THE NATURE OF MEDIA
Thirty years ago, Marshall McCluhan, the father of moderncommunications, wrote the immortal words, "The medium is the message."Today I would amend that to, "The medium is the media." Our civilization isutterly dominated by the force of media. After our own families, no influenceholds greater sway in shaping the text of our being than do the media thatcloak us like an electronic membrane.
We all think of ourselves as unique, unlike any person past or present.Indeed, what gives human life its divine spark is the distinct quality of everyindividual. Yet in many ways we are all the same. The task of marketanalysts, pollsters, and demographers is to identify those characteristics weshare, and group us accordingly. If you are in your early forties, male,Caucasian, a father of two, earn $50,000 or more, and listen to a Top 40radio station, there are total strangers out there who know an awful lot aboutyou.
That's because they understand a lot about your upbringing. They know you watched "The Mickey Mouse Club" in the fifties, "The Man FromU.N.C.L.E." in the sixties, "Saturday Night Live" in the seventies, becameenvironmentally conscious in the eighties, and were probably sorry ABCcanceled "Thirtysomething" in the nineties. They've got your number becausethey understand the role the media have played in your life from the momentyou Boomed as a Baby.
Today, in America, we tune in to over 9,000 commercial radio stations, 1,100 television stations, 11,000 periodicals, and over 11,000 newspapers with acombined circulation of nearly seventy million. These are the sources of ouropinions on everything from nuclear disarmament to Madonna's love life.Nobody likes to be told what to think, but all of us, every single day, are toldprecisely what to think about.
As Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson show in their insightful book, Age of Propaganda, the mass media are most effective in terms of persuading thepublic for two primary reasons. First, they teach new behavior and, second,they let us know that certain behaviors are legitimate and appropriate. So, ifthe media are encouraging certain buying patterns, fashion trends, modes ofthinking, the unstated message we receive is "It's okay for me to like that, do that, feel that." In this way, our culture evolves, is accelerated, anddisseminated.
Like the transcontinental railroad of the last century, the media link every city, gully, farmhouse, and mountaintop in North America. Regionalism isfading. The American accent is more uniform; our penchant for migrationand blending in is like the smoothing out of a great national blanket. We arefast becoming one.
A common grammatical error occurs when people say "The media is" ratherthan "The media are" ("media" being the plural of medium"). Yet I sensepeople who say "the media is" are on to something. They perceive the manyarms of the media-TV, newspapers, radio, etc.-as part of one monstrouslymonolithic creature. The media are "one" too.
Consider "Baby Jessica" McClure, for whom my firm donated public relations services. Jessica was the toddler from Midland, Texas, who fell down a narrow pipe in her backyard in 1987. For thirty-six hours, America wasmesmerized by press coverage of her rescue. Acting as a concernedneighbor, the media conveyed Jessica's light to the nation. The private agonyof the McClure family became the anguish of all America.
Think of it: the temporary suffering of one "insignificant" little girl stoppedthe world's most powerful country dead in its tracks. (Then, to canonize theexperience, the TV movie version of Jessica's story made it to the smallscreen within a year.)
Without those cameras there to catch it, and those TV stations to broadcast it, Baby Jessica's ordeal would have made absolutely no impact on anyone other than her family and those who saved her. Because of the media, all of America for two days became part of Jessica's family.
CONTRACTION AND EXPANSION
Journalists and talk-show hosts like to claim they're in the information business or the news business. But you know and I know they're in the money business just like everyone else. Because practically all media areprivately held profit-making ventures, they behave much like any otherenterprise, looking for ways to increase the bottom line.
To do that they must expand their consumer base, that is, their audience.They must give the customer what he or she wants. So if your local newsstation runs a few too many five-part specials on the illicit sex lives of nunsduring "Sweeps Month," remember they're only trying to please the viewers.
Creating a successful product means citizens may not always get theinformation they need. A Harvard researcher found the average networksound byte from presidential campaigns dropped from 41.5 seconds perbroadcast in 1968 to just under 10 seconds in 1988. That translates intoroughly sixteen words a night with which to make up our minds on whoshould run the country. We absorb more information, yet understand lessthan ever before.
