As published this morning at: http://popdemonium.com/2010/07/challenges-celebrity-pr/

One of the most challenging parts of working in celebrity publicity is re-shaping an image which the world already thinks they know. Constant public scrutiny, the demand of hundreds of media outlets calling non-stop, and the immediacy of today’s media make this even harder. The latest news from Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson, Tiger Woods and other shining stars, makes one wonder about the differences between a celebrity and a “normal” human being.

After years of work with corporations and celebrities, I realize that the media often decides a story angle before they actually hear the facts. In “Bias” – probably the century’s most significant media-criticism book – Bernard Goldberg, ex-CBS producer, states that a lie in media terms is not really a lie, “they would pass the polygraph test… they honestly believe what they’re saying. And that’s the biggest problem of all”. Just last week, in an unprecedented rule in England, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt won their case over privacy against a gossip outlet that reported an upcoming divorce. The damages will be accounted for by the paper and offered to the intruded couple. And, all this because drama sells paper, whether it’s true, false or exaggerated. I mean consider how many headlines were written on Tiger Woods, but what do we really know other than that he cheated on his wife?

The media simply feels compelled to respond to massive public interest, and human fascination. Celebrity representatives often can’t respond quick enough to damaging news – and this lack of response, or failure to fix the issue, can often shape the story. In contrast to a company, brand or product, the “celebrity brand” stands alone. If something is perceived to go wrong you can’t accuse production lines, ‘industry trends’ or forces of nature, like BP has tried to do. Instead, the individual celebrity is the only one who can break, or fix, his or her “brand.”

In today’s new media world, information is excessive. It has inflated the online market, and questionable stories and their sources are all around. The media and its key players – reporters, producers and editors – find themselves competing hard for your attention, click, and ‘retweet.’ This struggle makes it more challenging to proof-check every single story as the cycle is a 24-hour “news” cycle where everything and anything can happen anytime. Unfortunately, this also allows some to promote their own goals and stockholders’ interests by bullying people along the way. Perhaps the cure will come with online, fee-based content, which will charge readers for access but in exchange make a commitment to value and quality for the reader. It’s rumored that the New York Times and Apple will adapt such a model.

I have commented extensively in the media regarding Woods, Lohan and Gibson, and I believe in today’s America, with strategic planning and a PR plan, all of these figures can make a return to some degree and repair their image. They too are human beings, and for them too life shall go on.

Recently we have seen a return of sorts of Rev. Ted Haggard, who was forced to resign nearly four years ago as president of the politically powerful National Association of Evangelicals and to step down from the mega church he founded, after admitting that he had bought methamphetamine from and had a sexual interaction with a male prostitute. Haggard confessed in a tortured letter, calling himself “a deceiver and a liar” who had long wrestled with desires he described as “repulsive and dark.” Now, in his comeback, the energetic and positive Haggard says he is back to doing what he was born to do. “Tiger Woods needs to golf. Michael Vick needs to be playing football. Mr. Haggard needs to be leading a church.”

Celebrities, too, are human beings, not lab rats. They make mistakes, like human beings, but their image can be harder to manage. They possess a “brand personality” that’s constantly up for scrutiny.

There is logic in a celebrity stating “this is what I do best, let me do my job.” Some can and will recover a blunder with the media, while others will not stand the test. Celebrities are individuals with red blood. They’re individuals with a wide public awareness and they represent something – bad or good. Working closely over the years with some of America’s most famous people, I wont allow my children to worship someone who can dunk a ball, golf the best, win an Oscar; look up to people you know, not people on TV or movies.

Ronn Torossian is the CEO of 5WPR, one of the 15 largest PR firms in the US. Named to the “Ad Age” and “PR Week” 40 under 40 lists, he was a semi-finalist for the 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. His agency represents leading brands in all spaces, and has worked with celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Pamela Anderson and Nick Cannon.

Avoiding Crisis Management – 7 Useful Tips: From Blackwater to Main Street

In what are probably the latest developments in huge declining reputation trends, we read of the up-for-sale of “Blackwater Xe”, the private security firm.  Combine that with the increasing calls on the CEO of BP Energy to step down as a price for the oily mess. These result in a price tag for bad publicity, damaged reputation, and lack of control over brand positioning.

Even the most perfect cross-industry brands and fans of Corporate Social Responsibility companies are not immune.  Patriotic, job generating and substantially-contributing companies may find themselves facing a public fiasco without proper prior warning. It can even apply to “country-brands” like Israel who stand up for many things, but cannot sufficiently channel the limelight towards those advantages when crisis knocks on their doors.

Sometimes you feel you are operating in an environment where you cannot afford to disclose operational secrets, structures, financials or policies. But it’s vital to find focused messages on what you COULD reveal, clarify on, and interact with the public asking for input too.

Ed Murrow, CBS journalist and one of the early directors of the United States Information Agency during the Kennedy years and facing the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961 said: “if they want me in the crash landings, I better damn be in on the take-offs”.

Here are 7 reasons and ideas to shift your PR from crisis clean-ups to a management function TODAY:

Having a PR rep in a meeting on policy initiatives can be leveraged for brand building and positioning, both pre-emptatively and for positive impact.

Good reputation management begins early on. Not when damaged reputation requires fixing. Reputation is identified and managed well during decision making processes

Control. Early PR gets the messages YOU want to disseminate to your publics in advance so you won’t have to deal with rumors and blog-standard sources which take all your Google-results space during a crisis.

The key to every PR story a.k.a “the angle” should be pulled from management functions which PR professionals are ear-sensitive to find and pick up

Attending management decision making processes can help create plan B’s and C’s and placed in a drawer for stormy days.

Interaction with key figures on a board can generate new ideas and key messages from various company divisions’ execs used as extra PR “bonus points” in building clarity, integrity and reputation for target audiences. Who knows where your next positive news item placement will come from ?

Most important: realizing PR is a two-street which can be utilized to also receive information from your key publics via PR research on their preferences, tendencies and views of your brand. This can imply on decision making in the boardroom and can prevent the next bad turn by the person on the wheel

Avoid the next bad decision snow ball. You don’t want to find yourself in blackwater mud.

As featured in today’s Bulldog Reporter, the following Op-Ed:

http://tinyurl.com/295rph3

Social Media Relations Sinners or Winners? Hospital PR Pro Behaved Appropriately in Viral Video — But M.I.A.’s Tweet Missed the Mark

By Ronn D. Torossian, President and CEO, 5W Public Relations

Public relations professionals walk a difficult tightrope between serving clients who pay our bills and satisfying the media whom we usually have to convince to write about our clients. This is a delicate balance, and sometimes PR agencies (although we don’t often discuss it) are hired to keep our clients out of the media or deflect negative stories. We believe clients often hire us to protect them from the media, much as they would hire an attorney to protect them in legal proceedings.

A recent video making the rounds online—and attracting controversy—features an ABC San Francisco reporter, a PR representative for Laguna Honda Hospital (both male) and another hospital employee (female). The PR professional is being widely condemned for his behavior. I strongly disagree. Watch the video, and consider the following:

The reporter, a man, stands directly in the path of the shorter hospital administrator as she enters the room, and again as she tries to leave the room.

Using a camera as his bully pulpit, the reporter disrupts a planned meeting and follows the woman throughout the room and the hospital facilities as if he owns them.

If someone repeatedly blocked your way at work, what would you make of it? Additionally, both before the meeting and after, the reporter talks loudly over the woman, forcing her to repeat seven times that she is not available for an interview.

The PR pro appears to be doing his job: He didn’t raise his voice and, to my eyes, did all he could to deflect the reporter’s attention to himself. The PR professional is clearly an annoyance to the reporter. In the end, the PR person seems to have shut down the reporter’s planned ambush. (And doesn’t the reporter display a certain haughtiness?)

The spokesperson seemed to be protecting his staff (similar to how a good attorney would), and I for one fail to understand why one assumes that the media has the right to question people. Do people not have the right to “defend” themselves?

A completely separate controversy now surrounds the musical artist M.I.A., who was profiled this weekend by the New York Times Magazine in an article by Lynn Hirschberg. She subsequently tweeted to her over 111,000 followers the journalist’s cell phone number to express her displeasure at the reporter’s clearly negative story.

Wow! This is clearly harsh, and one can understand why M.I.A isn’t happy with the story. I’d ask why she did an interview regarding these issues? What was the artist trying to accomplish by allowing herself to be interviewed? I’d have suggested if she is concerned, why do the interview with the same journalist that wrote an extremely harsh article on Courtney Love (which also stirred up quite a bit of controversy)?

Clearly, this article will do quite a bit of lasting damage. Does M.IA. have any proof that the article is biased? Did she or her assistants record the interview (as we often do if we are entering sensitive interview ground)? If they did, they could then release interview segments showing its inaccuracy.

When dealing in the world of crisis communications, consider taping the interview and discussions for yourself (to guard yourself against a reporter’s possible agenda).

Understandably, Lynn Hirschberg called M.I.A.’s tweets “fairly unethical” and “infuriating.”

M.I.A. clearly misstepped. As an artist, M.I.A. may indeed have stepped over the boundary, but one wonders what the next moves from her PR team will look like.

Ronn Torossian is president and CEO of 5WPR, one of the 20 largest independent PR firms in the U.S. Named one of the top “40 Under 40″ by PR Week & Advertising Age, Torossian is a semi-finalist for Ernst & Young 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and his PR agency works with a roster of iconic brands.

Even though the book has been sitting on my nightstand for weeks, I finally took this long weekend to read Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.  The book was recommended to me by a senior media executive, and I would suggest it to anyone who works in PR, strategic communications or politics.

The book was a blow-by-blow, behind the scenes look at the fascinating 2008 election race. Reading it brought back vivid memories of my 1st job in politics and the rush that comes from working on political campaigns—it’s a feeling that never leaves your system. I strongly recommend political experience to anyone who wants to work in PR, especially college students and young people who are just starting their career. Campaigns are one of the better training grounds to learn hands-on work.  Campaigns teach hard work, long hours, crisis communications, decision making skills and how to WIN.  All vital lessons for business, and for life.

Reading the book reinforced that smarts is a part of success, but so is confidence, leadership, preparation and teamwork.  Also, (as this self-serving PR quote says):  “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it really fall.”  Ensure that your communications strategy is top-notch, focused and results oriented.  Great book and enjoyable reading.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Our PR agency handles a tremendous amount of crisis communications work, and as such our role is often similar to that of corporate attorneys.  We are hired to protect our clients, which means, at times, the media can become our adversary.

This article in The Wall Street Journal lambasts a company for not permitting media into their annual meeting.  I completely understand the company’s guardedness. Why is it assumed the media should always be present or that public relations people have to kow-tow to reporters?

 My favorite response from reporters is… “I am just doing my job.” I always return with, “I am just doing my job – protecting our client.”

Until the media promises to only publish material that we approve, I’d advise PR pros to not allow unfettered access. 

So, in response to the question posed in The Wall Street Journal: “If a company holds an annual meeting and there are no reporters around to cover it, does it make a sound?” The answer may be no… but who says the company wants the type of “noise” you are proposing.  There’s a time to “control” the message and the amount of information disseminated publically.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Today was one of those days when it was simply non-stop and leaves this Bronx boy humbled at the end of the day:

The morning began early with an early 5:30AM morning bike ride in gorgeous Central Park, followed by an 8AM breakfast with an elected official whom I support to discuss some strategic messaging and concerns he has with how to position a certain policy.

Then a new business meeting with a high profile individual at 15 CPW (perhaps the most expensive real estate in NYC). Fascinating meeting which ended with 5WPR being retained for a major crisis communications matter.

Next stop was a client meeting with a real estate developer at Trump Tower, where we discussed marketing initiatives for a real estate project.

Mid-day meeting with a healthcare client and my PR staff where we reviewed recent media placements and ongoing messaging.

Latter part of the day was spent returning client calls, 2 meetings with SVP’s on my staff and preparing for an early morning RFP… and I have to run out the door shortly for a board meeting of a non-profit organization where I am a member.

Working in Public Relations, and particularly at this PR firm, is quick, diverse and just so exciting.  It’s fun, invigorating and I couldn’t imagine wanting to do anything else.  And just think, I actually get paid for this? Wow.

“Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it.” Kurt Vonnegut

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Am pleased to share with you an op-ed I wrote which was published today on
Sphere News/AOL -
http://www.sphere.com/2009/12/07/opinion-how-tiger-should-have-dealt-with-his-crisis/

(Dec. 7) — It’s not uncommon for celebrities to face a potentially image-killing crisis. It is, however, uncommon to see one handled as poorly from start to finish as Tiger Woods’ recent wreck and subsequent sex scandal.

At each step, Tiger made missteps that could have been avoided, leading to stories along the lines of “Tiger’s real crime? Not playing the media’s game” and “Tiger Woods Dodges Cops for Third Time.”

There’s no excuse the behavior that led to Tiger’s predicament, but the still-expanding fallout from his mishandling of these events provides lessons to celebrities, companies and anyone else who suddenly finds themselves at the center of a crisis.

Here are my top three crisis management rules:

Rule No. 1: Come clean and come clean quick. Instead of accepting his role in the spotlight and addressing the facts head on, Tiger ran for cover hoping it would all go away. But the fastest road to redemption in the public’s eye is an early and honest mea culpa.

That’s what Alex Rodriguez did earlier this year, when he stood in front of his teammates and the media and addressed his alleged steroid use head on. While certainly not an easy statement to make, it undeniably saved A-Rod’s career from taking the Barry Bonds route, and served as a launching pad for the best season of his career and praise from many of his former critics.

Rule No. 2: Keep your message consistent. As Bill Clinton can attest, the truth eventually comes out. So be clear, be honest and keep the story consistent. When similar allegations arose regarding David Letterman and young staff members, Letterman immediately took to the airwaves, admitted his wrongdoings and the circumstances surrounding them, and saw no ill effect in his ratings.

In contrast, Tiger’s only message for nearly five days after the accident was silence. And while he did eventually admit to his “transgressions,” his promise to “strive to be a better person and the husband and father that [his] family deserves” seemed to ring hollow as information surfaced regarding a renegotiation of his prenup in an effort to keep the family together.

Rule No. 3: Leave no gray area. From the moment reports of the accident happened, the only color surrounding the facts was gray. How did Tiger sustain the injuries he did in such a slow-moving, low-impact crash? Was his wife chasing him with a golf club? Was he impaired? And so on until another round of questions surfaced regarding alleged romps with various women. Tiger then made his brief admission of guilt but still failed to explain how the accident happened, why he was reportedly snoring on the ground as the family waited for an ambulance, etc.

Fortunately for Tiger, most if not all of his sponsors remain by his side, and his mastery of golf will continue to wow fans for years to come.

But no one will ever look at him the same way again, and this distinctive trademark is tarnished. The days of invincibility are over, if not on the course then in relationships, honesty and integrity.

Let’s hope others who make mistakes in life and business take a look at Tiger’s self-inflicted wounds and choose a different path of redemption in the public’s eye.
__________
Ronn Torossian is president and CEO of 5W Public Relations, one of the 25 largest PR firms in the U.S.

Woods wants privacy, but he surrendered that a long time ago

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/telander/1918371,CST-SPT-rick03.article

 
Ronn Torossian
5W PR

This weekend, I had a scary discussion with a soon-to-be Wharton business school graduate.  He told me that, in his estimate, 50% of his graduating class doesn’t have jobs; while they have to start repaying loans in September, he expects many of them will simply default.  Surely, their parents are making less money and many will have families of their own to support.  There’s never before been a time when a Wharton MBA graduate didn’t have an immediate job opportunity.

Unique times indeed.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

In the past few hours, videos of several Domino’s employees engaging in disgusting behavior (see: 1 and 2) have circulated through blogs and social media platforms, causing quite an uproar and brand damage to one of the nation’s leading pizza chains.

This is the changing face of PR in the era of social media. While the business of public relations is fast moving and days are unpredictable, social media comes equipped with videos (with brand images connected) and spreads faster than ever before.  Faster than daily newspapers can come out or TV programs can run updates.  Dangerous and scary.

Domino’s, to their credit, responded quickly and with well-delivered wording:  “The ‘challenge’ that comes with the freedom of the internet is that any idiot with a camera and an internet link can do stuff like this – and ruin the reputation of a brand that’s nearly 50 years old, and the reputations of 125,000 hard-working men and women across the nation and in 60 countries around the world.”

While there have always been rumors, and the advent of the Internet created sites to exchange information, today with video and social media, information can spread more quickly than ever before.  Luckily for them , Domino’s caught this very quickly, but they still could not stop brand damage from being done.  

In the age of instant communication, media and social monitoring is more vital than ever.   This story is still being told.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR