The group meets the first Thursday of every odd month. The May 5th meeting will be a noon luncheon centrally located at a pizza joint in the Old Town section of Scottsdale (location sent with your RSVP). This month come share and hear ideas on how to grow your business. The meeting is free to PRSA members; $5 for all others. For more information or to RSVP (deadline noon May 4), contact Jeff Pizzino, APR at (480) 606-8292 or e-mail.

That’s not what this post is about. It’s about Human Nature.

As you may know, leaving the Biltmore after a big event is a nightmare. You can count on sitting in your car in gridlock for easily 20 mins+. Am I the only one who can’t figure out why in these situations, you sit motionless and then suddenly drive with little interruption?

Anyway, we reach the bottom of the sixth floor where we could exit to the left or right. Two cars were backed up around the curve, to the right. To the left there were no cars and one of the attendants was aggressively waiving for us to follow his lead. Want to guess what two of the next people did?  The safe and familiar thing, turning right, because that’s where you’re “supposed” to turn. Sure enough, the next car and I dashed to the left and we scooped past four floors of traffic.

Seth Godin has been writing a lot lately about the fact that with “the new normal” comes some painful realities. The model we were taught in school and early in our career was to keep our heads down and do what the others do.  That model has been smashed beyond repair by the technology age.  Great lives and careers are now based on having the courage to think independently, make your own decisions and not be a sheep.

If you don’t want to start your own company then go work for one that just started. Isn’t that more risk?  Not really.  There’s infinitely more opportunity and reward . Deluding yourself into thinking you have security at one of the bigger agencies is just that, delusional. The way those bigger companies got to be big was by putting money before people, and not batting an eyelash at triggering layoffs when an account walks out the door. This doesn’t only apply to our industry. The concept of the 25 year employee getting the gold watch is like a scene out of Happy Days. Be cool, don’t always follow and you won’t jump the shark.

Well, Len was right.  I do find myself constantly thinking of stuff to post.  I think the immediacy of writing for a group of readers that are all within striking distance makes it appealing. Communicating with nameless, faceless business people spread across the country is one thing.  Knowing I can make a joke about how hard it is to get into Pizzeria Bianco is another. By the way, did you hear they’re opening for lunch?

So attending the Mayor’s State of the City address at the Sheraton today is definitely a local topic. Right after the national anthem, and before the chicken d’jour, came the Prayer. It would be reasonable to assume the content would be non-denominational, a la the “In God We Trust” that’s on the dollar bill in your pocket. Right?  Wrong. It closed in a way which certainly appealed to the majority but definitely excluded the minority.  Ironic, considering the Mayor personally falls into the latter group. I can’t even begin to fathom the outcry if the roles were reversed. But the point is, the names of the groups are irrelevant. Or should be.

Can someone please explain how this is ok?

I think my reluctance to use LinkedIn can be traced all the way back to its earliest days when the interface and user experience were just dreadful. We’re talking heroically bad. I also used to think it was weird to peer into someone’s address book. But of course that was before Facebook existed and “creeping” only applied to undergarments gone wild.

I went about 6 years without using LinkedIn. Long enough that when I decided it was time  to raise the bar on my own social media best practices, I couldn’t even remember the email address that my account was registered under. It actually took someone on the phone to get it straightened out. It’s worth pointing out that the customer service was in fact excellent.

Well, today I received a lovely email from Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn’s co-founder and Chairman.  Apparently they just signed up their 100 millionth member and he “personally” wanted to thank me for being an “innovator” who “led the way.” Yes, Mom, your son is officially LinedkIn dude # 33,688. To be honest, I feel like I owe Reid an “I’m sorry” as much as a “you’re welcome.” SO, I am making a resolution to wrap my cyber arms around his whole 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon business networking thing.

Even though I know there are at least 33,687 other people out there who received the same email, I still felt valued.  It’s incredible how easy and effective it is to show a customer that you care. It’s just as important as doing good work.

When’s the last time you told your clients that you appreciated them?

While I certainly didn’t expect them to follow any of my previous advice, I’m a little surprised that the tactics they employed. Here’s a breakdown from my own experience:

Call
The Lavidge Company called me on Tuesday after the Valley PR post hit. There were two people on the line (forgive me if I don’t recall their names, but it was a man and a woman). They were even-tempered, non-accusatory and sounded very calm. I realize they are professionals, but for them to treat a lowly blogger with such respect was an excellent move on their part. I personally would have called a little earlier, but they did their job.

