Fake News: In an age of fake news and politically weaponized tweets, communicators must be prepared for any conversation, panelists agreed during Communicating in a Trump World, a PR Council event in NY. Traditionally, business and political issues were separate, but they’re “collapsing on one another,” says Jim Papa, EVP, Global Strategy Group. Consumers are increasingly viewing brands through a civic and a consumer lens, so communicators need to ensure branding includes a government-relations component. “If you don’t have your public affairs or government affairs function integrated into all of your business functions, then now is the time to do that,” Kelly Cushman, EVP, JDA Frontline, says. “A lot of what we do is reactionary…we can no longer do that. We have to be proactive.” While brands increasingly are being asked to take a stand on social issues, they must consider the pros and cons, says KayAnn Schoeneman, SVP, Ketchum. “Ask yourself: What does my…brand want to offer if we wade into this debate? What’s the benefit? Is it in line with our mission and values and our employee base? And are you prepared for the aftermath of what will happen if you support a particular position?” As President Trump’s Twitter account illustrates, social media has become as much a channel for political sound bites as networking. The public gets its news from multiple channels, but a brand’s message must remain consistent. “We’re in a moment when earned, paid, owned media all need to be coordinated,” says Don Baer, chair/CEO, Burson-Marsteller. “Clients don’t have to be beholden to the traditional earned approach, because they can basically establish the beachheads themselves.” -- by Jerry Ascierto, PRNews
Financial: After a 20-year partnership that saw them build one of Boston’s top PR and lobbying firms, Larry Rasky and Joe Baerlein have parted ways amicably. Rasky bought out Baerlein’s stake in Rasky Baerlein. The firm now will be known as Rasky Partners; Rasky also bought out CEO Ann Carter, who’ll start ACommunications, a leadership firm. Baerlein’s new business will be called Baerlein & Partners.
Super Bowl Data:Last week we told you that image-recognition software from TalkWalker had been eyeing brand logos in Super Bowl-related social posts during the week leading up to the big game. At the time, Pepsi’s logo was ahead of the pack by a large margin. As it turned out, other than the NFL logo (7,020 sightings), Pepsi was the most-spotted brand last Sunday in Super Bowl-related social posts (1,111), TalkWalker tells us. The 2016 leader, Coca-Cola, was a distant third (580), behind Pepsi and Google (646). In terms of consumer engagement with posts on Super Sunday across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Shareablee tells us the leading brand was T-Mobile (18.9 million engagements), followed by Netflix (13 million) and 84 Lumber (12 million). Engagement with video posts from the brands powered those top three, Shareablee data shows.
News Bits: Last spring, when Donald Trump was tweeting away as one of many Republican presidential hopefuls, we asked some two-dozen brands if they wanted to be included in a story about Trump’s use of Twitter possibly making the platform more popular with brands and consumers. Not one would go on the record. Predictably, brands were reluctant to have even the faintest whiff of politics attached to them. Skip to the present when brands are bathing in politics, not all by choice, of course. The latest being Nordstrom (reluctantly, over the Ivanka Trump fashion line debacle) and Under Armour (even more reluctantly, as founder Kevin Plank’s praise of the president drew the ire of Under Armour paid influencers Steph Curry, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and ballerina Misty Copeland). Word now is that obscure brands want to be blasted in a Trump tweet for the notoriety it could bring. Circling back to the start of this item, Twitter is more popular, but that’s about it. Its daily user base grew 11% in Q4, but revenue rose just 1%, it said Feb. 9. Still alive: Twitter’s streak of failing to post a profit since going public in 2013. Twitter said it will begin to offer more video ads.
ABC Entertainment
People: Richard Horrmann was promoted to VP, communications, ABC Entertainment. He joined Disney full time in 2007. – PayPal VP of global corporate communications Paul Cohen is departing to return to former employer Visa, where he’ll head global communications. – Tim Morrison was named VP, corporate communications, Toyota Motor North America. He’d been VP, guest experience and retention. – Former NY Times business editor Tim Race joined FleishmanHillard’s NY office as a senior-level strategist. – Congrats to our friend Gary Grates, principal at W20 Group, on being named director of the IPR’s Organizational Communication Research Center.