This is a logical consequence of big media. Their existence depends onkeeping the audience tuned in. If TV station "A" covers candidate "B" droning on about farm subsidies, most of the audience will probably switch to station "C" running a story about the stray cat raised by an affectionate pig.Station "A" would be wise to ditch candidate "B" and send a crew out to filmPorky and Tabby.
Along with this contraction of information is a parallel expansion of media. Because social scientists have us so precisely categorized, outlets targeted tospecific groups flourish. Lear's caters to mature, high-income women. Details appeals to middle-income, fast-tracker men. Essence aims for blackwomen.
Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul, and Mary, tells a great story in his stage show to illustrate how narrowly focused we've become as a society. In the 1940s and 1950s we had the all-encompassing Life magazine. Then, we cropped ourvision down to People magazine in the seventies (all of Life wasn't goodenough anymore). Things tightened up even more with Us. Now we have Self.Somewhere, there's just gotta be a magazine just for you. I can just imagineit: on sale now, "Fred Morganstern Monthly."
Not only do we see more media outlets, but the flow of information haslikewise increased dramatically the past few years. Fax machines, cellularphones, modems, fiber-optic cables, Low Power TV, satellite down-links, allhave reshaped the way we get our information, when we get it, and what wedo with it.
During China's "Goddess of Democracy" protests in 1989, the studentskept in touch with the outside world via fax. Instantly, China seemed to leapforward from feudal empire to modern nation. Vietnam was the first "we'll beright back after these messages" war. As napalm rained down on the jungle,we saw it live as it happened. We had no time to process information oranalyze events as we were barraged by them. Because of improvedcommunications, the Gulf War had the same effect, only with infinitely moredrama.
The media may have accelerated the process of dissemination, but as wefound out in the days of the first supersonic jets, breaking the sound barrierdid not, as some scientists feared, cause planes to disintegrate. Likewise,instant news did not cause us to psychologically disintegrate.
There's no way to assess what this means to society. To be carpet-bombed by information must have far-reaching consequences to our civilization, but that's for future observers to sort out. Today, we face an intimidating media- driven culture. Anyone looking to succeed in business must first master thefundamentals of navigating the media. To reach customers, donors, orinvestors-to reach the public-one must rely on the media as the primeintermediary. The methodology to achieve this is known as Public Relations.
THE NATURE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Half the world is composed of people who have something to sayand can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.
-- Robert Frost
I'm often asked whether public relations is a science or an art. That's avalid question. In science, two plus two equals four. It will always equal fourwhether added by a Republican from Iowa, a shaman from New Guinea, or an alien from Planet X. However, in public relations, two plus two may equal four. It may equal five. It may equal zero today and fifty tomorrow.
Public relations is an art.
Like an art, there are rules of form, proven techniques, and standards ofexcellence. But, overall, it's a mercurial enterprise, where instinct is aslegitimate as convention.
Public relations was once defined as the ability to provide the answers before the public knows enough to ask the questions. Another P.R. pundit oncestated, "We don't persuade people. We simply offer them reasons topersuade themselves." I define what I do as gift-wrapping. If you package abracelet in a Tiffany box, it will have a higher perceived value than ifpresented in a K Mart box. Same bracelet, different perception.
PERCEPTION IS REALITY
Don Burr, former CEO of People Express Airlines, once said, "In the airline industry, if passengers see coffee stains on the food tray, they assume the engine maintenance isn't done right." That may seem irrational, but in thisgame, perception, not the objective truth, matters most.
How one comprehends given information is all-important in public relations. For decades, baby harp seals were bludgeoned to death by fur hunters, butuntil the public saw the cute little critters up close and personal andperceived the hunt as unacceptable, the problem didn't exist. Before that, itwas a matter of trappers preserving their hardy way of life. The sealsultimately hired the better publicist.
