November 24, 2008
Mass Is Class: The Public Theater and Crowd Surfing
I had a cocktail party at my home last Thursday for the Public Theater, a New York City institution founded by a son of immigrants and dedicated to the proposition that culture should be available to all. Joseph Papp, who grew up in the Yiddish-speaking enclave of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, taught himself English by reading Shakespeare. This proved the inspiration for his commitment to offering Shakespeare in the Park free to all who would come (first in Central Park, then in the outer boroughs).
Noted actor, Sam Waterston, who met his wife while performing at the Public in the early 70s, then was in a production thirty years later of Much Ado About Nothing with his daughter, brilliantly recited a passage from The Tempest, which was the highlight of my party. Prospero, having outmaneuvered his evil brother and regained his dukedom, married off his eligible daughter and restored order from comedic chaos, says:
Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
And what strength I have’s mine own,
Which is most faint: now, ‘tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardon’d the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell;
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands:
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please.
Waterston suggested that Shakespeare’s subtle appeal for applause and cheers be adapted for today’s difficult economic climate, sure to pressure non-profits accustomed to generous support from corporations and government. He asked that each of us “help with our good hands” to keep the mission of the Public Theater alive, to enable future generations of Joe Papps to emerge from the immigrant community to add to the vitality of our culture.
So how does this relate to Crowd-Surfing, the excellent new book by David Brain (disclosure: president of Edelman Europe) and Martin Thomas, on the new age of consumer empowerment? Consider this single statistic from the recently completed Obama for President Campaign. Three million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations on-line adding up to more than $500 million in funds raised. Of those donations, 6 million were in increments of $100 or less. His email list has 13 million addresses. A million people signed up for the text-messaging program. Two million profiles were created on MyBarackObama.com, his social network, plus 5 million supporters in other venues such as Facebook and MySpace.
The theory of fund-raising can now be turned on its head. The mass is the new class. Contrary to usual techniques of relying on the top five percent of donors to deliver half of the funds, we need to tap into the rich, new vein of socially committed and connected people. As Brain and Thomas see it, “The crowd is, in effect, our new family, and sporting events, political rallies and rock concerts provide the platforms for the crowd to congregate and the sense of community that we all need. For many people, this sense of community is reinforced through the brands that they choose to align themselves with.” The authors go on to create a pathway to participation, from “being interesting” to “giving the crowd a piece of the action.”
Those of us in the PR business need to volunteer our services to non-profits, helping them to emulate the genius of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (disclosure: Edelman client) by opening them up to a more participative presence on the web. I cannot wait for the Public Theater to become the aggregator of all amateur productions of Shakespeare, with comments from directors Barry Edelstein and Oskar Eustis about how they might have done it differently. And in return, we will be able to attract a new base of donors, whose voices will have been heard as control gives way to credibility. Philanthropy can no longer be limited to the rich and powerful—we have to enable the mass community to play.
Try this theory out for yourself. Please donate to the Public Theater by emailing the Shakespeare Initiative's Director, Barry Edelstein at bedelstein@publictheater.org. I will personally match the first $12,500 contributed.
Thank you for your support of the Public Theater.
Posted by Edelman at 9:08 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
November 17, 2008
AP: What’s Old Is New
I had lunch last Thursday with Mike Oreskes, the US editor for the Associated Press. At a time when AP’s owners, the newspaper industry, are sailing in difficult economic waters, the AP is thriving as a news provider to print, radio and television. “We are a news organization that is becoming increasingly important in this new world,” Oreskes said. Here are a few of Oreskes’ observations:
1) AP is expanding its coverage where “verticalization” is in demand, such as in sports, business, technology, health and retailing.
2) AP is developing reporters as brand names. He offered the example of Sharon Cohen, whose portrait of a National Guard unit on extended tour in Iraq, won several journalism awards. Other reporters of note are Ted Anthony, Martha Mendoza and Dave Espo.
3) There is a great tradition of “old journalism” on fact-checking. “We want to get it first but it is even more important to get it right,” he said.
4) Newspapers account for 25% of AP’s revenue, with the balance from radio, TV and web players such as Yahoo.
5) There is an AP web site but its primary function is corporate reputation management and product/ service marketing.
