nearly $3 a gallon and you have no branding support.

Do you like to assemble your own modernist furniture? Or do you simply like swedish meatballs? Jonathan Coulton, a NY musician and software designer, has written a catchy and amusing song about the big box self-serve retailing giant.

Ikea

Long ago in days of yore
It all began with a god named Thor
There were Vikings and boats
And some plans for a furniture store
It’s not a bodega, it’s not a mall
And they sell things for apartments smaller than mine
As if there were apartments smaller than mine

Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen
Ikea: selling furniture for college kids and divorced men
Everyone has a home
But if you don’t have a home you can buy one there

So rent a car or take the bus
Lay your cash down and put your trust
In the land where the furniture folds to a much smaller size
Billy the bookcase says hello
And so does a table whose name is Ingo
And the chair is a ladder-back birch but his friends call him Karl

Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen
Ikea: selling furniture for college kids and divorced men
Everyone has a home
But if you don’t have a home you can buy one there

Ikea: plywood, brushed steel
Ikea: meatballs, tasty
Ikea: Allen wrenches
All of them for free
All of them for me

I’m sorry I said Ikea sucks
I just bought a table for 60 bucks
And a chair and a lamp
And a shelf and some candles for you
I was a doubter just like you
Till I saw the American dream come true
In New Jersey, they got a goddamned Swedish parade

Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen
Ikea: selling furniture for college kids and divorced men
Everyone has a home
But if you don’t have a home you can buy one there

You can find the Ikea song here, and why not chip in some bucks as a thank you?

Have YOU missed out on the Ikea experience? Live vicariously through other people’s flickr photos!

The Guardian (r.r) ran a comprehensive profile of Ingvar Kamprad and Ikea last year.

Is Tony Blair embracing the spirit of moblogging, or is he instinctively mimicking the professional athletes who whip out ready digicams to capture those special moments? At a campaign stop yesterday, several sea cadets instructed the Prime Minister on the use of a cameraphone. He then took a self-portrait of the group. At left, they examine the result.

And what about the photo opp itself? The one the actual, paid, photographers were covering?

“As a work of symbolism, it was a masterpiece, combining the underlying Olympic theme of the day with smiling children, a faint undertone of militarism - sea cadets being the closest Mr Blair will presumably ever go towards a George Bush-style appearance on board an aircraft carrier - and, in the cameraphone, technological progress. “He seemed a lot friendlier in person than he does on the television,” one of the cadets, Anthony Marland, 15, said later.” (Guardian, r.r.)

The AFP picture accompanying the Guardian story is much more compelling - but is copyrighted.

Credit for the photo above goes to Tony Blair’s Campaign Diary.

Thumbing through the Journal of Consumer Research finds this: “Religiosity in the Abandoned Apple Newton Brand Community.”

“Supernatural, religious, and magical motifs are common in the narratives of the Newton community, including the miraculous performance and survival of the brand, as well as the return of the brand creator. These motifs invest the brand with powerful meanings and perpetuate the brand and the community, its values, and its beliefs.”

Turns out continued message repetition in public health or safety campaigns may have contradictory effects among older adults:

“Repeatedly identifying a claim as false helped older adults remember it as false in the short term but paradoxically made them more likely to remember it as true after a 3 day delay. This unintended effect of repetition comes from increased familiarity with the claim itself but decreased recollection of the claim’s original context.”

From the March issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. Thanks to Paul Kedrosky for the pointer.

A brief excerpt from a popular (and unnamed) PR newsletter:

“Second, if you don’t communication well verbally or via the
written word, find another career. This sounds pretty obvious, but you would be surprised by the awful communication skills some PR people exhibit.”

The Annotated New York Times - a look at how the Times influences online commentary, indexed by story, author, section and many other keywords.

Just as Tim Porter works through how newspapers just don’t understand the myriad ways consumers now collect and digest information, Blogrunner puts a face to the problem. This site presents the stories, threads and spin-off conversations prompted by Times reporting.

There are conversations taking place out there - but the Times isn’t taking part.

Of course, the flip side of that observation is - surprisingly - that the Times continues to set the agenda for thousands of people online.

Thanks to Steve for the initial pointer.