The Hightest Paid Person In PR?
Is Steve Parrish the highest paid person in PR? Perhaps. According to the NYTimes Magazine the senior vice president of corporate affairs at Altria (think Philip Morris and Malboro pulled in a cool $14m last year.
The revealing read points as much to his personal transformation as to the shift in position and message at Philip Morris – a company that has evolved from claiming that cigarettes weren’t addictive and an individual choice to one in which they “area addictive and cause the disease and death of hundreds of thousands of people every year”; and, “when you set tobacco on fire and inhale it into your lungs, bad things happen”.
Moreover, Nocera’s piece points to the intrinsic link between communications strategy and business strategy. Philip Morris has shifted from a position vehemently opposed to the regulation of the industry to supporting it, for instance. In doing so the message has caused a shift in some of its opponents message.
“There is no question, then, that Parrish and Philip Morris USA are hoping that regulation could help lead the company to reclaim some legitimacy. From a business perspective, that could result in a higher stock price…”
This is arguably one of the most dramatic and socially significant shifts in message we have seen undertaken by a corporation.
Ray Is Wrong…
Sometimes the V in VC stands for vested. As in vested interest. For this reason, Ray Lane’s comments on press releases aren’t that surprising. In this BusinessWeek interview, Ray Lane of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers calls standard media and press releases “a waste of time.” Instead, they should use “blogs and wikis and podcasts and videos.” Ray says:
What’s going to happen is, employees are going to start podcasting and blogging about what’s really going on in the company. It’s going to cause huge legal concerns on the company’s part. But companies are not going to be able to stop it. Outside the company, you can’t tell people not to talk about their products. We’re not China. We can’t shut it down.
The reality of how employees feel, and the reality of how customers and partners get information about your company, are going to change in the next five years from standard media and press releases – which are a waste of time now – to these other methods like blogs and wikis and podcasts and videos
He’s right that companies should be using blogs, wikis and podcasts. He’s wrong that press releases are a waste of time. In fact, they remain hugely valuable. That I place would place more credence on the drivel pouring out of most corporations whether in a blog or a press release is just misfounded. What is needed is better, clearer, more compelling communications – period. Whether a press release, podcast or blog – I really don’t mind. What I would prefer, personally, is short blogs and podcasts on the corporate narrative – and I want a press release for all formal communications.
Ray’s argument is also founded on a pretty major assumption – that employees will blog about “what is really going on” inside a company. Really? Not too sure about that Ray. First, they’ve got jobs that come with a fiduciary responsibility. Break that and they are out the door. Last time I looked, mortgage payments trump blogging on the list of things they are worried about.
Dana makes a point that I agree with – it would be terrific to hear directly from leading lights like Steve Jobs. I want to hear more from the thought-leaders and innovators. I don’t need to hear from everyone – I’d love to here more from the people that matter.
Media Rating Points…
I’ve been meaning to write on the recently proposed Media Rating Points system. If you are a small business that can’t afford to pay for a media measurement solution, or an agency that needs a means of communicating results, then this could work well. I don’t like the idea of rating coverage… this introduces a layer of opinion and complexity not needed. Focus on opportunities to see and frequency of messages.
The MRP™ system includes templates and reach data. The templates can be downloaded free of charge by clicking here.
Don Bartholomew has a summary of the evaluation/measurement findings from the latest GAP IV study from the Strategic Public Relations Center at USC Annenberg.
Key findings include that respondents spent only 4% of their budgets on evaluation. In terms of measuring PR performance (articles generated etc.) this could be right but if this number includes measuring impact (did we change minds, move markets, influence decisions?) then it is way low. That number should be closer to 15-20%.
Read Don’s post for a thorough analysis and the differing metrics used by PR departments that report to the C-suite and those that report to Marketing. Having run both functions in a number of companies I was always impressed how the brand teams started with deep research into the customer. The PR teams generally started with a brainstorm. I’ll say no more.
Katie has more on this…
The Power Of Recommendation…
Sun CEO Schwartz points to a terrific move they are making:
“Which is why you’ll see something very interesting next week start to appear on Sun’s web pages and throughout our our on-line store. You’ll start to see product reviews written by users. You’ll see user defined ratings, right on our products. Just like book or product reviews as Amazon.com…”
They are starting with a few products and going from there. Brilliant!
This got me thinking about the need for a system for recommenders to be authenticated. Some kind of opt-in registry so those of us reading the reviews get even more transparency into who is recommending. As much as I would like it though, I’m not sure it is needed.
The very act of participating and the inherent transparency of the act turns blogs and the web into one big “transparency engine”. Sunlight is indeed the best disinfectant.
That Old Press Release Thing Again…
So, the press release is actually ascending as a communications vehicle. InformationWeek says: “Press Releases Are More Popular Than Reported News, Says Study – Also, knowledge workers fail to find what they’re looking for in Internet searches 30% of the time. (thanks to Pop!PR for the pointer)
This is all based on a report from Outsell.
Despite all the rhetoric about the death of press releases this doesn’t surprise me. The utility of the press release coupled with effective distribution vehicles is pushing them into all the major news portals and throughout the blogosphere. Then, you’ve got waning trust in traditional media…
Is what we need a new format – like what the Shift guys are proposing? Tom is also on the case (I’m happy to help). The issue with new formats is distribution. The current standard formats are engineered for wire distribution. Links, imbedded images, all that other really cool stuff gets stripped in the transmission process. And the current cost structure of the distributors is slowing the take-up of new options. So, before we focus on format, lets focus on distribution. Then we have a fighting chance.
At the end of the day does this solve what people want vs. what the media want? Increasingly the press release isn’t written (perhaps even “mostly”) for the media – it is written for the “consumer”. What this survey flags for me is an opportunity communicate better using the existing medium. Against that backdrop, format is a sideshow to the real issue of well written and crafted communications. That is where the art is and real talent is required. An perhaps by doing both we deliver what everyone is looking for, a better press release.
