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Gawker

  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/08/28/_Press_Release_Subject_Line_Of_The_Day__Public_Relations_'

    Press Release Subject Line Of The Day [Public Relations]

    Posted: August 28th, 2008, 10:43am CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    "Actor/entertainer Ben Vereen announces his bout with serious illness, also available to discuss upcoming movies."


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/08/27/_Businesses_To_Gays__Hate_The_Player__Not_The_Game__Public_Relations_'

    Businesses To Gays: Hate The Player, Not The Game [Public Relations]

    Posted: August 27th, 2008, 10:20am CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    Gay Mafia attacks American entrepreneurism, free speech with Communist-style collective action! That's the news out of California, where businessmen are doing their part for the democratic process by giving huge sums of money to political groups aiming to ban gay marriage. Which is legal, they point out! Nevertheless, incensed gays are organizing campaigns against these mens' businesses, whether they're still working there or not. Whoa, are people no longer free to hate without consequence in this mixed-up country?

    Gay hatemongering group Californians Against Hate encouraged a boycott of Bolthouse Farms, even though William Bolthouse, who gave $100,000 to the anti-gay marriage cause, had sold the company years earlier. It's a widespread practice, apparently. Business owners say "Hey, we're neutral!" Gays say, "Bear the name, bear the shame."

    "To tell a business owner that they can't express their beliefs on an issue is a really stupid thing," said Terry Caster, the owner of A-1 Storage, a self-storage company based in San Diego.Californians Against Hate says Mr. Caster and his family gave about $300,000 to support Proposition 8, prompting the group to make him the focus of a call-in campaign.

    But seriously, this why real non-jackoff businesses pay PR consultants: to advise them that if they donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-gay causes, they can expect some backlash. Far be it from me to encourage someone to employ a PR agency, but please employ a PR agency, Mr. Caster et al. These donations are public information. What are you people talking about?

    [WSJ]


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/08/26/_The_Decline_Of_The_Celebrity_Flack__Public_Relations_'

    The Decline Of The Celebrity Flack [Public Relations]

    Posted: August 26th, 2008, 11:44am CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    Several months ago, Brad Pitt fired his flack. His other half, Angelina Jolie, doesn't have a dedicated, full time PR rep herself either. The fact that the couple generally gets great press anyhow raises the obvious question: if Brangelina doesn't need a publicist, who does? The nuanced answer has to do with the changing nature of the celebrity media and the shifting balance of power among various types of Hollywood insiders. The blunt answer is, "Very few Hollywood people need flacks any more." Disintermediation is the new black!

    When you think of celebrity media today, think of two words: OK! magazine. Its entire business model is based on working *with* celebrities to come up with the nicest, most agreeable presentation possible. OK! is so celebrity-friendly it is edited by a former celebrity flack.

    Although OK! may not be the most powerful celebrity magazine, its business methods pull US Weekly, People, and the rest of its competitors in its direction. Outlets have to fight for celebrity exclusives, and when a celebrity knows that she can go to OK! and be treated to only the nicest coverage in exchange for cooperation on a story, it's incumbent upon anyone else who wants to land that story to put up a similarly sweet offer.

    The other significant part of today's celebrity media consists of the dirt-mongering gossip hounds—TMZ, Perez Hilton, etc. They place less stock in treating famous people respectfully, but they are susceptible to favor-trading.

    So what many celebrities have come to realize is this: the fact that they will be covered is a given. The fact that they will have to endure a certain amount of unwanted published gossip is also a given. Modern media saturation ensures it. Luckily, they're in a position to counter any negative coverage from the dirtmongers with positive coverage from the friendlier celeb press. It's all waiting there, right out in the open. What they need is not a flack; what they need is simply a broker.

    We think of the classic Hollywood publicist as a highly-connected favor trader in a position to keep a handle on the constant demands of the media with clever spin, keeping the bad news secret and the good news front-and-center. But the explosion of online media outlets has rendered this model anachronistic. The big media outlets that were once in a position to bargain with flacks are now struggling to keep up with online competitors.

    So Brad Pitt doesn't need to pay a special PR person for her services. He can simply get his manager to handle it. He doesn't need a lying flack to call up newspaper editors and berate them; he just needs someone who can get the editor of celebrity weeklies on the phone to work out the best deal. He doesn't need a pit bull; W magazine just let him take its cover photo with his own camera, for chrissake. That's better PR than money can buy.

    Eventually, Hollywood flackery will dwindle down to two primary categories: crisis specialists like PR ninja Mike Sitrick, whose services will be in demand as long as celebrities are fucking up in any way; and those who specialize in clients with some political inclinations, like Ken Sunshine (pictured), who reps Hollywood superliberals like Leo DiCaprio, helping to assure that they're taken seriously.

    All others should be able to do away with their general-purpose flacks. Studios and networks can handle publicity for their own movies and shows. Managers can determine the best place to place stories for their celebrity clients. One less middleman won't be mourned. Even celebrities deserve to save a few bucks sometimes.


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/08/25/_Michelle_Promises_To_Expose_This_NObama_Charlatan__Public_Relations_'

    Michelle Promises To Expose This NObama Charlatan [Public Relations]

    Posted: August 25th, 2008, 7:43pm CDT by Ryan Tate
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    Michelle Obama just snuck out an email message to Scarlett Johansson and the rest of Barack's secret text message buddies. She promises to reveal the TRUTH about Obama tonight, writing, "I'm planning to share a few stories about the Barack I know." HA! Here's the preview video she made, in which she asks for emotional support from her children, because Barack has abandoned her to focus on HIS elitist political future. The clip is a nice way to bypass the Main Stream Media, but why does it show Michelle vacuuming the convention hall?? That's sexist.


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/08/13/_Olive_Garden_Shuns_Playboy_Endorsement__Sticks_To_Breadsticks__Public_Relations_'

    Olive Garden Shuns Playboy Endorsement; Sticks To Breadsticks [Public Relations]

    Posted: August 13th, 2008, 8:47am CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    Kendra Wilkinson is a tanned, platinum-blond Playboy Model from Southern California who refers to Olive Garden as "my soul food." Which would seem to be exactly the sort of culinary embrace that one would expect from Hugh Hefner's live-in girlfriend, no? It's really quite a revealing bit of Americana. But Olive Garden itself wants to cater exclusively to waddling suburbanites, and fears that Wilkinson's sexy sexual sexuality will, somehow, scare away the clean customers. But why?

    One official says the company has tried to walk a fine line with its response, maintaining the chain's wholesome image without alienating potential customers. "I don't feel comfortable talking about this...because it is a complicated issue for the brand," says Michele Kay, executive vice president of WPP Group's Grey advertising firm, which handles the Olive Garden account.

    The purported issue here is whether companies should embrace "rogue" famous fans, even if they're as disreputable as—the two examples actually used—a Playboy model or a rapper. In other words: how does corporate America deal with blacks and loose women?

    Olive Garden, of course, is foolish. A blond Playboy model perfectly embodies their outward deliciousness and inner emptiness. Don't let her defect to Applebee's, you fools.

    [WSJ; pic via Evil Beet]


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/08/12/_New_PR_Trend__We_Hope__Public_Relations_'

    New PR Trend, We Hope [Public Relations]

    Posted: August 12th, 2008, 10:31am CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    A tipster sends us evidence of a new form of marketing spam: someone has sent her $0.02 via Paypal, with the subject line "my 2 cents on [company]." Yes, using Paypal as a delivery system is insidious. But if every spam email came with two cents, we would have 389375692099302 cents.


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/07/30/_Running_For_President_On__5_A_Day__Public_Relations_'

    Running For President On $5 A Day [Public Relations]

    Posted: July 30th, 2008, 10:08am CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    In the (very near) future, presidential candidates will have national advertising campaign budgets of about $637 or so. They'll just make a few very low-tech ads full of stock photos and slanderous lies about their opponents, run the ad once at 3 a.m. on a small local news channel in the Midwest, and then let the news networks swoop in and show the ad in its entirety hundreds of times for free, repeating all of its slanderous lies each time. That's basically been John McCain's strategy so far, and it's working like a charm!

