Deconstructing the Oprah Factor

May 25, 2011 Leave a comment

The Oprah Winfrey Show exits on May 25, 2011 as one of the longest-running daytime television talk shows in the United States.  It has run nationally since September 8, 1986, for over 24 seasons and over 5,000 episodes.   It has indeed been a one-of-a-kind phenomena.

I’ve been in PR for over two decades; before that I was a journalist and a magazine editor and I’ve never seen anything like the Oprah effect.  The impact she’s had on popular culture is ubiquitous.  There is the obvious; Oprah’s TV show redefined daytime TV.  The reach and scope of her show was unrivaled.  From the PR perspective appearing on Oprah was like winning the Triple Crown and the Super bowl (not an easy task) she was indeed the crown jewel in the media relations world.

Can you place me on Oprah? was the one constant request every new client and prospective client had.  Perhaps the most interesting part was that every client was completely convinced he or she was perfect for the show.  As I was repeatedly told “Oprah will thank you for pitching this idea”.  Although we did place clients on Oprah, strangely enough her producers did not jump at every pitch as clients repeatedly assured me they would.

Although her show initially followed the Phil Donahue formula, she eventually shifted her approach focusing on more positive can-do, new age and spiritual topics.  Her show was a mix of celebrity interviews, self improvement segments, book club and favorite things segments.  Although generally a media darling, Oprah was criticized for frequently airing shows that were viewed by many as hour-long daytime infomercials. Her promotion of books belonging to her book club was also criticized.

Oprah became perhaps the brightest pop culture star in the U.S., but (and perhaps even more importantly) she became a verifiable star marker.  From Gail King and Dr. Phil, to Dr. Oz and, Nate Berkus, Oprah launched careers.  Yet her impact was far wider than those personalities that she personally helped launch; authors, fitness gurus and New Age sages owe their success to appearances on her show.  Oprah became the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on steroids.  If she touched it or recommended it, it sold; she created stars, trends and other media celebrities.

Where she goes from here will be interesting to watch.  It will be difficult for her to keep the type of power she has for two decades without her daytime show.  A network is an ambitious undertaking, but difficult to launch.  Her viewership drops precipitously as she moves from the high visibility of a major network to the myriad channels of cable.  Still, in the past she’s succeeded where others have failed.  She helped shape pop culture unlike any other individual we’ve ever seen.  She is not a person to bet against. With her TV show, magazine, and now her OWN network, Oprah has impacted the culture in a unique way.  She is no longer the ruling monarch of daytime TV, but she could still have other surprises in store… to be continued.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Surprise! The Donald is Not Running: The Bad PR Trump Card

May 17, 2011 Leave a comment

News flash!  Donald Trump is not running for president in 2012.  NBC pushed Trump to make a decision and reality TV won out over president of theUnited States.  It was a month of bad timing all the way around for the Donald.  First, he positioned himself as leading the birther campaign charge, which wasn’t the best PR move in the world; then President Obama goes and ruins the birther media frenzy by first releasing the long form of his birth certificate and second, finding and killing the most wanted terrorist in the world, Osama bin Laden.

If Donald Trump seriously did decide to run for president in 2012, he had more than hurt any chances of being taken as a true contender, but few believed that was really his intention.  As he certainly seemed to prove with his decision, media exposure was his ultimate aim.  Even before the birther fiasco, there have always been more potential minefields out there for Trump than for most candidates.  He is now a Republican, but in the past he has been both a Democrat and a member of the Reform Party; in a book he wrote in 2000 he praisedCanada’s single payer health-care system.  Not a stance that would give him much traction in the GOP.  His affiliation with the Miss USA Contest would have most likely raised some Tea Party eyebrows and who knows what reporters and political opponents could have unearthed when digging into his casino and real estate dealings.

Did Trump seriously want to open himself up to such scrutiny?  I doubt it, But he did find a way to keep himself and his TV show in the media, positioning himself as a may-be residential contender was certainly one way to keep himself in the spotlight.  The real story is that regardless how big of a non-story he is, the media runs when he beckons.

Trump has been here before and this approach has served him well. It certainly helps his TV ratings, feeds his need of the spotlight and keeps him in the entertainment, financial and political outlets.  But Trump made a poor media bet when he chose to take up the mantle of the birther movement. 

Trump challenged President Obama’s place of birth on the “Today” show and on CNN’s “State of the Union,” despite the overwhelming evidence that the president was born in theUSA.   Trump talked about the issue in interview after interview and reportedly met with anArizonastate lawmaker sponsoring a so-called “birther” bill.

“The reasonIhave a little doubt, just a little, is because he grew up and nobody knew him,” Trump said on “Good Morning America.”  Palin praised Trump’s questions, although she stated the she doesn’t think the end result will show that Obama was not born in theUnited States.

Whereas jumping on the birther bandwagon offered Trump quite a bit of media coverage, it was a poor PR choice. It’s true that the hardcore birthers and others of that ilk embraced him, but that stance marginalized him in the mainstream.  By pandering to that segment of society, Donald Trump once again positioned himself more as a reality show host than a serious presidential contender, which in fact is what he is. 

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Media, obama, Politics, publicity, Reality Tv Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Obama’s “Birther” PR Mistake

April 28, 2011 Leave a comment

Orly Taitz will earn a brief footnote in history as the “Birther” movement leader.  She was at the forefront of a movement of Birthers who doubt that the president’s birth place was the United States. She famously took the issue to a California court to find out if Obama was U.S. citizen and to hold a special presidential election if he wasn’t.  Since then the movement and the intensity of volume has increased.  Donald Trump took up the issue and found yet another way to get the mainstream media to interview him.

This red herring would serve as the comic relief in a play.  Trouble is that all of the players have taken it seriously and it went from a side note to a major plot point.  It is understandable that those in the Obama camp would think enough is enough; they’re going to release the long-form of the birth certificate and put an end to this foolishness.  The flaw in that logic is that there is absolutely no logic behind the Birther movement and it is not a movement in search of logic or facts.

If there was video that showed President Obama being born and that video was released to the media, it wouldn’t matter a bit.  The Birther movement revolves around accusations and diversions and you do not (and more importantly you cannot) battle that type of attack, at least via the media, with facts.  This is akin to a religious cult; you are not going to weaken their faith with something as cumbersome as reality.  This is also a politically motivated buzz.  It is a dangerous game.  Push it too far and the American middle ground is going to tire of the noise and relegate Birthers to the status of reality stars.  America loves to watch and listen to reality stars, but no one takes them seriously.

Obama’s strategic PR mistake was that he in fact did begin to take them too seriously.  He then took them on with proof and details.  A losing game: not unlike trying to put out fire with gasoline.  He hurled the long-form birth certificate at them.  He went at them with facts.  Wrong move.  It now looks as though he feels he needs to prove himself, or defend his voracity.  It would get annoying as hell to hear those charges made day after day and listen to the silence of the Republican leadership, but that’s politics.  Hey the longer his rivals focus on his birth certificate the less the focus is on high gas prices and a struggling economy.   My advice would be to hold course and let them wail.  That’s not a bad trade off.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Media, Politics, Public Relations, traditional media, TV Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Preparing for A Media Interview

April 22, 2011 Leave a comment

Don’t launch your public relations outreach until you’ve had some media training and have prepared yourself to handle media interviews.  If you’re going to go through the work of launching a PR campaign, you owe it to yourself and your business to be prepared to fully maximize your media opportunities.  Whether it’s a TV, print or radio, interview, don’t assume you can just wing it and hit a media home-run.  Keep in mind a media interview is not a conversation; it is the meeting of two agendas.  The interviewer has his or her agenda and you have yours.  You want to review the various questions that could be asked and prepare your responses.  With that in mind, the following are some interview tips to review before.