Correct
They corrected The Lavidge Company rep’s name in the story (Anne Robertson, who STILL hasn’t called me back), as I wrote it down incorrectly. They also pointed out that Jason Hope has never been convicted of any crime in relation to text message scams.

Offer information
To prove their point about Jason Hope never having been convicted of any text messaging allegations, they offered to send me documents indicating such. I never received them, and I assume they’re off with wherever Anne Robertson’s ability to call back is hiding. I’m sure other PR pros would have made damn sure those documents arrived in my inbox.

Pre-emptive strike
The BEST way to get rid of bad web publicity is to overwhelm it with GREAT publicity. As a quick Google search for Jason+Hope+Lavidge will show you, Jason Hope pledged money to Japan on March 16. My email inquiry to his Lavidge representatives on that page (which I think were the same people that called me) about how much he pledged went unanswered, although I should have followed up on that one.

What’s next?
Had I been advising Jason Hope, I probably would have told him to make himself available for interviews (he may not be able to comment because of legal issues) and published more, different information about the results of the cases that have been found in Jason Hope of JAWA/Cylon’s favor.

Right now, it looks like everyone is hiding something and while this is certainly not a court of law, nor has there ever been a guilty verdict, it sure makes it look like one of Scottsdale’s fastest-growing companies is less than legit.

Stonewalling may have worked before the web made rumor believable, but it’s not going to work now. Any tips for PR pros dealing with bad press?

(UPDATE 5/3/2011: Today I was asked if I would consider removing two posts from Valley PR Blog in exchange for $1000. While the person claiming to be Susan Richardson at susan.richardson80@yahoo.com did NOT specify which two posts, it seems reasonable to assume she was referring to my two posts about Jason Hope, as they are the only two related posts by me on this site.

Lavidge never did tell me when and how much Hope donated to the Red Cross as part of fundraising efforts in Japan, but Hope continues to claim to support local charities like the Greater Scottsdale Boys & Girls Club. While I’m sure any Boys and Girls Club could use the money, I wonder if they know exactly where those “donations” are coming from.)

(UPDATE 4/3/11: The Phoenix Business Journal has joined AZCentral in parroting much of what’s already been said about the feud between Hamid Shojaee and Jason Hope. Oh, and The Lavidge Company has so far been unable to give me the exact amount of funds Hope pledged to support Japan, or any confirmation that the money has been sent.)

Text messaging scams suck. Because so many of us pay our cell phone bills without too much scrutiny, we seldom catch them until we’ve been charged for months. And because there’s nothing illegal about preying on consumer laziness when reading fine print, most cell phone companies don’t alert you to such extraneous charges.

You’d think this kind of operation would be handled overseas, but local boy Jason Hope of JAWA has been accused of running a home-grown text messaging scam right here in Scottsdale. Hope’s JAWA isn’t some small startup operating out of someone’s basement, as Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane lauded them extensively in his latest State of The City speech, commenting:

Jawa is a perfect example of our growing tech-sector.

Jawa is located just off the Loop 101 and Raintree Drive, and their story is the kind that keeps me optimistic about Scottsdale.

They are in the mobile communication technology business, and as you may know, that’s a pretty good business to be in these days. It certainly is for Jawa, who quadrupled their workforce in 2010, growing from 50 to 200 employees.

They expanded their Scottsdale office from 10,000 to 50,000 square feet – and they plan to double that next year.

While certainly a business success story, Jawa also is impressive because charitable giving is part of their core business model.

Each month, Jawa makes a monetary donation to a different organization, based off nominations from company employees. Last year they donated nearly $60,000 to local charities like the Boys & Girls Clubs, Ronald McDonald House, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Jawa founder and CEO Jason Hope is with us here this evening – thank you for being here, Jason.
Courtesy of AZRepublic.com

Hamid Shojaee of AZ Disruptors has broken down what he believes to be legitimate claims against Hope, and found that he was victim of a text messaging scam on his own, with around $100 unknowingly charged to his cell phone bill over the past few months. AT&T refunded his fees, but if you’re like most of the rest of us, you probably don’t scrutinize your cell phone bill all that much.

Regardless of Hope’s guilt or innocence, this brings up a larger ethical problem in the PR world. Hope’s website lists Dawn* Anne Robertson of The Lavidge Company as their PR rep. (A call and email to Robertson went unanswered Monday morning.)

Do PR companies like Lavidge, who include “We accept responsibility and accountability, and we believe that integrity is our truest asset” as part of their company philosophy, have a responsibility to report suspected unethical or illegal activity, and/or disassociate themselves from a company dealing in allegedly nefarious schemes? I’m not talking about strictly illegal activity, but rather anything that’s less than above the board.

A quick Google search shows nothing but a press release announcing Hope pledging funds to Japan (man, they have quite a distribution list), but only one response to any sort of scam allegations.

While I’m sure PR 101 will tell you that whitewashing negative allegations with lots of good press is a smart move, I can’t help but be a little suspicious of such a ridiculous shotgun approach. Nearly every result from the first THREE pages of search for Lavidge and Hope all point to the same release, which should raise red flags for anyone familiar with SEO tactics.

As long as the checks clear, do PR companies, who obviously deal with reputations for a living, have any sort of obligation to NOT whitewash negativity? Is there a line anywhere?

There absolutely should be. This type of alleged scam is the same crap that drove us into a recession, with too many people taking advantage of loopholes, naïveté and plain old ignorance when it comes to technology or financial matters. Hell, Aol still makes a ton of money from people still paying for dial up while simultaneously subscribing to a broadband connection.

As those who understand what’s going on, we owe it to those that don’t to at least warn them of the lengths people will go to scam them. I believe we should call out any business accused of such unethical behavior, so at least people are aware of such charges. What people do with that information is up to them.

Regardless, I’m definitely going to check my cell phone bill a little harder this month.

Jawa denies any wrongdoing in regards to the lawsuit filed on behalf of the State of Texas and Verizon Wireless.

I changed the headline after this was posted because my first wasn’t descriptive enough.

*I have no idea how I messed up the Lavidge rep’s name, but I did. Her first name is Anne. I have a friend named Don. Maybe that’s why. Weird. Anyway, Anne Robertson is her name, and she still hasn’t called back, but I did receive a call from Lavidge offering information on other suits against Jason Hope/JAWA, all of which have ruled in Hope’s favor. And they wanted me to know I had listed their rep’s name incorrectly.

The thrust of the article was that after the recession hit, many legal Top Gunners dropped their price to $990. Thankfully many of those top shelf lawyers are now charging as much as $1,250 a bottle. Wow, talk about a hangover.

My studio has had the (sincere) pleasure of working with some of the top attorneys in Phoenix. So this post bears no reflection on them. It actually has nothing to do with lawyers at all. Hell, who among us wouldn’t charge $20 a minute if we could get away with it? More on that in a few weeks.

I’m actually poking fun at the clients. Let me get this straight. During the stormiest economic climate anyone on this planet has ever faced, top tier executives at Fortune 500 companies like GE and DuPont were ok with retaining counsel for $990, but heaven forbid, not $1,000? Hmmm, if you move that decimal doesn’t $990 look suspiciously like 99 cents, as in the STORE?

We all know that people allow themselves to be seduced by arbitrary numbers and shiny price tags. Hence the timeless .99 phenomenon that stretches from candy bars and oil changes to big screen TV’s and cars. I don’t know about you, but I have heard many times over the years that “just because you know B-C marketing doesn’t mean you can do B-B.” There is an undeniable hint of condescension attached to that theory as if selling professional services is any harder than clothes, coffee or fitness club memberships. It’s not.

Whoever makes major purchases while wearing a tie or pantyhose has a reputation, salary, bonus, mortgage, family (and ego) to protect. You think only facts drive those career decisions? What salesperson will deny that the personal relationship is central to the sale. That whining and dining still works.  How many deals are cut out on golf courses and in strip clubs? That’s why stadium luxury boxes were invented.

People have always bought with their hearts and brains and they always will. Great marketing is about appealing to both organs. A $990 lawyer proves that.

I find myself saying “seriously” quite often these days. Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler regularly lampooned the term so I don’t claim to have invented it.

But still, what word better conveys the sudden, staggering state of disbelief you feel when a client makes that last second request?  Or when a prospect thinks the creative for an ad campaign should cost $2,000? And the infamous intern who didn’t like sorting the highlighters? Not to mention the geyser of venom spraying from our elected officials.

Writing is how I process all which defies logic, reason, common sense or basic human empathy.  My goal is to evoke thought, discussion and change. To rattle the gilded cages of those who want nothing more than to keep people who think, look or love differently than them, out of their cage.

Everything in the world relates to marketing — and all the specialties, strategies, disciplines, tools and tactics we  fill our days with.  Sometimes you might think a post isn’t relevant to you. Look closer, it’s in there. The Mona Lisa is nice, but I’m more of a Jackson Pollock guy. There won’t be any guardrails like, “the reason this matters if you’re in PR is…”

• While maniacal about verbal grammar, in print I have no AP Style whatsoever. That’s one of the many reasons I surround myself with smart Cronkite alumni.

