April 2008

In our era of shrinking print news holes and way too many eyeball-challenged websites, television news broadcasts still gets reach and, better yet, their creators need material.  Even the most budget-strapped stations still have to fill air time.  With many stations cutting reporters and anchors, harried producers are even more desperate for content now than ever before.

Yet PR pros regularly get stiffed at the gateway by assignment editors who love to proclaim that their stations “no longer use VNRs.”  Unless you’re able to lure a local crew to your client’s doorstep/event, this Catch 22 seems like a PR occupational hazard.

VNRs officially were verboten after an infamous episode in March 2004.  The New York Times blew the whistle on the Bush administration for distributing videos showing President Bush signing a Medicare prescription-drug law and “receiving a standing ovations from a crowd cheering.” The footage ended with a woman telling the unwary viewer “In Washington, I’m Karen Ryan reporting.”  Yet, Ryan was a TV production company employee and no more a journalist than the infomercial shill proclaiming “do you mean to tell me  . . .?”

Previously, government-funded VNRs with faux reporters were perfected by the Clinton administration.  President Bush tweaked reporters by defending the practice as legal.  Suddenly, many irate affiliates nationwide championed a blanket policy of not accepting VNRs.

The ban came a little late, since the classic Video News Release was already a dinosaur even as the misused acronym lingered.  These overly produced, dialogue intensive productions (supposedly a video version of a press release as if anyone wanted that) rarely made air any way except in severely sliced/diced form by quote-desperate segment producers.

The moldy VNR of the late ‘80s has been long replaced by b-roll — functional chunks of footage with a few quotes.  Yet, some wary affiliates now claim even b-roll is out.  This is a noble idea from a supposed journalistic credibility stand point but hardly holds water.  The fact is, producers still need visually enticing material from your clients as long as it’s not laughably promotional or tattooed with company logos and product signage.

Here are some quick thoughts the next time you’re trying to get some supposed client propaganda on air.

– Don’t Use the ‘B’ Word:  While toiling, highly caffeinated before the rooster crowed, at a satellite media tour company, I learned quickly to ditch the offending buzzwords b-roll and VNR.  Instead, offer producers “sound bite footage with our expert” or “good visuals of kids using the product.”

–. Vamp it Up With Visuals:  Producers tire of inevitable talking head sources bobbing in their office chairs.  Shoot your sources in an eye catching setting without getting gimmicky.

– Let the Slates Skate.  Slates, time coded written descriptions between video segments, were designed as an easy way to help break up video footage for producers.  Now slates make footage seem overly packaged so drop them.  Just separate your edited sequences with cuts to black (and give the slate info to the producer by phone or email).

– Remember THEY Shot It.  The myth you’re selling viewers is that the station shot your b-roll footage.  Therefore, don’t over produce it in a photography studio setting or hack it up by having an intern shoot it with a camcorder.  Get a videographer who can shoot natural looking footage and keep the sound bites tight.

These tricks can help get your client on air while letting you side step the scarlet letters VNR.  Down the line, we’ll tackle those pesky producers who ‘don’t do satellite interviews.’

We talk a lot, both online and off.  Since an ostensible majority of this discourse in our “connected age” happens online, it follows that phrases from the “real” world slip onto web pages, into videos, vlogs, blogs, Twitters, emails, chats, forums, etc.  Words either remain static in syntax and spelling, like “long tail,” but take on different meaning, or they shift by a few characters to represent a different word entirely, like “phishing,” to convey a different meaning while still drawing on the semantic relationship with the original word (phishing is when cybercriminals “fish” for your information with legitimate looking emails or web pages).  However, my favorite morphology thus far has been the phrase “the Mullet Strategy,” let us explore:   

The phrase seems to have originated with Jonah Peretti, a founder of the Huffington Post who was quoted in a recent article by the New Yorker on the future of print news sources.   The article explains that, like the eponymous hairdo, the Mullet Strategy means, “Business up front, party in the back.”  You might be thinking “What does this have to do with cyberlinguistics and/or more importantly, with media in general?”  Well, Favored Reader, the article goes on to explain how the Mullet Strategy is deployed across the Internet, mostly as a categorization of Web 2.0 companies. In this case specifically, it refers to online news sources like the Huffington Post.  The article continues, “’User-generated content is all the rage, but most of it totally sucks,’ Peretti says. The mullet strategy invites users to ‘argue and vent on the secondary pages, but professional editors keep the front page looking sharp. The mullet strategy is here to stay, because the best way for Web companies to increase traffic is to let users have control, but the best way to sell advertising is a slick, pretty front page where corporate sponsors can admire their brands.’”  The Mullet Strategy then is the business up front of a well designed and tightly controlled home page and the party in back of the unpasteurized and messy bloggers/content providers.  

On another level, the Mullet Strategy represents the tension between traditional ad-rev driven media and emergent forms of social media (user-generated content like blogs, online videos, etc) that in most cases are still clamoring for ways to generate revenue. One must maintain the dignity and integrity of the appearance of the Home(page) to sell a house, despite the kegger raging in the basement.  It’s also no accident that the conceptual space symbolizing the informational backwaters and badlands of the Internet be mapped onto a coiffure, the Mullet, that itself is coded as jocular, and “underclass” (see: www.ratemymullet.com, www.mulletsgalore.com and numerous other humor sites dedicated to the do).  The term is therefore pre-loaded with significance, transferring the ridiculosity (what, I’m not allowed to make up words?) of the Mullet onto the online spaces that the “Mullet Strategy” attempts to describe. Basically, we have recreated the same social codes and mores online that we have offline – just on different people or concepts.  

