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March 29, 2007
Reflections on The Allman Brothers
I had not been to a rock concert for 25 years, since I saw Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve 1982. When my new buddy, Cody Willard, suggested that we go to the Allman Brothers concert at the Beacon Theater on Tuesday night, I could not resist. My wife, Roz, is a serious former rock and roll fan, who pulled out her 1972 vintage albums like Eat A Peach and warmed us up for the show. Here are a few impressions of the evening:
1) There was a serious marijuana smell as you entered the theater. Some things never change, and maybe that is a good thing
2) Nobody sat down during the concert. There were several major hand gesticulators, from peace signs to clenched fists, including Eliott Bloom, my former client from Cendant, who happened to be standing next to me (you are never anonymous in NYC) in the theater.
3) There was a 3 to 1 male female ratio. Looked like a lot of guys night out, with lots of Wall Street looking characters in the front rows
4) Greg Allman looked seriously ancient behind the piano. An elderly gent with ample girth and a plaid shirt worthy of a country club sang a guest solo. I felt young compared to the on-stage talent, marginally old compared to the crowd.
5) The most illuminating aspect of the evening was the prevalence of Blackberries or other PDAs with one in ten people checking their screens at all times during the show. A woman seated in front of me was conducting trades in the Asian financial markets. Several guys took the opportunity between songs to check out the latest email traffic. I never want to be that compulsive ( I left my device at home—why be tempted?)
6) There were the same visual cues from 25 years ago, including the paisley and tie-dyed motifs moving across the screen behind the musicians.
All in all, it was a worthwhile trip down memory lane for a guy trying to relive his youth.
P.S. I am very disturbed by the precipitous action of the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, David Hiller, who instigated the resignation of his editorial page editor, Andres Martinez, by alleging conflict of interest in selection of a guest editorial editor, movie producer Bryan Grazer. It turns out that Martinez is dating a woman, Kelly Mullens who works at a PR firm which represents Grazer, though Kelly Mullens does not work on the account. This seems a complete overreaction, a nanny state approach to the real world.
I also take exception to the article by Jeff Goldberg in this week’s New Yorker Magazine on Wal-Mart, because it is biased and hopelessly one-sided. His characterization of my former colleague, Leslie Dach, now a senior executive at Wal-Mart, is fundamentally flawed. Leslie is a gifted PR man, with a genuine commitment to the environment and social equality. Goldberg depicts our profession as based on spin, hardball tactics and messages, an Orwellian world of mind control. In fact, the best PR is premised on truth and that is why Wal-Mart’s leadership on environment, prescription drug prices and affordable products is getting favorable coverage.
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Cody Willard, Allman Brothers, Los Angeles Times, New Yorker, Wal-Mart
Posted by Edelman at 2:58 PM
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Thank you for commenting on the New Yorker article, albeit postscript. I’ve found myself fielding questions and concerns from my parents (both long time subscribers) about the apparently dubious goings on at my place of employment. While I’ve assured them that the Wal-Mart account, while not one I work on, is an important addition to our client roster (not to mention an exciting and monumental PR challenge), I’ve found myself defending Wal-Mart first, and Edelman second. This raises an interesting phenomenon unique to PR, a seemingly required loyalty to the client’s brand, unnecessary for traditional marketers. With that said, I hope that we can and will continue to find PR’s role in the boardroom and C-suite as trusted and honest consultants, helping our clients face their most challenging decisions – if we’re absent from that dialogue, our loyalty may be misguided.
Posted by: Nathan Strauss at April 1, 2007 10:40 PM
Rock on Mr. Edelman. It makes me really happy you know there is a time and place for everything. Something about mixing marijuana smell with Blackberrys just seems wrong.
Posted by: Erin Little at April 1, 2007 10:43 PM
How does one really change the heart of a Jeff Goldberg and most of the media. They're all about the Archille's heels within business. How often has any of the media portrayed the saints of industry. And within our twelve years of weekly productions about business (on PBS stations), we know that business is not "all about greed."
We hypostatize our future. What we see, we become. Goldberg and family needs to begin examining the richness and substance and the hearts of good people. They just do not want to see it.
Posted by: Bruce Camber at April 3, 2007 3:07 PM
Rock on, Richard.