• Life is about perspective. I have been the client much longer than the client services provider.  I was another brick in the wall much longer than I’ve been the owner.

• People should always come before profit. Sam Alpert and I have walked that walk at DSPR for the last five years. I will challenge every boss in town to hop on the treadmill and sacrifice your $200 rounds of golf so you don’t have to lay someone off.

• I think the word boss is repugnant and, contrary to popular opinion, all millennials are not self-entitled slackers. I have dozens of case studies to support both views.

• 80% of my life, career and education has been spent outside Arizona. The Grand Canyon is beautiful. But if you profess that it’s the most beautiful place in the world and you’ve never been east of the Rockies or south of Rocky Point, I’m gonna call you on a major parochial violation.

• Humor is the greatest gift there is. When, not if, my words piss you off, remember that other readers at that moment are laughing — hopefully anyway.

• We all need to do a better job of sharing our oxygen, whether you think the climate is changing or not.  You can believe in whatever you want as long as you don’t believe you have the divine  right to extinguish mine.

• Life is too short to eat vanilla because you’re afraid what people might think if you like Phish Food.

• A positive attitude is nice but not when it’s delusional. As Arizona prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday isn’t it time we stop acting like we’re in our terrible two’s? Last I checked, horses stopped galloping down Central Ave decades ago.

• People in Phoenix are mostly nice — except behind the wheel. Our highways are more toxic than the roads of Istanbul, Boston and Bangkok.

• Agencies like Ogilvy and Edelman would have offices in Phoenix if they saw us as a viable investment, in other words, a world-class city. That requires a sophisticated economy with a highly educated work force and socially progressive culture.  Who’s starting that creative brief?

At the end of the day, most of us marketing communications professionals just sell stuff, services and space.  It’s the teachers, public servants and ace reporters at TMZ who make the world a better place, not us.

So laugh more. Enjoy the ride. It’s the only one you get.

That’s my perspective. Seriously.

D

There are two kinds of fame. The first is the traditional way, where a person’s accomplishment brings them fame. Whether they invented something, were elected to a high office or did a great job running a well known company, this kind of fame can often be planned for and somewhat managed.

The second kind of the people that are famous for being famous. Whether they are from the Jersey Shore cast, a rich heiress or made a sex tape, these people are often unprepared for the challenges they face.

We used to treat these two kinds of people differently. As a society, we often felt that those who earned their fame deserved at least some level of respect or privacy. I acknowledge that it’s often hard to feel sorry for famous and successful people, but there are some things that should always be off limits.

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and one of the main reasons for Apple’s current dominance, is dying. He had a liver transplant a few years ago and was recently seen entering a cancer clinic. For both Apple fans and haters, this is not a good thing, as the one thing both sides agree on is that a healthy Jobs is good for the industry as a whole, and his very existence shouldn’t be the source of rampant speculation.

But the “news” and rumor sites don’t think so. While I agree with the Macalope’s statement that reporting he was seen entering a clinic is certainly newsworthy, publishing reports of exactly how long he may have to live is disgusting.

While there may be no one to specifically blame here, this is easily the worst example of what happens when page views and popularity become the driving force behind what’s newsworthy. Journalism may be dying, but dammit, you wouldn’t have seen any “How long can Steve Jobs stick around” type headlines on the New York Times or even the New Times (hopefully).

As an industry tasked with controlling the type of information that is available to the public, it’s important that anyone who has a problem with this type of “reporting” make their thoughts known.

The price of fame is high, but it shouldn’t cost your dignity.

I posted something about paid vs non-paid interns on my Facebook page a year or so ago. I got a lot of comments from it. Many were adamant that an intern should be paid and that it is illegal to ask them to work with you for nothing. Since I had internships that never paid, but gave me great experiences and resume material, I feel thats the trade-off. I busted my butt in an internship all day, then went off to my paying job, waiting tables. It was not an easy time and I believe hard work pays off in the long run. I’ve paid interns and not paid interns. I didn’t see a difference in their work style, so if you think money motivates them…think again.

I’m not saying all interns are bad, I’ve had some amazing ones who really went the distance to make the most of the time spent with me. I just am curious to know about your experiences…good or bad. What type of internship program do you practice? How do you find them? Do you just hire junior/senior college students? Are you hiring based on classes they’ve taken or the ambition they show in their interview and work experiences?