It will be interesting to follow the trajectory of the term, from a linguistic standpoint, to see what new meanings and social codes the Mullet Strategy adopts.  However, I suspect that as media channels continue to integrate the still relatively “messy” user-generated content and Web 2.0 realms, the mullet will go on, uncut.  Companies across the board will continue to nervously pander to advertisers from the front while anxiously appealing the masses in the back.  Who knows though?  Maybe we will find a smooth and standard way to monetize the messiness and equalize UGC and traditional media, the business and the party.  We may have to move on to different styles of talking and styles of hair…Quick!  Someone figure out how a “Flock of Seagulls” cut is like social networking!  

Nuts! I just realized it’s been weeks since I checked my mailbox here at CarryOn. Never a good move with our ever-vigilant receptionist, Judith, who’s been known to shout into the office-wide intercom with threats of fire and brimstone and throw packs of staples at people who let their mailbox get too full. So it was with trepidation that I snuck past her desk and peeked at my name on the wall lined with mailboxes. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Not a single piece of mail in WEEKS. I breathed a sigh of relief.

The truth is this sort of finding is becoming more and more frequent. Where as recently as 12 months ago I was receiving at least a dozen pieces of mail a week (at my office that is – Lord only knows how many pounds of mail I received at my house), I’m now finding fewer and fewer trees have cursed my name as they crashed to the ground.

What’s my secret? Well, first of all as a Web 2.0 guy I don’t think I’ve signed up for any sort of paper mailing in… well… ever. More importantly, I think this trend signals the long overdue realization that direct mail marketing to office buildings is about as effective as putting fliers on my windshield while I’m eating dinner. Email, RSS, social networks, evites, discussion groups, these are the ways of keeping people informed of upcoming events and new products in today’s service and retail environment.

I do have a secret, however…It’s called Green Dimes and I used it for both my home addresses and my office address. Am I the most environmentally-friendly guy in the world? No. Far from it, unfortunately. Heck, I still haven’t gotten my computers greenified. But this Green Dimes business isn’t just about eating soy products and showering bi-weekly to save energy. For a few bucks, they practically stopped junk mail coming to my house and office. Sure, I still wake up every morning to 3 Chinese menus, 2 tree trimming postcards, and a handful of Molly Maid fliers rubber-banded to my fence, but I’m pretty sure nothing short of a tiger pit is going to prevent that. This Green Dimes thing makes it much easier for me to find the few paper bills that still come regardless of my having paid them online since the first month and repeatedly selected the “Turn Off Paper Notices” option online. And it makes me more environmentally-friendly both for Mother Earth and father living room, which is where junk mail used to accumulate in my house.

Check it out – breaking your dependence on the postal service will also help turn you to the wonders of a web-based life where organization newsletters and coupons to KFC come on a largely opt-in basis.

I’m a self-proclaimed bookworm—I love, love, love books.  I devour them.  I’ll dabble in different genres and will give every book a chance.  So, about 10 years ago, when I was at a dinner with a friend and his boss and interview questions came up, the president of his company mentioned he always asks people what the last thing they read was—now he didn’t really care what had been read, he just wanted to know the person had read something.  I remember thinking that I’d love to get that question, but when I thought about it further, I realized it’s actually a hard question because I’ve read so much.  But, I couldn’t turn away from it, so when I started thinking about what I might like to write for my company’s blog, books were a no-brainer.  We decided to limit it to three books and I’m going to steer away from the essentials everyone should have on his/her desk and go to the ones that have made a true impact on my life and that have stood the test of time. 

Note: if you DON’T have these two items on your desk, do not pass go, do not collect $200, just hope that nobody has noticed and rush to your closest book store and buy them immediately.  A dictionary—yes, a real hard copy dictionary—use it, open it, it will help you, and an AP Stylebook—trust me, few things tick off journalists or a boss more than someone who didn’t take the time to look it up.  Now onto my top three. 

Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier:  I love this book because it provides a simple explanation of branding—something every PR person needs to embrace.

A Carrot a Day: A Daily Dose of Recognition for Your Employees by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton – While this one says “for your employees,” I really think this book is beneficial for people at all levels because it reinforces the need for appreciation—which can be given to media, vendors, colleagues, etc. Always follow the “win more flies with honey” mantra

Random House Word Menu by Stephen D. Glazier.  This book was recommended to me by a writer friend a number of years ago and I’ve been eternally grateful for it.  It is hands down the best book for writer’s block as it categorizes words and terms. 

This list doesn’t contain the latest books, but I think they’re worth their cover price.  Bottom line: read what’s important to your manager, clients and yourself.

So tell me, what’s on your reading list?

The days of the semicolon are numbered; that is, if a clique of uppity French intellectuals get their way.  (For the best English-language post on the subject, check out Jon Henley’s thorough reporting here.)  

Those out to axe the semicolon cry out that it’s a worthless piece of pretentious punctuational pageantry.  Kurt Vonnegut even went so far to say, “Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”  Those who defend the semicolon often retort that, above all, it lends a little bit of elegance.

We live in the age of short sentences – an age of blogging, emails and SMS.  Serial subordinate clauses, multi-tiered lists and similar ilk, have been democratized into declarative bursts.  It’s not just “Say what you mean and mean what you say,” but “Say what you mean and say it in such a way that your mother, father, sister, uncle, great grandmother and the guy standing in line behind you can understand it.”  And, more often that not, we are communicating to anyone in the world with access to the Internet.  

On one hand, I’m glad when communication is the primary point of writing.  As PR professionals, we know that if we can’t make the message understandable by the target recipients, we’ve wasted our time and our client’s money.  Moreover, just because you write economically doesn’t mean that you can’t make it artistic, languid and compelling. 

But I love those increasingly rare features and editorials that play around with sentence structure, that dare to use language that readers may sometimes strain a little to understand.  It can be good when someone says something in such a way that it causes a pause, a reread or a search through the dictionary; every once in a while, we’d be the better for it.