Cell phone customers inspire carriers to change

Via: The Social Customer Manifesto

In late July, New York Times Technology Columnist David Pogue began a customer-driven campaign, Take Back the Beep, to get cell phone carriers to get rid of their standard 15-second voicemail instructions. The instructions vary by carrier, but they usually tell you to leave a message after the tone, give you permission to hang up afterwards as if you didn’t know you could, and (for those still living in 1997) tell you to press 5 to page the person. But so what, it’s just 15 seconds, right?

Well, his point is two-fold: 1) the instructions are a waste of time since nowadays everyone knows what to do at the beep, and 2) those seconds cost us money, especially in the aggregate—according to Pogue, if each Verizon customer leaves just one voicemail message a day, the company rakes in $425 million a year!

So what did Pogue do? He seeded the campaign on his blog and provided readers with the links to where you can send or post your complaint directly to three major carriers. He has also provided regular updates here, here, here and here. From there, the movement has taken on a life of its own, thanks to dedicated, proactive cell phone customers and their relentless pleas.

As a result, each of the three big ones has had different reactions:

• AT&T has dropped the paging instructions, knocking their instructions down to just 8 seconds. A small step, yes, but they’ve been the first do take action.

• T-Mobile said, “this issue has our attention” and “these comments are being taken into consideration in our planning.”

• Verizon has not responded at all. Apparently they can’t hear us now.

Kudos to Sprint, the only big carrier who already allows you the option of turning off the voicemail instructions, for leading the pack. As the campaign goes on and customers continue complaining, we can only hope the other carriers will change and offer the same option.

The reason I love this story is because it’s a consumer-driven crusade. Rather than sit back and take the nickel and diming, people are taking action. I can’t wait to see what kind of change this consumer movement inspires among the big three in the near future.

Playing Catch-Up

I don’t know about you, but even though Daylight Savings Time might have given me an extra hour in the day, I need about two extra days in the week. There is a mad rush that comes with the holiday season, and since many retailers already have Christmas on full display, I have this weird time-is-running-out-hurry-now kinda feeling.

So trying to keep up with trends and other things cool have left me with a stack of news clips and bookmarked Web pages. I have the best of intentions on blogging on all. But the reality is there are not enough hours in the day! So, taking a page from one of my favorite blogs, Pop Candy, here are a few things that have caught my eye. Lemme know how you feel about any one of these items in the comments below. 

The Detroit Free Press is letting advertising drive their editorial content, and while I am all for creating a total marketing plan that leverages paid media with solid PR ideas to get non-paid media coverage, the former journalist in me still finds this practice questionable.

We all know the dangers of posting questionable images on social media sites like Facebook. Now the makers of Wisk laundry detergent have created a Facebook app that “scrubs” the objectionable photos from Facebook. The app launches this week and allows you to ID the photos you want removed and send a request to a “friend” who posted them and asks that they be deleted.

I am all for grassroots outreach, but what do you think of the ROI on this? Luke Ryan, 58, is a street musician in New York playing a few days a week in Grand Central Station. Now Ryan has a corporate sponsor: Axe Instinct, the leather-scented deodorant. Unilever has sought out 20 street musicians as a way to introduce their brand. While you might not want to pitch a few bucks in a musician’s guitar case, you have to give Unilever credit for encouraging better hygiene on New York’s subways…

Finally, anyone who works in retail might want to consider reading Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep On Buying No Matter What by Lee Eisenberg, formerly of Esquire. The book that hits Amazon today says that we marketers are so good at our jobs, customers find us irresistible. I’ll buy that!

When you can’t compete on budget, compete on creativity

I read about this crazy advertising adventure on Alex Bogusky’s blog: Two creative directors at Crispin Porter Bogusky came up with a simple idea for Brammo, a company that makes electric commuter motorcycles. They wanted to “give a Brammo to the President because he needed to know that America’s most energy efficient vehicle was being made in Oregon by a scrappy bunch of electric vehicle visionaries.” But they’re not just giving it to him with some fancy-shmancy, hand-shaking, flash-in-the-pan photo op. They’re giving this thing wheels.

