Friday 17 December 2010

Spreading the love on TV screens near you

Sitting in an American airport lounge waiting for my flight, I was drawn to the TV set by some breaking news that Delta and Northwest Airlines were to merge.   The announcement was a big moment for both companies and was being headlined on CNN.    It struck me that in places like airline lounges a great deal of news is consumed on giant TVs with the sound turned low.    So the strap the news channel writes is the first and lasting (and possibly only) impression many viewers will get of your story.  Some, like me, will be drawn closer to the screen to hear more.  Others will park the information in their minds.   But what do you do if the strap is not to your liking?  Answer: unless it is factually inaccurate - nothing.   The straps are not usually written by the reporters, but the production desk of the news channel.  If the strap is inaccurate, you should always challenge it quickly.   But ringing to say you don't like their "take" on the story, unless it is manifestly unfair, is pointless and won't win you credit.

In this case, full marks to the Delta/NorthWest merger press team.   With a nod to Delta's cheesy but fun Spreading the Love ad campaign CNN wrote the strap SPREADING THE CHEAP AIR FARES LOVE.    It brought me to the screen and I doubt that the airlines were unhappy with the summary.  If it was the only thing you saw of the story, it did the trick.

Monday 22 November 2010

Santa Eugenio is coming to town!

Off topic, but it's coming up to Christmas, so why not?   I've just received details of the pretty enticing Christmas hospitality on offer at the Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hotel in Hong Kong.  The Intercon Grand Stanford has a thing about food.   But how about popping in for a special Christmas meal, prepared by the wonderfully named Santa Eugenio?   Pop over to Hong Kong and have Christmas dinner with Santa.  See above for what Santa has in store for you this Christmas.

Friday 17 September 2010

Chef Leung's Tastebook page

 
 
Tina di Cicco, the inestimable Director of Communications at the Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hotel Hong Hotel, was thinking one day about Chef Leung Fai Hung.   
 
His restaurant at the hotel, Hoi King Heen, is well-known amongst foodies for its upscale Cantonese cuisine, of which he is a Master.   Tina wanted to bring Chef Leung to a wider audience.  
 
A simple idea - create a Facebook page for Chef Leung (which he writes) - turned into something more when a local journalist colleague of Tina's decided to create an event and invite fellow fans to join together at the restaurant one evening.  The idea snowballed and more than 60 came, including many journalists, filling the Hoi King Heen full of people who didn't know each other, but whose common bond was the love of great Cantonese food.
 
What's more, they paid their own bill.  Is this the first press facility in history organised and funded entirely by the media themselves?
 
They've become Chef Leung's Facebook friends.  He posts pictures, gets feedback and alludes to secret ingredients.  They continue to make pilgrimages to the Master.
 
Tina's now in Singapore and you can catch her presentations on using social media at conferences in Asia-Pacific.   Tina keeps it simple, keeps it creative and looks for the impact on revenue!   She is prima bloggerina assoluta.
 
 

Monday 13 September 2010

If you're sad, please tell your face

I spoke recently at a conference of PR Directors in Singapore, where delegates discussed the aftermath of the bus hijacking in Manila in which eight Hong Kong tourists died.

Rather than the management of the hijack itself, which received blanket criticism in the media and in diplomatic circles, the feature of the crisis that was uppermost in the delegates minds was the demeanour of the President of the Phillipines, Benigno Aquino, who appeared to smile while making a grave statement in response to the tragedy . If you look at the discussion below the video clip, it's all focussed on the President's facial expression and why he smiled. It may have been nervousness, but it led to the smile being a negative focus of attention and not what was intended as a sombre message of tough action by the Phillipines Government.

Delegates compared his performance with that of the Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang, whose grave delivery and measured words commanded respect.  He described the incident as "disappointing" - an understatement almost certainly designed to avoid raising tension in Hong Kong, where there was growing public anger and where large numbers of Phillipine citizens live and work.

There were two lessons from the discussion: firstly that facial expression, demeanour, posture and general appearance will define how your words are judged. Secondly, you need to train and prepare for such a moment.

Friday 10 September 2010

Yes we can

PR survives or falls on ideas.

Winston Churchill said: "All the great things are simple, and many be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honour, duty, mercy, hope."

Ideas alone, of course, need to be accompanied by judgement and expert delivery to succeed.  

I meet a lot of people in my job who have learned through tough experience and I want to blog about their ideas and opinions on managing reputations and handling a crisis.

I'm making this a no-bitching zone though.   Who learns anything from the piling-in that happens in the PR industry when things go wrong?