    The number of times Senator John McCain’s new advertisement attacking Senator Barack Obama for canceling a visit with wounded troops in Germany last week has been shown fully or partly on local, national and cable newscasts: well into the hundreds.
    The number of times that spot actually, truly ran as a paid commercial: roughly a dozen.

    Awesome work. The added bonus is that the ad says Obama refused to visit wounded troops because they wouldn't give him enough publicity for it, and he'd rather play basketball with fellow Muslims anyhow. Neither aspect of which seems to be factually true. Decide for yourself: watch the ad below! We'll send the McCain campaign an invoice for this post.

    [NYT]


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/07/24/_Nike_Pulls__Air_Stab___UK_Crime_Rates_Plummet__Public_Relations_'

    Nike Pulls 'Air Stab,' UK Crime Rates Plummet [Public Relations]

    Posted: July 24th, 2008, 3:19pm CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    Poor Nike just cannot catch a break these days. First all the gays and their blog commenter followers got upset about Nike's new ads featuring a guy with his nuts in another guy's face, which some say are homophobic. (Nike's ad agency would like you all to STFU with your whining about that, BTW). And this controversy is distracting them from the process of pulling all their "Air Stab" shoes out of UK stores because the god damn Brits can't stop knifing each other!

    The insatiable British appetite for stabbing their fellow citizens caused bad PR levels to rise so high that Nike had to start pulling the shoes last week—even though they've been selling them for 20 years.

    A company spokesman said: "Given the current climate we have withdrawn the shoe indefinitely from Nike's own stores in the UK."

    He said the Air Stab name reflected the fact that it was first launched in 1988 as a stability shoe and had no connection to knives or stabbing.

    "While it may be an unfortunate coincidence timing-wise, given current problems regarding knife crime, we completely reject the idea that we are in any way condoning or encouraging the issue of knife usage," said the spokesman.

    If the Brits decide to start using Lebron James as a weapon, it will truly spell trouble Nike's European marketing plan.

    [Telegraph UK via Adrants]


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/07/23/_Why_Does_A_Flack_Want_To__Help__A_Reporter___Public_Relations_'

    Why Does A Flack Want To "Help" A Reporter? [Public Relations]

    Posted: July 23rd, 2008, 1:11pm CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    A flack named Peter Shankman (who enjoys getting tased) has built up quite a little reporter-helping service! Through a free website, Helpareporter.com, Shankman takes in queries from reporters in search of sources for random stories, and then sends those queries out to the PR world, who—coincidentally—like to be featured sources. Everybody wins! Except for the other reporter-source website called Profnet, which does the same thing, but charges a big fee to flacks to participate:

    Shankman tells me he heard from a source that ProfNet is so concerned salespeople have been issued talking points against him. With 14,000 "professional communicators" in its roster, ProfNet has a significant cash flow at stake, especially when your competition gives away its product for free.

    Shankman says he'll never charge for his service and would never sell his mailing list — the hour and a half per day that he spends on his mailing list results in great publicity for himself — better than he could ever buy. Though, he does make some coin selling ads at "way over $100 CPMs" to advertisers like American Apparel.

    Shankman's little service has been building slowly for a long time. By all outward appearances (not counting his service to American Apparel), he's giving away a valuable service for free, out of the goodness of his heart. Which is why I've always been so god damn skeptical of the whole thing.

    What's your angle, Shankman? What's your angle? What's your angle? I fully expect this to turn into some sort of cult, or be revealed as a CIA plot to infiltrate the media. Until then, we're withholding judgment.

    [The Industry Standard]


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/07/18/__Guido__War__Public_Relations_'

    'Guido' War [Public Relations]

    Posted: July 18th, 2008, 2:20pm CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    Staten Island—all of it!—is threatening to boycott Belmar, NJ because the mayor there made derogatory remarks about "guidos," the overtanned, hair-gelled, well-muscled gentlemen who I say are just fine, so that I don't get jumped next time I go to the gym. "The mayor should watch his f- - -ing mouth!" one Staten Island resident told the Post. Ha, right you are, my friend! Do you care to read the entire press release about this grievous insult from Staten Island Good Neighborhood Association president John "JE" Englebert, for some reason? Then click through and do so! [UPDATE: And a sample of the mayor's original gentle insults!]:

    MEDIA ADVISORY

    Staten Island Organization calls for Boycott of Belmar New Jersey
    if Mayor fails to visit Staten Island

    Staten Island, New York- John "JE" Englebert President of the Staten Island Good Neighborhood Association is calling for a boycott of Belmar New Jersey by Staten Islanders. An apology is not good enough. The group wants the Mayor Kenneth Pringle who insulted Staten Island to spend 24 hours in the crown island jewel of New York. He would be treated to the local cuisine including a night at the Staten Island Hotel. The Staten Island Good Neighbor Association wants to take him on a tour of the place people love to dump on.

    If he refuses the group plans a fundraiser to give for the candidate that runs against him in the next election and boycott ads will be placed in local newspapers across Staten Island. The groups website is http://www.statenislandgoodneighborhoodassociation.com

    "JE" Englebert is a life-long resident of Staten Island. He is owner of New York City nightclubs including Suzie Wong and Prime. The Organization is a non political group that is dedicated to the health, safety and well being of Staten Island. It acts as a community watch dog organization for good government and civic activities for the people of Staten Island.

    Some of what the mayor wrote [via Newsday]:

    The more time we spend on the NJGuido site, the more we think of Guidos as a kind of rare bird: they flock to our shore towns during the warm months, and are as welcome as, oh, Canada Geese. They're always tanned to the color of coconut shells, and easily identified by their plumage: satin shirts and short skirts on the females; Armani Exchange T-shirts and artfully distressed jeans on the males. The females favor bold hair styles and colorful makeup; the males tend to strut and flex their pumped up muscles. The call of the Guido is bellowing, and frequently slurred, invariably starting with the sound, "Yo," followed all too often by some creative variation on an expletive beginning with the letter, "F."


    Poll

  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/07/10/_5WPR_Scares_Holy_Man_With_Sock_Puppet__Blames_Intern__Public_Relations_'

    5WPR Scares Holy Man With Sock Puppet, Blames Intern [Public Relations]

    Posted: July 10th, 2008, 12:01pm CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    Incompetent flackery factory 5WPR has admitted to the internet sock puppetry we covered yesterday—posting fake comments on a blog on behalf of a client. That client, by the way, is a kosher slaughterhouse called Agriprocessors, which has long been under fire for workplace safety and immigration law violations. 5W CEO and paragon of employee satisfaction Ronn [sic] Torossian told The Forward that an investigation is underway to determine who's responsible for the fake comments. But even though Ronn is a friend to Israel, he already has a Rabbi scared for his own safety. Shame! Incompetent shame:

    Two of the postings in question were made in the name of Rabbi Morris Allen, a prominent critic of Agriprocessors and the founder of the Conservative movement’s Hekhsher Tzedek initiative, which is attempting to create ethical standards for the production of kosher food. The first of the comments purporting to come from Allen appeared with his name misspelled. The second, which was made midday on July 9, came at the same time that Allen was presiding over the funeral of his aunt in Omaha, Neb.

    Grade-A flackery, that.

    Allen told the Forward that the postings left him concerned for his safety and for the reputation of Hekhsher Tzedek.

    “I’m increasingly concerned about my own safety because if you begin to engage in this kind of behavior, I just wonder where it ends,” he said.

    Now they plan to sue 5W! And the blogger who originally uncovered the trolls spoke to a 5W VP who blamed the entire thing on a foolish intern. We've emailed him also, but haven't heard back yet. We did hear back from Ronn late yesterday though, who said:

    I am in mexico with my family. Just saw your note but as you have already posted, clearly my reply doesnt interest you. You seem to be obsessed with my firm.

    Noted!

    [Failed Messiah, The Forward]


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/07/09/_Fox_News_Plays_Nice_With_Times_Reporters_It_Hasn_t_Yet_Smeared__Public_Relations_'

    Fox News Plays Nice With Times Reporters It Hasn't Yet Smeared [Public Relations]

    Posted: July 9th, 2008, 12:40pm CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    Is the Fox News PR machine trying to get back in the good graces of the New York Times—and slyly drive a wedge between reporters there at the same time? The network's famously vicious media relations operation was ravaged in a David Carr column in the Times on Monday. But now that they've let Bill O'Reilly take his obligatory on-air shot at the paper, the network seems to have decided to play nice with Times reporters—at least, with some of them.