As you read this, 1 of those CDs and Brammo’s lead engineer are on the road to personally deliver a Brammo to President Obama. They’re driving two of the powercycles from Detroit to D.C., the same journey the Big Three CEO’s first made in corporate jets. “We want to shock him with the fact that without any bailout money these enterprising and innovative dudes at Brammo have a homegrown solution for our country’s transportation crisis. And it’s not theory. It’s for sale.” Zing!

Because they have “zero advertising budget,” they’re accomplishing this feat for next to nothing. The 525-mile drive will only cost the two two-wheelers about $6 in electricity! And they won’t spend a dime on lodging since they’re using couchsurfing.org to find strangers along the route who will let them crash overnight and recharge their Brammos. Even if they did have a budget, the Goodwill price tag makes their point even more relevant, setting them miles apart from the negative public perception the Big Three earned after their trip to Washington.

To gain traction along the way, Brammo has a website following the two on their trek, ShockingBarack.com. It has live GPS tracking (at the time of this post, they’re 82 miles from D.C.), an on-the-road blog, and ways for fans to lend their support to the cause, the most important of which is “Help us meet the President.” That’s right, they don’t even know if Obama will see them when they arrive. That’s how crazy this idea is.

But that’s what kind of brand Brammo is—adventurous, passionate and risky. The whole fiasco is infused with the “spirit, fun and approachability” these bikes were designed for. And when you don’t have the millions to crank out some national TV spot (even if it’s terrible), you have to make a big idea big in more creative ways. It could only be better if Brammo made a sidecar and the two were road-tripping in it, because those are always funny.

Ride on, Brammo, ride on.

This is how you make a message concrete

In this gripping spot from Stand Up To Cancer, Meryl Streep is phenomenal. But it wasn’t her award-winning acting that drew me in. It was the concrete messaging.

After the lackluster and overdone opening, Streep references Eddie Cantor’s 1938 radio campaign that coined the March of Dimes and asked Americans to donate 10¢ toward the cause of finding a cure for the cancer of those days, polio. Okay…now she’s telling me something I didn’t know…this is getting better. Then, she knocks my socks off.

“Nobody knows whose dime put the effort over the top and made the vaccines that stopped polio possible, but somebody did,” Streep says. Wow. What a concrete way to think about it. I tend to think of fundraising as a group effort, and clearly it is, but the truth remains that one person’s little dime had an enormous effect. Pretty nuts, huh?

Next, Meryl brings it back to cancer: “We don’t know who will donate the crucial dollar that finally makes it possible to end cancer. Maybe it’s you.” Man, now she’s talking directly to me, and still in concrete terms—one dollar.

On the website, SU2C makes their ask even more concrete. They ask, “What would you give up to help end cancer in our lifetime?” then remind you that your $5 donation equals something as simple as a latte. A beer. Two gallons of gas. Makes it pretty hard to say no when you put it that way, Meryl.

Being the word nerd I am, I’m a huge advocate of putting things in concrete terms. It makes a message more believable: “Save $10” vs. “Save money!” It makes a message more compelling: “Feed 1 child” versus “Feed the children.” And, in this case, it makes the message more inspiring to act upon: “A latte” vs. “Your $5.” See the difference?

I can only find two problems with SU2C’s messaging. First, it’s inconsistent that Meryl talks about one dollar and the site and widget ask for five. And, I really wish the widget included that list of $5 equivalents (latte, etc.). Those are so money.

I heard somewhere that those children-in-need TV commercials saw a huge increase in donations once they changed their spots to focus on a single (concrete) child, rather than the (vague) millions in need. Stand Up To Cancer has taken a similar approach, and it makes their plea so much more inspiring. So how can you make your messaging more concrete? And, what would you give up to help end cancer in our lifetime? I know I can spare one beer.

The REST of the Story

I am a news junkie. It was worse when I actually WORKED in news. Many years later, my co-workers now have accepted that I will randomly email or clip something of relevance and leave it on their desk or in their email. My husband accepts that I subscribe to a ridiculous amount of daily newspapers and magazines. The tearing noise as I read and rip things of interest no longer bothers him—or at least there’s no more color commentary …

I will say that it comes in handy as fodder for this blog.

Over the past few weeks, I have stumbled across a series of stories that are follow-ups to topics I have already blogged on the past few months. So, here’s a follow up on the REST of the story…

Back in April, I wrote about Disney’s cultural anthropologists and their effort to hook an audience of boys 8-14 like they have their princess peers. The mega-studio hasn’t had a hit since Cars. Well, when it doubt, re-release. The Wall Street Journal reported the good old double feature returns this fall with the re-release of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 with the hopes of re-igniting the popularity of Woody, Buzz and Jessie among other classic toys just in time for the holiday gift season. Oh yeah, they’re also teeing up the release of Toy Story 3 in summer of 2010.

That will buy Disney some time to get a few of the Marvel properties kicked into high gear. Disney bought Marvel and its male-dominated portfolio of more than 5,000 characters for a cool $4 billion in August.

I also blogged about PPMs, or Portable People Meters, which are radio ratings devices that truly track an audience’s likes and dislikes. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ryan Seacrest is being told to talk less (GASP!) and play more music as a result of the change. Seacrest dislikes the device so much, he called a competing radio station to whine about it.

In another posting called “Vampires Don’t Suck,” I fessed up that I am an adult fan of the teen book series the Twilight Saga. Rumors that the second installment of the series, New Moon, is a complete sellout for the first showing on November 2oth is only slightly true. More than 50 shows are sold out with more expected as the countdown continues for Twi-hards everywhere. Incidentally, the Vampire Diaries on CW launched with the largest ratings ever for the network: 4.91 million viewers in the 18-34 demo and a healthy 3.1 rating.

Finally, Netflix and their cool CEO, Reed Hastings, have awarded their $1 million prize for collaborative crowd-sourcing code to BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos for helping better define how the movie rental service can make suggestions to members on movies they like based on movies they have already rented. Monday, the company announced a new contest where crowd-sourcing brainiacs from across the world will partner to compete for two $500,000 prizes to help create “taste profiles” using behavioral AND demographic behavior of customers. Let the games begin!

When did it become “Better Sorry than Safe?”

I’m sure there are others, but my short-term memory is not what it used to be, so bear with me while I will recall the ones who are top of mind. Let’s see, first there was South Carolina Governor Mike Sanford. He was sorry. Then there was New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Well, he was also sorry. Oh, can’t forget Vice Presidential Candidate and Senator John Edwards. I think he was sorry. Chris Brown was sorry and saddened by his action. Serena Williams, although not immediately sorry, was ultimately sorry within at least 48 hours. Kanye West, well, he’s sincerely sorry.

With the current string of athletes, musicians and elected officials who do stupid and unconscionable things, then get caught and come out (not necessarily right away) and say, “Gosh, I’m really sorry,” do we really buy it? Does it really make everything okay? In my opinion, no, it doesn’t. I just don’t buy it anymore, and frankly, I’m getting tired of people getting caught doing something they shouldn’t and insincerely saying they are sorry. We all know that if they hadn’t gotten caught, they would still be doing what they are not supposed to be doing.

As a public relations professional, I know we counsel our clients to be empathetic to their publics and own up to their mistakes when it’s appropriate. When “I’m sorry” needs to be part of the message, I want my clients to mean it and be humbled by it. I stand behind the apologetic counsel and I do believe it’s important for people (or corporations) to own up to mistakes and try to move on. I’m proud when our clients come by their apologies honestly.

But what makes one person’s apology appear more sincere than another’s? In my book, the number one way to be viewed as genuine is to address the situation head-on and immediately. Do not take a day or two to think about it and then say, oh yeah…I’m sorry. This is the case with Serena Williams. Immediately after the match, she was asked point blank whether she should apologize. She hummed and hawed, and I think maybe even offered an eye roll or two, but she certainly did not give an apology – that came 48 hours after the incident. I also think credibility of the individual or organization and the circumstance surrounding the incident is critical. After many obnoxious antics, and after being seen taking swigs from an almost-empty bottle of alcohol, Kanye West was just not very credible.

I want to hear from you, my fellow public relations professionals, is anyone else out there fed up with this long list of celebrities and elected officials who are just using the words “I’m sorry” because their publicist is telling them they have to? How are you counseling your clients when it comes to apologizing, and having their publics believe it?

Tempted to Pull the Plug on Facebook? Here’s why you should think twice.

When I recently came across a blog post by fellow PR pro Joanna Lund talking about her decision to deactivate her Facebook account, it spurred me to wonder, could I ever unplug myself from Facebook? And, more importantly, would I even want to?

Surprisingly in this age of digital conversations, Joanna is not alone. I know of at least two other colleagues who also made the decision to quit Facebook, feeling that it detracted from their family life and personal relationships. However, after a short span of time, both have since returned, and for my part, I’m glad.

‘Cause I’ve got news to share!

Unlike others who’ve decided to unplug from Facebook, I don’t see it as having a polarizing effect on my relationships. Instead, I see it as being beneficial to maintaining them. Without this tool, I otherwise would have lost complete contact with a whole host of friends as they changed jobs, moved to different cities, explored different career paths and focused more on family. And yes, while I too value face-to-face conversations, at the same time I know that it’s not always possible. The demands of family, work and life will always be constant factors for both my friends and me. Much as I would like to think that every bit of news I have to share warrants a phone call, the simple truth is that not everything does. Facebook enables friends to share their life updates in an unobtrusive manner. Updates will be there, waiting, when friends are ready for interaction on their terms.

Using it to get the job done

I’ll also admit that any thought of walking away from Facebook is quickly squelched when I look at it from a professional angle. I’ve posted before on how I’ve come to rely on Facebook as a tool to getting my job in PR done. On it, I network with clients, media reporters and other PR/Social Media pros. I’ve used it to develop story ideas, find business leads, ID vendors, keep up with industry news via the fan pages I follow like Mashable and Techcrunch, and fill open job positions. I’ve also carried connections with people into my Facebook, which first began on Twitter, LinkedIn, and this blog, to further deepen the conversation. Used this way, it plays a key part in my role as a communicator. Compare this with the use of email. Many argue that it too has also made communication impersonal, and while that may be the case, could we see ourselves stop using it?

Then I have to look at it from the client side. As a communications pro, I counsel clients on the use of Facebook as a non-traditional tool that can be used to enhance their brand and improve communication with their customers. Why then, if I can’t demonstrate its value through my own use, would they want to sign on? As a service provider, you have to drink the same lemonade you’re selling.

So short of pulling out the pom-poms to drive home the value I derive from Facebook, I’ll open it up for feedback. Tell me; have you’ve been tempted to pull the plug on your Facebook page?

Photo courtesy of When I was a bird via Flickr

Remember the Young Professionals

San Antonio has been shaped by truly visionary business and political leaders. I love to hear their stories and read about the challenges they overcame to do things like build the River Walk or turn the Dallas Chaparrals into the San Antonio Spurs. Did you know it took more than 20 years to plan and build US 281? 20 years. That must have been one heck of a ribbon cutting. Nothing came easy to the generations of men and women who helped build the San Antonio we know today. Our city had long suffered from an inferiority complex that kept it from competing on a statewide – let alone national or international – stage.  There was a choice to make.  Accept our limitations and just settle for being an average city, or develop our strengths and tackle the weaknesses that would otherwise continue to hold us back.  Fortunately for us, San Antonians of the past have always chosen the latter.

I recently attended a panel discussion on the subject of economic development in San Antonio, featuring local business owners, educators and economic development professionals.  They all agreed one challenge we continue to face as a city is that young people – and in particular young, single people – don’t want to live here.  I wasn’t surprised; I’ve heard it a thousand times before. This assumption is so widely accepted in this city that I would swear it was etched in stone above the Alamo. Every time I hear it I think to myself… Really? I’m a young professional and I like living here. I even have a lot of young professional friends, and they all seem to enjoy living in San Antonio, too. Has anyone actually asked the legions of young professionals who now call San Antonio home whether they enjoy living here? Or does the business establishment continue to assume that, when it comes to the desirability of our city for young people, the San Antonio of 2009 is the same San Antonio that existed in 1989? I have news – it’s better. And I implore those business people whose responsibility it is to recruit new, young talent to San Antonio (who, I acknowledge may have a less than favorable impression of our city), to please have them call my friends or me before just blithely accepting the fact that you’ll have to find them a spot in your Austin office.

That’s one point, my second is this. If we’re all in agreement that having a thriving source of young, educated talent is important for economic development, then let’s make this, and market it as, a city where young people want to live! In the 1960’s we decided we wanted to be a tourist destination, and we made it so. Why do we not approach this challenge with the same resolve?

Ending the recess on school recess

Let’s play a little word association today. Tag. Hopscotch. Jacks. Four-square. Red Rover. If you guessed “recess”, you’re likely in my generation. Over the past decade, more and more schools have eschewed recess for additional time to spend on math, science and other more scholarly pursuits.

According to a study conducted by the Center on Education Policy, an advocacy group based in Washington DC, 20% of school districts across the country reduced or eliminated recess due to budget cuts and/or pressure to achieve academic benchmarks, such as those established by the No Child Left Behind act.

A small group of Boston-area schools are bucking that trend, though, and putting an emphasis back on daily recess and structured physical activity. In the September 8, 2009 issue of the Boston Globe, reporter James Vaznis holds up the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton, Massachusetts as an example of a school returning to its recess roots.

Writes Vaznis, “The elementary school has hired a coach to organize activities for its approximately 150 students, who now play kickball, tag, or capture the flag. Sometimes, they twirl a Hula-Hoop or take part in other games.” In my day, recess was a free-for-all of running, climbing and the occasional structured game, loosely supervised by classroom teachers. We didn’t need a coach to structure it for us. But reclaiming recess must require baby steps.

Vaznis goes on to write, “…elementary schools are organizing activities to help curb childhood obesity, reduce discipline problems on the playground, and teach a generation of children how to have fun without relying on iPods, computers, and cell phones.”

Hmm. Using recess to battle childhood obesity makes sense. Perhaps recess can battle adult obesity, too. I think that once homework is done tonight, we’ll skip Nickelodeon and head out to the yard for some family recess. I can hear it now…”Red rover, red rover, let Mama come over…”

Kim Kardashian – The new face of Public Relations…REALLY?

I have to admit that I am a reality show junkie. Rock of Love. Hulk Hogan family drama. Charm School. The Bachelorette. Flavor Flav. I am working to wean myself off reality shows, but hey, it’s mindless TV, right? Reality shows provide an escape to what can be stressful days in my crazy world of public relations and public affairs…(insert sound effects of screeching car grinding to a halt)…until now that is.

Are there any true public relations professionals out there reacting to the news that Kim Kardashian is creating a new reality show about public relations? I mean, really? Not to get on my high and mighty soap box, or to be a PR snob, but I feel strongly that the public relations industry does not need to be represented, or shall I say misrepresented, by celebrities. Celebrity public relations, in my humble opinion, is NOT real public relations.

I believe that the public relations industry has always battled with its reputation. We constantly struggle with terms like “spin doctors” or “flacks.” There’s also my ultimate pet peeve; when I interview possible candidates and ask them why they’re interested in public relations, they inevitably answer…“because I’m good with people.” Again, really?!

I don’t have anything against Kim Kardashian or the public relations people who work for celebrity firms. I do have a problem with a reality show portraying the non-realities of the public relations industry – especially to those young viewers who may mistake “reality shows” for, well, reality. I want future public relations professionals to understand what public relations is all about, and that it’s more than red carpets, parties, paparazzi and what people are wearing. Case in point, in recent interviews with potential interns, we not only got the “I’m good with people” answer when asked why they wanted to be in public relations, but we also got questions asking about how often we coordinate “events and stuff.” Really?

Public relations is a serious craft, and I take great offense to those who think public relations is only about balloons, parties and being good with people. I can go on and on about what public relations is, but I’ll spare you the details and just provide some highlights about my thoughts on the subject. It’s about taking on serious issues that inspire change and motivate people to take positive action. It’s influencing and engaging people in conversation about health care, education, technology, and quality-of-life issues. It’s about being a strong writer and having a command of the English language. It’s being strategic. It’s having a deep understanding of the world around you, and having the passion to affect positive change through the public relations profession.

I can also go on and on about what it’s not, but I won’t. I’ll just leave that to the thought-provoking words of Kim Kardashian as she comments on her new series: “It’s going to be fun.” I rest my case.

Ok fellow PR peeps. I ask you, do you think celebrity public relations is real public relations?