Posted by: Andrew Silver at April 4, 2007 8:48 AM
Richard,
Sometimes I feel like I've been tied to the whipping post. I guess Leslie feels the same way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipping_Post_%28song%29
PS -- next time invite me! I'll leave my Blackberry at home -- promise.
Steve
Posted by: Steven Weiss at April 9, 2007 2:20 PM
Wow, Steve, good find. Well at least one of the brothers is still in fine form.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at April 9, 2007 3:44 PM
I was at an Allman Brothers gig last year as well, the boys are getting on a bit alright, but I had a great night and would totally recommend going to one of their gigs to anyone.
Posted by: Allmans Fansite at January 9, 2008 4:48 AM
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| TrackBackMarch 23, 2007
Taking the Show on the Road
One of the most venerated techniques in PR is the media tour, which my father, Dan Edelman, created in the late 1940s with the Toni Twins (which Twin has the Toni?). A spokesperson goes on the road, appearing on local television and taking interviews with local print and radio outlets, endorsing a product, telling a compelling personal story that validates his or her news value.
It is an interesting to observe the evolution of the tour concept into a public affairs and corporate reputation PR technique. Let me give you an example:
The National Committee on United States-China Relations, based in New York City, is planning a thirty city event on May 31 to underline the economic benefits of US China trade. Working with the World Affairs Council, the goal is to attract local opinion leaders from business, academia and government, including congressmen and senators. There will be a satellite feed from Washington, featuring Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Hill. The hope is that attendees will tell stories of expanded exports or more cost-effective manufactured imports that have improved competitiveness.
Why take the show on the road? As noted in previous posts, I believe that business has to be more out front in establishing its rationale for specific policy recommendations. Otherwise, companies will find themselves already positioned in a negative context by those more adept at the game. Here is one example in the energy sector.
Companies should also recognize that there are power centers beyond the traditional political and financial hubs of Washington, Brussels, New York and London. For example, Silicon Valley has important think tanks (Institute for the Future), academic centers and media, while Seattle is home of the most influential philanthropy (Gates Foundation) and Amsterdam is the focus of the global NGO movement.
The dispersion of authority from government, mainstream media and business (especially CEOs) means that companies have to embrace the outside game and to work harder to sell a specific proposition. Hit the road, Jack!
Posted by Edelman at 5:05 PM
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I was so impressed to read that in 1940 the ideea of organising media tours, came from US, and your father was the innitiator. Running a PR consulting company in Romania, PRAIS Corporate Communications, we developed for the last 3 years in 41 counties a roadshow on CSR, putting together business people, mass media, local goverments, NGO's. The result was fantastic, thousand of people attend the events, having for the first time access to what CSR means, we reached an extensive media coverage - "no cash for editorial" all over the country, and the most important thing was that we contributed together with our client, to changind mentalities, motivating people to be responsible towards their communities. As you may see in Romanian or in USA - going to the source with the show, and why not, singind in the bus the lovely song "Hit the road, Jack!" we may have a bigger impact than organising a convention with 10 000 people. It is maybe a harder way, but it is great if you can make it!
Silvia Bucur
General Director
PRAIS Corporate Communications,
www.prais.ro
Posted by: Silvia Bucur at March 28, 2007 11:40 AM
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| TrackBackMarch 16, 2007
Death of a Spokesperson
I noted the passing of Marjabelle Y. Stewart last week. Described in the NY Times obituary as “the Queen of Couth,” Ms. Stewart presided over a “vast, genteel empire of books and classes on etiquette.” In fact, her pupils included the daughters of Presidents Johnson and Nixon, who attended her Washington, D.C. charm school “where she taught the children of the powerful how to bow, curtsey and tenderly ladle punch.” And now it can be revealed that Ms. Stewart struck out in her attempt to reform the three ruffians at the Edelman family dinner table in the late 1960s.
I am not sure that you can exactly grasp the full impact of a family business, particularly a PR business, until you realize that my siblings and I had dinner with the complete array of client spokespeople, from the sublime to the ridiculous, from Ernie Banks the baseball star to Orville Redenbacher the popcorn king to Phyllis George, recently crowned Miss America (and future wife of the owner of KFC, John Y. Brown, where she reappeared in our lives). My dad was the “father of the media tour,” so these luminaries were sent out on behalf of products, hoping to include a subtle brand mention in the course of their print and broadcast interviews. In fact, once on the Johnny Carson Show, our spokesman dropped a Wakefield Crab into the lap of the aforementioned host; while the crustacean scuttled away, Carson quipped that he had crabs.
How did Marjabelle come into our lives? Edelman was representing Ore-Ida Potatoes, a new easy to prepare side dish concept from HJ Heinz. Ms. Stewart had been quoted as saying that French fries could be a diner’s Waterloo; she generally suggested cutting them into bite-sized pieces. But with Ore-Ida, it was “all righta” to pick them up. So off Ms. Stewart went on tour, giving talk show hosts personal instruction on best ways to consume while maintaining propriety. My father mentioned Ms. Stewart one night at a family dinner, giving my mother the opportunity to train her little darlings for the big world that lay ahead of them.
Marjabelle did not disappoint. She flounced into the room, full of Midwestern charm, a big head of hair, heavily made up and ready to please. My mother had prepared the ideal meal designed to trap even the most fastidious, mannerly child, from green peas to corn on the cob to spareribs. The children were seated in the middle, with Marjabelle on one end, my mother on the other. As one eating horror after another was visited upon my outraged mother (my favorite—pushing the peas onto my fork with my knife—practical as always), Marjabelle maintained her calm, praising our efforts. Dinner concluded with Marjabelle opining that my parents had done a wonderful job of teaching us manners. As soon as she was out the door, my mother, hopping mad, said that would be the last spokesperson who dined at our home. The lesson for me—always be sure that the spokesperson understands the message! My condolences to Ms. Stewart’s family—she was one of a kind!
Posted by Edelman at 9:29 AM
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Good Morning Mr. Edelman,
I have enjoyed your blog for a long time and have never commented before. Besides your humorous anecdotes (ex. above), you always seem to have great insight.
So I thought that I would pose a question. We are always looking to expand our knowledge of Internet services for our clients. I was wondering if you knew of any online services that tracked past media coverage. I am trying to find something that is less expensive than traditional clipping services. Are there any companies that you trust in this regard? Thank you for any recommendations.
I look forward to your next post.
Respectfully,
Bill
Posted by: Bill Flavell at March 19, 2007 10:10 AM
I am enjoying your blog.
Recently I saw that you will be speaking in Atlanta next week for the PR Association. I immediately signed up to attend. As a body language expert, I was a national spokesperson for your campaign for Wrigley's Spearmint Gum in 2002. Based on your teams concept, I designed the Chew IQ test that correlated chewing behavior and the DISC personality style. The campaign was enormous fun. I hope to say hello to you at the luncheon next week.
Patti Wood
Posted by: Patti Wood at April 4, 2007 8:15 AM
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| TrackBackMarch 9, 2007
We Are Gaining Market Share
I just read Alan Gottesman’s excellent article in Ad Week on the employment statistics in the marketing communications sector for the past fifteen years. And the winner is... (drum roll) public relations. Disclosure—I have known Alan since the mid-80s when he was the advertising analyst at LF Rothschild, a boutique investment bank and see him around New York City’s Upper West Side where we both reside.
Gottesman describes the rise, fall and rebirth of the business over the past decade. The rise, from early 1994 to the historic peak in year 2000, was followed by a three year unwinding from 2001-3, with the bottom achieved in January, 2004. This trough was followed by a recovery that continues today.
Employment in the entire marcom sector is up 12% from the beginning of 2004 but remains slightly below the historic peak of year 2000.
Ad agency employment is up about 16% from the trough of January 2004 and is only 14% above the 1990 level.
PR agency employment “saw a much faster increase than advertising (in the 90s) and went through a steeper fall, but after the dust settled PR held on to much more of its growth than advertising did,” Gottesman said. He says that PR today has 44% more “body count” than in 1990. He added, “There is a significant shift away from mainstream advertising towards some of the other marcom disciplines.”
Our experience at Edelman reflects this macro trend. In the figures reported in O’Dwyer’s, we experienced significant growth in the past three years, with revenues up 36%.
