Many members of the “elite” media are criticizing Jasper Schuringa, hero of the Northwest flight terrorism attempt, for requesting payment to conduct media interviews. Why is this so shocking? The media is a money-making business (or at least supposed to be). Why shouldn’t its subjects be entitled to monetary compensation as well? This rings particularly true for those who have been thrust into the media spotlight out of circumstance, not by choice—like Jasper.

I, for one, am not surprised by his request. The media will invade his life and make it much more difficult for this hero to regain some semblance of normalcy post-frenzy. PLUS, interviews are very time consuming. Like it or not, it’s the way of the world. He is doing a job and should be compensated accordingly.

Kudos to Jasper Schuringa – I am sure I am not the only one hoping you make millions of dollars.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Celebrity Endorsements

In the wake of Tiger Woods scandal, there are many lessons to be learned regarding celebrity spokespersons. Although I am not interested in naming names, I will provide this bit of insight based upon my own experience managing celebrity personalities: it is necessary to find out who a celebrity really is and not solely rely on their manager/agent.  There are ways to do this… and we’d be happy to discuss it off-line, as we regularly do with our clients.

As a PR agency CEO who spends a lot of time with both celebrities and brand managers, we are intimately familiar with this world.  Like it or not, the media closely follows celebrities, therefore tremendous opportunities exist in leveraging their fame to maximize public interest for a product/service. Can it be a risk? Yes, but I don’t see celebrity endorsements going away any time soon.  In fact, in today’s economy, the amount of celebrities asking for endorsement deals has increased significantly. We do many deals each month where celebrities hold products or appear at parties in exchange for a check…and this trend will continue.

Entrepreneurial Insight

As someone who thrives when busy, the last 10 days of December are trying. Many are very complacent during the holiday season and it bothers me tremendously. Rightfully, clients still demand work product, and bills still need to be paid, so we as a PR agency continue to put our best foot forward even during the slower months. We continually realize that urgency is the key to our success and we are far from complacent. We are hungry for it and want to win.

During this time period, I make an extra effort to do the little things: go to the gym every single day, thank our clients for their devotion, and our employees for their hard work.  All in all, we at this PR firm are quite pleased to say it has been another profitable year. We are also proud to say that every single employee received a bonus, unlike many of our industry peers.  Our numbers are great, and continue to deliver a consistent and high quality work product.

As we prepare to end the 7th calendar year of 5WPR, we are proud of our accomplishments.  Even though not everyone loves our style we are quite ok with it. In fact, there aren’t many successful people or organizations who don’t have critics and opponents. Jealousy always exists, and its easier to criticize than create. We don’t let that drag us down, and to the contrary, use it as motivation to continue forth.

Onward and upward, we say thank you all the time for the great work and clients we have had over the years.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Here are some random musings of a PR firm owner:

· Every year, I say the same thing right about now – as long as newspapers are published, TV stations are airing, and news is being reported, we as a PR agency will work during the holiday season.  In fact, with snow causing extensive flight cancellations, there are now many more opportunities available for guests who would not otherwise be booked.

· The beauty of working in Public Relations is you really wont know what your day looks like until you arrive—this is even more true at a PR agency.

· There is a consensus amongst reporters that they have the right to inquire about whatever they want. I agree, they do. But, on the other hand, people/companies have the right to push back and say “No, we will not allow you access to this information.”  Here at 5WPR, we do a tremendous amount of crisis communications work for companies, brands and individuals. Most of these clients we cannot name and we often turndown requests from reporters, knowing they will run negative stories…

For example:

To assume, as this article does, that allowing a reporter access to privileged information will result in a positive outcome is not only inaccurate, it’s naive.  It seems more likely that the organization mentioned in the article realizes they are doomed to negative coverage, and therefore they see little value in disclosing more information to an individual with malintentions. Oftentimes, I agree with this approach.

As an example: There is a producer who has hounded a client of mine 3 years or so in an effort to get an interview. Finally, 3 months ago, he called me and said, “If you don’t give me this interview, I will never contact you again regarding this client”….and my response was, “Promise?”  We all understand that reporters have to try and secure the story. But, why doesn’t the media understand that PR people have to serve and protect our clients in times of crisis?

It’s a real winter day here in NYC…. And we toil away at our desks here at this PR firm.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I hosted a networking event today. In attendance were a plethora of executives and professionals, including dentists, lawyers, consumer goods and real estate pros.  As I sat around the conference table surveying the crowd and assessing the discussion, I was reminded how hard it is to be an entrepreneur these days. There is so much responsibility associated with owning your own business and it is a continual struggle and challenge.

Interestingly enough, I met with a new business prospect last night who inquired how I was able to grow 5WPR so quickly.  The answer is hard work, being a straight shooter, and giving everything we have on a daily basis.  In my book, giving means introductions, going the extra mile for your client and going to war for them when they need it.  5W demands this of our staffers— it’s a quality we believe anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit understands and possesses.

These are just random musings on a December day while eagerly awaiting our annual company holiday party tonight.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Working day to day with the media is a humbling task. Reporters are very busy, overworked, always stressed, and notoriously impatient.  As PR professionals, we work hard to convince reporters to write stories about our clients’ issues or products– and it’s a tough job.

It will become even tougher with the recent announcement that the Dallas Morning News will now have journalists reporting to sales executives.

This will further blur the lines between advertising and media relations. As it stands now, I often get calls from clients excited about news opportunities. But oftentimes these “opportunities” are just representatives from cold-calling to offer editorial space for a fee, which is all fine and dandy, but it’s called advertising.

At my PR firm, we believe in good old-fashioned media relations.  We build relationships with the media, pitch journalists and place stories. It’s certainly not easy, but now with situations like the Dallas Morning News, it’s going to get harder.  That being said, we will keep pushing, and keep succeeding with the continued hope that this will help clients realize the vast undervalue of PR and PR agencies in general.

“The toughest thing about being successful is that you have to keep being successful,” said Irving Berlin.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR