Narcotraficantes and Public Relations

File this under "sad and strange." Apparently the Narcotraficantes who have been terrorizing Northern Mexico have established public relations departments.

Writing in the Global Post, reporter Mike O'Connor writes that the notoriously violent cartels are using rather unorthodox methods of media relations:

[Reporter] said the gang has established its own public relations arm that issues stories the local papers are under orders to run, or else journalists will get hurt.

The drug traffickers, flawed as they are, understand the power of media and public relations.

In addition to pressuring newspapers, the cartels extensively sponsor musicians who play a type of folk music that is dedicated to praising the illegal activities of the cartel. Narcocorrido is a genre in which ballads glorify cartel bosses as modern Robin Hood-types.

This is quite sad. One of the things I wonder about is how public relations can play a role in revitalizing cities like Ciudad Juarez which have been devastated by the narco wars.

Once the drug debacle in Northern Mexico is resolved (I believe it will come to some sort of resolution in 15 years) Mexico will have to convince people to return to cities that have been characterized as no-go zones. It will be interesting how this plays out. It will be a form of post-crisis communication unseen. An interesting clip on Narcocorridos:

Sour Milk and Public Relations

Here is an interesting story out of China. Most readers may recall the tainted baby formula scandal from the past 2 years. It was a public relations nightmare for everyone involved. Well, there is a part 2 to the scandal and this time, it is public relations practitioners taking the hits.

Apparently, a public relations manager at a milk company was under pressure to increase sales. Like most practitioners these days, he decided to hire a pr firm and use social media. The strategy they decided on was, to say the least, very unorthodox. Working with the pr firm, he used social media to spread false rumors that a rival company's baby formula was poisonous.

The result, was of course panic. What was the result of this enterprising strategy:
1. He has been arrested
2. Staff from the public relations firm have been arrested.

The scandal is all over the news:
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3

Here is the interesting quote from the story:

Police told Chinese media that Mr An and BossePR dubbed the alleged campaign the “731 plan”, which aimed to stir up fear that competitors were adding adulterated fish oil to their milk products for children.

A special hello!

PR at Illinois (part 2)

My favorite students in the Illinois Public Relations Association were featured in today's edition of the Daily Illini (our main student newspaper). Their enthusiasm about public relations is amazing. The future of public relations is indeed bright:

http://www.dailyillini.com/features/2010/10/13/illini-pra-enables-to-students-to-explore-public-relations-field

Public Relations Night at the University of Illinois

This year, I organized the first ever Public Relations Night at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Two of my former pr students who now work in public relations (Liz Sablich at GolinHarris and Stephanie Florence of JSH&A) gave interesting presentations to a packed room.

Public relations is fast growing in the College of Media at the Univ of Illinois (and you thought the Univ. of Illinois was just about Advertising). Yes we do have an excellent advertising program. But the pr side is getting stronger each year. In Spring 2011, students can take:

Advanced Public Relations
PR Writing
Introduction to New Media (my course that will examine social media and pr)

Below are pics from the public relations night. Thanks to Ray and Ms. Bullow for the excellent pics.   All the originals are here














Yours truly giving the opening remarks.




















Students from the PR Club.  Always professional. I am always amazed  and impressed.

Liz and Stephanie giving their keynote address.

It was a packed house.

Ruth

Ruth. In case you are wonder what is Ruth, it is the name of Edelman's new branch. They do "integrated marketing." It will be interesting where this goes and how other firms respond.

In Ad Age, an Edelman representative had the following to say:

"People have talked about integration for the 30 years I have been in the business, and some have said that it's just not possible, but I don't agree with that," Mr. McGuire said. "It's not easy, and you need a resonant idea that can be interpreted across the media mix while moving people to action. But it also has to be cost efficient, and that's part of what's driving marketers to consolidate resources.

This is a must watch because it can help answer a lot of questions about integration that many have asked but few have had a chance to observe.

Advertising Standards Authority gets online power

This is an interesting bit of news. In the UK, advertising regulators have now extended their power so they are now monitoring social media/online advertisements. This means that online campaigns that are problematic can expect scrutiny and censure. This quote from the story pretty much sums it up:

"This is a massive step. Consumers don't differentiate between adverts on TV or online and this ensures that claims online will be subject to the same strict scrutiny of those in traditional media," said an ASA spokesman."

Barcelona Principles

The Barcelona Principles. A new action movie? A new controversial Dan Brown novel? Well not really. They are the recently agreed upon ideas on how to carry out public relations research more effectively. They are at the top of my summer reading (a long list that waits to be finished):

http://www.cipr.co.uk/content/news-opinion/presidents-blog/4912/barcelona-principles-the-end-of-ave-

20PR Grants Available for Not-for-Profit Organizations

I like this idea. This organization (CyberAlert) is giving monitoring services to non-profits.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100909005970/en

What a unique way to promote public relations research.

Amazing Insight on the "Antennagate" Apple PR scandal

This video offers funny insight on the Apple faulty antenna crisis. It is done by the same group that did the Tiger Woods crash animation. Funny.

I just won the National Science Foundation's|Public Entity Risk Institute| Swiss Re Dissertation Fellowship (a long title)

My friends & collegues

I hope you are having a good summer.

Today, I found out I was awarded the National Science Foundation's|Public Entity Risk
Institute| Swiss Re Dissertation Fellowship (a long title).

In summary, its a top award in the field of disaster studies.

More details can be found here:
http://clas.ucdenver.edu/periship/Program.html
http://clas.ucdenver.edu/periship/Fellows.html

A formal press release will be issued in the coming days.

Thank you for your help and support everyone.

A fascinating public relations tactic

BP is blaming Transocean; Transocean is blaming Halliburton; Halliburton is blaming BP. Publics will blame all three companies. These companies really need to rethink their approach to handling this crisis.

Completed Web Redesign

I was tired having a Flash site so I have moved everything to Blogger.

With the arrival of the iPad I (like many others) are thinking twice about using Flash. I loved Flash but it does make maintaining things a challenge. Rather than investing in a content management system, I just decided to tweak blogger to my liking.

Plus as a graduate student, paying a hosting amount to Yahoo was getting old.

I hope you like my new site. I will continue tweaking it. Thank you for visiting.

If you are interested in how I made the edits, email me. I will be happy to share them with you.

REDESIGN!!

This blog is being redesigned. If everything looks a hot mess, it is because I am working on redesigning the look! Under construction

Spotlight: SPINdustry isn’t terrible: An Entertainment PR background perspective

This post by Lauren Fernandez at http://www.laurenafernandez.com/ is good rebuttal to the points I made in the blog post below (Women, Reality Television, and Public Relations).

She makes good points that highlight the complexity of the entertainment public relations world. A good read:

http://www.laurenafernandez.com/blog/spindustry-isnt-terrible-from-an-entertainment-pr-background/

Women, Reality Television, and Public Relations

This week, I learned that socialite/gossip magazine favorite Kim Kardashian is producing a documentary on the world of celebrity public relations.

These shows truly fascinate me. Ms. Kardashian's show joins a reality tv marketplace already occupied by another show focusing on celebrity/fashion pr titled Kell on Earth.

The focus of Kell on Earth is on a Ms. Cutrone who apparently has made a name for herself due to her aggressive "diva" style to management . According to news reports, she fired (and threatened to sue) an intern for blogging. In addition, some of the show's episodes explore the issue of firing her employees in extensive detail.)

And who can forget the short lived Power Girls on MTV which focused on publicist Lizzie Grubman (who went from representing stars like Puffy Combs & Jay Z to serving jail time for a road rage incident in which she injured 16 people).

In my classes, I make a point of discussing the myths these shows perpetuate:

A. You simply have to be pretty to succeed in public relations.

B. Making a spectacle of yourself and your client are simply what pr is about.

C. Aggressive, type-A careerists with a take no prisoners attitude are those who succeed in pr.

D. PR is simply about partying with socialites

I am not against anyone making a living. Ms. Cutrone and Kardashian have a right to sell whatever vision of public relations they feel is appropriate. And to be honest, what they are portraying is (in some cases) not far from the truth. As my father always warns " Don't be too judgmental of others."

My question, however, is: How can we highlight the numerous women who work in public relations, do good work, and do not engage in any of the "interesting" behaviors the shows portray.

The majority of my bosses in public relations have been women. Whether in Washington DC where I worked with smart women at the American Insurance Association or in Indonesia at UNCEF, I have met some very talented women in pr.

They are hard working, family oriented people who come in, put a long day of work, and go home to work another shift to take care of their families.

I think their stories need to be highlighted. As pr people, we can use our skills to showcase these women because out there in the world, the women of pr people are seeing are not representative of numerous pr professionals I have encountered.

Communicate Magazine

Currently reading Communicate Magazine which focuses on public relations in the UK. It has an interesting point/counterpoint on the value of public relations education.

Gerald Cassidy of Cassidy & Associates

This man gave me my first real job. Loved working for his firm.
I truly loved the time I spent at Cassidy & Associates. He is a pioneer in his field and by hearing him talk, you know why.

Branding Nations: Kenya

My friend Dane Kiambi has written an interesting article on Kenya's efforts to utilize public relations to reshape how it is viewed by outsiders. A good analysis of what public relations can and can't do.

Plank Center 2010 Fellowship for Educators

This Plank Center is a really innovative place. This year, they are offering a fellowship for pr professors (assistant, associate, professors). If you are a professor, I would recommend applying.

Deadline is early March. Application materials are on the website below.

http://www.plankcenter.ua.edu/

The lady who runs it is very organized and answers questions promptly which is refreshing.

Hence, it is worth spending your time applying.

Good luck in the new year.

Owen