I think there are four key factors driving this growth:
First, PR practitioners are at the decision makers’ table as equals with other communications brethren. PR is often the source of the big idea. We are providing counsel on strategic options, not only implementing media relations programs. As Mich Mathews, senior VP-central marketing group at Microsoft (Disclosure: Edelman client) recently stated at the 4A's Media Conference said "Microsoft's new emphasis on digital means it wants the 'creative, media and pr guys' in the room at the same time when crucial marketing decisions are being made."
Second, we are being engaged on assignments much earlier in the life cycle because PR is better able to establish a brands credibility . We establish the runway of trust so the advertising plane can take off.
Third, we are able to compete effectively in the world of dispersed media. We can work even more effectively in new media as we are accustomed to the dialogue and need for credible sources.
Fourth, we understand the movement toward a multiple stakeholder world, in which new voices such as NGOs or empowered employees are critical to building trust in a company or brand.
The work shown at the PR Week Awards Dinner yesterday evening demonstrated that as an industry we are taking advantage of our opportunity. We've moved from "below-the-line" to above the neck. Let’s keep it going!
Richard
Posted by Edelman at 5:15 PM
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| TrackBackMarch 6, 2007
Observations on Obama—Lessons for CEOs on Leadership?
Yesterday I attended a small gathering of business executives in New York City, where Senator Barack Obama told us why he is running for President of the United States. I will not write about his political views; there are others much better qualified to evaluate his platform. Nor will I endorse his candidacy. I’m simply interested in his personal style and the lessons it may provide for those of us in business. I think the favorable attention Obama has received from media, commentators and the general populus is--in part-- a result how he communicates in person, on stage, and on camera.
Senator Obama exudes calm and quiet confidence. He does not use overblown rhetoric. Nor does he gesticulate with his hands. He looks straight at his questioner, answering with serious purpose.
He knows who he is. He uses personal experiences to differentiate himself from the other candidates, in particular his time in Indonesia as a child, which gives him unique knowledge of the world. He talked about his visit to Selma, Alabama on Sunday and the impact of American slavery and inequality on the global scene, specifically about his grandfather who had been a “house boy” in Kenya until the country achieved independence in the mid Sixties.
He is candid on difficult issues, such as his endorsement of charter schools despite the opposition of the teachers’ union and support for higher CAFÉ standards on automobiles despite the UAW’s opposition.
He responds to questions about his relative political inexperience by providing well articulated positions on key issues (healthcare, energy, security), developed by a group of advisors with gravitas (Sam Nunn as example), though he clearly uses his own judgment and values as guiding lights on policy.
He has a central theme, which is that the country needs to believe again in a conception of common good to replace the politics of divisiveness. He dislikes wedge issues that slice and dice the electorate.
He is respectful of those who hold different views and come from very different backgrounds. He told a funny story about meeting avid hunters in the rural South, telling them that he was a city kid and never had gone hunting, but then asking them to tell him about it. He said that white evangelical pro-life voters are 55% positive about him, while 25% are negative.
The Edelman Trust Barometer shows that while business trust is rising, CEO's, as a class, aren't as highly trusted. Only 18% of opinion leaders in Europe’s three largest economies and 22% in the US trust CEOs. The lesson for CEOs might be that the right style for this decade is low-key, substantive, and respectful, with esteem earned by achievement of goals and articulation of purpose that inspires instead of intimidates. To me Obama is a good example of that approach. That is not to say that down the road he will not make mistakes but we can learn from that too.
Posted by Edelman at 11:18 AM
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It seems lately your posts have been focusing clearer and clearer on the need for restructuring. Obviously this process starts at the individual level. Personally I feel like in the past there have been attempts made (and failed) due to the fact that they don't affect the person, but the organization.
I read something that was written by Nussbaum of BusinessWeek taken from the World Economic Forum (you were at, I believe):
"...two things, at least, are clear. First, top managers of global corporations are convinced that innovation and creativity are critical to the future success of their companies. Second, to make that happen, a massive hunt for creative talent around the world is under way.
Creative people want to be part of a great, creative team and culture. Community is very important to them. Shaping and managing that organization is critical. Creative people need compelling problems they can feel passionate about. These are problems that can change markets, solve social ills, and build new product categories.
This kind of talent also needs to do other things, often outside the corporation. They need validation within their own peer group and often within a global set of like-minded people. And they often like to be personally branded -- identified with innovations. The grey corporate organization man/woman is gone."
Although the article was about IDEO's new stance on community and corporation, I feel like using this mentality brings a contemporary paradigm we should all follow as individuals, just as Obama has. The political, environmental, corporate, and all aspects of society which deal with trust (and society in general) could benefit from looking at things from a different. It's just a matter of correlating it together to see a larger picture and interrelating these problems that we are all affected by. Obama's clarity sets him apart-- especially in a world of so much noise.
Posted by: Erin Little at March 6, 2007 6:59 PM
I am fascinated by the need for restructuring…specifically moving from shareholder model to stakeholder concept with multiple constituencies (employees, consumers, regulators/elected officials, NGOs, investors) I believe that the best CEOs understand this new world, requiring listening, commitment to bigger societal issues and of course making profit. Thanks for reading my blog.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at March 7, 2007 10:28 AM
Richard,
Thought your Obama observations were excellent and right on target. Hope you are doing well and it's too bad our daughter's basketball careers are not intersecting this winter.
Posted by: Richard Fife at March 7, 2007 12:06 PM
Obama has a certain ineffable authenticity. He appears to operate from a solid foundation and core belief system. Even if you don't agree with him, you can trust him. Hillary suffers, maybe unfairly, from a perception that she's more political - more contrived. We know of Hillary, but we don't know Hillary. I think it's among her greatest stumbling blocks to the nomination. To compound matters, her pollsters/strategists are participating in too many interviews. Every time Mark Penn et al are quoted in the newspaper, it's a plus for Obama.
Posted by: Leo Bottary at March 12, 2007 1:04 PM
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| TrackBackMarch 2, 2007
Gordon Won the Battle of Jericho
During a lunch six months ago with Gordon Crovitz, publisher of the Wall Street Journal and Bill Grueskin, editor of the WSJ.com we discussed how that the walled garden approach of Dow Jones was limiting its utility as a web resource. Gordon and Bill have been busy changing the dynamic, so that today it is fair to say that they are taking down at least part of the walls surrounding the city (for those non Biblical types, Joshua won the Battle of Jericho by blowing his horn and the walls came tumbling down).
If you go to http://blogs.wsj.com, you will see links to nine blogs, including Law, Washington Wire, The Juggle (more on this later), Energy, Wealth, Marketbeat, Heard on the Runway (fashion), and Tax. The newest one, which launched yesterday, is the Deals blog by Dennis Berman at http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/. Coming to a theater near you in the next weeks is the Health Blog written by Scott Hensley. You will also see blogs on specific events, such as Davos or Fashion Week.
So your faithful PR guy had the unique experience of turning the tables on Messrs. Grueskin and Hensley, conducting interviews with them!
Here are highlights:
Grueskin said that the WSJ is focusing first on industry blogs, then lifestyle blogs. “This is a key medium for analyzing news. It can help us build and develop our audience. Specifically, we believe it can help to increase our subscription base. We also are selling ads. We also insist that we keep our very high standards on journalism.”
Grueskin added that the WSJ is being very liberal about linking to other sites and that all of its blogs are open to comments. “On the Juggle, our blog on work and family issues, one post on whether to wear a wedding ring to a job interview had 64 comments within a day.”
The top rated WSJ blog depends on events of the day or on story of the day, according to Grueskin. For example, when the market dropped precipitously earlier this week, the Marketbeat blog was most popular, when the Law column publishes salaries of associates it draws huge numbers and lots of comments. The Energy Round-up is consistently second or third most popular.
Hensley noted that the WSJ blogs are very interested in incorporating video content into their stories. “If a CEO is down here for an interview, we will have a video camera available to enhance the reader experience.” He noted that some of the blogs are written by long-time WSJ reporters (Berman as example) but that this format is also a way to develop new voices for the Journal such as Sara Schaefer Muñoz who writes the Juggle.
What are the implications for PR people? We have to think of stories that have web appeal—slightly less formal, more anecdotes, and more visual. We should consider the deadline for reporters as being throughout the day, as we move more to a wire service type of coverage with constant updates across platforms from blogs to WSJ.com to the print WSJ. We should also expand our sources of third party testimonial, from professors and MDs to include more consumer friendly experts from bloggers to man on the street who have a passionate interest in the category.
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Wall Street Journal, Blogs, Gordon Crovitz, Bill Grueskin
Posted by Edelman at 1:14 PM