Public Relations Today

Was it Buddha who said, “invite your enemies into your living room?”  The Buddha’s teachings are so vast, it’s hard to remember, but the principal holds firm.  It’s amazing where we can pick up knowledge, even from competitors and foes, maybe even more so from these.

Some years ago and for many years, Primavera Public Relations was the agency of record for Ruth’s Chris Steak House when Ruth Fertel was still at the helm.  I loved Ruth like a mother and would do anything for her.  At the time, she felt that an adversary named Dale Wamstead who created the original Del Frisco’s Steakhouse was adversely affecting her chain’s reputation.  In a very clever way (I was later quoted on national television as saying it was “diabolically” clever), he had created a phony steak house rating system called the “Knife & Fork Club” that listed the top steak houses in the country and published ads in the airline publications announcing the list.  He intentionally left out Ruth’s Chris which was his main competitor in his original
Texas market.  “Please do something about this,” Ruth asked.

What I did, innocently enough, was write an article in the Ruth’s Chris newsletter, “The Steak House Gang,” called “When It Comes to Restaurant Rating Systems, Whom Can You Trust?” which rated the review systems available at that time, listing them according to credibility.  Considering that the “Knife and Fork Club” was created by Wamstead’s public relations man, it got a low ranking, along with some exposition of the hoax.

While we all expected Wamstead to react negatively, perhaps as strongly as Ruth did to his review system, we didn’t expect two $5 million lawsuits, one against Ruth’s Chris and one against Primavera Public Relations.

The discovery sessions for the lawsuit were brutal.  I’m a laid-back guy, but my hackles were really elevated by the opposition’s lawyers.  Interestingly, Wamstead and I were at the same table as were the lawyers, and we seemed to connect in some way. At one point, the lawyers recessed for some private talk, and Wamstead and I were left alone in the room.  He looked at me and said, “I respect your work, and I’m really sorry for all of this.”  I looked at him and said, “You seem to know things about marketing that I never thought of, and I’ve been in the business all my professional life.” To this, he responded, “Well, I learned everything I know from the Guerilla Marketing books.”  These are books that, to this point, I had not explored, but based on the recommendation of my “foe,” I learned about something I had been missing, something that has benefited my clients since.

My point today is twofold: We never know where or how we’re going to get valuable information AND never has there been a greater need or opportunity for Guerilla Marketing in the marketplace as there is today. While Primavera Public Relations is a generalist agency, we specialize in lifestyles accounts:  restaurants, hotels, food and wine and real estate developments.  Capturing the customer away from competitors in rough economic times, especially in these fields, requires the kind of marketing warfare that we might not normally employ under normal conditions.

In the weeks ahead, I’ll be sharing some of the techniques we’re employing for our clients.  For now, you might want to visit: http://www.gmarketing.com/

Talk soon!

When I first explored the public relations field, an early mentor told me that the foundation of the practice was really common sense and, primarily, always encouraging clients to keep a cool head, no matter.  Some may say, easily said, but hard in practice, considering that all human activity is, after all, human.

Public relations practitioners are often called into difficult situations where emotions can run high, and putting aside all the qualities that a good practitioner should have, perhaps “keeping a cool head” is the most difficult to accommodate.  Sometimes the very characteristics that make a good public relations practitioner such as creativity and sensitivity are sometimes accompanied by emotional reaction to confrontational situations.

Today The New York Times endorsed Barack Obama for President.  No surprise of course, but the leading quality it proffered was his “cool head and sound judgment.” The Times calls on these essential qualities for a President:   strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.  On the other hand, John McCain is credited by the paper with retreating to the “fringe of American politics” reduced to “robo-calls” and negative ads.  In short, not being cool. 

Biden is sometimes definitely not cool, while Sarah Palin, gaffe-prone as she may be, stays cool even when she has to “get back” to Katie to complete an answer.

No matter one’s political leaning, it’s easy to see who’s cool and who’s not.  It’s all about body language, vocal tone and, of course, what is said and implied.

It seems that the cool head and cool hand always prevail.  Even in Shakespearean wisdom and crime family philosophy, we are told that revenge is a feast best served cold.

But what exactly IS a cool head?  Simply the ability to stay calm and think clearly in a difficult situation.  In public relations, it’s essential and only those who can achieve it succeed.  But, let’s say, under attack from an advisary, the emotions flair and one is prompted to say and do things that are not cool

Here are two practical suggestions for keeping cool in the line of fire.

Face to face, whether with a co-worker, client or member of the media, a cool head can become hot when responding trigger-fast to a confrontational person.  In my youth, I had a problem with holding my tongue when I felt unfairly treated or threatened.  With maturity came the understanding that I was operating from a position of weakness if I let the other person control my reaction.  Somewhere I read that I can diffuse the negativity coming at me by visualizing a dense fog between the aggressor and me in which the heat of anger or assault dissipates by the time it reaches me, and I can better understand and deal with the content of the message, no matter how negative it might be.

When the negativity comes via email or text, the very best advice I could offer is to not respond immediately. Close the email or text message and do something else, maybe even something relaxing or pleasurable. This is the “fog” version of electronic communications. The time lapse offers an automatic cooling effect, and you can gain control of your response.

Cool headedness is associated with keeping things intact, organizational skill, intelligence and confidence. Hot headedness is perceived as being out of control, unintelligent, defensive and lacking confidence.  

As public relations practitioners, we have only once choice.

As I write my first entry in Public Relations Today, having enjoyed a gratifying career in the industry through both heady and tough times, I feel more positive about the benefits of good public relations strategies than ever before. While getting attention for clients is relatively easy in good times, the discipline requires a completely different approach in a transitional period, such as we’re experiencing in the fall of 2008. 

Never before has it been so important to distinguish who you are and what you do from the chatter, when many businesses are vying for the same customers.  As for service to my clients, I have broached new territory in my field:  public relations for restaurants, food companies, wine companies, and destination locations. I’m encouraging clients (and even friends who are not clients) to break away from the standard means of communications and to venture into appropriate use of the new media for meaningful web and mobile marketing.  Day by day, I will explore different facets of this expansive technology, along with different issues that can be addressed through it.. In the meantime, you can learn more about my firm and its services by visiting:  www.PrimaveraPR.com and www.JanusDirect.net.

Bill