It doesn't take much to translate the value of Herman's hiring. PR NEWS, on a recent trip to New York, met with Herman the day after the U.S. government had bombed Afghanistan and Sudan and the conversation wandered into areas we typically would never have entered into a PR person who's executing a high-profile, expensive media relations campaign.
We sat in a popular cafe (a stone's throw from BM's headquarters in New York) and Herman tells us he recently refused dozens of calls from the huge bread basket of media outlets fighting for expert analysis concerning the retaliatory move and the sardonic Wag-the-Dog theory.
Instead, he tells us about a case investigated years ago when he and a FBI cohort were forced to go visit a woman on New Year's Eve whose only son had been one of the victims of the Pan Am 103 tragedy. He tells us that when he left there, he made a promise to himself that if he ever had to deal with a victim's family as part of an investigation of this magnitude, he'd help make the process more human, less formulaic.
His chance, he adds, came with the TWA Flight 800 investigation during which he says investigators painstakingly tried to offer a different kind of support to the victims' families.
But whether these factors will weigh heavily into Herman's success in PR remains to be seen. Still, one thing is for certain: the tide has turned and the troops are heading into PR from all corners.
Industry News
On the Radar Screen: Northwest Forgoes Press Filter To Reach Customers About Strike
Northwest Airlines, in trying to control messages concerning its disgruntled pilots bought an ad in The Washington Post to speak directly to customers. We think the notion is smart, but agree it should be backed with consistent communications, both internally and externally.
The Aug. 27 reads: "Northwest Airlines' Current Contract Offer: Average pilot salary would be: $150,000 per year; top pilots would earn: $240,000. Days of work required to earn these salaries: 14 per month. You decide."
The ad is just one sign of how companies are courting their consumers to build loyalty, a major thrust of PR today.
Strat@comm Touts Knocking Lewinsky off Front Page
Public affairs boutique Strat@comm, Washington, D.C., found a way to blow its own horn last week when it mailed dozens of press releases about its front-page Aug. 20 USA Today story for client General Motors. The piece was about GM offering night vision devices on Cadillacs.
Strat@comm's pat on the back reads: "Cadillac announces it will be the first to offer Night Vision in a passenger car. Lead news story of the day. Monica Lewinsky moves to second place. Doesn't get any better than this."
Agreed. (Strat@comm, 202/289-2001)
Rainer's Release on ISO 9002 Certification Deserves Kudos
Rare are the times that a chuckle also is evoked when a press release takes on a serious matter. PR NEWS tips its hat to Rainer Corp. for its cheeky press blitz surrounding its achievement as the first PR/ad house in North America to earn ISO 9002 status.
ISO 9002 is an international standard for quality that's based on auditing a company's operations against a strict set of management system requirements.
To deliver its message, Ranier sent out to a carefully courted group of journalists (trade and national) about 40 press releases that arrived in a package containing a red stamp pad and "REJECTED" stamp. Recipients are to "use it any time you receive press releases and/or other media information that falls below your standards - even if it comes from us!"
"Some of the journalists we spoke with on follow-up remembered it right away and said it [the stamp] was something they always wanted to have," says Philip O'Brien, senior account manager. By last Wednesday, it had already elicited interest from Inc. Magazine, AdAge and AdWeek for the kits, which cost about $6 per mailing. (Rainer, 978/464-5302)
People Moves
- Founder of Atlanta's Duffey Communications Lee Duffey was nominated by the Public Relations Society of America to serve as the national treasurer. He currently serves as national secretary. (Duffey, 404/266-2600)
- Ken Kerrigan leaves his VP slot at Edelman Worlwide to join Hill and Knowlton, New York, as managing director in the agency's media group. Kerrigan earned his stripes as a financial media specialist. (Edelman, 212/885-0300)
- Elizabeth L. Toth, associate dean and professor of PR at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, is named Winner of the 1998 Pathfinder Award, the highest accolade given by the Institute for Public Relations. The award acknowledges her research on gender issues and PR. (IPR, 352/392-0280)
- Women Executives in PR names new board: Dorothy Crenshaw, president, Stanton Crenshaw Communications; Betty Keepin, president-elect, Keepin Touch Communications; Temi Sacks, VP, TJ Sacks & Associates; Margaret Booth, treasurer, M. Booth & Associates; Elaine Chapnick, secretary, Lighthouse, Inc. Serving as two-year directors are: Elizabeth Robbins, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and Lucy Siegal, Lobensz Stevens. (WEPR, 212/407-0719)