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Reports are that China is shopping for a public relations firm to improve its image in the west. A little late for that. This is why PR people get a bad reputation. Once the damage has been done, it is so difficult to repair the organization’s image. China’s PR campaign needed to start last year, not once protesters try to extinguish the flame and world leaders threaten to boycott the summer Olympics.
How many PR firms are really going to want this job? You’ve got I client that has already stepped into it big time, they don’t think they’ve done anything wrong and – let’s face it- I don’t expect the Chinese leaders to be receptive to the idea of being told how to run their country for the sake of the Olympics. That’s one meeting I want in my office, not theirs.
This is a good lesson for corporate America. Get the PR folks to the table at the start of an idea or project. Too often PR is brought in to clean up the mess that was none of their doing. I am sure they wouldn’t have completely prevented the protests, but I have no doubt they could have set a much better tone in the court of popular opinion.
It’s great to have a crisis-management plan, but it’s even better not to have to use it. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” are truly words to live by when it comes to PR and your corporate reputation.
It is quite possible that Internet advertising has reached its saturation point. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that data from research group comScore Inc. indicates that the number of paid-clicks on Google’s search ads has declined for the second consecutive month. The consumer has become wise to advertising on the Web. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Google maintains that the decline reflects the company’s efforts to improve the quality of leads, that they have made it more difficult for Web surfers to accidentally click on ads. What a great spin! I agree that rather than curiosity clicks, the advertiser is getting more people who are truly interested in their product. However, I find it difficult to swallow that Google intentionally wanted fewer clicks. That’s how they make their money.
The spin to the story allows Google to charge more per click by assuming a more customers with fewer clicks. But has the actual number of customers increased? The number of customers can stay the same but because the curiosity clicks have declined, the percentage of customers to clicks would increase – that’s not more customers. If Google increases the per click cost, you are paying more for each actual customer.
Advertisers need to stay focused on the brass ring. Forget the number of clicks. How many actual customers are coming through the Internet ads and how much did each customer cost versus other advertising. Without knowing that, the number of clicks is really meaningless.
Did you watch Brittney Spears special appearance on “How I 
Met Your Mother?” The train wreck that many had hoped would happen, never did. Of course it didn’t. Welcome to prerecorded programming. Edit out the bad and do it again until it’s right. Gone are the days when actors forget their lines, miss their mark or the lights burn out in the middle of a performance.
Back in the Golden Age of Television, when Uncle Miltie ruled the airwaves, live television was the norm. The idea was to execute a flawless performance to entertain the audience, but 
because it was a live performance, anything could happen. Once videotape came along, shows could be more controlled by being taped in advance and re-taping if necessary to eliminate embarrassing mistakes. Then along came the blooper outtake specials followed by the various funniest home video programs. These shows were really the turning point that got us to where we are today on television. It didn’t take long before everyone in America was trying to videotape their family mistakes to earn some easy cash.
And now look what it has turned into. It shouldn’t be a surprise that YouTube and reality television shows have such a strong viewership. They all pander to the desire to see people embarrass themselves. Most people slow down to gawk at a car wreck, now you can watch one anytime you want. Try doing a search for Brittney on the web and you can bet most of what you will find is not very flattering.
Brittney’s appearance in the controlled environment of a traditional sitcom was finally a smart public relations move. No foibles to apologize for or to try to explain away. It was a flawless performance. She actually seemed normal. If you were disappointed, just wait for the outtakes.