6) AP is ramping up its investigative reporting. “We have a number of veteran reporters; this is a comparative advantage over Reuters and Bloomberg,” he noted. “We must also be mindful of new competitors such as Politico.com.”
7) AP reporters are increasingly posting their content on multiple platforms, from print to radio to TV. AP does have significant broadcast facilities in New York, Washington and London.
8) There are more than 800 AP reporters and editors in the US alone, Oreskes added. “We have 100 reporters in state capitals around the country, part of our strategy to fill in where local media are cutting back.”
I was fascinated by the origins of the Associated Press. Five New York City based newspapers wanted to cover the Mexican- American War in 1846 but none of them wanted to finance the reporters on their own. So they decided to share the cost of a single reporter, whose task it was to offer non-partisan, even-handed coverage. “This was quite unusual at the time,” Oreskes noted. “Now what each of the papers did with the dispatches from the reporter in the field was to add a point of view.”
Oreskes welcomes further connection with those of us in public relations. He wants us to reconsider the presumption that AP is an NY or Washington enterprise. AP is building the Silicon Valley bureau as the global technology coverage hub while adding to capacity in local markets to satisfy the demand for “hyper-local coverage.”
I would appreciate hearing about your experiences with AP reporters.
Posted by Edelman at 3:46 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
November 11, 2008
GOTCHA
I saw a segment on ABC Evening News on Monday that is alarming for several reasons. Take a look at this before reading on (disclosure - I do not know the facts around the event beyond what has been reported).
Why am I concerned?
First, AIG attempts to conceal its identity at an upscale resort where company executives are entertaining independent financial consultants.
Second, when confronted by ABC’s local affiliate, AIG executives refused to speak, while escaping from the reporter through the airport’s first-class check-in.
Third, the tone of the reporting is anti-business. There are "gotcha" moments, such as the senior executive who is toweling himself off after a workout.
One outcome is that this incident is being used by a Congressman to question whether the company deserves to participate in the US Treasury's recovery plan.
I’m concerned that business does not understand that the rules of the game have changed with government as its new partner. Policies of long standing, such as client entertainment, must be reviewed under the prism of public scrutiny. If those actions are an essential part of doing business, then the company must be upfront about its intent.
The role of PR Professionals is to ensure companies are public about what they are doing and why. Trying to fly under the radar is not going to work. We must also help companies stand their ground when they are on solid footing and err on the side of transparency to ensure understanding and acceptance. We can expect greater scrutiny and skepticism from the media and to be held accountable by the public, as well as government and investors.
Posted by Edelman at 3:28 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
November 6, 2008
Forty Years in Chicago
Barack Obama’s victory on Tuesday night was exciting for people all over the world, from young Indonesians celebrating at his former school to African Americans recognizing that the dream of equal opportunity has been achieved. For a guy who grew up in Chicago in the 60s, the vignette of nearly one million Americans of all ages and races partying in Grant Park was simply surreal.
Frankly speaking, Chicago was a profoundly segregated city at that point in time. Dr. Martin Luther King had led marches in neighborhoods in the city and near-by suburbs for fair housing. Jobs in construction and related trades were generally restricted to whites. Black participation in politics was through the Democratic machine, with Representative Dawson the most visible distributor of patronage.
In March, 1968, on the morning after Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, riots broke out in several American cities, including Chicago. My school was located near the Cabrini Green public housing project. Police cars were parked along LaSalle Street as a barricade between the posh Gold Coast and the projects. Mayor Richard Daley, father of the present mayor, issued his famous edict to the police, “Shoot to kill.” We were ordered to return home from school in mid-morning, with the acrid smoke filling our nostrils, the flames shooting up in the distance, the ever-present police and fire sirens in our ears.
Fast forward about six months to August, 1968 as the Democrats gathered in Chicago for the nominating convention. Young people felt disenfranchised by the party as their candidate, Eugene McCarthy, had fallen short in the primaries. Robert Kennedy, the heir to his brother’s mantle, had been shot in June. The anti-war movement focused on Chicago as a perfect backdrop for open social protest. The Democratic Party closed ranks around the incumbent, very middle-aged Vice President Humphrey. I have already blogged about my experience in running through tear gas in Lincoln Park during football practice. My friend, James Hoge, now editor of Foreign Affairs, but at the time, the young editor of the Chicago Sun Times, was mistaken for a protester and thrown through the plate glass window at the Conrad Hilton Hotel by two enthusiastic law enforcement officers. One especially poignant moment at the Convention was the very brave Senator from Connecticut, Abe Ribicoff, denouncing the Gestapo tactics of the police department, while Major Daley and his henchmen shouted insults in off-color language.