This also works in negative ways. The congressional check-bouncing scandalwas a case in which individual congressmen's visibility skyrocketed, while their credibility plummeted. The Tobacco Institute, a Washington-basedlobbying and P.R. outfit, spends its time and money claiming cigarettes areokay. Nothing they do or say will ever make that true, but they may go a longway in changing public perception of their product. A few years ago theysponsored subliminally that no-smoking regulations infringe on our basicliberties. How's that for a P.R. stretch?
Ultimately, the goal of any public relations campaign is to either reorient, or solidify, perception of a product, client, policy, or event. From there, nature takes its course. If the public perceives the product as good, the movie star as sexy, the pet rock as indispensable, then the public will fork over itsmoney. As the brilliant business author Dr. Judith Bardwick explained, "To beperceived as visible increasingly means one is perceived as successful."
Some may charge that stressing perception as reality is tantamount tosanctioning falsehood. I disagree. As the great historian Max Dimont argued,it didn't matter if Moses really did have a chat with the Lord up on MountSinai or not. What matters is that the Jewish people believed it and carvedtheir unique place in world civilizations because of it. Perception becamereality.
Likewise, on a more mundane scale, one will succeed in a P.R. campaign only if the perception fostered truly resonates with the public. I do not believe people are easily duped. You may try everything in your bag of tricks to get the public to see things your way. You'll pull it off only if the perception youseek to convey fits the reality of the public, the reality of the times. AsPretkanis and Eronson argue, credibility today is manufactured, and notearned.
P.R. OR PUBLICITY?
Often, the terms "public relations" and "publicity" are used interchangeably.They shouldn't be. Publicity is only one manifestation of P.R.-specifically,achieving notoriety through accumulated press exposure. A publicist knowsnewspapers, magazines, and TV talk shows. Public Relations is much morethan that. The Public Relations expert is as well versed in human nature as ineditorial and sound bytes.
P.R. can be as macro as a campaign to persuade foreign governments so buyU.S. soybeans, or as micro as a warm handshake. The notion that P.R. issimply a matter of mailing press releases is nuttier than a squirrel'sbreakfast. As producer, manager, and publicist Jay Bernstein says, "P.R. isgetting a front table at the right restaurant, getting you invited to the rightparty, and getting into first class with a tourist ticket."
A man who has greatly affected my thinking, the esteemed business authorand lecturer Tom Peters, tells the story of a visit to a neighborhoodconvenience store. "American Express was being a little user-unfriendly,"Tom recalls, "and it took a good three minutes for my AMEX card to clear. When it finally did, the cashier bagged my purchase, and as I turned to goreached into a jar of two-cent foil-wrapped mints. He pulled one out,dropped it in my bag, and said, 'The delay you experienced was inexcusable.I apologize and hope it doesn't happen again. Come back soon.' For twocents, he bought my loyalty for life."
This story is about one small business owner and only one customer, but it's a perfect example of good P.R. But what about bad P.R.? I doubt there's anyone on the scene who has mastered that dubious craft better thansometime-billionaire Donald Trump. This is a man who has lost control ofhis own gilded ship. His lurid infidelities, his profligate spending, hisprecipitous fall from fortune, and, worst of all, his attempt to exploit theMike Tyson rape tragedy to promote a prize fight, collectively paint a portraitof a thoroughly vulgar mind.
The Donald doesn't care what you say about him, as long as you spell his name right. True, whenever he opens his mouth or makes a move, the press is all over him. But his massive celebrity has made him only a famous fool. You are not likely to achieve the degree of fame that Mr. Trump has, but, given his shameful image, I would congratulate you on that.
P.R. VS. MARKETING
With Guerrilla P.R. (and P.R. in general), you do not tell the public that your new digital fish cleaner is the greatest invention since the dawn of time. You could easily do that in an ad. Your goal is to lead people to draw that same conclusion for themselves. Otherwise, you're engaging in good old-fashioned- or is it new-fashioned?-marketing strategy.