  1. Listen. Don’t anticipate questions. Don’t think that you know what the interviewer is asking. Wait until the question is asked and then respond.
  2. If you get momentarily confused, or lose your train of thought, that’s okay. It happens to everyone. Take a deep breath and start again.
  3. It’s all right to ask the interviewer to repeat a question. The last thing you want to do is give an answer to a question you don’t fully understand.
  4. Don’t be vague or use trade jargon. Speak in easy-to-understand language.
  5. Show the audience what you’re talking about. Use a story or an account that illustrates a point, as opposed to just giving them vague ideas or theories.
  6. Keep your information short, concise, and to the point. Keep it easy to understand.
  7. When trying to make a particular point, be assertive but not pushy.
  8. If having clients visit your store is pertinent to your business, mention your location. The viewers may love you, but if they can’t find you, you’re in trouble. Don’t simply blurt out your address, but weave your location into the conversation.

Remember, prepare, anticipate and practice.  Invest in some media training,  Relax. Don’t rush things. You are there to have a conversation. Well, at least you want it to look like a conversation.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under interview, Media Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Effectively Communicate With The Media

April 1, 2011 1 Comment

The first order of business when beginning a PR Campaign is to figure out your stories.  Study the media and what kinds of stories they cover especially when it is a specific topic in which they interview an expert in that field to bring more credibility to the story.  For example, if the media is discussing a top athlete’s recent injury and they need a doctor or pain specialist to comment on this, you could be that doctor.  Notice which outlets discuss topics that are in your area of expertise.  Once you have an idea of the media you want to pitch, and some stories you’re ready to pitch, you can begin to take the following steps:

1.  Write a press release.  A one pager that shows your knowledge about the topic with a catchy, useful angle for the media.

2.  Build a media list.  This can be tricky if you don’t have access to a database.  Here are some databases to check out:

Cision

BurrellesLuce

3.  Once you have a list of contacts, begin narrowing them down.  Write a paragraph with a pitch about your story and attach the press release. Send it out!

4.  Then begin Follow-up calls. Check out other posts  and information on how to follow-up with the media here …The PR Follow-Up Etiquette

Some helpful tips when pitching:

How many people do you know that react well to hard sales techniques? Although hard sells might initially get people to react to them, they’re certainly not the way to forge a long term working relationship.  In fact if you approach people with the used car salesman approach, chances are good, that they’re going to do their best to avoid you.  The media is no different. When pitching the press, trying to hard sell your story is not the way to go.  Remember, you are trying to position yourself as a media resource. You want the media to understand that you’re on their side; and that you can help them meet their needs by giving them interesting stories . One way you are definitely not going to make your story seem appealing to a newspaper editor or TV producer by trying to push, or sell or bully a producer or editor to run a story.

This doesn’t mean you don’t try to get the best media coverage you can.  If your story is hot or timely, and various media outlets are pursuing you, by all means, use that interest to your advantage. Inform the media outlets that there are others interested and that you need to make a decision as soon as possible. Try to negotiate the best coverage you can. But, even when you have piqued the media’s interest, you never want to steamroller the media in order to land a story.

Always keep in mind that you and the media are both on the same side.  Let the media know that you have an interesting story that meets their needs and that you are an expert in the field.  Be persistent but not pushy; eventually the media will feature you. You can always threaten, scream, cry, and badger the media, but all you are going to do is alienate them. Plenty of people do these things every day, but those aren’t the people you see featured in the media. Work with them, come up with interesting stories; position yourself as an ally.  Become a part of the media’s team and they’ll work with you.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011


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John Jacobson & the Double Dream Hands YouTube/ Social Media Phenomena

March 16, 2011 Leave a comment

The video has touched a chord with children and adults worldwide and John receives emails from all parts of the globe praising the song and choreography. John recently walked into a classroom in Mali, Africa, whereupon recognizing him, the children spontaneously burst into Double Dream Hands.  On January 26, 2011, John was featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The episode celebrated Ellen’s birthday and as a present, her staff joined John in performing the Double Dream Hands dance.  Upcoming television appearances include a VH1 special on viral videos to air on March 20.  The video has now spawned an industry.

A Double Dream Hands iPhone application is now available for purchase at Apple’s iTunes store. Fans can upload a picture of themselves (or a picture of their friends, parents, grandparents, favourite celebrities, etc.) doing the DDH dance, wearing John’s famous yellow polo and sporting blond hair!

