Holy Cow! Are You Going to Eat That? -or- Beefing Up Your Crisis Management

     Where to begin? By now, you've heard about Taco Bell's "Battle of the Beef".  The fast food chain is the target of a class action lawsuit.  The suit claims Taco Bell's seasoned beef doesn't include very much actual meat.  Specifically, the suit alleges that Taco Bell's taco filling contains just 35% ground beef- the rest is fillers, extenders, spices, etc. I walked by my local Taco Bell today and they have a big sign up promoting their new "Beefy" product.  I imagine most people think something "Beefy" probably contains a large amount of beef- so this lawsuit is not great timing for the folks at TB.

     Poor nutritional value in fast food?  Who knew?  So, the fact that you're not getting a fantastically healthy meal at Taco Bell is not exactly a news flash.  What is news is Taco Bell's response to this potentially-damaging story.  CNN, Yahoo, NBC, Associated Press, LA Times and the State College, PA Grocery Flash are all providing coverage.  This has all the ingredients for a stomach-churning culinary calamity.

     The company's President and Chief Concept Officer, Greg Creed, posted a statement on the Taco Bell web site.  You can see it here: Taco Bell Statement It says in part, "At Taco Bell, we buy our beef from the same trusted brands you find in the supermarket... We are proud of the quality of our beef... Unfortunately, the lawyers in this case elected to sue first and ask questions later - and got their "facts" absolutely wrong. We plan to take legal action for the false statements being made about our food."

    Most importantly, we have to ask, exactly what is a Chief Concept Officer?  Just kidding.  But does this person have any concept of what is at "steak"?  I think it's safe to say that Taco Bell is being portrayed in a very negative light.  It doesn't matter whether the allegations are true, misleading or outright lies.  In a case like this Taco Bell needs to do more than issue a statement on its web site, threaten legal action, and hunker down to see if it will all blow over.  If the facts in the lawsuit are "absolutely wrong" Taco Bell needs to produce some proof- and it needs to get the word out.  If the allegations are true, Taco Bell needs to take action- perhaps it could improve its product and save its brand.  Whatever it does, Taco Bell needs to get cooking- right now.

 

     On the other hand, I saw some TV interviews where Taco Bell customers essentially said- "I know it's not very healthy but I like it."  Maybe that's the ad campaign Taco Bell should be running.  

 "We're not health food- but hey, you like us!"  If they need a spokesperson Taco Bell could bring in a real meat expert like Lady Gaga.  Or they could bring back that Chihuahua- people love talking dogs.  Bon appetit. 

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Copyright 2011

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In Your Face (Book)

  
    What's going on over at Facebook?  The social media giant is caught up in another very public dispute over privacy.  Last week, the Facebook gang announced a new "tweak" giving app developers access to users' home addresses and phone numbers.  Not surprisingly, a lot of people didn't like that.  And it isn't the first time Facebook fans have gone bonkers about changes to security settings.

      Just days after announcing the new policy, Facebook says it received some "useful" feedback.  As a result, the company has disabled this new feature.  And the company is promising to make changes so users will clearly understand when they're being asked to share phone numbers and addresses- and can opt out.

     From a PR standpoint it seems Facebook is somewhat tone deaf when it comes to the debate over individual privacy.  The company has been blasted repeatedly.  Critics claim Facebook has had confusing settings- that make it hard for users to protect personal data.  And there have also been repeated policy changes concerning how Facebook handles with our info.

     Obviously, Facebook is the 800 pound gorilla when it comes to social media.  So it's in a position to make its own rules.  To the casual observer it might appear the company is determined to leverage information about its users to somehow make a profit.  Why else would Facebook keep fiddling with these privacy settings- risking repeated public relations blow-ups?

     But wait a minute here.  Maybe there really are very good reasons for changes to those security settings.  But if that's the case, why does Facebook keep making changes without making it easy for users to understand what's happening?  I think Facebook needs to be more sensitive to security concerns- especially when you think about how we're all worried our personal information might disappear into the gaping maw of the internet beast.

     It wasn't that long ago that MySpace was a major presence in the social networking landscape. If Facebook continues to irritate its customers- those users might decide to "unlike" and unlink from Facebook.  What do you think?  Why is Facebook having so many PR flare-ups about this issue?  One thing is for sure- with the internet things sure change quickly.  And before long- the worldwide obsession with Facebook could change too.

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Copyright 2011

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Snow, It's A Slippery Slope...

WHITE CHRISTMAS:

     Happy New Year everyone.  I missed the mother-of-all snow storms during the holidays.  But the PR fallout is still falling!  The airlines took another hit by not reacting quickly enough- and by not doing enough to help stranded travelers.  Night after night we saw TV news reports showing people sleeping on the floors at crowded terminals.  I think the airlines have downsized to the point where good PR is considered a pretty low priority.  Not surprisingly, I see that AAA predicted 92 million people would be traveling over the holidays- 93% of them by car.

SNOW BLIND:

    But the airlines have nothing on New York City.  Riders were trapped on stalled trains.  Cars, buses and snowplows were stuck on city streets.  At the height of the storm, hundreds of 911 calls were backlogged.  Heart attack victims reportedly waiting hours to get help.  At least one newborn died- ambulance crews couldn't get there in time.   And days after the massive snowfall- many streets were still unplowed.  NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's initial response: “The world has not come to an end. On balance, I think you’ll find we kept the city safe and we’re cleaning it up.”  He also suggested that residents go shopping or take in a Broadway show. The Mayor told reporters, "There’s no reason... to panic.”  That was news to many residents.  Streets in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island were buried under an avalanche of snow.  Critics started calling it the 'Bloomberg Blizzard'.  One city councilman tweeted, "The mayor has to stop acting like 'Baghdad Bob' saying the streets are fine. No they aren't. Where the hell are the plows?"  Suddenly, Bloomberg was fighting to save his reputation. 

BACK TO REALITY:

   The late Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, famously said, "all politics is local".  That simply means you have to take care of your constituents.  The people who depend on you expect you to look after them- whether you're the mayor, a car maker, a doctor, lawyer, whatever.  When you appear disconnected from reality this snow snafu is the sort of stuff that happens.  After Katrina, President G.W. Bush sent help- Navy ships from Norfolk that were scheduled to arrive 6 days after the hurricane hit.  The President obviously hadn't seen the TV video- showing desperate people with no food and water.  Mayor Bloomberg apparently didn't notice that city streets were not getting cleared.

THE SOLUTION:

    Mayor Bloomberg mushed his way over to Brooklyn and listened to the anger of residents whose streets hadn't been plowed. He told everyone, "I'm angry, too."  And he promised to have every street plowed by Thursday- five days after the storm first hit.  Is it enough?  Hard to say... To be fair, the storm was much worse than was predicted.  In fact, it was a terrible blizzard.  The Mayor couldn't control that.  But he can control what happens afterwards.

THE LESSON: 

     Pay attention.  Be proactive.   Be sympathetic.  Get the job done.  As I've said many times, often, the best crisis management doesn't come from a slick ad campaign.  It comes from:

1) A willingness to admit you were wrong.

2) Your promise to make things right.

As it stands right now, it's looking like a long winter in New York.  It'll be interesting to see if the mayor can thaw out his reputation.  What about your clients?  What will you do when the snow hits the fan?

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Copyright 2011

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2010 Another Year Shot to Heck!

THE BAUEr’S BULLETIN

Christmas 2010

2010, The Year That Was… 

Its time to bid 2010

Adios, so-long, bye-bye

Some say it was just rotten

A year that’s gone awry

Health care laws get re-hashed

Foreclosure leaves us bleak

Lady Gaga’s unsurpassed

And Twitter’s at its peak

Trillion dollar deficits

Hit obscenely new sky highs

Our living standard is the pits

We have to roll our eyes

In Afghanistan the battles rage

At peace can we excel?

It’s really hard to disengage

Don’t ask, and please don’t tell

The jobless rate is much too high

It’s stuck near 10 percent

Optimism’s in short supply

Sarah Palin for president?

Global warming, I feel a chill

Melting glaciers in retreat

Our pensions sliding down the hill

North Korea’s bringing heat

Despite the woes we surely face

There’s still one thing to Love

We’ll all survive if we embrace

The higher power Above

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Copyright 2010

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Guerrilla Marketing Meets the Christmas Spirit

Bah Humbug!  Here's a Holiday feel good story for you.  As you might recall, I've been doing some volunteer PR work for a large animal shelter. (Centre County PAWS)  Recently I was asked to help decorate a Christmas tree for the annual "Festival of the Trees".  It's a big community event sponsored by the YMCA- local businesses decorate trees to show their holiday spirit. (And get some attention too!)

     Usually, the animal shelter sets up a pretty typical animal shelter tree- using dog bones, leashes & stuffed dog and cat toys for ornaments.  It's very nice- and a good theme.  But this time we decided to try something different.  So we contacted a local elementary school and asked if any students would be willing to make ornaments- illustrating their desire to help homeless animals.  A German teacher and an Art teacher said they'd do it.

     I'm thinking it's a win-win.  We get a tree loaded with handmade decorations. We demonstrate the animal shelter is involved in the community.  And we get some good PR for the animal shelter.  And who knows, maybe we can even get PAWS a mention in the newspaper.  We can use it- money is tight and we desperately need volunteers.  

     Frankly, I wasn't expecting much in the way of student-crafted ornaments.  Maybe some paper mache glops with whiskers on them?  What I got was definitely not The Usual.  When I picked up the ornaments last night I was floored.  These are really  good!

 
     The kids made dozens of regular round glass ornaments- decorating them to look like dog faces complete with snouts.  They made dozens of cat ornaments out of wooden spoons with pipe-cleaner tails.  They tied ribbons and bells to dog bones.  And all of the ornaments are really cute.

     But the most amazing part- kids took photos of our homeless animals, etched them onto foil, and painted them.  You can actually recognize the dogs and cats- except that now they're works of art!  They even made a tree-topper out of a dog dish- filled with biscuits- emblazoned with the PAWS logo.  Unbelievable!
 
     The tree is amazing.  So, we're contacting the newspaper and TV stations to tell them how these wonderful, talented kids are helping animals in need.  We're contacting the school district's PR department so they can do a story on these terrific students.  I'm even blogging about it!

     Here's the take-away.  This could have been a run-of-the-mill event for us.  But by trying something different we got something unusual.  I'm not saying we're geniuses- we just tried something different.  Suddenly this is a fun, somewhat exciting, semi-high-visibility production.

What mundane PR events are on your calendar?  How can you replace the Ho-Hum with a burst of HoHoHo?  My Grandmother always said, "Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid."  So get out there and be bold- get creative.  And your client just might think you really are a PR genius!  How's that for a Holiday feel good story?  I leave you with a video clip of our magnificent Christmas tree!

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Copyright 2010

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Yahoo's Top 10 Reasons You Should Care

     I'll admit it.  The excitement here at Steve Bauer Media is palpable.  We're all atwitter because Yahoo just released it's list of "Top 10 Searches" for 2010.  And The List says a lot about the world we live in. The giant search machine claims 631 million people used its service- making billions of searches.  Drum roll please.  

     Not surprisingly, you and/or your firm's name are not on this list.  Unless you work for BP.  Yahoo says this year's most searched term was "BP Oil Spill".  There's a classic lesson in bad PR.  On the other hand, BP is #1!  You could argue that any publicity is good publicity- as long as they spell your name right.  B-P, Got it. 


     On the other hand, the #2 spot goes to "World Cup" a stunning PR success for South Africa, Soccer, and the makers of those awful vuvuzela horns. 

     But here's where it gets interesting;
3) Teen Singer 'Miley Cyrus'
4) Reality Show Royalty 'Kim Kardashian'
5) Pop Princess 'Lady Gaga'
7) Actress 'Megan Fox'
8) Boy Toy 'Justin Bieber'
9) American Idol
10) Britney Spears


     Lost in the sea of entertainment luminaries is #6- the iPhone.  We'll dial up the iPhone in a sec.  So what does this top 10 search list tell us about America?  We're apparently very interested in young pop stars/entertainers.  This suggests that most Yahoo users are also young pop star/entertainment-crazed internet users.  You might recall that a few years back Britney Spears was a perennial #1 on Yahoo's list.  Now that she's getting older Britney has plummeted to #10.  So if I'm selling Geritol (you kids will have to ask your parents) I'd stay with Lawrence Welk reruns.  If I'm selling Red Bull (the 2010 version of Geritol) Yahoo might be a great place to use your PR/marketing dollars.


     Which brings us back to #6, the iPhone.  That's not a big surprise.  I mean, what do you think these young people are using to search Yahoo?  Still, I am surprised the iPad, iMac and iNausea aren't also on the list.  Steve Jobs seems to be a one-man marketing machine.  So if you want to target the youth/tech market, developing an iPhone "app" for your product or service might be a really good (cost efficient) way to reach your audience. 

     So what is the take away from all this?  Despite all the polls and surveys reporting that record numbers of older people are using the internet, I'm a little skeptical.  Sure, Grandma is finally learning to send e-mail.  And in some cases she's even on Facebook.  But Twitter?  Not so much.  I'll bet the vast majority of internet users skew towards the 30-and-under set.  Just saying.

     Another thing I'm just saying.  How come Yahoo users care more about teen singers than they do about the real world?  I said real world, not reality world.  My guess?  Younger people want to feel good- not depressed.  Otherwise, Yahoo's list would look like this.


1) Wall Street Bailouts
2) Unemployment
3) Budget Deficit
4) 2010 Elections
5)Global Warming
6) Afghanistan War
7) Sarah Palin
8) North Korea
9) Gays in Military
10) Immigration


     Pass the Geritol.  Lady Gaga is looking better by the minute.

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Copyright 2010

all rights reserved by the author

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

     Talk about Must See TV!  A blind woman gets her vision back thanks to a miraculous new surgery involving a tooth.  No kidding!  It's a rare chance for the health care industry to shine.  Instead, this feel good story turns into a needless PR hit for a company that should have seen this one coming.

     Kay Thornton lost her vision 10 years ago, the result of a rare disease.  Doctors in Miami removed one of Thornton's teeth and implanted it in her eye, as an anchor for a tiny lens.  Get this- the 61-year-old woman now sees well enough to drive a car again.  Amazing!  But the response from Thornton's insurer was anything but...

     Instead of being the hero, Thornton's shortsighted insurance company (Humana) played the villain.  That's because Humana initially refused to pay for the procedure.  According to NBC's Kerry Saunders, Humana told him that "medical records did not show that the eye surgery... was medically necessary and reasonable."  So there's Saunders on network TV wondering why Humana didn't think restoring a person's vision was necessary or reasonable.  At first, Humana said it would investigate.  And then in a reversal, Humana said it would "pay the outstanding physician claim."  Humana was smart enough to change course, but this should never have happened.

     I'd think health insurance companies would be especially sensitive to PR but that's not always the case.  Earlier this year, an insurance company refused to cover a baby because he was considered too fat.  Now, it doesn't take a genius to know this kind of rigid posture is going to generate negative PR.  And what about Kay Thornton's case?  Instead of playing a supporting role in a medical miracle- Humana comes off looking like the mean machine of medicine.

     We all understand that insurance companies don't like to pay for procedures in general- much less operations that could be considered experimental.  But someone at Humana knew or should have known this was a poor decision.  I've said it before- negative PR is frequently self-inflicted.  And once your reputation is injured there's not much the spin doctors can do for you.  So remember, by doing the right thing you can get the right result- positive publicity.  By taking a position that looks wrong (even when you may be in the right) you can get a black eye.


Here's a link to NBC's report.
Woman loses tooth- regains her vision!

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Copyright 2010

all rights reserved by the author