Trends from SF... Stretching Dollars in Unique Ways

So, I haven’t posted in AGES – yes AGES! Lame, I know. Instead of adding Flack Noise to the blogosphere, I wanted to share some trends I’ve been seeing from my new hometown, Fog City, otherwise known as SF.

· A short-term migration of top talent to Thailand, where single executives are reportedly heading to wait out the market while extending their severance packages and unemployment checks. You can live in luxury in Thailand for less than $2K/month—a pittance to the six-figure earners now on the dole.


· Gourmet goes “homemade” as laid-off executives look to fill their schedules and save a little dough by hitting their local farmer’s market to collect low-cost ingredients to create such treats as gourmet olives, olive oils and exquisite breads… I know of some gourmands who are even creating their own aperitifs from grain alcohol and ingredients—like lemons and fennel—picked from local crops! It’s all part of the Underground Gourmet scene.


· More low-cost glasses of wine on the menu as vintners look to offload excess inventory by passing deals down to local restaurants. I also hear that wine aficionados can’t enough of the bold, risky Syrahs coming from Washington State.

· A revitalization of Sun-In, the hair lightener sold at drugstores as consumers pinch pennies on salon visits. And/or the return of naturally-colored hair. And while we’re talking fashion, I expect natural, naked, buffed nails as mani/pedi budgets get cut.


· A huge summer for cinema. The troubled economy, the still lingering effects of the TV writers strike, plus the tent-pole blockbusters that are due out mean Hollywood will be ringing up at the box office. And, 3-D will have its best year yet with more jump-off-the-screens content hitting the big screen.

Top 10 PR Blunders of 2008

#10
Hacks attacking PR people. Leave Lois alone! Now, I’m not by any stretch of the imagination defending Lois' poorly penned email. Nor am I endorsing her blast-emailing a 1000+ person media list in hopes that someone would respond. These missteps are enough to qualify for their own spots on the PR blunders list. But Lois just looks so frail. Please, hacks, have some compassion. My mom always told me that attacking other people would only make me look ugly. If she knew how to use the Internet, she would tell you hacks to "be the better person." And those are probably good words for all hacks and flacks to live by. I hope we can all just get along in the New Year. OK, I admit, this really isn't much of a blunder, but it just felt right to slot it in here...

#9
Home Back-Up Protection exploiting the murders of Jennifer Hudson’s family members to promote its product. The company that manufactures shotgun racks sent out a news release within days of the murders entitled, “Could a Bedside Shotgun Rack Have Saved Jennifer Hudson’s Family from Tragic Death?” The story quickly made it around social networking sites and blogs; and, it was thrust into the national spotlight by the Chicago Tribune. C’mon, flacks, do not use someone else’s tragedy to promote your stupid product. It’s not that hard of a rule to remember.

#8
The Dr. Pepper/Axl Rose calamity. Dr. Pepper, it was clever idea. You got tons of great ink and an unpaid endorsement from GNR. Finally, Chinese Democracy debuts, but your servers aren’t prepared to handle the Web site traffic from all the thirsty consumers? Dr. Pepper, don’t eff around with Axl. And, give us our free can of pop dammit. The economy’s in the toilet, and I don’t want to part with my 50 cents.

#7
The “Motrin Moms” social media campaign that suggested wearing your baby was a fashion statement… and a back-breaking one at that. Within 48 hours of the campaign’s launch, Twitter moms took on Motrin, the ads were pulled, Motrin’s VP of Marketing was knee-deep in issuing apologies, and sales of generic ibuprofen were up.

#6
Nike refusing to allow the first woman to cross the finish line at the Nike Woman’s Marathon in San Francisco to be named the “winner.” That’s right, 24-year-old Arien O'Connell, a fifth-grade teacher from New York City, ran the fastest time of any of the women, but since she didn’t start the race with the “elite group,” which is given a 20-minute head start, she was disqualified from winning. I just bought a pair of New Balance running shoes. I hope you do too.

#5
The Beijing Olympics Lip-syncing Opening Ceremony debacle. 7-year-old Yang Peiyi had a magnificent singing voice, but she also had a chubby face and crooked teeth. Chinese officials deemed little Yang not cute enough to represent the country in the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics. An adorable, bright-eyed, pig-tailed alternative was slotted in to lip synch “Ode to the Motherland.” A global PR shamble ensued.

#4
AIG executives throwing lavish parties—complete with caviar and champagne—after getting an $85 billion government bailout. Boo hoo… I’m so poor, can you pass the Cristal?

#3
Calling it a Bailout. Really, the flacks couldn't come up with a better word than bailout? Maybe “loan?” Maybe “bridge?” Seriously, every last sub-bullet of the Bailout’s messaging architecture could have been better flacked by my intern.

#2
The Big Three flying to Capitol Hill on private jets to ask for a bailout. Read my blog post on it.


#1
The biggest PR blunder of 2008 was by far Sarah Palin… You betcha! Why a PR blunder? Because no one bothered to media train the Republican Siren before catapulting her into the international spotlight. And, if she was media trained, we should revoke the trainer’s flacking creds. The Katie Couric interview. “I can see Russia from my house” (ok, actually that quote is attributed to Tina Fey who gave the quote during a parody of Palin). Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe budget. I could go on, but it’s just too easy. I want to be the better person.

Thanks to all my flacky friends who contributed to this list!

SavvyFlack Helps Host Digital Family Reunion

Hi everyone, I’m excited to be supporting the Digital Family Reunion (DFR), an event that will bring together the California technology and business communities for the holidays. In association with some of the region's top trade associations and social networking groups, the DFR will reignite old relationships, spark new ones, and set the stage to kick off 2009 with a bright new start.

Inviting early adopters and legacy participants of the Internet 1.0 and today's digitally apt Internet 2.0 tube dwellers, the DFR creates the optimum conditions for these generations to synergize with one another and inspire opportunities that will serve our industries, our region, and our society at large. The DFR is helping to advance the conversation between these like-minded, yet diverse communities by asking the question: "If we knew how connected we all are, how would that change everything?"

Join the conversation! The event takes place Thursday, December 11 from 5-10 p.m. at the Skirball. Use the promotion code “DFR30” to get a discounted ticket price.

Hope to see you all there!

Girls in Tech Launches in Los Angeles

Finally! Angeleno geek girls have a place to call home! I was thrilled to attend the launch of “Girls in Tech Los Angeles” this week at CauseCast in Santa Monica. Girls in Tech (GIT) is a social network focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of like-minded, professional, intelligent and influential women in technology. Engineers, programmers, product managers, marketers, designers, and of course plenty of flacks attended the event. Even a few guys joined in the event.

PS, that is me with James Lee of Lee Strategy Group posing with HER Energy Drink, one of the event sponsors (and tasty stuff might I add!) , and there again is me with friend and fellow blogger Jeremy Pepper, who blogs at POP! PR Jots.

Private Jets vs. Public Perception

There are a few things I know...

You shouldn’t wear Manolos to the unemployment office.

You shouldn’t chow on filet mignon while waiting in the soup line.

You shouldn’t keep on the pool boy while your house is in foreclosure.

And, by all means, YOU SHOULD NOT FLY CORPORATE JETS TO THE BAILOUT MEETING!

Wow! File this under “What Were They Thinking?” By now you’ve certainly heard the news that execs from the Big Three automakers swarmed into DC on their private corporate jets to beg Congress for a $25 billion lifeline.

A pre-owned Gulf Stream jet costs more than $25 million. And this is before paying for all its necessities—insurance, pilots, flight attendants, maintenance, jet fuel, catering, in-flight entertainment…

Think it’s just one jet? Not so. Ford continues to operate a fleet of eight private jets for its executives, ABC News reported. And, it costs about $20,000 to fly a private jet from Detroit to Chicago.

It’s a “perk,” the companies said. I have a thought, why don’t we give the Big Three executives the same perks my firm gives its employees—an office to come to five days a week and a bi-weekly paycheck for doing so?!

CNN contacted the Big Three to inquire further—the companies defended the CEOs' travel as standard procedure. Another thought… they are the CEOs, why don’t they CHANGE standard corporate procedure?!

Try as they might, this is simply un-spinable.

Where were the PR people in all of this? Did anyone in the comms department have the wherewithal to say, “You should not, under any circumstances, take the corporate jet while toting a tin cup”?

My best guess? The flacks were the first people to be laid off.

But that doesn’t account for the simple misstep in common sense on this one. I would’ve put them in coach and bought their tickets on Priceline.com, where a last-minute roundtrip fare from Detroit to DC can be had for $176. Or, as my car-loving, PR extraordinaire friend Jennifer Shay Campana (who is herself a victim of the economy and is currently seeking employment should you have any leads) said: “Congress should have made them drive back to Detroit in a Ford Taurus.”

Hmmmm… imagine five behind-the-times executives crammed into a $20,000 sedan for the nine-hour journey.

I’m glad I traded in my gas-guzzling Ford Explorer for a Toyota Prius.

Parking & The Economy -- A Special Feature

The Unemployment Index. The Dow Jones Indexes. The SavvyFlack Parking Space Availability Index.

We have lots of fancy indexes to tell us just how much this economy sucks monkey balls, but I have one of my own that I believe is a far better indicator of suck. It’s the Parking Space Availability Index. It’s simple and works like this: the more parking spots available in my office building or apartment complex or shopping mall, the worse the economy.

Today when I pulled in, there was a spot available right next to the entrance. Now I know we’re screwed.

OK, just hit me... another indicator of economic health... the number of sale shoes available in size 7. The more sale shoes available, the worse the economy.

When did CNN get so cool??

Wow! Did you catch CNN’s Election Night Coverage? The set—outstanding. The animations—fresh and raw. The panels—three layers deep. The technology—touch-screen. The custom show logos (I think I counted three distinct ones)—plastered on the backs of laptop screens, projected on walls and green-screened on anchors’ backdrops. The experts—talking about the Election Night parties they had to miss so that they could cover the news. The anchors—charming, witty and relevant. And, was it just me, or were you also hypnotized by the animated logo, with its thread of CG-generated light piping through the letters C-N-N? At first, I was concerned I was watching MTV News, but then came Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer, talking to me from my TV set.

CNN, you're so cool.