The popularity of Double Dream Hands has given John a broader voice and he is proud to present his new book Double Dreams: Living a Life of Glee, Harmony and, Oh Yes… Jazz Hands!, which will be available at the end of May on Amazon.com and in bookstores. The book is a collection of heart-warming stories about kids, music, and dance.

John’s family fitness DVD Double Dream Hands: Songs for Fun and Fitness will be available in May. The DVD features a 30-minute workout for the whole family. The childhood obesity epidemic in America has long been a concern of John’s and he hopes to help alleviate the problem with Double Dream Hands: Songs for Fun and Fitness.

For many years, John has been collaborating with the Hal Leonard Corporation, the world’s largest music print publisher.  John has been a freelance music teacher, writer, composer, and choreographer for over 25 years.  He is a passionate advocate of arts education, child fitness, and community service.  John is also the founder and volunteer president of America Sings! Inc., a non-profit organization that encourages young performers to use their time and talents for community service.  Hal Leonard has published John Jacobson’s Music Express Magazine for 11 years.  The magazine, published six times a year, has over 10,000 subscribers.  It contains original songs, dance choreographies, and lesson plans for music teachers.  Double Dream Hands began as a choreography video from the Music Express magazine site.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Marketing, Media, social media, Talk Shows, TV, youtube Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Broadening your PR and Media Bulls-eye

March 15, 2011 Leave a comment

The best way to launch a successful media campaign is to give the press options.  You have a story that you want to tell through the media.  Chances are you have one or two main angles or story ideas that you want covered.  Those are where your focus lies, they are your primary objectives.  But what if you were to broaden your scope a bit? Let’s say you own a cosmetic company. Your primary pitches to the media have to do with your products, your latest line of color cosmetics.  Great.  But what if you also pitched a story on how inner beauty can enhance outer beauty?  You could come up with a pitch on the top four ways to boost your inner beauty.  Not exactly the angle you want?  Maybe.  But what if that lead to more media coverage which gave you more opportunities to mention your new beauty line?

We all have different expressions, different moods, and different topics we enjoy discussing. None of us have one-note personalities, but so many people try to launch one-note media campaigns.  This doesn’t mean you don’t pitch your main ideas, but that you expand them, come up with new angles, think beyond the obvious. Remember, your job is to meet the media’s needs. Broaden your scope. Come up with other ways to pitch your story. You’ll be able to talk about your story, but not until you interest the media.  And to do that, sometimes you have to use the indirect or back door approach.

If you are a landscaper, you may have to pitch a story that has you critique the pros and cons of the White House grounds. That’s not the story you probably particularly want to address. You want to tell people that you are a wonderful landscaper and that they should hire you, but there’s no story there. By talking about the White House grounds, you have added another dimension. You have raised the stakes. You’re not just discussing how to landscape Joe Blow’s home, you’re outlining how to best landscape the First Family’s home. These are grounds that everyone has seen (at least in photos or TV) and can relate to.  More importantly, you are establishing yourself as an expert in your field.

Be open to new ideas, brainstorm.  Come up with as many ideas as you can.  Let them be as crazy as you want – don’t edit yourself.  Now review your list and start to edit out the ideas that don’t work. Formulate two or three new story angles. Write them up as releases. Broadening your scope will help ensure your success.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

 

Filed under business, Marketing, Media, PR Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PR for Fashion Designers

March 9, 2011 Leave a comment

So, you now have a number of media pitches, stories and hooks that you can present to various media outlets that don’t have a thing to do with celebrities.  Using this approach, you and your fashions are the stars.  This is the approach I suggest focusing on.  Then after you’ve made your splash and established yourself through the media as a hot designer, maybe, just maybe you’ll let one of those celebrities wear them.

Public relations is an important marketing component for nearly any company or product, but when it comes to fashion, beauty or style an effective PR campaign is not an option, it’s a necessity.  Think about it, fashion and style is directly linked in our culture with celebrity and fame.  When Entertainment Tonight or In Style feature the latest singing sensation or movie star, it’s not just the person who is being spotlighted it’s also what he or she is wearing including what bag, jewelry, blouse, pants, skirt, scarf or coat they are sporting at the time.

