The Oscar Race is On & Hollywood’s Media Machines Rev Up

January 28, 2012 Leave a Comment

Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo,” came away with eleven Academy Award nominations, and “The Artist,” which won the Golden Globes received ten.  The two films, which are both about the bygone days of film making, head the list of best picture Oscar contenders announced Tuesday.  Ironically there is a belief in Hollywood that films about films, particularly films about film making are doomed to die at the box-office.  If true, at least this year they’d do so in style.

It’s interesting to sense the difference between the Golden Globes and the Oscars.  As one well known film critic recently put it, the Golden Globes are so much fun, because they really don’t matter.  The sense is that people go to the Globes to see and be seen, party, have fun, say things you’d never say at the Academy Awards and possibly help create a bit of a media buzz for your film.   The Golden Globes is a PR vehicle.  A feel good party where the winners hope to influence the Oscar voters.

The Academy Awards remain the main event.  This will always remain the award the public views as the golden ring in the film business and it’s hard to tell the influence that the other awards have on the Oscars.

The best picture category is an interesting one with heavy hitter Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” going against, among others, Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.”  Allen’s film hit a chord this year, and could result in an (all is truly forgiven) embrace from the Academy.  Perhaps the most interesting inclusion is Terrence Malick’s (either love it or hate it) “The Tree of Life;” but it’s good to know mystics can climb the Hollywood heights.

Superstars Brad Pitt and George Clooney go head to head in the best actor category with Pitts’s “Moneyball” and Clooney’s “The Descendants” garnering a number of awards.  Those two are where the glitz and glamour is, but that’s not always where the awards go.

The best actress category includes Meryl Streep’s performance as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady” and Michelle Williams’ role as movie legend Marilyn Monroe in “My Week With Marilyn.”  It’s always a gamble bringing an icon to the screen, but in both cases the gamble paid off.

Now that the nominees have been named, the Hollywood movie machine media relations blitz goes into high gear.  From here to the awards date the publicity and media campaigns run 24/7.  Public relations, and some subtle and often not so subtle arm twisting are the staples of race to the Oscar.  As long as Harvey Weinstein is involved in the race, it will be interesting.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2012

Seib, Al. “Plaster Oscar statuettes used for rehearsals.” Photo. The Envelope. Jan. 2012. 27, Jan. 2012.                                                  <http://theenvelope.latimes.com/news/la-env-oscars-winners-nominees-scorecard-2012,0,2535525.htmlstory>

Filed under Public Relations, Entertainment Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Starbucks’ Spirited PR Gamble

January 25, 2012 Leave a Comment

A Big Mac along with a glass of chardonnay?  Who knows?  That could be on the way.  Starbucks is heading in that direction.  The chain will soon be selling beer and wine in select locations.  Four to six stores in the Southern California area will offer alcoholic beverages by the end of this year, as will some stores in Atlanta and Chicago

The chain began testing its new spirited approach in Seattle in 2010. Starbucks now offers beers for $5 and wines by the glass for $7 to $9 in five locations in that city and one in Portland, Oregon.

The questions are: what will this move do to the Starbucks brand? And how will customers have to change their habits in order for it to pay off?  Currently the chain makes most of its daily sales by 2 p.m., which explains the foray into the spirit business.  On the other hand around 75% of Starbucks customers are there for take out.  That won’t work in the beer and wine business.  These customers will have to say and enjoy their beverages in-house.  And what about the kids and teens that have made Starbucks one of their staples.  Will mom and dad be happy sending their kids to a beer and wine establishment?

If this were Europe, there would be no issue.  There families are used to going to pubs or cafes where coffee, food and spirits are sold.  But, the U.S. isn’t France or England and we generally have a different take on where liquor should and shouldn’t be served.  And what happens when a Starbucks barista has to 86 someone?  What will be the protocol for that?

Starbucks has built an amazing worldwide brand.  It has regularly changed its menu offering different types of drinks and food items, but a jump into the world of beer and wine is a big one.  Adding a new pastry, sandwich or fruit drink does not risk compromising the chain’s brand, but offering a happy hour where sprits flow freely will challenge the way many of its customers view the company.

Only time will tell if this gamble will pay off.  Because it directly impacts their brand recognition, it could either turn out to be a PR miscue or a public relations homerun.  Chances are it will land somewhere in the middle.  Since they are only experimenting with a handful of stores, if the publicity effect is extremely negative, they can quickly shut the program down.  But if the reaction is simply lukewarm, or only somewhat negative, they will most likely give the news stores a fair shot and launch a media relations campaign extolling the virtues of this new approach.  If it works, it could become a one stop shop for buying one’s stimulants in the morning and depressants in the evening.  The next big question could be, how are they going to get people to leave?

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2012

Sato, Kiichiro. “Starbucks’ alcohol menu being tested in a handful of shops in Seattle and one in Portland, Ore., includes Rogue Dead Guy Ale, a Pinot Noir from Oregon, a Prosecco from Italy and a Malbec from Argentina. Above, a Starbucks in Chicago. ” Photo. Los Angeles Times. 24, Jan. 2012. 25, Jan. 2012. <http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-starbucks-beer-20120124,0,5910879.story>

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Creating a PR Pitch that Works

September 7, 2011 Leave a Comment

An effective public relations campaign can reach your target market, establish you as an expert in your field, and offer you validation and legitimacy that comes with being featured as a news story.  That’s great, right?  But how do you come up with the right pitches and ideas to grab the media’s attention?  You can send out press releases and media blasts all day long, but if you don’t have a compelling story that meets the media’s needs, your PR campaign is not going to work for you.  So how do you go from concept to actually landing TV and print stories?  Brainstorm.  Think like a journalist, not like a business person.

  • Set up a brainstorming session with your PR consultant, or, if you’re doing this in-house, meet with members of your staff that understand your practice.
  •  Allow everyone involved to speak freely.  Start with a list of the obvious stories, then drill down to more unique stories or review different ways to present stories.
  • Think out of the box.  Be creative.  Remember you don’t have to use all of these stories, but the deeper you drill, the better the chances of finding a great story, so let the ideas flow-freely.  You’re pitching TV, so think in terms of the strongest visual stories you can present
  • Divide the stories as per the various media outlets you’ll be approaching.  There will be some stories that are timely, others that are seasonal and others that are evergreen.  Come up with a schedule of when to pitch which stories
  • Divide the stories into local, regional and national.  Different media outlets have different needs.  You want to pitch towards their specific needs.

You want to illustrate why your story and pitch is a perfect fit for their readers or viewers.   You want them to see the value in your story.  To do that you have to come up with a pitch that speaks to each media outlet’s specific audience.  You very well could pitch Vogue, the Today Show, the Wall Street Journal and your local newspaper the same story, but you’d have to tailor you pitch to meet those outlet’s specific needs.  You’d need a female angle, a visual angle, a business angle and a local angle.

Remember, your job is to present yourself and your product or service as a story the media will want to cover, not to do a sales job.  As soon as you try to “sell” a producer or an editor, you’ve lost.  To interest the media don’t pitch your product or your service, pitch a story; pitch your value.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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