What I observed on television on Tuesday was an opening of a next chapter for America, beyond the historic constraints of age and race. Can this man, now a symbol of hope for change, now deliver on the promise? Much will depend on keeping the enthusiasm of those who have been outside of the political process for so long. Perhaps the social activism stimulated by the mybarackobama.com web site can play an important role in the decisions to be taken in the coming years.
The campaign’s very effective use of social media as a catalyst for fundraising, voter registration and peer communication must be applied to the process of governance. The weekly Saturday morning radio address by the President now seems so quaint. So does the reliance on the Sunday morning shows such as Face the Nation. To sell a Federal commitment to renewable energy will require a grassroots movement, not simply a bill moving through Congress. Let’s not put the genie back into the bottle; let’s unleash the vox populi.
Posted by Edelman at 12:30 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
October 30, 2008
Public Engagement
I delivered the Grunig Lecture at the University of Maryland today to a group of students and their professors. My topic was the evolution of public relations into public engagement. I asserted that PR can become the discipline that melds strategy and communications, constituting an essential bridge between corporations and their stakeholders. I contended that PR must also be part of business strategy and policy formulation, in addition to being responsible for communicating the decisions.
There is the confluence of several trends in the marketplace that make this transition possible and advisable. The recent government emergency intervention in global financial institutions has ended the free market era of Reagan and Thatcher. The dispersion of authority continues with CEOs under fire (akin to the period 2001-02 after Enron, Parmalat) and government officials seen as ineffective regulators. The transformation of media is accelerating, with mainstream media downsizing (layoffs at Time Inc. yesterday morning), greater reliance on digital platforms and merging of news with entertainment (“newstainment”CNN’s new comedic news show). Expectations on companies are rising with stakeholders looking for Mutual Social Responsibility-- merging cause related marketing with corporate social responsibility.
I suggested that Public Engagement has four important attributes:
First, it is democratic and decentralized. A good example of this is the Obama campaign’s mobilization of five million volunteers, who are able to make decisions on how best to contact voters, attract funds and communicate on social media. Another is the MyStarbucksIdea.Force.com site that solicits new product ideas from the crowd, reinforcing the company’s relationship with its customers while the company listens and learns (disclosure: Starbucks is a client, but we are not involved directly in this program).
Second, it aims to inform the conversation. This is a major change for PR, which has relied on research-tested messages delivered one-way to media, which then writes the stories. If Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News, is correct in positing that “Every company today is a media company,” then smart businesses will take the opportunity to become public resources on areas of expertise, by providing credible well-researched data on its own web site, and correct on-going discussions, whether on discussion forums or in the press, if there are factual errors. An example of this is our work for Masdar, the first carbon-neutral city in the world that has become an important focus for data on new forms of energy.
Third, it calls for engagement with influencers of all stripes. To be influential today does not require academic or professional credentials alone. It means that the person has personal experience with the product, passion for the category, and a desire to contribute to general knowledge. It is our task in PR to build trusted relationships with the broad set of influencers. A great example is the Johnson & Johnson (a client) Family Health Institute in China, which helps educates mothers about family health, and funding schooling for nurses.
Fourth, it suggests that reputation is built on policy and communication. Our client Wal-Mart’s strong commitment last week to the highest standards on environment and workplace safety in China is indicative of this trend. It is often useful to partner corporations with the NGO community for input in the decision making process and help garner support in the broader community.
The rationale for public engagement is best captured by Thomas Friedman, who wrote a week ago in the New York Times, “In a connected world, countries, governments and companies have character…how they do what they do, how they keep promises, how they make decisions, how they engender trust…” The PR business must rise to the challenge, by creating a new form of expression that will work in today’s cynical and uncertain environment.
Here is a copy of my presentation. Click here to watch my speech. Click here for advice from Matt Harrington, Edelman's US President and CEO, on Communicating Forward.
I would appreciate your views as always.
Posted by Edelman at 6:25 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)