When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt prance down the red carpet, they’re not the only ones being scrutinized, the magnifying glass is also on their shoes, their blouse, the sunglasses – everything they are wearing is now suddenly in the grip of the star making machine.   A fashion designer we were working with had one of her designs worn by Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson in the same week.  That opened the door to the People magazines and In Style’s of the world.  That is a definite plus.  As a designer you want celebrities to wear your clothing.  It helps media-wise, there is no doubt about that.  But a mistake that designers often make is that they place their primary focus on chasing down celebrities and celebrity stylists thinking that the only way to establish themselves in the world of fashion is to get the latest A, B, C (and if all else fails) D-list celebrity to wear their designs.

As I mentioned, that helps, but your primary job is not to chase down Hollywood’s latest flavor of the month.  Your job is to create the best fashions you can.  You want to develop a line that the public reacts to.  The bottom line is you want your creations to be your star, not the celebrity that wears them.  So, how do you do this?

Here’s your exercise, forget (for a bit) that celebrities exist. Put aside your desire to have the latest celeb wear your designs.  For now, that approach is off the table.  Now, what are your stories?  What makes your designs special?  Who are they created for?  What are some ways that they can be used or worn that is a bit different?  What are some interesting visuals that can be used when pitching your fashion story? Is there a story that has to do with how your fashions are made?  Are unique materials used?  Keep drilling down this way.  Focus on what makes your designs unique, different or what makes them perfect for a certain target market.

Now what about you?  What makes your story interesting?  What was your journey to become a designer?  What obstacles did you have to overcome?  How was your life changed by your decision to enter the world of fashion?  Realize that your journey and your transformation offers you a wealth of media pitches and approaches.

So, you now have a number of media pitches, stories and hooks that you can present to various media outlets that don’t have a thing to do with celebrities.  Using this approach, you and your fashions are the stars.  This is the approach I suggest focusing on.  Then after you’ve made your splash and established yourself through the media as a hot designer, maybe, just maybe you’ll let one of those celebrities wear them.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Entrepreneur PR, Fashion Design, Fashion PR, Media Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Charlie Sheen Media Saga: Is Violence Against Women Really Okay?

March 3, 2011 Leave a comment

Perhaps the strangest aspect of the whole Charlie Sheen media storm, at least from my perspective, is that the furor has been about his drug use and his tirades against his producer.  Don’t get me wrong, those aren’t good things, but physically and verbally abusing women, seem like activities that should be a bit higher on the outrage meter.  Yet Sheen always appears to get a pass when it comes to those behaviors.

One would think that such actions against women would cause overwhelming media furor, some national outrage, maybe a few raised eyebrows on the part of CBS.  And Sheen didn’t simply accost one woman, there were a number and he did it repeatedly over the years.  Why was this behavior so forgivable, whereas drug abuse and name calling cause production to come to a halt?  Much of this behavior started before his current TV show, but it has continued throughout the years.  To give credit where credit is due, CNN did report on these issues with a report called: “Scandals Don’t Faze Charlie Sheen’s Career.” The segment echoed the fact that no one seemed to care.

Just to cover some of his history on this front, Sheen served two years’ probation for a 1996 assault on then-girlfriend Brittany Ashland.  A year earlier he settled a case out of court with a woman who claimed he’d hit her when she refused to have sex with him. In 1990, in an incident deemed an accident; he shot his then fiancée Kelly Preston in the arm; not to mention the accounts by ex-wives Denise Richards’ and Brooke Mueller.  Other accusations coming from hookers and porn stars have followed. His choosing to take drugs, or going off on a tirade against his employers just doesn’t seem to fall in the same category as physical abuse; yet it was his most recent actions that caused to (at least temporarily) pull the plug.

Granted Sheen was not overly polite to his producer.  In a recent interview he said that he (Sheen) must have embarrassed him (Lorre) “in front of his children and the world by healing at a pace that his un-evolved mind cannot process.”  He then ranted on calling Lorre a “turd” and a “clown” and later used an anti-semitic term while referring to Lorre’s name. None of that will win you high grades with your employer, but still it pales compared to some of Sheen’s other actions.