Companies often relegate public relations to their marketing departments.That might make sense from a corporate point of view, but there's a distinct difference between P.R. and marketing. Going back to the "science vs. art"analogy, whereas P.R. is the art, marketing is the science.
Bob Serling, President of the Stratford Marketing Group, an L.A.-basedmarketing firm, has written, "Marketing is everything you do to make sureyour customers find out about, and buy, your products and services." That'sa tall order, and to go about filling it, marketing executives lug around ahefty bag of tricks.
To a large degree, they rely on surveys, demographic analyses andestablished sales and advertising procedures to accomplish their goals. Butin Public Relations, intangibles play a far greater role. How do you measure afeeling? It's not easy, but in P.R. we trade in the realm of feelings every day.We may use the media as the vehicle, but the landscape we traverse iscontoured by human emotion.
Marketing often goes hand-in-hand with advertising. The undeniableadvantage with advertising is that the advertiser retains full control. Heknows exactly what his message will say and precisely when it will be seen.But remember this little fact of life: most top ad agencies consider a 1-2percent response rate a triumph. That's all it takes to make them happy.And, like it or not, most people don't take ads as seriously as advertiserswould like. Everybody knows they're bought and paid for.
I prefer the odds with major media exposure. True, you do lose a largemeasure of control, and you never know for sure when or how your messagewill be conveyed. But the public is far likelier to accept what it gleans fromthe news media over what it sees in commercials. If Dan Rather says a newsports shoe is a daring innovation, people will give that more credence thanif company spokesman Bo Jackson says it. The news, indeed the truth, iswhat Dan Rather says it is.
So who tells Dan Rather what's news? The media like to boast they rely onace newsgathering staffs; but in fact they depend a great deal on public relations people. That doesn't mean the journalists of America are saps. They're just looking for good stories. A hungry reporter and a smart publicist is a match made in heaven, and it's been that way since the dawn of the Communication Age.
FROM THE GUERRILLA P.R. FILE
In Amarillo, Texas, you'll find the Big Texan Steak Ranch, where the owner issues the following challenge:
If you can eat a seventy-two-ounce steak in an hour, you get it free. News of the deal traveled far and wide, even to the skies where I first read about it inan airline magazine.
GLORY DAYS: THE FOUNDING OF THE P.R. INDUSTRY
The public relations industry flourished with the growth of twentieth-century mass media, although sensitivity to public opinion on the part of public figures is nothing new. Even Abraham Lincoln got into the act, declaring once, "What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself." The fathers of modern P.R. knewthe value of simple images to convey powerful messages.
Edward Bernays, founder of modern P.R., defined his mission as theengineering of consent. He was a nephew of Sigmund Freud, and he strikesme as having been just as perceptive about human nature as his esteemeduncle. Bernays displayed a genius for concocting indelible images, somethinggood P.R. campaigns require. In one early triumph, he arranged for youngdebutantes to smoke Lucky Strikes while strolling in New York's 1929 EasterParade. What Bernays sold to the press as a bold political statement onwomen's rights was no more than a gimmick to sell cigarettes.
Pioneers like publicist/film producer A.C. Lyles set the pace for generations of publicists to follow. Another innovator, Ivy Hill, is often credited with inventing the press release. Hill believed telling the "truth" in journalisticfashion would help shape public opinion. He sensed editors would notdismiss press releases as ads, but rather would perceive their real news value. He was right.
The publicist's ability to appeal to newspapers proved invaluable to captains of industry seeking to shore up their images. Back in the 1920s, Hillmasterminded industrialist John D. Rockefeller's much-ridiculed habit ofhanding out dimes to every child he met. Ridiculous but effective in its time.(Imagine T.Boone Pickens trying that today.)
Occasionally, clients got less than they bargained for. In the late 1950s, the Ford Motor Company hired P.R. trail-blazer Ben Sonnenberg to help overcomethe negative fallout from the Edsel fiasco. He charged Ford $50,000 for afoolproof P.R. plan, and after three days submitted it in person. Sonnenberglooked the breathless executives in the eye and intoned, "Do nothing." With that, the dapper publicist pocketed his check and walked out, much to theslack-jawed shock of the Ford brain trust.