    On Monday—knowing that Carr's column was running—the network apparently gave the scoop about its hiring of ex-Hillary flack Howard Wolfson to Jim Rutenberg, a Times political reporter.

    Today, with Carr's missive still hanging in the air, Fox News gave Times reporter Brian Stelter what appears to be the only interview with Fox News executive vice president Kevin Magee regarding Fox Business' hiring of WSJ columnist Walt Mossberg as a contributor. Magee was quoted in the press release announcing the deal, which would presumably make him the guy that every reporter on the story wanted to talk to.

    The network is—at the very least—going out of its way to be helpful to the Times this week. But we haven't seen or heard any indications of a Fox News apology (public or otherwise) to Times reporter Jacques Steinberg, who was grossly caricatured on air last week for writing a factual story that the network didn't care for.

    The straightforward interpretation of this is that FNC has decided to play nice this week in order to prove Carr's characterization wrong, or at least to indicate that they can rise above direct retaliation against the paper. The sinister interpretation is that Fox News PR has decided to pursue a divide-and-conquer strategy with the Times, being helpful to reporters it favors while freezing out others—like Steinberg—that it does not. The classic carrot and stick approach.

    Because we're talking about Fox News PR, we lean towards the sinister interpretation. So the Times had better be careful to show some solidarity in the coming weeks. Hang together or hang separately!


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/07/09/_Two_Big_Losers_Will_Repair_Your_Image___Public_Relations_'

    Two Big Losers Will Repair Your Image! [Public Relations]

    Posted: July 9th, 2008, 12:34pm CDT by Pareene
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    Is your brand in crisis? You may need the expert help of mega-PR firm Burson-Marsteller! The firm is run by public relations expert Mark Penn, who recently did a fantastic job selling Hillary Clinton to the nation until he had to quit as her top advisor because his firm met with the Colombian government to represent them on an issue the Clinton campaign had taken the opposite view of. Whoops! Then Hillary lost. So hey, Mark Penn understands why maybe you wouldn't turn to him to manage whatever PR disaster you're undergoing. Which is why he's brought on another superstar from the world of politics: Karen Hughes!

    Karen Hughes "came to Washington with President George W. Bush as his communications director," but more recently she's famous for being a disastrous failure at the State Department, where she was assigned to manage a huge brand in the midst of a terrible crisis: the United States of America!

    Hughes was named the "Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs," which means that basically her job was to make Muslim nations love the US of A. She was sort of a spectacular failure, as she doesn't understand really anything about the Islamic world and is really much better at manhandling American journalists than, uh, diplomacy. She made a video with Cal Ripken, Jr. once though!

    Now, years later, everyone hates America more every day, and Hillary Clinton's public image is an even sadder and more vicious caricature of female ambition than it was in 1992, so hey, hire Mark Penn and Karen Hughes to make America love your dolphin-raping corporation again.


  • Permalink for 'Gawker/2008/07/08/_The_Case_Against__Crazy_Irena_Briganti___From_Those_Who_Know_Her_Best__Public_Relations_'

    The Case Against "Crazy Irena Briganti," From Those Who Know Her Best [Public Relations]

    Posted: July 8th, 2008, 11:44am CDT by Hamilton Nolan
    Tags:  Public Relations  

    "The Irena Briganti that I know is funny, hard-working and always willing to help out a colleague-no matter how busy she is," wrote Fox Television flack Erica Keane yesterday, in response to our "smear" of Briganti, Fox News boss Roger Ailes' PR attack-dog-in-chief. But Keane is in the minority in her assessment of Briganti's charm. Our post on her generated perhaps the biggest outpouring of responses we've had since Bloomberg staffers got the chance to vent about horrid boss Matthew Winkler. There was a wellspring of resentment against the Fox News flack just waiting to come out—and much of it came to us unsolicite