But, so seems to be the case.  Now that Sheen has been chastised by CBS and his show has been halted, what moves can he make?  First and foremost he needs to stop trying to control the media storm.  Currently he’s basically trying to put out the fire with gasoline. From what I’ve seen, his recent interviews are only digging a deeper hole.  He needs to understand he’s not the one to make the call in this situation.  That’s obviously something that’s difficult for him.  Right now it’s not clear if he fully understands the gravity of the situation.  He’s in crash and burn mode and he might need to completely hit the wall before he can start to work on repairing the damage.  It will take time.  He’ll need to publicly own up to what he’s done.  He’ll need to show true remorse and find ways to make amends.  The public is forgiving.  If they see that he has changed his ways, that he sees what he’s done and that he is truly sorry, he can start to win them back.  He’s one of, the if not the, top paid actors on TV (or was until recently).  He’s the star of a top rated network show.  He can turn this around, but not by continuing his current behavior.   An advisor needs to step in and take control of this free-fall.  It can be reversed to some extent, but before the media damage can be repaired, the crux of the matter needs to be dealt with.

From my perspective, the real question isn’t whether Sheen can turn this situation around, but why this fiasco was allowed to drag on so long and why action wasn’t taken sooner.  More importantly why were the acts of violence against women not deemed that important?  In the end that might say more about us and the media than it does about Charlie Sheen.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Entertainment, Media, Media Coverage Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Understanding How the Media Works

March 1, 2011 Leave a comment

Different media outlets have different needs.  One of your objectives is to get a good sense of what their needs are as you journey in the PR world.  Not only is it important to understand what they need story and segment-wise, but you also have to understand what their needs are in a changing media landscape.

It’s important to keep in mind that the press is reactive.  Sure, they have an agenda and stories that they’re working on, but if a timely story breaks, many media outlets need to immediately shift gears and cover that story.  This is not true of all media, for example CNN and the network evening news programs are definitely going to shift their schedules to cover a war in the Middle East or a natural disaster in the U.S., whereas Vogue, Esquire or AARP aren’t necessarily going to shift their editorial calendars based on timely news stories.

When launching a media relations campaign, it’s important to understand that interviews that are set in stone aren’t always all that set in stone.  That can be disheartening if you’re the one scheduled to be interviewed on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and are notified Tuesday at 6:30 that the interview is going to be rescheduled, or, worse yet, scrapped.  You have a busy schedule, you have a job to do, a business to run, products to sell. Your time is valuable. Who do the media think they are? They think that you can just drop whatever you’re doing to do an interview when they want to do it? It’s not only inconvenient, it’s not fair.

True enough, but it’s media reality and if you play it smart, it can pay off for you big time.  The press isn’t purposely trying to inconvenience you. You wouldn’t believe the amount of times that an editor or producer has to switch from one story to another on a moment’s notice. A million things can come up, a fire, an international breaking story, a Presidential speech; any number of stories are going to preempt you. This is just the nature of the business. It happens all the time.

When I was doing PR for my book Spin to Win, I was in the greenroom at Fox News waiting to go on.  They have a TV on in most greenrooms and I was watching, while waiting to be called.  A story came on about a bombing in the Middle East.  I walked outside and found the producer.  We looked at each other and nodded.  There was going to be no interview that day.  I thanked them, left, and was eventually rescheduled.

If you do PR long enough, chances are you‘ll run into a similar situation.  Go with it.  Thank the editor or producer for his or her time and make it clear that you’ll be available for the next interview.  It does you no good to take your anger out on the interviewer or the producer. It was not done to harm you. The decision was circumstantial.  Always keep your objective in mind, which is to build your business, to create success through media exposure.  You’re going to accomplish your goal by reaching as many people as you can. Your objective is to do those interviews, not to alienate the press.  Remember, press begets press.  If you act like a professional when one of these rescheduling situations arise, you’ll be treated as a pro and the next time an appropriate story comes up, guess who they’ll call?

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

 

Filed under Media, PR Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

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