Even nations sometimes need help. During the 1970s, Argentina developed alittle P.R. problem when its government kidnapped and murdered thousandsof its own citizens. Buenos Aires hired the high-powered U.S. firm of Burson- Marsteller to tidy things up. For a cool $1,000,000, the firm launched anextensive campaign involving opinion-makers from around the world: astream of press releases stressed, among other things, the Argentineregime's record in fighting terrorism. Sometimes the truth can be stretcheduntil it tears itself in half.
I don't wish to give the impression that P.R. is strictly a polite version oflying. That's not the case. As I said, P.R. is gift-wrapping. Whether deliveredin fancy or plain paper, truth is truth, and the public ultimately comprehendsit. The trick is packaging the truth on your own terms.
How often have you read about a big movie star storming off the set of a film because of "creative differences" with the director? We all know the twoegomaniacs probably hated each other's guts. But if the papers printed that,we'd perceive the situation very differently. By our soft-pedaling the row withwords like "creative differences," the movie star's reputation remains intact,even though intuition tells us he's "difficult."
MORE THAN ONE PUBLIC
Thus far, when referring to the public, I've generalized to mean thepopulation at large: We the People. The sophisticated modern art of P.R.encompasses many more "publics" than that. In fact, selective targeting is aprimary tactic in sound P.R. strategies. As you will see, bigger is not alwaysbetter.
Depending on the goals, a publicist could target any one of various business, consumer, or governmental communities. An investor seeking financial backing aims for the financial press and relevant trade publications. A rock musician zeroes in on the local music rags. A lobbyist might need nothing more than a friendly article in the Washington Post, a retailer only the residents of his immediate neighborhood.
Though I've found a few clients easily dazzled by quantity, in P.R. quality iswhat really counts. A seven-inch stack of press clippings means nothing unless the objectives of the campaign have been met. The scrapbook makes a greatMother's Day gift, but I'd rather see my clients' careers advanced in the right direction.
Figuring out which public to reach is one of the most critical decisions apublicist makes. My orientation-and, I hope, yours-is geared toward themost significant audience vis-à-vis your objectives, which is not necessarilythe widest. You may want to target the people you buy from, the people youhope to sell to, the people you work for, the people that work for you, and soon. It's a big world full of little worlds when you look closely.
In most cases I spell out precisely who and what I'm going after, and thenproceed aggressively. Don't go for the moon all at once. Set a goal, achieveit, then build on that base. Any good planner knows the advantages of thinking three steps ahead while proceeding one step at a time.
FROM THE GUERRILLA P.R. FILE
The history-making August 1991 revolution in the former Soviet Unionbegan when then-president Mikhail Gorbachev left Moscow for a vacation onthe Crimean Sea. Because the whole affair had a happy ending, everybodylaughed when, only a few days later, the president of an outdoor billboardcompany in Detroit ran a series of large ads all over town reading: "WelcomeBack, Gorby! Next Time Vacation in Michigan."
MICHAEL LEVINE'S TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR DEALING WITH MEDIA
Never be boring. Never!
Know your subject thoroughly.
Know the media you contact. Read the paper, watch the newscast.
Cover you bases.
Don't just take "yes" for an answer. Follow up, follow through.
Never feel satisfied.
Always maintain your composure.
Think several moves ahead.
Be persistent, but move on when you're convinced you're getting nowhere.
Remember, this isn't brain surgery. Don't take yourself too seriously (like toomany publicists I know). Have fun.
Michael Levine is the founder of the prominent public relations firm LevineCommunications Office, based in Los Angeles. He is the author of Guerrilla PR,7 Life Lessons from Noah's Ark: How to Survive a Flood in Your Own Life.
GuerrillaPR.net is a resource for people that want to get famous in the media,without going broke. http://GuerrillaPR.net |
